[RTR AAR]For The Glory Of Rome II

[Lord Nicco]

As some of you who read my last AAR know, it met with a hasty destruction as the hands of a mod problem and therefore I am restarting it. I did say in previous posts that I would ammend the mod so that I was not repeating myself, unfortunately after all the trouble I created for myself trying several different mods I feel that Rome Total Realism is currently the best mod for my AAR therefore I will be making a new mod on RTR, and as the title suggests it will be called For The Glory Of Rome II.

Anyway the AAR will follow in time.

Game Rules - Rome Total Realism Platinum

I will not be allowed to build armies that are not realistic. i.e. an army with all cavalry
Must have an general at the head of the army. I will not be allowed to lead an army around the campaign map without a General at its head. If I am besieged without a general inside this is allowed.
I will hire no mercenaries at any point during my campaign.

Notes on Style

I will try and proceed in a historical book fashion, so that it is a retelling of what has happened.

[Lord Nicco]

280BC - An Alternate History

What if Rome, had not been run by the Senate until Julius Caesar took sole control after the civil war? What if it were run by a family, would Rome at 280BC when it was in its infancy still be the superpower that it eventually became, here you will find out the that exact question.

And so the quest to bring glory to Rome begins!

PROLOGUE

Our story begins in 280BC, Quintus Aulus inherited the throne of Rome from his father, thirty years before. In his time he has managed to defeat the Samnites in a long and arduous Samnite wars that lasted for over five years. Now with the majority of the Italian archipaelago under his control he looks to his borders for further conquest. On his borders lie so called free cities. When the Samnite wars ended it defeated the one of the biggest threats to Rome, but that did not mean that conquest was fully assured, there are those who still do not plead allegiance to Rome, and why would they to the south is Pyrrhus, he too has laid claim to the Italian archipaelago and he had won several costly victories against Rome. This did not allow him passage to Rome but allowed him to maintain his hold on southern Italy. It is inevitable that Pyrrhus will have to battle with Rome again and this time he will look to make this a decisive victory, one that would give him passage to siege Rome herself, for Quintus this is something that he could never allow.

Across the seas lies Carthage, she has already built a successful settlement on Sicily and Sardinia, something which if allowed to continue could mean that Carthage will begin to dominate trade in the area.

To the north the crazed Gauls lie waiting for an opportunity to once again sack Rome, although in many ways Quintus may be thankful that this occured the very action allowed his family to lead Rome into a period of relative prosperity, it must not be forgotten that Gauls took from Rome many great riches and killed many brave Romans, if this be not reason for one day responding in kind, the very thought of an expanded empire taking from the Gauls what they once took from Rome will be all that is needed.

If Rome is to be successful she must take the cities which are currently under independant kings, and after this she must deal with the troublesome Pyrrhus who threatens the existance of Rome herself ,she must dominate trade over Carthage, and look north to exact revenge over the barbarian hordes of Gaul.

[Lord Nicco]

280BC


Summer





Emperor Quintus looked to expand his empire to consolidate his power over the region. He looked south to the free cities of Corfinium and Paetsum. Quintus knew that taking these cities would not only improve his income in the region and also cement a buffer between Pyrrhus’ invasionary force and Rome. It was the 12th of July when Quintus arrived at Corfinium, to Paetsum he sent his favoured general Publius Laevinus to take Paetsum.


Quintus had been cursed with no sons to take over,and now it the age of forty seven it was unlikely that he would ever have the opportunity to father one. He had in four daughters of which three had been married off. Publius had married the oldest and after his marriage he was made heir of the kingdom, in the event that Quintus would have no son. Publius has been slowly gathering power for the past ten or so years and now with the advancing years of Quintus, it was clear that Publius was winning favour with the Senate and the people.

Winter





The winter period started with the marriage of Publius Laevinius daughter Fadia to Galerius Statius. He came from wealthy families which held much power in Rome. The Statius family had been major supporters of Quintus’ power within Rome and it made sense to cement this union by making a Statius family member part of the royal family. Galerius himself was a great commander, he was only 16 and had been involved in naval battles against pirates off the coast of Italy. It had been an experienced that truly made the young man shine. He took command of a division of infantry during a land battle in Pyrrhic battles that Rome had recently lost and had shown great ability to lead. It was a good union for all concerned.


