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.
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