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Thread: Massilia

  1. #1
    Caesar Rex's Avatar Campidoctor
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    Default Massilia

    One Town.
    A Foreign Country.
    Hordes of savage barbarians.
    One hero.
    Servius Labienus Africanus.
    Last edited by Caesar Rex; April 27, 2008 at 02:40 AM.

  2. #2

    Default Re: Massilia - Under the Imperium of Servius Labienus Africanus

    Salve Labieunus!
    I hope this letter, and your legion, finds you well! If you have not heard, the Greeks have broken their alliance, as we knew they would. I was in the midst of reorganizing our legions and establishing a defense, so I have had to hurry and mobilize. To put it frankly, I can handle the Greek traitors and the defense of Italy, however I need you to ensure that no Gaul, not one single Gaul gets into the Padus Valley, through our western borders. I am positive I can count on such an able commander. Write me if you feel the need to.

    Spurius Vitruvius
    Caeso Decimus Crassus (32)

  3. #3
    Caesar Rex's Avatar Campidoctor
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    Default Re: Massilia - Under the Imperium of Servius Labienus Africanus

    After reading the letter from the consul, Servius sits down at his table.
    The brazier burning bright.
    The winter this side of the valley is cold.
    He starts to write...

    Consul Spurius.
    Thank you for sending the VI legio.
    Everything seems calm this side at the moment.
    I will mobilise the troops.
    Being winter season I doubt whether we will see any incursions.
    My spies tell me a large gathering is mounting on the the coast west of here.
    The town I believe is Narbo Martius.
    A link between us and our protectorates, the Iberians.
    Do not worry about the west.
    It will be harder to get into than a vestals' tunic.
    Ser.Labienus Africanus
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  4. #4
    Gaius Julius Civilis's Avatar Senator
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    Default Re: Massilia - Under the Imperium of Servius Labienus Africanus

    Salve father,

    I will do my best to convince the senate of the importance of this new territory. You will not be dissapointed.

    Vale, Marcus Lucretius Falco
    YOU ARE THE SENATE - SENATOR PROCVLVS IVNIVS VERVS MINOR - XXX
    PLEBEIAN

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    Caesar Rex's Avatar Campidoctor
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    Default Re: Massilia - Under the Imperium of Servius Labienus Africanus

    After receiving the letter Servius settled to write his reply...

    Marcus Lucretius...
    Thank you.
    I trust all is well.
    Please inform me of all happenings in Rome.
    Your letters do come more swiftly than that of official dispatches.
    Watch over my son as well.
    Ser.Labienus Africanus
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  6. #6

    Default Re: Massilia - Under the Imperium of Servius Labienus Africanus

    A short stocky man walks in, a confident stride...

    "Sir I am Titus Vedius, former military advisor to Decimus Vitruvius. I am now currently serving Spurius Vitruvius, he ordered me to pass along the same information that I passed on to the Senate to you..."

    Titus tells Servius Labienus everything he told the Senate

    "He only wished to add that it might be advantagous for the both of you to focus on the Greek front... as the Gauls have been quiet lately, and even if they did attack, a legate could defend Massilia and the western borders of Italy... In short Vitruvius believes that a very large war with Greece is coming, and we need our best on the eastern front. He hopes that you will write him."
    Caeso Decimus Crassus (32)

  7. #7
    Caesar Rex's Avatar Campidoctor
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    Default Re: Massilia - Under the Imperium of Servius Labienus Africanus

    Servius Labienus Africanus sits while the military advisor tells his story.
    With such heartache and defeat in his eyes he recounts the events from accross the alps.
    Servius never expected things to have gotten so far out of hand from when he had left Rome.

    He settled in and began to write to the consul.

    Consul Spurius,
    I have just received word of your loss.
    I know this is a difficult time and especially when loosing a brother.
    I do not know what I could say to make the pain of loosing him easier.
    Tomorrow I will leave Massilia with your advisor and we will head to Patavium.
    Together we will see this greek empire destroyed.
    We will seek retribution and retrieve the eagle.
    Legio I Germanica will be avenged as well as your brother.
    Fear not.
    We will not pass under the yoke of these greek rabble.
    Ser.Labienus Africanus.
    After writing the letter he sprinkled some fine sand over the parchment to allow the ink to dry.
    Shaked it off and rolled it up.
    Pouring wax over the edge he placed his seal.


    'Lucius, fetch one of the riders.
    This letter must reach Patavium tonight.'
    Last edited by Caesar Rex; April 25, 2008 at 02:25 PM.
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  8. #8
    Xavier Dragnesi's Avatar Esse quam videre
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    Default Re: Massilia

    Massilia
    3 Legions for the Consuls under the eastern sky,
    2 for the people in their houses of stone,
    1 for the Proconsul in the shadows of Africa,
    2 for Quintus Marius, in the town of Massilia,
    In the lands of the Roman Republic, where the glories lie.
    2 Legions to rule them to rule them all, 2 Legions to find them,
    2 Legions to bring them all, and in the darkness protect them
    In the lands of the Roman Republic, where the glories lie

    Massilia, under the governership of Quintus Marius Parthicus

  9. #9
    Xavier Dragnesi's Avatar Esse quam videre
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    Default Re: Massilia

    Senators, I hope this finds you well,



    I have finally reached Massilia, after going through many byroads and paths to get through the Gallic forces assembled around the area. The first thing I did was to gather together one of the legions from two of the forts and together, relieve another fort from the siege of a large Gallic army.







