The Antigonids : A Makedonian AAR

[Detlef]

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

That's as pissing as fighting four huge battles on AI's turn and then the game CTDs.

[Intranetusa]

That's as pissing as fighting four huge battles on AI's turn and then the game CTDs.

You can actually save the game during an AI's turn-seige by pressing the esc button. XD

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

You can actually save the game during an AI's turn-seige by pressing the esc button. XD

Really? That'll help alot... Thank you.

[Puupertti Ruma]

You can't active the script until your own turn if you load that kind of save, unless there has been some improvement on the script activation.

[Pharnakes]

There hasn't and there never will be, however, missing a couple of turns once in a while won't do much harm. If it was near the beging of the campiagn, then possibly the AI would stall, but deep into a campaign missing a turn will not break your game.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Chapter 6: The Pontic War (Part 1)

In Syria, Demetrios was once again faced with fighting off another Ptolemaic army. Over time the Ptolemaic forces continued to decrease in quality, drafting many Jewish levies, Galatians, and random locals. Demetrios was beginning to be annoyed by the mail armor of the Galatians and Ptolemaic Thorakitai, though:


The battle when quick, and after the main force was flanked, they crumbled and were wiped out. Seeing the main force fleeing, the reinforcements turned and ran, but not before they were chased down by the Thracians and Thessalians and took heavy casualties:


Meanwhile, in northern Asia the Pontic War finally began to heat up. The city of Nikaia was once again besieged. Theodoros, son of Kalos, was forced to fend off Megabazos Stameneus and his army alone. Though, as spring approached, an army of elite Thracians, deployed by Perseus to assist his uncle in Syria, was passing by. Perseus immediately sent word to them that they were to assist the city of Nikaia. As the Thracians approached, Theodoros sallied forth to meet the Pontic enemy:


As Theodoros assembled his army outside the city gates, the Thracians marched along a ridge to the north of the town and moved to the Pontic right flank:


As the Thracians approached, Megabazos Statemeneus sacrificed several units of Hoplites from the city of Sinope as he weighed his options:


The Thracians cut through the Hoplites as though they had sheilds made of straw and slaughtered all who stood their ground. When Theodoros moved to attack the Pontic left flank with his personal guard, the Pontic forces turned and moved away from the city. Seeing the opportunity, Theodoros signalled for his entire army to charge the enemy. Fortunately the attack went well and half the army was killed before they could flee:


Near Sinope, Alkyoneus had the Pontic king, Artaxerxes Herakleotes surrounded and outnumbered. Only the city walls were between the two leaders. Realizing that an assualt on the walls of a great city would cost the lives of many men, Alkyoneus had his own army retreat and had an army of allied Galatians move in to attack the city:


The Galatian swordsmen manned the towers as they moved in on the great city. The city had been conquered and subjugated by the Pontic armies, but it still showed signs of the fact it was a Hellenic colony:


As the Galatians charged out of the towers onto the city wall, the defenders quickly realized their fates:


The swordsmen fought the skirmishers on the wall to the last man and opened the gates as the few archers who guarded the walls retreated to the city center. The Galatian spearmen then marched to the city square, followed by Alkyoneus and the cavalry. They expected to met an envoy telling them that Artaxerxes had surrendered the city and honorably taken his own life, but instead they were met with a cavalry charge of Artaxerxes and his personal detactment of cataphracts. The spearmen held their ground as Alkyoneus and the cavalry went around the reat and hit Artaxerxes from behind:


Eventually Artaxerxes was alone and being attacked from all sides. The elderly king continued to fight, alone, for many minutes, personally killing sixteen Galatians after his bodyguard was wiped out. But finally, he was pulled from his horse and stabbed many time by the Galatians. As Alkyoneus watched from his horse near the edge of the battle, he was reminded of the heros of old:


As the battle drew to a close, the Galatians began to celebrate. The celebration turned into looting. The looting turned into raping, pillaging, murder, and destruction. Unable to do anything about it, Alkyoneus watched as parts of the city burned down and the Hellenic people he had come to save were murdered before his eyes:


Word eventually reached Demetrios that this battle and the aftermath had greatly effected his brother:


Alkyoneus was quick to move the Galatians from the city of Sinope and ordered his own army in to regain order in the town. The Galatians were then ordered to engage a series of Pontic armies. Since they were clearly outnumbered, Alkyoneus had originally planned for this to just be an attempt to weaken the Pontic forces in preparation for his attack:


As the battle went on, though, the Galatians proved to be quite valuable in battle. By taking up a defensive possition on a hill, the Galatians had managed to gain just enough advantage to swing the battle and win. The Galatian army chased the Pontic forces from the field that day:


Even with half the forces, the Galatians succeeded:


The Galatians then confronted the retreating army of Megabazos Stameneus, on his way back from Nikaia. The Galatians succeeded once more, but Megabazos managed to escape:


In Sardis, a great trade hub at the end of the Persian Royal Road, where Kalos administers the western parts of Asia, a plague breaks out, so severe it even reaches the palace and Kalos himself:


In Sophene, Aristotelis, son of Demetrios continued his seige of the fort city of Karkathiokerta. Karkathiokerta had long been the gathering place of Ptolemaic military expeditions into Kappadocia and Kilikia to attack newly acquired territories in the Makedonian Empire. Now, Aristotelis sought to capture this strategic city and put an end to the Ptolemaic invasions.

