Start

Probably common knowledge among most folks, but since Athens is a lesser-played faction, a few highlights about the start situation:

One settlement: Athenai (provincial capital in Hellas)
Troops: Two small armies in Hellas, total of 10 units combined (including bodyguards). 2x cavalry (the bodyguards), 5x hoplites, 3x slinger/javelin
Navy: One very small navy near Hellas. 3x ships
Diplomatic situation: Athens is a client state of Macedon, who is basically neutral. Sparta is very friendly (and also trading). Epirus is quite hostile. As I recall, other nearby factions are either slightly friendly or neutral.
Politics: Player's faction is the Magistrates. Opposing faction is the Oligarchs. Magistrates start with something like 25 or 30% influence.




Basic Strategy

So...I want Democharos to leave at least a full province to his successor. Two obvious options:

Hellas: Requires going to war with Sparta. Pro: unifies Athenai's own province, probably improves Macedon to Friendly, only 2 minor settlements to capture. Con: Already have a very hostile neighbor in Epirus...this option adds Sparta as an enemy, not sure starting Athens units can beat starting Sparta units, Sparta is the only Very Friendly state - don't want to throw that away.

Macedonia: Requires war with Epirus and eventually Macedon. Pro: Epirus already hostile anyway, will break Athens' client status when Macedon war starts, further cements Sparta relationship (they start at war with Epirus). Con: Athenai remains single Athenian settlement in Hellas, will take longer (3 cities vice 2), potential for Macedon/Epirus wars at same time, and finally...Epirus starts with elephants (gulp).

I choose Macedonia.


How It Went

I combine the two armies into one; the Brothers of Xenophon, then recruit some more hoplites and cheaper spear units. I want a full-size army to go after Epirus. Also add a few ships to the fleet. Spy goes to look at Larissa...a small army (maybe 5 units) plus garrison. I send the Brothers up there to encircle and capture the place..they're slightly smaller than the combined army+garrison, but have more hoplite units, so I'm comfortable on troop quality. Larissa surrenders without a battle..so far so good.

Sparta and Macedon go to war...so I have to choose since I'm a Macedon client. Pretty easy decision given I had already decided to conquer Macedonia. I decline to enter the war, thereby breaking client status (but don't actually enter into hostilities). So now Sparta is even more friendly, while Macedon is now angry (but they don't declare on me). All of this is just fine.

Spy pokes around up at Apollonia...wow, Epirus is building a big army there (including their starting elephant unit). It's clear I will not be able to attack with numerical superiority...so I bring the fleet around, prepositioning to help. My plan is to encircle/blockade Apollonia at same time, hopefully the Epirus army will not sally. When the Brothers are at 19 units, I head over there (don't want to wait another turn for just one unit). Epirus hands me a gift...their big army (Champions of Nike) goes wandering around the Adriatic for no discernible reason. So I hit Apollonia with army and fleet to take it down before the Champions get back.

The assault goes pretty well. My missiles whittle down the garrison for a while, then hoplites go in to finish them off. A Spartan army supports, but they don't really get involved. The only hitch is that for some reason, I unchecked "Control Large Army"...I honestly don't know why. So my fleet keeps sending ONE ship at a time onto the map...and sometimes I forget to go tell the guy to withdraw, and he gets killed by the 3 Epirus garrison ships. About 80% of my casualties come from this. So I gooned that up. In any case, Apollonia is captured.


Athenian hoplite column marching towards Apollonia


Missile troops open the battle


Hoplites engage


Brothers of Xenophon triumphant: Hoplites celebrate the capture of Apollonia

It turns out that Epirus had just captured Brundisium across the water. They have only one very small fleet there, and no garrison built up yet (must've been the immediately preceding turn). My fleet still has full movement points, so I send 'em over. I hadn't planned to do this, but the opportunity looks too good to pass up. It's an easy capture, and now I have a second walled capital. Also brings me in contact with Rome, who seem to be doing okay in Italia. They're decently friendly; we establish trade. Rome is also buddies with Syracuse; I trade with them too. At some point right around this time, Sparta offers a military alliance; I accept.

The Epirus army comes meandering back down the Adriatic, just within range of both Brundisium and Apollonia. I send both fleet and army after them, reinforcing each other. The enemy army is pretty easily destroyed at sea. Happy to get rid of those elephants. Epirus now has only one lone general with an attrition-dwindling bodyguard. He can't hurt anything, so I'm content to just let him drift around til he attrites away entirely. Except the guy decides to start raiding in Larissa, screwing over my Macedonia public order. So Demochares (who doesn't have an army yet) hires a merc and goes to kill him. Epirus destroyed. War over. Merc disbanded before his ridiculous upkeep trashes my economy.


"Annoying Raid Guy"

A few words about initial economy/research/construction. I start with a few military techs, to get to the 2nd-level barracks (and workshop/champs)...I haven't played Athens, so not quite sure what they can recruit with these. Turns out the hoplite barracks gives citizen cav and pikemen, while perioriki (sp?) provides archers and peltasts. The pikemen don't look useful at all. I decide to go with the perioriki first (but wind up capturing one before I get around to building it). I eventually want all my ports to be commercial, but Athenai and Brundisium are lone capitals with no support, so I keep fishing ports there for now as their sole source of food. Apollonia/Larissa, while minor, are both resource towns, so I build them to level 2, and go with Temples of Poseidon for the double PO/food buff (I've learned from playing Pontus that the ToP is pretty awesome; all benefit, no cost even at Lvl 4). And then a wheat farm for 3rd slot. ToP/farm is pretty much my "standard" minor Hellenic settlement build. Apollonia's port goes commercial. After the initial military techs, I switch to civil, trying to start getting a bit more money coming in, plus I want a dignitary. This all takes a while, of course, since money is tight.

So with Epirus gone, now time to go after Macedon. They're very hostile to me, but haven't declared war yet...they're busy fighting Tylis instead (to whom Macedon has lost Pulpudeva). Pella is their only remaining city. I start recruiting troops into second army (led by FL Demochares) for the siege. This army (the Heracleidae) is about half-size when my buddy Sparta starts sailing a full army up toward Pella...I don't want them to beat me there. So my 1 1/2 armies march to besiege Pella. Macedon has had a large army there, but like Epirus, they sent it off into the Fog (presumably against Tylis), and I don't have to deal with it. With only a garrison left, my two armies easily assault and capture Pella (no screenies...I AR'd it. Sue me.). Macedonia is unified, I proclaim Bread & Games edict in the province. One small Macedonian fleet remains, but they suicide against Athenai's garrison. Never did see what happened to their big army, I guess Tylis destroyed it. Anyhoo, Macedon is gone.

But...Macedon had allies, who'd also joined in war against me. Ardiaei, Bithynia, and Triballi. Bithynia is no problem, I immediately get them to make peace. The Triballi (also at war with Tylis) won't make peace, but never bother me either. The Ardiaei, however, are different...they march a full 20-unit army across the mountain pass toward Pella. Spy takes a look; some hoplites, but also a bunch of lower-quality melee and spear infantry, many of them with pretty low morale values. 6 slinger units. I feel relatively comfortable against them, and move the Brothers of Xenophon in position to attack next turn.

