II. RTW AAR of the Month - The Winners + category winners

**Aldgarkalaughskel** · September 11, 2008, 02:13 AM

II. AAR of the Month Winners

Congratulations and thanks for the work of everyone!

The AAR of the Month in 2008 August was written by Jingle Bombs, who earned 6 points with this victory, thus he is our new MAARC bronze medalist.

1. Jingle_Bombs - 6 points - bronze medal recipient

Originally Posted by Jingle_Bombs

I, Quintus.

Mod: 77bc - part of the Fall of the Republic - Rise of the Empire mod collection.
Faction: S.P.Q.R
Difficulty: Medium/Very Hard

Description: This is the Autobiographical story of Quintus Caecilius Metellus, shamed Legate of the Roman army, who, after losing a Legionary eagle in Iberia to the rebel Quintus Sertorius, is saved from public excecution by his friend, Marcus Tullius Cicero. In spite of this, his punishment is to serve on the Danube frontier against the barbaric Dacians, who have already wiped out one Roman Legion. Will Quintus regain his lost honour, or is he just the next one on the Dacian King's chopping block?

Teaser:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Chapter 2 - A New Threat

Once we were again seated, Marcus continued.
"The cryptic reason as to your pardoning which thus far I have not revealed, concerns events abroad, that concern the Senate and People of Rome greatly. You most likely have not been in the city long enough to hear the news, but dark things have been happening in the Balkans, on our borders with the Dacians. You are probably aware of our most recent conquests against the unafiliated Thracian tribes in the region?" I nodded.
"Yes, I heard word of our conquests there before I left Gades."
"Well," he began "It seems that the Dacian king has taken offence at these conquests. He believes, or at least he probably believes that we have hostile eyes on his own lands. After all, his neighbours, the Breuci are at war with us at the moment."
"But, that is because of their alliance with Sertorius, is it not?"
"Yes. Well that's the official reason anyway. It is true that expansion towards the Danube has been discussed in the Senate, but not motion has been passed. I do wonder wether perhaps we have spies in our midst. It would explain alot. Anyway... I'm beginning to digress. We had confirmed that the Dacians were gathering forces together for battle. We had no proof of who they intended to war against, or wether it was in defence, but only 10 days ago, news reached Rome that the Dacians had attacked and destroyed one of the Legions based on the Dacian frontier. In fact it was at the time the only Legion guarding the mountain passes into Greece."
"An entire Legion!" I spluttered, hardly believing what I was hearing.

"Yes. It is true. Some of the survivors that made it as far as Pella recounted the story to the Governor. I shall now tell it to you as accurately as I can remember.

The Legate, one Marcus Aurelius Cotta had been fully aware of the situation with the Dacians for some time, and had scouts in the mountains that were to report any hostile troop movements. Two weeks ago, the Dacians made the opening move. A huge army comprising of Heavy infantry, falxmen and cavalry, including horse archers had begun it's march across the mountains. I know not the geography of the area, so I cannot tell you exactly the site of the battle, but there is apparently a mountain pass that guards the entrance to Roman territory, and it was here that Cotta marched his force to, in order to cut the Dacian's route of advance off. Unluckily for him, the Dacian advance guard had already arrived, and the Legionaries were harrassed for some time by enemy horsearchers. The managed to kill scores of them, I'm told, but this soon lowered morale, and on top of that, it began to rain heavily. Now you know as well as I how superstitious soldiers are, so I need not explain the effect this had on morale. At dusk, the Dacian force emerged from the Dip in the pass, and Cotta readied his men. He was quite clearly outnumbered, but he put his faith in his men's skill with arms to carry the day. Besides there was no escaping the enemy army now.

Interview with Jingle_Bombs

Q: What made you start your AAR? What was your inspiration?
A: Well, actually, it was your advice to have a bash at a FRRE AAR. Something I'm very grateful for, by the way . The writing itself is inspired by, and is a tribute to Robert Graves' novel "I, Claudius". A book I recommend to absolutely anyone, wether you're interested in that period or not.

Q: What made you keep on writing it?
A: Support from the readers. Seriously, Seeing your work appreciated is a real confidence boost, and really makes you feel more determined to keep going. It's also a sense that I'm giving the guys at FRRE a big 'thanks' for all the work they've poured into their excellent mod series.

Q: What was the most dramatic and the most comical moment in your story?
A: For me, as the author, thus far the most dramatic piece was when Marcus Aurelius Cotta gets defeated by the Dacians, as this battle was in no way set up for story effect - I went into it expecting to win, and despite playing my hardest, I was utterly defeated by an enemy I had badly underestimated. The same went for the first battle. Though perhaps it's lucky, otherwise I wouldn't be here in this interview... Or maybe I just suck at 77bc . I guess the following updates will reveal wether there's any truth in this.
Them most comedic part is likely yet to come, though I did enjoy bashing Cicero a bit at the start.

