The Wine-Dark Sea: A Tale of Pontos

[Callicles]

Introductory Matters

For years, I have found Pontos to be the most interesting faction in the game. No other faction, save perhaps for the Baktrians, presents such a unique cultural and social situation. Whereas much of the eastern experience is dominated by the Hellenes and their influences, the Kingdom of Pontos is a tiny holdout, where Persian nobles rule over Anatolians and Hellenes alike.

It is also, in many respects, one of the more difficult factions of the game. The conventional wisdom is that the only way to survive as Pontos is to quickly strike at Sinope and Trapezous. With this AAR I hope to show that while such a plan might be the best course, it is not the only one. Please enjoy.

This is my first attempt at an AAR. Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Mods

Marcus Aurelius Antonius' City Mod
BI.exe with Night Battles enabled.

House Rules

Foreign Policy
Foreign Policy is determined firstly by the personality of the Faction Leader; however, if other key family members or generals have enough influence, their personalities will also impact the decisions of the King. Also, characters with the selfish/disloyal combination of traits will be more likely to make decisions on their own, especially if they are far from the capital city.
The second determinant of foreign policy decisions comes from economics and trade. The trade screen for the cities shows who the city is trading with. Sometimes this may result in a war to capture that trading partner or, depending on diplomatic relations, a war to help defend a key trading partner.

Conquest and Government
When conquering cities, with a few exceptions, they city must begin as an allied state and continue as one until either the death of the client-ruler or some other event regarding role-play which makes the arrangement out of place. The exceptions to the rule are as follows: Mazaka in Kappadokia can immediately provided with a Type I homeland government due to the number of Kappadokians living there. Sinope and Trapezous may begin as a Type III Phil-Hellenic Satrapy because of their proximity to Amaseia and their historical connection to the Persian Dynasts who ruled over those regions prior to the conquest of Alexander the Great. This not to say that they will begin as Phil-Hellenic Satrapies, but rather that it will not be against the rules to do so.

Succession
Succession will be determined firstly by the principles of agnatic succession, but other factors may come into play depending upon role-play. Those other factors most likely will be related to the fact that the Pontic family line is wrought with deep familial struggle between the Persians, Kappadokians, and Hellenes. Thrakians, Galatians, and Skythians, may also play a part, but most likely as a secondary struggle among each other or for their benefactors.

Battles
Battles are fought as realistically as possible. The only way I know how to do this is to make both strategy and tactics dependent upon prior experience of the commanders. Moreover, a generalized strategy must be put into place before the battle. That order of battle can only be changed provided the General or his lieutenants are nearby the units to provide them with new orders. If units are far from the General for too long and their initially planned tasks are completed, they will be put under AI control until the General or a Lieutenant can rejoin them.

Recruitment
Recruitment will follow three lines of organization: (1) city; (2) general; (3) faction.
(1) Each city will recruit along the following formula: one peasant, two citizen, one noble. Peasant units are things like slingers, archers, and skirmishers. Citizen units may be units like classical hoplites, Kappadokian infantry, or pantadapoi phalangitai. Noble units are expensive units that require high upkeep; therefore this is often cavarly. Because the early Pontic campaign has an abundance of family members, no noble units will be recruited until the discrepancy between family members and armies is reduced. However, as the wealth of the Kingdom increases, some units at first considered may later be treated as peasants (the best example are the Kappadokian Hillmen).
(2) Each General will keep the mercenaries he recruits with him at all times.
(3) The Faction will have a royal army that goes wherever the King orders it to go. The King need not personally lead the army, but it will be composed of a professional and uniform force (e.g., at the beginning of the game, it is the Royal Army that will be the only force with the Pantodapoi Phalanx).

Garrisons
Each city will have as its garrison one unit of the cheapest peasant units of the city’s culture for every 3,000 male citizens capable of wielding arms. So, if Amaseia has a population of 6,000 (assuming that the number represents only those who could be recruited, and not the total population of old men, women, or children), then it will have two unit garrison of artesh-pada/ Eastern Skirmishers. This should help slow both city growth and economic surplus while at the same time representing the men-at-arms who would voluntarily defend their homes if attacked.

