Romani AAR - The Late Republic & The Early Empire

[thelord]

Hey everyone I've decided to start my own AAR for my Roman save, starting in 131 BC, this is mainly so people can follow me with the progress of my campaign rather than a dramatic storytelling AAR.

I'm playing on h/m with some house rules put in, to stick roughly to historical expansion and also I destroy every building possible in every city that i take over, i do this so it takes longer to get new provinces to be valuable and productive which is more realistic than taking over a city with nearly everything already built.

POST ONE - INTRODUCTION

OK now for the introduction to the stage the game is at, the year is 131 BC, my empire stretches from Iberia to Asia Minor. The Marian reforms have been in place for around 20 years and after a century of constant wars I finally have a period of peace. AS, Epeiros, Aedui, Kart-Hadast, Pontos, Saka and Pahlava have all been wiped out. I am currently at war with the Arverni, Macedon and Ptolemaioi. I have no allies to speak of, clearly my expansion has not gone down well with the rest of Europe.



The constant invasions of the Arverni into Cisalpine Gaul have forced me to build forts to block all the passes between the mountains, each with a tough stack of men in. I'm sticking roughly historical accuracy so I won't take Gaul for another 60 or 70 years. Until then i will pick off their invading forces and generally keep them under control.



In the last 2 or 3 decades i have quickly occupied all of Greece, the western portion of Asia Minor and Kydonia. I plan to stop expanding east for a while in order to build up the towns there so I don't have a stretched supply line.

[General Appo]

Nice to see someone who keeps playing after 200 BC. But what have you done to the minimap, it looks horrible.

[thelord]

POST TWO - INVASION OF LEPKI

Winter 128 BC, the Ptolemys are constantly blockading my ports in Greece and Asia minor, so I decided to teach them a lesson by invading their huge city Lepki. It was also a good opportunity to try out some of the new artillery available to me from the Marian reforms. In particular the 1 talent stone projectors. Costing a whopping 30000 mnai for one unit! Thankfully I have a large amount of cash in my treasury so I can afford to be experimental.



In 127 BC i made my assault without waiting to build any siege equipment, however this turned out to be a mistake as the stone projector was not enough to create a whole in the large stone wall on its own. So I suffered a defeat and had to withdraw.



So i made a second assault the following turn in the Autumn of 127 BC and this time i managed to bash a whole in the wall and take they city, killing the Ptolemaic faction heir in the process. No doubt I will see the arrival of several stacks trying to retake the city in the next few years.

[thelord]

Nice to see someone who keeps playing after 200 BC. But what have you done to the minimap, it looks horrible.

hmm, I personally prefer it with the borders on. I'm in two minds really, I like having the borders between different factions to have black lines but not for the boundaries between every province. Anybody know of a way to achieve this?

[thelord]

POST THREE - MACEDONIA'S INVASION

The year is 122 BC, and the short period of peace that I was experiencing seems to be over, the Macedonians and the Ptolemys are both launching mass assaults on Asia minor and Lepki. My treasury has been severely plundered because I had to bribe a Ptolemaic army and also my faction leader died. Being replaced by his distant cousin as his own son was 2 years too young. Macedonia is clearly not going to accept that I control Asia minor now and is sending a stack nearly every turn now. This has prompted me to begin the recruitment of a new legion in order to crush their remaining 2 cities and hopefully force them into being my vassal. My new faction heir will lead this legion as he needs some valuable combat experience.



As for the Macedon stack already besieging Sardis, my legion stationed there should be enough to destroy it and hold off any more until my heir arrives to wipe them out. So I sallied out of Sardis to face them, they had superior numbers but my troops were vastly superior to theirs. However their cavalry superiority may prove fatal.



I formed my troops into two lines and engaged the first line with the Macedonians. They flanked the line with some of their cavalry and sub sequentially charged my front-line, at which point I sent my second line forwards to outflank the cavalry.



This results in the simultaneous fleeing of their army and a truly crushing defeat for Macedon.

[Frodge]

Nice I love marian units, being able to retrain your line units in a hell of a lot of provinces really gives you an edge.

[eliad91]

Very nicely done,I thought the talents will be like onagers o well.

[Tarkus]

Interesting stuff! But I just think the placement of forts on all those nothern Italy mountain passes and at the ends of bridges looks...well...too gamey for my blood.

Am I alone in this?

Keep it coming, thelord!

[CaesarAugustus]

Good AAR! I like following the progress of another player's campaign. That campaign map and the banners are a bit of an eyesore, but other than that...

[thelord]

what banners do you mean Augustus?
I'm going to swap the campaign maps back i reckon

POST 4 - INVASION OF SIDE

112 BC, in recent years the Hayasdan have been destroyed after I took Ipsos from them. I've secured a ceasefire with Ptolemaioi as well as their repetitive attacks on Lepki were getting on my nerves.

