Roman: Scipii

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Heard about it, but never had it happen to me. Sounds like you balanced off the other factions and the Senate at the perfect pace. Kudos!

[Headhunter242]

Hello folks,

the guides on the ORG always provide me a good read and tought an old dog some new tricks. Thanks for that!

I'm currently playing the scipii on H/M having a good time bashing carthaginian heads after I lost interest in my julii campaign which stalled at the invasion of spain.
It's something around 250bc now and my forces hold capua, all of Sicilly, Sardinia, Lepsis Magna, Carthago and Thapsus. Julii are having a tough time battling the gauls and just managed to take Mediolanum (and not much else), while the brutii help them out on the eastern coast around Patavium (even besieged the city itself!). The balkans are almost untouched by them, so my next goal will be getting a foothold there and nab some rich cities. The greeks got some 3 large stacks just north of Athens which could wreck serious havok amongst the brutii, but they don't move to any of the poor defended brutii settlements... Wonder, what they are up to... Invade rome itself?

Anyways... Just want to tell you my story which was very satisfying so far...

The first turn, the senate commanded me to attack the greek on sicilly. No prob, I thought, grabbed my armies from capua (leaving only townwatch) and my settlement on sicilly to do a coordinated assault on the greek city. They were so kind to put out some of their troops on the open field, so only a small garrison was left. Fine for me. Grabbed some mercs while I was at it. Carthago agreed to trade with me. Next turn the siege was on with a 3/4 stack. Built some siege towers and grabbed the town, killing off a greek family member. The greek army outside just stood there watching the show. The town became my dedicated troop center, while Capua and Messana (my fleet factory) were built up for economy. Senate rewarded me with 5000 denarii which were highly appreciated for paying off some greeks. The cartaginians became nervous. The Senate wanted them dead.
They shipped their sicilly army ready to deploy either near caralis or back on sicilly. I did not manage to kill them with my fleet, but drove them off to caralis before laying siege to their foothold on sicilly. With their main army not in range I overran the town. Julii finally knocked on the shores of sardinia, so the carthaginian army was engaged. Made a short stop to rearm and retrain.
Julii had a helluva time fighting elephants on sardinia and lost stack after stack. I made a surprise sweep to Caralis and besieged immediately after disembarking thinking the main army would be playing with my red brothers. Next turn, they were attacking me after the shores were colored red with dead Julii. Good for me that I purchased some peltasts, sarmatians and a phalanx just for the case of the siege going FUBAR...
And it did. The elephants got a silver chevron bashing the julii! Almost wetting their togas, my force stood near battlefield borders, arms at the ready. Phalanx and sarmatians up front facing the main army, peltasts and bowmen behind preparing for a light-show. Cavalry and hastati as a backup on my right flank which was safe. The eles showed up before my frontline walking up and down like a general inspecting his troops. My bowmen fired everything they had on them, while my forces held the line against the iberians. Finally the eles decided to charge. Right into my phalanx line! Broke through but my peltasts routed them almost instantly. 6 escaped (I should see them again pretty soon)... The carthaginian army routed and withdrew into the city.
Minor losses on my side, I decided to kill of the remains. Just before they could say "WTF!?!" my rams were at the gates. My bowmen spotted 6 large shadows in the streets. "Damn! Those beasts again!" Lit the show and fired away on them. To no effect. So I had to lure them. I gave the sarmatians some bags with peanuts and put them inside the city right before the gates:"Come on Simba, have some peanuts!" "Arrrr... When I get that general dumbassus maximus, I'll peanut his face!" And they came. My peltasts were ready, bowmen fired away. The sarmatians did a good job holding them and soon the eles routed under heavy fire. 2 broke through the line and ran outside the gates, 1 was killed immediately, the last one raging though my velites and peltasts. With combined forces, the last elephant fell. The remaining force was severly reduced by archer fire and fell victim to my cavalry. Caralis was finally mine.

To be continued...

[Headhunter242]

So this is part 2 of the story. Hope you enjoy it!

After caralis was sacked, my finances began to rise slowly. My bank account barely reached 5000 denarii the last few years because of building up and retraining, so I had to keep on conquering. So my fleet softened up the carthaginians by blocking their ports and shipped my army to Thapsus, which was poorly garrisoned. Brought some agents with me to do some dirty work.
Sacked the city in no time and secured my beachhead in africa. I guarded the town til it built stone walls and the basic military buildings to retrain my troops just in case. My spies spotted an unsuspecting FM with a small army nearby.
Actually it was the whiteys faction leader! Took my chance and let my young generals get some retinue. Meanwhile my spies reached Carthago just to see 2 full units of elephants roaming in the streets. So, this would be a tough one. But i had to react before carthago could come up with a sizeable army. Numidia watched the show and my diplomats negotiated trade rights as the senate wanted. 1000 denarii in return for babbling away at the noobs? Mmmmkay.
Carthago was virtually bankrupt after years of blockaded ports. Their navy crushed, their armies broken. Time to take on the city.
Having learned my lesson with elephants I took every man I could get to arms to the siege. My bowmen had earned quite a lot of experience in my campaign and were the most valuable unit of the army.
And they should show it again. After storming the walls, my bowmen made short work of everything showing up (the eles, some cav and the faction heir stayed at the center), so i could advance with my phalanx, triarii and spearmen in one street and hastati, cav and peltasts on the other.
My bowmen climbed down the walls to support my spearmen. I launched a two pronged attack. I had to sacifice some spear throwing mercs as a lure, but my play worked. The general charged into my phalanx, the cav got pounded by pila and arrows. The eles died pretty easy in a massive assault and routed out of the city. Victory!
Meanwhile, my spies got to Lepsis Magna where the remains of the once proud carthaginian army (2 full stacks!) waited for revenge. I would bring it to them...

To be continued...

[Severous]

A picture of one of the unique Scipii units.



Its from a campaign where Scipii migrated to Egypt and slowly expand from the corner. About to war with Dacia.

[Quirinus]

I don't think the Corvus and the Decere are useful military units-- a curiosity, yes, but firstly, it is too high-tier for widespread use, and secondly, unlike Mirmillo gladiators or urban cohorts, by the time a reasonable amount of your cities can build them, naval combat would have dwindled to almost nothing anyway. Biremes and triremes in masses do the job well enough, I think.

That aside, Severous, how do you get to the point you are in that picture? Did you abandon Capua and Messana to head east right at the beginning? I'm intrigued.

[Good Ship Chuckle]

???????
Why did you lose Sicily, and end up in Egypt? To make the game more interesting?

[Quirinus]

Since Campania now belongs to the SPQR, I doubt that he 'lost' Sicily, more like he intentionally abandoned these settlements. But it looks interesting. Maybe I'll start a topic about this in the Colloseum.