Interactive Romani AAR.

[miotas]

Tut, tut, you dissapoint me miotas.

Maion

Hey, the greater they are, the more horourable it is to destroy them right?

I'll work on bringing them down from the inside

[the man with no name]

As said earlier we MUST not march on Messana for we cannot afford a war with carthage. I say that we march on Segesta and Bononia, even though they have alot of men to kill, so we starve them out.

[Ghaust the Moor]

Can new people Join? If so

Name: Arnza Perperna
Age: 31
Tribe: Etruscan/Cisapline gallic
Description: Tall with curly red hair. His father had been an invading gaul, that when rampaging through Etrutria, fell in love with a local woman. He stayed in rome after the horde left and built up his wealth as a sea merchant, trading with the Greeks and Carthaginians. His son was born ten years after meeting his mother ( He had bad luck with children, His previous 4 children ended in death by disease) Arnza was taught about the bussiness of mechantile, but at the age of 12, Arnza forced his father into letting him study law in rome. He studied there for many years and eventually was assigned a spot on the senate. He is currently in training for becoming a captain.

[Vasiliyi]

I think were still recruiting, right johnhumgtom? Welcome.

[johnhughthom]

Indeed, anybody is welcome to join at any time.

[Karo]

Marcus Iulius Rufus stands up again

"Are we going to leave a city that is requesting our aid? What has become to us if we are going to leave a city stand alone in their hour of need? Is this the Rome our forefathers dreamed of? And is this a lesson we want to give to our off springs? How will history judge us if we leave our allies and friends alone against the evil expansionist of Carthage? And what has become of us if we choose money above friendship."
he scratches his beard and looks to the senators sitting
"Senators, why do you fear Carthage? don't you believe that our legions can crush them? Don't you trust our mighty armies to conquer all of Sicily? And what is there in the north except Barbarians? In Sicily we'll find wealth and glory for Rome. I know you fear that we'll lose money from this expansion. But they will pay us back when we conquer their cities and pillage it."

[johnhughthom]

The Senate Building Rome, 482 AUC.

Manivs Cvrivs Dentatvs strides into the room, dust still on his cloak from a recent journey.

Friends, good news. Taras is now under the control of Roman forces. I have just returned from the city, I spent a great deal of time speaking with the Consul and local elders. The Epirote forces came out to meet us, despite being heavily outnumbered.


The victory was achieved, though a disappointing number of men were lost. I won't be recommending the Consul for any honours.

The question we need to answer is this, how do we handle this new responsibility? Should we enforce Roman laws and order upon these people? Should we allow them to rule themselves, with some proper Roman "help and advice" when necessary of course? Or do we try something in between the two? My preference is to allow local friends of Rome to rule, perhaps further down the line when the locals are more loyal to Rome we could implement something more direct. We also need to decide how the new settlement in Ariminium should be governed, do their laws come direct from Rome or do we give them a level of autonomy?
The second Legion is encamped in sight of the walls of Rhegium. My agents within haven't sent any word for months, I can only assume they were discovered and murdered. The only sensible option is to starve them out, I am sure none of you would advocate an assault on a walled city when we have another option.
I believe many of you have spoken out in favour of closer trading ties with other nations, who do we approach? We also need to decide on our relations with the Epirotes, they have been kicked out of Italia and pose no threat. Do we need to continue hostilities?
I give the floor to you wise men of Rome.

The old man sat down to listen to the words of his peers.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I forgot to change the camera from general cam, so didn't get any good battle pics.

[Karo]

The question we need to answer is this, how do we handle this new responsibility? Should we enforce Roman laws and order upon these people? Should we allow them to rule themselves, with some proper Roman "help and advice" when necessary of course? Or do we try something in between the two? My preference is to allow local friends of Rome to rule, perhaps further down the line when the locals are more loyal to Rome we could implement something more direct. We also need to decide how the new settlement in Ariminium should be governed, do their laws come direct from Rome or do we give them a level of autonomy?
The second Legion is encamped in sight of the walls of Rhegium. My agents within haven't sent any word for months, I can only assume they were discovered and murdered. The only sensible option is to starve them out, I am sure none of you would advocate an assault on a walled city when we have another option.
I believe many of you have spoken out in favour of closer trading ties with other nations, who do we approach? We also need to decide on our relations with the Epirotes, they have been kicked out of Italia and pose no threat. Do we need to continue hostilities?
I give the floor to you wise men of Rome.

