[ROP AAR] Masters Of The Earth - An Alternate History AAR

[asd21593]

this is going to be a story/history-book/ style AAR which will run from my Ionia

campaign in the Rise Of Persia mod to my Makedon campaign in RTR, i will fill in

the blanks between the games with...well....bs....but INTERESTING bs, i think

it will be interesting

How to differetiate between real and fake
Real(Ionia, ROP) 559 BC - 522 BC Fake 521 BC - 281 BC
Real(Makedonia, RTR) 280 BC - 254 BC Fake 253 BC - 134 AD

[asd21593]

Masters of the Earth



more to come tomorrow........

[asd21593]

(keep in mind, this is ahistorical)

Masters Of The Earth

Introduction



The innovative army of the Ionian Empire was vastly different then the rest of the Greeks, but then again the Ionians in every way were different from the other Greeks. Their army consisted of mostly armored cavalry, moderately-armored swordsman and few hoplites. And they were known for arming every soldier with some sort of projectiles, whether they be arrows, rocks, javelins, or even pots filled with fire! The Ionians were a mixture of Minoan and Greek cultures. Basically it was a man’s paradise. The matriarchal days of Knossos were gone and the patriarchy of Greece was in, but many of the unsavory aspects of Greek culture were eradicated. Spartan pederasty was punishable by death along with homosexuality. Women were either topless, like the Minoans, or completely naked! The female body was worshipped by the Ionians. They refused to participate in the Olympics due to the male nudity there. But they were very Greek in most of the culture. They were a mix of Minoan refugees from Crete and Thera and Myceanean and Dorian invaders. A peculiar people in the eyes of the rest of the world, but they would come to dominate the Mediterranean for 500 years. They began as a loose confederation of city-states to defend against powers like Lydia. But in 570 BC, Aiemnestos of Miletos called all the leaders of Ionia to council and proclaimed his supreme authority of the realm. This sparked outrage and would cause a bloody civil war that would last for 8 years.

(coming up next, The Siege Of Miletos!)

[asd21593]

no ones interested?

[asd21593]

The Siege Of Miletos Summer 570 BC



Immediately, the other leaders gathered their armies and marched back towards Miletos to quell the imperialists. Aiemnestos knew that the only way to defeat the Lydian Empire was with another empire, and a loose confederation would fall. The confederates, led by Archelaos marched toward Miletos with 5000 heavy, stiff hoplites and 200 light cavalry. Aiemnestos countered this with 1000 archers, 3000 legionary-like swordsmen and 500 heavy cavalry. Historians estimate the battle started around June 4. Archelaos ordered the rams forward, toward the gate. The archers on the walls fired flaming arrows back and made 2 rams burst into flames. With only 2 more rams left, Archelaos ordered both rams forward at once to distract and divide the archers, it worked, one burned to the ground but the other opened the gate. The infantry poured through and the hoplites poured into the city. However on their flanks were the swordsman, and without time to move their spears and form a phalanx again the swordsman charged, cutting off spearheads. It was a complete massacre, only a handful of confederate hoplites survived with the swords on the flanks and arrows from above. Then the heavy imperial cavalry poured out of the city and smashed into the light cavalry. The confederates lost 4150 men, compared to only 400 imperial troops. It was an early victory that would cripple the rest of the confederacy for the remainder of the war. All the confederates had left were their city garrisons and navy.

(next up, probably on Thursday?, The Great Naval Battle Of Khios)

[The Sundance Kid]

I like the way you re-tell it like a historian, it adds flair. +rep

[asd21593]

yay a comment
thanks, i try to sound like those professors on the history channel

[Dimcantina]

Please more entries

[bomberboy]

Wow keep up the good work will you have some in game screenies.

[asd21593]

i never took any in-game screens sry

[asd21593]

Masters Of The Earth

566 BC

The Battle Of Khios



Four years had passed since Miletos, the war had turned into a stalemate. Confederate cities were impenetrable and both sides were building their massive fleets. Hundreds of triremes were being built in Miletos, the imperial capital, and Ephesus, the confederate capital. The largest sea battle at the time was about to take place. In the narrow straits, in naval terms, between Khios and Anatolia, 250 confederate and 200 imperial triremes met. The formations went like this : C = 10 (triremes) I = 10 (triremes)
CCCCCCCCCC I I I
CCCCC I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
CCCCCCCCCC I I I
The imperial center rammed in the 50 central confederate ships. The 200 flanking confederate triremes turned and completely destroyed all 140 imperial triremes. The 60 other flanking triremes routed and went ashore. The confederate fleet disembarked and chased them on the shore. The disillusioned lightly armored imperialists were slaughtered by the heavy and motivated confederate hoplites. It is estimated that 9000 imperialists died compared with 2000 confederates.

