You final assignment is to write up a full chapter of an AAR. The text should be between 500 and 1,000 words, including a battle description. We would like to see at least 5 but no more than 10 pictures. Some of the pictures (but not all of them) should be battle pictures.
If you are not planning to work on a Total War AAR, please PM us to tweak the assignment.
Unlike in the previous assignments, you need to post your chapter in this thread, in a spoiler.
Since this is a larger piece, we do not specify a deadline. If you could do this within the next two weeks or so, that would be great.
Ok, to be clear, you don't have to start an AAR for this assignment. You need to come up with a background story, develop some context and characters, have a battle scene and you're there. The only thing you may need to do (apart from the writing) is to run a custom battle in any TW game. We'd prefer if you used in-game pics (because that is what we talked about in the course), but you can add 1-2 borrowed pics too if that helps the storytelling (but don't rely only on those).
Last edited by Radzeer; December 21, 2012 at 06:40 PM.
Reason: silly typo
I seriously am too fast for my own good. So fast that I forgot what was said in the OP, and submitted the assignment in a PM, when I should have done that to the thread.
Well it shouldn't be too late to correct that mistake, right?
It is the 23rd year of the Ptolemies-Seleucid War. Crown Prince Ptolemy Epiphanes, son of Pharaoh Ptolemy IV Philopator, leads an army against one of the last bastions of Seleucid dominance in the the near east of Mesopotamia. The unproven son, and new commander of Ptolemaic forces, has not earned the respect of the Seleucids, and is not taken serious upon a national stage yet. He aims to bolster his standing and reputation, by any means necessary...
Battle Begins
In a bold act, Ptolemy has the heads of the Seleucid commanders, along with that of Menippu, severed, and sent to Babylon, speared to the Gates of Babylon as a warning to wouldbe aggressors and deniers of Ptolemaic superiority.
Last edited by Dance the older; December 31, 2012 at 05:55 PM.
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Re: Final assignment
Lol, I had started a Faustian Reich AAR, but did not write it and after a week abandoned all hope of doing it. Looks like I have a use for those pictures after all
Hmm, this being my first AAR chapter ever, I now understand the troubles AARtists have with screenshots and formatting .
COYS! - Chapter
“Hello, and here we are from Buck Shaw Stadium in sunny California, United States. Today we’ll witness an interesting friendly clash between San Jose Earthquakes and Tottenham Hotspurs. Refereed by Marcel Yonan, we’re in for an exciting fixture here today.” The broadcasting rang through the dressing-room and reached the ears of Jonas Farrell. It wasn’t his first match as manager for Spurs. By no means, he had coached them for the last three preseason games. This time, however, he had decided to bring the big guns. The big guns being the best players. Gareth Bale, Jermain Defoe, Hugo Lloris, Mousa Dembele, Jan Vertonghen to name a few. Now Jonas stood in the middle of the room, swallowing spittle more often than he thought he ought to. It should be them waiting to impress me, not the other way around, he thought to himself. “The lineups are quite regular, Manager Farrell has brought with him the heavy wages as well this time, new player Willian starts and youngster Lewis Holtby sits on the bench.”
Steffen Freund had told him what to say. “Be encouraging, not too much though. You’re the boss, you decide. It’ll go great, trust me.” So Jonas Farrell said some words, smiled, joked, was serious, yelled. That didn’t go so bad, he thought as he saw their backs marching onto the field.
Finally the ref blew the whistle, and the game was off. Sandro moved forwards with the ball, passing to Bale who raced down the flank right past Jonas before being tackled by a San Jose fullback. The game went on, Tottenham were controlling the game, launching attacks at goal, though the goalkeeper denied them every time.
Half time had just passed as Jonas Farrell check his clock for the tenth time. Spurs had been pressing hard, though the liberating goal was still evading them. San Jose gained the ball on their own half, lifting the ball quickly forwards, developing an attack. Suddenly, the midfielder fired off a shot, passing behind Hugo Lloris, but thankfully deflected off the post. Still in play, however, the ball bounced back into the field and one of the San Jose stood ready. Oh bollocks, Jonas thought as he watched the ball roll into the net, to the great joy of the home-team and their supporters. Behind him, one of the coaches loudly declared what he had just thought.
Half time came all too soon. At least in Jonas’ mind. They were behind. It would certainly be a catastrophe should they lose to San Jose Earthquakes, not even the best team in the States, or the media would make it look like a disaster, to be sure. Jonas looked at the players, he had to do something. “Listen,” he began, gaining their attention. “I know this is just a preseason match, you know it too, the world knows it. The matches don’t count; no points, no goals, and no table. Still, when we win this game, we’ll remember it when we face Arsenal, Chelsea and United this autumn. We’ll remember the practice and the good feeling every victory brings. We are going to win this game, you bet we are. But I can do fairly little from the line, so I need you. You need to deliver the passes and bring the goals home.” Jonas noted the youngsters lighting up, he was making an impression on them. “So now when we go out, we’re going to look like winners – for we are winners!” The second half started well enough. San Jose barely had the ball, and their only effort at goal was a long shot which was knocked over the bar from an incredible save from Lloris. Kyle Walker came off with an injury after a few minutes, Kyle Naughton replaced him. Finally, the goal came. Aaron Lennon raced down the line, cutting in front of the back and steering for goal. The lightning winger put the ball into the low corner past the American goalie and grabbed the ball; eager to get the game started again.
The match looked to end in a draw, ninety minutes had passed and still no more goals. Jan Vertonghen was holding the ball deep into the Spurs half. Jan passed it on to Sigurdsson, who quickly flick-flacked it to Sandro. The big Brazilian carried the ball further and sent to Defoe. Defoe barely took a moment to wait, but shot from thirty yards, straight into the goal behind the confused keeper. 2-1.
Jonas Farrell leapt from his seat, lifting his knotted fist into the air cheering. The ref blew his whistle for the last time, they had won.
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Re: Final assignment
Here is my final assignment.
NOTE: The factions used in this represent fictional countries. Prussia, and Prussian soldiers represents the United States of Westmark and Westmarkan soldiers. Great Britain, and British soldiers represents the Immortal Empire and Janakan soldiers. If you desire an idea of what the soldier's uniforms actually look like: the Janakan soldiers wear bascinets with white or navy blue plumes, navy blue uniforms with decorative breast plates and white pants. The Westmarkan soldiers wear black shakos and dark green and white uniforms.
Final Assignment- Battle of Heinz- Year 1769 A.T.F.
In the Year 1769 A.T.F., the 30th of Uhruhkkakuha, at 1600, the 3rd Brigade of the Home Army of the First Janak Legion, commanded by Brigadier Demlon overseen by the Second Immortal Emperor, marched through Heinz, about half a mile away the Westmark 4th Brigade, commanded by Brigadier Gennen, which was marching towards the 3rd Brigade. It should be noted that neither side began the day knowing that they would fight each other; in addition the Immortal Empire was not at war with the United States of Westmark. Both sides marched towards each other, not willing to give ground. At 16:10, the sides stopped within musket range. The commanding officers of the front battalions ordered their men to ready their arms; in response hundreds of muskets were raised. For minutes, the muskets were held, pointed at their enemy.
Suddenly, a Janakan officer of a light battalion gave the command to open fire, over a hundred muskets discharged in response. The expert Janakan musketry felled half a dozen Westmarkans. Following this, both lines fired at each other, over a hundred fell to the first volleys of musket fire. Even though the colonels on both sides did not give their battalions the order to fire, they did not attempt to restrain their men from continuing to fire. Without anyone to stop them from firing, except Death himself, the infantry on both sides continued to reload and fire their muskets. Soldiers died by the dozens.
Instead of halting the battle, the commanders of both brigades ordered their artillerymen to prepare the cannons and fire. Brigadier Gennen did not have someone to oversee his activities, so there was no one who could have stopped him. However, Brigadier Demlon did have an overseer, the Immortal Emperor, yet he was not on the battlefield. He was back in the town of Heinz, greeting the people in the town hall. When the first shots were fired, the Immortal Emperor thought it was only shots of celebration or some other trivial matter. However, he, as well as the Heinz citizens, grew concerned when the sounds of musketry continued. A few minutes after the first shots were fired, one of the Immortal Emperor’s Doctrinal Guard entered the town hall and ran up to the Immortal Emperor. The man whispered into the Emperor’s ear that a Westmarkan brigade had appeared and that both sides had fired at each other, in other words, the Immortal Empire was now at war with the United States of Westmark. This angered the Immortal Emperor; he had wanted the Immortal Empire to stay out of the civil war that rages in Westmark. The only reason for this campaign on Halstenkut Isle was to secure the Immortal Empire’s coastal southwestern borders on the Southern Strip; he did not want to fight Westmark. He would have to put an end to this battle, so he announced to the gathered Heinz citizens that he would back before the end of the hour. Without wasting another moment, he left the town hall with a dozen of his Doctrinal Guard. The group mounted their horses and rushed to the front.
After five minutes, several hundred lay dead or dying on the battlefield. It was clear to Brigadier Gennen that if the course of battle did not change, Westmark would lose the battle. In fact, Westmark was at a disadvantage from the start of the battle. Most of the Westmarkan soldiers were conscripted to fill the depleted ranks of the Westmarkan military. Only four battalions in the 4th were composed of regulars, whereas the 3rd was composed completely of regulars. In addition, there were 500 Doctrinal Guards who were accompanying the 3rd Brigade.
Thinking quickly, Brigadier Gennen rode up and down the Westmark lines ordering his battalions to charge. One after another, the Westmark battalions charged at the Janakan line. If the Westmarkan battalions could close the gap, they might be able to win the battle in a brutal melee, but that was if they could close the gap. They could not, instead the musketry of the First Janak Legion repulsed the Westmarkan charge, and sent the entire Westmarkan line retreating.
The Immortal Emperor arrived at the battlefield as the Westmarkans were retreating. He admonished Brigadier Demlon for not preventing the battle. The Emperor ordered Demlon to raise a white flag.
As the two conversed, the Westmarkan line was already reforming to launch a second attack. However, Gennen ordered his men to cease fire when he saw a white flag being waved. As the man who waved the white flag retreated back to the Janakan lines, the Immortal Emperor, Brigadier Demlon, his aides and a dozen Doctrinal Guards rode forward to meet with Brigadier Gennen and his aides. The leaders brokered an armistice. They agreed that a treaty would be arranged at a later date when President Krunz of the United States of Westmark would meet with the Immortal Emperor of the Immortal Empire to officially end the hostilities.
The casualties were relatively light for the 3rd Brigade, a force that numbered 3,000 including the 500 Doctrinal Guards, about 400, whereas the Westmarkans, whose force numbered 1,800, suffered almost 1,000 casualties. The battle itself was relatively quick, only ten minutes War Recorder's Note: typical battles between brigades will last over half an hour or more
-recorded by War Recorder Thel Kakius on 32nd of Uhrukakkuh, 1769 A.T.F.
Bostar was nervous. It was his first time leading an army such as this. More than thousand men. At the age of eighteen, people expected he will be successful as his father and two older brothers. After all, he is a member of the famous Barca family, great merchants, explorers and generals.
A month ago he received a letter from Carthage, when he came to Nora to establish his first trade contacts: To Bostar Gisco
March north of Nora and suppress Nuragic tribes in central Sardinia. Gather 800 men from the city. General Bomilcar will bring you additional 400 men from Hispania.
Republic of Qart-hadašt
When he thought about these words, he came to the conclusion that this message was sent by his uncle Hannibal, current suffet, who was always keen to test his abilities. Bostar was anxious to lead an army as he always wanted to, but if he had failed, he would be crucified.
When his army was assembling, he gathered as much knowledge of his foes as he possibly could. Nuragic people were proud, their civilization was ancient and mysterious and they were known as fearsome warriors. They built extraordinary buildings of both military and religious significance, Nuraghes. But their weakness lay in numbers. Because the rebellion was formed only by Nurrensi, Cunusitanti and Celsitanti they lacked manpower to face the might of Carthage.
Three days after departure, they met with Bomilcar who came with 240 Asturian axemen and 200 experienced and fearsome warriors known as Scutarii.
When they marched across the island, he saw many plains with fertile soil. There were a few wheat fields, but there could be many more. He decided to establish a few farms here after the conquest of Nuragic people. If his brother has Gadir in his hands, he could eventually have Sardinia.
Bostar focused his mind back to present. They arrived in front of an old Carthaginian fort, whose garrison was butchered. According to the scouts, there were 500 men inside. Bostar put Bomilcar in charge of infantry forces. He could see the man's determination to rise through ranks and become acknowledged general in the Republic. Bostar decided to use this to his own benefit and see what the man is capable of.
Libyan light infantry
Bostar sent Libyan light infantry forward with rams to breach the gate. Numidian cavalry was guarding the rear, protecting Carthaginian forces from any unexpected incursion from rebels nearby. His heavy infantry, the Scutarii were positioned on the left flank in order to breach the wall from the left side, thus encircle the enemy. Libyan spearmen were put in a reserve, while Asturian axemen would enter the fort after Libyan light infantry.
Scutarii
Soon his men began to fall under enemy arrows. Sentry towers were full of skilled archers. Nevertheless, his men began to penetrate the walls. Many proud Nuragic warriors fell under Libyan javelins, when thwalls and the gates were breached. Carthaginian forces then entered the fort, only to meet stiff resistance. Casualties mounted before Scutarii joined the fight. Enemy skirmishers quickly fell under the blade of these skilled men.
Libyan light infantry throw their javelins
Main battle line
At the same time Libyans managed to smash through the enemy line and Nuragic warriors retreated to the centre of the fort while Asturian axemen surrounded them from behind.
Asturian axemen surround the remaining Nuragic warriors
Nevertheless, Bostar stared at the battle with great admiration for their foes. They were fighting valiantly to the last. The last man still standing was Aru, the chieftain of Celsitanti tribe. He wielded his bronze sword with unmatched skill and power and brought down many warriors, who Bostar personally knew. At last he was stopped by a large man, Pertinax, whose origin was unknown and joined their forces in Nora. Bostar decided to keep an eye on that man.
The fall of Aru
235 Carthaginian men were dead and 41 more wounded. All 521 Nuragic warriors lay dead.
Bostar was amazed by the skill and bravery of the natives. He was thinking of employing some of them as mercenaries. After he defeats them.
The fort was abandoned and the Bostar's army departed north. They say people can still hear the voice of Aru, the legendary chieftain of Nuragic people, cursing both Carthage and Bostar.
Notes:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
-I couldn't write all the names in Punic, so I decided to write just Carthage at the end of the message in Punic(Qart-hadašt).