In Search of Truth: A Hayasdan AAR

[BerkeleyBoi]

Prologue: My Father at Five

My father once told me the story of how we came to be allied with the kings of Hayasdan. It was a great story, one that would captivate my siblings and my own imagination for all of our childhood.

The Hayasdan king was a man named Samus. He was as big as a tree and rode on a two headed horse that shot fire out of one mouth and ice out of the other. The host numbered over six million, all clad in the finest gold armors and wielding weapons too large for any ordinary man to handle. King Samus was also a magician, summoning great beasts from the air to aid him in battle. The defenders of Trapezous were outnumbered ten thousand to one, but still they refused to surrender, brave Greeks they were.

The battle began with the dragons swooping down on us, scorching our homes as they searched for virgins to capture. Our brave defenders warded off the flames with their shields and returned with their own shots of flaming arrows. No one missed and each arrow found their mark. The great beasts fell and our city stood.

The Hayasdan king was furious and he sent forth great machines at our gates. They were horrendous things, made of children bones and imbued with dark magic. Yet we did not fear them. The great defenders burned forty of the dark machines, thus saving the souls of the children trapped within, but there were too many. At last our mighty walls fell and the enemy stormed our city.

The fighting was furious in the streets as the enemy swarmed in from all directions. Surrounded, the great Greek defenders, descendants of Achilles, trained to fight in Sparta, learned in the ways of Athens, veterans from the campaigns of Alexander, fought to the death. They took hundreds of the enemies with them before at last they fell. My father himself, though only five years old at the time, killed seventy of the king’s personal bodyguards himself with nothing but a rock and a blade of grass before he was captured.

The enemy, after suffering such horrendous losses, feared the men of Trapezous greatly. Yet, it was during that battle that they knew we were of better use to them as allies than enemies. The lives of the survivors were spared and were all granted great wealth. All the King of Hayasdan asked for was for us to forgive them for their transgression. After that, peace settled on our land once more.

I was ten years old when I began schooling. I learned many things, like letters and numbers. I also learned that my father was a big fat liar.

[Callicles]

Great beginning. Looking forward to this one: a Hellene in the army of the Hai... Perhaps Xenophon comes to mind?

[Reverend Joe]

Good start.

[Xehh II]

Good start

[Mouzafphaerre]

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You got the thing man!
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[BerkeleyBoi]

Thanks for the comments. I'm going for a lighter approach this time instead of the dark brooding death is right around the other corner mood in Spear and Shield. Just trying to diversify my writing style...

So yeah, I'll be playing as Hayasdan. The unit that will be followed around will be announced with the next update or so.

Settings:
MiniMe's unit mod
MAA's city mod
Playing on Barbarian Invasion basic with no shield wall, night battles, etc...
All the EB 1.0 fixes

VH/M
No banners or green arrows

House Rules:
Auto-Win only when odds are 2-1 in my favor except when fighting rebels


Alright, that's all I can think of for now... hope you enjoy!

[Treverer]

Good to see you writing a new AAR, dear sir!

Yours,
Treverer

[keravnos]

Surrounded, the great Greek defenders, descendants of Achilles, trained to fight in Sparta, learned in the ways of Athens, veterans from the campaigns of Alexander, fought to the death.

My father himself, though only five years old at the time, killed seventy of the king’s personal bodyguards himself with nothing but a rock and a blade of grass before he was captured.

I was ten years old when I began schooling. I learned many things, like letters and numbers. I also learned that my father was a big fat liar.

This here AAR, is an insta-classic.

[Poulp']

BerkeleyBoi,
your name is now synonymous to HQ AAR

bookmarked, and waiting patiently for next episode

[LorDBulA]

BerkeleyBoi , nice to see Hayasdan AAR.
I am around 210BC in my Hayasdan game so I look forward to see how You will do.

I really like the style of the prologue (mystifying the history ) but it was a bit overdone in my opinion.

Cant wait for next chapter.
Good luck.

[Hooahguy]

niiiiice!
i subscribed to this thread......

[Basileus Seleukeia]

Instantly subscribed Can't wait for you to get into the fray

[Sarkiss]

I was ten years old when I began schooling. I learned many things, like letters and numbers. I also learned that my father was a big fat liar.

great to see you picked Armenias. enjoyed your Saba epic now there is this one to follow instead.
good luck

[Hax]

Wooooooh!

