Pontic Campaign

**Sygrod** · 11-05-2007, 01:46

As soon as the AS attacked, I switched my resources to building units. Not that it was a great strain on the economy - I had just not recruited a whole lot of units up to that point. The main effort went to recruiting Eastern Slingers, Pantodapoi Phalangitai and then some miscellaneous units, such as Eastern Skirmishers, etc to replace better units in garrisons. Mazaka was not threatened, so I switched some units to Ankyra and built up an army there. When it was big enough, I sent it to Ipsos. A small AS detachment came within range and was destroyed. I don't believe in long sieges, so on turn 3 of the siege, I attacked, but only after receiving some reinforcements.
Ipsos had a general and some average units as a garrison. The assault went quite well. My army of 1696 men acquitted themselves well against their 978.
It was a bit of a tricky battle, though. My army consisted of 2 Generals, 2 Pantodapoi Phalangitai, 1 Merc Kludduon, One Merc Southern Gallic Swordsmen, 4 units of Eastern slingers and 1 unit of Iaosatae. Since the defenders were lined up behind the gate facing the main assault, I split my army in two and lined them up against the side gates. The enemy had of course the general, 3 units of Pantodapoi Phalangitai, one of Klerouchoi Phalangitai and one of Akontistai. I broke the gates simultaneously. The one on the left was defended by a Phalanx, and I pelted it with stones. The Akontistai showed up and were likewise decimated. I then sent in one phalanx , followed by a general, and between the two gave the defenders a good licking. I tried to send a couple of units around the front, but a phalanx came marching that way and I had to slug it out with it for quite a while with my now tired units. Meanwhile on the other side, My units began to enter, but an enemy phalanx came marching from the town square. Quite a few stones later, it was sufficiently battered that I sent in my melee units, which still suffered at the pikes. Progress was slow and there was a great deal of hand to hand stuff. Finally the enemy general charged, but I had blocked his way with a phalanx. They retreated to the square with only a handful of horses. The remaining Klerouchoi Phalanx on the square was going to be a bit of a challenge. I attacked it from both sides with 2 phalanxes. While it marched to meet one, I had slingers hit it in the back. The garrison was wiped out to the last man. I had suffered 487 casualties, mostly mercenaries, and half a phalanx.

Ipsos was in Pontic hands. Sardis next. It had 2 generals, several phalanxes and some Akontistai. The battle was less of a challenge, but my 1533 man army suffered 431 casualties nonetheless against their 1230.

Sardis was now also Pontic, and AS had lost their provinces in the immediate neighbourhood.The year was 252 BC and I could now concentrate on removing the local rebels. Overwhelming superiority decided these battles. Between 252 BC and 245 BC four such rebellions were squashed. AS were very quiet during that period. I guess that their armies in the region had been wiped out and they were sending armies from the East and recruiting new units.

Well, 244 BC, an AS army finally came to lay siege on Mazaka. This time they brought 1865 men - a more than capable army. Unfortunately, i had had time to build my forces and had crammed Mazaka with units to my liking. There were scads of slingers and 3 units of Caucasian Archers, along with Cappadocian Cavalry and phalanxes. I also had no less than 3 generals present. The As army decided to relocate immediately and I had them thoroughly pelted with stones while they regrouped. I threw my cavalry out and made attempts to clobber their 3 missile units. Cavalry works well against them. Unfortunately, as soon as one unit tore into a AS missile unit, a melee unit or a general counter attacked. One of their generals chased after one of mine and they went all around the city. Some bodyguards were cut down by the small towers, but the real nasty surprise came when my general and his entourage rode through a deployed pontic phalanx. That general didn't survive the ordeal. Meanwhile one of my generals and the Cappadocian cavalry had destroyed a unit of Eastern Skirmishers and decimated a unit of Eastern Slingers, both of which were leaving the battle. I withdrew these two cavalry units some distance from the seleukids to recover from exhaustion.

I sent my three phalanxes out and formed a line. I then sent out my sligers and began to pelt the enemy line. As soon as a seleukid missile unit advanced, I threw my generals at it, hacked a few of them down and retreated back to my line with the enemy general following. His unit was soon rendered irrelevant by means of stones and pikes. Finally, the enemy army had had enough and took to the forest. They were followed by showers of stones and cavalry charges on hapless Akontistai. The seiege was lifted. My army lost 154 men against their 1418. That's the kind of losses I like to see.

No sooner had that army been driven off than another appeared. I sent an army of mostly missile units forth to the ford south of Mazaka and waited. The army was 2942 men strong. The pitiful seleukid army that tried to come across was only 1532. While they arranged themselves to cross, Their army was cut to ribbons. It was like watching machine gun fire on advancing soldiers in WWI. Two AS generals fell. I still had to send a phalanx across and slug it out after running out of ammo. The skirmish was over quickly and the AS retreated. They had lost 1177 men against my 60.

Besides the obvious fighting and capture of cities, I had produced a number of spies and had managed successfully to get Side to rebel against their Ptolemaic masters. The city was soon in ptolemaic hands again, but the excercise was still satisfying.

**Sygrod** · 11-05-2007, 16:33

In 240 BC A new rebellion had sprung up south of Nikaia. It was quickly dispatched. 718 rebels to my 1 phalangite as casualties. Much better odds.

