The Antigonids : A Makedonian AAR

[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 After the Makedonian-Pontos war had started, the Pontic forces at Trapezous had withdrawn to their capital.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.