Reunification: a Marcomanni AAR (updated chapter 25)

[hooahguy14]

Author's note:
While not imperative, I would highly suggest you begin by reading my Suebi AAR, which can be found here.
Enjoy!


Reunification: a Marcomanni AAR



Prelude

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

We were great. Once.

Our empire stretched from the frigid forests of northern Germania down to the warm southern tip of Italia.

We had the strongest armies, we were the best led and best trained, and when Chlodochar of the Suebi was our king, we were unstoppable. He was wise beyond his years, and brought us the glory that we Germanic people deserved.

But then Chlodochar died in battle, felled by Roman swords, and then it all began to fall apart.

His successor Ricfried desperately tried to hold the empire together but our enemies were too many.

With Chlodochar dead, the wild nomadic tribes to the east saw their chance and invaded, attacking like phantoms in the thick forests, killing thousands of brave Germanic warriors. These ghosts fought like no foe we had seen before, and for a long time we were unable to defeat them in open battle.




Strange painted men from across the western sea came on boats, raiding our lands. We were able to repel the raiders when they came, but they always inflicted heavy casualties and more importantly, they tied up our forces from more important battles. Every man that was used to repel these attacks from these raiders could have helped stem the tide of the disaster that got worse as the years went on.




Seeing our weakness, the remaining Romans attacked with a vengeance. They mustered a large army and attacked Brundsisum, quickly taking back the city that Chlodochar gave his life to capture.

We managed to defeat that Roman army a few weeks later, which had marched north to "liberate" Italia from our control, but we took extremely heavy losses: there were many more of our dead on the ground than theirs, a Pyrrhic victory in the truest sense.





But more Romans came. Six experienced legions, fresh from fighting in Africa, invaded Italia to retake the lands that they lost.




We thought that we would be able to defeat them, but they were too many, even for our best generals. For every Roman we killed, two more took his place on the battlefield. Our armies in the south were defeated, then the survivors were chased down and ruthlessly massacred. We could not fault them for this though, as we did the same time and time again when we had the upper hand. With these victories they pushed us out of Italia.




Ricfried fell in one of these battles, killed by elite Roman cavalry as he fought to delay the Roman advance and give his men time to escape.




Even our long-time allies, the Aedui, betrayed us and invaded, taking a number of our towns including the fortress of Vesontio. But we did not let them take it without inflicting serious losses on the attacking Gauls. The defense of Vesontio became famous for how the two thousand defenders managed to kill over four thousand Aedui warriors before finally being overwhelmed. It is said that the walls were covered in blood and the bodies were stacked three deep in some areas.




With invading armies on all sides and our leadership crumbling, we turned on each other. Brother fought brother and Germanic blood was spilled as the nation that Chlodochar had worked so hard to build began to fracture into small tribes. The once powerful Suebi tribe were wiped out in the ensuing violence and the survivors became what is now known as the Semnones tribe. But they were a mere shadow of what the Suebi used to be, and they have lost the right to call themselves the true decedents of the greatest tribe the Germanic people have yet seen.




That was one hundred years ago. Since then, Rome violently expanded beyond Italia. They conquered most of Gaul and Iberia. They took control of Greece, and Anatolia, and eventually conquered the once powerful nation of Carthage as well. At their height they were the only real empire around, seeing that the once-great Germanic empire was in ruins. There was no fighting the Romans; they would win by numbers alone if anyone stood against them.

But then civil war came. Four powerful Roman generals went their separate ways and took large parts of the empire with them. Just like we had fractured, they have fractured as well.

This is where we enter the arena. My name is Theodoric, leader of the Marcomanni. We are a small Germanic tribe, and we have been subservient to our Roman and Gallic neighbors for far too long.

And now it is our turn.

[hooahguy14]

Sorry for the delay everyone, my personal life has been very chaotic this past month and Ive had no time to play the campaign. Ill try to update as soon as I can once I have the time.

