It had been 2 years since Archelaos's acceptance into the royal family. Since his adoption, he had shown promise in the arts of war, but never given the opportunity to prove himself. During those two years, under the tutor of King Antiochides himself, his mastery of the theory of strategy and tactics was as sharp as anyone. But only the theory.
Marching South, with a decent sized army and with his friend Antaios riding beside him, he had only come across a small skirmish Ptolemaic army and rebel forces - nothing worthy to test his talents. Due to a delay in awaiting the return of a unit of elephants from Cilicia, his army had only just made it into Ptolemaic territory by the end of the Winter season.
As Spring approached, early one cold morning, Archelaos was awakened by the sound of trumpet. Leaping out from his bed, he covered himself just in time when Antaios burst into his tent.
"An attack?" Archelaos asked as he hurriedly threw on his gear.
"Ptolemaic army spotted in the South. Big one too, from the sounds of it," Antaios said excitedly, throwing Archelaos his helmet.
"And the men..."
"All ready and just as excited as you are. Sir." Antaios threw a mockingly perfect salute. Archelaos grinned to his friend and lead them out of the tent.
"Well, let's hope our Ptolemaic friends won't disappoint them, then."
Archelaos maintained a typical Macedonian line of phalangites, with his thureophoroi kept behind and himself at the rear centre. Knowing that his enemy far outnumbered his own forces, he aimed to strike quickly at the left half of the enemy's line of infantry while his war elephants - on the left flank - would divert the enemy's right half away. The cavalry were placed under the command of General Antaios on the right flank.
As the battle neared, Antaios manoevoured his cavalry to the far right in an attempt to lure the enemy infantry away from the main conflict.
As the Seleucid line finally moved into their positions, Archelaos gave his first order.
"Close up on the enemy! Double time! Hit them hard, hit them fast, give them no time to respond!"
As the Seleucid phalangites sprinted at the Ptolemaic's left wing, Archelaos ordered for the phalangites to enter phalanx formation with nigh perfect timing and soon the true, hard battle was underway.
Very quickly, the first indications of how badly outnumbered the Seleucid army was came about as Ptolemaic spearmen quickly outflanked the phalangites on the right.
Instantly realising the dire situation, Antaios ordered an about turn and charged into the rear of the flanking units. The poorly trained Ptolemaic soldiers quickly panicked at the sudden counter-attack and were routed.
On the left flank, the war elephants charged into the thin line of Ptolemaic infantry, tossing men wildly into the air, throwing the right wing of the Ptolemaic army into disarray.
In just one charge, the war elephants had reduced the entire right wing of the Ptolemaic army into a disorganised shamble.
However, it was on the left flank of the infantry where Archelaos realised his first true mistake and one to be learned on the battlefield. In true textbook style, he had strengthened the centre of his phalangite line, failing to realise that - because of his initial strategy - this would mean his left flank would come into direct contact with the Ptolemaic's best infantry.
As the Ptolemaic army's own phalangite units closed upon the left flank of the Seleucid infantry, the thureophoroi threw their javalins in a bid to slow the advance.
However, no matter how many javalins were thrown, contact was inevitable and soon, the Seleucid infantry's left flank was surrounded by Ptolemaic phalangites.
Archelaos ordered the thureophoroi to engage the enemy phalangites in order to buy time...
... time for Archelaos's runner to direct the war elephants towards their new target...
... and their impact was immediate and absolute!
At the same time, Antaios - circling his way behind the Ptolemaic lines - had also recognised the danger and charged with his cavalry. Archelaos, not noticing the additional being directed to this position due to the wall of men, also charged with his own unit of bodyguards.
The combination of the elephants and two cavalry charges decimated the Ptolemaic numbers and morale, and chaos erupted as Egyptians attempted to flee in all directions from men and beast.
Despite the successes of the destruction of the Ptolemaic flanks, there was still hard fighting in the centre. Early in the battle, the Ptolemaic general had bravely charged his own unit of bodyguards into the Seleucid pikes, punching a hole the phalangites never did fully recover from. Even during the build up to the dramatic events of the joint cavalry and elephant charge on the left flank, the Ptolemaic general was still leading by example, engaging with the Seleucid phalangites whenever the opportunity arose.
The result was a complete disarray and lack of formation in the Seleucid line which the Ptolemaic infantry were more than happy to take advantage of.
Eventually, Archelaos - reunited with Antaios - trapped the Ptolemaic general between lines of phalangites and charged.
The Ptolemaic general was ultimately isolated from his bodyguards and slain.
With the death of their general, all remaining Ptolemaic resistance evaporated and fled to the hills. While, the battle was finally over, the battlefield would be forever littered by the bones and belongings of those who died that day.
There were a call for great celebrations that night after the battle. As night fell, the Seleucids who took part in the battle did not sleep - there was much singing and feasting. And obviously much drinking.
The celebrations lasted long into the night. Archelaos, a truly military man, choice not to join in the celebrations but to keep watch in case of a counter attack (much to the dismay of his accompanying bodyguards). But even Archelaos felt estatic by the day's events. It was his first major engagement and a truly decisive victory. A lot was learnt. However, we was especially thankful for Antaios's masterful command of the cavalry. Twice they saved the Seleucid forces from being outflanked and personally took part in the chase and killing of the Ptolemaic general.
As the more sober of the Seleucids woke to take their turn on watch, Archelaos returned to his tent. Antaios was already inside waiting.
"Antaios, I want to thank you so..."
"Here, read this," Antaios interrupted, handing Archelaos an open letter. "I did not want the men to know, What with the high spirits."
"Are you sure this is..."
"Royal seal," Antaios replied, not waiting for the end of the question.
"But he looked fine when we last spoke to him."
"They say that there's nothing suspicious and he likely died of old age."
"But you don't think so?"
"... I don't know."
"... Assassination?"
Antaios shrugged. "I'm not much for conspiracy theories. However, I'm a soldier and a general; for me, this is simply something I believe we should keep to ourselves as best as we can. With morale so high amongst the men, I'd say it would be silly to let something like this get out too quickly." Antaios stood up to leave.
As Antaios was about to exit the tent, he turned with a smile. "By the way, at the request of the king before he died, he requested that you be made the new faction heir upon his death. You are now second in line for the throne." Antaios bowed a mockingly perfect bow. "Goodnight. Your Highness," and left.
Will of the Purpurati - An Interactive Seleucid Empire AAR
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Re: Will of the Purpurati - An Interactive Seleucid Empire AAR
Re: Will of the Purpurati - An Interactive Seleucid Empire AAR
Originally Posted by Scutarii
