The Antigonids : A Makedonian AAR

[Subedei]

Very good AAR! One observation: Pavla has a freaky territory East of AS & South of Baktria....like an isle. Let us see how long that one will last?!?!

[CaesarAugustus]

Nice AAR, those I love those Uazali from the third chapter!

This is interesting MAA, keep updating. I always wished that you had made that ridiculously huge Roman Empire you had in 0.8 into an AAR, but the Maks are a good choice too.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks!

Yeah, the Seleucids attacked India early on and managed to take one town. However, when the Ptolemaioi started kicking their butt, they lost that town and it defaulted to Pahlav (because that is the founder/creator faction for Indian provinces). I thought they would loose it or AS would take it right back, but they haven't. In fact, Baktria recently reached the point of critical mass (they get to a certain point of power and just steamroll the entire east) and swept westward against the Parthians. The Pahlav capital then went to Opiana, India. I think there may be an Indian faction and now Parthian faction in my campaign, soon.

I am trying to use more new units, but it is hard since most battles worth taking pictures of have old elite units. I got some nice pictures of some new Pontic units though, for the chapter after next.

I had a short AAR about my Roman campaign, but I got bogged down in my Gallic Wars and realized that my writting style wasn't good enough without any pictures to back it up.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Chapter 5: 233BC - 230BC

In 233BC, Mazaka was once again besieged by the forces of the Ptolemaioi. This time the heir to the Pharoah, Alexandros Thraikikos lead the army himself. Alexandros was a great politician and ruler, but his military skill was lacking. Even at his age, it seemed he had seen very little battle:


With superior numbers of archers and long range units, the Ptolemaioi are chased off and the seige lifted. Alexandros Thraikikos fell back to Sophene and readies another attack:


In Syria, Demetrios establishes Makedonian power and secures Antiocheia against future attacks. Although he is known as a great general, Demetrios becomes known as a good man who is just in rule. Even though it may be harmful to his reputation amongst his equals, Demetrios becomes known as an intellegent ruler who refuses to oppress the people he rules:


To his enemies, Demetrios is seen as less just. To the south of Antiocheia, the first wave of a counter attack begins to assemble. Rather than wait for reinforcements to arrive and assemble a large army, Demetrios attacks the Ptolemaic forces south of Antiocheia:


Though a failed flanking manuever costs the lives of many Thracians, the battle comes to a quick end. Lacking anything to counter the Makedonian Pezhetairoi, the Ptolemaioi recieve a crushing defeat.


In Pella, Perseus, son of Alkyoneus is left in charge of local administration. Perseus lacks the skill and charisma that his father, uncle, and grandfather had, but Perseus manages to govern Makedonia and Thrace well enough. Alkyoneus' other son, governor of Kallatis, is definately the one who follows in the footsteps of the great men in his family, but Perseus is heir to Alkyoneus.

Perseus takes over his father's job of monitoring distant areas and covertly assisting distant colonies of the Hellens. As the time went by, a messanger arrived in Pella. He gave the simple message, "Rejoice, Syrakousai is rebelling." Alkyoneuis had once considered using his army to liberate the Hellens of Sicilia, but was now forced into a war with Pontos. Now the need was no longer there. On the distant island of Siclia, the great Hellenic colony of Syrakousai had managed to once more repulse the forces of Carthage from the south of the island:


During this time, Perseus also managed to build the proper infrastructure and convince the Thracians to support the Makedonian Empire more than they had before. Now, Thracian nobles were willing to fight for the Makedonians. Perseus quickly recruited some of these elite soldiers for the wars in the east:


In Asia, the city of Mazaka was again besieged by the Ptolemaioi. With every attack, more and more locals were conscripted into the garrison force of the city to replace and augment the original Hellenic/Makedonian garrison. Now, another Thraikikos besieged the town with a small army centered around elite phalanx units:


As the battle began, Pantauchos Singios, governor of Mazaka, had his pikemen assualt from one side while he and the more mobile men attacked from the other. With several battle pulses by the Peltastai and Mazakan townsfolk, elements of the Ptolemaic army began to flee. As the bulk of the Jewish spearmen and levies attacked the peasant lines, Theokles Thraikikos saw his oppertunity and took his guard around the Makedonian flank. Though successful in flanking and crashing into the rear of the Makedonian line, Theokles soon found himself surrounded and began to panic. As Theokles Thraikikos fled, much of his army broke and followed him. Pantauchos Singios gave pursuit and cut down many of the fleeing Ptolemaioi.