[Alwyn]

An enthralling story with stunning images. I hope that you are able to continue.

[Chirurgeon]

What a wonderful introduction. Screenshots are impressive as always!!

[hooahguy14]

Chapter One

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

As the leader of the Marcomanni, I, Theodoric, have been entrusted with leading this faction from the shadows of obscurity into the light of eternal glory.





We have a long journey ahead of us. We are surrounded on all sides by tribes and factions who are probably not very friendly to us at all. To our southeast, we have our sworn enemies, the Vindelici. We have been skirmishing for over a decade now, and perhaps soon it is time to take the fight to their own lands and claim their town, Kelheim. The thorn must be removed swiftly, otherwise the pain will increase.





To the southwest are the Romans. They used to be unified into an unstoppable force, but recent internal strife has broken them into civil war. As a result, we should be very cautious about how we deal with them. Getting involved in their affairs too early could spell disaster for us.





Directly south are the Helvetii. They do not seem like much of a threat right now, but things could quickly change.





To the north, are the remnants of the Suebi, now known as the Semnones. Not much of a threat, if at all. The civil war that tore the first Germanic empire apart really set them back as a regional power, even almost eighty years later.





To the northeast are the Quadi. They do not seem like much of a threat right now, and we actually are on good terms. But we will have to either absorb them in a confederation or absorb them by force.





And finally to the northwest we have the Cherusci, who are in the same position as the Quadi.





My father, the former leader of our nation, died last winter. After I took the throne, I began to gather our forces. My father was a wise man, but he was far too soft on our enemies. Never once did he attempt to end the war between us and the Vindelici. That will change. Now.


I raised two armies, one led by me, the other by Farabert, who led the other clans in political opposition to me. Together we marched towards Vindelici lands, where two large Vindelici armies were waiting for us.


There is a river between our lands, and on the banks of that river our great armies faced one another. For a week we sat by the river, until finally the Vindelici made a move.





It was a rainy day. Why they chose that kind of weather to deploy against us I will never know, but regardless of the conditions we had to prepare for the impending assault.


Farabert set up alongside the western bank with his men, waiting for the Vindelici to come across.





Meanwhile, I took my forces down the river, forded it, and set up behind a hill. We would strike from the south as Farabert struck from the west.





But the Vindelici commander saw our moves and managed to redeploy some of his troops to meet the new threat that we presented. This victory would not come as easily as we hoped.





My forces slammed into the hurriedly-prepared flanks of the Vindelici forces, forcing their commander to send more men into the fray to prevent a total collapse of their lines.





Because their forces were fragmented, the battle turned into a number of smaller melees.





As forces were being diverted, Farabert charged his forces into the Vindelici lines which were in something akin to a state of confusion.





The fight on the banks of the river was a ferocious one. No quarter was given by either side as we hacked and slashed into each other in a violent mob. With only a small area to ford the river, it constrained the number of men we could bring to bear against the foe. But slowly we managed to gain a larger foothold on the banks of the river.








Meanwhile my bodyguards and I participated in a lively game of “run down fleeing enemies.”





The Vindelici left flank collapsed, and we managed to catch the waiting Vindelici formations totally by surprise, shattering them very quickly. It might have also helped that they were mercenary units who didn’t really feel like fighting us at that moment.





With no enemies in our way, our men, now rather tired, jogged to position themselves behind the large mob of Vindelici soldiers who continued to resist Farabert’s men.





An enemy unit of slingers saw us move into positon and tried to escape, but we caught them before they fled.





We charged, slamming into the rear of the Vindelici formation, instantly causing half of them to begin to waver.





As more enemies began to waver and flee, my bodyguards and I continued our task of running down the ones who fled. It’s always a mistake to flee from this kind of thing; it makes it easier for your opponents to kill you if you show your back to them.





As we enveloped the Vindelici formation, a number of enemy units appeared out of the woods, taking us by surprise. They charged towards the rear of our men. I saw what was happening but I was too far out to get a message to the lower level commanders to intercept. Thankfully one of the unit commanders saw it too and ran to intercept.