Q: What is your "secret ingredient" to success?
A: plenty of Character development. It helps engage the reader. After all, you wouldn't read a book with terrible character portrayal, would you? It's a very basic thing really. People love to be able to associate with the characters in their stories. Giving said characters interesting flaws to deal with usually makes this more interesting. It's for this reason things like soap operas are so popular.

Q: Do you have a favourite AAR? What kind of AARs do you like to read?
A: I like anything that I think is slightly wacky, or has had the author think outside the box somehow. Anything out of the ordinary instantly has appeal for me. Also, AARs that aren't based on a campaign sometimes interest me, as it would appear the author is concentrating more on other aspects like characters or plot than they would normally.

I'm not sure I have a favourite AAR, as there are too many excellent ones around. I'd like to congratulate mollsomg though, for creating one so unique and bizzare, and for sticking at it, despite the obviously large workload that goes into each update.

Q: What are your writing plans for the future?
A: Well, at the moment I'm co-writing a book with a friend of mine (or at least we're trying to ) and I'm currently gathering research for a book of my own. A big thanks to SeniorBatavianHorse, as he's been really helpful in this regard.

Q: What do you think about the AAR competitions? How would you improve this sub-forum?
A: As I recently picked up a copy of Medieval 2 in conjunction with an upgrade for my PC, I was toying with the idea of having a joint M2TW/RTW competition, as I'd love to get into the world of M2TW AARs, but I'd like to keep my chums at the RTW AARs section involved. Other than this decidedly kooky idea, there's nothing I could really say about the sub-forum. It was an excellent idea, and I hope it will eventually become an ancient tradition on TWC, as it rightly deserves to be.

Q: Anything else you want to say?
A: Thanks to everyone who has read my AAR thus far. And seriously, I WILL update it sometime! I'm jut busy settling into sixth form.

This AAR has been hard work thus far, but I'm soldiering on with it anyway, and I advise other AAR writers to do the same. If an AAR seems like it's becoming a chore, stick at it, and you'll probably find enjoyment in it once more. But then again, as my brother told me a couple of days or so ago as he was getting ready for work, "Well yeah, hard work never killed anyone...But, uh, why take the chance?"

2. MarcusAureliusAntoninus - 3 points

Originally Posted by Chirurgeon

The Pyrrhic Dynasty

Author: MarcusAureliusAntoninus[/size]
Mod: Europa Barbarorum
Faction: Makedon
Difficulty:VH/M

Description: This is a Mod that continues from MarcusAureliusAntonius's (MAA) Makedon AAR. At the end of his first AAR the Makedon's are clearly the world power. MAA roleplays this new AAR in the form of a civil war. It features large and epic battles and enlightens us as to the various family members that are vying for control of the empire.

Submitter's comments: This AAR goes beyond a normal AAR because the realism and roleplaying that the author does is splendid. In addition MAA has found a brilliant way to create a civil war! To give you an idea how populare this AAR is, his original AAR that spawned the one linked to here, has over 700 posts!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Civil War (177BC- )

When Neokles died, the whole Arche was shaken. Neokles and Bykoli were the last of the line of Megas Demetrios and only they and the line of Euboulides remained of the descendants of Antigonos Gonatas. Neither Neokles or Bykoli had a son. Neokles had not been a great man, but Bykoli was far worse. The council of nobles in Pella had long disliked Bykoli, for he was stupid, decadent, and was easily manipulated by his friend / son-in-law Pefkolaos. Bykoli had also been accused of hiring assassins to kill ruling members of the council and even some in the royal family, including Pyrrhos' elder brother. Fearing Bykoli's control of the Arche, the council of nobles turned to Pyrrhos to lead them. With this, Pyrrhos had to act, for even if he had turned them down, it meant that he would be seen as an ememy to Bykoli's and he and his family would be in danger of retribution.

So in 177BC, three men set out on a trek to Pella, with their armies, to get the support of the council. To the north, there was Herakleon, first born son of Euboulides, who should have been next in line after Bykoli. Herakleon did not live long, however, as he died from poisoning while being visited by "envoys" from Bykoli. Second was Pyrrhos, who quickly gained support from subjugated Kart-Hadast, the nobles of Sikilia, and the Romani client-state. With his own family ruling northern Italia, southern Gaul, the Iberian holdings, Illyria, and Epeiros, his movement for support was quick. Then there was Bykoli, who travelled slowly across Babylonia, Assyria, Armenia, and Syria to ensure support for his cause. During his withdraw from the east, Lysippos negotiated a ceasefire with Media in exchange for the return of all Median lands.

