Gaul - 100 provinces in 100 turns (MM)

[weejonnie]

Friends, Gauls, Countrymen, Listen to me.

It is 270bc and never before has our 5-yearly grand meeting been held in such dire circumstances. There are only 7 of us present here and two of them have had to make long dangerous journeys through rebel-held territory just to be here in Alesia. I salute them.

For, since our last meeting, two cities have rebelled, cutting our fair country in two. Aid to Patavium and Mediolarium is cut off and they will stand or fall on their own merits – I have confidence in the two Governors however and, providing they return safely I am sure they will be able to rise to the situation.

The fate of our governors in Lugdunum and Massilia are unknown, we pray that they met honourable deaths unlike the governor of Samarobriva who had his legs tied to two separate chariots, which were then driven apart. The perfidious Britanii sent me his remains and they were buried with all due respect.

For the Britanii now hold Samarobriva on our northern flank – A territory which is rightly ours. From there, unless halted, they will be able to assemble large armies against us – even here in Alesia. They appear to be holding back, but there is no doubt that they will come. When they do, we must be prepared.

To the East lie the Germanii – fellow barbarians like us, but they attack in warbands with long spears held in front of them. They even bring their women along to exhort them to frenzied acts of bravery – who knows what happens after the battle if they win. They may try and attack us here in Alesia – or even move South and go after Patavium or Mediolarium – they have the advantage of being centralised – we are spread out.

Numantia must hold Rianorix! Strategically we MUST keep the Spanish from uniting their country. If we succeed, then I expect only small forces will march against you – but if they Unite they will take it and then they will come pouring over the Pyrennees. I suggest using small raiding parties to prevent the Spanish uniting their armies. The people from across the sea hold the Southern town of Corduba, but it heaves with rebellion. Leave it alone for now, maybe make peaceful overtures to them and let them also draw the ire of Iberian infantry.

Our first priority must be to recapture those two rebel towns. Brennus – take the forces here in Alesia and retake Lugdunum. Virex – recapture Massilia. The people have been misled by their leaders, show them mercy and they will rejoice in being welcomed back into the fold.

Once we have re-unified Gaul then we MUST expand. Other tribes and Nations are arising. If we do not strike first we will be first struck. I have heard reports of strange warlike savages called Romans, south of our two southern cities. Send our diplomat to talk to them in peace, but also to find out what he can of their strength. We do not want them assaulting our fair towns. Italy is rich – at the moment the Romans are enjoying the bountiful harvests, but they should rightly be ours.

As for the future. I foresee a time, maybe not in our lifetime, when all the coasts of the Southern Sea will be under our sway. ‘Mere notre’ will bring peace and prosperity to our people. I pledge my honour before our gods, Esus, Epona, Teutatis and Abnoba that our quintennial meeting in 50 years time will be attended by 100 representatives. Let them guide us in this noble quest.

Gentlemen – destiny is holding out her hand. Seize it!

[LordK9]

Seize her! :)

Cool work here - will there be follow ups as per game play?

[weejonnie]

Seize her! :)

Cool work here - will there be follow ups as per game play?

I intend to publish eleven of these quintennial speeches adressing the supreme council of Gaul. Here is the second.

Friends, Gauls, Countrymen,

Welcome to our quintennial meeting of 265bc. In particular, a truly Gaulish welcome to our new representatives of Massilia, Lugdunum, Arminium and Arretium. Fellow barbarians, at our last meeting there were but seven of us, however true Gaulish bravery recovered those rebel cities and tactical co-operation by Lugotrix and Eporidix wrong-footed those Romans in the North of Italy resulting in the capture of their two main towns. I understand that measures are already in place to help turn them into the true faith of following our Gods.

I have further good news for you all. Not only has Rianorix just taken Osca from the Spanish, and is currently on his way to Carthago Nova, but only today a messenger has arrived with great tidings that Belenus has captured Segesta. This town was the last holdout of those Romans who fight in red. Their tunics might have been stained with blood, but now the blood is all theirs.

Diplomatically things have progressed. A Carthaginian diplomat has agreed to become allies with us – this will help our joint efforts against Spain, although I intend that it will be us who rule the peninsula. We are also allies with the Germans and Britains. The Germans have so far indicated no hostile intention against us, but the British keep ferrying forces from across La Manche and now have a truly massive army half-way between Samarobriva and Condate Redonum. I have spoken with the delegate from that town and have provided additional funding for him to build up his forces. However, he will be outnumbered if they come, the town isn’t big enough to enable continual recruitment of warbands.

The sad fact is: we have no port facilities on our North coast and it would take too long to build and transport ships from Patavium or Arretium. We only have one vessel that could carry troops up there, a pirate ship that ran aground and was repaired. It is barely seaworthy and in a naval battle it would undoubtedly be sunk.

