The Battle of Isthmos - First <XGM - Diadochi> AAR
<Image links all dead and won't be fixed. Ever. Sorry.>
I figured that it would be time to write a small AAR on XGM – Diadochi, this will also be the first official preview there is, so I hope you like it.
Changes might not be evident right away, but it’s still a WIP.
The Battle of Isthmos, 279 BC
Location: Near Isthmos causeway
Date: 19th November, 279BC
Combatants: Kingdom of Macedon vs The Aegean League
Estimated size of forces:
Macedonia:
29000 Levied Pikemen
9500 Pezhetairoi, well trained nobility
5000 Asthetairoi, royal guard
9500 Macedonian and Allied skirmishers
7000 Heavy and Light cavalry
Total numbers:
probably around 60000 men,
no specific details on the actual numbers
Aegean League:
6400 Medium Cavalry
9600 Heavy and Light skirmishers
15000 Heavily armored Thorakitai
28800 Well armored Iphikratean Phalangites
Total numbers:
about ~59800 men in total
Aftermath: Unknown
Prelude:
In the summer of 279 BC, Macedon had just regained it’s northern provinces after the death of Lysimachus and struggled to keep it’s weakened economy together. News had reached Antigonos that the subjugated cities of Greece have regained most of their strenght and are gathering vast armies to free their land from Macedonian rule. This is a huge threat to the weak Kingdom of Macedon, Antigonos does what he must and sends word – every able soldier from every city of Macedon must march south towards Thermopylae and pass it before the Greeks can make their move.
Antigonos knew that he needs to be present in Pella or the slaves will revolt, so he assigns his son, Gyras to lead the army to battle and regain control of the Isthmos. He also knows that a sound garrison must be maintained in Philippi, loosing the gold mines there would spill disaster to his treasury and the Kingdom would collapse.
To ensure protection, he sends a diplomat to Thrace, the semi-barbarous Greeks, a young nation that came into being after Lysimachus’s death, Antigonos knows the Thracians want to recapture northern Macedonia, but to have even a short guarantee of peace, an Alliance is formed, which the Thracians accept rather willingly, perhaps to strengthen their borders against the Getai. With the Northern border secure, another diplomat is sent to Asia Minor and yet another Alliance is formed with the Kingdom of Pergamum – the true remains of Lysimachus. What follows is a brief Ceasefire with the Seleucids, which leaves the Attalids alone against them. Antigonos does not take pride in his treacherous nature, but to ensure safety of his nation, nothing is ever too cruel.
Finally, the East and North are secure for a short period of time, the Epirotes had already formed an alliance a year earlier so they could fight the Romans and Antigonos doesn’t have plans set against the Epirotes… yet.
Gyras, the son of Antigonos, a truly noble man, gathers his troops from all across Macedon, Levies join from all corners of the Kingdom, including elite Pikemen from Pella, cavalry from Larissa and Skirmishers from the islands.
But Gyras knows better, he has heard reports of a strong presence of Achaeans in Aetolia, he dispatches a moderate skirmish force, consisting of maybe 13000 men to march west and secure Magnesia from any threats and assigns Cleitus to command this small skirmishing force.
Gyras himself marches towards Isthmos with his ~60000 when he hears that the Achaeans have been angered by the aggressive moves made by him and are laying siege to Corinth, he also learns that Cleitus had a major clash with the Achaeans and barely made it out alive, though neither side had gained the upper hand (a Pyrrhic draw?).
He is worried that Cleitus might be overrun, but Cleitus ensures Gyras that by the end of the month, the Achaeans from Aetolia will be weakened enough so they pose no threat to Macedon.
Around 40 miles from Isthmos, he receives word, the Aegeans under the command of Timoleon have slipped past his army and are laying siege to Larissa, he intends to split his force in half in order to deal with this new threat, but the messenger warns him, that a huge part of the Aegeans are positioned 60 miles from Athens, not long passed until he saw the Aegeans, boldly marching towards him.
Fear and excitement took control of Gyras, he could only awe at what he saw, an army equal to his, a mere portion of the Aegean army surpassed the combined forces of all Macedon. He knew what must be done, only a complete rout of the Aegean army could ensure Macedon’s survival.
On the eve of 17th November, the Armies met and preparations for the upcoming battle began, - a battle which would decide the future of all Greece.
Gyras delayed the battle for a day until his army was fully prepared and on a cold morning on the 19th, he was forced into battle, when the Aegeans advanced with the whole of their army towards the best Macedon had to offer and hoped to all but completely destroy the Macedonians.
The Battle:
The Aegeans marched towards Gyras, - he had prepared a strong defensive position against the Greeks on a steep hill and hoped to keep back the better trained Greeks until his powerful cavalry could smash the rear of the Phalangites.
But without any notice, a large portion of Greek cavalry emerged from the woods.
Gyras had not expected this, but being an experienced commander he did not panic and ordered the Prodromoi to attack the cavalry, who managed to rout them with ease, which was surprising to even Gyras and more perhaps to the Aegean commander.
He was now confident and believed that victory could be achieved if he is able to flank the Greeks. But suddenly another portion of cavalry ambushed Gyras’s bodyguard, all the left flank was surprised of this, nobody ever saw them coming and an intense fight between the both armies cavalries ensued.