They decide to attack me instead, and the Heracleidae (inside Pella) are apparently just outside reinforcement range. The Brothers have overall higher-quality troops, I feel okay about it. The balance-of-power meter shows me at a significant disadvantage, maybe 30-35%. I figure it's just out of whack or not accounting for morale values, not too worried. I decide to corner-camp with my hoplites in phalanx. Slingers behind where the Ardiaei can't get to them. I think the Brothers will take some significant casualties, but confident they'll win....

These dudes kick my butt in a bloodbath. It sours early when my general Isidoros is killed by some lucky missile fire, before the melee even starts. So my army takes a morale hit...and it starts snowballing. The hoplites (plus 4 militia hoplites) hold well and fight for a long time. But the dang slingers rout...even though they're not flanked or directly threatened. So I lose my missile fire. Then the militia hoplites crack. The main line keeps fighting, but now with general and slingers gone, it's not going well. And these Ardiaei troops just aren't breaking, whatever the unit cards might say about their lousy morale. Finally my guys just get frittered away, and finally break. It's very close, I think they win a "Costly Victory". Both armies kill about an equal (high) number...but they started with more in the first place. I'm reasonably sure that if my general had lived it may very well have gone my way.


My corner-camp position...I thought this was going to work...


The melee vs Ardiaei. This is pretty close to the end. General long dead, and militia/slingers have headed for the hills already.

In any case, the Ardiaei may have "won"...but so beat up that they're pretty easy prey for the Heracleidae to clean up next turn. Meanwhile a shell of the Brothers lives on, they weren't destroyed entirely. And the Ardiaei have lost their main army. So, tactically embarassing, but not a strategic disaster.

Demochares is just past 60 now, and I kinda want to clean things up in prep for his successor. Now that they've lost a big army, the Ardiaei are willing to make peace...and then the Triballi go along. So no current wars, although obviously these guys remain hostile. I start rebuilding the Brothers of Xenophon, so that there will be two decent-sized armies when Demochares kicks. I also shift some buildings around. For example, I convert Athenai's Sacred Grove to Poseidon, in order to get just enough food where I can convert fishing port to commercial use. A few other changes. Demochares gets to about 68 or 69 yrs old, and then dies of natural causes.


End State

237 B.C - 39 turns
Treasury: 2744
Income: 2383
Food Surplus: 27
New Magistrate Faction Leader: Straton
Magistrate Influence: roughly 40-45% range

Forces:


Stationed at Pella
Commanded by Demodocos. 17yrs old. Magistrate faction (same as player).


Stationed at Apollonia
Commanded by Straton (new Faction Leader). 31 yrs old. Magistrate faction (obviously).


Stationed at Brundisium
Commanded by Erectheus. 52 yrs old. Oligarch faction.

Provinces/Settlements:






Final Comments

I find myself almost regretting the capture of Brundisium. I had no intention of war with Rome any time soon, which meant I was not going to spread out in Magna Graecia. So Brundisium had no support from minors, and Latin culture remained dominant, trashing public order. Took forever to get order back up past zero...and it's still pretty low now. Even the Sacred Grove isn't helping that much. All of this led to the fleet getting stuck there for public order reasons...it's been welded to the pier in Brundisium's harbor for the last 20 turns. So I couldn't use the fleet...nor did I feel I could afford to reduce its size. So it's been sucking upkeep money. This seemed the "least evil" option, compared to moving one of the armies there or building a new army. I wish now that I'd simply not captured it, or just abandoned it to rebellion. I think Athens' economy might be in better shape right now...I didn't really have a use for the fleet against Macedon or Ardiaei, but I could've sent it looking around the western Med for more factions to trade with.

This was my first time playing VH. The lack of tactical map, restricted battle cam movement, etc took some getting used to. Also put a crimp in getting more screenies, since pausing puts a big fat window in the middle of the screen. Apollonia was the only battle I felt comfortable enough to snap some screenies "on the fly"...(plus, I may or may not have AR'd some of the others). I also noticed that enemy agent activity was pretty heavy for so early in the campaign. Epirus' spy was a total pain in the butt around Larissa.

I was struck by just how much longer melee combat was taking during these battles, even the relatively easy Apollonia fight. In my previous campaigns as Rome and Pontus, I've never seen enemy infantry last this long, even lower-quality units. I don't know if that's because Athenian hoplites just don't kill very fast (i.e., slower than Pontic ones), or if it's because I was playing on VH. I remember seeing a summary somewhere of what changes with difficulty level; I don't recall seeing "AI morale buff" listed.

Minor error: When I recruited first dignitary, I put her on Civil Admin at Athenai, because at the time it was my highest-income province. Later when I had all of Macedonia, I forgot to move her. She's in the wrong place.

Start

Five Settlements
Troops: Two partial armies and one partial navy
Diplomatic Status: No wars at the start of his reign
Politics: The magistates and oligarchs are evenly matched in influence

Straton picks up the burden of leadership of Athens with the Macedonian province complete, providing him a base of operations that afforded plentiful trade opportunities. The barbarians are at the gates in every direction however.
The strategy Straton decided to adopt upon taking power was the following (and like all well laid schemes it lasted till the point of first engagement): 1. Establish trade with anyone willing to do so. Expansion requires armies, armies require money. To this end also Straton issued the edict of 15% tax in the Macedonia province. 2. Form alliances or at least non-aggression pacts with neighbors to avoid being run over while building the army. 3. Establish a base of operations in Africa such that down the road the ability to directly confront Libya and their protector Carthage directly. Africa is a long term campaign objective, and Straton, not being a particularly healthy man, fancied all the wide open spaces and clean air might do him some good.

236 BC – Agents sent to scope out Africa, Rome offers non-aggression + money and I accept, I’ve dealt with Rome before and consider them a devious opponent I don’t want to tangle with at the moment. In hindsight this bit of diplomacy was a mistake, Rome proved militarily weak and incapable of handling their encounter with Carthage. Hindsight as they say is 20/20. At the time, I had a depleted military and the Ardiaei are at my border and hostile. I thought I could bind my time in taking Magna Graceia and tabled Italy for the time being. Besides, with Sparta as an ally I’m forced into confrontations not of my choosing closer to home that require my attention. They insist I join them in a war with Ardiaei and I accept because that’s what military allies do, even if perhaps against our better judgment.
Recruited champion with funds from Rome to train army commanded by Demodocus, signed non-aggression w/ Tylis to keep that nearby front calm while engaged w/ war Sparta wants to pursue. Upgraded ships under command by Erechteheus. Improve the city at Pella to provide better defense should Ardiaiei attempt to flank.

235 BC - Sparta mobilizes steaming their army towards the Ardiaei who in response immediately offered us peace, we countered with client state and $2,000 to test their resolve, declined. The Odrysian Kingdom offers non-aggression which I accept since I have no current focus on pushing north. The trusted spy Aido dies while working on the Ardiaei front and a replacement is recruited, but her experience and skill will be missed.
The navy in heading towards Africa and Libya for exploratory purposes encounters the Knossos, they appear at this point to be engaged with no one else but have a robust military presence already developed and stationed on the island, the admiral makes the determination to continue his mission, no further diplomacy at this point with them, but Rhodos was also encountered and trade negotiated.
Admiral Demodocus reports back from Libya Hellenisic rebels are all that control Cyrene (province of Libya neighboring the African province which is the goal), is this the base of operations Straton had in mind? This good news from the Admiral is followed by bad news; the province of Africa is controlled by Libya, which in and of itself would not have proven a problem, but, there’s always a but, they are the client state of Carthage, a sea power prowling the med and one our navy Demodocus assures we are not ready for yet. We will bide our time and work on taking advantage of what has presented itself in the form of neighboring towns ripe for the plucking.