14th of November 280BC


Battle of Corfinium


IMPERIO ROMANA LED BY EMPEROR QUINTUS


1021 MEN


V


LUCIANIAN FREE PEOPLE OF CORFINIUM LED BY AETHON


1002 MEN


The Battle Outset





Quintus had now been at the gates of Corfinium for five months and had built two rams to go alongside his 1000 or so men that he planned to send in and destroy Aethon’s forces. The forces were matched but the Emperor fancied his chances against Aethon.


The Battle


Emperor Quintus lined up his army outside the gates of the city. He decides to knock down the gates of the city with one of his ram and with the other he sends it out to the far left of the city walls.





Meanwhile Aethon redies his skirmishers to the city gates awaiting the arrival of the Emperor’s impending army.





Quintus sends forward his veilities to attack Aethon’s mobilizing forces near the gates, the attack is quick and deadly as many swordsmen hit the ground dead, the attack causes some panic within the ranks and Aethon’s skirmishers spend the time panicking, allowing the veilities attacks to go unresponded.





Seconds after the attack the gates are broken open and forward march Quintus’ forces. He has spread his forces into two groups. At the city gates he has his swordsmen and hastati. On the left hand side where the other ram does its work, there are italian spearmen and a unit of hastati, he leaves some principes in reserve, looking to see how the battle will develop.





The Italian swordsmen are allowed to enter the city gates unapposed giving them the advantage. Aethon quickly rallies his troops and sends them out to meet the swordsmen.





Aethon sends to units of Italian spearmen trying to sway the battle his way.





On the left hand side, the spearmen having battered down the pallisade walls and the spearmen push forward into some unwilling skirmishers. They are unskilled in hand to hand combat, but for now hold Quintus’ spearmen in place.





It would not last long and the skirmishers run for cover as they are overwhelmed on the left hand side. Quintus sends the order for the left hand infantry to enter the city and flank, the spearmen fighting at the city gates.





Aethon swings his own unit of spearmen round the corner to cut off the flank attempt, he is now in the thick of the action.





The principes who have remained the whole battle up to now, enter the fray through the left gate in an attempt to overwhelm Aethon’s unit of spearmen. They are now fighting three of Quintus’ infantry units.





Pictured below Aethon fights for his life as his unit begins to wain as they see the overwhelming number of Roman units that they face in front of them. The chances of winning the battle are slowly ebbing away.





The first units at the gates begin to rout, after taking many casualties, it seems that the Corfinians are beggining to lose the heart to fight this battle.





Moments later there is a total loss of control at the gates and the Corfinians are running for there lives and many of them are being slaughtered as they run from the Roman forces, who chase after them





More importantly now the Roman forces that have been fighting at the gates can pound into the back of Aethon’s unit, trapping them.





Aethon knows that the fighting where he is over and he begins to run followed by his whole unit, but from behind come the Roman’s hungry for blood from the gate engagement.





The Corfinians make up about eighty percent of the dead on the battlefield, they fought hard but their organisation was poor and they paid the ultimate penalty.





As he ran Aethon was cut down from behind, the deep laceation to the back of his neck killed almost instantly and his body laid draped in the road as a testament to those who would dare defy the Rome.





The Roman units can now collectively march down the main road in Corfinium.





They are met by Italian skirmishers returning from the town square, they have renewed confidence from their battering earlier but they are heavily outnumbered, all they can hope for is an honourable death.





The skirmishers who have not been killed run, to the hail of pilum fired from behind them by the Roman infantry units, many die this way.





The spearmen now charge forward to tackle the remaining skirmishers who try and make a nuisance of themselves as the whole Roman army advances down the main via towards the square.





The principes come forward as well to increase the woe for the Corfinians plight.





Seeing the carnage the unit of cavalry can wait no longer and make the long awaiting attack on the infantry.





They are bogged down, and pinned in by the spearmen who gouge the horse down to the ground kill the soldiers, that ride on them. The destruction was totally complete and the last twelve men surrendered.





Emperor Quintus was completely triumphant. The men that surrendered were put to death via crucifiction and Corfinium now became a city of the Imperio Romana.

[Lord Nicco]

280 BC


Winter


Publius had heard of the victory that his emperor had gained at Corfinium, he now decided that it was time to consolidate the victory in the east with a victory in the west of Italy.