Personal Modifications

I have altered the family of Pontos at the beginning of the game to make it much smaller. Also, based on my reading of Diodoros' history, Mithridates II, son of Ariobarzanes should be much younger than he is at the start of EB. Indeed, no older than an infant. As such, he is only one year old at the start of the campaign, instead of the usual thirteen of fourteen.

My decision to remove so many other family members was based how large the family is at the beginning of the game. And because each family member comes with the powerful Kappadokan cavalry I have on several occasions when playing Pontos in the past, taken Trapezous, Sinope, and Mazaka, using nothing but family members and their heavy cavalry to “starve” out the defenders. Such a game is not enjoyable, nor does it make for an interesting story. Therefore, I have altered the family dramatically as shown below. This makes the game more infantry focused, which is what I want anyway.




As you are reading, you may find this map helpful. I have relied on it heavily while playing the game. I also suggest that you take a look at Konny's excellent house-rules thread over at TWC. Many of my own impressions on house rules and role playing comes from his thread on the subject.

Lastly, thanks are in order to the developers of this great mod. Europa Barbarorum is what a student of the classics, like me, always wanted from a computer game. Many thanks to all who helped make it into a reality.

Without further adieu…

[Callicles]

Prologue – The Ktistes of Pontos

The Ktistes was tired from a long life filled with fighting.

After the death of Alexander, Antigonos I Monophthalmos, the one-eyed general who fought for Alexander at Gaugamela, seized the throne of Makedon. Soon after, he invited the nobles of the Mikra Asia to join the royal court of Pella. The dynast of Mariandynia sent his son and heir, Mithridates, to the court. The boy quickly became friends with the good Prince Demetrios Poliorketes, even campaigning with him in Syria. But when Mithridates’ father made overtures with Kassandros, the son of Antipater and the pretender to the throne of Makedon, the tyrant Antigonos had the dynast murdered in the small town of Kius on the far western edge of Mariandynia. Warned by Demetrios that Antiginos sought to assassinate Mithridates also, Mithridates fled from the court of Pella and into the mountains of central Anatolia. He took up refuge in the ancient mountain fortress of the Kimmiata on the western slopes of the Olgassys Mountains near Paphlagonia. From there he staged his rebellion against the Diadachoi, slowly wining favor with the free poleis of the Pontic Hellenes on the coast of the Pontos Euxine.



Eventually, this rebellion settled into permanency. After the tyrant Antigonos was long dead, Mithridates came down from his fortress and settled in the city of Amaseia in Kappadokia. There, both from his endeavors to keep the region clear of brigands, as well as his hereditary claim to the region – it was in fact Dareios the Great who first granted his family dunasteia over Mariandynia and Mysia - he was soon greeted as Basileus. But he was more than just the king; he was the founder of a new kingdom and a new people. He was the Ktistes of Pontos.



In the spring of 272 BC, it had been thirty years since he fled from the court of Makedon.

After such a life filled with violence and strife, the Ktistes sought peace. As he saw his daughter-in-law carry his infant grandson, whom she called Mithridates in his honor, he knew that he owed his family and his kingdom more than just a sanctuary from the wars of the Diadachoi. His tiny kingdom on the Pontos should be a center of learning, cultural diversity, and prosperity. It should be as a light in the world of darkness that surrounded it. To realize this dream, the Ktistes disbanded his royal army of pantodapoi phalangitai, and sent word across the Hellenic world to all the sophists, philosophers, and poets: the royal city of Amaseia was constructing a school for the nobility; any and all were welcome to take up residence in the city so as to teach the noble sons of Kappadokia-on-the-Pontos in the ways of art, mathematics, poetry, and philosophy. It was a noble dream, but it was one the Ktistes would not live to see. In the winter, during the festival celebrating the birth of Mithra, he quietly passed into the afterlife.

The King was buried in the ancient catacombs of the Hittites high above the city of Amaseia. The caves were carved into the face of the rocks, and led to large underground chambers deep into the mountains. Before the sun rose, the city marched in a torchlight funerary procession to the cave opening. Inside, the priests of Mithra, the judge of souls, interred the Ktistes' body for his eternal sleep.