With their units surrounded, we moved in for the kill.





When it was all said and done, the bank of the river was covered in bodies and blood.





Our men were exhausted, but victorious.





We had crushed the Vindelici armies, wiping one out completely and seriously damaging the other, while sustaining relatively few losses.





As the shattered remains of the Vindelici army fled towards Kelheim, our armies prepared to move in for the kill.

[hooahguy14]

Mods used:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Radious's Overhaul, ChampLoos Gold Unit compilation, Traits Talents and Toadies, Germanic Generals redone, 4TPY, KLA's New Roman Generals, Marcomanni unit (wanted something to add to the Marcomanni roster), Splenyi' Better campaign camera, and the zoom all the way down mod.

[hooahguy14]

Chapter Two

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

With Vindelici forces shattered, we marched on Kelheim. The remnants of the main Vindelici force which we faced at the river fled across the border, away from the town and into the forests, apparently in the attempt to hide and gather more forces. We sent agents to locate them, while Farabert and I assembled our forces to take Kelheim. While assembling for the assault a few kilometers from the town, we received word that the garrison was coming out to meet us in open battle! A foolish move by them, as our vastly superior numbers will make it easy to dispatch them. On the other hand, there are two kilometers of dense forest between us and the town, so a trap could be sprung on us. We had to be careful, even with the odds overwhelmingly in our favor.





As I waited for all my men to get in the formation for the attack, I looked over the battlefield. I could see the town in the distance. It looked nice, which means I probably won’t burn it down.





We deployed our men in two lines, separate from one another so when one line found the enemy the other could swing around and hit them from the flanks. One line was the men from my army and the other was the men from Farabert’s army. I instructed the men to make their way through the forest slowly, making use of the brush to conceal our movement until we could see exactly where they went. It worked, and we managed to get pretty close to the enemy as they were still forming up for an attack.





With their main line tied down by my forces, Farabert’s men wheeled around and slammed into the Vindelici flank.





They broke quickly, fleeing for the temporary safety of the town.





It was a decisive victory, with us only taking a handful of losses. I honestly expected them to put up more of a fight, but considering we did outnumber them two to one, I do not blame them for running.






We ended up sparing the lives of our captives, and in return they swore fealty to me. The town was easily captured and the Vindelici leaders seized and executed. Assassins hunted and killed the last Vindelici general who was hiding in Raeti territory, scattering what remained of his army to the winds. And just like that, decades of feuding between us and the Vindelici were over, and now they would fade into obscurity like the wretches that they are.





With that threat neutralized, we now look towards lands in the north for our next conquest. While conquering neighboring Celtic tribes is always an enjoyable task, we must unite the Germanic tribes under our banner before our real task can begin, because brothers are meant to be unified.

[hooahguy14]

Chapter Three

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Vindelici were gone, seemingly relieving some pressure on our borders. Or so we thought. A Helvetii army wandered into our territory, near our freshly conquered town. For a couple of days it seemed like they would definitely attack us, so we had our men on guard, preparing for invasion.





But it never came, and the Helvetii army went south towards Quadi territory. How those two interact does not concern us, so we turned our attentions elsewhere.





The Cherusci had declared war on their northern neighbors, the Frisii, drawing away most of their armies to fight, so it seems like we just found our next target for war!





A quick reconnaissance showed that the main Cherusci force is fighting the Frisii, and they were about to give each other quite the pitched battle I can imagine. The Frisii would not go down without a fight.





As the Cherusci-Frisii War raged on, we gathered our forces: an army led by me and another by my cousin, Chariovalda. We had recruited from the prime of Marcomanni society, and fitted them with the best equipment we had. With winter firmly in place, we snuck across the border and made winter camp in the dark forest on our border, preparing to strike when spring came.





