Iberian Nights (A Lusotannan AAR)

[Roka]

Hi there, got the inclination to start writing AARs again. Thought of continuing my Ptolemaic one but it's so long ago I have lost my notes and I also got tired of fighting off a full-stack every turn. It's not dead, just hybernating for the foreseeable future.

So I've decided to try my hand at a Lusotannan one. I've played enough to have a few chapters written so expect them up over the next few days.

Playing on H/H.

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Prologue
The Acts of the Father
Winter 272 BC

Tantalos, Chieftain of the Lusotannan tribes, sits easily astride his horse overlooking the town of Sucum-Murgi. He has brought almost all of the tribes warriors to this place, leaving Lusitania dangerously undermanned. He realizes that should any of the neighbouring Iberian tribes attack, his oldest son and heir Latronos will face an uphill struggle to hold back an attack with any sort of numbers at all. Latronos is a good general though and Tantalos feels confident in his sons ability to hold off any attack. Nevertheless, the town must be taken quickly. "Vivius, order the rams forward, our man in the town has obviously failed me."
"At once, my Chieftain," replies the man slightly to his rear, wheeling his horse and galloping to the front of the Lusotannan host.

With that sentence Tantalos has just ordered the death of thousands of men, yet he is used to making such decisions and they no longer weigh heavily on his conscience. The rams make short work of the fortifications and soon the clash of weapons and the screams of dying men fill the air. The Turduli fight well but they are outnumbered almost 2:1. Inch by inch they edge closer to the centre of the town.

"This is taking too long! Katuvaram! With me!"

With their chieftain now in the midst of the fighting the Lusotani take heart and start to fight with renewed vigour, hacking down any who oppose them and cutting a bloody swathe through the enemy ranks.

"Jubal! You coward, fight me!" Tantalos screams at the Turduli leader, a young man with his hair and beard arranged like a Carthaginian.
"If you want to die, old man, be my guest!" The young man throws his javelin at the Lusotani leader, striking his horse on the flank. With a shriek of pain the horse sinks to its knees, unseating it's rider. Tantalos has barely any time to react as he is attacked with a flurry of blows from the younger, faster man. A smile starts to spread across the young mans well-groomed faced, but then his eyes open wide with shock as he parries a blow which sends a shock along his arm, almost forcing him to drop his sword. This is followed by another blow then another as slowly but surely Tantalos forces his opponent to his knees. Jubal tries to catch his opponent of guard with a thrust to the groin, but it is poorly aimed and manages only to cause a cut along the inside of the thigh. Tantalos' strike is not badly aimed however and a cheer rises from the on-looking Lusotannan warriors as the well-groomed head flies through the air to land some 6 feet away from it's still twitching body.

With their leader dead the Turduli warriors surrender and are disarmed. The battle for Sucum-Murgi is over, the battle for Iberia has only just begun.

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What do you think?

[Blxz]

Text heavy.

[Roka]

I planned to insert pictures in future chapters to break up the text a little, although future chapters will probably be longer.

[vartan]

Text heavy.

Books without pictures. I was probably 9 when I started checking those out. Good stuff! Keep it up!

[diomede]

Books without pictures. I was probably 9 when I started checking those out. Good stuff! Keep it up!

This made me lol. Some AARs need pics to tell the story, others don't, so whatever, yeah. I like the start of this one.

[Roka]

Chapter One
Death of a Chieftain
Winter 270 BCE

Much had changed in the two years since the battle for Sucum-Murgi. The majority of the army had been disbanded due to the Tribes financial woes. Following the successful campaign, Tantalos had returned to Oxtraca to govern the tribe from it's capital leaving his son Ditalkos to consolidate Sucum-Murgi as a now Lusotannan town. However this was proving difficult as Jubal, the former Turduli chieftain, had a younger brother named Kuintitaku who had been absent at the time of the battle and was now trying to raise an army, albeit with limited success. He had managed to raise a small band of followers the previous summer and had been waging a guerilla war against the occupying force, until Ditalkos managed engage him and almost completely wipe out his followers. Kuintitaku escaped however and while he still lived he would be a beacon of hope for those that wished to oppose Lusotannan authority.

Perhaps the biggest noticeable change was the change in the Chieftain. Having been stricken with a mystery illness the Chieftain had been confined to bed for the best part of a month. Everyone who was in the know knew that his days were coming to an end, sooner rather than later.

“Ambon, come here son.” A man wearing only a pair of trousers in the Celtic fashion despite the cold shouts into the gloom of a nearby house.
“Yes father?” Replies an adolescent emerging into the daylight for the first time that morning.
“Look at those men there and tell me what you see.”
“The traders? I see men who aren't strong enough to take things so they must give something away in return.”
“Trade is the lifeblood of our tribe.” The man sighs. “Without it we have nothing but the goods we make ourselves. One day you may be Chieftain, gods permitting, and if you have the same attitude to merchants then as you do now it will be a dark day indeed. Now, show me what you have learned of sword-play.”

The man is Latronos, son of Tantalos and widely accepted as the next chieftain of the Lusotani. In fact he had been de-facto leader of the tribe since his fathers illness. He had shown himself to be more than capable in this role and while his father had been an excellent leader in times of war, in times of peace he had become restless.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Latronos, it's your father, he's gone..” Latronos looked into the face of the man who had just addressed him, Vivius veteran of many battles and his father's right hand man.

The old chieftain fought until his last breath but in the end the illness was too much for him. He left a legacy of bloodshed and expansion, almost doubling the lands of his people during his lifetime. Yet he also left debt. Latronos' first priority would be to strengthen the tribe's infrastructure in order to pay back the monies owed. The money his father had borrowed from his Carthaginian allies to the south.