Many accounts of the time, tell that Publius at this time was not much of a tactitian in war. He was a superb governor and a great orator within the Senate, all qualities that made him a great future heir to Rome, but having never led men into battle and during his time with the army not being much of a soldier, he was not rated as much of a commander. However many accounts of the day tell how clever and well learned Publius was, now was the time that Publius would have to prove himself.


22nd of December


Battle of Paestum


IMPERIO ROMANA LED BY PUBLIUS LAEVINUS


1013 MEN


V


CAMPANIAN FREE PEOPLE OF PAESTUM LED BY ALCIDES


859 MEN


Battle Outset





The town of Paetsum lay in a valley near the Appenine Mountains, the attack would take place nearing dawn on the 22nd of December. The Romans have the numerical advantage going into this battle but they have an inexperienced leader in the form of Publius Laevinus. Alcides is a veteran from the Samnite wars where he thought with the Samnite warriors and no doubt he would have the advantage of experience at the outset. It was more or less even going into the battle


The Battle


Publius laid out his army favouring his left side which would batter down the gates. He left the principes he had behind his weaker units to add the extra impetous when he needed it. On the left hand side he had three units and on his right hand side which would attack the palisade wall was only two units of infantry.





Alcides laid out his skirmishers and some infantry in waiting for the battle with Publius, he knew that when Publius’ army came at him he wanted to have some spearmen to take the battering from the pilum and incoming charge.





Publius seeing the Alcides army in missile range sent forward his veilties to strike some early victims.





The Roman skirmishers traded blows with the Campanian skirmishers and generally both sides had an equal amount of victims as about thirty or so Roman veilities remained face down either killed or injured from the Campanian skirmishers





Inside the city the Campanian skirmishers had taken a good hit and so had the Italian spearmen that Alcides had placed in position. It forced them to run a momentary retreat out of missile range but left many dead on the streets of Paestum, many more deaths would follow.





Within minutes of arriving at the gates, the Romans had battered down the wall and the gates with their rams





The units at the gates lock in for a bloody battle as the Alcides spearmen now go to the bloody business of trying to repel the attack of the Romans.





On the right hand side, also lock horns. Spear against spear, but Publius would have the hastati to back up the attack.





In the centre the Principes enter the battle and they make an instant impact on the battle. Alcides knows that it will be hard battle.





Meanwhile Publius and his own bodyguard take the big risk to go round the gates, he is looking to enter the south gates which he believes has been opened by spies now within the city walls.





The battle in the centre continues, the Romans looked to have begun to wear down the Campanians





On the right hand side, the unit of spearmen have been completely surrounded by the Roman invaders, and panic begins to spread within the unit as they try and cut a hold from which they may make a controlled retreat.





Finally the right hand side begins to break and tries to run but there is nowhere to go they are sandwiched in and barely any Campanians make it out.





The right hand side troops now come to crash into the back of Alcides unit which is fighting for its life in the centre.





Panic spreads as they see the flanking infantry and they run for the town centre. Alcides calling a general retreat. Many die as they turn their backs to the Roman troops.





Alcides runs with what is left of his bewildered and bedraggled unit. Now there is very little hope left.





The battle has been bloody and the Roman spearmen are thankful that this part of the battle is over.





Alcides is slain as he ran to the town centre along with his whole unit. The Roman soldiers can be seen singing and cheering as his bloody body is left strewn on the roads of Paestum.





After General Laevinus gets into the city finally, too late for any maneuvre, he demands that his spearmen advance upon the remaining Campanians in the town square. The cavalry that had been saved the whole battle in the town square now finally makes its impact in the battle, but unfortunately they pick the wrong foe as the spearmen dig their spears into the horse under carriage creating havoc and serious slaughter to the Campanian cavalry, with the cavalry slaughtered the battle is over.





The remanining troops surrender, and Rome has gained a victory, Publius’ first as general.

[bomberboy]

Good AAR Lord Nicco, lets hope nothing technical happens to ruin this AAR too.

[Barry]

Similar to your first. I'm sure things will get tasty from here on. As good a start as your last one.