    I deployed my army in a crescent shape, courtesy of the great enemy of Rome - Hannibal, who beat us with a formation like this at the Battle of Cannae. Now I was about to try the intelligence of these Gaulish hordes, and see how well they would take it.







    The Gauls, cowardly as they were, started off the battle with volley after volley of slingshots at one unit of my Legio III. I commanded them to go into testudo formation, and they hardly inflicted any casualties at all. Once they saw that our liine was immovable, they charged a few units at my troops. With volleys of pila scything through their ranks, most of these units broke scarcely seconds after hitting our line. Seeing their comrades running, most of the other units ran as well, along with their general. He was trampled beneath the hooves of my cavalry as he ran.







    The rest of the units fled, some broken and fully routing, others still intact but running nonetheless. My cavalry chased down the routing units, and any legionaries that could catch the other fleeing Gauls killed as many as they could, though the Gauls did retaliate occasionally.









    The end result was a nice victory for the Roman arms.







    Next, the army marches to relieve the town of Massilia from it's Gallic besiegers.

  10. #10

    Default Re: Massilia

    anothere victory over the gallic horde
    prays to mars
    "Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win."Sun-tzu
    Chinese general & military strategist (~400 BC`)

  11. #11
    Xavier Dragnesi's Avatar Esse quam videre
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    Default Re: Massilia

    Salve Senators,
    I bring news of another battle with the Gauls. I called moved troops around the Gallic army so they were surrounded on all sides. Then I attacked using my main army.



    Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures as the battle was quite a frenzy, but I can tell you that the Gauls, like last time, sent some troops forward who broke like waves on the rock of the Roman army, and then the rest of the army fled. I managed to kill their warlord before he ran off the battlefield. The victory was sweet, even though the reinforcement armies did not arrive at all.



    So now, Massilia is once again free of the barbaric hordes, the two legions in the west have been reunited. But now, I travel north to another Gallic army to stop them from besieging one of our strategic forts. I must somehow get the stench of the out of my nose.

    Quintus Marius Parthicus

  12. #12
    Xavier Dragnesi's Avatar Esse quam videre
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    Default Re: Massilia

    Senators,

    I write to you from my command tent. Even though it's meant to be summer, it is still reasonably cold in the alpine regions and there's constantly been snow in the battles that I have been fighting. Makes the men feel unhappy. However, with some hot food in their bodies, they always feel fit to fight, like they did today at this battle:



    On the battlefield, I took a little gamble. I decided to place my whole army facing the attacking army. I knew this was a pretty big gamble, because if the reinforcements had arrived, they would have struck me at the back of my army, and the Legio II Augusta would be just as dead as the Legio I Germanica. But the gamble paid off. The reinforcements didn't arrive, and the attacking force of 400 or so Gauls had to face a whole legion.

    It was made up of 6 units, two at full strength the rest all weaker. My three units of archers lit up the night with flaming arrows, decimating the ranks of the Gauls, but they were so intent on the destruction of the smaller units, that the general's full unit arrived before my army with hardly any casualties. But with so many men at my disposal, I quickly surrounded them, and before long, they were running for their lives. I led my bodyguard forward and chased them down, not a man was left alive.



    The larger Gaulish army retreated after the defeat of the smaller one, hiding in the alpine passes. However, there's no doubt that their foolishness will lead them to believe in victory by numbers, and they will attack my army again. But by then, my fort shall be finished, and I'll be ready for them.

    Quintus Marius Parthicus.

  13. #13
    Xavier Dragnesi's Avatar Esse quam videre
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    Default Re: Massilia

    Salve Senators, I hope I find you well.
    Congratulations to the winner of the elections. May you do your duty as is asked of you, and try your best to work for the good of Rome and the Republic.

    Now, on another note, I have news from the Gallic front. Previously, I had thought the Gauls a relatively spent force, but it seems that they still have a few large armies up their sleeve. Anyway, they seem fully intent on invading Italy, and have sent stacks of armies through every mountain pass they can get through. And the ones that they can't get through, they besiege the fort or the city in the way, or attack the army. It's a dangerous place, the foot of the Alps on both sides, with plenty of places for the enemy to plant ambushes in the hope that we hit one when moving our troops around.

