[EB AAR] Kart-Hadast: Punic Wars

**general maximus decimus** · June 06, 2007, 03:50 PM

First try of making an AAR, so any criticism is welcome. Only decided to start an AAR when I was some twenty years in the game, so no screenshots of the first years.

247BC – winter Kart-Hadast

Welcome in Kart-Hadast traveller, it will be my honor to invite you to my home.
But you’ll have to forgive me that I can’t offer you a feast in your honor: these aren’t the times to celebrate. Economy has suffered a bit of a downfall of late. Bandits have been raiding the trade routes, trying to get their hands on some of the riches of our fair city.
After last year the rumours that the gods have left us, have become louder and louder.

Why such pessimistic view on the world by the people who seem to have everything they can possibly desire? If something terrible happened to our city?
Let me tell you: those wretched Romans saw their chance to attack us once again. A year ago they attacked the city of Rhegion, trapping our northern army inside.

If it was always like this you ask?

If you really want to know we have to go back to the year 272 BC. Back then our nation was nothing more than a coalition of colonies divided over Africa (Kart-Hadast, Ippone, Adrumento and Lepki), Iberia (Gader and Mastia) and the isles in the western meditterean (Alalia, Karali, Bocchoris and Lilibeo).
We lived and grew rich of the trade with our allies. Back then we were allied to the Lusotanians, Ptolemaoi, the Aedui and Rome. We were at war with Syrakousoi and their allies Epeiros.

Our beloved sophet had decided to put a Spartan mercenary at the head of our army. This man successfully conquered the rest of the western African coast. The cities of Kirtan, Tingis, Siga and Sala joined our growing empire. Thus forming a bridge between our holdings in Iberia and Kart-Hadast.
Alltough the Iberians and Ptolemaoi have been our allies for years, the council didn’t and still doesn’t trust them. Large garrisons were created in the cities of Gader, Mastia and Lepki.
Little did we know that other men would soon put a knife in our back.

At this point in history a man destined for great things came of age: Hamalcar. It was this general who took an army to Sicily and conquered Messana and our arch-nemesis Syrakousoi.

Hamalcar:

After these conquests we shared a border with Rome. Seeing our richness they decided it belonged to them, and promptly attacked Messana. Hamalcar enraged, took half of his army and forced the romans to withdraw. However the insolent bastards didn’t retreat back to there own territory, no they staid within a day’s march of the city of Messana.
Hamalcar utterly destroyed them after the rest of his army had catched up with them.
Determined to let the romans feel the might of Kart-Hadast he attacked the city of Rhegion. He destroyed their elite army with almost no casualties. After that the romans sued for peace.
That’s five years ago, and in those five years a lot has changed. Like I told you earlier our economy is struggling, bandits are roaming in our lands and our Sophet died of old age.
The romans saw their chance once again. Their first attack on the city last year was valiantly repelled by Hamalcar and his army. Our elephants saved the day, otherwise more than half of the army would have been lost. After the defeat of the first army, the romans just send a second, and its that army which is sieging the city at this moment.

The council and the Sophet haven’t remained idle, the bandits will be dealed with very soon. Garrisons and armies have been made smaller to get our economy back on track. And our elite units are assembling in this very city. I hear that their even might be plans to reform the lost sacred band (which was utterly defeated by Syrakousoi).
My brother who is a servant of the Sophet has entrusted me with the war plan of the council: Messana will be used as a fortress to brake the will of the romans. If Messana falls all hope will be lost. But that’s still something to be decided by the gods.
Hmmm look at the time it might be good to go to bed. I probably won’t see you tomorrow morning, I have to visit an old friend in Lepki. So farewell, maybe we will meet again some day.

