In Search of Truth: A Hayasdan AAR

[BerkeleyBoi]

Chapter Three: The Beginning and End of Peace

My mother aged forty years in the four years that I was gone. She was no longer the strong beautiful woman that stood up to my father even as he beat her or the wise mother who told me stories of Darius and Cyrus. She was bent and broken from her hard labor collecting night soil from the townsmen and carrying it far out into the fields for use as fertilizer.

I stopped my mother in the street as she carried the buckets of waste in each hand. She stared at me as if she did not know me before her mouth broke into a wide smile. She staggered towards me, her arms open as she reached to embrace me. Three wretched girls peered out from behind her, their eyes widened as they saw me. We left the night soil in the middle of the street and started a new life.

The new social standing that I gained through those six years of service had many benefits. I was given a patch of land in the outskirts of Trapezous that, though small, hilly, and poor, was more than my family ever had. At the age of sixteen, I began working the land by terracing the hills with my sisters, planting wheat interspersed with fruit trees to hold the soil. I became close friends with a neighboring farmer, an old Greek who traces his ancestors back to Korinth, and eventually married his daughter while one of my sisters married his son. I remember gazing out over my little piece of land, my young wife sitting next to me while my mother cradles my baby son in her arms, thinking that this was the life I was destined to live. But I guess it was naïve of me to think that such good things could last forever.

The lands of Hayasdan have expanded, but the number of people inhabiting its lands was small. Taxes were very high to support the richly ornamented bodyguards of governors and generals while the fertility of the land was low. There was little extra income to improve the sanitation of the cities and as result, disease and early death took the lives of many boys before they reached the age to serve in war.

The cities were being emptied of men. The fields were tended by children and the elderly while widows sat begging or selling themselves for an extra day of life. Even my once wealthy home was devastated. A series of attacks by the warriors of Pontus and an offensive campaign to take the town of Ani-Kamah had depleted the population to the point that daily life was barely functioning. Lives were now much more valuable. Reform was necessary.

The king first searched among his own people to replace the Kavakaza Sparabara.

The result was a spear unit of Hayasdan tribesmen called the Hai Nizagamartik.

The Siege of Ani-Kamah

The Attack on Karkathiokerta

However, they performed poorly in the siege of Ani-Kamah and even worse in the attack on Karkathiokerta. The King of Hayasdan needed infantry that could not only stand against the enemy, but survive to fight another day.

Eventually, he found his solution. And I was part of it.

[Hooahguy]

i like this, really nice writing and nice pictures!

[LorDBulA]

Great AAR. Keep up good work.

[Basileus Seleukeia]

Now the real fun begins^^
Clasical hoplites are just totally badass

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Nice update. Keep going!

[Wolfman]

Excellent Update! I hope you are enjoying one of my favourite factions?

[Mouzafphaerre]

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[BerkeleyBoi]

Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting. It really makes it worthwhile for me to write this thing when I know people are enjoying it! Now, for some campaign notes:

The first reforms have taken place and I have level one and two governments built in all my cities except Trapezous (which I have kept at level three to for the story's purpose). Mines were built everywhere and I have a steady income each turn while maintaining one full stack and several large garrisons where Pontus and Seleukia always attacks. Population is no longer too much of a problem since I began switching over to stronger units and building farms.

So I'm really enjoying the campaign right now, though I still liked playing as Saba more. I now share a border with Ptolemies so things might get excessively interesting very soon...

[Chirurgeon]

What a great story. I love the personal touch! Keep it up

[BerkeleyBoi]

Chapter Four: Of Giants and Hetairoi

Before I married his daughter, the old Greek asked me about my father. I told him he was a great warrior, one of the warriors who fought against King Samus when he conquered Trapezous many years ago. I told him that he fought on until the very end, when he and the survivors regrouped in the town square where at last they fell. I told him my father was dead, but he died as a hero.

The old Greek came to me again one day, a spear in one hand and a shield in the other. My wife stood behind him, an attic helmet, linen armor, and greaves in her hand. He said that this was his old armor and weapon, the same equipment that he used when he met the Hayasdan in battle almost forty years before alongside my father. He wanted me to have it and carry it into battle for he was too old and had no sons to fight.