234 BC - Tragedy strikes twice: Straton has been wounded while at the head of his army near the Ardiaei battle front, our spies are in pursuit of the agent that committed this heinous crime, they must be made to pay with their lives. If this was not bad enough, as our armies massed for the blow that would take Ardiaei out, the Spartan forces inexplicably sail off to points unknown, at which point two more entire armies come out of the woods in support of the forces our men have come to engage w/o their commander they make the decision to retreat and live to fight this fight another day when the fates are not so clearly against us.



Looking back, it’s difficult not to see the hand writing on the wall for our beloved Straton, while his wound would not prove fatal, that he would come to his final resting place a mere 16 years hence, it’s this date that must live as the mark of the beginning of the end for his reign, his health it would appear never fully recovered. Small satisfaction then that my trusty spies have done their work and ended the life of the agent who inflicted my wounds.

233BC – Hard conversations are had with Sparta over their desertion from a war they asked us to join. Straton upon recovery demands they attack the Ardiaei to recover some scrap of honor and justify our alliance. They do nothing. The Spartans are clearly a shadow of their former selves.
Being a leader of a people means making hard choices, and the fact is, this is not my battle, at least not right now, I offer peace to the Ardiaei and they accept. My dream is of glory in Africa. And with all my cities in Macedon improved, I feel confident the defenses can hold as my commanders sail w/o me, for alas I will never see it, my recovery from my wounds has come at a price, I now am forced from the field and into politics as a statesman from here on.
232 BC – In anticipation of the wars to come, and based on income from increased trade, the army is enhanced with more hoplites and bows. The great strategic question before us is this: Demodocus reports Africa is undefended, the armies and navies of both Libya and Carthage are at sea. Would Carthage drop Libya or come to her defense? While I pondered this the Romans engaged with an offer of a defensive alliance, I accept thinking at the time this might prove the perfect distraction to Carthage.

231 BC – Well, as a Statesman I’ve started out on the wrong foot and made the wrong bet, I went with Rome and in just one year Carthage nearly destroys them, the remnants of Rome cling to life on a small island and Carthage now controls Italy.
My spies have been working overtime sowing insurrection in Cosentia (controlled by the Etruscan League) and begin building a 3rd army under General Alkmonion (sp?) in Apollonia in anticipation of attacking this Libyan held province and slowing the Carthaginian expansion on the Italian peninsula.

230 BC – General Amphion and Admiral Erechtheus take Cyrene. The first step on the new continent is taken!



229 BC - Trade and a military alliance with Knossos (matching the military alliance Sparta also has with them) who has a fairly robust army patrolling off our Greek coasts. And I have signed a non-aggression pact with the Nasamontes, their presence near Egypt is militarily superior to our own at this time and I cannot afford to take them on just yet.
Purchased military access from Egypt in order to pursue expansion of a base of operations through the taking of Hellenisitic rebel controlled Ammonium.
228 BC – Our army in Africa encounters Cryenencion rebels on the way to Ammonium and defeat them
226 BC – Our army lays siege to Ammonium and our agents continue to sow unrest in Cosentia in anticipation of Alkmonion taking his forces there to liberate the town.



225 BC – Hypsipyle has come to the end of her days and laid her burden down, such a seasoned diplomat will be sorely missed, improvements in our towns continues and finances are looking up, what I lack in diplomacy I’m working to make up for economically. It should be noted on a similar vein that I have committed most all of my research on economic matters; as a result, I expect my successor to find good reserve funds available for him pursue the glory of Greece.

224 BC – Sparta has the audacity to request our support in a war with Ardiaei again, having been down this road once and been burned, I’m leery of trusting Sparta. But they are “our people”, so I agree against my better judgment, the last thing I wanted was a two front war, so this alliance with Sparta has so far proven nothing but a headache, that said, I also leaving an enemy on our border unattended to lest this turn into a fiasco on two fronts at once, which I fear it most assuredly will. With that I set the orders with Sparta to attack Ardiaei and I command out forces once again to the front.
The siege of Ammonium is victorious, but comes at a bitter price; we lose General Amphinion in battle. Unforeseen reinforcements came in from the desert (not even by road) from a direction the general never anticipated. A close victory, but a victory nonetheless, and as a result we now have a foot hold on this continent from which to base our attack of Africa.

223 BC – The battle w/ the Ardiaei begins tragically as another general dies, this time Herakleitos. But he did not die for nothing, Epidamnos is ours!



This victory has caused Straton to strategically pause and weigh his options. While this was a war not of his making (and once again not joined by Sparta who started it), it does appear from the news from the front we have the advantage here, and could well press our luck in taking additional cities and even perhaps complete the Illyria province North of us, hopefully taking the Daorsi out for good, and securing a buffer to our homeland and additional income to boot.
On the Libyan front I’ve two of the four settlements that would complete a province, admittedly this is not Africa, but it is the basis for staging an attack. One of these settlements is held by Egypt though, and they have been actively seeking alliances, the politics of this adventure are becoming increasingly complicated.

222 BC – Admiral Erechtheus after long years of service goes to meet Poseidon, he served us well. The Nasmones (sp?) attack Paraitonion controlled by Egypt, I stand by watching in the hopes they will succeed. This would un-complicate matters in terms of taking the province.
Agents of the Ardieai are active still and having nearly killed me once, I pull my agents home to deal with them.
And the decision weighed as to the opportunistic war with the Dorsai has led me to push forward, I feel I must strike while the iron his hot here. The war for the Illyria province is on.





The siege of Delminium ends in victory, the General Almonium mints his newly created army with their opening victory with support by the Brothers of Xenophan!
To keep the initiative the Brothers push on w/o rest to the outskirts of Iader anticipating being joined shortly by General Almonium to press home the completion of the destruction of the Dorsai and the control of the province Illiaryia.

221 BC – Before reinforcements can arrive the Brothers are ordered to attack regardless and they cover themselves in glory taking the city which the cowardly Dorsai have all but abandoned. Interestingly, scouting parties revealed the Breuci army had been on the outskirts of the city as well, but for the speed with which the Brothers attacked the Brueci would have surely taken the settlement and complicated our drive to complete control of the province.
What had begun as a duty to abide by a troublesome alliance with Sparta ends in Athenian glory and the riches a new complete province can provide. Our revenues continue to expand.

220 BC – The remaining agents of the Dorsai are dispatched to their maker and will trouble us no more. I’m unsure what my predecessor will make of our continued alliance with Sparta, but for my part, inertia is really all that holds us together as far as I’m concerned. This is the 2nd war they’ve requested us to join with the Dorsai only to find them fail to commit troops. I could only surmise they would have done this yet again if not for the fact we’ve utterly destroyed them.

218 BC – Nasmones failed to defeat the Egyptians, which is a shame. I’m left settlements and doubt as to how to proceed. The front on the homeland has cleared up, so perhaps the time has come to bring the remaining armies to bear on this problem. Egypt will prove a tough nut to crack should I decide to complete this province in my continuing dream of Africa, they are allied with Sparta and the Pergamon, the latter are aggressively moving navies and armies south of Greece in and around Sparta. They do not appear to be a faction to be taken lightly. General Aegon heads to Cyrene as the staging for either expansion of operations or the war for Africa.

