Results 1 to 14 of 14

Thread: Honorius Victorious

  1. #1

    Default Honorius Victorious

    Gaul- July 412


    "Scribe! Scribe!" the Emperor exclaimed as he staggered forward, away from his now dead horse which had been killed out from under him by one of the bodyguards of the Visigoth general Tanausis in what was a failed attempted to avenge the Visigoth commander who had just been sent to the after-life by none other than the Western Emperor himself.

    "Scribe! Scribe!" he again demanded, taking his helmet off and discarding it next to the broken body of a member of his Scholae Palatinae with three dead Visigoths piled next to him. He had kept them away from his Emperor but had fallen in the process after his horse had been skewered by a Gothic spear.

    His head hadn't stopped throbbing since he'd fallen from his horse after being struck on his helmet by a Gothic shield, those barbarian Germans had a nasty tendency to use their shields as weapons...

    Praise be to God that He and His saints were watching over me this day, thanks be to God that my helmet held firm...


    For four days they had fought the Visigoths, destroying one group after another. There were so many Goths marching towards Spain that the front of their column was four days march from the rear of their column, although they had been somewhat spread out for reasons of tactical security. Honorious and his mostly cavalry based army had taken to the field in central Italy in 410 just after the sack of Rome and had driven the Visigoths north towards Augusta Vindelcorum before they passed west of Lugdunum and were finally intercepted and blocked by two Roman field armies west and east of Narbo. The Visigoths had no choice but to engage at least one of the Roman field armies. Honorius and two of his best generals had mustered eleven cavalry groups, not counting their personal bodyguard units, and five legions of Comitatenses.

    The first Visigoth army threw themselves at the Romans with reckless abandon but when the sun set on that fateful day scarcely a single Visigoth was left alive on the field while only 900 Romans had been slain. Honorious had been told by a trusted tribune that they estimated 18,000 Visigoths were dead. The men had barely washed themselves in the warm and inviting waters of the nearby Mediterranean (which had been within eyesight of the battlefield) and slept for a few hours when the second Visigoth army had arrived on the scene. Enraged by the realization that nearly twenty thousand of their comrades had been killed, and expecting the Romans were depleted and exhausted, they charged head-long into the Roman infantry line.

    Honorious and his best cavalry, four units of Scholae Palatinae were once again situated on the right flank, with one of his two generals on the left flank with two groups of Foederati cavalry and some Equites Scutarii that were left from the previous battle. When the Visigoths made their way onto the flat open field (open and flat except for the nearly 20,000 dead Visigoths on the field) in front of the Roman infantry line the cavalry began their assault on the flanks, quickly driving away or slaughtering the light cavalry the Visigoths had brought with them. Once again the battle resulted in the destruction of the entire Visigoth force of nearly 20,000 while the Romans lost less than 1,500.

    With the dawn of the third day the third Visigoth force had arrived, under none other than their famous general Tanausis who had helped Alaric sack Rome two years earlier and had led a force that pillaged its way across northern Italy and into the Alps. With his force reduced to around half of what it had been two days earlier, the Western Emperor knew the odds were now stacked against him, although they had already been stacked against him in both of the first two battles... His men were tired, many had died, many more were wounded, and the Visigoths were coming with overwhelming force. Although if they hadn't been so confident they could beat a Roman field army they would have come at his force at the same time, bringing 60,000 warriors down upon him at once, rather than sending one group after another.

    The battle lasted the better part of the entire day and only ended when Tanausis was slain and his remaining warriors broke ranks and fled in panic as they began to realize their glorious commander had been slain, slain by none other than the Roman Emperor Flavius Honorius himself.

    "Scribe... scribe, where's that blasted scribe..." Honorius softly muttered as he as coming to, instantly realizing he was lying in a bed and was no longer weighted down by his armor. His head wasn't throbbing quite as much and he felt much cleaner, as though somebody had washed the blood off of him.

    "Imperator, you requested a scribe before you fell, we feared we had lost you... It appears you received a nasty blow to the head from one of those dirty barbarians... Imperator, rejoice, for we conquer!" his Magister Equitum proudly proclaimed.