I was ashamed and I told him the truth about my bloodline. I was the son of a scavenger and coward who fled from his own responsibilities as a father. I expected him to abuse me or perhaps pierce me through the chest with his spear, but instead I found his old hand on my shoulder. He put the spear and shield in my hands while my wife dressed me in my armor. He said nothing in response, but as he turned to leave, I saw a smile on his face. My wife later told me that he always knew the truth.

The King of Hayasdan wanted to test us as the new basis for his front line soldiers.

He sent us, as well as a band of newly outfitted thureophoroi and one of his lesser generals against a band of Seleucids who had been raiding the country side. We caught up to them high in the mountains, but they did not flee. They stood their ground and we found ourselves facing a full strength band of mercenary phalangites and thureophoroi as well as a large number of experienced hetairoi.

As we stood high up in the mountains, I remembered a story. My father once said that there was a cave near Trapezous where a giant once lived. He terrorized the farmers in the area until one day, the king sent his son to kill the beast. When the giant saw the warrior, he laughed and asked why the king did not come to face him himself. The son replied by saying that his father feared the giant. The giant laughed again and said that if a father is a coward, then the son must be an even greater coward. Before the giant could laugh again, the warrior jumped onto the beast and slew him with a single blow. With that, he redeemed the name of his family.

The battle was quick and bloody.

The golden cavalry charged into the enemy spearmen while we engaged the phalanx from the front.

We were able to maneuver past their pikes and engage the phalangites in close combat, thus removing their advantage. Our thureophoroi then moved to the phalanx’s exposed back and, after a shower of javelins, slammed into them. The battle seemed all but won when I found myself flying through the air, landing in a heap several feet away. I was dazed, but otherwise unharmed. A spear came at me, but I was able to roll away, grabbing my own spear as I stood back up.

A hetairoi was above me. He was laughing. He thrust his pike at me again, but once again I was able to dodge it. He called me a coward and ordered me to stand and fight. He rode slowly towards me, taunting and laughing when his horse suddenly collapsed onto the ground with a spear in its stomach. I was quickly on top of the horsemen and before he realized what was happening, I inserted my spear into his neck.

We performed well above the king’s expectation. Upon our arrival in Trapezous, we were showered with honors and presents for our bravery in battle. After being reinforced with eager volunteers, we marched towards Phraaspa to help train a new army that will conquer the Seleucids.

I went to see my family one last time before I left. I told my wife that I would bring honor to my family. I told her that my son would never have to lie for my sake, that my deeds would be so well known that words would not even be necessary. She only smiled and handed me a bag of fruit freshly picked from our trees. She said I should treasure them, for it may be a long time before I returned.

The Defense of Karkathiokerta

[Mouzafphaerre]

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[Chirurgeon]

Ah the dreaded Selucids. Endless, relentless, and resilient.

[Geoffrey S]

Like it's straight out of one of the better Cornwall books. Great job!

[Basileus Seleukeia]

Give them a nice punch in the face! Smack'em around!

[Xehh II]

This AAR is very good, one of the best.

It seems that I've passed 1000 posts, yay me.

[BerkeleyBoi]

Chapter Five: The Persian Test

The road from Trapezous to the capital at Armavir was one I traveled on twice before, but the additional armor, shield, and spear seemed to make the journey go much slower. While some of the other men in my unit had servants who carried their equipment, I was forced to bear the burden myself. Who would have thought that linen was so damn heavy?

We stopped and restocked our supplies in Armavir for three days before continuing eastwards for Phraaspa. The road got much rougher then. The roads were no longer paved and there were fewer markets from which we could restock on our basic necessities. However, since our numbers were few, we were able to forage for whatever we could not buy.

Phraaspa. The town was inhabited almost entirely by Persians and our commander had some doubts on whether they could form the basis for a new hoplite force.

The majority of the garrison was made up of Nizagan-I Eranshahr, an archer-spearmen light infantry with greater range than any Greek bows, but severely lacking in terms of discipline and holding power. Our commander met with the local military officers and, despite our reservations, began to train the Persians to fight as hoplitai.