217 BC – Knossos navy aggressively pursues remnants of Dorsai army and navy destroying them all, they’ve proven a more useful ally than Sparta by a large margin by this action alone. To Spartas credit they did bring units to the defense of Pella when a rag tag ban of Dorsai threatened there. Meager, but better than what they’d done previously. The army there ultimately engaged the raiders and destroyed them.

216 BC – Our agent Althaia stays in Greece to keep an eye over the homeland along with the army of Alkmeion in Delminium. The rest of our army and remaining agents head for Cyrene to stage our African conquest.
The old wound has come back to haunt us, our illustrious leader Straton has been struck down before his time and dies before he could realize his dreams of an African victory.
He will be remembered as a cautious and opportunistic leader who struck where weakness presented itself in his expansion of the Athenian Empire. His diligent work in opening trade routes along with research focused on economic matters has placed the empire on a strong footing for future expansion. Nearly 5,000 per year is coming in and almost 20,000 in the coffers, with three fully developed and trained armies, his unrealized dreams of a new continent will pass to his successor, may he far exceed our endeavors and expand the power and glory of Athens.

Aegon in his early years.

When Aegon became ruler of Athens at age 31, most expected him to be a cautious, bookish ruler, focused on knowledge and the economy. In the first of these they were correct, as he sponsored the establishment of a number of libraries and academies across Athenian territory. But the rest of his funds went towards only one thing – building an army that would restore Athens to the glory of the days of Alexander.


Athenian Empire, 215BC.

Aegon took command of the Athenian army stationed in Libya, renaming it the 'Eighth Army' *. He was soon reinforced by Alkmaion's army that had been stationed in Illyria, in preparation for the coming campaigns in North Africa. With Alkmaion guarding his flank, Aegon struck at the unguarded Nasamones town of Augila in a surprise attack. The Nasamones armies, desperately trying to hold their newly acquired city of Lepcis against Libya and their protector Carthage, were in no position to fight back, and a peace treaty was signed the next year. Such strikes against weakened and distracted targets were to prove a trademark of the many campaigns Aegon was to conduct over the years.


Athenian forces assembled for an attack. Aegon is visible as the cavalryman with a shield.

After the confidence-boosting victory against the Nasamones, Athenian forces were moved eastwards to prepare for the invasion of a more challenging foe – Ptolemaic Egypt. Athenian spies had reported that the majority of the Egyptian army was stationed on their eastern frontier, fighting against the dominant Seleucid Empire. Aegon seized the opportunity, offering to join the Seleucids in their war in exchange for a defensive alliance and military access. This gave Athens a justification for invading the formerly friendly Egypt, as well as ensuring its soon to be captured territories would be secure against Seleucid expansion afterwards.


Athenian troops push into Egypt.

Egpyt collapsed like a house of cards. Seleucid armies hammered their Egyptian counterparts as they rushed to defend their homeland, leaving Athens nothing to do but mop up the occasional remnant and capture the defenceless Egyptian cities. Indeed, the greatest threat to Athens' conquests were the Seleucids' own satrapies, who raced Athens down the length of the Nile in order to try and capture the Egyptian cities for themselves. Fortunately, Athens was able to stay one step ahead, and secured the entirety of the province of Aegyptus.

A sour note did enter the campaign shortly after the capture of Alexandria, however, when assassins targeted Aegon himself, although fortunately only wounding him. Aegon was even more furious to learn that, unlike his predecessor who was also wounded by assassins, these had been sent by political rivals from within his own faction! In retribution Aegon sent a group of thugs to beat the leader of the Oligarchs in Athens to near-death. Aegon thought the Oligarchs cowed after this, but history would show they were simply taking a longer view of events....




Aegon reacted poorly to the attempt on his life.

Even before the beginning of the Egyptian campaign, plans were being drawn up to deal with the Spartan problem. Whilst Sparta professed itself to be an ally of Athens, Aegon's predecessors had been betrayed on several occasions by Spartan troops abandoning those of Athens on the eve of a battle. It was clear they were trying to undermine Athenian success from within, and that they must therefore be destroyed. Athenian diplomats requested that Knossos break off diplomatic relations with Sparta, but when they refused Athens in turn rescinded all it's treaties with Knossos. Nothing would stop their vengeance, and the final unification of Greece.

'The Spears of Ares,' a newly recruited army centred around pike formations, was marched south to the Spartan border, joining 'The Heros of Xenophon' who were already there. As with Egypt, Aegon was unwilling to invade such a long-standing friendly state without a convincing casus belli, but this came when Sparta signed a defensive alliance with Egypt. Denouncing them as traitors to the people of Greece, Aegon ordered an invasion of Sparta. Athenian forces assaulted the city, whittling down the defenders with missile fire before moving in with hoplites and pikes to finish the job. The newly launched Athenian navy, 'Brizo's Wards,' sank 10 Spartan transports near Pella, thus eliminating Spartan forces. Mainland Greece was once again united.


Spartan Royal Guard cowering before the Athenian missile fire.

Knossos declared war on Athens in support of their Spartan allies, in a brave but foolish gesture. Even more foolish was their decision to send most of their fleets and armies south, in an apparent bid to threaten Athens' African holdings. 'Brizo's Wards' were able to take Crete in a naval assault against its diminished defences, and this severing of supply lines rendered remaining Knossian forces largely toothless – an annoyance, perhaps, but certainly not a threat.


The Athenian fleet preparing to assault Crete.

Whilst the war against Knossos was being conducted, Pergamon declared that it had allied with Egypt, and was therefore declaring war on Athens. Aegon was surprised at this news, given that the last Egyptian settlement was currently under siege by Athenian forces, and that all of Pergamon's fleets had been sunk as a result of its conflict with Rhodes. Still, Aegon was more than happy to seize the opportunity to expand into Asia Minor. 'The Heros of Xenophon,' escorted by the Athenian navy, were dispatched to conquer Pergamon's only city of Ephesus, with they did with little difficulty.

Much of western Asia Minor was controlled at this time by Bythinia. Athenian spies reported that their forces were weak as a result of conflict with the barbarian tribes to their north-western border, and so a newly-recruited Athenian army was dispatched to this border in order to catch them in a vice. Bythinia aided their destruction by allying with Egypt and declaring war on Athens (Egypt, it should be noted, consisted of a small fleet in the Mediterranean by this point). The invasion was largely unchallenged until the Bythinian last stand at Pessinus. Whilst their numerical superiority enabled them to nullify the Athenian skirmisher component, the heavily armoured and well disciplined Athenian phalanxes were able to cut through the vastly inferior Bythinian melee troops. Athens had now reclaimed the Greek cities of Asia, and so Aegon turned his attention back to the west.


Bythinian forces made a desperate last stand at Pessinus.

While the invasion of Bythinia was underway, Athenian troops, consisting of Aegon's Eighth Army, Alkmaion's army, and the greatly expanded fleet 'The Heralds of Glaucus,' had been stationed in the west of the province of Libya. They swept through the single regions held by the Nasamones and Garamantia, who had been weakened by their war with Libya, and without pause conquered Libya in turn. Carthage, reduced to a shadow of its former self by the Turdetani invading from Spain, had rescinded its protection over Libya, but this was not enough to save them. Athenian forces captured their last cities of Thapsus and Syracusae against minimal resistance; Carthago itself had been conquered by the Turdetani the year before.