    "I feared I was about to meet God, the saints, and the martyrs, I wanted to have a scribe take a letter to my wife in Ravenna... Anyway, now that we have won and I am alive I have even more reason to write to her... Send for a scribe and then prepare to assemble my generals, we'll be leaving for Narbo before the day is out..." Honorius ordered as he began to rise from the bed where he had been placed.

    "Imperator, is that wise..." the Magister Equitum began to counter, "so soon after you were injured, is it wise to move? Perhaps you should wait another day or so and regain your strength? We have lost so many men, if we wait another six days Aetius will be here with his field army, they left Dalmatia a number of weeks ago and they are a mere six days march away... We could combine with them and march to Narbo..."


    "No, no, we will ride now and cut them down while they are weak, before they can begin to regain their footing... Anyway, how long was I out for?" the Emperor inquired.


    "Almost thirty hours Imperator, in that time we have taken count of the dead and the wounded and the men have rested... In all three days combined we lost almost three thousand and five hundred men killed or wounded... The Visigoths have lost at least sixty thousand dead or wounded, our men have spent most of the time since you were out finishing off their wounded and we have made a deal with some camp followers... They have made a most generous contribution of gold to further your campaign against the Visigoths and they have agree to pile the bodies into a pyre and burn them, in exchange we have agreed to give them a free-hand to take what they want from the dead barbarians... We have no reason to linger here, no need to worry about the dead barbarians, they will be taken care of by the camp followers... If it is your wish that we are to leave before the day is out then that will be done..."

    It was his wish and ride they did, leaving the growing stench of death, blood, and burning corpses behind them as they made for Narbo with all haste. Ataulf, the Visigoth King himself, had sacked Narbo and then moved his main army just west of the city while the garrison had taken cover in the nearby hills. Arriving at Narbo Honorius led his field army directly into battle as soon as the sun had set so the Romans with their special night training were at a decided advantage. The sun rose the next morning to reveal a rather morbid scene as macabre morning meal had been offered up to the carrion birds, a meal consisting of the broken bodies of almost twenty thousand Visigoth warriors, with King Ataulf counted amongst them. As the Imperator himself had slain Tanausis so too did Honorius himself slay Ataulf.


    As the sun was rising the soldiers of the field army of Imperator Flavius Honorius, still covered in mud and blood, formed up their ranks and began to chant and shout, "Honorius! Honorius!" their cries of jubilation more than sufficient to drown out the sounds of the Gothic wounded and the carrion birds, the ever present carrion birds. No matter who would win or lose the vultures would always have a full belly and the camp followers would always be able to fill their sack or their cart. Today the bellies of the birds would not be filled with Roman flesh but with barbarian flesh.

    What few Goths were left alive, somewhere around two thousand, took shelter in Narbo, only to be destroyed by a fresh field army of almost twelve thousand Romans under one of Honorius' most trusted generals. Their first crushing defeat had been inflicted by the Comes Demseticorum Peditum, Valens, in 410, just after the sack of Rome. Some of the Visigoth forces had marched north, some had marched south, and one group (for reasons unknown) had marched east towards the Adriatic Sea, a sea along whose shores they would die en masse.


    Valens was a hero, Constantius Flavius was a hero, and above all, Imperator Flavius Honorius was a hero among heroes. Rome had been sacked but two years had gone by and the situation in Italy had gone from an utter disaster to stable and hopeful with the total destruction of the Visigoths in southern Gaul, assuring that they would never again menace the Empire, West or East. The usurper Constantine III had fallen in Arelate at the hands of General Constantius Flavius in the summer of 410 shortly after Rome had been sacked, so Honorius had been marching into Gaul secure in the knowledge that the rebel forces of the usurper had been dealt a mortal blow and were unlikely to trouble him as he moved against the wretched barbarians... The Empire had suffered a humiliating and insulting blow with the sack of the eternal city but now Roman honor had finally been avenged.


    Honorius had taken to the field with a great army in 410...





    But by 412, after two years of brutal fighting, the force had largely exhausted itself and would likely have to retire to defensive positions in northern Italy to rest and recover, while the other three field armies present in Gaul, one under Constantius Flavius, one under General Valens, and another under Aetius from Dalmatia took up the burden of finishing off the scattered forces of the dead usurper Constantine III, securing the rebel-held cities, and setting up positions along the Rhine to keep out those barbarians who had not yet crossed the river, although from what Honorius had seen thus far it seemed to him that it was plausible that EVERY barbarian in the world had already crossed the Rhine.