They were called the Kardaka Arteshtar, Persians trained to fight like Greek hoplites. Their task was simple enough: hold the enemy until the king’s golden horsemen charged in from behind. Staying alive would generally prove slightly more difficult.

Our general was a member of the Hayasdan royal family and has fought in many battles defending Armavir from the Seleucid invaders. He was grizzled, smart, sturdy, and impetuous. When he heard reports that the Seleucid city of Ekbatan was lightly garrisoned, he immediately led us and our freshly trained warriors to attack.

One season after laying siege to Ekbatan, a huge force of mercenaries, led by the great Seleucid general Timon Gabalon Syriakon, appeared from the east to relieve the city.

Combined with the garrison, we would be greatly outnumbered and I feared our freshly trained soldiers would be slaughtered like pigs before a festival.

The general knew we wouldn’t stand a chance if we were caught out in the open. We positioned ourselves on the top of a small hill with some huge boulders guarding our right flank.

The Persian archers stood in the first line, followed by six bands of green Persian hoplites. The Greek Thureoporoi and Peltasti guarded the narrow passageway on our right flank while eastern axes stood ready to plug any holes in our lines. The golden horsemen stood ready in the rear. My unit stood on the left end of the Persians, warding off any enemy who try to outflank us. The plan was the same as always. We infantry hold and tire the enemy. The horsemen will do the rest.

The innumerable enemy came at us. We could hear their chanting grow louder with each second. I adjusted my helmet nervously and glanced at my comrades. They were trying their best to look brave, but I could feel they were scared too. The Persians were the same. I saw one boy, he could not have been more than fifteen years of age, gripping his spear so tight that his knuckles were all white and veins popped up along his arm to his neck. His eyes were bloodshot and stared blindly into space. Suddenly, he dropped to the ground. I thought an arrow hit him and I quickly ducked under my shield for protection along with the majority of my unit, but it turned out he was just throwing up.

As the mercenary army drew close, our archer-spearmen let loose a huge volley of arrows. The light infantry was stopped in its tracks and tried to retreat. A second volley nearly completely wiped them out. We all cheered and thrust our spears into the air, but suddenly we saw arrows flying towards us. We immediately ducked and suffered no casualties, but the Persians, lacking shields, were nailed to the ground.

The enemy cavalry charged towards our lines and the archers immediately pulled back to the safety behind our shields. For a second I feared that the fresh Persian hoplites would collapse under the charge, but to my surprise, they held firm. The true test has begun.

Babylonians came next, slamming into the ranks of our spearmen while the rest of the army was brought up. Our golden horsemen tried to circle around for a charge, but the enemy was too many.

Seleucid phalangites soon met our lines, followed by skirmishers, spearmen, and a random assortment of axes, swords, and knives while arrows, stones, and javelins rained down from the sky. It was chaos. No orders could be heard. We all acted on our own initiative.

We held the left flank against the onslaught of the enemy axmen. They slammed into our shields, but together, we pushed them back and stabbed those who were in range. They charged again, but we refused to break while more of the enemy was downed. The third charge was half-hearted and they broke on impact like an urn thrown against a wall.

To our right, the Persians began to pull back after they failed to break through the pike wall, but instead of fleeing, they immediately turned back after creating some distance and met a hetairoi charge head on.

The great general Timon was felled with a Persian spear between his ribs.

The enemy instantly lost their will to fight.

We surrounded and smashed the few holdouts while our cavalry ran down the cowards who tried to flee. The battle was over. My commander reorganized our lines and surveyed the damage.

We stood knee deep in corpses with many of our own among them, but not only did we win, our army was still intact to continue the offensive.

I looked down at my feet and saw that Persian boy who threw up before the battle. An axe cleaved his helmet in half and split his skull, but under him was a Seleucid mercenary with a spear through his chest. The Persians have passed the test.

[Basileus Seleukeia]

You know who you got there in the garrison army? Theodoros Syriakos, or better known as Antiochos II! Now that's a good thing for roleplaying, isn't it Amazing chapter as always. You are lovely chap

[BerkeleyBoi]

You know who you got there in the garrison army? Theodoros Syriakos, or better known as Antiochos II! Now that's a good thing for roleplaying, isn't it Amazing chapter as always. You are lovely chap

Ah... these are the times when I wish I knew something about this time period's history! Oh well, too late now...

