Out of the Steppe, Into the Fire

[theycallmetighty]

Before I get started Id like to thank the Errant for helping me get over my noobishness with screenshots.

Introduction

Spring, 272 B.C.

I am Sapalbizes, they say I am Yabghu of the Saka Rauka. But when I look at "my" land I see that I am not a lord of men, but a lord of grass, for that is all thats in my realm. I love the steppe, If I were a goat herder, I would love to die on the back of my horse, surrounded by an ocean of green. But I am not a goat herder, I am Sapalbizes ruler of Sai Yavuga and Yabghu of the Saka and such a death is not for me. I must die lying on the ground bloodied by an arrow that has pierced my warrior heart surrounded by a sea of iron. I go now to seek this death and become a King, and not a grass farmer.


Sapalbizes, Yabghu of the Saka

I have 5,000 mnai in my treasury, this is more than any Yabghu I ever heard of has, but the cost of supplying and feeding the warriors I have summoned will be great, and I don't think I will be able to afford it for long without going into debt. I have summoned all the riders of my realm in an attack on the region of Xiyu. They are part horse-riders part farmers. If I can unite the farmers and the sakans under one banner then I can have money and warriors.

There are four war bands riding to our rally point near the border. One led by me consisting of the men from the eastern part of my realm. Another one is led by son, Aryandes who commands the men from the South-east, and his brother Oxyboakes who leads his men from the tribes of the southern mountains. And another led by my other son, Zeionises who is at my main camp Chigu, mustering men from the great lake and the northern lands.


Aryandes, Chieftain of the Border Clans


Oxyboakes, Chieftain of the mountain clans


Zeionises, chieftain of the north.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

A good start - I like it. I think most steppe nomads find it taboo to talk about death though (or the dead for that matter). Just a thought.

[pockettank]

good start on ur AAR

i wanna do one soon but idk i was gonna do a Pontos one but.. well we'll just say that the gray death didnt like Pontos having an AAR lol

A good start - I like it. I think most steppe nomads find it taboo to talk about death though (or the dead for that matter). Just a thought.

but u say MOST maybe this guy is one of those other people that thinks its ok to talk of death

[theycallmetighty]

A good start - I like it. I think most steppe nomads find it taboo to talk about death though (or the dead for that matter). Just a thought.

Well most nomads would be content to just live their lives out on the steppe, but not this one

@pockettank- You know what they say, the bigger they are the harder they fall:D

[Thaatu]

Finally a Saka AAR. I was waiting for this when I played with Saka and saw no way to continue (although I did and prevailed ). I had to use some questionable tactics, so I'm eager to see how many loopholes you have to use.

[The Errant]

Finally. Another Steppe Faction AAR. I'm looking forwards to see, how this one will progress. Good Luck on your AAR theycallmetighty!

[Tristuskhan]

Good luck, I'm eager to follow your campaign, I was too much of a coward when I tried to play Saka myself.

[theycallmetighty]

Spring 272 B.C. (cont.)

My Cousin Shafar facilitated a trade agreement and map exchange with the Baktrians, he will continue west to the Pavhlava and offer peace terms.


Shafar would have been a warrior like his Sapalbizes had he not been lamed in a hunting accident at the age of ten.

This however is inconsequential when compared to the actions of Oxyboakes. No Doubt in an effort to gain glory and respect among the nobles (Which he will use to displace me), my son has ridden out with his meager force of 50 horse archers and his bodyguard, to the town of Sulek. It is clear that his intention was not to conquer it but to return with enough heads to gain respect. As he approached the town, the men of Sulek rode out to meet him.



As the opposing force charged out Oxyboakes wisely pulled back drawing them out into the open plain.



After drawing them completely out of the town he split his forces, himself riding east while the horse archers led the enemy spearmen in the opposite direction. While the horse archers led the spears farther and farther from the archers, Oxyboakes saw his chance and took it.


Oxyboakes charging into the exposed archers

For thirty minutes Oxyboakes' bodyguard slaughtered the foot archers and even broke one of their units. However he spotted the enemy bringing up a group of Yuezhi noble horse archers. At this point, he ordered a retreat. I do not know whether this was a mistake or not, but his decision cost his men dearly. As his men rode to safety the enemy horse archers and the remaining unit of foot archers shot his bodyguard to pieces.



half of Oxyboakes bodyguards are shot down before the enemy decide to give up the chase. The horse archers, out of arrows, and seeing their leader flee also retreated and met the same fate as the men of Oxyboakes with twenty of their number gone.