    He would have to convene another war council to discuss the next course of action, should they go after the Vandals in Hispania or should they proceed to regain the rest of Gaul and secure the Rhine River, or should they split their three field armies and march to recover Hispania and Gaul at the same time... That decision would have to wait for the war council... Honorius was too exhausted to deal with it any sooner than a day or so... He felt the urge to recline in a bath and stay there for a week but he knew that the Empire would not save itself and they may not have a week to wait to convene a council to decide such an important council. While they may not have a week or a month, they certainly had a day or two so he could rest himself, his men would have to be permitted to march back to Italy and rest for a while, although he himself might very well stay in the field and take direct command of Valen's field army.


    His men however, were totally exhausted, their formations depleted by nearly two years of uninterrupted battles in what would easily be remembered as one of the most brutal campaigns in the history of the Empire.

    Last edited by ByzantinePowerGame; March 02, 2011 at 09:25 PM.

  2. #2

    Default Re: Honorius Victorious

    Note, I am using a multiplier of 10 to describe money and manpower/etc... If one Roman soldier dies, I write it as 10 dying, I consider 1 man on the game screen to represent 10 men. Also, 1 denarii/currency in the game is representative of 10 currency.

    I am playing on battle level medium, campaign level hard.

  3. #3

    Default Re: Honorius Victorious

    Very good! You seem to like heavy cavalry a lot.

    Boycott boycotts!'


  4. #4

    Default Re: Honorius Victorious

    Quote Originally Posted by vampiric_canniba View Post
    Very good! You seem to like heavy cavalry a lot.

    I'm using several field armies in the west (Italy/Gaul/Switzerland) which are basically comprised of the following...


    Constantius Flavius' Field Army- 1 General's guard unit, 10 heavy infantry (5 Comitatense, 4 Lanciarii, 1 auxilia cohort), 3 archer/missile units, 2 heavy cavalry units, and 2 siege onagers.

    Valens' Field Army- 1 General's guard unit, 4 Auxilia Palatinae, 5 Auxilia Illyricani, 3 Gothic Foederati infantry, 4 heavy cavalry, and 3 sagittarii graves.

    Aetius Flavius' Field Army- 1 General's guard unit, 7 Legio Palatinae, 2 Auxilia Palatinae, 2 mercenary Gothic warband, 1 Legio Linciarii, 1 heavy cavalry, and 6 Hunnic Foederati.

    Of course there's still the heavily depleted field army of Honorius.

    I have on more major Field Army and it is camped along the Danube hanging out near FOUR Eastern Empire Field Armies (the Eastern Empire also has one more Field Army in Dalmatia for some reason). I have the equivalent of another Field Army garrisoning a town/city along the Danube and if I pulled together 2/3rds of the units from the several forts and the other town or two along the Danube I'd have another Field Army (but it would be mostly light cavalry, light infantry, and 4-5 Hunnic cavalry units). I have no significant forces in Italy but to get to Italy they would have to go through my Field Armies in Gaul, my forts in the north at the passes to the Alps, or my Field Army along the Danube. I believe Italy is safe, not to mention that Valens is only a few turns march from Italy, Honorius is perhaps two or three turns march from Italy, but is so close to the coast he could embark on a ship and land in central Italy in a few turns... I'm going to station the depleted Honorius Field Army in Ravenna until a crisis emerges and I need to send them into battle despite their depleted status. I've basically been using my heavy cavalry in as ancient "tanks" pounding enemy infantry forces in the open and destroying their infantry heavy armies, creating openings for my infantry to go through, because I don't like depleting my infantry forces in infantry on infantry engagements when I can use cavalry and out-maneuver them. Strategically and tactically I used cavalry (heavy cavalry) to destroy the Visigoths as a faction. Tactically on the battlefield I use a few units of heavy infantry to make a line (usually 3 men deep) and then draw the enemy in on that line while the cavalry is flanking them and hits them on the sides and rear.

