Your sucess in all fronts had inspired me and proud to have an emperor who actually got the ability to hold to all fronts at once and destorying any possibilities of a new civil war, with your campaign and reign so sucessful you might not need my advice for a while........ but i guess all you had to worry about are the beaucracts and politicians in old and new rome itselves it seems roma is quite stable for a while and content politicians the prefect of the city told me that the pagan majority as well as the respective senate of rome is impressed your "religious" policy and wanted to grant you as a deity position as a saviour of paganism..... and will within 10 days pass this proclaimation of your deity position
mean while in new rome or constantinopolis people seemed to have mixed feeling about you due to the christain population within the city its not as enthusiastic to your policies and politicians, beaucracts (espicially the christains ones who was positioned by Constantius II) try to demonize you as a tyrant and other bad names which its all swear words about you i have a plan to rid of these dissidents unless you give me the power of the prefect of constantinopolis and use its garrisons to destory and exile these oppositions as well as the members of the newly established senate of constantinopolis and there were also complants by the people on the lack if pagan temples within the city and ask gracefully to you to provide funds for a new temple for sol invictus.
and btw congratulations from your first year as imperator of roma
your advisor Excitidius Onus....
(the excited one tone)
what your experiment about dude for 10 days????? you can't leave us like this NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
experiment on how to have a nice holiday? i can treat it as a experiment HAHAHAHAHAHAH
enjoy so long they don't make you like a white mice in the cage and make you run in maze after you got some "drugs"
war is peace, ignorance is strength, freedom is slavery......
(george orwell 1984)
I wasn't aware that I compared the two, If you are referring to my reference to Vercingetorix, I mean the one here on the forum, which is always happy when barbarians tear my men to shreds lol
EDIT: Sorry Scutarilegion, my previous response was a bit harsh, I received some bad news and took it out on you, my apologies.
Harsh? What was harsh? I don't find anything harsh in your last post.
If I know anything about AI behaviour, I predict that Franks, Allemanni and Vandals will enter a truce and gang up on your Empire, with the Huns trying to force passage across the Danube together with the Goths. Meanwhile, the Gupta will have crushed the Sassanid Empire, and you'll have Indian elephants stampede through Anatolia. Carthage will fall under the hammerblows of Desert warriors, and Julian will die in a last stand in Constantinople.
Of course, I could be wrong
"Siehst du in des Waldes Grün feindlicher Gewehrmaschin?"
- Peronje
"Der NKWD in Russland, der SD im Deutschland des Dritten Reiches und alle anderen Geheimpolizeiorganisationen ähnlicher Art sind Spielwiesen für Psychopathen, für Usurpatoren illegaler Macht über Millionen.
Dort liegen die Krebsherde der modernen Gesellschaft."
aus "Holt Hartmann vom Himmel" Motorbuch Verlag Spezial 2007
Your sucess in all fronts had inspired me and proud to have an emperor who actually got the ability to hold to all fronts at once and destorying any possibilities of a new civil war, with your campaign and reign so sucessful you might not need my advice for a while........ but i guess all you had to worry about are the beaucracts and politicians in old and new rome itselves it seems roma is quite stable for a while and content politicians the prefect of the city told me that the pagan majority as well as the respective senate of rome is impressed your "religious" policy and wanted to grant you as a deity position as a saviour of paganism..... and will within 10 days pass this proclaimation of your deity position
mean while in new rome or constantinopolis people seemed to have mixed feeling about you due to the christain population within the city its not as enthusiastic to your policies and politicians, beaucracts (espicially the christains ones who was positioned by Constantius II) try to demonize you as a tyrant and other bad names which its all swear words about you i have a plan to rid of these dissidents unless you give me the power of the prefect of constantinopolis and use its garrisons to destory and exile these oppositions as well as the members of the newly established senate of constantinopolis and there were also complants by the people on the lack if pagan temples within the city and ask gracefully to you to provide funds for a new temple for sol invictus.
and btw congratulations from your first year as imperator of roma
your advisor Excitidius Onus....
(the excited one tone)
what your experiment about dude for 10 days????? you can't leave us like this NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
experiment on how to have a nice holiday? i can treat it as a experiment HAHAHAHAHAHAH
enjoy so long they don't make you like a white mice in the cage and make you run in maze after you got some "drugs"
Cheers my good friend. I shall reply to your letter in more detail the next time Julian receives his correspondence.
Originally Posted by scutarilegion
Harsh? What was harsh? I don't find anything harsh in your last post.
I edited it slightly lol...
Originally Posted by Luxchamp
If I know anything about AI behaviour, I predict that Franks, Allemanni and Vandals will enter a truce and gang up on your Empire, with the Huns trying to force passage across the Danube together with the Goths. Meanwhile, the Gupta will have crushed the Sassanid Empire, and you'll have Indian elephants stampede through Anatolia. Carthage will fall under the hammerblows of Desert warriors, and Julian will die in a last stand in Constantinople.
Of course, I could be wrong
Yeah, quite a few of the barbarian factions are already allied. The most annoying alliance is between the Franks and Alemanni, would be really useful if the two went to war. Interestingly, the Quadi and Vandals are enemies, and the Huns just recently declared war on the Quadi... not using toggle_fow means I can't see whats happening, but suffice to say the Huns are probably coming...
Originally Posted by ImperatorCaesar
Darn, come back soon Knonfoda!
