Zalmoxis's Lightning: a Getae AAR (Completed)

[Hooahguy]

I recently started a new job so I'm sorry if I haven't been able to update much, I'll try to update this weekend.

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Eleven

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

With Pella under our control, we set our eyes towards the next closest Athenian town: Larissa. It was a relatively small village compared to Pella, but it was known for one thing: olives. Delicious and juicy olives that make me salivate… uh, nevermind. They also produce incredibly valuable olive oil. They were rare north of Pella, so taking control of a powerhouse of industry like that would be a boon to our economy.

So we set out to take control of the olives.

Our spies reported that the garrison was really demoralized, so this would be an easy battle, as we outnumbered them over two to one. None of us were very concerned. We were veterans. We had seen many battles up to this date against some of the most feared weapons and soldiers in the world, and a bunch of poorly armed peasants were not going to strike fear into our hearts.



It was a very quick battle. We set up as we usually do, by surrounding them and picking them apart. We charged, they tried to fight back, but it was futile for them.



But they quickly surrendered when they saw how many we were and how few they were.



We lost only six men, three of which were from friendly fire from our horse archers. Pretty pathetic performance from the garrison, if you ask me.



Larissa was ours, and along with it the valuable olives and the olive oil presses. We were honestly pretty surprised how quick and easy the conquest was, but now we had to look towards our next conquest, and the next threat. The Spartans, whose legend stretched over three hundred years had declared war on us. We had much to fear from them, assuming they are still the warriors that they claim to be. We did not know their strength, but I have a feeling we will be feeling Spartan iron very soon, and we will see if the Spartans really are the warriors the legends claim themselves to be.



Meanwhile, Athens came to us with terms for a truce. We accepted, even though we know that they are simply going to reinforce their numbers to fight us again. But because Athens seems to be pretty beat down now, and we need to concentrate on Sparta, we felt that we had to accept to get them off our backs, even if for a short while. I highly doubt that this truce will last very long, for not only are the Athenians treacherous, our thirst for Greek blood is yet to be quenched.



Author’s note: I finally got to play a considerable amount and there are some major updates on the way! But with school and a full time job, finding time to work on this is tough so just be patient, updates are coming!

[Sp4]

Silly question, are you playing with a mod that changes the way the game looks, overall or is that light just that way because it is autumn?

[Hooahguy]

No graphics enchantments. If anything can be said about the Rome 2 campaign map, it's quite nice to look at!

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Twelve

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The ink on our treaty with the Athenians was barely dry when we received word that three large Spartan armies have entered our lands! They began plundering the countryside, since there was nobody there to contest them. And how could we with only two armies? They had almost 8,000 men under arms in the immediate area while we had maybe 5,000. Combine that with their superior armor and weapons, it would only spell disaster for us if we attacked.



Panic was rife through our ranks. Nobody knew how we would defeat these three large armies which, combined, could smash our armies with ease, especially if they managed to separate our two armies. We felt that this would be the end of us, the end of all our conquests over the past few years.

But then one of our king’s advisors thought of something. If we could simply split up those three Spartan armies and fight them one by one, we would be able to defeat them without having to take on over eight thousand Spartans all at once.

This would take planning, and in the meantime we raised every fighting man available to come fight. We also hired as many mercenaries as we could afford, even if they were Greek, as a surprising number of Greeks hated the Spartans for some reason. Our numbers increased to over 11,000 men under arms. Not all of them were fully trained like us, and only a small number of us had serious battle experience, but the numbers still counted, and with that we felt much more confident about our chances.

And with our numbers greatly inflated, we marched towards what would be a very eventful week.



We spotted our first target. One of the armies had split from the other two, and was now separated by a river. By the time enemy reinforcements arrived it would be too late. But before that, we had to whittle down the Spartan numbers. Infiltrators managed to poison some of their food supply, and we began hit and run attacks on their forces in advance of our armies arriving to offer battle.

By the time we arrived, the word was that the Spartans lost a third of their forces even before we arrived.



We deployed for battle. Blaikisa, who was the overall commander of our armies for this battle, addressed us.

“Comrades! Do you know what we are here for today?”

A few men called out a variety of answers like killing Spartans, or living to see the next day, but he shook his head, called for quiet, and began to speak again.

“No! My comrades, you are here to annihilate those Spartans! Surround them! Cut them into a thousand pieces of flesh that even the smallest of animals can feast on when this day is through! Show them no mercy, for they will show none for us! Now go forth and win this day, for your tribes, for this nation, and for glory!”

A rousing cheer came from the ranks, but my mind was elsewhere. I thought of my family who was no longer with me, and a feeling of sadness washed over me. I really missed them, and if those Greek raiders had not showed up at our village I might not be here today. Then I remembered why I was here in the first place, and that feeling of sadness turned into anger and I excitement as I waited for the word to advance.



Blaikisa raised his sword, and up and down the lines the captains pressed their men forward.

We advanced, with our heavy cavalry on our flanks. We would need all the support we could get for this battle. The Spartan strength was in their heavy infantry, not their cavalry, so we were not concerned about that, but we would need heavy cavalry to help break their formations.



But we were not going to just face them head on. That would never work nor break them quickly. So a large number of our men ran down our right flank. The forest covered their movements so the Spartans never reformed to meet the new threat.