Another great AAR coming! Yayness!

[BerkeleyBoi]

Thanks to everyone for their comments again! I will post chapter one as soon as photobucket starts working again...

[mrtwisties]

Love it.

[BerkeleyBoi]

Chapter One: Childhood

I myself was five years old when I saw my first battle. My father left our home early in the morning, a grim look on his face as he picked up his cloak and left to battle the enemy. I did not know who the enemy was, but with the great King Samus leading such great men as my father into battle, what could overcome them?

I was left at home, told to protect my mother and sister, but the desire for glory and honor filled me even at that young age. I grabbed a rock from the side of the road and was looking for a good blade of grass near the walls when I heard the yelling. The battle had begun and I was locked inside.

Desperate to see my father in battle, I climbed up into one of the small wooden towers where two men were waiting for the enemy to come within range. They ignored me as I squeezed in between them and looked out.

I saw stones flying across the air and striking at men far off in the distance. Soldiers from our city marched forward, but I was confused. Where was the golden armor? Where were the massive weapons?

They were all dressed in the same clothes as they would when they worked in the fields. The only difference was that a spear replaced the hoe. The two lines charged at each other and clashed in the middle of the grass field where I used to chase rabbits. Some people fell and were quickly stabbed or trampled. I heard people screaming and cursing. I searched in vain for my father, but could not find him.

Then there it was. The glittering golden armor! Riding on beautiful mounts and their long lances leveled, a band of glorious horsemen slammed into the back of the enemy, sending them flying into the air or buried in the ground.

They turned around, whirled back, and charged again before disappearing just as quickly as they came, leaving dead and dying men behind them.

The enemy was in disarray. Soon afterwards, they broke. I jumped down from the tower despite the warnings of the guards and landed on a dead body which broke my fall. I scrambled back up and ran towards the horsemen. My father must have been one of them, one of those great men charging into battle.

The king rode by. He did not notice me. I searched the faces of those men, but my father was not there. I called for him, but received no answer. The foot soldiers then walked by, but my father was not among them either. I felt my stomach turn. I feared the worst. I fell to my knees and was unable to move.

The townsmen now rushed out to take whatever was left on the bodies. They sickened me. They were robbing the men who died to defend them. They were stealing from my father. I saw a man in front of me pulling a pair of trousers off a corpse. Anger swelled up and I jumped onto his back and began to beat him with my tiny fists. He threw me off and was about to hit me, but suddenly he stopped.

My father was a great warrior, not a scavenger, but there he was with a pair of bloody trousers in his hand. At that moment, I looked at the corpses around me and wished my father was one of them. What a pity that wishes don’t always come true.

[Sarkiss]

interesting how would he treat his father now

[Basileus Seleukeia]

Hehehe, nice start

[Vorian]

His father was cheap....trousers???

At least grab a fine sword dammit!!


Extremely entertaining AAR so far.

[Chaotix]

Awesome AAR, BerkeleyBoi! Hopefully this will be as epic as Spear and Shield.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Nice start! Some nice morale conflicts and horrors of war in there to make it interesting.
The character and his father are Hellenes, right?

[BerkeleyBoi]

His father was cheap....trousers???

At least grab a fine sword dammit!!

Haha, well I figured all the levies who actually fought would have had first pick at the goods.

Awesome AAR, BerkeleyBoi! Hopefully this will be as epic as Spear and Shield.

Ah, I hope so too. I also hope I won't get killed as quickly either...

Nice start! Some nice morale conflicts and horrors of war in there to make it interesting.
The character and his father are Hellenes, right?

Thanks for the comments! Yeah, the father is Hellenes, but the character... well, more will be revealed about him later

[Mouzafphaerre]

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I predict

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

he'll find out that in fact he's a bastard...

.

[Vorian]

^

That would be priceless.

[BerkeleyBoi]

Chapter Two: Throwing Rocks

My father disappeared when I was eleven years old, leaving me with my mother and three younger sisters to fend for ourselves. I was forced to leave school and find work as an extra farm hand for a wealthy Rhodian though I didn’t understand how he became so rich. He was a lazy drunkard. He spent most of his time beating his workers for minor offenses or lying on the floor passed out next to a pool of his own vomit. Most of the other workers were Easterners, or barbarians as my father taught me, but I found I liked them more than the wealthy Greek who lorded over us.