It seems that despite the heavy casualties, oxyboakes shall have his glory, killing almost six times as many men as he lost.

Summer 272 B.C.

The heat is unbearable, our horses are tire easily and we can move only at a farmers pace, the good news is that I am more powerful than I thought, Saka warriors pour out of the steppe like soup pours out of a ladle.


The Horseman of Sai Yavuga ride south to the conquest of Xiyu

The bad news is that my spy, a crafty man by the name of Miyika, has earned his pay and found the army of the Haomavargans.



This bodes poorly for the expedition to Xhiyu, we have never been on good terms with these people and our army is barely half of this force.

Autumn 272 B.C.

Shafar has reached the Parthians and has secured a cease-fire along with a map trade and trade rights. My army continues to gather on the southern border of my realm.

Winter 272 B.C.

My army is finally all mustered, we will wait until spring to leave so that the horses have a chance to rest.

[theycallmetighty]

I cant thank everyone enough for commenting, its really the people who post feedback that keep aars going, who would keep writing if no ones reading?

The saka is certainly one of the harder factions, but i think I wont have to "cheat" this time around

[Wolfman]

Keep it up! just watch your treasury. Thats what always puts a cramp in my campaign.

[Thaatu]

I made a slight screw-up with my Saka campaign, as I first took Gava-Saka, Gava-Alanna and Gava-Mazskata, and after that Sulek. The only profit from those first three settlements were the casualties I took taking them. At least Sulek has mines.

[The Errant]

Another piece of advice. Don't waste your starting army on conquering the steppe. The Eleutheroi HA will wear down your troops, and the Steppe provinces have very little of value. Avoid both enemy HA and Steppe provinces.

Instead go directly for Baktria. Their settlements are more developed and their armies are no match for HA. With the Baktrian mines you can start developing some infrastructure and better troops.

[mlp071]

Yeah, steppe provinces will only give you alot of coruption , hehe

[theycallmetighty]

The Battle of the Valley of Death

Spring 271 B.C.

My army is delayed and cannot set out yet, the contingent commanded by aryandes is late and will not be arriving for several months, I hope this does not cause difficulties in the campaign. The people of Sulek must surely know I'm coming now.

Autumn 271 B.C.

I write this from the back of my horse as I look over the valley, it is filled with the bodies of my enemy. the blood has drained to the lowest part of the valley and now there are large puddles of it. When we had started out on the journey I had hoped that Oxyboakes and his army had no intention of attacking, but I was wrong.



He outnumbered me by about two hundred men but in truth I had the advantage. My army was almost exclusively horse archers while he only had two units of Saka riders the rest of his cavalry were either lancers or skirmishers armed only with javelins. He had some missile foot troops but they did not pose much threat. To take advantage of my superiority in cavalry and missiles I formed my men in a long spread out line with the foot archers in the center and the Saka cataphracts behind them.



The enemy general decided to approach in a rather clustered formation making an easy target for my horse archers.



once his army got close the enemy cavalry skirmishers broke off and attacked my left flank.


The javilineers are out ranged and begin to take casualties fast.

while my left is engaged in a missile fight, his heavily clustered center begins to fire upon my center. My foot archers volleys begin to rip into the enemy ranks and thanks to Oxboazes choice of formation, the arrows rarely miss.

At this time I order my right flank to circle around and unleash their arrows int the enemies back.



This point the enemy general realized that their was only one thing he could do.


The saka lancers charge impetuously only to be met by the unforgiving lances of my cataphracts

An enemy unit of horse archers ride out to meet the flanking movement of my right side but are quickly dispatched by the skillful archery of my men


a group of horse archers take aim at the approaching enemy riders

after only a few minutes of fighting the rebel lancers break and run, the enemy general is killed in the pursuit. I order my heavy cavalry to continue into the mass of men before them.


My heavy cavalry charge into the enemy center while there left side is barraged with arrows.