WAR CASUALTIES
Imperial = 9400 people
Confederate = 6150 people

[bomberboy]

Wow thats a good screenshot what game is it. So will the Imperialists win.

P.S about the in game sreenshots it's ok don't worry about it.

[asd21593]

that is Rise And Fall: Civilizations At War, its an okay game, but the strategic and economic layers of it suck

[asd21593]

Masters Of The Earth

562 BC

The Battle Of The Meander



Two years had passed since the disaster of Khios, but the imperialists had recovered. They would meet the confederation on the banks of the Meander River, and it would decide the war. Both sides had gathered their forces and hired thousands of mercenaries, mostly Galatians and Lydians. The imperialist army had 500 heavy cavalry, 1000 mercenary horse archers, 5000 swordsmen, 1000 hoplites, and 1000 archers. The confederate army was made up of 7000 hoplites and 10000 various mercenaries. The battle began with the confederate mercenaries charging the 1000 imperial hoplites. The imperial hoplites, formed up in a defensive square, easily beat off the disorganized barbarians. The mercenaries soon gave up under the hail of flaming imperial arrows and the flaming pots thrown by the swordsmen. The 2000 remaining mercenaries fled and were cut down by the heavy cavalry led, in person by Prince, and heir, Androkles. When the horse archers of the Empire ran out of arrows, they lead a suicidal and stupid charge against the confederate hoplites and were slaughtered. So the infantry of both armies charged each other as over a million pounds of flesh collided. Battle raged for 7 hours before the imperial army was deemed victorious. The few surviving confederates fled to Ephesus chased by the imperial army. The city revolted during the short siege and a mob of widows (from the war) killed Archelaos. The city gates were opened and the people hailed the 55 year old Aiemnestos as Emperor. The war was finally over. Ionia was an empire.



The Battle Of The Meander
Empire lost 3000
Confederacy lost 15000

Total Ionian Civil War Deaths
Imperial – 12800
Confederate – 25300

HAIL EMPEROR AIEMNESTOS! HAIL IONIA! HAIL THE EMPIRE! HAIL ZEUS!

[asd21593]

coming up next, a little bonus info

[asd21593]

Masters Of The Earth

BONUS MATERIAL!

Ionian Religion

The religion of Ionia was a bit different, especially in mythology, than the mainland of Greece. Zeus was the primary deity, like the mainland. At first there was Chaos, and out of the Chaos spawned Zeus.



Zeus, who had spawned from Chaos, was imperfect in his appearance. So he created himself a perfectly shaped, lesser companion, Aphrodite. This is the origin of the hate for male nudity and the worship of “Zeus’ Genius”, the female nude. Aphrodite was combined with Athena, to create a warrior goddess of beauty and love.

Together Zeus and Aphrodite created all the other gods. There were no Titans in this mythology. The rest of Ionian mythology is the same as the mainland of Greece.

Ionian Women

Ionian dress for women was usually nothing at all, the female body was sacred and not to be ruined by cloth.




(hope this is allowed, it’s really the only picture I could find to represent Ionian dress without having a real person)

Ionian women held more freedom than other Greek women of the time. They could travel outside of the house. They were educated with boys. They could even play sports. But this was only because Ionian men played sports with loincloths, not nude. But like most civilizations of the ancient world, women were still considered inferior. In the days of the confederacy, they could not vote or participate in any political matters. They could only engage in professions such as housekeeping, cooking, cleaning, etc. However one notable exception would be during Androkles’ reign, women were recruited as hoplites! Androkles was quoted as saying “to distract the enemy”!




(from the Amazon thread)

[asd21593]

all i have to say about the above post is ......

[asd21593]

thats strange it says i posted the quagmire post at 2:51 pm, it was 3:51 pm

[asd21593]

wait now it says 3:51 again !!!!

[asd21593]

any comments of the Empires victory?

ps-just wait until Androkles becomes emperor, thats when the real fun begins + it is real and from my Ionia campaign