When Pyrrhos arrived in Pella first, it appeared that Bykoli had lost. Bykoli considered retreating to Babylonia, but Pefkolaos urged him forward, to confront Pyrrhos in battle. Bykoli died, however, when one of his own men stabbed him while he walked through their camp. The assassin died quickly and nobody was sure why he did it or if anyone hired him. It seemed Pyrrhos was left the only option for Basileus, but Pefkolaos did not give up. Claiming his own son, grandson of Bykoli, was the rightful heir, Pefkolaos pushed forward and met Pyrrhos. So, in Thraikia, the two men met with their massive armies...

^^The Red and the Blue factions are the ones fighting for the Makedonian Empire

Interview with MarcusAureliusAntoninus

Q: What made you start your AAR? What was your inspiration?
A: I originally started the campaign to test an internal version of EB and originally decided to make the AAR to show off some of the new aspects of the new version just after the release was made. At the time there were some good AARs for EB and some of them inspired me to write my own, such as the works of CountArach and Chirurgeon.

Q: What made you keep on writing it?
A: I was having a great time playing the campaign and decided to keep writing about it as long as I was playing it.

Q: What was the most dramatic and the most comical moment in your story?
A: Since I'm a moderator of the EB forums I lack a sense of humor and I don't know if I have added much drama, but when I modded in a civil war for my faction was the most complex thing I'd done.

Q: What is your "secret ingredient" to success?
A: Longevity? Maybe it is all of the personal modding I do to my campaign midgame. That certainly keeps things intersting, for me at least.

Q: Do you have a favourite AAR? What kind of AARs do you like to read?
A: I've mostly only read AARs for EB and out of them I like the works of CountArach and Chirurgeon.

Q: What are your writing plans for the future?
A: For now I'm just going to keep writing this AAR until I get bored, break the campaign through over-modding, or reach my goal of a roleplayed reconquest of Alexander's Empire.

Q: What do you think about the AAR competitions? How would you improve this sub-forum?
A: Competitions are fun. It's nice to encourage people. I haven't really looked around this area too much, so I don't know too much about this part of the forums...

3. Legio Caesar - 2 points

Originally Posted by Legio Caesar

For the Hegemony of the Balkans

Mod- Extended Greek Mod 5.7
Faction- Greek City-States
Difficulty- Hard/Very Hard

Description- An XGM Greek Cities AAR following the exploits of Antigonos of Sparta and his bosom buddy Timoleon of Korinthos. Follow their hilarious adventures through Macedonian, Thracian, and eventually Roman territory in their quest for domination of the Balkans!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Interview with Legio Caesar

Q: What made you start your AAR? What was your inspiration?
A: Quite honestly, I started writing AARs because I figured out how to upload images to imageshack. My inspirations were all of the wonderful AARs already on the forums, so I decided to make my own!

Q: What made you keep on writing it?
A: Positive feedback from many people. Also, it was quite enjoyable writing it and making up punchlines for Antigonos (do not forget Concubine 1).

Q: What was the most dramatic and the most comical moment in your story?
A: The most dramatic moment was probably the invasion of Italy and the first battle against the Romans, which ended up in a Heroic Victory. The most comical moment in my opinion is when Antigonos gathers troops, gets halfway to Byzantium, and then is forced to attack Rome by his concubine.

Q: What is your "secret ingredient" to success?
A: Humor.

Q: Do you have a favourite AAR? What kind of AARs do you like to read?
A: I enjoy the AARs of both Juvenal and Jingle_Bombs. I liek reading serious AARs and ones with nice pictures, but the writing is excellent with both of these authors as well.

Q: What are your writing plans for the future?
A: I have a Carthaginian campaign AAR going on, and also am starting work on a humorous Julii AAR. Of course, I will finish the Hegemony of the Balkans AAR first.

Q: What do you think about the AAR competitions? How would you improve this sub-forum?
A: I think they are a great idea. I would not change it, it is great the way it is.

Q: Anything else you want to say?
A: Good luck to everyone in this competition and in future ones, and cheers!

Category winners

Best Narrative: The Pontic Expedition by Austen Bin

Originally Posted by zznɟ ǝɥʇ

The AAR is pretty broad in scope, and goes from a campaign that was seemingly assured of success to a campaign where each man has to be counted. Austen Bin does a great job getting the reader interested in his characters as well...I can't get enough of it!