The elite gathering in Kart-Hadast:

Rebels in Africa and Iberia:

**Cymry** · June 07, 2007, 04:43 AM

really god aar

can't wait for the next chapter

**general maximus decimus** · June 08, 2007, 03:37 AM

First of all, thanks for the comment.
Second: sorry for the lack of screenshots, didn't know fraps doens't work if you start it after you started the game. So no screenshots of the battle for Rhegion. Try to make up with a decent description of the battle.
Third: if any EB team members read this: I can recruit Iberian assault infantry in lilibeo. Is this correct? Other than that great faction, great mod. The Romans are really a pain in the ass like they should be.

Chapter 2

242BC Kart-Hadast

Ah so we meet once again. How long has it been?

More then five years you say. Hmm way to long indeed. It will be my honour to have you as my guest once more. This time however their will be a great feast in your name. Things have changed you know, and we’ve got a lot to give thanks for.
Come inside and I will tell you all about it.
As you might have noticed there is a great festival going on in our beloved city. The reason is simple, our beloved governor was elected protégé of the sophet. A great honour indeed, especially for such a young man, but nevertheless fully deserved: partially thanks to him the economy seems to be once again on track. He has issued the order to double our fleet and our admirals have managed to give the pirates a huge blow. They’re still out there, but they will think twice before attacking any of our ports again.

The new protegé

The other man we have to thank is Xantiphos, he managed to defeat nearly all the bandits roaming the African and Iberian coast. But he’s getting old and it starts to show in his ability’s. However it isn’t really a problem, he’s surrounded by our allies. And I think Hamalcar has showed them that you shouldn’t mess with Kart-Hadast.

What do you mean, is Hamalcar still alive? Haven’t you heard: he defeated the romans at Rhegion. What I’ve heard about it, Hamalcar is a tactical genius.
I’ll try to explain. The romans came rushing through the battered down walls, but Hamalcar had set up two choke points, blocking the way to the town centre.
At one side two nearly full units of mercenary phalanx to cope with the main roman assault. On the other side, the majority of the rest of the troops. They had no trouble holding out against the few units that came their way. And when the cavalry charged in the romans their back, they quickly gave up. The mercenary phalanx on the other hand was being hit hard by the elites of the roman army. But that’s when the true genius of Hamalcar came to live: he ordered his elephants in the flank of the romans. All romans fled, but not before killing all the elephants.
Hamalcar knew that if the romans attacked once more, it would be tough to be victorious once more without his precious elephants. However the romans saw it was pointless to continue this war and pleaded for peace. The sophet agreed but they had to pay an annual tribute of 1000 gold coins for two and a half year, every three months (ten turns).
I’ve got to say Hamalcar and the majority of the people in this city certainly didn’t agree with the decision of the sophet. They found the romans got of lightly.
So the rupture between the barcids and the rest of the council became even bigger.

The situation a few months after the defeat of the romans at Rhegion.

You don’t know anything about the Barcid faction in the council. Well let me explain: the barcids are a faction who want to expand in sicily and italy, while the rest of the council doesn’t fancy a war with Rome. They want to conquer the rest of the rebel settlements in Africa.
That’s why Hamalcar is currently on a ship towards Africa, he’s ordered to take the last settlements in the desert. And as an extra: as long he’s in Africa he can’t start another war with Rome.
Offcourse the council isn’t entirely stupid, they’ve stationed a rather large army in Rhegion, consisting of the elite of Kart-Hadast. And they have ordered the construction of stone walls. So if the romans think that Rhegion will be easy pickings now that Hamalcar is gone, they will be sadly mistaken. But that’s enough talk for today, my throat is getting dry. Let’s drink and feast.

Some rankings in 242 BC (notice the seleucid power and the aedui's treasury)

Does anyone know how the production ranking gets calculated. Is it the number of buildings that get completed or something like that every turn?

**IndianPrince** · June 26, 2007, 04:13 PM

That was amazing maan ... i've been avoiding playing Carthage for a long time since its really hard to kick roman ass though carthage is one of my fav factions ... but now u made me wanna play it. Cheers

Prince

**general maximus decimus** · July 03, 2007, 01:32 AM

Sorry for the lack of updates, had exams to worry about.

