The Pyrrhic Dynasty : A Makedonian AAR

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks for following, everyone.

Parthia is getting stronger, especially after they kick Saka around for a while. And by throwing so many troops at me, Media is only weakening themselves. The two seem to have a very strong alliance, though. I was thinking of roleplaying something going on between them in the future.

I've just been calling the Mediterranean the "Pontos Mesogeios" or "Mesogeios Sea", which means 'inland sea'. It probably isn't the best name for it. I don't know any greek, which is one of this AAR's weakest points. I'm not sure my empire has the same possessive attitude that the Roman empire had, so I'm not sure if 'our sea' would be appropriate.

I know all about the feelings toward the Ptolemaioi. The first third to half of this AAR (first section) is almost all about a war with the Ptolemaioi and their annoying antics. Ptolemai VIII is in his thirties or fourties at the point I'm playing and I haven't seen any new Ptolemaioi. P8 may be the last of his line and they will die off naturally.

The Iberians are Basileus Philippos V's long time enemy. The conquest of Iberia took place in chapters titled "Philip's War", after all. Finishing off his personal enemy may be too big of a chance to miss out on...

[everyone]

Thanks for following, everyone.

amazing I'm being talked about without even being here!
I like how you role-play events in your AAR, I can never seem to role-play anything in my games. it's always "oho! the enemy is doing something stupid and I can laugh at them for being so dumb huhuhuhu!" instead of "the enemy, being afraid of XXX general, avoided battle with him and decided to flee and etc" when I play EB.
and is Pella still your capital? I can never seem to hold the North African coast with Pella as my capital in my Mak campaign.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Thanks, "everyone".

Pella is still my capital, for now. Pella is controlled by the corrupt council of nobles, though...

As for controlling North Africa, I cheated a little. I edited the EDB so that I can build Type2 anywhere and now I just roleplay where they get placed. The three provinces of "Africa" have Type2s. I also edited the bonuses of the Type3 so that they don't have the -15% on them. That is a big help in holding the other settlements of the region. It's a little bit of cheating but I just roleplay that there have been evolutions in the Makedonian government systems.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Chapter 87 : Mauretania

In making continued war with the Arche Makedonia and refusing to meet to discuss even the possibility for peace, the Numidians and Mauretanians had forced Philippos down the inevitable path of warfare. The inland regions of Lybia would be difficult to conquer and even harder to hold, but the coastal region from Karchedon to the Pillars of Hercules could easily be supplied and reinforced by the sea. The conquest of the coastal cities were both an effort to weaken Numidia-Mauretania and to punish them, but taking control of the region had been planned since the days of Neokles and would have been carried out at some point even without war in Numidia. With these cities and ports, the Arche Makedonia would have complete control of the Pontos Mesogeios and both sides of the Pillars of Hercules.

A few months earlier, Basileus Philippos V had taken his men west of the Pillars and besieged the city of Lixos. With a long list of goals to accomplish in his life and his youth fading, Philippos decides to take the city by force after only a couple months of siege:


Within the city is Theodekles Urso, head of the Urso family of Phoenician exiles. After the fall of Karchedon to Neokles and Pyrrhos, the Urso family had lead the force of exiles and had taken command of Numidian armies to spur the initial war with the Arche Makedonia. Now the young head of the Urso family cowers behind the walls of the underdeveloped city of Lixos.

Without any need to fear enemy archers or slingers, the bulk of Philippos' army simply marches forward with their rams to tear down the walls of the Mauretanian town:


The poorly built wooden wall quickly falls apart and Philippos orders the newly recruited men from Karchedon through the breach first. Seeking to prove themselves, they bravely charge through and face the lighter armed enemy:


Once the Mauretanians at the wall break, the bulk of the army of Philippos marches into the city. As they march toward the center of the city, however, Theodekles Urso charges his cavalry down the main city street and at the Makedones. Philippos' men brace themselves and absorb the charge, then go to the task of cutting through the heavy Phoencian cavalry:


During the fight Theodekles falls dead. His men fight bravely to recover the body but not a single one of his men live to the end of the day.