After about a year of seige, the city was reinforced by an army lead by Pasikrates Koptios. As soon as the battle began, Serapion Anemurionios, governor of Sophene sallied forth with his army to assist in the battle:


Aristotelis arranged his forces in a defensive possition on the top of a hill, though it was hard to find a battle field in the region that wasn't a hill. The Dacian spearmen took the center, with the Thracians on the flanks, protecting Persian archers, all in front of the cavalry and steppe cavalry archers:


As the battle began, the garrison of Karkathiokerta was the first to make its move, charging in on the Makedonian right flank. The Persians and cavalry immediately opened fire on the approaching enemy:


As the two lines met, the Ptolemaic levies and Galatians charged the center while their general moved across the front of the line and approached the far left flank of the Makedonian line:


Seeing the flanking cavarly, Aristotelis ordered that all archers open fire on the enemy general, Serapion Anemurionios. As Serapion approached the enemy line he soon found himself under the fire of the Thracian javelin as well. Attempting to regroup, Serapion turned and moved away from the Makedonian line, but it was too late and an arrow found its mark in side of his neck:


On the right flank, Galatians attempted to flank and attack the Persian archers. Countering the threat, the Thracians rushed in and attacked the Galatian troops:


With an opening, Ptolemaic Thorakitai charged the engaged Thracians from behind:


Soon the forces attacking the center of the Makedonian line began to desolve and flee, which was soon followed by those fighting and loosing to the Thracians on the right flank. Aristotelis took his cavalry and gave chase, cutting down many before turning back and reforming. The Thracians and Dacians, meanwhile regrouped and began to march down from the hill to meet the rest of the Ptolemaic forces:


With the Makedonians forces out of formation and marching, Pasikrates Koptios, general of the Ptolemaioi, charged the Dacio-Thracian line. The Dacians and Thracians held their possition and began to cut through the heavily armored enemy cavalry:


After some time, Aristotelis managed to move his heavy Thracian cavalry around the rear of the battle and charge into the rear of the Ptolemaic general and his bodyguard:


Pasikrates Koptios quickly fell and his remaning guards began to flee. As the fight came to a close, Aristotelis soon realized that the remainder of Pasikrates' forces were lining up to attack. All that remained was a group of elite pikemen, Thorakitai, and some Jewish levies. Aristotelis quickly ordered his Dacio-Thracian line to reform and prepare for the fight:


The steppe cavalry quickly dispersed the Jewish spearmen, while the Dacians and Thracians took out the Thorakitai. Seeing they were surrounded and outnumbered, the Ptolemaic army folded and ran. The cavalry chased them down and killed the cowards:


With the sun low in the sky, Aristotelis marched into Karkathiokerta and claimed the city as his. He was surprised to find that the people were neither happy nor angry at his presence. Declaring that he was their to assist them, not subjugate them, Aristotelis kept looting to a minimum and quickly set to the task of setting up an 'independant' local government.

In Sardis, Kalos, brother to the great Antigonos dies. He was a great governor and a terrible general, though he fathered many sons and established control in Asia for this brother and nephews. Having survived the plague, he lived for nearly a year in a weakened state, only to finally fall to the forces of time:


In Makedonia, Perseus, son of Alkyoneus is left in control of the region. Seeking to expand the borders of the Makedonian Empire, locally, Perseus looks to the north. With a strong Getic Confederation, Perseus decided to do the same as his father and avoid all out war. Instead, Perseus enters negotiations to redefine the borders. Eventually after much negotiation, the Getic Confederation agrees to transfer ownership of all lands south of the river and north of Makedonia to the Makedonian Empire. In exchange, Perseus offers a large some of money and the promise of continued friendship:


Perseus then personally moved to the fort city of Naissos, where he quickly established military control:


With the city in control, Perseus immediately refounds the city and begins to completely rebuild it from the ground up. With a new territory, Perseus busies himself with surveying the land, controlling the locals, and building up his new city.

The known world in 229BC:


Next: Chapter 7: The Pontic War (Part 2)