    I basically used the Honorius Field Army to smash enemy field armies in open country, using my heavy cavalry against their light infantry to good effect (taking along the 5 heavy infantry units for use against spear-men) and the one skirmisher unit for use against their skirmishers and spear-men. After smashing a way through their field armies, I used the Constantius Flavius Field Army to assault the cities, inflicting MASSIVE casualties with the heavy onagers (in one battle against the forces of the usurper- yet to be covered in my writing) I lost less than 10 soldiers while killing 1500 and taking the entire city (owed almost entirely to the use of siege onagers to destroy their forces near the walls). Right now with the way open I have the Aetius Flavius Field Army laying siege to a city in central/eastern Gaul and I intend to have them clear the cities in the Rhine area as soon as a new cavalry army clears out the enemy field armies. My ideal Field Army would probably consist of two generals with their guard units, 10 heavy cavalry, 8 heavy infantry, and 2 skirmisher/archer units. I don't have enough legionary/auxilia cohort infantry to make that ideal a reality so I go with what I have and use a lot of light infantry and whatever I have on hand.

    I have a group of 7 Equites Scutarii that I formed in North Africa, with two light cavalry/Mauri cavalry and one general with his guard unit, about to launch a campaign to clear southern Spain, to link up with Carthago Nova (defended by an army under the command of a general with his guard, 2 Comitatense, 2 Lanciarii, 3 Milites, 3 archer units, 3 Auxiliary units, 1 Auxilia Cohort, and 2 Foederati cavalry, and 1 Equites Sctuarii)-

    I abandoned Cordoba on the first turn in the game, destroying every building that could be destroyed and using the money to fund the construction of 8 Equites Scutarii which I recruited in cities across North Africa, along with a small fleet of a few Biermes and one Trieme that I built in the West Med cities so I had ample strength for the eventual transportation of reinforcements to Spain. I also recruited 18 Hunnic Foederati units with the money I had at the start of the game, and finally 3 heavy cavalry Equites (forget the next word, started with a P, I would butcher it if I tried to spell it, maybe Pompotei) in Rome itself on turn one, that left me with exactly ZERO currency left. By abandoning Cordoba and destroying all buildings in it capable of being destroyed, I was able to finance the construction of a small fleet and a mobile field force in North Africa... On turn one I began recruitment of 8 heavy cavalry in North Africa, 3 heavy cavalry in Rome, and 18 skirmisher/archer cavalry in the region along the Danube. I believe that even though I now have -200,000 in currency and it will be a long time before I am "out of the red" I laid the foundation for a winning army that will see me through until I can turn the financial situation around...

    Hey, I've gone from losing 9,000 a turn to only losing 3,000, thanks to my conquests in Gaul and my destroying several of the bandit forces in places such as North Africa, in addition to getting the sieges lifted across the Empire (sieges put in place after turn 1/2), and getting rid of the Visigoths. I figure it will be 15-25 more turns before I am able to consistently turn a profit, and it will be between 75-100 turns before I get out of the negatives.

    Once I am out of the negatives I am going to build the relevant palaces in the appropriate provinces so growth can continue, rebuild all aqueducts in Italy (this is a major priority for me), get at least level 2 farms in all provinces where they are warranted, get ports in all provinces where they are available, repair all damaged walls in Gaul, repair all buildings related to financial gain anywhere they may be, build at least level 2 mines in all provinces where they are available, and then repair all buildings related to happiness anywhere they may need repairs. I expect that perhaps by 430 the entire Empire should be thriving once again, and I can have the military replenished and ready for major action by 435 or 440. My ultimate goal is for the border of the Western Empire to be the Oder River, I also wish to regain Britannia, either through protectorate status or through conquest. I have no plans to attack the Eastern Empire and will not do so unless they strike out against the West.
    Last edited by ByzantinePowerGame; March 02, 2011 at 11:03 PM.

  5. #5

    Default Re: Honorius Victorious

    Very nice and swift campaigning and u seem to be doing well in Gaul but one thing puzzles me. How do u wreck up -200k in debt in just 2 years of game play?

  6. #6
    Magister Militum Flavius Aetius's Avatar δούξ θρᾳκήσιου
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Rock Hill, SC
    Posts
    16,318
    Tournaments Joined
    1
    Tournaments Won
    0

    Default Re: Honorius Victorious

    If I may say Aetius would only be 16 at this time AND in the camp of Rua serving the Huns, so unless that's gaudentius Aetius I don't really see why he's in the game...

    on another note an excellent AAR, looking forward to your next post!!!