Meanwhile, the Makedonian pikemen held the superior Ptolemaic phalanxes in place. As the phalanxes were held in place, the Armenian bowmen circled around behind the enemy line. Regrouping after their battle, the Mazakan peasants formed up with the archers. Now in possition, the bowmen opened fire at close range apon the rear of the Ptolemaioi line. As scores of men fell, the line broke and tried to flee. With the enemies in disorder, the surrounding Makedonians broke formation and all charged in at the remaining Ptolemaioi. Soon, none remained and the day had been won:



The next spring, Alexandros Thraikikos made this move. With his supplies replenished, the Ptolemaic heir, marched his depleted army to Antiocheia, where it was reinforced with Galatians from Egypt:


Even greatly outnumbered, the inept tactician, Alexandros Thraikikos, didn't retreat. Eventually, Alexandros made the mistake of engadging the Thessalian cavalry under Demetrios. Quickly surrounded, Alexandros soon lost all of his bodyguard and was alone:


Fighting to the end, Alexandros was killed and the would-be next Pharoah died on the plains of Syria, just outside the city of Antiocheia.

Seeing their general killed and the forces they came to reinforce wiped out, the Galatians turned and fled the field before they even fought. Once again, Demetrios had won the day and won the support of the Makedonians living in Syria:


In Kilikia, a Ptolemaic army had managed to move in from Sophene and march over the mountains during the winter to attack the garrison at Tarsos, the same spring. The garrison of Tarsos was weak. Demetrios had expected any attack on Kilikia to be made through Syria where he and his army could counter it. Now, with Tarsos besieged, Demetrios couldn't risk leaving Syria without a garrison while he marched to Kilikia. Instead, Demetrios ordered his son, already enroute to Syria from Kypros, to engadge the Ptolemaioi in Kilikia. Landing south of the city, Aristotelis marched around the city and confronted the enemy at their camp near a river crossing:


Aristotelis lined up his Dacio-Thracian army near a bridge, but both sides refused to move at first:


Aristotelis ordered his steppe horsemen to move downstream and find a crossing to flank the enemy. Meanwhile, the Thracians slowly marched across the bridge, completely unappossed by the Ptolemaioi:


With the cavalry successfully flanking the Ptolemaioi, and the Thracians safely across the bridge, both lines opened fire. The Thracians threw their spears and the cavalry fired their arrows:


The Ptolemaioi remained in formation and didn't counter the Thracians. Though, as soon as the Dacian spearmen moved to cross the bridge, the Ptolemaioi decided to engadge their enemy before they would have to face the entire army of Aristotelis:


As the fighting went on, the Galatians serving the Ptolemaioi quickly learned that their army was no match for the Thracian weapons. As the Thracians continued to cut through the Galatians, the Dacians rushed across the bridge and joined the fight:


The decreasing number of Galatians tried to hold off their falx weilding enemy, but were soon forced to flee the battle:


As the day ended, Aristotelis had won his first important battle and gained the respect of those in the Makedonian Empire:


After the battle ended, Aristotelis reorganized his men gained supplies and marched north. Aristotelis moved to gain control of the mountains that the Ptolemaioi had been using to attack Kilikia and Kappadocia for years. As winter came, Aristotelis set up winter camp in a valley, but soon was confronted by another Ptolemaic army. Fearing their escape route had been cut off, a army heading for Mazaka doubled back and attacked Aristotelis:


The weak Ptolemaic forces lacked a compitent leader and didn't stand long before they broke and fled. With nowhere to flee safely to, most of them were chased down and killed in the Kappadocian hills:


In Galatia, Alkyoneus had managed to take the city of Ankyra and gain control of the rest of the region. The Pontic garrison gave in without a fight, even though there were large Pontic armies near by, they did not risk a battle over the Galatian, even though a relative of the Pontic king lead the Ankyra garrison:


As Alkyoneus took the city, he quickly ensured the people that he was their to help as an ally and not a conqueror. To show his support to the Galatians and shared hatred of Pontos, the Pontic general was executed. Alkyoneus quickly repaired the Galatian infrastructure and set up a temperary government. After a while, Alkyoneus found one of the few surviving Galatian nobles, after the Pontic slaughter, and set him up as ruler of the region. Alkyoneus then took his army and left, leaving the Galatians to rule themselves as they had before:



In Syria, the Ptolemaioi once again attempted a futile attempt to capture the the city of Antiocheia:


Thanks to the Creten archers and their flanking, the Ptolemaioi attempted to retreat. As they retreated, Demetrios managed to seperate small groups from the main group and run them down with his cavalry. In the end, the Ptolemaioi lost two thirds of their army:


Word soon reached Syria and the Makedonian Empire that the Satrapy of Baktria had separated itself from the Seleucids. Though they had not openly challenged Seleucid power, they no longer followed orders coming from Seluekeia. They had begun to independantly expand and had even attacked the Pahlav, allies of Seleukia. Soon the Pahlav core was conquered and the northern territories of Arche Seleukia were threated by these rebels:


As the winter of 230BC came, the Makedonian Empire faced a new set up problems and challenges. In Assyria, the Seleucids continued their counterattack against the Ptolemaioi by attacking the city of Edessa. North of there, Aristotelis had decided to attack Sophene, the staging point of countless invasions into Makedonian territory:


In northern Asia, Pontos once again beseiged the city of Nikaia. Along the northern coastline, Alkyoneus besieged the city of Sinope where Artaxerxes, king of Pontos ruled his kingdom from:


And in Syria, Demetrios was once again besieged. This time the Ptolemaic forces were vast in number and yet not too threatening:


The known world in the winter of 230BC:


Next: Chapter 6: The Pontic War

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Again very enticing to start a new Makedonian campaign on my own. I like how you roleplay the characters. Can the Maks now recruit the Skytho-Hellenic Bowmen, Toxotai Thureophoroi I think they are called?

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Again very enticing to start a new Makedonian campaign on my own. I like how you roleplay the characters. Can the Maks now recruit the Skytho-Hellenic Bowmen, Toxotai Thureophoroi I think they are called?

I'll answer that question with a picture of them fighting for me in the next chapter:

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Cool. Makedonia really has one of the best unit-rosters. Only thing they really lack is Thorakitai.

[gurakshun]

I'll answer that question with a picture of them fighting for me in the next chapter:

awwww man are you serious? just when i thought pontos had a decent advantage over the massive juggernauts in the area. now when i think about it, pontos is outclassed in phalanxes (chalkaspides <<< argyraspides, reformed mak heavy phalanx), infantry (do those pontic thorakitai even count?), cavalry, and now even archers are the same. i suppose our only advantage is the ability to recruit tindanotae...but that is hardly factional nor does it make sense for pontos to have their best unit be gallic.

any suggestions on how to play pontos properly based on its units? so far i've only been using an imitation alexandrian style army - a line made up of the best phalanxes, behind is the bosphoran heavy archers, swinging out to the flanks is tindanotae while the galatian heavy spearman screen enemy cavalry, supported in their role by scythian noble cav and FM. any suggestions on how to make better use of the pontic roster?

On topic: really enjoying this AAR and the awesome armies and their compositions you bring up. i'm staying tuned in.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Chapter 7: The Pontic War (Part 2)

After some time, Alkyoneus manages to establish control of Sinope, hiring some local levied Hoplites to defend the city. With the city in relative order, Alkyoneus decides to move in and hit the Pontics before they can build an even bigger army. The Pontic forces consisted of two large armies and two smaller armies. One small army had been defeated by the Galatians, while the other had attacked Nikaia and failed, only to be defeated by the Galatian army as well. The largest army guarded their capital at Amaseia, while the second large army had conquered Trapezous. After the Makedonian-Pontos war had started, the Pontic forces at Trapezous had withdrawn to their capital. The citizens of Trapezous saw their opertunity and overthrew the remaining Pontic garrison and liberated themselves. But now, Alkyoneus marched against the Pontic capital and their two remaining armies. As he besieged the city, the Pontic field army moved to attack the rear of Alkyoneus' camp:


Alkyoneus possitions his army to counter the Pontic field army, hoping he could crush it before the army from Amaseia arrived:


On the flanks were the elite Basilikon Agema, sent to defend the Makedonian king:


In the center were elite veteran pikemen:


As the battle started, Alkyoneus quickly noticed the Pontic chariots rushing forward:


As the Pontic chariots attempted to flank the Makedonian line, the Pheraspides squad of the Basilikon Agema opened fire with their javelin. Taking losses, the chariots turned to charge their attackers:

[Stupid arrows.]