[Lord Nicco]

279 BC



Summer







To the north, a diplomat had been sent out to make contact with the Gaul’s; the exact date of this meeting is unknown. At that time Rome, needed money to finance her wars in the future, despite controlling more of the archipelago than they did a year ago. So Sextus Antio the best diplomat in Rome was sent north. Sextus came from a mercantile family that grew to riches when Quintus father Cornelius took over as Emperor. Sextus bartered with Gaul’s a trade deal that would allow caravans and carts to pass between Gaul and Rome, this would bring prosperity to both country, perhaps the deal meant more to Gaul’s who had very little trade and no real major cities to exploit large markets and port trade, but nonetheless it would be profitable to both parties in the short term. Sextus was unable to secure any deal that would show a map of Gaul, the Gaul’s still feared passing over information like this someone they still regarded as an enemy. The deal suited both parties for now.






Records dated 11th of January show that at this time a Roman spy had spotted the movements of Pyrrhus is the far south of Italy. He was considered even at the time to be one of the best General’s of all time, so much so that the Greeks called him “Alexander reborn”. This was a tremendous honour, and one that he used to his advantage. As when news of the great general would travel to foreign lands, soldiers normally lost the will to fight, such a mighty foe.



Winter



It is around this time that Greek King decided to enter an alliance with the Seleucid Empire. The truth was that this would help ensure that there would be no eastern attack on the Greek Cities.


Meanwhile in October of this year Sextus met with Illyrian delegates at the possibility of securing a new trade treaty with Illyria. The Illyrians agreed without hesitation as they had remained in much the same position as the Gauls for all these years, this treaty could of been key to the development of Illyria. Meanwhile as negotiations went on, Sextus managed to secure a map of Illyria in exchange for one of the Roman territories. He masked the deal as neccessary for any merchants coming to Illyria wanting to do business. No doubt these maps would end up in the Roman palace, under the keen eye of the Emperor himself, however both sides had been fair and it posed the possibility of an alliance in the future.



278 BC



Summer






In February, Marcella, the youngest daughter of Quintus had finally found a suitable match. Quintus had agreed that she would marry a 21 year old Aulus Falerius. He had fought against Pyrrhus and had won much favour with the men he commanded. He had lost a brother in the exchange which is known spurred him on to great shows of bravery despite Rome’s defeat. Aulus came from the Falerius family, who were relatively wealthy in Rome, but had held more power in the past. This was a good move for the family as it would no doubt give them more power within the Senate, even though it was very unlikely that Aulus would ever sit on the throne of all Rome as Emperor.



Winter







In December, Quintus had made his mind up that he was going to take the offensive to Pyrrhus, he took with him Aulus Falerius, knowing that this battle take extra command for victory. Then in the middle of the month he heard great news from his spy near Rhegium, Pyrrhus looking to take a the city,had left Tarentum largely under-defended, taking with him a large army so that there was very little chance that his attack would be repulsed. It was now a perfect time to take Tarentum from Pyrrhus before he could get back to make the battle harded for Quintus. Quintus had raised quite a large army in the event that he would almost certainly have to face Pyrrhus at some point, the army had been up of those that had won battles at Paestum and Corfinium, a number were men conscripted from Capua.



Meanwhile Sextus had reached the lands of Macedon, where he intentioned again a trade treaty with the Macedonians. They agreed but would not agree to an exchange of maps fearing that they may be used for militray means against them. They did however want to give their map to Sextus on the promise that Rome would pay a large amount of money to Macedon, in case she was attacked by Rome. Sextus did not agree to this and left the city of Pella.



277 BC



Summer



Pyrrhus hearing of Quintus’ endeavours to take Tarentum, lifted the siege he had on Rhegium and moved back towards Tarentum. He would not make it in time to make it to this battle. The Battle of Tarentum would continue without him.



23rd of April 277 BC



Battle of Tarentum



IMPERIO ROMANA LED BY EMPEROR QUINTUS



1907 MEN



V



THE GREEK CITIES LED BY CAPTAIN DEINIAS



933 MEN



The Battle Outset







The Greeks were vastly outnumbered and lacked the leadership of Prince Pyrrhus of Greece. They would face overwhelming odds. Just a day before, Pyrrhus managed to sneek word into the town that he was on his way from Rhegium with his army to life the siege, the hope was that Pyrrhus would arrive in time to life the siege and defeat Emperor Quintus.