In the meantime we got a surprising declaration of war from an unknown northern tribe, the Rugii. Why they declared war? I'm not sure, but they were far away and I don’t think they posed a threat. But just in case I posted scouts to patrol our northern border and began to raise a force to defend our lands from invasion. Just in case.





When the snow receded, we struck. There was an army assembling inside their walls, and a very small one just outside. The plan I had was to strike the smaller army to goad the larger army and the garrison to come out to fight. After some skilled maneuvering, well, to make a long story short, it worked.





The battle ahead was going to be very hard. The Cherusci had many elite soldiers in their large force that would prove very hard to crack. We had numbers, but they had skill.


Thankfully we were not coming into this battle on one foot. We managed to equip all our men with armor and helmets. No more would our men be charging into battle with bare chests.





We could see the Cherusci soldiers marching towards us in the distance.





The lines of Cherusci men snaked across the field, and behind them we saw something which struck terror into every man’s heart: artillery. The Cherusci had artillery! This meant we had to move fast to prevent our force from getting annihilated by those giant machines.





As the two lines closed, I ordered our men to reorganize from two lines to just one, stretching out our line to match there's. Initially the plan was to use the double line to crash through the Cherusci lines, then roll up their now exposed flanks and crush them. But now I made the line stretch. One section of the line would meet the Cherusci head on while the other half would hit the flanks.





It didn’t work, as the Cherusci just swung their line around to face both in a solid line. Not wanting to risk our forces and spend more time in artillery range, I just decided to charge the men forward.





Some units had to run quite the distance under fire.


Some units were under fire from enemy arrows.





Others by enemy artillery.





So when we finally closed the range with the enemy artillery crew, the revenge we took on them felt sweet.





Up and down the line, the fighting was ferocious. I watched as parts of the line began to falter, and I had to quickly divert from parts of the line which were doing well to reinforce the other parts.





I saw a few Cherusci units trying to flank us around a small hill, so I sent a few units to counter them. Among the Cherusci units was the Cherusci general. I was tempted to go out myself and meet him in combat, but Chariovalda stopped me. He said that we could not risk losing me, and volunteered to go instead. I let him; after all, it was to be his first taste of combat.


After that Cherusci flanking force was tied down, Chariovalda charged.





The battle raged on, and our forced began to take the upper hand in the battle.





All except in the left flank: our units holding down that flank were ground down to almost nothing, with an entire unit being wiped out in the process. So it wasn’t surprising that what was left of the remaining units in that area retreated.





But even though the left flank fell, the center and right flanks turned in our favor, and we managed to get enough troops to the broken left flank to mend it and prevent any more damage. Eventually we broke them, and chased down the remaining Cherusci units.





The last enemies were driven from the battlefield, and our men, bloodied and exhausted, were finally able to rest and enjoy our first victory in the long war for unification that was ahead of us.





We had taken heavy losses. Over a third of our men were now in graves, though we had exacted a much heavier toll on the Cherusci, as almost their entire force was wiped out.





That night we demanded the surrender of Tulifurdum, and the broken and exhausted garrison complied with no fight.





We consolidated units that had taken heavy losses in preparation for our next push, restored order in the newly captured city, and made sure that our position was secure in case the Cherusci or their Semnones allies decided to make a move.


We also found out that the Romans, under their leader Augustus, had moved in on Koria, ejecting the Quadi in the process. This was certainly an interesting development which we would have to keep an eye on, as the Romans were volatile neighbors who could not be trusted. I suppose that it’s a good thing that they are pre-occupied at the moment, but we don’t know how long that will last. I just hope we can unite the Germanic people when that time comes.







Author’s note: I will be getting a new computer in the coming weeks, so hopefully you will be seeing better screenshots from me in the near future! Assuming the savegame file transfer goes smoothly, that is.

[Alwyn]

An enjoyable read with great pictures!