  7. #7

    Default Re: Honorius Victorious

    Four years of carnage- Iberia

    Iberia, that once wild and untamed land that had long ago been brought under the dominion of Rome, having fallen to the legionnaire’s sword, now all save for Carthago Nova and the immediate surrounding areas had fallen to those barbarians calling themselves the Vandals.

    Cordoba had been abandoned as the Vandals tore their path of destruction across Iberia, on orders from Honorious Flavius of course, who had decided that it was far better to consolidate more forces to defend the all-important Carthago Nova, than to spread Rome’s limited forces too thinly in a vain attempt to hold all of Spain. He had consulted Constantius Flavius on the matter and the two men had been on the exact same page… Cordoba should be abandoned and all forces from its garrison immediately sent to reinforce Carthago Nova.

    A mobile force in North Africa had formed during the first part of 410 under Bonifacius, Dux limitis Mauretaniae Caesariensis, consisting of about three thousand soldiers, about half of whom were cavalry. They landed in Spain well in time to help the garrison of Carthago Nova smash the approximately 18,000 strong Vandal army that had renewed the siege of the city after the first band (of nearly 15,000) had been cut to pieces in their ill-fated attempt to take the city by assault. Carthago Nova seemed to have an appetite for blood and two Vandal armies had been served up and chewed up before the hunger abated.

    In the attack against the remnants of the second Vandal force Bonifacius’ officers suggested waiting until the morning to attack so that their soldiers would be well-rested and would be easier to manage. A close order fight against hordes of barbarians would be trouble enough, having to operate at night would just add to the chaos. At the council of war convened to decide the course of action, the subordinates wanted to wait until the morning but his wife, who had actually accompanied him on the campaign proudly declared that Roman discipline would be sufficient to compensate for the chaos of the night. Along similar lines, she declared, to attack now and smash the barbarians would assure that the greater share of glory would be theirs, for if they let the barbarians slip away in the night to escape into Africa or perhaps stay in Spain only to be crushed by another army later or even crushed by their forces but with the help of another army, either there would be no glory or there would be little glory. It took them several days to dispose of the remains of the Vandal forces in southern Spain. There was plenty of glory, there would have been enough to go around and share with other forces, but not this time, this time the glory was all theirs.

    Bonifacius wound up elevated to the status of a living legend amongst those forces of the Western Empire serving in Africa and Spain. Within a few years he would be regarded as one of the best commanders in the West, and his wife was recognized as a calculating and inspiring woman, the envy of many of his fellow officers, although her virtue was also well-known and she would devote herself to managing her husband’s villa and writing him every month after she left the campaign and went back to Carthago Nova.


    They had come a long way from having had to abandon Cordoba a scant four years earlier…







    One of the first actions of Emperor Honorious had been to order the abandoning of Cordoba in favor of conducting a tenacious defense of Carthago Nova. The remnants of the Western Empire’s west Mediterranean fleet picked up the former garrison of Cordoba and took them to Carthago Nova, where they were put to good effect turning back several Vandal assaults and then ultimately crushing a number of Vandal warbands.






    Ultimately Bonifacius would capture the strategically important city of Gades, but only after crushing huge bodies of Vandal warriors and hastily raised levies. Morale had held constant and had generally been high, but the Dux knew that he must remain vigilant to assure his men did not hear the disheartening news that might come in from the east… It wouldn’t be long before the forces in Africa and Spain would have to be transferred east to meet the forces of the treacherous Eastern Empire in Illyria, Macedonia, and certainly Greece. But there was no reason to let them know that perhaps a decades worth of fighting awaited them after they finished off the Vandals in Spain… No reason to spoil their hopes of being able to return to Italy or garrison duty in Gaul, at least there was no reason at the present time…

    Of Bonifacius, Honorious was heard to say, "outside of Gaul and Italy he's the best officer we have... If we had a few more like him in Africa we'd soon have the Berbers in submission at our feet. A shame he cannot be in Africa and Spain at the same time..."