I've decided it's time for the Macedonians to be destroyed so I've sent a stack to Side, one of their two remaining towns, I've sent a pretty lacklustre general, he's dull/uncharismatic/languorous . I'm going to start a little project and find out if i can turn him into a good general despite his lack of talents.



The Macedon's may outnumber me but my troops are a lot better than theirs, the odds were even however.



They had slightly higher ground which could have worked in their favour.



So I rushed forward and threw my Cohors Reformatas pilum.



After the skirmish mode had finished, I came out on top, with 3% casualties, compared to Macedons 7%. Macedon therefore engaged its infantry before my Antesigeni could fire throw theirs.



My auxiliaries were forced to protect the left flank when several units of hoplites tried to flank.




Several minutes later Macedon engaged most of its Skirmishers whilst their reinforcements arrived on my right flank, including a 63 man strong bodyguard.



However my Cohors stood their ground with the help of the auxiliaries and in the end Macedons general was killed alongside over 1300 other Macedonian troops. Macedonia's largest army is destroyed and Side will fall the following turn.

[Chaotix]

Great AAR! Nice to see an AAR without roleplay for once (although I love those kinds of AARs too ). Keep it up

[Reality=Chaos]

Baktria looks very very scary. Any idea when you'll be facing that steamroller?

[thelord]

not sure yet, they seem to be gearing up to start attacking me, I might go offer the ptolies a load of cash to attack them and keep them away from me.

[thelord]

POST FIVE - THREE WAY ASIAN WAR

I've added some submods to my campaign, Fanatics legion mod, and I've started playing with the BI.exe. I've also changed the minimap back to how it was.

108 BC, the situation in Asia Minor has changed dramatically in recent years. I am at war with both Baktria and Ptolemaioi. Who are at war with each other, so there's an interesting 3 way battle for supremacy going on. I had sent another Italian Legion with the best troops available to me for the invasion of Ankrya, but as soon as the arrived near the town, a large stack of Ptolemaic troops turned up for the defence. A very tough stack as well, two 10 star generals with a load of phalanxes and Galatian swordsmen. The odds were not in my favour and my general was an non-blooded man from Capua.



I had the high ground but they had a huge advantage still.



They had 3 elite phalanxes with them as well.



As the battle continued the Ptolemaic phalanxes were gaining the upper hand, I may have killed more of them but they were starting to win it for them.



This was turning into a very close battle. I had flanked their line and charged the general with mine. Their generals death would have really turned the battle in my favour.



Which luckily is what i got.



Their main force was routing, however most of my infantry was dead and I had only 4 horsemen remaining. So I could not chase them down as the enemy reinforcements had arrived along with another 10 star general.



The second general was also killed.



However the second wave of troops was too much for my surviving legionnaires so I had to retreat. Most of my army was destroyed but I had taken two 10 star generals with it.



Even worse for me however Baktria decided to attack my retreated legion. I was outnumbered 4 to 1.



Miraculously their army was of low level troops and I managed to pull of a heroic victory.



I may have fought them off for now, but there are several more Baktrian stacks on their way with another Ptolemaic tough stack as well. Hopefully they will fight each other while I replenish my legions with my legion barracks in my local cities.

[Chirurgeon]

Good lord that was some serious battles there my friend. I havent had a nailbiter like that since Moskun attacked me in Iberia! Nice to see your late republic/empire fighting. Great job on the Heroic victory! I am following this one closely.

[thelord]

thanks its nice to know people are following/enjoying it.

[Chirurgeon]

thanks its nice to know people are following/enjoying it.

Never fear...Lurkers are always here!! Anyways I know what you mean by that. The number of views is a good reflection of interest but to be honest the comments keep us AAR people going. I love it when people ask or point out specific things. What ever you do don't stop. This is a refreshing change from the Roman AARs that always start in 272 BC. Most are abandoned long before where you are. Again keep up the good work! At least I dont have to watch you conquer my beloved Iberia

[thelord]

Never fear...Lurkers are always here!! Anyways I know what you mean by that. The number of views is a good reflection of interest but to be honest the comments keep us AAR people going. I love it when people ask or point out specific things. What ever you do don't stop. This is a refreshing change from the Roman AARs that always start in 272 BC. Most are abandoned long before where you are. Again keep up the good work! At least I dont have to watch you conquer my beloved Iberia

thats mostly why I decided to start it. All the other AARs I've looked at end by 200BC. Iberia was the hardest conquest I've had to perform in this campaign, the Lusotannians had all of Iberia and a good chunk of Gaul and sent a good 2/3 stacks my way every few turns. Was before the Marian reforms as well so my supply line was slower as well which really didn't help.

[CaesarAugustus]

what banners do you mean Augustus?

I meant the big banners that hover over each unit in the battlemap, but it's no big deal. Great new entries, keep it coming.

[Frodge]

Awesome job with the heroic victory, this looks really interesting. Roma Victrix!

