The Pyrrhic Dynasty : A Makedonian AAR

[Dutchhoplite]

Those poor Seleucids, always had a soft spot for them :(

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

I'm quite happy with the Medians and Pahalva. After my initial gift of territory to Pahlava in the north and tricking Media into war with AS I just let them do what they will. The territory conquered between the last two chapters was all the work of the AI. I didn't want to fight another Hellenistic power, so I'm glad that AS is dying. Now I can expand eastward and fight eastern armies.

I'm sure the title to the next chapter is incorrect Greek grammer, but you got the basic meaning...

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Wow, the best chapter since long. Don't get me wrong, they were all quite good, but this one especially pleased me, I guess that might have something to do with the Median, Baktrian and Pahlavan empires...

Look, I revamped my lvl 3 government in my own Mak campaign to a Seleukid style semiautonomous satrapy. Do you plan on changes in that direction? The old Nomos Symmachos Emphrouros is kinda out of date.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Actually I did have a government revamp in mind. But a complete redoing of the entire government of the Arche Makedonia. Mainly, I plan to create provinces. I'll go into it more when I get to it in the story. But, my plan is to make Type2 provinces, that are directly controlled by Makedonia and the Basileus. Type3s do double work as Satrapies (ranging from semi-autonomous satrapies to simply regions with differing cultures) and military controled regions. As for Type1s, I was thinking of redesigning them as my "core" rather than my "homeland" and giving Type1s to all of Makedonia, Thraikia, Epeiros, Hellas, the Aegean, and maybe Ionia. I also planned a complete revamp of my military and government. I haven't yet played to a point of doing all of this, but it is a plan in the head of Philippos (keeping with the Augustus-like image I have of him). Lets see if he lives to fulfill this.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Can't wait to see this executed!

[Reverend Joe]

Man, you're hardly even playing EB anymore...

[Charles the hammer]

Ive read this AAR since the beginning and i would just like to say it is one of if not the best AARs Ive ever read. I can't wait to see what comes next.

[Maion Maroneios]

Not only I agree with you, but I believe this AAR is the best there is. I honestly have never read a better one. I just wish it could go on forever!

Maion

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks guys. And so it continues...
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[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Chapter 79 : Eremos Odysseia

After the end of the Third Ptolemaic War, the city of Bostra and regions around it had fallen into the hands of the Arche Makedonia. Because of the low population of the region, it had been heavily settled by klerouchoi. Unknown to the masses of selttlers, it had long been coveted by the Kingdom of Sab'yn. The Kingdom of Sab'yn of southern Arabia had fought the Ptolemaioi for the trans-Jordan area and Nabataea for years and when the Arche Makedonia took the region, they saw it as simply the same thing as the Ptolemaioi.

In the years before the civil war, Chrysoloras Delphikos had assisted his father in defending the city of Bostra and surrounding lands from what was nearly a yearly assault by armies of the Kingdom of Sab'yn. When the Makedonike Civil War had began, the Delpikos family had tried to remain in control of Bostra, but siding with Pyrrhos cost them. Under attack from both Sab'yn and the Demetrids, the Delphikos family moved out of Bostra and into the Pyrrhos-friendly client-state of Ioudaia. Bostra was subsequently lost by the Demetrids to the Kingdom of Sab'yn.

During the war, Chrysoloras Delphikos and his father had taken the few klerouchoi that chose to leave their homes near Bostra and added to it many mercenaries. After the death of his father, Chrysoloras formed an army and took the fight to the Demetrids. As the war drew to a close, Chrysoloras gained fame from taking Phoenicia as well as the city of Damaskos.

During the civil war, Pyrrhos had made peace with the Kingdom of Sab'yn and had allowed them to keep the territory taken from the Demetrids, but that was not enough for them. Seeking to become a true empire, the Arabian armies marched against the Arche Makedonia. With the outbreak of war, Chrysoloras sees his chance. Grasping at this opportunity to take revenge on his old enemies, Chrysoloras Delphikos gathers his army and marches against them. With the city of Bostra already secured by Herodes of Bosphoria, Chrysoloras takes his army south to take the fight to the enemy.

Chrysoloras himself is decent commander and leader. From his father he learned all he knows of warfare, especially the importance of field position and the advantage of defending. Most importantly he knows his enemy. After fighting and defeating so many Sab'yn armies in his youth, he knows how they fight, what weapons they use, and even how they think. Seeking to better know his enemy, Chrysoloras even learns a little bit of their language. Against the Kingdom of Sab'yn, Chrysoloras is prepared. Against the Demetrids, he was lucky. Against a different enemy, he would probably have been a poor general. But this is the war he has been waiting for since he was a child. He will make his father proud and make the Kingdom of Sab'yn suffer.