My spy network had determined that Karkathiokerta was ripe for the taking. While its garrison was formidable, there were no other armies around to assist. The time had come. I advanced with an army of mixed composition, 2927 strong and laid siege on the city for two seasons to soften up the garrison a bit. Inside were 2 generals, one of them the faction heir, 3 Kleroucheroi phalangitai, 1 Pantodapoi phalangitai, one Thorakitai, one Caucasian Hillmen and one Akontistai.

I assaulted the city three times, twice being repulsed by the ^$#&*#@ CTD moderator. The third time, I actually managed to take the city, but it was a 3 hour haul. I had constructed a siege tower, 2 sap points and 2 sets of ladders. The far left corner had been selected for my scaling of the wall, with a diversion on the right far corner.

My left detachment consisted of my single unit of Chalkaspidai, 2 Easternn slingers, 2 Caucasian archers and a pantodapoi phalangitai in that order. The right detachment was a Pontic elite infantry unit, followed by 2 eastern slinger s and a Pantodapoi phalangitai. The rest of the army, 2 generals, a Scythian horse archer unit, an Eastern skirmisher, 3 Eastern slingers, a Caucasian archer and a Galatian short swordsmen were held in reserve in front of the city to tie up the main body of defenders.

As soon as the ladders went up, I decided to let a unit of Eastern slingers go first and set up a strategic position on a part of the wall. Unfortunately, the Thorakitai came running, and I quickly attacked them with my Chalkaspidai. This battle went on for what seemed to be an eternity. I could not throw stones at them for fear of hitting my own. Instead, my slingers busied themselves with destroying a Klerouchoi Phalangitai behind the East Gate. My left Pantodapoi Phalangitai marched around the back to the East Gate and attacked them when they were sufficiently decimated. Meanwhile, my 242 Chalkaspidai had a really hard time with the 144 Thorakitai. Man, they were tough.

Plan B: The right detachment was sent into position, while my in-town slingers raced over there to take the towers. Unfortunately, the Caucasian Spearmen were on the wall and came running. Panic time. I did not manage to get my slingers out fast enough and they ended up slogging it with the superior spearmen. I sent the Pontic Elite forward to scale the wall and managed to push through the slingers, through the tower attack the spearmen. The pus was working and the spearmen were being pushed back. My slingers extricated themselves with 50% losses. Hmmm. Note to self: have the melee troops closer to the wall at the ready.

The spearmen were finally exterminated and the elite infantry advanced along the wall to the front right corner. 2 slinger units followed. A unit of Klerouchoi Phalangitai came around the corner below the Pontic Elite and marched slowly towards the South Gate (my right). I sent forth my slingers and took up position to pelt them with rocks, the consequence of which was a thorough destruction of the phalanx. One down, 3 to go. At this point there were 2 phalanxes on the main square with the two generals. The front wall was held by Akontistai, backed up by another Klerouchoi Phalangitai. The Akontistai were right above a sap point, but being fairly easy choppings for cavalry, I let them be for later.

Well more than an hour later, my Chalkaspidai had finally managed to drop the last of the Thorakitai. They started with 242 men and finished with 35. Amazing that they didn't break. These guys needed a break and advanced slowly past and took control of the Northern Gate. I sent a unit of Caucasian archers in and positioned them behind the Chalkaspidai. A few volleys at the Klerouchoi Phalangitai on the front wall had no effect. The Pantodapoi Phalangitai had in the mean time been sent in and blocked the main street North. The remnants of the Northern Phalangitai came running back for more punishment until finally destroyed.

At this point, while the Chalkaspidai were resting, I sent my right pantodapoi Phalangitai in through the South Gate and set them up blocking the street from the square. I then moved my one general and the Scythians to support and brought another unit of slingers over to the right from the main body. Now, there was movement on the Wets (front) wall. The Akontistai were descending in order to bolster defenses on the main square.

My commanding general went as fast as he could around the left, entered through the North gate and raced towards the West gate, arriving just in time to cut the Akontistai to ribbons. The other general came around from the East and joined in. Now, I noticed that you can not attack a unit, which is half on the ground and half on the wall with cavalry. It is considered to be an the wall. Solution: march the units right up to the gate towers and let the generals slug it out on their own initiative.

As the Klerouchoi Phalangitai were trying to follow the Akontistai, I sent forth my Caucasian archers and let flamingn arrows rain down on them. To good effect, since I was hitting them in the back. As they were coming piecemeal down through the exit, my generals cut them down. To make matters worse for them, I sent forth my Pontic Elite infantry to join in the fun.

OK, you say, what of the siege tower? Decoy. The Galatian short swordsmen were guarding it throughout the battle and never came to blows.

I sent in my second and third Caucasian archer units after the first had used up all its arrows and was sent out side the walls to make room. These two units took up position and were able to rain flaming death on the square. The seleukid generals came charging. Good thing I had advanced with my eastern phalanx. The generals, desperately trying to kill something, attacked and were consequently seen off. Especially after I charged them from behind with my generals. The phalanxes in the square were enticed to move back and forth and as they did so, I had them pelted from behind. Down to 30 men each, they were finally charged by my cavalry and the assault was over.

My Pontic army arrived with 2927 men and suffered 467 casualties. The 1827 strong garrison was almost wiped out. The remaining 29 surrendered.