[SS AAR] Αιώνια Δόξα - Eternal Glory - A Byzantine AAR (REDONE!)
I already attempted to do this with Deus Lo Vult, but alas, I didn't have the newest patch, and it would've taken forever to get it. So, I am restarting it here, in Stainless Steel!
For those of you who might be asking what Αιώνια Δόξα is, it is ROUGHLY Eternal Glory in Greek. I only have the Google Translator to allow me to successfully translate things, so obviously, my translations will be funky to those of you who actually DO speak Greek. Oh, and it's Early Campaign.
All citiy names that fall under Byzantine control will be renamed to a transliteration of the Greek way of spelling the cities, for example, Constantinople will become Konstantinoupolis, Corinth will become Korinthos, etc. etc, mainly because I can't simply copy-paste the city names to whatever I would like them to be in the game, otherwise, I'd do the Greek Symbols. Each Battle that takes place will similarly be written out in Greek Symbols, with the English translation right next to it, provided by the iGoogle translator. Woohoo! I would do the little accent marks, but alas, they are REALLY hard to do on a laptop keyboard. X.x
Info about the game:
I doubled the movement speed of units. I hated walking so far. X.x
I play on Very Hard/Very Hard for this mod.
I disabled that Faction Zeal thing, as I found that it just annoyed the living crap out of me, seriously.
I also used toggle_fow to see exactly what is going on with the map for the updates, which will occur after a victory by the western forces AND the eastern forces, or two eastern or two western victories.
Other Notes on Historical Accuracy: This is not accurate. Hell, it started off as not accurate, due to the fact that in 1080, the Byzantine Empire controlled Durazzo and the entirety of Greece by itself. Ah well.
What I listened to for this first post: Agni Parthene, awesome Byzantine Hymn. If any of the audience members know any other good Greek Hymns, let me know! I'm eager for listening material.
Introduction:
The Roman Empire, after suffering a stunning defeat at Manzikert, reformed itself somewhat, gaining a system set up under the Kommenos Dynasty that came back to power with the return of Alexios Kommenos and his son Ionnais Kommenos, rewarding nobles with titles and grants of land under the Pronoia system, recapturing some of the lands, mostly Nikaia, although with the recent rebellions wracking the Turkish peoples, perhaps it was time for another offensive aimed at gaining back some of the territories that foolish nobles set up as their own kingdoms.
Military
The decision was made to strike with a two-pronged assault into the Dardanelles, taking back the important strategic fort known as Dardanellia to the empite, and Canakkale to the Turks who the rebels obviously looked up to, having renamed the fort to such. A force was gathered, with Evarestos Evgenikos, an old friend of the now aging emperor, taking the forefront of the force to Canakkale to seize it back from rebel hands.
On the other side of the empire, Ioannis, the heir destined to take the throne, was ordered to form a force together to take the similarly rebellious fort of Arta back.
Domestic
Noting the lack of effective roads throughout most of Greece, and indeed, near Nikaia, the decision was made to create a standardized road system to facilitate better movements of goods and troops throughout the Empire. Great sums of money were spent in order to ensure the construction and effectiveness of these roads, and crews began work in the Summer of 1080.
With the upcoming campaigns, the tax load was lessened on the peasants to ensure that the lack of defending forces within cities would not cause them to revolt.
Ανατολίας Εκστρατεία - Anatolian Campaign
The forces were gathered together in Constantinople, and a plan to cross the Dardanelles was made, in order to effectively seize the city from a direction that they were not expecting.
Η μάχη των Δαρδανελίων - Battle of the Dardanelles
Evarestos led his forces onto a navy that pushed off, heading to the Dardanelles and landing their forces on the opposite side of the banks, setting up siege, and constructing rams with which to batter down the outer walls.
After a year of sieging, the time had come to attempt to break through the walls.
The rebel forces were outnumbered greatly, however, with the fortifications, the numbers may not mean too much on the real battle.
The battle began with a suicide squad of peasants charging up to the gates with a battering ram, while over 300 archers battered the wall's archers with a hail of flaming arrows to hurt and disorient them.
((Peasants in far left corner. Hiiii peasants!))
Eventually, the brave squad broke through the gates with the ram, opening them wide for a Byzantine charge.
The Byzantine Spearmen were sent in to back up the incapable peasants, and a brutal melee started in the open gateway between well-trained Byzantine spears and a motley band of peasants who fancied themselves warriors.
In the end, a simple band of peasants could do little against the might of the Byzantine Army, with almost the entire enemy force being put to the slaughter.
Deciding to allow their fellow Greeks to live, Evarestos simply occupied the city.
Ελλάδα Εκστρατεία - Greece Campaign
The vast majority of the forces that Ioannis Komennos commanded came from the combined arms of Athina, Thessaloniki, and Korinthos, and the plan was to render siege by the end of 1082, continuing to train necessary units at the castle of Korinthos in order to ensure success.
However, such a generous time table was not to be, with the delays of bureaucracy (And the fact I forgot about him. X.x) taking its toll on the preparations to ready the troops for battle. However, in the end, the siege was struck outside of the walls, and siege weapons were constructed.
Η μάχη της Άρτας - Battle of Arta
The battle lines were drawn, and after the heir himself gave a rousing speech, the battle was on, starting with a group of spearmen charging the ram up to the gates and hammering away, while Archers peppered the enemy lines with flying death.
Obviously, the tried and true strategy did not fail this time, as it didn't before, as the gates swiftly fell.
Then, as their archers abandoned the walls, a brutal melee broke out in the middle of the town center, between the spearmen and the rabble of peasants. The peasants put up a surprising fight, but the end result was the same: The Roman Empire once again quashed rebels under its boot.
Again, Ioannis decided to not execute the rebels, seeing as though they were fellow Greeks.
State of the Roman Empire In 1086
The state of the Empire is currently strong, with large forces in both the east and the west, with ample funds to spare, fortunately. The Turks, instead of pushing their military advantage westwards, have instead chosen to go east, allowing the Roman Empire to possibly take back Asia Minor. Likewise, Bulgaria has been expanding away from Byzantine lands, so the Balkans are free for Roman soldiers to march across and conquer. Venice has been doing, er... Nothing. Kiev and the Turks may come into contact, and possibly a power struggle may result. The Holy Roman Empire looks likely to crash and burn at any moment, with various factions pushing at its borders.
An effective strategy to pursue right now would be making an Alliance with the Kiev Rus, and gaining a war with the Seljuk Turks, thus giving them a two-front war, while the Empire continues to expand westwards and northwards into Sofia and Durazzo. Venice will have to be taken care of eventually, seeing as though they are stepping on Greek Territory! (Crete)
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. Congradulations on your first Rep circle.