With their general gone, the remaining enemies retreat the city center but refuse to surrender. Attacking from all sides, Philippos' various Thorakitai surround and wipe out the rest of the city garrison:


Philippos takes few losses, kills a hated enemy, and takes a city:


With this, the coast of the Mesogeios Sea and beyond become part of the Arche Makedonia. Philippos goes about setting up a military government:


Both the exiled Karchedonoi and the Mauretanians suffer great losses, but the Numidians fight on. The city of Hippone is attacked once more:


And once more the people of Hippone defend their walls:


The hope of weakening the Numidians and Mauretanians by taking the coastal regions seem a failure, but the death of Theoekles Urso and the failure of the Numidians to come the aid of the Mauretanians begins to weaken the bonds holding the fragile alliance together.

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The Median War

After months of siege, the city of Babylon is attacked by the small army of Media outside her walls:


Keraton Apolloniates, son-in-law to King Isidoros Oresteus is left in charge of the city and in command of the garrison, now tasked with defending the ancient city.

The tiny Median force is far too overconfident and simply moves against the wall and its far superior number of defenders. The men of the east, trained in archery are quite accurate with their arrows and when ignited can hit all the vital points on a siege tower. It is only a matter of time before all the Median siege equiptment is destroyed or on fire:


Taking losses only due to heavy bolt throwers from the towers, Keraton wins an easy victory:


A few months later, as the cold air settles in northern Assyria, a small force tries to take the city of Arbela from the mix force of natives and Thraikioi settlers:


Just as at Bablyon, the siege equiptment is burned to the ground...


...and the Median army withdraws back over the mountains:


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As the Median Empire pushed into Babylonia, they continued to fight on their eastern front as well. Nikomachos, Basileus of the Arche Seleukeia and a band of his elite Agema had remained in the city of Persepolis when the bulk of the royal family fled east from the combined forces of the Medians and Pahlavans. Cut off from his family and reinforcements by a Pahlavan push to the sea, the old Basileus remained in his capital---Persepolis, capital of the Arche Seleukeia since the fall of Seleukeia during the reign of Aristotelis---and waited for his fate. Finally, a giant army of Media besieged the city and came over his walls. With the old Basileus fighting to the death, the city of Persepolis fell. For the first time since Megas Alexandros burned down old Persepolis, the lands of Persis are in the hands of an native people.

Cut off from the west, the remnants of the Seleukid royal family takes shelter in the far reaches of Arachosia, where they are more of exiles than rulers. Molon, elder brother of Nikomachos takes the title of Basileus but for the first time in a century, there is no real power behind it:


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The known world in 147BC:

Next: Chapter 88 : Between Tasks

[Tyrfingr]

The baktrians, shouldn't they be re-styled into a Greco-indian kingdom with a new colour? At least I think so...great update btw!

[Cbvani]

I wonder if you will ever confront the Saka menace?

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

I've actually already renamed them, as seen in this screenshot from a couple chaptes ago:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I thought about recoloring them but I wouldn't want them reddish because of Saka nearby, I wouldn't want them Greenish so they wouldn't look like the now defeated Gandhara, white wouldn't work because of AS nearby, and I wouldn't want them violetish because of Pahlava and Media nearby. They can't be black because that's my color. The only basic color choices left would be yellow, or blue and yellow didn't seem right. I thought about recoloring them a different type of blue, but it was easier just to keep them the same. Didn't think you'd get such a long winded explaination for that one, did you?

If things go as they are going now, there may not be a Saka left by the time I expand that far...

[julius_caesar_the_first]

Congratulations on turning the Mediterranean into your own personal swimming pool:P.

Great update, as always. Keep up the good work.

[ollicompolli]

Wow...this is amazing...

[gamegeek2]

Longest AAR ever. No doubt.

[julius_caesar_the_first]

I wonder if MAA could get this AAR registered officially as a World Record.

[Olaf Blackeyes]

Now tat would be EPIC!!!!
I mean a world record

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

I haven't even been to any of the places in Total War games, save the Yucatan (M2TW). But don't worry, I haven't any plans to burn down anyone's home town... right now.

"The Antigonids" was introduced on 6 October 2007. I've been writting this AAR for almost a year and half. That seems too long to write an AAR...

I had planned to post the next chapter sooner, but over the weekend I realized that I don't have access to the computer I wrote it on until Tuesday (tommorrow). Though, that's somewhat of a good thing. I had an exam today and midterms tommorrow and the day after, so I should / am concentrating on studying for those. Once again, I've failed to meet my own arbitrary AAR dateline.