[RS AAR] A New Achilles?
A NEW ACHILLES?
A Greek Cities AAR by Jingle Bombs
This is my first AAR, I've looked at others and I thought it would be a good idea to do my own. Im a slight noob at Roma Surrectum, so this AAR could quite possibly end in tears, but I still intend to enjoy it anyway!
This AAR features the Greek Cities, and my attempt to play their campaign.
Objectives:
Rules:
- To regain control of the Greek City States
- To Bring Epirus, Pergamum and possibly Syracuse under Greek sovereignty through bribes or becoming protectorate states if necessary.
- To destroy Macedon and the Successor States, and show them who their true Hellenic masters are
Settings
- No cheats
- All campaigning armies must be led by a general or family member
unless in exceptional circumstances- Bribes, spies and assassins are ok
- Always use battle timer
- Alliances and ceasefires are ok, as long as they are strategically viable (ie, no weird alliances with gaul or sarmations)
- Campaign difficulty hard
- Battle difficulty hard
- FOW on
- AUC year system
INTRODUCTION
It is the year 473 AUC. The remaining Greek City states are in an unenviable position, Argos and Athens are in danger of being conquered by the ambitious Macedonians, Sparta lives independantly from Greece, and the only truly safe haven for the Greeks is the island of Rhodes, and even that is only a short distance from the Ptolemaic controlled city of Halicarnassus.
This is our leader, King Kleomenes, who now resides in Rhodes, but he and his youngest son and heir Memnon vow to return to Sparta, their birthplace.
Kleomenes' days are numbered and he knows it, His youngest son and most talented tactitian Memnon has sealed a pact with old Kleomenes to continue his mission of conquest after his death. [I don't have a picture of Memnon...He is *ahem* camera/tapestry shy]
PART 1 OF THE REIGN OF KLEOMENES
It is well known that Sparta trains the best troops in Greece, if not the whole mediterranean or even the world, and as Kleomenes and his family's place of origin, it was his first priority. Memnon, Greece's best and brightest general spent the summer rounding up troops from all over the Greek territories in the Agean, and when the temperate mediterranean winter rolled around, he and his army of around 1,600 men marched on Sparta. Memnon knew that a direct assault on the city would be suicide, and the image of his men being bottlenecked on the walls and gateways of sparta reminded him unpleasantly of the battle of Thermopylae. He was quite satisfied with waiting the siege out. Sparta had no allies to aid her and Memnon was confident he could take the city without spilling a drop of blood.
Memnon had made his first mistake. The defiant Spartans sallied forth from their walls with the aid of a large force of Spartans returning to the city with their King, Vindex. So Sparta's fate was to be decided in blood. So much the better, thought Memnon as he began to ready his troops.
THE BATTLE OF SPARTA
Memnon deploys his troops as below:
- The first line is made up of peltasts, ready to engage the enemy and bring down as many of the spartan hoplites from afar before retreating behind the lines to act as light supporting troops.
- The second line is made up of Rhodian hoplites and some auxiliary hoplites (note: I refer to the basic hoplites that arent from a specific city as auxiliaries, as my attacking armies are composed mostly of the city specific ones).
- The third line is composed of the more heavily armed Cretan Hoplites.
- The Athenians form the fourth line, ready as powerful reserves. These are the only troops in Memnon's army that can truly go toe to toe with the spartan hoplites, so he is saving them for the crucial moment.
- Behind these are the archers.
- And behind the archers are The Aetolian cavalry and Memnon, accompanied by his bodyguard.
The Spartan cavalry are the first to engage, and Memnon counters them with his Aetolians.
The Aetolians are victorious, and the Spartan King Vindex is killed as his cavalry try to flee. The Aetolians withdraw back behind the lines as the first of the spartans charge to engage hand-to-hand on both of memnon's flanks.
But while the spartans engage in a vicious melee, their slower auxiliaries lag behind, and Memnon's troops quickly surround the spartans.
Memnon's Elite Athenians move up to attack the weak auxiliaries, who soon withdraw after taking heavy casualties, allowing Memnon to completely surround and destroy the spartan warriors while his Aetolians get ready to chase down and slay the fleeing enemies.
The last of the spartans fall in battle, achieving their so-called 'beautiful death', and Memnon's victory is achieved, though at a large cost -- just under half of his brave soldiers now lie dead.
Memnon knows that in order to gain the support of the people of Sparta, and hopefully its elite warriors, which he will need to conquer the powerful successors, he will need to be kind to the city. He imposes a liberal occupation of the city and begins the overseeing of new construction projects to improve Sparta's Infastructure, and hopefully soon it will be ready for the coming war with Macedon and Epirus, which Kleomenes and Memnon both know will stretch Greece's military to it's limits.
To be continued.
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Originally Posted by Jingle_Bombs