    And what of Honorious? The noble Imperator who was determined to lead from the front and share the same deprivations that his rank and file legionaries experienced on campaign... His campaigns in Gaul had gone well, leaving him the master of all except the area along the channel coast. The Visigoths were but a memory, the Alamanni soon joined them, and the Burgundi were not far behind, along with the Ostrogoths who would soon be reunited with their Visigoth cousins. His victories in Gaul and on the other side of the Rhine brought him to a height of joy that was not only tempered but brought crashing to an end when word came from Ravenna that his wife had died. His Magister Equitum was present with him and remained as the others present left the Imperator’s tent as per the Imperator's orders.

    The Imperator wiped a few tears away from his eyes and turned to the man who had been one of his main advisers on the campaign thus far.

    “What shall I do? Shall all of my achievements be for naught? Will Rome fall into chaos upon my death? Will it be civil war? Shall the Huns pour across the Danube and bash down our walls? What will the East do?” he posed, his questions in rapid succession and most likely rhetorical, although he would receive an answer.

    His Magister Equitum patted him on the back, “Imperator there is more than enough time for you to have an heir, you are not dead and are not going to die… The Visigoths were not able to kill you, the usurper was not able to kill you, so shall it be with the Burgundi, the Ostrogoths, even the Huns… But the Huns will not attack us, at least not for many years, they are busy against the tribes along the flanks of their lands, they will secure their rear before they move against us… They may even move against the Eastern Empire if we can convince them to do so… As for the Eastern Empire, they will be made to see the folly of their treachery, we have smashed two of their field armies and I believe if we adequately reinforce Gaudentius and his field army in Illyria, we can easily hold against the Eastern traitors until we finish in Gaul…"


    Honorious only sighed, giving no response other than his sigh until finally, after what seemed many seconds but was perhaps only two or three, a silent nod of his head.



    “Imperator I believe that Bonifacius has a sister, as I said, you have ample time for an heir… Do you want me to send a courier to him to inform him of the situation?”

    “Yes, do it, see to the arrangements… Anyway, the men are to strike camp and make all necessary preparations… We will leave Gaul to Aetius, Constantius, and Valens. We’re going to Spain…”


    How could it have come to this? Once more Romans fighting Romans... Instead of keeping a watch on the Danube and standing guard against the Huns the Eastern Danube garrison forces had been used to augment the multiple field armies which had been sent into Illyria and elsewhere in the Balkans to attack cities of the Western Empire. If the Huns realized they had been given a free-hand to pour across the Danube and ride roughshod over the much of the Eastern Empire and possibly even some of the lands of the Western Empire... Although the Imperator knew his Magister Equitum was a wise and clever man, he was almost certainly right, the Huns would take their time securing their rear areas, subjugating all of their potential rivals, only then would they move against the West.

    Things would have to be finished in Spain, quickly, and then what forces Honorious could muster would march through Macedonia and Greece, claiming them for the Western Empire. Likewise, Egypt was to be taken and added to the territories of the Western Empire. Honorious had even considered the possibility that the Eastern Empire would not see the ridiculous nature of their folly, attacking their cousins and brothers in the West, until soldiers from the West marched on Constantinople herself.
    Last edited by ByzantinePowerGame; March 12, 2011 at 10:23 PM.

  8. #8

    Default Re: Honorius Victorious

    Quote Originally Posted by Flavius Vegetius Renatus View Post
    Very nice and swift campaigning and u seem to be doing well in Gaul but one thing puzzles me. How do u wreck up -200k in debt in just 2 years of game play?


    Four turns per year losing about 22-25k per year. I am almost back to zero as of 416... Give me about 6 more turns and I should be at zero.


    More updates coming soon... I'll be covering Gaul from 410 to 416, the outbreak of hostilities with the East from 413 to 416, North Africa up to 416, and then perhaps a few other things... I should probably cover the destruction of the Alamanni, the near total destruction of the Burgundi, and the virtual destruction of the Ostrogoths... Actually, give me about three more turns and it won't be "near total" or "virtual" it will be absolute.