Soon the left flank, having routed the skirmishers that were sent against it, circles around in a pincer movement



First the death of their general, then being charged by the most heavily armored cavalry on the battlefield, and now being bombarded by arrows from all sides is too much for the eleutheroi army to handle and they completely lose their courage. Soon the remaining enemy unit of horse archers is forced to retreat and the engagement turns into a slaughter.


the last of the enemy warriors are shot down, only a small portion of the cavalry escape.


the valley of death




Luckily, my foot archer absorbed most of the casualties while my precious horse archers remained mostly untouched. Not only did this gain me much respect among the clan chieftains, but I still have enough men to take Sulek. I cannot write any further as we are moving out, we should be in Sulek in one week.

[theycallmetighty]

Thank you for the advice guys, but actually I've already gone a different way, in fact its kinda the opposite of what you said it should work out alright anyway, I have a plan :P

[Lovejoy]

How "finished" are the saka? Is it worth playing as them or should I wait?

Anyway, great AAR! Keep it coming!

[The Errant]

The Saka are very "finished". True to their nomadic nature their building options are "limited". However once they expand to Baktria and India they get a number of reform units.
Hellenic ones that offset their native lack of quality infantry. They are propably the hardest faction to play. So don't expect an easy campaign. Steppe economy sucks.

They will propably get some additional units in the next build, but apart from that I doubt there will be major changes. Nothing on the level of Pahlava anyway.

[theycallmetighty]

The saka is one of my favorite factions, I would definitely recommend playing them, their economy truly does suck, but horse-archer armies if used properly can take out much bigger infantry armies.

[theycallmetighty]

The Unnecessary Battles of Men

Sapalbizes could hear only the horses sputtering and neighing. Right now the men were silent. It was the silence men use to make peace with their god and themselves before riding into battle and perhaps death. The silence known to all battle fields throughout history. For centuries when men marched into a struggle for life and limb they said nothing and livened only to the plodding of their feet. Sapalbizes was too experienced and had been in too many battles to be thinking about dying, instead he only thought about what brought him here. What made him risk his men against a force almost three times as great as his. He thought back to his tent in the camp-city of Sulek.

"Oxyboaxes plots something my lord, everyday he goes from tent to tent talking to the chiefs of the clans, and they love him, especially after they heard of his raid on Sulek."

"Damn him, yes he brought back many heads, but what good did that do, wasn't it I who defeated the hordes of Haomavarga, was it not me who captured sulek with less than fifty casualties, wasn't it I rounded up over two thousand slaves which now tend the herds and serve the chiefs in chigu. Nobles care only for one thing, Glory."

"Indeed milord, but we must do something, or he will soon be Yabghu and you will be dead."

"We have sent most of the heard home and they will not likely return so quickly, we need to deprive him of his power, we need to take his warriors."

"Yes Yabghu, a raid, a glorious raid, outnumbered and ranged, but you will overcome this and come back with many heads."

"No Miyika, not a raid, a conquest, we will set out for Haomavarga and take the horse men, but we will leave Oxyboaxes, he has a knack for governing anyway."

And so Sapalbizes took Oxyboaxes faithful warriors and set out to punish the Haomavargans for their Treacherous attack, but now Sapalbizes did not know how glorious this would really be. He knew now that this battle was unnecessary, and many men would die in a battle so unnecessary.


The enemy outnumbers the saka greatly, the chances of victory are slim.

But this did not matter, he was here now, and so were his soon to be dead men,and so was the silence. He knew the more men thought about dying the worse, he had to break the silence. He was not much fir speeches, but he knew one thing never fails.

Sapalbizes drew his sword and let out a great war cry.



Suddenly as if they had all just awoke from sleep, his men answered his call, and from the silence, came the thunderous noise of men that were ready for a fight and so the hordes of the saka rode into battle once more.

[Thaatu]

Can't wait for a Indo-Saka kingdom. I didn't make it that far.

[Musopticon?]

I'm thinking of starting a Saka-Rauka campaign. This AAR gives me good pointers.


So....please continue.

[Tristuskhan]

Good AAr! In my royal laziness I play a Saka campaign on M/M: hard times but after 50 turns I hold six provinces, got the reforms and got out of debt. I'm weak but I have to seize Antiochea Margiane before cleaning the Parthian homelands.
I can just dream of a second army, but my familly is flourishing, my single stack has three familly members, one experienced saka nobles, four basic horse archers and four archers. Saka bodyguards are fantastic.
Bactria has gone! I expanded right out of the mountains, made Bactra my capital city and took Kophen in order to prevent any Seleucid expansion northeast. I keep three rebel settlements east for later. It's going to be a long time before I can field a third army strong enough to overwhelm those nasty rebel horse archers stacks.