Athenian forces in the west began preparations to conquer Italy, whilst those in the east were resting after the successful conquest of Bythinia. Aegon was viewed as a conquering hero – but his neglect of affairs at home was about to cause matters to come to a head.




Uh oh....

Civil war erupted, with a full nine armies and six navies being raised by the Oligarchs in Athens. At first, Aegon was in shock. “How could this happen!” he railed at his advisors. “How could these traitors possibly raise such forces without our knowledge?” Not only did the rebels outnumber his land forces by almost 2:1 and his navies by 3:1, but they had seized Athens itself!

But Aegon was not a man to let events overtake him. After shaking off his initial despair, he ordered an interim capital to be established at Pella. He was determined to contain the rebel forces along a line from Pella to Appolonia, ceding southern Greece but also maintaining the main agricultural areas of the empire. The rebel forces were to be ground down in a war of attrition, with Athenian forces striking at targets of opportunity from their fortified settlements whilst rebel troops deserted or died from hunger. Pella was to be fortified with higher walls and additional siege equipment, whilst Appolonia was to be assisted by the two fleets of the Athenian navy.


Aegon at the outbreak of civil war.

Aegon's plans came undone almost immediately. Rebel forces quickly seized Sparta and Larissa, as expected, but also moved unexpectedly quickly against Cronos' army 'The Brothers of Xenophon,' which was defending the river crossing leading to Pella. 2500 Athenian troops faced 9500 rebel soldiers, but Cronos had his orders - make them pay for every foot of ground they take.

Before the battle, Cronos split his force in two. The smaller force would defend a small bridge to his left flank, whilst the larger would defend against the expected main body of the enemy assault at a ford. The battle opened with a large force of skirmishers attacking the Athenian positions at the ford. Cronos sent his light cavalry to disperse them, and they succeeded in routing almost all of them. Unfortunately, before they could return to behind friendly lines they were caught by three rebel generals, and their bodyguards of lancers. Two units of Athenian hoplites were sent to try and kill these enemy commanders, but were only able to eliminate one before being forced to retreat by the enemy infantry body. Meanwhile, the force by the bridge defeated a small group of pikemen sent by the rebels in a flanking attempt.

The main clash of troops in the ford was vicious. The water soon ran red with blood. Athenian arrows rained from the sky, and Athenian hoplites held to their phalanxes, but sheer weight of numbers meant they were pushed back, step by step. Eventually, it became clear to Cronos that the battle was lost. He ordered his skirmishers and the force holding the bridge to withdraw back to Pella. The remaining hoplites at the ford held valiantly, and when they broke Cronos himself charged the enemy at the head of his bodyguard, buying time for the retreat. His body was later to be recovered at the foot of a mountain of corpses. He died well.


Athenian hoplites fight to hold back the tide.

Cronos' force may have been defeated, but they had done their duty – rebel forces were badly bloodied, and were unable to continue their advance on Pella. Indeed, three of the four rebel armies in the battle redeployed to the south-west, in preparation for an assault on Appolonia. This presented a perfect opportunity for Prochoros, leading 'The Spears of Ares,' to counter-attack the one weakened army remaining. The rebels fled, but were caught by Prochoros on a plain just outside Larissa, and battle was joined.

The rebel army was reinforced by levies from the city of Larissa, bringing their total strength to 2000 men – not enough to match the 2500 soldiers in 'The Spears of Ares.' The Athenian skirmishers forced the rebels forward onto the Athenian pikes, and Prochoros, demonstrating his love of cavalry on the battlefield, had his citizen cavalry wheel around and envelop the rebel army, catching their skirmishers by surprise and running 'hammer and anvil' strikes against their engaged infantry. The battle ended quickly, with relatively small Athenian losses and the rebel forces fleeing towards Larissa. Prochoros quickly followed up by capturing Larissa, then razing it as punishment for supporting the rebels and returning north.


Aftermath of the First Battle of Larissa.

'The Spears of Ares' marched north quickly, eager to return to the safety of Pella. Unfortunately they proved a little too hasty, and the outriders had barely brought word that a large rebel army was over the next hill before they were attacked. The Athenian pike line was able to assemble, but the hoplites supporting the left flank were still disorganised when they were charged by enemy cavalry, followed by their supporting pikemen. Worse still, the rebel commander proved far better than the previous in countering Prochoros' cavalry envelopments through skillful manoeuvring of his hoplites, leaving the battle to be decided by the Athenian infantry.

They won, barely. The hoplites on the Athenian left flank collapsed, and the pikes on that side of the battlefield were involved in a brutal, close-quarters melee for which they were unsuited. Prochoros had to personally involve himself in the melee, running repeated charges against the backs of the rebel troops, until the death of the rebel commander finally shattered the resolve of his army. Prochoros' cavalry finally proved useful in the pursuit of the routing troops, killing or capturing enough that the rebel army had to disband. The captives were executed.

Once again 'The Spears of Ares' moved to retreat back north, and once again they were prevented from doing so. A third rebel army, following hot on the heels of the one they had just defeated, were shadowing them and threatening their supply lines **. Prochoros' troops had fought off two rebel armies in quick succession. They were tired and bloodied, with no means of retreat. There was only one thing to do. Prochoros ordered the attack.

The rebel forces were so surprised by the Athenians turning on them that they could not retreat to Larissa before they were caught. The enemy army had been weakened by desertion and starvation, meaning both forces were roughly equal in number. The rebels had the advantage of being able to hold a hill – however, 'The Spears of Ares' made their attack in the rain, thus reducing the enemy skirmisher advantage. Prochoros was able to outmanoeuvre the inexperienced enemy commander, attacking from the shallowest side of the hill and easily pulling off a double envelopment. The rebels were run down and killed, to the last man. 'The Spears of Ares' had now destroyed three rebel armies, and had achieved a legendary reputation amongst the rest of the Athenian army.


Prochoros completely outmaneuvered rebel forces at the Third Battle of Larissa.

Meanwhile, at Appolonia, Aegon was faced with a difficult choice. Roughly double the Athenian numbers of troops and ships had been sighted approaching the settlement, and Aegon knew his forces could not hold against such numbers. Reluctantly, he ordered his forces to move north and abandon Appolonia.

Whilst it was not apparent at the time, this was to be a turning point in the war. Athenian successes at Larissa forced the rebels that were preparing to attack Appolonia to return to southern Greece, thus forfeiting any chance of capturing new farmland to feed their troops. The two Athenian fleets caught and destroyed a single, isolated rebel fleet, showing that Athens could still be victorious at sea. Aegon's forces on the west coast of Greece were able to meet up with a newly-recruited army in Illyria, and prepare themselves for a drive south. And perhaps most importantly, the victories of 'The Spears of Ares' showed that even though the enemy was numerically superior, they could be beaten. The spirit of the Athenian army had been restored.

