Finally! A challenge worthy of a Basileus!

[pezhetairoi]

Thank you EB for 0.81, I devoutly thank you! Having just begun a Mak campaign on my girlfriend's comp, I was pleasantly surprised, and five hours later, for the first time in a very long time, I ended the session panting and exhausted with adrenaline. At last, EB has created a strategic problem to fill my darkest nightmares! (and therefore, my wildest dreams, sado-masochistic fellow that I am) And this is only on M/M...

First surprise: An Epeirote army right in front of Pella! And me with no troops anywhere nearby to contest the threat. So I withdrew all the garrisons of Pella and Demetrias save one unit in each, and use the fleet to join up with the main armies, down south, which I withdraw (or advance) northwards, depending on how you look at it. As a wounded private in the battle of Shiloh said to his colonel when he was sent to the rear for treatment after he came back, 'give me a gun col'nel, this durn fight ain't got any rear!'

Consequence: the moment my armies leave the Koinon lands, Areus advances from Sparte with a small army to menace Korinthos. I let him besiege it, and scare the Epeirote army off my land with my mere proximity. I return, and smash Areus and his vaunted Spartiatai (which withstood two charges by 2 Somatophylakes and 1 Thessalikoi), pursue the remnants to Sparte, besiege, and assault it.

But! In the meantime, Epeiros has returned in the north, which has been denuded of troops, in my hope of getting a rapid victory in the south (not possible anymore, with Athenai building up). The Epeirote heir besieges me, and me with one akontistai unit defending. With one turn left I sally, and to my bewilderment the general withdraws! Thinking my capital was safe, and heaving with relief, I return my attention down south, only to find...

...that Athenai has sent a few units to besiege Chalkis, and is sending a few units towards Korinthos. I use one turn's movement to drive the Korinthos force back into Athenai, and have just begun the siege of Athenai (8 turns long) when Epeiros returns with THREE units this time and rebesieges Pella. It fills me with wonder that I now speak of three units with so much dread when in the past I would've flicked them right off the map with my fingertip. Kudos to EB for making me feel genuinely overstretched and challenged!

Anyway. In the meantime, KH assaults Chalkis, and outnumbered and denuded as it is of defenders, they win. For the first time ever, I have actually lost one of my starter cities! Another first!

Meanwhile I detach my cavalry to deal with the Pella besiegers, leaving my infantry to handle Athenai. Then comes my next rude shock. Four turns later, Chalkis vomits forth a force of 6 units of akontistai and sphendonetai, which attacks me, with a depleted light infantry arm and which combines with the garrison of Athenai, 10 units strong, also mostly light troops, to outnumber and outclass my infantry! Meanwhile my cavalry task force has penetrated all the way to Pella, and is two turns away from rendering assistance, three if the Epeirote besiegers decide to fight.

Which leads me to another first: I have had to reload a game from two turns back and start anew! Having absolutely no idea how to combat deadly akontistai and slingers with largely phalanx troops, I have decided to retain my army's integrity, keep my cavalry with my fullstack, defeat the combined KH army, and THEN relieve Pella and reconquer Chalkis at the same time, both smallscale actions.

It's been 5 hours and 10 turns, and the strategic situation still shows no sign of clearing, and I'm 22000 mnai in the red. Wonderful work, EB, wonderful work! You're actually making me struggle to keep my throne, and I am SO loving it! :D Love you all.

[JeffBag]

Playing a Mak campaign too, on VH/M, and I lucked out because I had left 2 units of phalangitai dueteroi with Antigonos in Pella when the Epirotes attacked. I marched back my main army to stand beside that huge Epirote army, so that when they attacked, my main army convieniently deployed outside the city, on the East side, while the Epirotes broke the gates from the south. As their army of about 2300 troops pinned themselves upon the 2 units of the unroutable phalanx in the town square, my main army, numbering roughly 1000, fell upon their backs and trapped them along the streets. With the slaughter of those Illyrian tribal levies, along with the killing of their general, their entire army routed only to be massacred on their way out. Got a heroic victory out of that, losing roughly 250 while killing the entire stack of 2300. After that, my dominance in Greece was ascertained, and it was only a matter of taking the two Epirote cities, for the Koinon had already been destroyed as a faction after I took Athens and Sparte within the first 2 years, and with that old man on Rhodes dying long before that.

It was an incredible campaign, especially since I had to practically live off mercenaries as all the Makedonian cities were too depopulated. Athens is really crucial to take though; with its large population and ludicrous trade, it was accounting for almost half my GDP for the entire early part of the game. Good news is that once you have reunited Greece, it gets really easy going as you get really rich from trade. I then took my army into Asia Minor following the footsteps of Megas Alexandros, and now I'm killing Seleukid full-stacks every single turn.

Thumbs up to EB for making phalanx armies actually fun to play, with crazy action on the flanks as the Theureophoroi, Peltastai, Hoplitai and Prodromoi try to kick away the flankers that are distracting your Phalangitai from its inexorable advance.

[pezhetairoi]

Whooooops. Tribal Levies. Darn, if I had known that was what was in Pyrrhos' army I would have readily taken it on and let Areus besiege Korinthos. Big, bad move right from the start, then. But I'm not gonna restart my campaign, so next weekend, crazy things are gonna happen. And Athenai is SOOOOOO gonna pay for throwing my schedule out of kilter with its insane recruiting.

[JeffBag]

Yes, but remember not to exterminate Athenai; you'll really need the population to pay the taxes. You could also enslave the population into Pella and Demetrias, since both cities are really depopulated at the start.