Afterwards, the funeral procession returned to the center of the city. As the funeral festival began on the city square, Ariobarzanes ascended the steps of the Temple of Men, the equestrian moon god who each night rode across the heavens. He remained inside the temple throughout the day as the festivities below continued. Then, in the evening, when the moon again began its journey, he appeared and descended into the square. Having performed the rituals and said the prayers, the cheering throng of Amaseia clamored to meet him. And they greeted him as king.

So began the reign of Ariobarzanes, King of Pontos.



Coming Soon Part I: Chapter 1 - Betrayal

[Chirurgeon]

I just destroyed Pontos in my AAR. Should be interesting to see how you do. Good luck. I like the pictures so far. Very nice. Nice title as well :)

[kambiz]

Very nice AAR Callicles I like the Ponts. Looking forward for the next chapter

[CirdanDharix]

Excellent! Good luck with your peaceful (?) Pontos. You'll probably be forced to do some expanding, though--the AI appears to hate nothing so much than a player who is at peace.

[Callicles]

Part 1: The Reign of Ariobarzanes - Chapter 1: Betrayal (271-260BC)

King Ariobazanes, although different in personality than his noble father, knew that the best course was to continue as the Ktistes had planned and to be a friend of the people. He completed the construction of new grain stores, and he then began to expand the city. The school was also completed, and the young Kappadokan nobles began attending the lectures by the resident sophists and other learned men. But, not having his father’s same generous spirit, he also used much of the treasury to build a large palace for himself near the city square.



Prosperity continued. With time, ambassadors from the Pharaoh, Ptolomey II Philadelphos, arrived in Amaseia. The war between the Arche Seleukeia and the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Aegypt was burning in the desert sands of the Koele-Syria. The Ktistes had negotiated an alliance with the Seleukid King, Antiochos I Soter, but the ambassadors from Ptolemy II sought to persuade Ariobarzanes to switch his support to the Pharaoh rather than the King of Syria. Although they offered tribute, Ariobarzanes knew that if he declared war on the Syrians on his southern border, he would need more than a few hundred mnai a year to defend his Kingdom. The Seleukids had a large empire extending from the Aegean to the border-shores of the Indus River valley. In the Kappadokan capital of Mazaka, some hundred miles to the south of Amaseia, the Syrians maintained a large garrison. The Royal Road of Persia connecting Persepolis with the wealthy cities of the Ionian coast ran directly through Mazaka. It was essential for the Syrians that Mazaka remain under their control.



If Ariobarzanes betrayed the King of Syria, the Seleukids would respond like a hydra on his southern border. He could not take such a risk unless he had the resources to maintain an army, and the paltry sums offered by the Aegyptians would not be enough. Above all else, he did not wish to go to war with the Seleukids. He had nothing to gain by striking at Mazaka, and such action would only bring death to many, and almost certainly bring a quick end to his life.

Instead, he focused his efforts on peaceful pursuits, and helped the people of Amaseia toil in the lands around the city – although not personally. The royal treasury paid for new irrigation that helped make the land more productive, and for roads that helped bring in trade from afar. The coast at Amastris was cleared, and a port was constructed.



Every improvement he financed brought him more respect, influence, and wealth. But even then, Ariobarzanes was respectful of the nobility’s prerogatives in the rural districts, and he supported the Kappadokan oligarchy. The Kappadokans returned the respect with dividends, including the service of their sons as his personal bodyguard. In every respect, Ariobarznaes enjoyed being king.



But in the winter of 265, a small force of mercenaries under the employ of the Syrian governor of Mazaka appeared on the border. Soon, they were joined by another force and King Ariobarzanes became agitated. Ariobarzanes began to suspect that the King of Syria was plotting betrayal. Unsure, but not wanting to be caught unaware, he began preparations for a military build up of his own. He called in men from the fields and flocks to serve as garrison. If war was coming, Ariobarzanes would be prepared.




And the war came. In the fall of 263 the King of Syria betrayed Ariobarznaes, and attacked Amaseia with an army of Karian and Galatian mercenaries. As the winter set in, the King prepared his militia for battle. When the weather was at its coldest, he sallied out from behind the walls.




While both the Karians and the Galatians were ill prepared for the cold temperatures, the Karians were unaccustomed to the harsh weather of the Anatolian plateau. Far from the warmth of their homes in Halikarnassos and other settlements in Karia, they shivered in their ranks. King Ariobarzanes and his much younger brother, Prince Arsames, slammed their Kappadokan cavalry into their freezing mass.



