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…