Though having taken many losses, the chariots turned and fled before most of them could even have a chance to use their deadly blades against the Makedonian flank. Meanwhile, the two lines of infantry slowly began to clash:


Alkyoneus began to move to the flanks with his Hetairoi, while in the center of the lines two groups of elites fought:


As his elite silver shield pikemen began to suffer losses, Alkyoneus quickly made a charge on the rear (now undefended with the flight of the chariots) of the Pontic phalanx:


The elite Pontic soldiers quickly started fleeing, but before Alkyoneus could make another move, he was confronted with Galatian mercenary cavalry serving the Pontic king:


While the two sides of infantry fought, Alkyoneus and the Hetairoi were faced with defeating many groups of Pontic cavalry right behind the Pontic line. As the Galatians turned and fled, Alkyoneus tried to possition his men again to attack the Pontic infantry, but was now faced with skirmishers. As he turned to face the skirmishers, the fled just far enough to continuing harrassing the Makedonians. Using a few tricks, Alkyoneus finally managed to force one group into combat:


As the Pontic cavalry broke and fled, Alkyoneus turned to see that the Pontic infantry had broken as well and were fleeing. Alkyoneus quickly charged in and crushed the Pontic troops who were attempting to reform. As Alkyoneus chased down the Pontic army, the main battle line turned and reformed to counter the Pontic army from the city, which had recently appeared, marching down from the edge of hill:


First forward from the Pontic army was, again, the chariots. As the Pontic chariots seemed to be flanking the main line, Alkyoneus decided to counter them personally with his Hetairoi, rather than devert troops. Alkyoneus lined up his cavalry and charged into the formation of chariots:


As he hit, both sides took losses, but soon the chariots paniced and began to flee. Rather then let them get away, Alkyoneus gave chase, but then tragedy hit. As one of the chariots rushed past Alkyoneus, the blades hit his horse, cutting its legs out from under it. Alkyoneus flew through the air, chashing to the ground in a mangled mass. His Hetairoi broke off and turned to assist, but it was too late. He lay motionless on the field, dead:


[I didn't do that on purpose, I was actually stupid enough to get my faction leader killed off by taking on scythed chariots.]

Seeing their king fall, the Basilikon Agema quickly rushed forward to save their king or at the least defend his corpse from Pontic desecration:


The Hetairoi quickly attacked Pontic cavalry attempting to make their way to Alkyoneus' corpse, chasing them from the field. Meanwhile, the Basilikon Agema fended of nearly the entire Pontic army, including the general and next in line to the Pontic throne, Megabazos Stameneus. The Pezhetairoi line moved forward to defend the body of their king:


Just to the west, Arsiochos Amaseios, the new king of Pontos charged straight into the Makedonian phalanxes, with surprisingly few lossses:


Without their king and general, the Makedonian army struggled to maintain order. With their flanks wide open, the phalanx line attempted to continue to engage the enemy:


To the south, the Basilikon Agema achieved a victory, with the long overdue death of Megabazos Stameneus:


But soon, the battle was too much, even for these elite Makedonian men. As they became overwhelmed, groups started to break off and flee. Soon, only one lone unit of Hypaspitai spearmen held the Pontic army from attacking the rear of the pike line:


As the Pontic king began to force his way through the Makedonian phalanx, the Bosphorians, who had been considering retreat, moved to flank the cavalry:


As the Bosphorians fought on, it seemed that even the pikemen and flanking manuever wasn't enough to stop these heavy cavalry. Just as the battle looked completely lost, the Hetairoi returned from chasing off the rest of the Pontic cavalry and charged the Pontic king with all the energy the poor horses had left in them:


Arsiochos Amaseios' cavalry finally began to die, and soon the Pontic king was nearly alone. Fearing for his own life, he turned and fled as the remainder of his personal cavalry fell. The Hetairoi chased him from the field as the Makedonian line turned to face the rest of the Pontic army:


As the Makedonian line once again formed up to protect the body of their king, the Pontic army began to flee. Seeing their king fleeing and the Makedonians revitalized to face them again, the fled to the defenses of their city:


Even with the death of their king, the Makedonian army had achieved an amazing feat that day. Facing forces nearly twice their number and fighting after the death of their king, to the death in the case of much of the Basilikon Agema, it was a day to be remembered for all time. On the site where Alkyoneus had fallen from his horse, a plaque was placed to comemorate the battle and the death of the king:


When word reached Demetrios that his brother had died, they say he had to hide himself away from the public for the rest of the day. Even though they had competed at nearly everything, Demetrios had loved his elder brother. Even when their father had died without an heir, they cared enough for their family and eachother that they had promised to share the thrown. Now, however, Demetrios was the sole king of the growing Makedonian Empire:


Demetrios gave a speech to the people of Antiocheia and sent for his son, Aristotelis. When Aristotelis arrived in Syria (he had already been on his way after setting up a local king to rule Sophene for Makedonia), Demetrios handed over the governorship of Antiocheia and the command of the eastern army to his son. Demetrios then immediately boarded the Makedonian fleet in the Syrian harbor and sailed for Makedonia itself.