The rebels were now in serious trouble. Their armies and fleets were all greatly feeling the lack of food, and several had lost half or more of their men to attrition. Athenian armies were able to push south, driving the rebels onto their transports in the Aegean. Sparta was retaken, and the honour of liberating Athens was given to 'The Spears of Ares.' Greece was reunited, and whilst the rebels were not yet defeated (one of their fleets slipped around those of Athens and captured Iader, in Illyria), the imminent victory of Athens was ensured.


'The Spears of Ares' were given the honour of liberating Athens

Aegon had continued to survive in the past few years through sheer strength of will. Now into his seventies, he had been campaigning for most of his life, in Egypt, Libya, Sicily and Greece itself. When he received news of the liberation of Athens he wept tears of joy, and the next morning he did not wake. Aegon had ruled over a turbulent period in the history of Athens, but despite all the challenges he had restored Athens to the title of the greatest nation in the known world. May his successors continue the legacy of Alexander.


Athenian Empire, 176BC.


* Yes, I realise this is horribly out of character. I'm from the Commonwealth; I can name an army fighting in Libya Eighth Army if I want .
** This is an 'in-character' explanation for a quirk in the game mechanics, where because an enemy army occupied Larissa and my army was within its zone of control, they couldn't move.

A young mind awakend an old body. A rough wave awoke Lysimachus from his dreams. Just a year ago his brother Aegon had died. And not a day went past that it hurt any less. His task was to unite the world under a growing Athens banner. Like all those before him he would not fail.

Aegon had died before he could put down the civil war that was dividing the country. Fools, Lysim thought. How could anyone think to throw down our family? Ill finish my forbearers work. Quickly the old admiral sent orders to his generals: Crush this enemy. Destroy his heart, tear out his soul! I want them gone!






Victories were all that were known while dispatching the rebels. Their navies stood no chance. And likewise their armies fell in quick succession. Though they did not go without a fight. It took Lysimachus and his generals many battles to finally bring them to their end.





After the quelling of the civil war Lysimachus was at a loss. What to do he wondered.... Where should we go next? It was decided that Triballi, to the north, was an easy target. All it took was but one campaign to bring them to their knees. A single army stormed the castle and won victory.




Next it was Macedon. A re-emerging country, to weak to make it in the days of old, tried to resurface. "The weak should stay where they belong!" Lysim exclaimed. And so it was. Macedon was crushed beneath Athens hoplite hordes.




Small meaningless states brought no glory...... Athens needed a challenge. They needed a good fight in order to bring glory and honor the gods.

Pontus.....

Those eastern weaklings had been coddled for far to long. Done is our non aggression. If they cant be our equals, they don't deserve to live. And shortly war was declared on Pontus.

The first battle in the Pontic campaign was fought at the Pontic town of Ancrya. Lysimachus fully expected a long siege, or even a bloody assault. Instead he was greeted with a sally and a glorious fight on the field! Maybe, Lysim thought, just maybe this will be the glorious conquest he envisioned. Between Pontus and their allies Trapezos maybe they had enough to give us a fight. The Athenian generals took to the field. They were ready to test this Pontic foe. Long had they heard of the legendary Pontic swordsman. But what good would that do against the hoplite phalanx?




The battle was over. Far to soon. Far to easily. Pontic swordsmen.... Bah more like Pontic sheep. Weak and untrained.

Soon after the fall of Ancrya came the combination assault, by naval and ground forces, on Sinope.




Taking to the waters Lysimachus ordered his fleet into the attack. Strings of the heavy ballista thrummed as bolts arced and met the hulls of the Pontic warships. Several were sunk before they were even reached by the boarding parties. The naval battle culminated in the mass sinking of the enemy navy. The screams of drowning Pontic soldiers was like music to Lysimachus' ears.




With the enemy navy out of the way the foot units of Athens stormed the beach to the rear of the Pontic army, effectively creating a second front in which they had to defend. With the cavalry creating a soft third front the town was totally surrounded. No one was to come out alive. Alas it was far to much for the Pontic army to handle. They were destroyed by the three pronged assault. Death followed each screaming Pontic soldier.



The Athenian war machine rolled on. Athens took Amaesia next. It was a simple battle. Yet another route in this pitiful war. Lysimachus was overjoyed at the expansion of his empire. He beamed from ear to ear and was proud of his warriors and generals alike. One battle was all it took to crush Trapezos.



Lysimachus was 75 years old after the defeat of Trapezos. So he called his brother Prochoros to him. Always it had been thus. The older admiral and his younger brother. The Admiral and the General. They spent a long time talking. "It will soon be my time to die brother" Lysim said " and you must carry on my vision. You must put down this Pontic threat and go on to greater things!" Agreements were made and as the night grew cold Lysimachus went to sleep.


Never again did his brother wake. Prochoros stood in the sun and pondered all that his brother had told him but a night before. He would continue his brothers work. He would throw down Pontus and then he would throw down anyone else who was in his way.



Ten years younger than his older brother Prochoros became king at age 55. Neigh a stranger to battle. He was a six star general. Beaten and bloodied many times. He had the best army of Athenian brothers that had ever been fielded. He trusted every man., even knew a lot of them by name. Prochoros continued his brothers work. But in his own image. He quickly decided subdue Ardhan. Sending two of his generals to surround and destroy them. After a single bloody battle it was over. Ardhan was gone.



Prochoros continued to hammer his Pontic foes all the way back to Ektabana. The last hold of the once mighty Pontic empire. An empire once stretching a good chunk of the Middle East. Three Athenian armies stood out side of the gates. Ready to assault it. Prochoros gave the order. It was a beautifully sunny day. To bad it had to be sullied by war.





The Fighting was both on the walls and through them. Hoplites tore down the gates and breached the walls with ladders. Burning oil poured upon the Athenian attackers but it didn't matter. The walls were mounted by hoplites who then flanked the gate defenders. Athenian archers posted on the walls raining death from the heavens.



Entering the city more defenders tried to rally. One group of hoplites were cut off and surrounded but were eventually saved. Even the Pontic chariots were no match for the Athenian army. They barely put a dent in a hoplite unit before being routed. After a long battle the enemies finally routed. Fleeing from the very gates they swore to hold only the morning before.

159 B.C.E.: King Prochoros orders the construction of a massive fleet using the efforts of the entire empire. Emissaries are sent to the far corners of the world to boost trade.

In the region of Persis and Media Magna Athenian forces numbering more than 10,000 men gather along the border of Persia and Baktria in preparation for war. In Armenia two armies stationed at the border ready for an invasion of Royal Scythia.

King Prochoros marches back to Athens to lead the fleet on a journey into the setting sun. While the might of Heracles move towards the sea to join in the westward expansion. In 5 years time the invasion forces are set to sail.

158 B.C.E.: Out of all the emissaries sent forth only one returns with a negative reply. King Prochoros has marked that faction for future notice. War is declared on Royal Scythia, Baktria, and Cimmeria, due to alliances Massagate and Arachosia are now enemies of the Athenian state.

A large battle consisting of 5520 Athenian soldiers and 3280 Royal Scythia's finest horsemen takes place south of Mtskheta. It was an Athenian victory tempered only by the fact that both generals died while every single body guard lived. Athenian losses numbered 1041 men while Royal Scythia lost 2856 men. All body guards were executed after the battle for their incompetence. The 370 prisoners were interrogated and forced into slavery for the dead generals families.