I found my escape a year later when the capital of the Hayasdan was besieged by the Seleucids. Since I was too young to fight with a spear and too weak to draw a bow, I was given a sling and a pouch of stones to pepper the enemy before the true soldiers entered battle.

I had used a sling to kill rabbits for stew since I was a little boy, so I guess they figured I could kill a man, or at least give him a major headache, as well.

We marched for many days towards the capital, but found we had arrived too late and the siege was already relieved. However, we were not sent home, but instead put on permanent garrison duty as there were reports of more Seleucids coming to attack.

The capital city of Armavir was not very impressive compared to my home. It was even smaller, had less goods in its marketplaces, and lacked the sanitation system of Trapezous. It was no wonder that King Samus decided to reside there instead of the capital. As I walked the streets, I noticed that the city was nearly empty of people. I was later told that most of the men have been conscripted to fight as the enemy armies draw nearer.

The battles were many, but I do not remember much. Each time they laid siege to us, we would rush out and pepper the enemy with stones. The spearmen would clash with the enemy and suffer tremendous casualties before the royal horsemen smashed the enemy. Each and every battle was completely dependent on the thunderous charge of the King’s kinsmen.

Each time I remembered fearing that all would be lost as I watched our levies die in droves as the professional Seleucid armies cut them down until suddenly, bursting out from a cloud of dust, the glittering golden armor would appear and save the day.

I fought through almost ten battles against the Seleucids, each time I just slung my stones until none were left before retreating back into the city. The real soldiers would handle the rest.

Then there was one day, we were badly outmatched that time, even worse than usual.

The sally began as usual, with us slinging rocks as the spearmen charged forward to die.

But this time, they died quicker than usual. Ten fell in an instant as the veteran mercenaries and phalanxes cut then down. Then twenty died. Forty. Eighty. Soon, more were dead than alive. The general needed the enemy pinned for his charge to be effective, so the signal went up for the first time. We slingers and archers pulled out our rusty knives and marched forward.

There was an old man who I befriended that marched alongside me. His name was Arzad, but we all just called him the Old Persian. Some claimed he was so old that he once fought against Alexander’s armies. Yet, he could sling a stone harder and more accurately than any of the young men in our unit. His sling had probably killed more enemies than even the kinsmen’s lances. There was so much skill and experience in those hands. And he was the first to fall.

The Seleucid phalanx was murderous. We were cut down even quicker than the Kavakaza Sparabara. The charge was delayed as the general was engaged with the enemy’s cavalry. We were on our own.

In the end, we were victorious. Of the one hundred and twenty men who began the battle, only twenty survived. Our unit was disbanded and we were sent home. The small bag of coins tied around my neck made a small clinking sound with each step the whole way back.

[Hooahguy]

its really depressing, IMO, how you lead the levies to their death, but still, great update!

[BerkeleyBoi]

Campaign Notes:

Hayasdan has been very difficult, but I've been making a lot of progress I think. I've had huge income problems in the beginning, being over 10,000 in debt, but I was able to get out of that and the save money over 6 turns and build mines. Currently, I have no monetary problems.

Pontos has been a pain. They keep on harassing my western borders with medium sized armies which divert my attention away from the east, where I want to expand. I'm avoiding the south because I don't want to share a border with the Yellow Fever and share the same fate as my poor Saba in Sword and Spear.

In battles, I'm suffering huge losses each battle as I need to use my cheap spearmen to pin the enemy while my bodyguards smash their armies. I have become completely reliant on rear cavalry charges with the bodyguards, winning against up to 1:4 odds with those guys. I have been able to win almost every battle, but retraining my armies has depleted my capitals population down to 500 people. Pop growth also seems slower with MAA's citymod.

However, with all that said and done, I have been able to escape the initial problems and the Ptolemies have been helping me a bunch. They are keeping the Seleucids busy and I have stretches of 5-6 turns where I don't have to fight before suddenly the gray banners come out of nowhere and siege my cities. Even so, as I've said, I've been able to win the battles. I think I've finally reached the point where I can turn to the offensive. There might be more action coming soon...

...but I have a conference in Hong Kong this weekend so I won't be able to update until Monday. Sorry!

[Mouzafphaerre]

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Good luck!
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[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Another nice update. What's he going to do now?
I recall the population drain in Armavir when I played Hayasdan. If you can afford it, build farms. They give both population growth and income. Also build health buildings, though the citymod does kind of make them less effective for huge population boosts.