Soon after beginning his march southward, Chrysoloras and his men come upon an army of Arabia marching northerward. Taking the initiative, Chrysoloras attacks first:


Although the army of Sab'yn are defending, it is Chrysoloras who manages to get the higher ground, and even manages to trick his enemy into coming to him.

From the safety of the hill, the mercenary archers rain down death:


Rather than charge their whole army into a line of sarrisas, the army of Sab'yn sends a small diversionary force toward the center while the bulk of the first wave attacks the Makedonike left flank:


While an inactive second wave of Arabs watch, Chrysoloras circles his cavalry around the battle and charges the rear of the fight on the left flank:


The enemy break from the fear of the cavalry and many loose their lives while trying to flee.

Seeing the losses of the first wave, the second wave of the army of Sab'yn is hesitant to charge forward. Instead, they attempt to skirmish with cavalry, but are no challenge for the superior range of Chrysoloras' mercenary archers:


With no activity from the enemy and with his men growing hot and tired under the direct sun, Chrysoloras decides he must make the move and moves his men down from the hill and brings the fight to the Arabs. As the main line moves forward, a small group breaks off from the army of Sab'yn and charges once again into the left flank. The Makedonike cavalry outflanks and attacks but they too are soon outflanked:


At the same time, the elite forces of Sab'yn charge the center of the phalangitai line, forcing them to halt:


The elites overestimate the fighting skill of their forces on the flank and soon find the forces they thought tied down charging them from the rear:


Then, with an order from Chrysoloras, the center of the line drops their sarrisas and charges in at the elites with their swords:


General Far'am Ali Yanuf falls dead soon after and his army surrenders:


The army of Sab'yn disbands and flees into the hills. As Chrysoloras and his men once again prepare to move south again, they hear that the city of Petra has fallen to the Romaioi. They move to the city to resupply but instead find it without an army or garrison. This event causes a delay in Chrysoloras' plan but after raising a small local garrison from the locals who are loyal to Makedonia (it had been part of the Arche Makedonia for many years), he and his army continue southward into the desert.

Following the coast, Chrysoloras moves into territory claimed by the Kingdom of Sab'yn and begins raiding towns and villages. About half way between Petra and the heart of Sab'yn territory, Chrysoloras meets with another enemy army, but this one is quite small:


The two armies meet on a parched plain and begin skirmishing:


The Sab'yn general then sends a small group forward to test the Makedonike line:


Finding the Makedonike battle line stronger than he expects, the general orders a retreat and the small army of Sab'yn turns to flee back into the desert:


Chrysoloras orders his cavalry to give pursuit to the enemy and has his infantry return to their camp. As night sets in, the cavalry return and report that they have killed many of the routers. Unfortunately, many of Chrysoloras' cavalry are lost in the fights as well:


Without any further resistance, Chrysoloras and his army continues south and manage to take control of a major coastal city. Here, Chrysoloras is able to get some supplies and manages to send word back of his success, requesting reinforcements and reporting that he will move inland and try to take some of the major cities:


With reports of a large army returning from a planned attack on Petra, Chrysoloras leaves the port city and heads back inland. Perhaps due to delaying too long in the city or maybe since the enemy can simply move quicker in the desert, the army that had been returning from the north manages to return all the way home and attacks Chrysoloras. Assisted by a couple small local forces, the large Sab'yn army tries to finish off Chrysoloras once and for all:


Once again, the two forces line up on a desert plain and face eachother:


While the bulk of the enemy hits the center of the Makedonike line, an elite Sab'yn force encircles the right flank, which Chrysoloras counters with the cavalry:


Fighting in much of the same ways they had in previous battle, with many waves of attacks, the battle lasts a good part of a day. With their forces constantly breaking and regrouping, the Arabs manage to hold on longer than expected but are eventually defeated through attrition:

[I don't know why I don't have more pics from that battle.]

With these armies defeated, the way into the heart of Sab'yn territory is clear. Defeating every army sent against him, Chrysoloras has only to take what he has earned. So, he orders what is left of his army to attack the city of Carna:


While Chrysoloras besieges Carna, several events unfold just to the west. Two armies are assembled in Aigyptos, an elite army in Alexandreia and a levied force in upper Aigyptos. The second force is assembled on Chrysoloras request and by Philippos' order and is to be sent to reinforce the war in Arabia. A fleet is also built and sent overland to the [Red] sea to help supply Makedonike forces that are fighting along both sides of the sea. In his desert camp, word also reaches Chrysoloras that war has broken out on the Nubian border and Philippos has invaded territory belonging to Ptolemai VII.