Chapter 4

237 BC Kart-Hadast

Ah you’ve got to be my fathers friend. Welcome, Welcome. My father sends his apologies that he couldn’t greet you himself. He has fallen ill, that’s why he has send for you.

Just go upstairs, it’s the first room on your left.

Ah my friend there you are. Like you can see my good luck kind of failed me, I got injured during a hunt. The wound got infected and now the only thing I can do is wait for the end.
But I hope we can have one last talk before I go.

You see I love talking about the history of my beloved country. Ah you already realised that. It made your son become a writer, well that’s rather interesting. Maybe my son can provide him with information like I did to you. You’ve met my son didn’t you?

Well he’ll probably join the army in a few years, he can’t sit still. I really don’t think he’ll get much joy out of selling silly things.

But I’m drifting of, I haven’t got a lifetime to talk. So back to Kart-Hadast, where were we?
Ah yes, Hamalcar was going towards Africa to conquer some of the remaining bandit tribes.
He has successfully conquered two of the four remaining independent cities in western Africa. The two close to Lepki, can’t even remember their names. It’s not like they were worth conquering after all. Hamalcar used a few of his mercenaries and that was that.

Hamalcar conquering

Unfortunately we’re at war once more, the Aedui broke off the alliance with us and attacked Arsé the following year. However they were beaten back by our garrison. What according to me is worse is that the Lusotani have decided to end their alliance with us as well. And so did Epeiros, but that’s no real surprise to me. They’ve always thought they were better then us.
But now I have to rest, hopefully your son and mine may share the same relation as us.

The Aedui at Arsé

**general maximus decimus** · July 03, 2007, 01:47 AM

Chapter 4

232 BC Kart-Hadast

My friend I’ve got great news: I’m joining the army. Hamalcar has arrived in Kart-Hadast, he ordered the training of a new sacred band (the unit I’ll be joining), their hasn’t been a sacred band in a few decades. On top of that he has given orders to retrain the African elite infantry units. But off course you don’t now about the battle they lost a lot of men.

Let me begin were my father left off, Kart-Hadast was being attacked by the Aedui hordes. It was Hamalcar who saved us, he took his army mainly consisting of mercenaries to Iberia. But when disembarking in Aedui lands he was promptly ambushed and surrounded.

Hamalcar ambushed

The battle

The aftermath

With some great tactics he managed to win the day, but at the cost off some very heavy losses. But the some of the citizens of Emporion offered themselves as mercenaries to Hamalcar. Who would ever thought that Greeks and Poeni would fight together. Hamalcar decided to wait for the next aedui army at a river crossing.

Retrained army

With Hamalcar in Spain, the Romani saw their chance to attack Rhegium once more. The lack of a captain proved to be quite horrific, the elite units lost a great portion of their numbers. That however didn’t stop them from destroying the Roman army tough.

Rhegium

The next year Hamalcar was attacked once more, the enemy had more than fifty percent more men. But Hamalcar used his veterans and great tactical genius to wipe the barbarian horde of the field.

Before the battle

The battle

The result

In the meantime another army was trained in Iberia. The Aedui got scared and sued for peace, Hamalcar demanded Emporion and they agreed. But only to attack it the following year with the battered army of Hamalcar inside: it was promptly destroyed. The next one was even bigger and better equipped than the previous. But Hamalcar isn’t only a tactical genius but also a strategic one. He ordered one of his emissaries to give the Arverni 15000 gold coins for an alliance. They agreed and attacked the Aedui the very next turn. Emporion was saved. After that Hamalcar set sail for Kart-Hadast. Hamalcar is only just in his forties, and already one off the greatest generals Kart-Hadast has ever had. And now he’s here in the greatest city of the world and being greeted by our governor and newest Sophet. That’s right our beloved leader has died, maybe the new one can finally deal with our enemies. And why shouldn’t he be able with one of the greatest generals leading one of the best armies in the world.
I’ve got to go, I’ll write you how I fair fighting for my country and my general: Hamalcar.

Hamalcar the profet

Kart-Hadast