Thanks, I will try to get the ball moving again as soon as the experiment is over.
The experiment I will be taking part is for a Charity doing research on the effects of social isolation on elderly people. They have selected a number of people of different age cohorts to take part, and so I am required to stay isolated in a house for seven days, starting from tomorrow till midnight on the 27th, and I cannot contact anyone, through any means whatsoever.
enjoy your stay in your very own room Knonfoda......... i thought your experiment will be like trapped in a cage and let you run in circles or a maze after testing a drug just like white mice AHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHAHHA soooo funny imagine if that happens on humans.......
p.s i know you are here in this thread please reply with your holy words for us to listen to your wisdom........
Last edited by The excited one; June 21, 2011 at 06:25 AM.
Reason: knondofa is online and hes not replying
war is peace, ignorance is strength, freedom is slavery......
(george orwell 1984)
– Embedded Soundtrack 1, play while reading this episode.
Heraclianus was not amused.
- I’m not amused, Odoacer.
- Yes sir, said his Gothic aide in a nonchalant tone.
How Heraclianus, called the ‘horseman’ by his men for his proficiency in commanding cavalry forces, the Comes of Asia, came to be well beyond the fringes of his provincial command and well into neighboring Armenia, was vexing to him. Having failed to finish off the rebellion in Heraclea-Chersonesus due to a poor fleet and an attack by pirates, Julian himself, currently touring his province, sent him off with his large Gothic army to aid Romes one and only ally, the Christian country of Armenia. Word has come to Julian that hordes of a tribe known as the Huns, had fallen through the Georgian mountains from the steppes and were now roaming freely throughout Armenian lands, laying siege to cities, pillaging the countryside, and carrying off anything of value, including the very lands people.
Two things led to Julian sending this army to aid our friends. Firstly, they are our only friends on this earth, and friends must be protected. And secondly, Armenia acts as a buffer zone between Rome, the steppes but more importantly, the Sassanids. Should they fall or be weakened, our very position in Asia and the Oriens might be undermined. Thus, he sent forth Heraclianus the Horseman, to counter this threat and provide aid to our allies where necessary.
And this was how Heraclianus now found himself face to face with a meager contingent of skull binding barbarians, all cavalry, which had retreated in his path after he successfully relieved their siege of the Armenian city of Archaeopolis only a few days before.
- Sir, they are on the move.
- Yes, what manner of bizarre people are these? Taking with them the banner of animal skulls into battle, wearing the heads of their deceased foes on their saddles... not even your own people demonstrate such savagery.
- Yes sir, we have had contact with these people before. We call them the Huns, a savage and fierce people, ever on horseback as you see before you, fond of deceit and skirmishes, avoiding pitched battles.
This particular group was led by a warlord called Ellak, a warlord so fierce, ruthless and savage, the mere mentioning of his name was sufficient to open city gates to him, his army small, yet famed for such monstrosity and prowess in combat that armies chose to hide behind walls rather than face them in open battle. Heraclianus had failed to understand how the Armenian garrison had sat behind their walls for so long rather than engaging this relatively small force. Regardless, he was about to find out firsthand about the legend of Ellak and his men.
- Very well, it matters not, cavalry skirmishers is how I like it best, they don’t call me the horseman for nothing. Men, fall in, sound the advance of the infantry, troopers, with me, screen the left flank!
The infantry advances while our horse archers loose their volleys against the enemy.
They are soon followed by our skirmishers, which take heavy casualties, but harass the enemy horse.
Soon however, our Gothic lancers catch up with their nimble ponies and engage them in melee combat.
Our cataphracts square off face to face with the enemy bodyguard, which is itself a heavily armoured unit.
But Ellak, notwithstanding his fierceness, is speared from behind, unable to defend himself in time. The spear punctures his lungs, and although fatally wounded, he attempts to bark orders to his nearby men to retreat, but finds only blood spurting from his mouth, drawing heavy breath, chocking in his own blood now that it fills his lungs. The man falls unconscious from his horse, and dies soon afterwards.
The enemy are relentlessly pursued and destroyed.
And so our first confrontation with the Huns ends in success, even if they managed to kill quite a large number of our army. It seems Odoacer was right, by choosing to disperse and skirmish, leaving combat to the last moment, their forces whittle ours down before finally engaging, the strategy responsible for so many of our losses.
In the Oriens, Petra leads the Ghassanid rebellion, being the first city to engage in all out open rebellion.
Local authorities are quick to suppress this rebellion, but the city seems poised to remain a thorn in the flesh of the empire.
Even as the rebellion’s leaders, all thirty of them, are put to death, the city continues in a state of unrest and violence, making us wonder whether they are worth the effort to subdue, perhaps until we have a stronger garrison and able governor to take care of things?
Elsewhere in the empire, taking the chance we have accumulated some money from our recent sacking of certain Pictish and Alemanni settlements, we proceed, under the advice of the trusted Theus Excitidius Onus, to build temples in the Empire’s most important provinces:
Temples to a variety of Gods, reflecting the empire’s multiple faiths, including restoring the Temple of Isis outside of Thebai noticed by Aurelianus a couple of months ago. Restored to its former glory, devout worshipers now flock to the city’s outskirts to pray to their ancient God.
And in military matters, training continues, the Legio Tertia Alpina finally being sent to its native province to be retrained and brought back to strength.
Sadly, Lutetia seems intent on revolt, its citizens eschewing the orders of its governor, its magistrates and good Roman law, preferring instead to run amok and causes chaos and devastation.
The Franks seem to have completely abandoned their province on this side of the Rhine, leaving their city of Colonia-Agrippina virtually undefended. There are those in the Gallic and Germanic military circles that whisper now is a perfect time for attack, but Marjorianus restrains these voices, reiterating he has direct orders from Augustus himself to not betray our Frankish allies.
In Caledonia, our armies, having levelled Dal Riada to the ground, march south back to the safety of the Vallum Aelium.
And in Ephesus, a planned meeting between Augustus Julian himself and one of his subordinates, Arbitio, goes awry, as a contingent of Legio I Vindices, Arbitios own bodyguard, mutiny in the face of his harsh style of command, these soldiers being unaccustomed to traditional Roman discipline.
Thankfully, Julian arrives just in time to rescue Arbitio, who had hidden in a nearby cave. Julian attempts to parley with the soldiers, but their arrogance and impudence proves insurmountable, even to his reasoned and tempered arguments. Shamed by the sight of such a disgraceful band of soldiers, Julian lets his bodyguard loose on them, which quickly tears them to shreds.
This minor incident over, Augustus is free to continue with the meeting, the aim of which was to have Arbitio and Julian’s very close friend and physician, Oribasius, rendezvous and set sail for Aegyptus, where they will meet Aurelianus, and march to Ammonium, where Oribasius has important business to discuss with its resident Oracle of Siwa on behalf of the emperor.
Julian, meanwhile, continues to make his way east and tour the cities of the rich provinces of Asia.
And in Germania superior, the newly retrained and re-equipped Auxilia Palatinae Brachiati and Cornuti contingents march north to their new commander, Sigisvultus Flavius, which sends them north to encamp by a nearby Legion. Strength in numbers, especially now that we hear the entire Alemanni folk are in flight.
– Embedded Soundtrack 2, play while reading this episode.
While in Panonia, the Quadi once again besiege the fort of Vindobona on our side of the Danube. Aetius Flavius, the bringer of rain and scourge of the Quadi, assembles his field army and marches forth to confront them once again.
The Quadi abandon their siege of the fort and fall back to their side of the river, but Aetius pursues, his orders to utterly destroy any barbarian force that dares enter Roman territory. The enemy army is nothing new to Aetius, accustomed to fighting these savages for over a year now. Golden Bands, berserkers, Alan lancers, Sarmatian archers, they must all die.
And so battle begins on the north side of the Danube. The enemy, rather than crossing to face us, had fallen back to a nearby hill, the site of a previous bitter battle and the resting place of a Quadi warlord, slain as Aetius army emerged victorious. He hopes to emulate that victory again today.
Strangely, the enemy army have adopted the same formation as before, concentrating their infantry and archers on the hill, while presenting a long column of cavalry jutting outward towards our forces, with their leader at the very forefront.
This is a formation that is asking to be flanked, as so we order our entire infantry line forward to destroy their leader, while our cavalry will flank them from the left and fall upon them as our infantry advance.
Our cavalry prepare themselves.
Men! Forward! Kill them all!
As predicted, the enemy bodyguard is surrounded by our larger advancing line and have their retreat cut off, while the rest of our line positions itself on the flanks to prevent reinforcements.
Meanwhile, our cavalry wheel about to fall on the enemy from behind.
The skirmishers are in first, being lighter and more agile, and it is not long before the enemy horse flee before us!
Time to move on towards the enemy lancers, make them all break!
But despite the viciousness of our charges, they refuse to break, being covered by their archers on the hill top, of which we are now in range and providing excellent targets for.
We order our reserve, the cataphracts and our general’s bodyguard to charge, hopefully their numbers and mass will make the enemy lancers break!
They refuse to break, the enemy general dodges death at every blow, somehow surviving despite being surrounded from all sides and cut to pieces, and now, the enemy commit their fresh berserkers into the cavalry fight.
We are forced to withdraw, to stay and fight against these beasts has already cost us the life of a general, we do not wish to lose young and talented Aetius too.
Unexpectedly, they pursue us all the way to the woods though, this is not a simple scaring off our cavalry but a full scale attack on our already engage line! If the enemy general does not die soon our line will be charged from behind by a full force of berserkers!
Our troopers warn the infantry of the impending attack and to hasten and kill the enemy general, but to no avail, he cannot be found and his bodyguard fight ferociously.
These immortal bastards charge both the flank of our force, thus preventing any use of the reserve force, and the back of our main line simultaneously! We are in deep waters now as our infantry are exhausted and still attempting to kill the enemy general!
They fill the woods with their deafening war cries as they fall like wolves on our men!
We attempt to reform our cavalry to tackle one of these threats. If we cannot kill them the battle is over for us.
Our men finally find chieftain Suomar and quickly put him to death, a spatha slashing its way clean across his throat. The man collapses to the ground gurgling incoherently as life escapes him.
But life is quickly escaping from dozens and dozens of our own men, as these monsters carve their way through us!
Rain falls from the heaven and batters our already heavy shoulders, the smell of blood and mud fresh in the air.
We order our archers to try and whittle them down...
And repeatedly charge at them with our horsemen, which are quickly dwindling in number.
Our main line has been reduced to more than half strength, and it is fighting only one band of men!
Reinforcements from the nearby fort of Vindobona arrive to aid us in battle, but we fear it may be much too late.
The enemy cavalry, sensing that the moment is right, outflanks us, and waits on the nearby hill.
Having completely cut off our escape, it is now that Aetius realises, far too late he sees, that he has been had and led into a trap. The enemy general acted as bait, the cavalry column to entice our cavalry, to tire us out and force us to fight... the moment we got bogged down they sent their berserker dogs to fall upon us... but still, there is something missing, where is the rest of their infantry?!
Without realising it, we have been totally surrounded by the river, the advancing infantry, and the surrounding cavalry. This is it Aetius thinks, time to die with honour, time to fight to the last!
- Comrades, today we die as brothers fighting a hated enemy! Fight to the last, show them what we are made of! For Mercurius!
Whether through the successful application of force against a small area of the besieging enemy, or through divine intervention, Aetius and a handful of his men managed to break free from the encirclement.
While today may have been a good day to die, and indeed was for much of Aetius’ army, it appears the Gods have plans for him, and so he lives to fight another day.
Defeat is bitter to Aetius, first time defeated, he knows not how to handle it. His men are now mostly dead. How will he face the remainder? The Restitutor Gloriam Legiones is now reduced to the likes of Terentilius he feels, the very man whose honour and glory he himself had rescued only months ago. However, if he is to prevail, he must carry on. He reminds himself even the great Julius Caesar himself lost at Dyrachium, and that from defeat victory springs anew! We will recover, we will fight again, and we will WIN!
On the positive side of things, the benefit of leading a mostly auxiliary and limitanei field army is that there is no legionary standard to lose, and as such Aetius has not been disgraced in the manner Terentilius had been. Furthermore, the bulk of the Tertia Alpina, Joviania and Herculiani legions remained in the city to be retrained, and so escaped the slaughter. Aetius ponders how he can use them to redeem himself. Afterall, they owe him a debt. He restored their glory, and now they can serve as the instrument of his own redemption.
But these are thoughts of the future... in the present, a large and formidable army once again lays siege to Vindobona, and now with no army present to contain them, the Panonian officials and military leaders will have to think long and hard about how to contain this enemy, and worse still, how best to inform the emperor of the loss of another army to the same hated enemy...
Last edited by Knonfoda; December 23, 2015 at 10:52 AM.
I'm a bit late on the boat with his AAR, but it is truly amazing how you pulled yourself out of debt like that...
Thanks! I'm not entirely sure what my financial situation is actually, the financial screen shows always a predicted -25 thousand or so, but when the turn passes I either lose 1000 or sometimes make about 900, its a bit confusing.
Originally Posted by The excited one
enjoy your stay in your very own room Knonfoda......... i thought your experiment will be like trapped in a cage and let you run in circles or a maze after testing a drug just like white mice AHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHAHHA soooo funny imagine if that happens on humans.......
p.s i know you are here in this thread please reply with your holy words for us to listen to your wisdom........
No, not quite that dramatic. Was an interesting experience, played the Witcher for almost an entire week. And the reason I am on the forum is because I am logged on two computers, which are logged on to this forum, it doesn't mean I was actually there. Even then, I could have been here, but would not be able to reply to anyone as part of the experiment.
Originally Posted by AirAssault7
This is a great AAR. Here's to 10 more pages and beyond! Plus Rep+.
Cheers! And here's to me delivering those ten pages!
Originally Posted by joker8765
Just started reading this and have to say you've done a great job so far. Keep it up
Thanks! Looking forward to see how the situation develops.
I have to send you a small message that i will be absent for a short while because i got an invitation from the Platonic Academy from Athenae for philosophical discussion of the diffrences between polytheism and monotheism which there will be some representatives from the church therefore i will make leave from Constantinopolis and will return within a week.
I know you can handle the empire really well without my advice at this moment and i m sorry for your losses against the Quadi recently..... but rome will always prevail in the end.....
Excitus Onus
war is peace, ignorance is strength, freedom is slavery......
(george orwell 1984)
– Embedded soundtrack, play while reading this episode.
Elsewhere in the empire, business continues as usual:
Aurelianus Domitianus, the Vicarius Galliae, appears to be leading his city into open revolt with his unpopular policies and increased taxation. Lutetia is an important and developed city in this part of the empire, it would be ‘unfortunate’ if it were to rebel.
Meanwhile, our emissaries make contact with a Hun army deep in the steppes, obtaining some information on one of their bodyguard retinue.
While in Gaul, our mainly Frankish army is sent to combat some rebels that have sprung up by the road, led by Cassius Senesio, a former centurio of the Legio VI Gratienses Seniores and employing some of his former comrades. The days of glory of these men are truly and well over it seems.
There is nothing remarkable about the battlefield or the battle, except this ruined temple which once again illustrates the sorry state of Roman religion in this day and age. Once more money becomes available, we will look after these decrepit ruins.
Victory is of course, ours.
In Carnutum, we retrain what units we can that survived the previous debacle with the Quadi.
While in Moesia, our army prepares itself to engage a tribe of rebellious Goths, once again. It would seem they are not settling as well as we would have wished, no doubt due to high taxation, poor farmland and mistreatment by both the local populace and government officials. Sadly, this group is led by a Roman himself, Attalus Antonius.
We kill them all, grievances are to be addressed and redressed through the emperor, not through rebellion, that is unacceptable. That is why you die.
In Hispania, we destroy some renegade legionaries, which has the added effect of relieving our man there, Servius Elagabalus, of his former reputation as something as a coward.
In Pannonia, we order the reformed elements of the Herculi and Joviani legions north towards Aquincum, where they will no doubt form part of Aetius’ new army to relieve the siege of Vindobona, hopefully for good this time.
Our finances seem to be in a state of freefall, with an estimated 20,000 denarii shortfall. With little left to do, we make our preparations as best as they can be made for the coming months...
And in Germania Inferior, we are immediately attacked by a horde of Alemanni tribesmen, hoping to regain their former lands, which they are now disposed of.
Led by Adsgandestrius, the army is mostly composed of former peasants, farmers, and townsfolk not a proper army, now that they have no home. They also possess little in the way of cavalry, which should give us a decisive advantage.
Marjorianus Cassianus, leading elements of the Constantia Victrix Legion and a number of contingents from the Auxilia Palatina Mattiaci and Leones, prepares himself for the battle. Joining him will be the untested Sigisvultus Flavius, leading the Auxilia Palatina Cornuti and Brachiati field army.
We meet the enemy army by a plain, thousands of them, preparing to dash themselves against our shields and hoping to reclaim their lost lands.
We try to position ourselves so that a rocky plain can serve as a barrier on our left flank. With our left flank theoretically secure, Marjorianus order his cavalry massed on the right flank.
The enemy send their skirmishers to harass our approach.
But rather than harass us, it appears their intent was to judge our battle plans, and having successfully gathered our objective, relay instructions to the main army, which now advances at full speed towards the rocky outcrop, aiming to deny us of our flanking obstacle.
Our men are ordered to fall short of their objective, and reform into a line.
Meanwhile, our superior cavalry sweeps the enemy horse from the field.
Our lines formed, the enemy decide to charge against us.
Our skirmishers greet them with pointy death as we unleash our volley of veruta and plumbatae, axes and lancea, sagitto and other amusements upon them.
With our cavalry free and circling around the enemy, all we need to now is charge, the momentum of their own advance blunted by our spears and arrows.
Our lines begin their deadly and unstoppable march forwards.
And our cavalry crash in on their left flank, simultaneous with our infantry advance, any thought of fighting now far from the enemies mind as they put thoughts to flight instead.
The charge was a tremendous success, carrying all before it, the enemy no longer fit to fight.
And where resistance forms amidst the more seasoned, experienced and armoured opponents, there too it is broken through swift and relentless charges of cataphracti units.
Adgandestrius, so close to fleeing, is pursued mercilessly by our eager cavalry, which are quick to surround the enemy warlord. The warlord cries out in defiance in his own native language at our men, before slitting his own throat with a hunting knife. It matters not how he dies, so long AS he dies.
And victory is ours. Their attempt at regaining their lands failed, we wait to see what impact this will have wherever they may be in Germania.
The outcome could not have been better. It would seem their latest defeat at the hands of our Roman forces has completely broken down the Alemanni confederacy, with their forces literally scattering towards the four corners of the world, a large band heading north-west into Frankish lands, some north into the lands of the Saxons, and the rest east, into the thick forests of dark Germania. May they trouble their neighbors as they have troubled us, perhaps they will even attack the Franks now?
While in Africa, our advance force makes contact with a Berber army, and is routed by them. They have done their task well.
The coming of summer brings with it many interesting developments:
The first seems to be that we have managed to make just over 5000 denarii, a decent sum of money considering it was predicted we would lose about 20,000 denarii. What, I reckon, has led us to accumulate such an amount of wealth?
We also respectfully decline this man’s offer to marry into a governing family, as he is firstly a Christian, and secondly infertile.
It would seem there has been some unrest in the empire, the most shocking of which was in Aureliai, where the governor, Theodosius Flavius, was apparently killed as the attempted to calm the mob.
In hindsight it would seem this was the man we lost in Aurelia, Theodosius Flavius, and entirely unremarkable man, a Christian, with a certain Hillary of Poitiers in his entourage, who was *sadly* also killed when his master was ambushed. Their murderes may be mobbish scum, but they seem to be our type of mobbish scum.
And in Germania, what the enemy does not manage with soldiers he attempts through sabotage and subterfuge, as the Vandals send assassins and spies to do their bidding there. We would usually take care of this with our own agents in rebus, were the latest batch not so useless as to get themselves killed.
Our emissaries locate a Gothic town, and sign a trade agreement with these Goths on the other side of the Danube, hopefully the increased trade and prosperity will keep them from attacking us in the future.
While on the Steppes, another emissary locates a large Hunnic army. It would seem they control most tribes on the steppes, including the fierce Alani. It appears the stories we hear of them are true, they are indeed ferocious and merciless foes. May we meet them in battle long from now.
In Belgica I, a large Frankish army has appeared from nowhere next to Augusta-Treverorum. With three fully equipped imperial armies nearby, their presence presents an insignificant threat to us should they chose to attack us.
While in Panonia, the Quadi preparations for their siege of Vindobona goes at full speed ahead. We must relieve them soon if we are to maintain the fort and control this vital river crossing point.
The city of Lutetia, under the ignorant leadership of Aurelianus Domitianus, has openly rebelled against the authority of the Emperor. Our governor, the Vicarius Galliae, and his entire garrison, have defected to the rebel side. Nevitta, halfway across the empire, and appointed by the emperor himself as his second man and the one responsible for dealing with the civil war, through whatever means possible, on hearing of the news, simply orders the local loyal bureaucracy to deal with these insolent scum as they see fit. He himself has bigger problems, as the Christeo-Ghassanid rebellion has erupted into all out conflict:
In the Oriens, we discover just why we have made a profit in the past two months. We shall play a classic game of spot the difference. Can you spot it?
What about now? EDIT: Sorry, if you didn't spot the difference, this is not your fault, I uploaded the same picture twice. Basically, the former picture showed that army ion the previous turn, as belonging to me. The turn passed, and it rebelled, now belonging to the rebels. I deleted all the screenshots I took after uploading this too. My bad.
It would appear that the entire army, composed mostly of Ghassanid auxiliaries, elements of the Legio Tertia Cyrenaica and local bureaucrats, has rebelled and joined the opposite side in the civil war! An entire field army, with the presence of three senior officials, has joined the Christeo-Ghassanid rebellion! Publius Attanius, the Vicarius Orientum, Marcellus Attianus, and the Praeses Phoenicia Libani, Viderichus, have rebelled against the emperor! No doubt, men of dubious loyalty already, have been spurred on by their religious tendencies, only one of which was a pagan, and have decided to side with the Ghassanids, perhaps in the hope of forging an empire in the mold of the Palmyrene Empire, nearly a hundred years before!
And so, for the first time in the ongoing civil war, fresh impetus has been delivered to the almost extinguished rebellion, as the Ghassanid Christian tribes, a major auxiliary source for the empire, rebels and joins with the ongoing insurrection. With large cities such as Damascus and Bostra siding with the rebels, and a large field army defecting, they now have at their disposal a proper trained and hardened army to fight with, where before stood only peasants, slaves, conscripts and small contingents of armed men:
And so it would seem that Nevitta, loyal right hand of emperor Julian himself, would have his own hands full for the coming months; a large rebel army behind him, and the well defended cities of Damascus and Bostra in front of him. With little options left, he addresses his men before the inevitable battle...
Last edited by Knonfoda; December 23, 2015 at 10:56 AM.
It seems that the Quadi aren't as thick as it looks. Cunning bastards...
Perhaps holding Petra would become easier, if the town would be developed a bit.
I know, every time I think I have the upper hand with these savages they destroy a major army of mine. At least I have the money to retrain them now, as before that was not the case.
Originally Posted by Vercingetorix King of Gauls
Welcome back, Knonfoda
Excellent update, but that defeat was surely painful...
Good luck, looking forward to see more updates
Yes it was, but like the Phoenix, we shall rise from the ashes and destroy the hated enemy!
Originally Posted by The excited one
Imperator Knonfoda....
I have to send you a small message that i will be absent for a short while because i got an invitation from the Platonic Academy from Athenae for philosophical discussion of the diffrences between polytheism and monotheism which there will be some representatives from the church therefore i will make leave from Constantinopolis and will return within a week.
I know you can handle the empire really well without my advice at this moment and i m sorry for your losses against the Quadi recently..... but rome will always prevail in the end.....
Excitus Onus
Interesting, keep me posted on your theological progress. And if you pass by Corinth tell them I am sorry.
– Embedded Soundtrack, play while reading this episode.
- Perhaps you are all wondering why we are gathered here, on this field, facing that enemy, when my orders were to advance and capture the rebel cities of Damascus and Bostra. That was the plan, and my esteemed colleague Publius Attianus was supposed to provide support. But my esteemed colleague found it more prudent to side with the enemy instead! And so, caught between the city and my former friend, we are here, to deal with him, before we may advance into the city. So men, prepare yourselves, you are true Romans to a man, trained murderers, whereas Publius has only Ghassanids and traitors for his cause! Show me your true worth, and if not for me, then for the Emperor himself, who shall be joining us in a few weeks time, and will be most pleased to see his army!
Having briefed his colleagues, Nevitta’s plan was relatively simple. Form a static line, hold it, let the enemy approach, bombard them with arrows and our artillery, and target their renegade officers. Our lack of cavalry means this plan is probably the best, as we would be unable to compete against the numerically superior enemy horse.
The renegade Romans oblige us and advance with their generals.
We loose our naphtha and oil pots, killing a large number of their horse, immediately routing one of their units.
The enemy line halts, as if undecided as to whether to advance or retreat.
Their indecisiveness gives us all the time necessary to bombard both their bodyguard and their veteranii units.
We grow weary of their cowardice and bring the fight to them.
While our small cavalry force wheels about to destroy them from the flanks.
Publius Attianus, cowardly general that he is, decides to make a break for it and flee for his life.
The right flank of the enemy begins to break amid the unrelenting pressure our trained men put on it.
They have come to fight, it is true, but they will only stay for the DYING BURNING DEATH WE WILL GIVE THEM! The accompanying enemy general is immersed in flaming oil as he stands observing the battlefield.
And this is exactly the fate that befalls Publius as he attempts to retreat. He never even sees the instrument of his own death as a flaming pot hits his back, exploding in fiery glory, engulfing him and his mount in a cacophony of animal screams and wails as both die a flaming death.
It is not long before the enemy breaks, the familiar pursuit takes place, and hundreds die. Victory is ours, even if casualties are a little bit higher than desired.
With no enemy army behind him, Nevitta is now free to besiege Damascus, the capital of this Christeo-Ghassanid rebellion.
Hoping the catch the city’s defender unprepared or tired through lack of sleep, Nevitta besieges the city at night.
After rendering their gateway useless and bringing down two portions of their wall, we order an advance into the city.
We order our archers forward to provide covering fire...
It is not long before our forces are in through the breach and into the city.
Fighting in this portion of the wall is fierce. Despite being composed only of conscripts, the enemy put up a stout resistance. Our men find themselves surrounded on all three sides, but carry on fighting through their discipline and valour.
The arrows overheard landing into the exposed enemy also helps of course...
And it is exactly this that wins the day, as a projectile fired from a manubalista swiftly lodges itself into Marcellus Attianus’ face, killing him instantly.
However, one enemy general in particular deserves mention, as his braveness and commitment to his cause knows no bounds. He fights on, despite the loss of most of his bodyguard, single handedly keeping our men at bay in this small breach, filling them with fear as he swings his spatha at them, the tired men unused to seeing such courage among the enemy.
But even as Hercules himself was slain, so too must Orestes Laco, finding his doom at the end of a spearpoint, thrust into the sides of his neck as he struggled to regain control of his wounded mount. Blood spurts, the man cries in pain, but it is all in vain, his artery has been irreparably damaged. He dies what would be an honourable death, had he only chosen the right side.
Our men advance into the city, killing any in their path.
The remaining enemy leader is found, hiding in a house, which is set ablaze. And so it comes to pass that Viderichus meets his death through the flames he so cunningly eluded in the battle the previous day. To some, there is no running away from destiny.
The city is captured, with light casualties.
Nevitta puts this wretched city of Greeks, Syrians, Arabs but most importantly, Christians, to the sword, slaughtering a large part of its population, his men taking whatever liberties they desire with the women, throwing the children from the ramparts, torturing the men... no longer will Damascus be known as a city of the Christians and the Ghassanids.
Not wishing to waste any time, Nevitta proceeds to Bostra, the last remaining city of the Christeo-Ghassanid rebellion.
There he confronts Andragathius Sutorius, last remaining leader of the rebellion.
The siege of the city and the death of the enemy leader as entirely unremarkable. (In truth, the battle crashed twice, just as I was about to storm the square, both times at the same point, so I decided to go for an auto-resolve)
And so came to an end the Christeo-Ghassanid rebellion. None could believe the speed with which Nevitta had destroyed their one army, and besieged their two cities. In less than two months, Nevitta and his army had ransacked both Damascus and Bostra, slaughtering their inhabitants, pillaging its riches, persecuting Christians... he would repair the damage done, but the cities would never be the same again... no longer Christian, pagan temples and shrines rebuilt, peoples transplanted from far and wide to resettle it... but it was what was to come next that would give Nevitta his dreaded cognomen of ‘the pagan hammer’, for his role not only in putting down the rebellions, and destroying Christian peoples and temples, but the brutality and ruthlessness, some say the joy, with which he carried out his mandate,
By order of Nevitta, rightful Caesar, heir to Julian and the empire, all Ghassanid auxiliaries and foederati serving in the armies of the empire are hereby declared traitors, and it is every mans citizen and duty to cause them the utmost harm. Failure to do so will be considered collusion with Rome’s enemies, and treatment as such. Long live Julian!
And so, in all the great cities of the Oriens, Antiocheia, Aelia-Capitolina, Edessa, Calinicium, Palmyrene, Tyrhus and Caesaria, the Ghassanid people were persecuted and massacred. Many cities, deprived of a large part of their garrison, threatened revolt, but as stories reached them of the fate of Damascus and Bostra, these thoughts gave way. Nevitta’s onslaught against the Ghassanid people was so complete no longer could one find a Ghassanid unit in the armies of the empire, the Oriens rid of these Christian Arab people.
Discontent however, was still high, and the people of the Oriens looked at the heavens, clamouring for the arrival of their emperor, which would surely rid them of this scourge, the Pagan Hammer? Little did they know off course, that Julian welcomed the news of events passed in the Oriens. In the name of unity, and under the cover of putting down a rebellion, Nevitta has indeed succeeded in fulfilling his mandate, destroying both the rebels and the Christians. For what Julian cannot achieve politically and diplomatically, replacing bishops with those more likely to cause unrest within the Christian establishment, fomenting division and uncertainty, Nevitta more than accomplishes through the sword, exacting his revenge, yet keeping the emperor far and distant in the eyes of his subjects towards such mindless violence and persecutions... little did they know this was not a Pagan Hammer... it was Julian's Hammer!
Last edited by Knonfoda; April 04, 2013 at 04:23 PM.
Episode XXXIIII - Part II: A Storm Looms Over the East...
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
- Embedded Soundtrack - Play while reading this episode.
Please note, that this part of the episode is chronologically *before* part I, but was added here after because doing otherwise would have upset the momentum and cliffhanger ending of episode XXXIII. It makes very little difference practically, it would only be noticeable by looking at how much money I have, which was made by before/after the sacking of certain cities. So if you are wondering why I am not rich right now, that is why.