The Battle of Mtskheta 158 B.C.E


With the addition of the new cities Athens is large enough to be considered an Empire and has gained Imperium status. Capable of fielding 12 armies and 9 navies.

Towns gained during the year of 158 B.C.E.: Phasis, Mtskheta, Rhaga, and Zadrakarta

157 B.C.E.: A relatively peaceful year compared to the previous one. The invasion of Baktria continues to push inland but the blitzing forces missed a sizable army of Baktrian soldiers and lost a previously conquered town. The force consisted of several elephant contingents as well as their normally fielded units.

Persia was invaded but due to their previously good relations wasnt annexed but had a puppet government installed instead. They are now a client state to Athens and are helping with the invasion of Baktria.

In the North the region of Caucasia was united with the capture of the lightly defended town of Gabala.

Towns gained during the year of 157 B.C.E.: Gabala, Persepolis, and Hecatompylos.

156 B.C.E.: Another year of relative peace. The grand fleet ordered almost 5 years ago is nearing completion and supplies are now being gathered to make a push to the west. In northern Greece a rebellious army left over from Pontic wars is now the target of a newly raised Home Defense army. In Africa an army is raised to help keep the peace. In the province of Phanagoria an army from Massagate marches on what seemed to be a lightly guarded city. They fell under an Athenian ambush and were cut down in whole sale.

155 B.C.E.: Another year where armies continue to march forth upon Athens enemies. The sunset invasion fleet has gathered and is ready to leave Athen with King Prochoros at its head. They are bound westward to see where the sun takes them. The town of Merv was taken from the Baktrians and already it is apparent they dont have the money to sustain their armies as men desert by the century.

Towns gained during 155 B.C.E: Merv

154 B.C.E.: Athenian armies marched farther into the borders of her enemies cutting entire empires in half or destroying some all together. King Prochoros and his mighty fleet round the heel of Italy and push on towards Syracuse. The Baktrians vie for peace but demand appropriations from Athens which was aggressively denied.

Towns gained during 154 B.C.E.: Samandar, Phanagoria

153 B.C.E.: The Kings fleet continues to sail westward. North of Pella on a mighty river Pontus rebels cower on boats in a makeshift floating city and an Athenian ship was dispatched to remove their presence from the world. In the East armies continue to march on Baktria taking city after city. The whole of its nation crumbling at its feet they asked for peace again. Athens offered to let them live if only they bend knee. They refused. The army stationed in Phanagoria set sail and has set siege to its sister city of Pantecaeum. Towers are being built and the assault is planned to commence as soon as they are finished.

Towns gained during 153 B.C.E.:

152 B.C.E.: A year of advances in technology and warfare. Athens Economic technologies expand as he armies march on major enemy cities. General Caporos takes the port city of Panticapaeum after a long and bloody conflict.

The Siege of Panticapaeum 152 B.C.E.



Cont....

Start

Probably common knowledge among most folks, but since Athens is a lesser-played faction, a few highlights about the start situation:

One settlement: Athenai (provincial capital in Hellas)
Troops: Two small armies in Hellas, total of 10 units combined (including bodyguards). 2x cavalry (the bodyguards), 5x hoplites, 3x slinger/javelin
Navy: One very small navy near Hellas. 3x ships
Diplomatic situation: Athens is a client state of Macedon, who is basically neutral. Sparta is very friendly (and also trading). Epirus is quite hostile. As I recall, other nearby factions are either slightly friendly or neutral.
Politics: Player's faction is the Magistrates. Opposing faction is the Oligarchs. Magistrates start with something like 25 or 30% influence.




Basic Strategy

So...I want Democharos to leave at least a full province to his successor. Two obvious options:

Hellas: Requires going to war with Sparta. Pro: unifies Athenai's own province, probably improves Macedon to Friendly, only 2 minor settlements to capture. Con: Already have a very hostile neighbor in Epirus...this option adds Sparta as an enemy, not sure starting Athens units can beat starting Sparta units, Sparta is the only Very Friendly state - don't want to throw that away.

Macedonia: Requires war with Epirus and eventually Macedon. Pro: Epirus already hostile anyway, will break Athens' client status when Macedon war starts, further cements Sparta relationship (they start at war with Epirus). Con: Athenai remains single Athenian settlement in Hellas, will take longer (3 cities vice 2), potential for Macedon/Epirus wars at same time, and finally...Epirus starts with elephants (gulp).

I choose Macedonia.


How It Went

I combine the two armies into one; the Brothers of Xenophon, then recruit some more hoplites and cheaper spear units. I want a full-size army to go after Epirus. Also add a few ships to the fleet. Spy goes to look at Larissa...a small army (maybe 5 units) plus garrison. I send the Brothers up there to encircle and capture the place..they're slightly smaller than the combined army+garrison, but have more hoplite units, so I'm comfortable on troop quality. Larissa surrenders without a battle..so far so good.

Sparta and Macedon go to war...so I have to choose since I'm a Macedon client. Pretty easy decision given I had already decided to conquer Macedonia. I decline to enter the war, thereby breaking client status (but don't actually enter into hostilities). So now Sparta is even more friendly, while Macedon is now angry (but they don't declare on me). All of this is just fine.

Spy pokes around up at Apollonia...wow, Epirus is building a big army there (including their starting elephant unit). It's clear I will not be able to attack with numerical superiority...so I bring the fleet around, prepositioning to help. My plan is to encircle/blockade Apollonia at same time, hopefully the Epirus army will not sally. When the Brothers are at 19 units, I head over there (don't want to wait another turn for just one unit). Epirus hands me a gift...their big army (Champions of Nike) goes wandering around the Adriatic for no discernible reason. So I hit Apollonia with army and fleet to take it down before the Champions get back.

The assault goes pretty well. My missiles whittle down the garrison for a while, then hoplites go in to finish them off. A Spartan army supports, but they don't really get involved. The only hitch is that for some reason, I unchecked "Control Large Army"...I honestly don't know why. So my fleet keeps sending ONE ship at a time onto the map...and sometimes I forget to go tell the guy to withdraw, and he gets killed by the 3 Epirus garrison ships. About 80% of my casualties come from this. So I gooned that up. In any case, Apollonia is captured.


Athenian hoplite column marching towards Apollonia


Missile troops open the battle


Hoplites engage


Brothers of Xenophon triumphant: Hoplites celebrate the capture of Apollonia

It turns out that Epirus had just captured Brundisium across the water. They have only one very small fleet there, and no garrison built up yet (must've been the immediately preceding turn). My fleet still has full movement points, so I send 'em over. I hadn't planned to do this, but the opportunity looks too good to pass up. It's an easy capture, and now I have a second walled capital. Also brings me in contact with Rome, who seem to be doing okay in Italia. They're decently friendly; we establish trade. Rome is also buddies with Syracuse; I trade with them too. At some point right around this time, Sparta offers a military alliance; I accept.

The Epirus army comes meandering back down the Adriatic, just within range of both Brundisium and Apollonia. I send both fleet and army after them, reinforcing each other. The enemy army is pretty easily destroyed at sea. Happy to get rid of those elephants. Epirus now has only one lone general with an attrition-dwindling bodyguard. He can't hurt anything, so I'm content to just let him drift around til he attrites away entirely. Except the guy decides to start raiding in Larissa, screwing over my Macedonia public order. So Demochares (who doesn't have an army yet) hires a merc and goes to kill him. Epirus destroyed. War over. Merc disbanded before his ridiculous upkeep trashes my economy.