[CirdanDharix]

Good AAR, and congrats on that heroic victory.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Nice update, and nice battle!

[tapanojum]

This is the first AAR where I am reading every damn word and excited to hear whats next. GREAT JOB!

[Frodge]

Very swish, more says I

[BerkeleyBoi]

Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting. I'm amazed that this AAR already has over a thousand views... so thank you very much!

So I just installed TWFanatics mod and will be trying it out for a little bit. However, I don't want to throw my campaign out of balance and this mod might make a huge difference because of my reliance on hoplites, so I will be testing it first before using it in my Hayasdan game. And if I do decide to keep it, I'll have to decide how to RP the difference in fighting style...

[BerkeleyBoi]

Chapter Six: Name Calling

The snow melted and the rivers were swollen, threatening to break the dikes and flood the fertile farmlands around its banks. My small patch of dry land in the Trapezous foothills never had this problem, one of the few advantages of terrace farming.

We progressed slowly towards the Seleucid’s capital city of Susa as there were not even dirt roads in the uncivilized eastern lands. We were forced to hire small boats to ferry us across the rushing rivers and many men were lost when our general ordered us to continue crossing during a storm. The man was in a rush, I wasn’t sure why at the time, but we footmen had little choice in such matters.

It was a fine spring day when we intercepted an enemy force in the rolling hills southeast of Ekbatana.

We arrived on the battlefield after the enemy and found ourselves in an unfavorable position on the bottom of the hill. The general was furious at our tardiness and immediately ordered us to rush for the high ground at all costs, even if it means exposing ourselves completely to the enemy.

We scrambled up to top of the hill as the enemy moved against us. A few arrows began to rain down, but the enemy commander was too cautious and did not take advantage of the situation.

Soon, although tired, we were in position and our great archers began to rain arrows on the advancing skirmishers, annihilating their ranks.

After the skirmishers were properly decorated with arrows jutting out of their corpses, we hoplitai moved forward in a long line with my unit once again protecting the left flank.

The enemy sent their army piecemeal at us. Their axmen rushed in without support and were annihilated by the Persians.

Another unit tried to come around our flanks but we intercepted them and methodically buried them.

The golden horsemen charged while we slaughtered their local levies of Scythians and Parthians. At last we reached the Greek pikemen and the Hetairoi.

It never really occurred to me that the enemy we killed was Greek while the kingdom we were fighting for were Eastern barbarians. Some of the men in my unit were talking about how we were betraying our history and our people by fighting for the wrong side. A few of them even deserted, though they did so probably because they didn’t want to ford the roaring rivers rather than for some other noble reason.

I didn’t care much about who I fought for or against. I fought for the sake of my family name, to bring honor to my ancestors in a way that my father never could. I fought for my wife so she would not feel ashamed to be married to me. But most of all, I fought for my son so he would never have to suffer as I did. That was important, not those vague ideas of Greek glory or the restoration of the Achaemenid Empire.

The Persians threw themselves at the wall of pikes without heed for their own safety while we circled around and cut into the backs of the phalanx. The Hetairoi tried to mount a charge against us, but were intercepted but our general’s bodyguards.

The Seleucid phalanx was surrounded, but they refused to surrender or retreat. They called to each other to keep fighting, saying that it was glorious to die for their country.

Meanwhile, we brought the rest of our army to the front and cut them to pieces. Not a single one retreated.

The last man standing stared at me as I raised my spear to finish him. He spat angry words at me. Mercenary. Traitor. He was about to say something else, but only managed to make a gurgling sound as my spear entered his gut.

[keravnos]

Some great writing in here!

[Basileus Seleukeia]

Ah, now we're getting even deeper in his mind here

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Great chapter, keep going.

If you take Susa, be careful of the counterattacks. The AI hates having divided territory.

[gamegeek2]

This is ridiculously similar to what I intended to do, but I got some stuff dumped (phat TESTS etc.). I love playing as the 1-province factions.

[tapanojum]

As always, this is just simply great!

[Kuningaz]

Just perfect, as always.