In Thessaly, Euboulides, youngest son of Antigonos, received word of his eldest brothers death and his brother, Demetrios' ascension to the throne. Euboulides had been governor of various places in Makedonia, Epeiros, and Thessaly for some time but had little hands on experience with warfare like his brothers:


Rather than sadness, anger overcame Euboulides. He quickly sent message to Pella and to his brother that he was headed for Pontos to join the forces still beseiging the city. When word reached Demetrios in Rhodos, he sent a messenger to meet up with Euboulides and grant him full command of Alkyoneus' army to crush the remaining Pontic forces and completely destroy the entire kingdom. The only condition was that once Pontos fell and the territory secured that the army was to be sent back to Makedonia. The army, thus waited in their depleted state for Euboulides to arrives so that they might continue the war and avenge their king.

Demetrios soon landed in Makedonia, arriving before the body of his brother. Demetrios puposely brough no military forces with him as he approached Pella:


As Demetrios entered the capital city of Pella, he was greeted with hesitant cheering and praise. As he came to the center of town he was greeted by his nephew Perseus, first born son of the previous king. An awkward silence filled the entire agora for what seemed like a lifetime. Then with a sudden fluid movement the tension was released as Perseus embraced his uncle. The next morning, the two men appeared in the agora and annouced that Demetrios was the new king of the vast Makedonian Empire.

Soon, the body of Perseus arrived in Pella, where it was burned in the pyre in a great ceremony. The ceremony was even grander than the ceremony that was for Antigonos. When Antigonos had died, the Makedonian Kingdom was in a precarious place, but now the Makedonian Empire was strong and rich and could risk having all the distant generals travel to Pella for a burial.

As Alkyoneus was entombed in Aigai, on the far side of the empire, Euboulides had finally arrived in Pontos. With minor forces defending the last loyal Pontic city, where the Pontic king hid, Euboulides decides to risk an attack on the walls:


With mercenaries leading the attack, Euboulides prepares to attack the northern gate of the city:


After receiving missile fire from archer, skirmisher, and tower, the seige towers reach the wall. As the caucasian swordsmen charge out, they quickly deal with the Hellenic archers and Hellenic skirmishers in front of them. On the east side of the gate, the opposition is light:


To the west, though, the fighting is much tougher:


The Basilikon Agema quickly moves to the eastern tower to get passed the fighting and enter the city, while Pezhetairoi move to the western tower to assest the outnumbered mercenaries. As they take the walls, the Pheraspides move into possition where they are just above a group of Pontic chariots. Realizing that these can be none other than the the chariots that killed their king, they open fire with the javelin [with help from a captured tower]. Soon the entire unit lays dead in a twisted heap of horse, man, and machine:


The Hypaspistai, on the other hand, quickly move to assist the mercenaries at the eastern tower:


As the enemy on the eastern side are defeated, the Hypaspistai move to assest the western side, as the Pontic forces are crushed between them and the Pezhetairoi:


As the walls are taken, the rest of the infantry move in through the captured gate. The Bosphorians and slingers then move in and take up possition on the walls of the city. Near the eastern gate, they see an oppertunity and open fire on the Pontic king in the town square:


Angered by the attack, the Pontic king and his remaining cavalry rush from the town square and charge down a road at the assembling Makedonian forces. Unprepared for the attack, the Pezhetairoi and Hetairoi simply attack with sword and counter the Pontic heavy cavalry:


The battle lasts quite some time, but eventually Arsiochos Amaseios, King of Pontos, falls dead in the streets of Amaseia:


Even as the Pontic king fought on, a flanking force of Makedonians manages to make it to the center of the town. As the enter the town square, the face a line of elite Pontic pikemen, whom they counter:


As the fighting goes on, it eventually desolves into broken formation sword battle:


As the last Pontic soldier falls dead, the town taken, the Makedonian soldiers celebrate and cheer Euboulides' name:

[Look at the time. I almost lost the battle even though there were only a couple Pontic guys left.]


With the death of the last Pontic king and the fall of their capital, the Kingdom of Pontos fades into history, as its citizens are integrated into the Makedonian Empire:


As the era draws to a close:
Aristotelis fends off another attack on Syria by the Ptolemaioi, with little effect:



A plague from Egypt arrives in Kypros and devistates the population:


Makedonian greatness once again trumps all other nations:


North of Makedonia, the reconstruction of Naissos is completed as it is rebuilt as a Hellenistic city:


And to the east, the Kingdom of Hayasdan conquers the newly liberated Hellenistic colony of Trapezous:

Next: Chapter 8: Kyrenaia
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Ha! I found the forum cap for number of pictures.