Best Battle Report: Makedonia dreamin' (by Magister Equitum)

Originally Posted by Prince_of_Macedon

Nice descriptions of each battle so far; all of the significant pieces of action that occurred in each fight are brought to our attention so that we don't miss any bit of it. The multitude of overhead shots was great for illustrating the tactical situation at the time.

Best Historical AAR: The Pontic Expedition by Austen Bin

Originally Posted by SpartanJKM

Hello everyone. Goodness, my deepest apologies for my belated contribution: I came down with a case of the flu followed by a terrible backache (from the continuous laying down) last Saturday night, both rendering me immobile for basic stuff over the past few days.

My choice for the RTW is The Pontic Expedition by Austen Bin; brevity doesn't suffer here. The backdrop is tenable*, and the moves leading up to a clash with a Pontic army rife with battle elephants creates a good deal of tension.

*The Seleucids' power effectively ended in the early 120s B.C., before the rising Parthians under Phraates II (Farhad II), when Antiochus VII was defeated and killed near Ecbatana; the Roman Senate pretty much 'inherited' their dependency of Bithynia as a province with the death of Nicomedes IV in 75 B.C. But as stated, Pontus and Armenia didn't come easy! By the early 60s B.C. Lucius Licinius Lucullus and Gnaeus Pompeius had adeptly saved any forward exploitation into Roman influence from the aggressions of Tigranes II of Armenia and Mithridates VI of Pontus, breaking the strength of a potentially powerful Armenian-Pontic alliance.

Austen's character Kaeso (meaning he would be a member of the gens Fabia within historical terrain, as only they used the praenomen Kaeso, or Caeso). Though elephants were not present in the Pontic campaign in the historical terrain, their usage in a fictional backdrop does not strain credibility, as elephants were used amid war in this part of the world before against the Seleucids, who do indeed figure in the story. Mithridates, stymied earlier but mustering a new army, defeated Lucullus in a cavalry engagement. But the decisive action was yet to take place near Cabira (modern Sivas), and here Lucullus ranged his forces on high ground to nullify any forays from the powerful Pontic cavalry - a strategic condition given with regards to the Roman allies in the preliminaries by Austen Bin. Our main source is Appian, who states, Roman History, The Foreign Wars, Book 12.80,

"…Lucullus hesitated about going down directly to the plain since the enemy was so much superior in horse, nor could he discover any way around, but he found a hunter in a cave who was familiar with the mountain paths. With him for a guide he made a circuitous descent by rugged paths over Mithridates' head. He avoided the plain on account of the cavalry, and came down and chose a place for his camp where he had a mountain stream on his front…"

Moreover, within the history, Lucullus' local supplies were compromised by Mithridates, but his lines of supply were efficiently held up from Cappadocia (Mithradates' horsemen chose to impetuously attack, it seems, the well guarded Roman convoy in narrow terrain), with successful repulsions of Mithradates’ attacks upon them. Mithradates sought to retire east to his resources in Lesser Armenia, but Lucullus subsequently assaulted Mithradates’ retiring columns with great efficiency. The territorial conquest of Pontus was complete within a year, followed by a tremendously impressive defeat of Tigranes II at Tigranocerta in 69 B.C., where again his tactics overcame potentially formidable forces of cavalry; basically, he attacked a much larger army, of horse and foot, before it was ready, using a feigned retreat to break their ranks, and then exploiting that opening. Our sources are: Appian (Foreign Wars, Book 12.85), Plutarch (The Life of Lucullus, Ch. 26-28), Frontinus (Stratagems, Book 2.1.14), Paulus Orosius (Seven Books of History Against the Pagans, Book 6.3.6-7), and Eutropius (Survey of Roman History, Book 6.9.1); Livy provides a sentence in his Periochae, 98,

"In several battles in Armenia, Lucius Lucullus routed Mithridates, Tigranes and their giant armies."

All in all, the storyline set up from Austen Bin would certainly seem fitting for one we might see in a movie or book. Great images, too!

Best Graphics: I, Quintus by Jingle_Bombs

**Babagitta** · September 11, 2008, 02:37 AM

Congratulations! You really deserve the points after all that great work!
Well done! I'm waiting for some more.
+rep for all the winners.

**molls** · September 11, 2008, 04:02 PM

Oha, Jingle, my most humble gratz to you. Either you were cheating, you're just everyone's love or you're really good

You wrote in that other thread, once your RAM arrives you gonna start a new AAR?
Well if that's the unbearable truth, try a funny one!
Man I'd love to see a humourous AAR from a native speaker ffs, you guys can do this best!

MAA is really deserving it, I saw this AAR on the other forums and it's like a TW popstar or something - so massive!

Legio Caesar: A funny AAR = deserved win. dot.

+rep for all if my supply can handle it