But the Macedonians were more in number and finally managed to rout the rest of their cavalry.
Now, Gyras saw an opportunity, the Greek archers hadn’t noticed the defeat of their cavalry and still confidently marched forwards. Without any delay, he ordered his men to attack immediately hoping to rout the Archers before they can do any serious damage to his closely packed Pikemen.
But then the Archers turned and fled, he realized this was a trap and as his Allied cavalry smashed into the ranks of the enemy Phalangites, he ordered them to retreat immediately to prevent loosing the best of his cavalry.
The Greeks gave chase and pursued the cavalry, being ignorant of Gyras’s archers who were in range and opened fire on the isolated Phalangites – Gyras had made a trap himself, even though unplanned, it was still brilliant and the Greeks suffered heavy losses under the rain of arrows. But in any war, arrows are expensive and in short time they were out of ammo, but had still inflicted heavy casualties among the Greeks.
Meanwhile at the right flank, the Heavy Greek skirmisher dangered the weaker Allied skirmishers, but they wasted no time and threw every javelin they had towards the Thorakitai who in turn did the same, but instead of suffering long under javelin fire, they charged the Macedonian heavy skirmishers and a bloody fight ensued.
Thorakitai was surely winning at that point, if Thureophoroi were to loose, the whole right flank would rout. But alas, the Prodromoi, whom had chased the Greeks, noticed the situation and turned around – the resulting charge devastated the Greeks so much that they lost their will to fight. The right was secure, but only for a brief amount of time.
Now the real fight began, the centers clashed and bloody pushing match ensued, the Macedonians were fighting in tighter formations than the Greeks, which was due to an error in EDU that some slacker had ignored.
Nevertheless the Greeks fought bravely in their more loose formation, but were surely to fight in closer formation next time.
The advantage of macedonians was that they had a large group of officers. The first was an elite Hypaspist, followed by the standard bearer who gave all the orders and finally the musician who signaled orders given by the standard bearer and allowed the unit to march in one pace. Though this left a small gap in the formation, which the Greeks spent no time to exploit
While the main force of the battle was fighting hard to gain the upper hand, Gyras decided to finish what he had started earlier and charged the Archers who were behind the main force.
The rest of Allied cavalry took positions behind the Elite Greek Phalangites and were ready to break the Greek line from behind
The center held together against the large Greek force and was actually winning, the Greek general who hoped to break the center was now fleeing from the battle. This gave confidence to Gyras and his men, surely victory was not far.
Allied cavalry charges the rear of Phalanx but is not able to break it at first. With more cavalry joining the charge, a large portion of the enemy finally break and flee.
Allied cavalry tries to break the Thorakitai Phalangite line once again, this time more cavalry joins the charge.
A small part of them rout, but still not all of them, but now, the infantry on the left is free to move and outflank the enemy.
The Elite Macedonian Guard is having a tough time fighting the Thorakitai, a truly bloody fight ensues between them, neither side gaining the advantage.
Until it is outflanked and crushed by Pezhetairoi
Carnage ensues until the center is completely massacred by Levy Pikemen and following that the phalangites fighting on the right break and flee.
The Levy Pikemen really put up a heroic fight against the greeks, though many still think this was only because they had longer pikes than the Greeks.
The Asthetairoi – or the Royal Guard, lived up to their name and were able to completely decimate an unit of Iphikratean Phalangites and survive the fight against Thorakitai.
The final outcome of the battle was truly heroic, the enemy had been utterly crushed and driven off the field, just like Gyras planned, it was a battle that finally showed the Greeks that the Macedonians are still a force to be reckoned with.
Aftermath:
Following this decisive victory by Gyras, the Aegeans lost their will to fight, and Gyras could now split his army to crush Timoleon and Hermon of Sicyon and secure the region under Macedonian rule.
On the following years, Gyras would conquer Athens, until Cleitus is defeated by Aetolians, who seek Alliance with Epirus.
Gyras’s glory will finally come to an end when he is fighting against Pyrrhus with his father, he is badly injured and killed leaving Macedon without a line of Great commanders, who would otherwise lead Macedonia to it’s former glory.
Now some random stuff that otherwise couldn’t fit the rest of the story:
Seleucids – A great empire indeed, but it’s East borders are revolting due to religious pressure and the Parthians seek to wipe out the Seleucids once and for all.
Agema Argyraspidai
Argyraspidai vs Asthetairoi
Argyraspidai is the best pike unit in the game and can defeat any other pike unit in combat, even the fearsome Asthetairoi, who can shred legions to pieces.
Asthetairoi
Battle of Raphia
Shields
Hetairoi
Right Flank
Center
Ferocious fighting on the right flank, Antiochus is trying to regroup.
Ptolemy killed, enemy army in disarray
Antiochus charges and dies from a Sarissa
Most of the enemy massacred
Seleucids retreat
Raphia is a difficult battle IMO, if you don’t know what you’re doing defeat will come really fast, the Argyraspidai aren’t well trained enough to oppose the outnumbering enemy pikemen.
All unit sizes / proportions historically accurate, completely different battle. Should be 1:30 of the real battle, so yeah, it’s epic…
Hope you liked this semi-preview AAR, if it sucked, then please be sure to notify me so I wouldn't write the same kind of crap again
But if you liked it, then rep would be really nice indeed...
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Originally Posted by RedFox