[hooahguy14]

Chapter Five


Author’s note: I got a new computer and successfully transferred the savegame file to the new computer. Everything is working fine, but I forgot to activate the new Germanic generals mod, so for this chapter you will see the old ones, sorry about that! They will be back next chapter.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Semnones were all but wiped out. They had one army deep in Quadi territory, trying to seek shelter wherever they could to survive the coming winter. But our agents found them first, and killed off their final commanders. With that, the last whimper of what used to be the great Suebi empire faded into history.





The Helvetii were getting more bold. At first an army of theirs just danced around our border, until finally they invaded, and headed straight for our capital. Panic gripped us. We were fairly certain we could hold them off, but regardless of whether or not we could, people panicked. I tried to remain calm for the good of my people, but deep inside I worried about the fate of my home.





In the end the Helvetii just sat by a river, fortified themselves, and waited. What they waited for I don’t know, but for now we could rest easy and deal with other matters. We had to do something about the Rugii who were hanging around Tulifurdum. While they wouldn’t be a real threat with their single army, combined with other forces they would pose a huge danger. So we had to deal with them now.





Chariovalda moved in, along with the garrison of Tulifurdum to deal with the problem.





We set up across the river from the forming Rugii, while the garrison forded the river a bit further down in order to flank them.






As the garrison force got into position behind their lines, we charged through the river towards the now panicking Rugii lines, which by now saw that they were being surrounded.





We crashed through their lines, destroying any semblance of order in their ranks.





It only took a few more minutes for the garrison army to slam into the rear of the enemy line, quickly routing any unit who was brave enough to stand against us.






Further down the river, we had a smaller force tying up their elite units. We were having a rough go at it, for the few elite units they had were some of the best in the Germanic world.





After routing the right flank of the Rugii force, we rushed to hit the flanks of the elite Rugii force that made up the left flank. But we were stopped by a couple of Rugii elite units who were determined to prevent us hitting the flanks.





But we were stopped for only a short while, and reinforcements came and smashed the Rugii slingers helping stall the fight by the river.





It did not take long before we wiped everyone out. There were only a few survivors on the Rugii side, and they soon fanned out into the forests.





We had taken casualties, but relatively light compared to recent battles. No units were wiped out because of this battle, though there were units in the garrison which had taken heavy losses. They would replace them quickly though, as the citizens of Tulifurdum would be flocking to the banners after this battle.





With the only Rugii army in the area gone, we could rest easy for a little while, at least until the Cherusci arrived.





With one immediate threat gone, we could now deal with the other immediate threat to our lands. And once the Helvetii were dealt with, we could turn north, and the final reunification of our people.

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

I am enjoying this, and looking forward to the next chapter. I particularly liked the screenshot of the line of trudging men.

[hooahguy14]

Chapter Six

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

After making sure Tulifurdum was secure, two armies, one led by Chariovalda and the other Nevelung, marched to the border to take on the Cherusci.


Strangely, when we approached, the three Cherusci armies seemingly fled north, away from their capital of Treva. So we marched in and took the town with light casualties.





With Treva in our control, the Cherusci had to make a move. If they did not attack and try to get territory, they would slowly starve, especially as winter was rapidly approaching.





They did not make a move against Treva, but one of the larger armies did move south, so we jumped at the chance to take on the other two armies. Our first target was the smaller one. Because it was so small, we launched a night attack, giving them only an hour to form up and no time to call the other army to help them.





There was a moon outside and a light rain, so it was not complete darkness. Not to mention the torches that every unit carried, but regardless, we knew that the enemy was scared out of their minds.





They did have artillery though, so we had to close that gap quickly. Nevelung charged his men forward, under fire, to charge the scared and confused enemy lines






The enemy artillery did not manage to make much of a dent in our forces before we descended upon them, fury in our eyes and courage in our hearts.





Since we outnumbered them so greatly, Nevelung sent men behind the Cherusci lines.





This quickly caused a chain rout for many of their units, and our light cavalry chased down the fleeing Cherusci soldiers.