The old man sat down to listen to the words of his peers.

Marcus Iulius Rufus stands up
"It's great news that Taras has fallen the men who have fallen must be remembered as heroes. I believe we must let those pesky Greeks rule themselves, with the guidances of Rome of course. For now it will be the best thing to do. And now the Epirotes are out of Italy we must make peace with them and get the trade going with them and the rest of Hellas. And we need to trade with the rest of the world and let them know about the greatness of Rome."

[johnhughthom]

How will history judge us if we leave our allies and friends alone against the evil expansionist of Carthage?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Mamertines were hardly old allies of Rome, they wanted an alliance to protect them against Carthage.

[Karo]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Mamertines were hardly old allies of Rome, they wanted an alliance to protect them against Carthage.

sssht................

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

aren't we at war with carthage if they attack the Mamertines?

[johnhughthom]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

aren't we at war with carthage if they attack the Mamertines?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Not necessarily, the script only causes war if Rome attacks Messana (). It's up to the Senate whether Carthage gaining influence over Sicily is reason to go to war, in real life it was, in this AAR it's up to you.

[Karo]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Not necessarily, the script only causes war if Rome attacks Messana (). It's up to the Senate whether Carthage gaining influence over Sicily is reason to go to war, in real life it was, in this AAR it's up to you.

I thought the script worked both ways

[Ghaust the Moor]

Arnza Perperna Stands:


"I don't mean to sound unsupportive, Senator Marcus Rufus, but war with carthage needs to be the farthest thing from our minds. The Cathaginian economy is strong and they rule the seas. A war with them would only be long, hard-fought and more inportently, expensive. Their navy would strangle our trade routes and force us into an economic downspin, with which, only abosolute victory would recover. We must do everthing to prevent a war from occcuring. A strong force must garrison the sourthern rebal city in case the carthaginians attack. On the matter of the Greeks, we must strike. The greek cities are weak, they bicker amongst themselves and are constantly at war. Rumors say that the main Epirote force is campaigning in Macedonia,and their homelands will be left weakly defended, ready for the taking. The Epirotes are allied with the the hellenic cities, but thier alliance will break soon. The Macedonian army is strong and will swallow all of greece if left alone. The Gallic tribes to the north should be left alone. They are to busy with each other to focus on the rest of the world, but should we attack, they will most likely ally against us. On the Taras matter, Let the greeks rule it. When all of Greece bows to rome, they will have no choice but to accept us. But I can neer overstress, war with Carthage would be a suicide. More men are needed and A navy that rivals the carthginians also. Make allies of them and let them expand in spain and africa. Greece is a rich land that will supply us many goods, and much money. We must strike!!"

Arnza sits and grins, hoping his plan wasn't to radical.

[johnhughthom]

EDIT: I can't believe all these people have signed up for this and so few went for BtSH. It's practically the same thing. Well done, johnhughthom.

Anybody playing along with this really should check out BtSH, EB PBMs are great fun. I would play BtSH if it wasn't for EB 1.1, I'm currently playing a Makedon PBM and really enjoyed my time as one of the original players of WoTB(AS PBM).
Head over to the Throne Room and check it out guys.


Unless you got a sore head from all those acronyms.

[johnhughthom]

The Senate Building Rome, 483 AUC.

As the Senators arrive in the building they see Dentatus is already there, for all they know he may have been there for days. He is looking even older than last time, surely he won't last another year. When the room was full he rose and addressed Romes men of influence.

Fellows, Rome's rise to greatness continues unabated. The evil mercenaries who took advantage of the fearful people of Rhegion are no more. Perhaps some of you watched as Rome took her revenge?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Forgot to turn off general cam again!!!!

Now we must forget the past and look to the future, once again we have a new responsibility and must decide how to handle it. Also we still haven't addressed the role of Ariminium, do we control her directly, or should the residents have a degree of self-government?
Our ambassadors arrived in Epiros within the last few weeks and agreed a peace deal. I am told they are hard at work on more than one front, their war with the Macedons goes well, indeed they control the Macedon homeland, birthplace of Alexander. They are also working to subdue the Illyrian coast, Dalminion is already under siege and may fall within the year. We need to decide is this advantageous for us, Epirote control of the region should control piracy in the Adriatic, or is it an Imperialistic streak we need to subdue? Some of you have already spoken of the need to engage in this theatre, Dentatus nods at Arnza Perperna, Personally I think it a reckless thought, how many legions would we need to take and garrison the region? It is, however up to you as the engineers of the will of Rome. It seems to me there are three fronts, Sicily, Gallic Italia or Illyria/Greece. Involvement in the first front would bring us into conflict with an old friend and trading partner, one would lead us to fighting savages and the other strikes me as madness. What do we do?

He sits with a sigh, nodding to the Senate to air their opinions.

[Karo]

Now we must forget the past and look to the future, once again we have a new responsibility and must decide how to handle it. Also we still haven't addressed the role of Ariminium, do we control her directly, or should the residents have a degree of self-government?
Our ambassadors arrived in Epiros within the last few weeks and agreed a peace deal. I am told they are hard at work on more than one front, their war with the Macedons goes well, indeed they control the Macedon homeland, birthplace of Alexander. They are also working to subdue the Illyrian coast, Dalminion is already under siege and may fall within the year. We need to decide is this advantageous for us, Epirote control of the region should control piracy in the Adriatic, or is it an Imperialistic streak we need to subdue? Some of you have already spoken of the need to engage in this theatre,[/I] Dentatus nods at Arnza Perperna, Personally I think it a reckless thought, how many legions would we need to take and garrison the region? It is, however up to you as the engineers of the will of Rome. It seems to me there are three fronts, Sicily, Gallic Italia or Illyria/Greece. Involvement in the first front would bring us into conflict with an old friend and trading partner, one would lead us to fighting savages and the other strikes me as madness. What do we do?

He sits with a sigh, nodding to the Senate to air their opinions.

Marcus Iulius Rufus stands up

"We hear again of a great victory, and I didn't expect anything lesser. First point I would like to adres is what we need to do with Arminium, I say we need to rule it ourselves with the laws of Rome. Second point is what to do now. I know that my plans for attacking Carthage aren't welcomed by the majority of the senate. But after some time I'm certain that all of them will realise that what I proposed was the right thing to do. Because I don't believe they'll expand in Africa or Iberia after they are done in Sicily. But they'll move in too Italy. And they'll attack Roman land and I hope it will not be too late too repel their attack. Now what do we need to do is conquer the northern part of Italy maybe there are mines in the mountains that will bring riches to us. Attacking Hellas now would be madness, some people are forgetting the two mighty empires in the east who wouldn't like if we came and tried to conquer Hellas. And we don't need all of Hellas to unite against an external enemy. Their time will come but it's not now."
He sits back down

[penguinking]

Quintus Livius Postumus rises to speak.

"We should establish direct control over Ariminium. It will take time, but having the province directly controlled by Rome will let us stamp out any last remnants of Celtic influence, and eventually proper Roman troops can be recruited from there.

For reasons that have already been stated by myself and others, attacking Carthage now is a foolish decision. We can profit far more from trading with them than fighting them. The proposal to expand to the east also strikes me as unwise. Any attempt to expand into Greece would require a massive buildup of forces, including constructing an expensive fleet, and probably multiple legions. We would have to fight Epeiros, which, judging from Senator Dentatus' report, seems to be quite powerful. If we did conquer Epeiros, that would just bring us into conflict with more powers- Makedonia, the Greek city states, and vicious Thracian tribes. We have made peace with Epeiros, and they no longer pose any threat to us. For now we should be content to trade with them.

I propose we turn our legions to the north, where they can bring the fertile Po Valley under the control of Rome. The savages defending it are fierce and wild, but they are neither numerous nor united. The trading center of Bononia is an ideal place to attack."

[Vasiliyi]

Lucius Aurelaus Cotta stands.

"Dear men of Rome! It is good to hear of victory. It will show the world that we Romans are full of Honor and will not tolerate traitors. Now, I believe we should watch carthage in sicily, but not attack it. Let them try to attack those Mammertines. King Heiro of Syrakousai will not allow them to conquer him and it would definitely take them many years to control those cities.

If the senators are worried about carthaginian expansion into italy, let us post a legion around Rhegion to defend it.

Now, let us consider taking the cities of the Po valley. Segesta, Bononia, Patavium are all great targets to expand and allow Roman law to subside there. As for Eporites, it is too early to tell what path we might need to take."

Sits down.

[johnhughthom]

Dentatus rises once more.

Well it seems the will of the Senate is to conquer the Gauls to the north. The only sensible choice, it is good to see reason and good sense win out. The only problem I see is that most of you distrust our Punic allies and want to leave a Legion near Rhegion, that leaves us with only one Legion left to assault the Gauls, not enough in my view and I would actually go as far as to say it would be suicidal to attack with it alone. The people will not stomach the raising of another Legion unless we give something back.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

One of my house rules is I start with two Legions and they are disbanded after sixteen years and new ones raised. Each time I add one more Legion, it helps keep the game interesting and makes your choices more important and make blitzing almost impossible(especially since I don't retrain either). My proposal for raising a new Legion would be we have to reduce taxes to low across the board to simulate keeping the populace subdued, and they can't be raised until the "extra" legion is disbanded.

I ask you, do we really need to keep a Legion in the south? Taras and Rhegion have the ability to raise emergency troops in the event of a Punic betrayal and I have no reason to expect such a move. In fact I would be flabbergasted if they did, they have as much reason as us to keep cordial relations, the trade between us enriches us both.

[Ghaust the Moor]

Arnza Perpana Stands once more:

"Men of the Senate, I beeseech you. Do not wage war with Carthage, as senator Quintius Livius, and myself, have said: Carthage is not one to be messed with. The effects will be catastrophic, and Denatus, won't a war with Carthage cost more legions, than a campaign with Greece? The greek people, are not rebbellious. They will require little "Reassurence" once we have captured their cities, seen what good roman steel can do to a greek warrior, and (if it need come to this) watched their brethren enslaved. If the intelligence is to be believed, than a war with Epiroes is needed. The Epirotes, have supposedly subdueded the Illyrians before, thus, an attck with them can mean only one thing, they wish to make Illyria a client kingdom under their rule so they may reap the benifits of the Illyrians raiding our coast. No, this is not to suppress piracy, it is to endorse it. On the matter of the "two great kingdoms", they should not be worried about. The Seluicids are indeed allied with the Macedonians, and the Ptolomaics with the Greeks, but they are nothing. The Seluicids are to busy with problems of thier own. Are they not at war with the Ptolomaics? They also have to deal with the fledgling kingdoms of Hayasdan, and Pontus, and lets not forget the rebellious Bactrians. The Ptolomaics, are of even less worry. They are allied with Epiroes and The Greek Coallition, but they have little-to-no-influence. The last of thier overseas holdings ( in Asia minor mind you) is under threat from the Seluicids, and their only hopes for expansion, are north into Seluicid territory, and east...into our allies, the Carthaginians. If we are lucky the Ptolomaics will expand in both directions, and tire themselves, the Seluicids, and the Carthaginians out. Then, and only then will a war with Carthage be acceptable. Now, On the matter of Ariminium, I believe that we should make them directly under roman rule, lest the should rebel. That is all. "

Anrza sits again, feeling lucky.


EDIT: Dangit post came to late

[Vasiliyi]

Lucius stands agian,

"Then it is settled. Both legions should march on Bononia, or Segesta. Whichever Dentatus seems fit. There will be no new Legion as this will be too much for the populace to bear. 2 legions is more than enough."

[johnhughthom]

Dangit post came to late

And it was such a nice post too.

Don't worry about it, it's nice too have someone press for something different. You just have to convince the other Senators it's a good idea now. A few bribes maybe...

[Ghaust the Moor]

And it was such a nice post too.

Don't worry about it, it's nice too have someone press for something different. You just have to convince the other Senators it's a good idea now. A few bribes maybe...

Hahahah. I tend to always go against the majority. My ideas just seem to roll that way I mean they make sense in my head.

[johnhughthom]

The Senate Building Rome, 484 AUC.

The Senate building is strangely quiet despite being full, the death of Dentatus three months ago has left them without an obvious figurehead Nobody has the authority or courage to stand up and take control of the session. Eventually a former Consul by the name of Lucius Cornelius Nervi takes the stand.

Men of Rome, the past year has seen our control of Rhegion pass onto locals loyal to Rome. We are in total control of the new settlement in Ariminium and a Legion there guards the passes from the north. The second Legion is marching north as we speak to join with their fellows and assault the town of Bononia, Dentatus believed that was were the savages who raided our farms came from. The information on our rivals is sketchy, Carthage has not attempted a new assault on Messana, the Epirotes failed to take Dalminion but we know little else. Perhaps we should think of a way to keep on top of what is happening around us?

Nervi sits once again

[johnhughthom]

The Senate Building Rome, 485 AUC.


Nervi once again faces the Senate.

Both Legions are now encamped without the walls of Bononia, there is a sizable force within but we outnumber them and it is unlikely they will face us unless they have no other choice. The Consul believes it unlikely they will sally this year and an assault would bring grievous losses so we play the waiting game.


The Senate Building Rome, 486 AUC.

The Senate hums with the noise of a hundred conversations. Nervi is about to rise when a messenger rushes into the building and hands him a note. Nervi reads it and smiles.

Senators, the Gallic raiders from Bononia have been pacified. They tried a surprise attack and were destroyed, the town is now under Roman control. Cadwalador, the chieftan who ordered the raids on our farms, is in Roman hands awaiting justice. It shows the idiocy of these barbarians that they tried to attack a Roman force twice the size of their own.


As I said they tried to catch us by surprise and were almost upon us as we were still getting into position.

Our skirmishers were able to repulse the first attack and the battle was a foregone conclusion from then. There were a number of those naked devils from Hades we have heard stories of, it seems those stories are true and these men really are superhuman, they were surrounded and cut down though, Roman farmers are more than a match for devils it would seem.

After they were gone it was little more than a mopping up session.

There are still Gallic tribes in the region we will need to pacify, Segesta to the west, home to the Ligurians and Patavium to the north east. There is also Mediolanium to the north west, under a tribe of the Aedui confederation. Which brings me to my next point, Gauls love to fight. They will fight other peoples if they can, but they are more than happy to fight each other. I am told the Gauls over the mountains are embroiled in a bitter civil war. Why then should Romans die fighting Gauls, shouldn't we encourage them to fight each other? Apart from the Aedui the other major confederation is the Arverni, I believe we should seek to ally with one or the other. My personal preference would be the Aedui, the Arverni believe their King to be a living God. Could we really do business with such superstitious fools? The problem with allying with the Aedui is they hold Mediolanium, I believe a "cash donation" would convince them to hand the area over to us. It would also allow them to engage further in their civil war. As always though the way forward is up to you men of Rome, I only seek to enlighten you and ease your difficult choices.

[penguinking]

Quintus Livius Postumus speaks.

"Excellent news about the siege of Bononia. Once order has been established in that region, our legions should turn west to Segesta. The Ligurians are isolated and should fall easily to our forces.

I agree that a temporary alliance with one of the savage Gallic tribes may be beneficial. I believe we must ally with the Arverni, however. The Aedui are allied with the Insubres who control Mediolanum, a region that we must capture if we are to unite all of Italia. Therefore, war with the Aedui seems inevitable, so we should ally with the Arverni. I reject the proposal that we "buy" Mediolanum. Have you become as soft as the Punics, Nervi? Rome does not claim territory, especially not from savages, by gold and bribes, but by fire and steel. This is the Roman way."

[Vasiliyi]

Lucius nods in agreement with Quintus,

"Here here to Victory! Let us show those pesky barbarians the true might of the roman army. As to what we should do next, well I believe Segesta is a perfect target. ... Upon allying with one of the Gauls, I think it to be foolish. Why should we help one get an upper hand? So they can get stronger and become a fly on a hot day for us? Nay! Let they raid and kill eachother, and who ever is the victor, shall be weakened after fighting so long, that will be when we step in. ROMA INVICTA!"

[mini]

Meh, I would join, but as you can see in my signature, I'm fully loaded on PBM's.
People should check the roman one in my sig if they like what's going on here.

Which is basically the bigger version of this concept, as people can actually take control of a FM.
But i'll pop in from time to time, GL

[johnhughthom]

Nervi looks at Postumus with distain.


I know the Roman way, I simply try to present to you all the options we have before us. It appears we are divided, half of us believe we should involve ourselves in Gallic politics others see that as beneath us. At least we can agree we need to strengthern our position in the north. I will inform the Consuls the Senate wishes Segesta to under Roman control. Our long term stance with the divided Gallic tribes can wait

[Karo]

Nervi looks at Postumus with distain.


I know the Roman way, I simply try to present to you all the options we have before us. It appears we are divided, half of us believe we should involve ourselves in Gallic politics others see that as beneath us. At least we can agree we need to strengthern our position in the north. I will inform the Consuls the Senate wishes Segesta to under Roman control. Our long term stance with the divided Gallic tribes can wait

Marcus Iulius Rufus stands up
"It's wise to decide not to meddle in the affairs of the Barbarians let them kill each other we need to wait our chance and strike them when the time comes. And can some one tell me how the economics are going in the republic."