The Antigonids : A Makedonian AAR

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Chapter 1 : The Two Kings

In 241BC, Antigonos Gonatos died peacefully in the newly conquered town of Sardis. His dream of uniting the Hellens and building a Makedonian Empire was completed. His Empire was the second strongest in the known world, only challenged by the Egyptian Kingdom of the Ptolemaioi. In Athenai and Sparte, he had set up Makedonian loyal tyrants and established garrisons to watch of the the Hellens. Eventually even having to set up a puppet in Korinthos due to unrest.



In the west, the sons of Antigonos' elder brother guarded Illyria from the Romans, who had begun to set their eyes apon territory outside of Italia:

But now the kingdom was on the verge of being torn apart. Two of Antigonos three sons were capible of becoming king and ruling. Alkyoneus had been a politian and domestic ruler, while Demetrios was a general, a conqueror, and a hero. Demetrios had clear support and could have easily taken the throne, but he did not wish to see his father's kingdom, which he had fought so hard for, torn apart in a brotherly conflict.

In the end it was decided that they would share the throne. Alkyoneus would rule from Pella and Demetrios would be General of the Armies. With civil war avoided, both men sought to gain support and fame among the peoples they ruled. Both gathered their armies and set out to expand their father's kingdom.

Alkyoneus quickly gathered an army in Makedonia and marched north to join up with some allies in Tylis. The two great armies that had been assembled by his father were both deploid far away and Alkyoneus was forced to quickly assemble an army of mediocry skills. For years Kallatis, a Greek colony had sought assistance from anyone who would listen. Kallatis had suffered raids and seiges for over a decade from the Getic Federation to the north of Makedonia. Antigonos hadn't wanted to risk war and had not answered their request, but Alkyoneus knew saving fellow Greeks from barbarian hordes would give him the fame he needed and risked the chance of war:

In the east, Demetrios assembled his veterans and marched them east, to continue his father's war with the Ptolemaioi. The Ptolemaioi hadn't expected Antigonos to come to the assistance of the Arche Seleukia and was suprised and outnumbered in Asia. Demetrios continued with that suprise and marched on Pamphylia before reinforcements could arrive from Egypt.

The Battle of Side
After besieging the city of Side for a few months, the Ptolemaioi attacked Demetrios on some rolling hills just west of the city:

Demetrios set up his phalanx in a single row, with his Thracian skirmishers in the front and his Thurophoroi on the flanks. With the archers and slinger behind on a slope. To the front was the small army that had initiated the battle, to the left was their reinforcements from the city:

As the enemy marched forward, skirmishers, archers, and slingers fired a couple volleys at the enemy:

As soon as the enemy got in skirmishing range, the Thracians fell back to keep casualties to a minimum:

The enemy Thorikatai charged the pikes of Demetrios' Pezhetairoi but quickly fled. The enemy Kleurchi engaded the Pezhetairoi:

As the enemy army broke, the entire line reformed to face the incoming reinforcements while Demetrios and the Thessalian Cavalry chased down the routing enemies. Soon after forming up, the enemy general and his Hetairoi rammed the Pezhetairoi line, breaking through. Seeing the problem, the Thurophoroi and Thracians charged in to quickly fill the gap:

The enemy line of mostly Jews crashed into the Pezhetairoi's pikes. The Ptolemaic general quickly withdrew to aviod being surrounded and the Thurophoroi and Thracians gave chase and engadged them:

The spears and Thracian falx quickly cut through the Hetairoi and eventually the general fell:

The remaining enemies quickly broke and Demetrios and the cavalry quickly chased them down. Only the cowards charged with the protection of their general managed to escape:

And so Side fell to Demetrios:

Next Chapter 2: The Two Battles of Pergamon
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I think there is only one thing that would have been a leak in this update. I was going to include another battle, with a new unit, but I decided to include it in the next update.

PS Sorry for the slow load speeds. I was trying to post high quality pictures.