    I think I'm going to edit my numbers system. 1 Roman soldier in the game/map, East or West, = 3 soldiers in writing (to reflect a smaller number of Romans)... 1 barbarian soldier (Hun, Goth, Vandal, etc) will = 10 soldiers. I will probably treat the other civilized folks (sassanids, etc) the same as the Romans for numbering purposes.
    Last edited by ByzantinePowerGame; March 12, 2011 at 08:00 PM.

  9. #9

    Default Re: Honorius Victorious

    Can't think of anything to say... but this is good.

    Boycott boycotts!'


  10. #10

    Default Re: Honorius Victorious

    Gaul- May (425)

    How had it ever come to this… Almost two decades of uninterrupted war and the carnage and chaos that war brings… Gaul had been left in ruins because of the power-mad usurper who had inspired the legions tasked with defending Gaul to shirk their duty and flock to his banner, necessitating the response that Honorious and his loyal legions had given. The usurper had to be crushed, there was no debating the matter, it was not open to negotiation. The usurper doubtlessly had not expected the loyal general, Constantius Flavius to immediately march on Arelate with his legions, but in the very year of his rebellion, 410, Constantius Flavius, loyal to the Emperor in Ravenna, did just that, he surrounded Arelate and then stormed the city. In his assault of the city he made more than good use of his onager artillery and the skilled artillerymen proved themselves more than capable as they lobbed flaming rock after flaming rock at the traitors manning the walls of the strategically important city that sat along the road that would lead from southern Gaul, through the Alps, and towards Rome herself.






    The usurper’s mistake in underestimating Flavius and his loyalty to Honorious had cost him his life… In the end the usurper’s rebellion had been crushed by the end of 416, a full six years after the life of the usurper had been ended in his rebel capital of Arelate. How ironic it was that his rebellion outlived him, it seemed there was no shortage of generals willing to replace the usurper and take command of an ever shrinking collection of cities spread across Gaul.

    A sum of 5000 denarii was paid to the commander of the Roman artillery unit that had sent the flaming rock soaring over the walls of Arelate so that it was able to crush the usurper and end his miserable life of deceit and betrayal. Honorious clearly knew how to reward loyalty and success.

    Even as the last of the rebel cities were falling in what had proven to be a seven year long struggle to reclaim Gaul, Honorious made sure that his men were not allowed to give in to their desire to wreck havoc against the populace in an effort to gain revenge on the masses for having gone along with the usurper. Certainly several cities had segments of their population enslaved or forcibly relocated to other regions, but no general massacres resulted from the campaign to reclaim Gaul.

    Aetius Flavius and Constantius Flavius, respectively with their Legio Palatinae and Legio Comitatenses, had proven up to the task of bringing the rebel cities back under Roman control, one after the other. While songs were being sung of Roman triumph in Gaul, in the Balkans Generals Sarus and Gaudentius Flavius, commanding two field armies, were, along with the walls of Salona and Sirmium, all that stood between Italy and the menace of Byzantine treachery. Even with no less than five Byzantine field armies marching across the Balkans the situation was far from bleak. The rebellion of the usurper had been crushed once and for all!






    However, the rebellion had opened the way for Alamanni, along with the Burgundi, to pour across the Rhine and bring yet another problem to the beleaguered Western Empire. The Alamanni rampaged across eastern Gaul, terrorizing the communities along the Rhine, for less than two years, from about 414 to 415, before they were destroyed in a series of desperate battles by forces under Generals Aetius Flavius, Constantius Flavius, and Valens. The Burgundi held out for a while longer, only succumbing to the combined might of the best field armies the Western Empire had to offer in the early spring of 417.

    Officially the barbarians had crossed the Rhine and attacked Rome, but the facts such as they were, told a different story. While the barbarians had been at war with Rome they had made little attempt to cross the Rhine and trouble Rome until a large field army under Constantius Flavius crossed into Alemanni territory and razed all of their villages to the ground. It was, in the mind of the Roman general, an entirely justified punitive expedition to show them the folly of even daring to rebuke Roman diplomats and presuming to be able to declare war on Rome. Of course Constantius also had other motives… He calculated that they would cross the Rhine sooner or later and thus it was better to deal with them now while the field armies were in place to deal with them, than wait until Rome’s best field armies were all drawn away dealing with the Huns, the Byzantines, or the Vandals, only to find themselves with no force in place to deal with the barbarians along the Rhine. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, he wanted the glory of being able to say he made Gaul safe by destroying not only the usurper but all of the barbarians who were threatening to pour across the Rhine. It wasn't enough to destroy a vile usurper with a few locally recruited units of limitanei and only a handful of Comitatenses, he wanted to destroy entire barbarian hosts!