Chrysoloras does not have much time to rest in his camp, however. Within a half year, a small reinforcement army arrives and attacks Chrysoloras Delphikos and his men while General Hayu Yahzib sallies forth from the city of Carna:


Planning ahead for this eventual battle, Chrysoloras is able to once again gain the better battle position and awaits the two separate Sab'yn forces:


The forces of Sab'yn attempt the exact same tactic that had been seen in every previous battle and attack in two waves. Once again, the first wave heads for the left flank:


Expecting this, Chrysoloras had deployed the bulk of his peltastai forces to the left flank. These peltastai manage to hold the enemy:


The second Sab'yn force then attacks the center of the line, personally lead by General Hayu Yahzib and his elites:


While the bulk of the enemy are fighting in the center or on the left flank, Chrysoloras leads his cavalry around his own right flank to attack the enemy from behind. Charging parallel to the battle line, the cavalry flows through and wipes out all the Sab'yn light infantry:


With the reserve forces dealt with, the battle line breaks formation and surrounds the few elites still standing:


Soon even General Hayu Yahzib is dead and the city is forced to surrender to Chrysoloras:


With the taking of this city, Chrysoloras completes his conquest of the western coast of Arabia. All the way from Petra to the walls of the capital of the Kingdom of Sab'yn itself, the Arche Makedonia exerts its authority. Not only does the Arche Makedonia gain the ports and cities of western Arabia but dominates its people and takes control of its holy sites:


...including an important pilgrimage site to what is believed to be a stone from the heavens:


The coastal regions are mostly secured but the city of Carna itself is deeply contested. Before Chrysoloras can even set up a government in the city, it comes under attack by two large armies of the Kingdom of Sab'yn, pulled from their eastern front:


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The known world in152BC:

Next: Chapter 80 : The Fifth Ptolemaic War

[tls5669]

Those poor Seleucids, always had a soft spot for them :(

Pfft AS.

My poor carthage.....

[Maion Maroneios]

Is that all possible, I mean can you change government types during a campaign, as well as regions with homeland and/or expansion indicators? I've tried the latter and found out that the changes don't work for ongoing campaigns.

Maion

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Is that all possible, I mean can you change government types during a campaign, as well as regions with homeland and/or expansion indicators? I've tried the latter and found out that the changes don't work for ongoing campaigns.

Maion

I did not change the markers. What I did was the following (after MAAs suggestions a few months ago):

1. in EDB, exchange the requirements for gov2 with these for gov3 so that both have the identical requirements. This allows you to build your satrapies everywhere, just limit yourself ;)
2. modify the effects of gov3 so that they have the same happiness penalty and tax bonus as the seleukid gov3.
3. in EB/data/text, edit export_buildings.txt for the description.

That works for me.

[Cbvani]

Agreed, you aren't really playing EB anymore. I don't know what your playing exactly, but it is very very cool.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Yeah, just changing the area you can deploy governments and the bonuses can make them a whole new government.

I'm still playing on an EB base. There's still the government system and stat system. It's more of a mod for EB... I wish I could add units and be savegame compatible, though, I'm running out of models that work for what I want. By the way, I recently gave myself Pantodapoi Phalangitai and African Elephants.

Hey Centurio, whatever happened to your AAR? It sounds like you've got a good campaign with some interesting role playing there that would make a good AAR.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Hey Centurio, whatever happened to your AAR? It sounds like you've got a good campaign with some interesting role playing there that would make a good AAR.

Yeah, I have a fairly nice empire atm and a really cool alexander-esque King Antiochos, a really smart guy with god-like general's abilities... I implemented many of what you said, I made Thorakitai recruitable, enabled Klerouchoi through the real Klerouchiai, changed the government and at the moment I'm planning on making Kataphraktoi recruitable soon (though I don't think they are THAT fantastic).

Making an AAR is incredibly much work. English is not my mother tongue. I take screenshots of every battle and every worthwile occurence. After I have some 800 - 900 screens, I'm going through the screens, writing every notable occurence and virtually every battle down in a word document, 14 pages atm for 65 years. I try to rename every screenshot with its correct year, event and location. This is very much work, but the upside is that I have a complete history of my empire since 272.

So I'm thinking on what I could do about my campaign. Writing down the complete history in some kind of fact-sheet? Who would read that? This is only interesting for me. I'd be thankful if you had an idea on what I could make of my campaign. A mid-game AAR? A late game-AAR? Is it already late enough for a late game-AAR? I don't know.