Strategically, we cannot continue to allow the British uninterrupted progress to transport troops from their Island. To that end I have despatched Brennus on a top secret mission. He has bypassed Samarobriva and is now only a few leagues away from the coast.

In the Iberian war, the capture of Osca is a great coup for us and a blow for the Spanish. However Numantia is without a governor and we must expect that it is here that the Spanish attack will fall. I have sent encoded letters to Rianorix of my concerns, but it is up to him to decide whether to go for taking the second Spanish town, which would undoubtedly improve our strategic position in Spain since it would reduce the options for any Spanish counterattack, or whether he should consolidate for a year or so in Numantia.

Finally, in Italy, the destruction of the Red Romans is a massive leap in solidifying our position. The income from the towns is substantial and the extra depth of territory reduces the likelihood of suffering severe setbacks. To the South there is a truly massive army of seasoned troops guarding the City of Rome. We cannot hope to fight them at the moment. Their leaders are timid, however, and do not let it travel great distances. Beyond this juggernaught our diplomat has found three other towns on the Peninsula, the leaders refused our diplomat’s advances for trade rights or even providing a map of the area and undoubtedly mean us no good.

It is clear what our next steps must be: we must use our additional towns in Italy to build up forces to defeat these Romans, build up troops in Numantia preparatory to hurling back any Spanish advance and as a springboard to take over the rest of Spain and use our additional resources in Alesia in preparation of a British attack. I look to the other towns to build up their economies to help finance these preparations. Always remember – the sinews of war are infinite money.

Good luck gentlemen, and may the gods smile on our united endeavours.

[weejonnie]

Gauls, countrymen and lovers, here me for our cause. Our quintennial meeting of 260bc is now in order.

First of all, let it be known that I have been provided with the Sacred Oracles of Alesia. These oracles tell me all the cities our brave leaders and wonderful warriors have captured, but pressing on the appropriate part of each tablet allows me to see them in order of population, public order or earnings for our cause. In the words of the immortal bard 2150 years in the future.

“II know everybody's income and what everybody earns;
And I carefully compare it with the income-tax returns;”

To military matters. Following orders, Brennus embarked on our leaky ship, crossed the Channel and laid siege to Londinium. The British weren’t pleased and declared war on us. Their large army immediately advanced on fair Alesia. This movement was spotted in Condate Redonum and a force was sent to attack Samorobriva. Brennus sacked Londinium as his sealed orders told him to capture all the British town and he could only afford a small garrison there. This necessary act has caused a lot of rebellion and a general of less than Brennus’s influence would be hard put to keep order.

I summoned Viridex back to shore up the defences of Alesia but before he could arrive 2000 British warriors were standing in front of our gates. Our desperate prayers to the gods were heeded, however. An unnamed captain won a heroic victory at Samarobriva capturing the town and with the fall of Deva and Eburacum, the British threat has been ended. We now own all of historical Gaul and Britain, and with our northern flank now totally secure we are in a much improved strategic position.

My messages to Riannox did not reach him until he had captured Carthago Nova but, realising their import he at once set off back to Numantia – to find it being besieged by a smallish Spanish army that was quickly put to flight. Our increased income from defeating the red Romans is certainly paying off as our generals are able to hire mercenaries giving them an overwhelming superiority on the ground.

In Italy our forces are keeping well away from that army near Rome. Our generals marched down the East side to fight those Romans who wear Green – possibly as a means of camouflage. Lugotrix has taken the important east-coast city of Tarrentum and Belenus has captured Croton after another heroic battle. These Romans all seem to have an Achilles heel – they use little cavalry and our own cavalry units strike fear into them. As we speak Lannildut has crossed over the sea and is besieging Appollonia – the last holdout of these Green Romans.

War is fluid. Even as I stand here, word has come that Riannorix has captured the Spanish town of Scallabis. The Spanish are now down to their mountain fortress of Asturica. We Gauls now control 21 regions, 3 times as many as ten years ago.

The fertile ground in Italy is helping the populations in our towns increase. In particular Patavium now has nearly 8000 inhabitants and my aim is to encourage the development and recruitment of trained bands of archers. It may take a year to train them from scratch but they will be able to hurt the enemy from a distance. The God Abnoba has been placated with a sacred circle there and the priests report that he will reward our archers with sharper arrows. Only the legendary Amazonian chariot archers will have better.

With the British now enjoying the benefits of Gaullish leadership (and I welcome our new brothers to the meeting), the Spanish down to one City (and the Carthaginians staying true to our treaty), and our forces occupying most of Italy, we are now in a position where we can safely expand. Our war with the red Romans was a case of self defence (strike before being struck), that with the British was to secure our northern flank and our current war with the Spanish to secure our Southwestern borders. We can now be more aggressive. Reports have arrived that German warbands have entered our country to the South-East of Alesia. This gives us an admirable Casus Belli and our forces will march Eastwards, In the South we will build up forces in Appollonia (once taken) as a beach-head into Greece, but we will have to start building up a navy. The sea swarms with ships with black sails. So far, they have made no attempt to land forces against us, but we must ensure that we can stem the tide and throw them back. A lost naval battle can ruin your entire day.