Going straight to India or out to the steppe is a challenge, good luck to this who will dare daring!

[Chirurgeon]

I like this AAR...are you playing with huge units? seems your numbers are small. also your valley of death is appropriately named :) Keep it up

[theycallmetighty]

Thanks for the comments and the compliments.

@ thaatu- yes, soon the combination of elephants and horse archers will rule the world,

@ Musopticon?- If you want some pointers for initial moves for the saka, you might consider Vonsch's aar on them https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=82784, that helped me out a lot, also I think theres a guide floating around somewhere...

@Tristushkan- It looks like you've done pretty well for yourself considering how far I got last time Those saka cataphracts are good in fact there so good I went and attacked Gava Haomavarga with just four units of them and two horse archer units (see last update), I havent played the battle yet, only loaded the start of it so I could get that shot of Sapalbizes. So well both see exactly how good those cataphracts are tomorrow .

@Chirurgeon- Im playing with the default size units, which I'm pretty sure is normal, correct me if I'm wrong.

Oh yeah and update tommorow, Whooooooooooo!!!!

[Tristuskhan]

@Chirurgeon- Im playing with the default size units, which I'm pretty sure is normal, correct me if I'm wrong.

Seems like EB's default size is "large" (50 horsemen, 80 archers, 120 spearmen)

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

There really isn't a default unit size for EB. Many EB members play on small because they don't want to overtax their systems, but they would prefer to play on larger sizes. I play on Huge. Huge always seems to balance things out right.

[Musopticon?]

It's generally better to play on Large. It doesn't tax cities and battles remain reasonably epic. Not to mention most of the unit sizes seem to be fixed on Large. Like Legionnaires for example.

[theycallmetighty]

The Unnecessary Death of Men

"listen up, the enemy are already marching and we don't have much time" barked Sapalbizes.

"we are only half the enemies number and are at a great disadvantage in arrows, but we have the advantage in steel. we will try to route the enemy one company at a time. Using our heavy cavalry we'll charge a unit, once it breaks we will retreat and pick another target and charge again. That unit of skirmishers on the far left looks like a god first target, we'll destroy them first"



Sapalbizes now turned to Moga, a chieftain from the great north lake.

"You will command the horse archers, your objective will be to cover us when we retreat and keep the enemy horse archers off of us."

Moga nodded gravely.

"Thats it now get back to your men and we will start on my signal."

The group of men mounted their horses and returned to their respective units.

"What kind of a fool would lead us into a slaughter like this" Sapalbizes turned and saw his childhood friend Hasa with a broad smile on his face

"What kind a fool would follow me into a slaughter like this" Answered Sapalbizes returning the smile

"So whats the plan today, turn tail and piss yourself while the real men do the fighting."

Sapalbizes let out a laugh "Its good to have you back old friend"

"Its good to be back, old friend"

Sapalbizes turned away from his companion and rode to his place in the front rank of his bodyguard, his smile quickly faded and turned into a grave frown.

He looked in front of him and saw the enemy milling about in front of the town. Then he looked to his left, all seemed fine, then he looked to his right and again all was good.

Suddenly he roared out a battle cry and charged at the enemy line. He did not look back but could hear the hoof beats following him to the enemy.

The cataphracts thundered into the lightly armored skirmishers killing many of them with just the charge. The fight that ensued could only be described as a
massacre as lightly armored peasants fell left and right. Just as the unit broke
the enemy lancers charged towards the cataphracts, the lancers were too close to outrun and Sapalbizes ordered a hasty counter charge. The two groups of horse men collided with a horrific crash of metal against metal.



The saka cataphracts quickly gained the upper hand on the lightly armored lancers.

Sapalbizes plunged his lance into an enemy warriors chest and quickly switched to his axe , finishing off the warrior with a chop to the skull. Sapalbizes was still in th process of removing his axe from the head of the warrior when a rider wielding a scimitar charged at him whirling his weapon above his head. Sapalbizes tried to turn his horse away from the attacker but was too late in doing so and received a well placed slash clear across his chest sending him reeling back in his horse. The rider raised his sword again but could not finish his stroke as a lance penetrated his back and the spear point emerged from his chest.