Meanwhile, the militia engaged the mercenary phalanx and Galatians who protected the phalanx’s left flank. The militia, composed of simple farmers and shepherds armed with small shields, daggers, and throwing javelins, did their best against the barbarians. Despite lack of training, armor, or equipment, the militia stood its ground bravely against the Galatians and phalangitai; so strong is the desire to protect home and family. Although the Seleukid mercenaries had superior numbers, and indeed the quality of their numbers far surpassed that of the militia, without cavalry to stop the charges of the Kappadokan knights, the Seleukids were undone.



Unable to withstand the combination of the cold and the Kappadokan knights, the Karians were the first to flee the field.



With their flanks collapsing, and the Galatians performing poorly against the militia, the mercenary phalanx collapsed as the King and Prince charged it from both sides.



In the end, the Kappadokan knights had won the battle, but their charges would have been useless without the courageous sacrifices of the militia. Many brave men gave their lives holding the phalanx and Galatians in check so that the cavalry could outmaneuver the infantry. Appropriately, the prize of battle went to the militia.



After the battle, an explanation for the attack arrived from the south. Messengers brought word that Pharaoh Ptolemy II had negotiated a peace with Antiochos of Syria. The mercenaries who attacked Amaseia were originally hired to fight the forces of Ptolemy in Kilikia, but when the war ended, they had to look for other targets for plunder and payment. Nearly two-hundred years earlier, Thracian mercenaries did the same at the town of Mykalessos when they arrived too late to join the Athenian expedition against Syracuse.



The explanation did not convince Ariobarzanes. Ariobarzanes was a dishonest man himself, and he could spot a lie anywhere. This explanation, he thought, was a tale made up after the fact to explain away a failed attempt to take the city by surprise. Another invasion would soon come.



The new war would likely be long and bloody. Because he knew that he would need the strong support of the Kappadokian oligarchy, Ariobarzanes married his sister off to Metrodoros Phabdaios. Metrodoros was an aristocrat from an influential family. His prestige would bring more Kappadokan knights into the service of Ariobarzanes.



At the same time, Ariobarzanes negotiated a truce with the Ptolemaic Dynasty of Aegypt. The prior state of war between the two kingdoms was merely a matter of necessity – Ariobarzanes and his father had been friends of the Syrians because the Syrians were so close. Now that the Syrians were his enemy, Ariobarzanes needed a new friend as powerful as Antiochos I Soter. His negotiations were successful, and Ariobarzanes found a new friend in Ptolemy II Philadelphos. The Aegyptians agreed to fund the defense of Amaseia for a period of three years. Ariobarzanes put the money to use at once, and he ordered the training of Hellenized Phalangitai.



To the Aegyptians, this “Anatalolian Problem” was an effective proxy to keep Antiochos distracted while the Ptolemaic forces readied for war again in Syria and Phoenike. No matter; Ariobarzanes was confident that within that time he could bring destruction to the Syrians in Mazaka and the Kappadokans there who supported them. By raiding deep into Kappadoka and seizing the city of Mazaka, he would cut off all trade moving on the Persian Royal Road. The wealthy satrapies in Phrygia and beyond would be severed from the heart of the Arche Seleukeia. The Syrians would be forced to rely on merchant shipping, but on sea the Ptolemies and their allies the Athenians were masters.



But in the summer of 261, while Metrodoros and his knights were battling brigands in and around the port at Amastris, a large army of the Arche Seleukeia under the command of one Strouthion Phokaias of Ionia, surrounded and besieged Amaseia. The enemy quickly threw up walls of circumvallation, and in the late winter, after the festival of Mithra, they assaulted the city with rams.




Ariobarzanes and his brother Arsames both charged out from the walls with their cavalry as they had done before. The King focused his efforts on the infantry, while the young Prince intercepted the Seleukid cavalry. But once the first ram touched the wall, both group of knights retreated back through the gates to oversee the efforts of the infantry. The fight to break through the walls lasted for hours as the Seleukids, through sheer mass, tried to force their way through.