"Annoying Raid Guy"

A few words about initial economy/research/construction. I start with a few military techs, to get to the 2nd-level barracks (and workshop/champs)...I haven't played Athens, so not quite sure what they can recruit with these. Turns out the hoplite barracks gives citizen cav and pikemen, while perioriki (sp?) provides archers and peltasts. The pikemen don't look useful at all. I decide to go with the perioriki first (but wind up capturing one before I get around to building it). I eventually want all my ports to be commercial, but Athenai and Brundisium are lone capitals with no support, so I keep fishing ports there for now as their sole source of food. Apollonia/Larissa, while minor, are both resource towns, so I build them to level 2, and go with Temples of Poseidon for the double PO/food buff (I've learned from playing Pontus that the ToP is pretty awesome; all benefit, no cost even at Lvl 4). And then a wheat farm for 3rd slot. ToP/farm is pretty much my "standard" minor Hellenic settlement build. Apollonia's port goes commercial. After the initial military techs, I switch to civil, trying to start getting a bit more money coming in, plus I want a dignitary. This all takes a while, of course, since money is tight.

So with Epirus gone, now time to go after Macedon. They're very hostile to me, but haven't declared war yet...they're busy fighting Tylis instead (to whom Macedon has lost Pulpudeva). Pella is their only remaining city. I start recruiting troops into second army (led by FL Demochares) for the siege. This army (the Heracleidae) is about half-size when my buddy Sparta starts sailing a full army up toward Pella...I don't want them to beat me there. So my 1 1/2 armies march to besiege Pella. Macedon has had a large army there, but like Epirus, they sent it off into the Fog (presumably against Tylis), and I don't have to deal with it. With only a garrison left, my two armies easily assault and capture Pella (no screenies...I AR'd it. Sue me.). Macedonia is unified, I proclaim Bread & Games edict in the province. One small Macedonian fleet remains, but they suicide against Athenai's garrison. Never did see what happened to their big army, I guess Tylis destroyed it. Anyhoo, Macedon is gone.

But...Macedon had allies, who'd also joined in war against me. Ardiaei, Bithynia, and Triballi. Bithynia is no problem, I immediately get them to make peace. The Triballi (also at war with Tylis) won't make peace, but never bother me either. The Ardiaei, however, are different...they march a full 20-unit army across the mountain pass toward Pella. Spy takes a look; some hoplites, but also a bunch of lower-quality melee and spear infantry, many of them with pretty low morale values. 6 slinger units. I feel relatively comfortable against them, and move the Brothers of Xenophon in position to attack next turn.

They decide to attack me instead, and the Heracleidae (inside Pella) are apparently just outside reinforcement range. The Brothers have overall higher-quality troops, I feel okay about it. The balance-of-power meter shows me at a significant disadvantage, maybe 30-35%. I figure it's just out of whack or not accounting for morale values, not too worried. I decide to corner-camp with my hoplites in phalanx. Slingers behind where the Ardiaei can't get to them. I think the Brothers will take some significant casualties, but confident they'll win....

These dudes kick my butt in a bloodbath. It sours early when my general Isidoros is killed by some lucky missile fire, before the melee even starts. So my army takes a morale hit...and it starts snowballing. The hoplites (plus 4 militia hoplites) hold well and fight for a long time. But the dang slingers rout...even though they're not flanked or directly threatened. So I lose my missile fire. Then the militia hoplites crack. The main line keeps fighting, but now with general and slingers gone, it's not going well. And these Ardiaei troops just aren't breaking, whatever the unit cards might say about their lousy morale. Finally my guys just get frittered away, and finally break. It's very close, I think they win a "Costly Victory". Both armies kill about an equal (high) number...but they started with more in the first place. I'm reasonably sure that if my general had lived it may very well have gone my way.


My corner-camp position...I thought this was going to work...


The melee vs Ardiaei. This is pretty close to the end. General long dead, and militia/slingers have headed for the hills already.

In any case, the Ardiaei may have "won"...but so beat up that they're pretty easy prey for the Heracleidae to clean up next turn. Meanwhile a shell of the Brothers lives on, they weren't destroyed entirely. And the Ardiaei have lost their main army. So, tactically embarassing, but not a strategic disaster.

Demochares is just past 60 now, and I kinda want to clean things up in prep for his successor. Now that they've lost a big army, the Ardiaei are willing to make peace...and then the Triballi go along. So no current wars, although obviously these guys remain hostile. I start rebuilding the Brothers of Xenophon, so that there will be two decent-sized armies when Demochares kicks. I also shift some buildings around. For example, I convert Athenai's Sacred Grove to Poseidon, in order to get just enough food where I can convert fishing port to commercial use. A few other changes. Demochares gets to about 68 or 69 yrs old, and then dies of natural causes.


End State

237 B.C - 39 turns
Treasury: 2744
Income: 2383
Food Surplus: 27
New Magistrate Faction Leader: Straton
Magistrate Influence: roughly 40-45% range

Forces:


Stationed at Pella
Commanded by Demodocos. 17yrs old. Magistrate faction (same as player).


Stationed at Apollonia
Commanded by Straton (new Faction Leader). 31 yrs old. Magistrate faction (obviously).


Stationed at Brundisium
Commanded by Erectheus. 52 yrs old. Oligarch faction.

Provinces/Settlements:






Final Comments

I find myself almost regretting the capture of Brundisium. I had no intention of war with Rome any time soon, which meant I was not going to spread out in Magna Graecia. So Brundisium had no support from minors, and Latin culture remained dominant, trashing public order. Took forever to get order back up past zero...and it's still pretty low now. Even the Sacred Grove isn't helping that much. All of this led to the fleet getting stuck there for public order reasons...it's been welded to the pier in Brundisium's harbor for the last 20 turns. So I couldn't use the fleet...nor did I feel I could afford to reduce its size. So it's been sucking upkeep money. This seemed the "least evil" option, compared to moving one of the armies there or building a new army. I wish now that I'd simply not captured it, or just abandoned it to rebellion. I think Athens' economy might be in better shape right now...I didn't really have a use for the fleet against Macedon or Ardiaei, but I could've sent it looking around the western Med for more factions to trade with.

This was my first time playing VH. The lack of tactical map, restricted battle cam movement, etc took some getting used to. Also put a crimp in getting more screenies, since pausing puts a big fat window in the middle of the screen. Apollonia was the only battle I felt comfortable enough to snap some screenies "on the fly"...(plus, I may or may not have AR'd some of the others). I also noticed that enemy agent activity was pretty heavy for so early in the campaign. Epirus' spy was a total pain in the butt around Larissa.

I was struck by just how much longer melee combat was taking during these battles, even the relatively easy Apollonia fight. In my previous campaigns as Rome and Pontus, I've never seen enemy infantry last this long, even lower-quality units. I don't know if that's because Athenian hoplites just don't kill very fast (i.e., slower than Pontic ones), or if it's because I was playing on VH. I remember seeing a summary somewhere of what changes with difficulty level; I don't recall seeing "AI morale buff" listed.

Minor error: When I recruited first dignitary, I put her on Civil Admin at Athenai, because at the time it was my highest-income province. Later when I had all of Macedonia, I forgot to move her. She's in the wrong place.