We marched toward the Spartans, and that is when we first saw them. They were truly fearsome.



But we had no chance to feel terrified, for we charged into those Spartan spears.



The Spartans had large shields with reinforced iron, so killing them was rather difficult, at least from the front. We managed to kill a number, but for a while it was almost a standoff with neither side getting an advantage over the other. But the main Spartan weapon was in their formations, and once we broke their shield walls I feel we were pretty well matched. I managed to kill at least half a dozen Spartans before they broke. They are very good with the spear but I outmatched them when it came to the sword.



But while I was an expert swordsman (not trying to boast, I swear), my countrymen were not doing quite as well across the battlefield. In at least one place it even seemed as if the Spartans would break through our lines and possibly escape relatively intact, for they had sent in their cavalry and they were causing some havoc among our men.





And that is when we sent in the reinforcements. From the rear of their lines, a dozen of our units, mainly mercenary units, charged into the Spartan line.



We had surrounded them, and even their most elite units began to fall under our swords, especially with our heavy cavalry making repeated charges into enemy flanks.



They were completely surrounded and falling fast. Our numbers were simply too many for them to handle, and they fled the battlefield.



Or at least they tried to, we slew most of them as they fled, but a couple hundred still got away. We only assume that they ran to their other armies for what they assumed would be safety.



We had utterly crushed them. We had lost not even 300 men, which really shocked us. Varga and I got through our first encounter with the Spartans with our swords bloodied and our bodies unscathed. It didn’t even feel fair to be honest. Morale soared among the ranks. If we could so utterly crush them this time around, surely we could do it again!



But this was just the beginning of our encounter with the Spartans. There would be many more in the future, as there was still thousands of Spartans out there for us to kill!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Author's note: I'm legitimately shocked how easy this went.

[Sp4]

What do you expect? =P Steamrolling the poor AI with 4 armies and agents! You need war on more fronts =p

[Hooahguy]

I know, I know. Im actually also at war with Cimmeria for some odd reason, and Ill imagine I will have to turn on the Ardiaei eventually. Plus Tylis still is a thorn in my side.

[Hooahguy]

Chapter Thirteen

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Immediately after we defeated the first Spartan army we moved over the Achelous River to confront the other two Spartan armies.

We didn’t attack immediately. We stalked them for two full days. We did not want to confront both armies at the same time. After all, divide and conquer was the way to victory! The Spartans surely knew where we were but neither side attacked, leading to something that resembled how a cat and mouse interacted. But instead of a cat and mouse, it was two large armies facing off.

But of course our plan was not to just hound them forever. When one of those two armies was nice and comfortable inside their temporary fort while it was pouring rain, we struck.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Author’s note: Like an idiot, I did not take a screenshot of the pre-battle screen. Sorry.

We sent in our men to cover all entrances to the fort. Nobody was going to escape this battle, and while those Spartans took cover from the rain we would strike, hopefully launching our assault before any meaningful defense could be organized.

But they were not totally oblivious to the ways of war, for they had sent out numerous patrols. When they spotted us, they headed back to their fort at full speed to tell their army to rise and prepare for attack. It was hard to hide over ten thousand men from an enemy army, so we wanted to make sure none of their scouts made it back alive to give them any information that might hurt us.



But those scouts did not make it far; we were able to catch them with our cavalry and slay every last one of them.



There wasn’t only cavalry though: they had sent out infantry as well to help patrol. While our cavalry was mopping up the cavalry, our infantry took on the other patrols.



And once the cavalry finished, they joined the infantry in the fight, ending that fight rather quickly.



With the scouts finished off, we charged the fort! Everyone was equipped with a torch to help burn down those palisades that they seemed to foolishly rely on for defense.



Their defense was better in some areas than others. On the western side the Spartans failed to form a solid line of defense, and we managed to enter the fort and establish a foothold. Of course the Spartans quickly recovered from that, but we held that foothold.



On the southern end they had held their gate well, not allowing us initially to break through. We would need to burn down their walls to gain access.



And on the eastern side… well, nobody really knew what was going on there; the fight kept going back and forth between us gaining a foothold into the fort and being pushed back.



Finally the southern walls began to collapse, and our men had a much easier time to storm the fort, but they were still held up by stubborn Spartan defenders.



On the western side our men had made significant headway, with our archers helping thin enemy numbers. And with their help, we finally managed to break the defenders on the western gate, and we spilled into the fort.



With one gate fallen, many Spartans tried to flee the battlefield, but they were run down by our cavalry. We counted dozens slain by our men, and maybe only a dozen who was able to escape.



Back inside the fort, the tight and organized Spartan lines melted into one on one combat, the kind of combat that we excelled at.



Finally we were able to break the final defenders holding up our forces at the eastern gate with a substantial charge into the rear of the Spartan formation. After a few minutes of fighting, the remaining few hundred defenders surrendered. We did not accept their surrender, and we carried on.



The slaughter of the Spartan army continued until there was nobody left to kill. When our swords were lowered and the clamor of battle subsided, we surveyed the damage. Almost three thousand soldiers from both sides lay dead within the fort. After burying our dead and burning the remainder of the fort, we packed up and moved towards our next battle.



We had sustained more casualties than in the last battle, but still managed to escape this battle with fewer casualties than expected. Perhaps the legends were exaggerated…