About then was when an enemy unit of light cavalry came out of the woods to surprise us. Nevelung charged with his bodyguards to intercept them.





In the center of the conflict was the enemy general. They were the last Cherusci infantry unit to hold out against us, but we knew they would not last long.





Then the enemy light cavalry unit somehow managed to slip away from Nevelung and hit our archers (who had replaced the javelin units who were so ineffective in previous battles) hard. Over half of one unit of archers was wiped out. But Nevelung soon came to their rescue, wiping out the enemy light cavalry unit.





The battle was won.





We had lost very few men in this battle, and we wiped out one of the armies which stood against us.





There was another Cherusci army right by our armies, and they fled when offered battle. We soon cornered them by the coast.





The clouds were clearing from the recent rain, making for a glorious day in which to slaughter the enemy. A little rain, but that was very insignificant.





We marched slowly towards them. We were in no rush, as they had no chance for reinforcements, and for a while we just stood near them, taunting and making sure they knew they would die today.





Eventually we charged.





A little bit of maneuvering brought our men behind them, shattering many of their units almost instantly.





Though our units had some tough fights.





Though our light cavalry had their work cut out for them, as they were chasing down routing units without rest during the battle.






When the final units were chased down and killed, we celebrated at the defeat of yet another Cherusci army with light losses.






With one final army left before the Cherusci were wiped out, were were preparing to move against them.





But it seems like the Frisii beat us to it. The Cherusci were gone, and for a couple of days it seemed like we would have a bit of breathing room.






We were proved wrong. The Rugii are approaching Treva in force, but that is not the real worry.





The real problem for us is the Helvetii. They are approaching our capital in force. Im not sure why we were worried about one army; now they brought two armies that are full of heavy infantry and artillery. I can only hope that our Quadi allies can come to our aid before we lose our capital to them.

[Scottish King]

Oooohhh!!! Your capital is in danger. Hopefully your allies can make it. Really like your screenies btw!

[hooahguy14]

Thanks! Yes, I am really hoping that I can fend off those two Helvetii armies. If they werent packed with heavy units I wouldnt be so nervous, but considering they have a lot of them I am not looking forward to that battle! I cant remember if the Quadi or the Helvetii take their turn before the other so Im hoping the Quadi can reinforce me before they attack. Or maybe they will go for that lone Quadi army first and then attack me. Hoping to get some reinforcements in. Maybe send the army defending Kelheim in if I have the time. Though its probably too late by now...

[hooahguy14]

Chapter Seven

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It only took three days for the Helvetii armies to arrive at Bergium. Our Quadi allies had not arrived so we were outnumbered and surrounded.





We deployed our forces. Siegfried, the general in charge of the garrison, deployed our forces to block off every avenue into our capital. Some lines were on the thinner side, and we hoped that they would hold. The wait was unbearable for the defenders. Seeing the Gallic hordes in the distance slowly approaching, knowing that many of them would not see the sun rise the next morning.





Finally they charged, screaming and yelling how they would slice all our heads off. Why the animosity towards us, I don’t know, but our job for the day began then.





We were not without support. Our longbow archers were behind our lines, firing as much as they could into the tightly packed hordes of Gallic warriors. They racked up hundreds of kills that day, to their credit.





To the north of town, the enemy was funneled into narrow roads, and were halted by only a couple of our units, although at great cost.





In another alley we fought hard against some light cavalry, quickly dispatching them. But were then held up by an elite unit of Gallic axemen who came to reinforce their cavalry, who prevented those couple of infantry units we had in that alley from coming around and flanking the huge number of enemies crammed into one street. It was a rather unfortunate thing, as it extended the length of the battle by a good amount of time, resulting in the death of hundreds more of our men.





Of course, our archers were hard at work, skewering enemies by the dozens with their well-placed shots.





On the other side of town, the defenders protecting the western side waited anxiously for the other Helvetii army to show up.





They didn’t have to wait long.





The battle had raged for over two hours now, and the battle on the eastern side was still raging, though the enemy showed signs of breaking.





And soon enough, one side of the Gallic eastern assault broke, and our men quickly took advantage of this, slamming into the flank of the other Gallic soldiers. It would not be long until the whole Helvetii eastern assault would break.





Meanwhile on the western side the battle raged. Siegfried took units defending the southern side to reinforce the huge amount of pressure that was being applied to the thin line defending the western side of town.





Back on the eastern side, the Gallic soldiers broke, and Siegfried chased them down with no mercy.





Around that time a cry went out: we had killed the Helvetii general! Felled by an arrow from our archers, they began to panic. Seizing upon this moment, our men pressed forward, chasing the fleeing enemies over piles of Helvetii bodies.





With all other sides clear of enemies, we threw everything at the flank of the huge number of enemies on the western side.





A chain rout began, and the slaughter began.





The Helvetii were exhausted, and our more than eager warriors hunted them down and gave them no quarter.





Our capital was chocked with dead bodies from both sides.






The cleanup would take days, but we had defended our capital, our sacred home, from the Gallic invaders who wanted to take it from us. But they failed, dying at our hands in the process. They would return to try again, I was sure of it, but for now we could rest easy in the coming weeks and months knowing that our capital was safe.





But one thing was sure: the birds of prey would eat very well tonight.





It was a great victory for us. We were outnumbered and by superior troops and we still came out on top. Our casualties were large, but not nearly the number we were expecting. We captured a large number of their men, and executed every last one of them. A message must be sent to our foes that anyone captured trying to take our homeland will have no quarter given to them.





And of the two large and powerful Helvetii armies which once stood testament to the power of our southern Gallic neighbors, one of them was completely wiped out, and the other went into hiding somewhere in the southern forests, undoubtedly doomed to fall to our Quadi allies.





With the Helvetii threat gone for the time being, we could turn our attention back north, where our Germanic brothers were not cooperating with our attempts to integrate them into our glorious future. And it looks like an opportunity just opened up to strike a blow to their stubbornness…

[hooahguy14]

Chapter Eight

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

We saw our chance in the late spring. We invaded the Rugii homeland, and found only one army in our way. We offered battle, and an honorable way for them to capitulate to us. But they fled, leaving their capital, Virunium, relatively undefended. So we took it.





After occupying and securing Virunium, we found a lone Rugii army cowering in a corner near what was once their capital, starving and demoralized. Their defeat came swiftly.





There were a couple more Rugii armies hanging around, most likely trying to make for the border and safer territories, and we made haste to offer battle. With nowhere else to go, the larger of the two accepted our offer. We outnumbered them greatly, so what they hoped to achieve I do not know, but we gladly took to the field.





We marched confidently towards our foe. We were very confident of victory.





Facing off against an enemy this weak almost made this seem like a sport for us.





That illusion was soon shattered when two hundred Rugii cavalrymen crashed into our right flank.





Elite Rugii infantry crashed into our center, killing dozens of our men just with their charge alone.






On our right flank our infantry was having trouble with the Rugii cavalry. Nevelung sent in our cavalry to help our men chase off the enemy.





The battle seemed to stall for a little bit, but then we managed to get around their flanks and charge.





While their cavalry managed to harm us in the right flank, their cavalry on our left flank wasn’t as successful.





After chasing off an unsuccessful cavalry charge, our men went to work on their infantry on the left flank.





Our archers also helped from the rear, raining arrows down on the Rugii.





And soon we managed to encircle the entire Rugii force.





The Rugii quickly folded, and the day was won!






We sustained a few losses, nothing too serious.





There was one last Rugii land army to deal with. They capitulated extremely quickly, with almost no losses for us. After all they were only about 800 men strong, and facing against an army of almost 3,000 angry Marcomanni warriors, I do not blame them for submitting so quickly.