The Battle



Emperor Quintus lined up his army outside the gates, with four rams this time. He did want his troops to have to fight through the Greek phalanxes, instead he wanted those troops that got into the city without any problem to turn and flank the greek phalanxes that came to stop the Roman advance through the walls.







Meanwhile the Greeks lined up with one phalanx at the front, knowing that they could not hold up the Roman’s from the gates, there best chance was to fall back into the town sqaure and try and force the Romans to attack them from the front where they would have the advantage.







Seeing phalanxes leaving the gates, the Emperor sends forward his veilities to attack anything near the gates trying to force them right back and away from the gates so that his troops can enter completely unchallanged.







The missiles flew through the sky, into the Greek Hoplite which had no chance, even with their releatively well armoured shileds. Deinias would not allow them to retreat and forced them to stay and whether the javelin fire.







The hoplite regiment takes gigantic loses, their bodies strewn all over the road, perhaps it may have been better to have ran at this point, that to have stayed and whether the skirmisher fire.







The rams finally reach the gates almost simultaneously, as can be seen below the attack takes place across one whole face of Tarentum.







The second engagement of the Battle of Tarentum takes place as hastati pour throw one of the middle holes in the walls to tackle the Greek hoplite waiting for them.







In the north, troops breaking through the gates unchallenge begin to bridge the gap between them and the exposed flanks of the Greek hoplite.







In the south the same is true, as in two position to the south the Greeks have been unable to push troops forward.







The first south side troops contact with the exposed flanks of the hoplite as the they begin to take rapid loses at the hands of the principes attacking them to their left.







Before the north side troops can even reach them the hoplite begins to run, but they are cut to pieces as they try and run by the lighter hastati and principes.







With the battle going well the Emperor pushes forward the unit of hastati and triarii that had been waiting in reserve in matters had not gone the Roman’s way.







To try and cut down losses and to really make it hard for the remaining Greeks. The Emperor tells his men to spread out around the city, so that the attack comes from all four sides of the city, making it very hard for the hoplites to avoid being flanked, he makes the main contingent of his force go down the centre, to attract an attack.







In the picture below we can see the remaining Greek contingent as the procession of Roman troops wheel their way towards them.







The Greeks fake an attack to their right before wheeling round to attack the main contingent of troops coming from the centre.







They Greeks take a shot of pilum in their front as they approach causing some losses before they have even been able to close the gap between them and the Roman troops where they should be stronger.







Below the Greeks close the gaps and the skirmish begins.







Emperor Quintus’ plans seems to have worked as now the unit of hastati waiting around the corner can quickly close the gap and swing round and crash into the back of the exposed back of the hoplite unit.







After a dose of pilum into the exposed backs they close the gap and begin the bloody work of cutting down the Greek troops as they panic.







The picture below shows their plight as they are pincered in against two sides of infantry, death and defeat is almost a certainty now.







The overview of the town can be seen below and it shows that from the north of the town come more troops, meaning that the hoplite units are facing attacks from all corridors.







Meanwhile in what is now the murder hole, the Greeks have tried to fight back but there is very little room to fight with a spear and it creates havoc as Greek stabs fellow Greek and they face utter devastation







Aulus and his own bodyguard has wheeled in behind the hoplite in the town square meaning that Greeks are now facing attack from all sides.







Below is a picture of the destruction of the first Greek hoplite.







Meanwhile the Greeks that were trapped have been utterly annhilated, every man killed and along with them their mock leader Captain Deinias.







The remaining Greek troops attack the main contingent of troops coming from the main road after having annhilated their fellow comrades, there is very little now than can be done.







The Roman troops coming from the north give the Greek hoplite a large barrage of pilum in their sides causing major damage before charging in.







From behind Aulus orders a horse attack to make the Greek totally surrounded. To their credit they take down some of Aulus’ horse, forcing him to withdraw from battle and leave it up to the infantry to finish the job.







The Greeks numbers dwindle as they almost completely surrounded and killed.







The battle is bloody as the Greeks fight for their very lives, Pyrrhus was clearly not coming to save them in time.







The battle is won as the Greeks were decimated. Tarentum becomes a Roman town, but Quintus knows that this is merely the first battle that he must fight against the Greeks.