    Constantius had come a long way from just a few years earlier when he was rapidly advancing across Gaul in the wake of having led the force that captured Arelate and killed the usuruper, but he still wasn’t done yet. By destroying the usurper he had made his name a household word with most of the elite in Rome, but he intended to see to it that the invocation of his name would induce panic and terror amongst the barbarian enemies of his beloved Rome.





    Ultimately, Valens and Aetius Flavius teamed up to destroy the largest portion of the Alamanni host, utterly routing the barbarians and in the process killing their chieftains. What few Alamanni remained were disorganized, leaderless, and thoroughly demoralized. They scattered back across the Rhine and would need many years before they could hope to have the strength to threaten Rome. The healthy competition and rivalry Honorious had encouraged between his generals, which sometimes resulted in a lack of effective cooperation, had now more than paid for itself. Valens and Aetius had teamed up and destroyed the Alamanni in a series of several battles that had proven to be decisive. Although this now meant that both of them would probably be expecting a triumph…




    While Valens and Aetius were finishing off the Alamanni, the army under Constantius Flavius, fresh from a battle with an assorted collection of Alamanni barbarians, flung themselves headlong into battle with the Burgundi. Constantius scarcely gave his men a moment to rest as he ruthlessly pursued the Burgundi and hunted them down as relentlessly as a cat would with a mouse.

    In the end the Burgundi proved themselves to be incapable of standing up to the might of Rome and they too went the way of the Alamanni who had already been sent to join the usurper in the grave. Honorious couldn’t help but wonder just how many generals he would have expecting a triumph, when the campaigns were finally over, or perhaps if the campaigns were ever over…



    While the threat posed by the Burgundi and the Alamanni was apparently gone there were plenty of barbarians to take their place… The Franks were separated from Gaul by only a single river and there were always the Saxons not too far away who might grow restless. Even if no new barbarian force reared its ugly head, determined to ride roughshod across Gaul, the cities had still been subjected to either brutal sieges or doubly brutal assaults.

    The wretched Byzantines in their treachery had forced Honorious to divert almost all of his field armies to the Balkans to meet the threat brought about by their own Roman cousins marching against the Western Empire from Constantinople. Constantius Flavius and Aetius Flavius were left in Gaul to finish off the Burgundi and mop up against numerous bands of highwaymen and raiders, while the forces directly under Honorious’ command immediately marched back to Italy, intending to sail across the Adriatic and give much needed assistance to the beleaguered city of Salona.
    Last edited by ByzantinePowerGame; May 05, 2011 at 03:48 PM.
    "God is, as man conceives Him, the reflected image of man himself." Albert Pike in Morals and Dogma (33° AASR)


    Ignore list [to save time]-
    Ferrets54, Hanny, Harith, mongrel, Setekh, Gaidin, Bismarck1899, antaeus, empr guy, Enros, IronBrig4, The spartan, the_mango55, Sar1n,

  11. #11

    Default Re: Honorius Victorious

    I've been incredibly busy and I apologize for the delay in the update... Updates to come will deal a bit more with Gaul/barbarians, the scattering of the Ostrogoths, the see-saw campaign in North Africa, resurgent Roman power in Spain, and the campaign in the Balkans.
    "God is, as man conceives Him, the reflected image of man himself." Albert Pike in Morals and Dogma (33° AASR)


    Ignore list [to save time]-
    Ferrets54, Hanny, Harith, mongrel, Setekh, Gaidin, Bismarck1899, antaeus, empr guy, Enros, IronBrig4, The spartan, the_mango55, Sar1n,

  12. #12

    Default Re: Honorius Victorious

    Good job!


  13. #13

    Default Re: Honorius Victorious

    Following.

    +rep.
    "We'll go to the front—and beyond it, if it'll save the galaxy. Sometimes you have to enter the darkness to save the light."

  14. #14

    Default Re: Honorius Victorious

    very good. +rep

    Boycott boycotts!'


Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •