[RS AAR] The 2nd legion - A Roman AAR
I'm fairly new to the TW community, since I just recently picked up Rome: Total war again and started a new campaign with RS after a long inactive period. This AAR will follow the story of the 2nd legion and also the bigger picture a bit.
The 2nd Legion, a Roman AAR
The Roman Empire, 517 Ab Urbe Condita
(Author’s note: I started this campaign a few months back to test my skills, so it is at M/M, also the reason why there is no connection between Greece and Italy to the north is because the settlement between them rebelled. They were exterminated later onand also the black spot in my empire in Africa is a free people city that I have yet to attack because of all the fronts I’m fighting on)
The remain of the 2nd Legion, Augustus was standing in a field north of the town Delphi waiting.
General Cnaeus Voconius was a young, well trained but unproven commander in the roman army.
He had faced a Greek army not too long ago, but it wasn’t considered a great victory like the battle in which Valerius killed around three thousand Greeks after killing off two other armies that were also around three thousand strong.
Now Cnaeus was outnumbered by about a 1500 men. His army topping 2100 men was ready to take those Greeks down.
For Rome, Greece had betrayed them by besieging Delphi and was eager to see her legions sack and burn Athen, Sparta and Corinth to the ground for their insolence, but truth is that Rome also saw with greedy eyes the wealth that southern Greece had to offer. To add to that greediness was the massive ego of Rome after crushing Macedonia in a war that completely and utterly destroyed that Greek kingdom. The empire had already defeated Carthage, Epirus and the Greeks of Sicily. Now they were fighting four wars, against: the Gauls, the Hispanians, the Greeks and the Egyptians.
The armies representing the states of the old Greek city states made its move, advancing toward the roman army.
Centurion Marcus Claudius formed the men of the 4th cohort of the 2nd legion placing Lucius Pollo at his side. The two men had become good friends following the battle after the landing of the 2nd in Greece. Lucius had saved Marcus life when the centurion was almost stabbed by a Greek hoplite.
Lucius, gazing at the Greeks said:
“Look Marcus more of these bastards have come to get pissed on by the 2nd”
“As true as that may be, we need to be careful and approach this battle with the right maneuvers” replied the centurion
“I’m sure Voconius knows what he’s doing”
“I guess” said Marcus hesitating
Voconius rode his horse in front of the 2nd legion to give his battle speech
“Men, I remember the day I took allegiance to this legion, I saw in you brave men. I know that we will go far and wide conquering this world and defeat every enemy on our path FOR THE GLORY OF ROME!” cheers went through the crowd “We are fighting Greeks, the same Greeks we fought in that great battle we had south of here. Sure we were stronger in numbers then, but that doesn’t make much of a difference. We are the sons of Mars. We are stronger and wiser than those old Greek fools. So today we shall, like all the other great roman armies, UTTERLY DESTROY OUR ENEMIES! Now take up your sword and prepare to clean this land of ALL THOSE GREEK SCUMBAGS” shouted Cnaeus
The army’s battle cry was so loud that it shook the ground under them.
Meanwhile, Phigaleios of Lamia, the Greek general, formed the phalanx, he was a confidant commander. He outnumbered the Romans and was going to use that to his advantage. He was planning to outmaneuver the legion with his Spartan hoplite and encircle them. His officers gathered around him
“What is the planned sir” said one of his officers
“Well Klydus, who was the officer in charge of the Spartans, you will take your soldiers on the right wing and crush the roman line there, after you will attack these barbarians from behind while the phalanx holds the line”
“Very well” replied Klydus
“What do I say to my men?” said another officer “Some of them are scared of those blasted romans ever since Captain Mentor lost to that god forsaken roman general Valerius Furius” he continued
“Tell them that the gods have rewarded Mentor’s and his army’s recklessness with death because of his impatience and disorganization. Now go to your men and let us kill some romans”
The Greek army was getting closer
“So the bastards are finally approaching, what’s the plan centurion?” said Lucius
“ Well there left wing looks weak but it seems that they have put some of those Spartan warriors on their right flank” he said with disgust “the rest are phalanxes, skirmishers and a bit of cavalry, so take the weak flank and then force our way in their back.”
“Very well sir” replied the legionnaire
The battle began, the battle line to the left was falling a bit behind while the one on the right was pushing forward, the middle, meanwhile, wasn’t moving.
Klydus was enjoying the sight of Romans getting killed in front of him.
“Eleven” said the Spartan officer to a fellow soldier and friend
“Eight” his friend replied
(Author’s note: sadly I don’t have screens of the first battles I did for the AAR except for the score scroll, this is only a recreation)
The battle was fierce, the Greek general in an attempt to break the central line charged at it. Roman steel brought him down to the ground he was now lying there, spitting his own blood, hoping that he wouldn’t die trampled upon. The great Greek general, a once powerful aristocrat, was now half dead on the ground with the corpse of other soldiers praying the gods for a quick death.
Klydus was informed of his general’s demise so he took an unmounted horse and barked orders to avoid a general panic in the Greek army.
The roman general saw this and urged the VI and IV cohort to push forward and flank the Greeks from behind
The IV eliminated the last sword hoplite, Claudius than shouted the order to move forward then to position his cohort right in the back of the Greek phalanx. Once this was done he gave the order to charge.
It didn’t take long before the Greeks started to rout. Klydus, seeing the bodyguards riding off, went to his fellow Spartan comrades, dropped from his horse and made his last stand with his companions. They killed as much Romans as they could, but in the end, they were but men.
The battle was over, the roman cavalry along with General Voconius and his personal bodyguards were slaughtering the remaining enemy forces. Marcus formed up his men. He had lost many good soldiers during that battle. After making count, he let his soldiers join the looting of the dead with the others.
When the general came back, Marcus went to meet him
To be continued…
(Author's Note: If you consider it worth continuing I'll continue the story. Oh and sorry if there are grammar mistakes, I know it's a lame excuse but English isn't my first language)
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