The Royal Phalanx buckled under the pressure and was destroyed. All but four of those heavy troops were killed in the blood drenched snow at the gate. In the end, it was the Kappadokan light infantry who stopped the Syrian army, proving that although Alexandros and his diadachoi might have taught the Asians how to fight like Hellenes, the Kappadokans had not forgotten how to fight like men.





Even as the funeral pyres were still burning for the dead, another Syrian army from Kappadokia surrounded the city. This army was led by Sarpedon, the young Syrian governor of Kappadokia.



He quickly encircled the city, taking advantage of the circumvallation already constructed by Strouthion the Ionian in the fall. In the summer, Sarpedon ordered an assault. Ariobarzanes and Arsames again rode out from behind the walls to meet the attackers. The knights charged Sarpedon and his hetairoi, killing him and sending the others into flight.



After the cavalry stopped the approach of the rams, the Kappadokan light infantry charged out with their axes held high. The Syrian phalangitai were already disorganized because of the cavalry, and they were unable to reform before the Kappadokans were in their center. The Kappadokans seized the ram, and protected it from being retaken by the Syrians.



As the battle wore on, Arsames and Ariobarazanes raided the enemy rear. Stragglers and cowards were cut down all the same. In the end, without their general or other officers, the enemy was defeated. It was tremendous victory for Ariobarzanes, the Kappadokan knights, and the people of Amaseia.



The city of Amaseia had been defended, and several armies of the Arche Seleukeia had been defeated. But Ariobarzanes knew that these armies who he had broken on the palisades of Amaseia were nothing in comparison to the heavy phalangitai fighting for dominion over the Koele-Syria. Just a few brigades of those elite veterans would turn his tiny kingdom into a Seleukid province and bring a rapid end to his life. Already, a new governor who was far more capable than Sarpedon had taken command of the garrison of Mazaka. Some rumours suggested that this Menochares Erizes, a Karian, took part in the attack on Amaseia years earlier as leader of the Karian mercenaries. Perhaps he was even the cause of this war. Though he was not a cultured or overly bright person, Menochares was a military man to the core. Such a man would not wait long before renewing the attacks on Amaseia. If allowed time to rest and refit the army of Kappadokia, Menochares of Karia would likely launch a massive invasion to avenge his defeat as a young captain in the beginning of the war.



Ariobarzanes knew that the only hope for his survival was to convince the Seleukids that this "Anatolian Problem" was more than a nuisance, and that war with Ariobarzanes would mean death and destruction to the region. First he would need to bring humiliation and disaster to Menochares of Karia. Perhaps then the Syrians would decide that their efforts to conquer Amaseia were not worth the prize. Perhaps then peace would return to his kingdom. But such a future required courage and fast action. It required the invasion of Kappadokia.

Coming soon Part I: Chapter 2 - The Kappadokan Campaign

[Subedei]

Hi Callicles, you are a good stroy teller...looking frwrd. to the campaign. Nice choice of pics btw.; I like the various formats you are working with. Keep it up & have a

[anubis88]

Amazing AAR.... The first one I've read from begining to the end.... Really.... great job!

[Vorian]

Very good so far! Keep up the good work

[P_r_a_x_i_s]

An amazing aar!!

subscribed.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Nice AAR so far.
Stupid Seleukids and Ptolemai signing a ceasefire...

[Galagros]

Beautifully done.

[Mouzafphaerre]

.
Beautiful story Callicles! Has the feel of light history books in Victorian style. Looking forward to reading more of it.
.

[Callicles]

Thanks for your kind words, everyone. Chirurgeon has said it several times, but there is a lot of good reading on the forum right now. I hope that my small contribution does more than just adding more clutter to the forum.

I'll be able to put the next chapter up tomorrow.

[Kuningaz]

Looking forward to see how you do with your Pontos campaign. In my one
f***ing Ptolies and AS allied against me, but I have now managed to march on
to the Neilos and also have conquered Seleukeia and Babylon. Very nice writing btw.

[konny]

Very good AAR! Makes me want to give Pontos my first try in 1.0

I am thinking of some kind of local recruitement for the levy that represents the different nationalities in every province. For example, cities with a strong Greek population will have Akontistai even though Gund-i-Palta would be more effective. Something like that, but it would require to change the EDB first.

[Fraekae]

I really hope this AAR is not dead. It is one of the most promising AAR beginnings I have ever read!