Sapalbizes’ Saviour rode out from behind the screaming lancer and grabbed the reins of his horse pulling Sapalbizes out of the fight.

"I owe you my life, Hasa" said Sapalbizes as he grimaced

"We must get you out of here"

"No, I can still fight" Sapalbizes grimaced again and rode back into the battle



As Sapalbizes fought furiously against his enemy despite his cumbersome pain and bleeding, The orders of the enemy general, Pidanos were being carried out.

Pidanos was no fool and had anticipated Sapalbizes strategy and formed his
plans around that. He knew Sapalbizes would charge only one unit at a time in an attempt to isolate and break him by means of local superiority so he took his most heavily armored troops, the Saka lancers and attacked Sapalbizes Cataphracts in attempt to hold them off while his horse archers would circle around the melee and fire into the backs of the enemy horsemen and hit them in their most vulnerable spot.

What he did not count on however, was that Sapalbizes was not a fool either and had left his own horse archers behind to cover his heavy cavalry, this mistake would prove fatal and unravel completely his plan of a flanking maneuver. When the time came for the horse archers to make their way around Sapalbizes flanks they quickly came under fire from his riders. The Haomavargan captain was not about to turn his back to two very experienced companies of horse archers and instead rode toward them thus completely spoiling his masters plan.


The Saka captain, Moga completes his objective of covering his master by drawing away the enemy riders.

Without the support of his horse archers Pidanos' lancers quickly fold under the pressure and Pidanos himself flees making his men quite uneasy.



Sapalbizes pulled his axe out of another opponent as he witnessed his foe run away like a scared steppe rabbit. He looked around and took stock of the situation. His men had taken heavy casualties already from javelin and arrow fire, but the most dangerous enemy troops appeared to be defeated. He was about to order the charge at the remainder of the enemy army and break them when he whirled his horse around and saw his brave mounted archers engaged in a melee with more heavily armored Saka riders.



"our comrades, we must save them now before they are all lost" Bellowed Sapalbizes "Follow Me" He thundered as him and his Heavy horse rode after him

As he galloped at full speed towards his beloved Steppe warriors he looked back and saw a unit of saka lancers had reformed themselves and now pursued them. Having the spear wielding horsemen crash into the backs of his men would be disastrous. Sapalbizes made his way over to side of his Grandson Satraces.

"Go and charge those Lancers, Hold them off for as long as you can."

Satraces sped off in the opposite direction taking his men with him.

Soon the remaining Cataphracts crashed into the enemy riders instantly routing them and saving their comrades.



Sapalbizes again remembering his beleaguered grandson sped off with his men once again to help him. Satraces bodyguard was whittled away to just eight men, with Satraces himself being injured when Sapalbizes arrived and once and for all routed the lancers.

Sapalbizes wasted no time in ordering his men to follow the original plan and charge their next target.



The retreat of their general and the death of their friends was too much for the archers too handle and they instantly broke. The Saka heavy cavalry proceeded to charge the rest of the enemy army, most of them breaking even before contact.

Pidanos had briefly regained his courage only to be cut down by the ruthless saka bodyguards



The rest of the battle is accurately described as a route in which men are mercilessly killed as they run away until none survive.






Sapalbizes was on his horse at the central plaza overlooking the battlefield, he could see all of the carnage, all of the death and all of it he knew was unnecessary.







There was however one peace of good news that Sapalbizes could lean on




Coming soon: the aftermath of the battle of haomavarga, Sapalbizes gains a new friend, and something else too...

[theycallmetighty]

Well there it is. Sorry its alot later than I said it would be. I think instead of giving specific dates for posts i''m just gonna go with my good friends the politicians and limit the predictions to either "soon" or "I did not have sexual relations with that woman."

There really isn't a default unit size for EB. Many EB members play on small because they don't want to overtax their systems, but they would prefer to play on larger sizes. I play on Huge. Huge always seems to balance things out right.

by default I meant the option that is already selected without changing anything. tristuskhans probably right and it is in fact large. At any rate, The setting that im using now (whatever that is) is o.k. for me, I might try a size larger next time, but I don't think my old warhorse of a computer could handle it

[Wolfman]

Cool update!