Chapter 41, Part 1: The Second Battle of the Euboian Hills

We got a scare at the end of the year. A Pontic army moved to positions on the continent.


We rushed our northern army to rush to the area.


When asked if this will endanger the settlements near our border with the Romani, the council said that our spies report that the Romani are tied up in Gaul, waging war with the Aedui. But we would still have to keep a watchful eye on our border.

Back in Greece, Tarsa moved his army to the northern end of Euboia.


A very large Makedonian force attacked us, almost immediately after landing.


We got into our positions.


We switched our forces around a bit though.
Our cavalry were on the left,


And the Galatians and Thraikians on the right, because of the farmhouse on the right flank could be used as a hideout for them.


The battle began with a move by some Makedonian skirmishers moving against our cavalry wing. We quickly routed them.


Then some heavy cavalry tried to flank our main formation.


They were swarming our Komatai Epilektoi, so Tarsa charged them, routing them.


The Makedonians soon met our lines, and the fiercest battle we had ever had developed. It began on the left flank, when Thraikian mercenaries met our Komatai Epilektoi.


Their phalangites met our Dacian phalanxes, and we soon saw that they were a match for our men, especially in the middle of our lines.


We could not send in our Galatians and Thraikians because they were tied up chasing down some hoplites and Peltastai.


Our middle was very hard pressed, and many were nervous about it breaking, and having the middle collapse.


The situation got very desperate. We were about to break.


At about that time, our cavalry began rolling up the enemy flank, routing all of them in their path.


They soon got to the scene, and our phalangites got some relief.


But it wasn’t enough. The Makedonians were about to break through our lines, being pushed on from the back by our cavalry. Tarsa sent in all our horse archers, who were out of arrows, to plug the gap. They did, and paid for it dearly.
One unit of horse archers only had 3 men left, and they laid down their arms and routed, refusing to come back.


Soon after that, our men caught the Makedonian commander, and killed him.


Now everyone was thrown into confusion. Half of the Makedonians were routing, and the other half were rushing to our lines, trying to break them. Our forces weren't sure f we were winning or if we were fighting a losing battle.


After some much hard fighting, we killed most of the enemy force. The carnage was great, and a great deal of vomit was mixed in with the blood that was spilled on that day.


Nevertheless, we won, at a very great cost.


A day later, back in the camp, Tarsa was furious.
“DIZO! YOU ARE SO DEAD!”

“Sir, it wasn’t the plans fault- they put all their pressure on our center.”

“That is exactly the point! At least with the normal deployment, their pressure was evenly distributed. But with your dumb plan, they put all their pressure on the center and some on the flanks as well so we couldn’t reinforce. Also, the house which we used to hide the Galatians and Thraikians provided a bottleneck for our forces, so we couldn’t rush them to the area. Dizo, I hate to say this, but you gave me your word that this plan would work. It failed; we suffered 791 casualties, more than in all the battles against the Koinon Hellenon! Not only that, a unit of Steppe horse archers left our army! Others may follow our example. Then what will we do?!”

“Sir, there was nothing I could do to prevent that! It was your fault that you sent in the Steppe cavalry to plug in the gap, and not some other unit!”

“Excuse me! Every other unit was tied up! The situation was desperate!”

“You could have held on for a few more minutes! The fault was yours, not mine!”

“INSUBORDINATION! Don’t you DARE talk to me that way! I am your king, not your colleague!”

“I am sorry, my Vasil, but I really couldn’t have predicted this would happen.”

“I know, Dizo. Since I know the plan sounded good, I won't have you arrested for incompetence in battle, but I will demote you, and replace you with someone better.”

A messenger rode up, and whispered something to Tarsa.

“This meeting must end now. Dizo, stay in the camp and watch over it. Another Makedonian army has arrayed for battle against us.”