    The first battle I fought was against a large Gallic army that had besieged Massilia. It was almost crammed full of their crack troops, with Belgic Minah Swordsmen and Armoured Warriors that were both the equal of our legionaries, and in some cases, better! It was going to be a tough campaign for this period of my governorship. This was what the opposing armies looked like:



    I deployed in a faily defensive format, though the Gauls just spread their army out in their rows like any normal commander would do. My cavalry was out on the wing, ready to flank them and take out their general, in the hope that the Gauls would rout faster after that.




    However, the Gauls had better morale than I expected, and though I finished their general early off, they continued to fight as though nothing had happened. But unit by unit, I surrounded them, and as soon as it was surrounded that unit broke, and soon Gauls were streaming off everywhere. A unit or two stayed to fight on till the very end.



    The victory was clear, thought not before 349 brave Roman soldiers lay dead on the battlefield.



    The next battle was an encounter with a small Gallic stack while moving northward to relieve one of the northern forts. However, their low number of units was equalised by my troops being mostly understrength. I managed to find two units of mercenaries that came into my army for a small price, and with that, I faced off with the Gauls.



    The Gauls didn't move, they just waiting for me to march up to their position. My cavalry, bolstered with a unit of mercenary cavalry, killed their general with relative ease, and using hammer and anvil attacks, my men quickly routed all of the Gallic units that engaged. The cavalry then chased these down, but the two units that didn't engage managed to get away mainly unscathed. But they retreated all the way back to the city of Lugdunum.



    Now up at the northern fort, the Gauls had been pretty lenient on their siege, and I managed to sneak in through the enemy lines to join the army within the fort. I ordered them to sally out, but only just enough as to weaken the Gallic forces so my other army could finish it off. So the men deployed and got ready for what proved to be an interesting battle.



    Using a group of mercenary peltasts, I feinted a sally, and the Gauls, stupidly believing sent forward a group of three units to form a square shape around the gate of the fort. Sending my missile troops to the very corners of the fort, I showered them from the rear and sides with missiles. Three times I did the feint and the missiles, and ended up killing 50% of the enemy troops with missiles alone. There were piles of Gallic dead outside the gates.



    However, in the midst of this interesting missile slaughter, I must shamefully say I forgot about the Gallic Armoured Warriors, who carried javelins somewhat alike to our pila. When these warriors charged up to the gate, I didn't manage to withdraw some of the auxilia in time, and unfortunately, sustained 222 casualties that could have been avoided if I'd paid more attention. A fault on my behalf.



    As I had planned before, I now returned to my main army and assaulted the now half-strength Gallic force. It seemed victory would not be too hard to obtain.



    But the Gauls, probably scared of Roman steel after what had happened before, deployed right at the back of the battlefield, and just as my troops had started marching towards them, they ran off the battlefield and retreated back to their own cities. The end battle results was no casualties on either side, a complete waste of time in deploying.



    The last battle I have to talk to you about before I end this report, is this ambush I encountered on my way to build a fort to defend the northernmost alpine pass. It was not well laid, and I managed to get time to deploy before they attacked. We were slightly outnumber.



    The Gauls came at us in a disorderly manner, and with my cavalry, I easily routed half of the force. The other half, made up of slightly more elite troops, held for quite a while longer before our soldiers beat them back and they retreated away back into their own lands. It was a credit to my soldiers, the good work they did.



    Now Conscript Fathers, listen carefully. I have a proposition to make to you. As you can see from all these battles I have to do, it is clear that the Gauls are still able to infiltrate our border and enter the lands of Italy. At present, there are three ways across the Alps that they can take:
    1. If they skirt around the coast next to Massilia
    2. They come down through a mountain pass in the north west
    3. They build up forces in their town Aventicum and come down a northern pass that is guarded by that city

    The Gauls, I must say, are not the smartest of strategists. Whenever they skirt the coast, they see the city of Massilia, and forget their plan to get into Italy, and instead always besiege Massilia, which Servius Labienus and I have defended time after time. We can cope with that. In the northwestern pass, I have placed a legion in ambush their, awaiting any Gallic army that tries to pass through. As for the northern pass, I have put a fort there, and it is my belief that it will constantly get besieged.

    Most senators here have at least some military experience, and know that a city's walls are easier to defend than a forts. And at the moment, the Gallic city of Aventicum is not very heavily defended. My propostition is that you allow me to take the city of Aventicum to block the northern pass. Aventicum is like a city inside the pass of Thermopylae. The Gauls can't get into Italy through that pass without getting through that city. As as you can see with Massilia, cities are a lot easier to defend, and it will give us a good base for auxilia training on the Gallic front.

    So Senators, debate what you like about this proposition and I hope that you can give me a reply as to whether it has been agreed or not as soon as possible. I personally believe it is a good plan

    Quintus Marius Parthicus

  14. #14
    Caesar Rex's Avatar Campidoctor
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    Default Re: Massilia

    Quintus Marius.
    We have made a fine choice of governer.
    I congratulate you on your victories in the west.
    I hope that soon you will have a permanent post in the new proconsulate.
    Ser.Labienus Africanus
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