Meanwhile, in Caledonia, our emissary forces peace on the Pictish tribes, the Caledonii and the Votadini submitting to us once more, engaging in trade, being peaceful, in return of the ruin that is now Dal Riada.
In other parts of the empire, in Germania, one of our emissaries spots the Alemanni people, migrating in their thousands deeper into Germania. Good riddance.
In Hispania, rebel Gadis once more comes under attack from our army.
Bacurius Verus, the enemy leader, could have made a good roman, but he lacks the vital quality of loyalty, and sadly, must pay for it.
And the price he pays is high. He dies a dog's death as he is cornered in an alley and ruthlessly butchered by our men, tired of going from village to village and town to town, putting down ungrateful rebels and murderous traitors.
Tingis is next on the list, where Tertius Barbatus, a Ghassanid Christian, has unsurprisingly assumed power and made himself Dux Limites Mauretaniae Caesariensis. He will also pay for this affront.
In the Mare Nostrum, Obibasius and Abitio make it safely to the ports of Alexandria, where they will rendezvous with Aurelianus before marching to Ammonium.
With the revolt of Lutetia, we now have a major enemy city right at our backs with the German limes. This cannot be allowed to stand. The sudden influx of money could not have come at a better time either.
Remember those onager mercenaries that put themselves on the market not too long ago? Well, why waste our money training new troops, bringing them from far away, when we can recruit the local mercenaries here, already trained, instead? We re-enlist these soldiers as evocati, now attached to the field army of Ustius Hortensius.
Which, as the Magister Peditum et Equitum Galliam, wastes no time in laying siege to the city. As such as prominent man, he also boasts an especially prominent retinue of bodyguard units, the dreaded Scholae Gentilium Palatinae.
Aurelius Domitianus, traitor to the people of Rome, your time is now upon you. Your feeble army will not withstand the might of our legions and auxilia palatinae!
Being the first time we assault such an impressively walled city, we are most certainly cautious. However, it is not long before we identify a weak spot in the defences that would allow our advance under the fire of only one tower.
With have only enough boulders to assault this single wall, but one breach will suffice.
- Men! Through the breach, put these dogs to the sword! Take what you will!
Our assault is relatively bloodless and unopposed until the unit of enemy sagitarii decide to shoot at our men below, causing grievous casualties.
Our men, under the able leadership of their centurios, quickly find cover by the tower, capturing it and bringing the fight to the enemy on the walls!
While our own archers prepare to return the favour to the enemy...
Aurelius, disloyal as he is stupid, thinks he can impede our progress on the streets by putting a show of force with his men. Our men correct him at the point of a spear.
Resistance on the walls literally dies away...
While our horsemen prepare to surround the enemy general, which has incredulously managed to keep our forces at bay for far too long.
But it is not long before Aurelianus is himself incredulous at the prospect of bleeding to death as a spear find its way home deep into the man’s guts. He attempts a valiant retreat, spear still in body, but it is not long before his strength ebbs away and he collapses among his retreating and now leaderless comrades.
After clearing the square, the battle is won. Casualties are much higher than anticipated, in part because of the single entry point and the obstinate persistence of the enemy bodyguard to die.
It is sad, but the city must be taught a lesson. The men are put to the sword, the women enslaved, the ringleaders crucified.
A shrine of mars is built in the city to celebrate Ustus Hortentius’ ‘liberation’.
With our coffers as full as they have been in many many months, Julian orders an empire wide restoration of pagan temples and the building and erection of many new ones to please the Gods and help stifle the religious conflict rife within the empire. In all corners of our vast empire, temples are built:
And so it was that in all the provinces, by order of the divine Julian himself, temples were erected in the honour of the old gods. Paganism will flourish anew!
In Gaul, we attempt to find a suitable replacement for the recently deceased Aurelianus, and find one, but without a garrison, it will be difficult to impose order in this restless city.
And in Africa, our emissary locates the Berber tribe’s stronghold.
Our men advance at full speed towards it, meeting some token resistance along the way....
Zimrida thinks himself a match for Zeno Vettius and his auxiliary army. We think him a match for the coffin we will bury him in, in his native Christian tradition.
The enemy, being on a hill, and mostly skirmisher in composition, would surely bombard us if we attempt a direct assault. Instead, we shall flank them.
Zimrida must really be feeling lucky today. He attacks our entire cavalry force head on!
But, being surrounded, it is not long before he realises his mistake, the point being driven home especially hard as a spatha buries itself deep within his head. His death is instantaneous.
Our cavalry prove especially adept at driving the enemy horse from the field, and they all rout before us.
The infantry soon follows, but are harassed and cut down by our alae.
Or impersonally skewered by our lancea.
Such is the fate of those who dare oppose the march of the Roman empire.
But even stragglers must be made to pay also.
Knowing the location of one of the strongholds, it will not be long before we fall on them with the might of our armies and bring these petulant people to the heel!
Our emperor continues his march towards the Oriens, and rebel armies continue to oppose his march.
In Aureliai, we rebuild destroyed temples and the seat of government, hoping perhaps this will keep unrest at bay.
While in the Oriens, Nevitta retrains his men, receiving word an even greater threat than the one he has put down has just arrived on our borders.
- Nevita brings word, prepare the men. By dawn, we march East...
Last edited by Knonfoda; April 04, 2013 at 04:54 PM.
Re: [IB:SAI AAR] Julian, the savior of Rome?
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Originally Posted by Knonfoda