[thelord]

Ah I didn't know you could get rid of those. Is it a sub-mod or just in the game options?

Only a short post I'm afraid this time guys.

POST SIX - EXPANSION INTO PTOLEMAIOI TERRITORY

105 BC, Winter. The situation in Asia Minor was getting worrying for me as Baktria was sending stack after stack towards me, I had a huge stroke of fortune however and two of their cities bordering mine rebelled, so they recalled the stacks and the rebels will hopefully keep them occupied for a while. Can someone tell me where Baktria's capital is by the way?

The war with Ptolemaioi was still in full flow however and I managed to take 2 of their cities in the last few years and besieged another. I took Ankrya and Kyrene. Whilst besieging Salamis. They sent a large force to retake Kyrene within 2 turns of me taking it however.



Luckily for me however, I rarely lose sieges.



The following turn saw some new developments as well, I assaulted and took Salamis and now control Cyprus, which will no doubt be very useful for reinforcements for when I assault the middle east. Ptolemaioi also took Tarsos, Macedon's last town and wiped them out before I could get to them.

[CaesarAugustus]

Baktria's capital starts off as Baktra, which is in the far east of the map, but with an empire that size the AI has most likely moved it to a more centralized location. Either way I doubt you'll be taking it anytime soon. As for the banners, if you want to get rid of them just go into C:/Program Files/The Creative Assembly*/(your EB install folder)/EB/data/preferences, and open the preferences.txt.

Then, change "SHOW_BANNERS:TRUE" to "SHOW_BANNERS:FALSE"

[thelord]

nice thanks a lot.

[SaberHRE]

Nice update. How are you dealing with the Ptolemy fleets? Their poliremes are just invincible at times.

Btw, what is that eagle by cohors reformata?

[Chirurgeon]

Nice update. How are you dealing with the Ptolemy fleets? Their poliremes are just invincible at times.

Btw, what is that eagle by cohors reformata?

I believe that is the 1st cohort...the cohort that carries the eagle

[thelord]

yes, its part of fanatics first legion mod.

The poliremes took about 200 of my own ships to sink

[thelord]

POST SEVEN - WAR WITH PTOLEMAIOI CONTINUES


OK, time for the latest on the republic's situation. It is 98 BC. I coughed up a huge amount of money to Baktria to become my ally and stay as my ally so I could focus my strength on the increasingly hard war with Ptolemaioi. Who a few turns ago besieged Kyrene yet again with a super stack and eventually took the city after one of those sieges that takes about an hour and bores you to death. Since then they are continually attacking Lepki with me losing more and more strength and troops there with every attack. The war may be going badly in north Africa, but in Asia Minor its going a lot better for me. I managed to take Tarsos and Mazaka and have had to fight several battles with full stacks to defend them, yet still the enemy stacks keep coming, god knows where they keep getting trained because I sabotage enemy barracks regularly. I see another 2 or 3 skirmishes with them having to be fought every turn, and I hope that I can take the land down to Jerusalem and push them back to just their lands in Egypt before I will move for a ceasefire until I get my Augustus to destroy them .



After this war is over, I will begin preparing for the conquest of Gaul and Britannia.

The Ptolemaioi assaulted Lepki, I managed to win the battle but my general got killed when I lost concentration and he got chopped down by Galatian heavy infantry. I don't know how the Ptolies can recruit them still as I hold Galatia, or can they train them anywhere?

[Chirurgeon]

98 BC. Wow great job. thats a long campaign. I read the forums and there are FOUR different Roman AARs going at the same time! Everyone loves Rome it would seem!

[General Appo]

Great work. As for the Galatians, the Ptolies can recruit in a shitload of reions, including Kyrene, This is likely on of the main reasons that the Yellow Death is such a common and feared thing.

[thelord]

POST EIGHT - CONSTANT WAR CONTINUES

Ptolemaioi continues to send stack after stack towards Tarsos and Mazaka, this turned out to be a big mistake on their part however, as I managed to defeat the two armies they sent. Which left Antiocheia undefended so I managed to get it besieged.



I also got a picture of a big underground cavern on the battle map that I had never seen before and wondered if anyone else had?



It's 97BC, I have a new army on its way to retake kyrene. I continue to be allied to Baktria and Sabyn, Bactria got a ceasefire with Ptolemaioi a few turns ago however.



I took Antiocheia the following turn. You can just see a Ptolemaioi stack invading Mazaka at the top right of the picture. Which resulted in another siege that I had to fight. I'm getting very sick of them.



Thankfully I won the battle, otherwise they would have broke though towards Sardis and Ipsos, which would not have been good for me at all.



I had another stack invade Antiocheia the following turn, a battle which I easily won as it was mostly levies not their best troops.



Yet another stack invaded the following turn, had a lot better troops but I had much higher ground and their crippled general died early on in the battle.