[weejonnie]

Members of the supreme council.

I rise on a sad note to advise you that Brennus – our leading General has died in the wars against Germanica. His death was not in battle: old age conquered him whose foes could not. As is the tradition, his loyal bodyguard have been sacrificed to provide him with a suitable escort to the gods.

The War against Germanica has proved almost a stalemate – our forces repeatedly tried to engage them in battle, but they refused and, when given a chance they would march towards Samobriva or indeed towards Alesia. However our new Hall of Heroes here is nearly completed and we will soon be able to send chosen swordsmen with extra experience against the Germans and drive them back into the forests whence they came.

In Spain, Rianorix was fortunate to catch the Spanish faction leader far from safety and kill him – but to a good general luck is important. The Spanish no longer exist as an organised faction and Rianorix has taken Asturica. We now control the whole of the Iberian Peninsula except for Corduba which is held by our allies. The Spanish mines have an abundance of gold and silver, and these make war, like other things, go smoothly

Across the Adriatic, Appollonia fell as expected, with the end of the Green Romans, and we have taken Segestica and Salona. Our high-quality forces can now move across land from Patavium without hindrance, but once we have built up our navy it will be quicker to transport them by sea.

It is in Italy, however, that our greatest triumph has arisen. Calpornus took a force heavy in cavalry and advanced on Rome, stopping astutely at a ford on the River Tiber. The Roman army fell into his trap and their troops were ordered to cross the freezing cold waters. Before they could regroup on the other side they were repeatedly attacked by our cavalry charging into them. The army routed, and our cavalry were merciless in hunting them down like the frightened rabbits they were. The Sybylline prophesy has indeed came true – we saw the Tiber foaming with much blood. Future historians will undoubtedly record this as “The battle of the river Tiber”

With Belenus having besieged and taken Capua and Calpornus sacking Rome and destroying The Senate, the whole of Italy, with its rich, highly developed towns is now ours. Our expansion in the last 5 years has been steady and significant in importance, if not in number, and our council in 255bc now consists of 27 members. Gaulish in spirit, if not in birth.

[weejonnie]

Barbarians! BARBARIANS!!!!

Please come to order for our 250bc quintennial conference. I understand your discontent with the development of our faction, but that is no reason why we should act like civilised people.

Yes! We have made no progress across the Adriatic – in that no regions have been taken. Indeed we have an Alliance in force with the Greek Cities and Thrace. But look at the wider picture. Our beachhead in Appollonia is more secure, is being developed and top-quality troops are crossing over.

Furthermore, once Cassivellaunus besieged and took Messana on the Island of Sicily, destroying the last of the Romans, the other two cities are Greek. We need troops there as well before we can launch a three-pronged attack against the Greek Cities, including Thermon.

All warfare is based on deception. Bear in mind how we hoodwinked Carthage – they should have realised that an alliance with the strong is never to be trusted. Once Rianonix the Conqueror had taken the now rebel town of Asturica, it took him many long months to head towards Corduba. This gave us time to build up our forces and in one Blitzkrieg (as our Germanic foes would say) we landed forces at Palma and Carialis at the same time as Rianonix attacked Carthage. In one glorious campaign we halved the Carthaginian economy at very little cost in manpower. Indeed, our navy besieges mighty Carthage itself, although we have no forces available to land and take the city.

In the woods of Northern Europe at first glance we have made little progress – we have taken Trier – and that was given to us by the Germans as the price for a case-fire. But our general Lucco has taken Mognotiacum – their major town. We have destroyed their main army and their other towns are small and weak. They will have great difficulty producing an army that can fight our swordsmen. Their defeat is now certain, it is only a matter of time, but it will take time to march to, besiege and capture them.

Perhaps the greatest disappointment, however, was the failure to capture Luvavum. Our spies reported it rebel held, but we lost the race to capture it to the Dacian faction and I ordered a tactical withdrawal. I know when we can fight and when we cannot. Dacia controls Europe to the East and South of Germanica and I do not wish to encourage their forces attacking our cities at Salona and Segestica, which have weak garrisons and lack the resources to improve them. Luvavum is close to Patavium, but it is small and it is unlikely any significant force will emerge to attack us. I have a diplomat there monitoring the situation and am prepared to take steps should it prove necessary.

So, although the number of councillors has only grown by six in the last five years, we have the resources to defeat the Germans and I believe we are now ready to cross over into Africa. Remember, however, that distances are great and we may have to face those huge fearsome creatures. Even the bravest men are frightened by sudden terrors.