Hey guys thanks for your comments, yeah I hope nothing goes a wry this time, hope you stay tuned for the next few chapters.

[Barry]

Consider me tuned

[Lord Nicco]

277 BC

Summer

Emperor Quintus had taken the city of Tarentum, but now had Pyrrhus on his doorstep, his expectation was that he would try and take Tarentum back by force and so play into the Emperor’s hands. Pyrrhus being the great general and logistician that he was, was one step ahead. As opposed to advancing on Tarentum he attacked Corfinium to the north, which had remained badly protected ever since it had been vacated by the Emperor many months before after its conquest. The Emperor’s force was sluggish to react and did not hear of Pyrrhus plan until he had closed on the city ready for an attack. The city would have to defend from Pyrrhus.

Battle of Corfinium

IMPERIO ROMANA LED BY CAPTAIN CNAEUS

170 MEN

V

THE GREEK CITIES LED BY PYRRHUS

1401 MEN

Battle Outset

The soldier stationed at Corfinium would have to face overwhleming odds to defeat Pyrrhus. The likelihood going into this battle is that they would be defeated, but they know that every man that they kill now, will be less work when a relieving force finally arrived.

The Battle

The small number of troops inside Corfinium, knew that many of them would die by the end of the day. Captain Cnaeus placed his men in the main road to the town square, his lack of soldiers was best concentrated in the centre where they could be multiplied to assentuate the force of spear and horse availiable

Meanwhile outside the gates Pyrrhus army laid out in a disorganised manner

Pyrrhus brought with him to the battle, powerful beasts from the east.

These beasts had on their backs archers and from an incredible distance they began to pepper the Roman spearmen with arrows, making them fall back even further into the town square.

The beasts began to charge at the pallisade wall, damaging it. Pyrrhus’ beast were the reason that he was able to mount an attack on Corfinium within a few days of besieging the settlement.

The elephants create an awful dust as they begin to slowly plough down the pallisade wall. Good Romans will have to fight their way into the enemy.

As a breach is made, Pyrrhus sends forward his most mobile troops, his cavalry supported by the elephant archers that had just done so much damage to the walls of corfinium

Cnaeus personally leads forward his spearmen, into the horse, looking to make take an early advantage.

The battle is fierce, and the horse take heavy casualties at the hands of the Roman spearmen, but with the elephant beasts attacking also, the spearmen also take heavy casualties.

The spearmen slowly get forced against the walls of the buildings, making it harder to wield the spears, but the true resolve of these heroic Romans is commendable as they fight on.

Cnaeus is cut down, and the unit of spearmen, who had held for so long lose their resolve to fight and begin to flee and rout in every direction, the fleeing troops are shown no mercy by Pyrrhus as they are cut down from behind.

The last charde of Corfinium cavalry takes place as they crash into their opposite Greek counterparts, they make little progress as the elephant scare the horse.

The Roman cavalry flee and quickly surrender, the battle is over.

Pyrrhus has his inevitable victory and takes the settlement of Corfinium, his cunning as a General is talked about by Romans for times to come, but sooner or later he would have to take on the Emperors force for control of the archipelago.

Glad your enjoying the story ManonFire

[Lord Nicco]

I just want to ask people, whether they feel that my AAR, has too many pictures, that make it hard to read or whether they like the layout of the AAR.

[68 Powers]

No the pictures are awesome and there itsent too many.
Good AAR man im lovin it

[Barry]

Yeah, its unique!!

[Howitzer]

The AAR is lovely!
I love it how you give a story to small details such as:

Then in the middle of the month he heard great news from his spy near Rhegium, Pyrrhus looking to take a the city,had left Tarentum largely under-defended, taking with him a large army so that there was very little chance that his attack would be repulsed.

It really improves the AAR overall!

[zznɟ ǝɥʇ]

I've been enjoying this AAR. I too like the style of many pictures illustrating a battle. It certainly adds to the immersion.

[Lord Nicco]

Hey guys sorry for the big delay in updating the AAR it is not dead and thanks for all the responses. I have had some exams at Uni and so I needed to devote my time to that. They are over and while uni continues, I can devote some time to this.

Again thanks for all the comments!

[Barry]

Whoo hoo it lives. It lives!

[Xavier Dragnesi]

Good. I'll be waiting earnestly for it.