With that, the Rugii threat was basically eliminated, with only one small Rugii fleet out at sea somewhere. So we could rest easy for now, and concentrate on what was going on around us. The Helveconae and the Arii were fighting between themselves, much to our advantage as the Helveconae will probably be our next target for reunification.





We have built a small fleet, our very first one for a very specific reason. Do you remember that Rugii fleet on the run from us? Well, we can’t just have them hanging around forever, can we?





Meanwhile, the Frisii have involved themselves somehow with the Iceni pretty heavily, so I suppose it is only a matter of time until we are dragged into that war.





So as our position in this world grows ever stronger, and as we unite more and more tribes under our banner, our enemies will grow in number. But we will prevail, as we have against the Helvetii (who are still licking their wounds from our last encounter), the Vindelici (gone), the Cherusci (gone), and now the Rugii (soon to be gone). No matter the foe, we will come out on top!

[hooahguy14]

Chapter Nine

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

With our war with the Rugii all but finished, we had to look to our next objective. Unfortunately that would not be so simple as it had been before.

The north was a mess. The Arii and the Helveconae were locked in an alliance and had large forces romping around the northern areas, doing whatever they wanted short of actually invading me. By our estimations there were well over eighteen thousand Arii and Helveconae warriors spread out over eight armies; a very formidable force to be dealt with should we attack. Not that we can really attack them at this point anyways: while we were on very good terms with both nations, they were firmly locked into their alliances, and it doesn’t seem like that will be easily broken. We could field only five armies, and we still had to defend the southern border with at least one army. I tried to get the Arii to break their alliance but they declined, even when we offered over 20,000 gold coins, a pretty decent fortune for any faction, large or small. We will try the Helveconae next, and we will see if they will break their alliance, as they are much smaller than the Arii and might need or want the money more than the Arii did. If they too refuse, we will have a major problem on our hands.





Though things were not all well on the home front as we were trying to figure out what to do; plague swept through one army, decimating them and preventing any action for a few months.





But with the bad news of the plague came some good news! The Frisii agreed to integrate with us! The first step into a truly united Germanic confederation!





Soon after we realized that they had an ongoing war with the Iceni. It took a lot of money but we managed to get the Iceni to halt their pending invasion of our newest town, Flevium. We also found out where the last Rugii fleet was hiding!





We managed to corner them on the coast and sink the last of the once proud Rugii, wiping them off the map for good. It was not a very hard fight, as they had been at sea for a very long time with minimal supplies, so they were exhausted and starving by the time we found them. In fact, we probably could have let them rot at sea until they fell prey to a storm or something. But I preferred our way, to dispatch them with our steel.


(


But with the Rugii “threat” gone, we still had the impending doom of over three large Iceni armies coming across the ocean. I know that we are at a rather uneasy peace with them, but at any moment they could just come and violently take towns away from us, just like they did so many years ago with the Suebi.


What is puzzling is that the Caledones, a northern tribe above the Iceni, declared war on us. We never had any contact with them before so I really have no idea why they declared war. We would deal with them in due time though, because a naval invasion is just beyond our reach for now.





But then the Arii went on the march, travelling through our lands towards the coast. I’m not sure where they are going, but they are at war with the Iceni so I can only assume that they are planning on travelling across the ocean to attack the Iceni at their home. But of course this leaves the Arii homelands wide open to attack, so perhaps this is an advantage for us? Time will tell, and in the meantime we will consolidate and prepare for the hard battles that are sure to come, whether our enemies are the Iceni, the Caledones, the Arii, or the Helveconae. I might not know what to do right now, but surely the Gods will show me the path to earn our proper seat among the greatest of nations.

[hooahguy14]

Chapter Ten

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Arii launched a large scale invasion of the Iceni lands, gaining ground and taking their capital and another town almost immediately. To be honest I was rather proud of them. They were holding their own in a large scale war and did not need assistance.





But this seemingly good news was overshadowed by much better news: the Quadi agreed to join our confederation! We absorbed all their lands and cities, including the formerly Roman city of Mediolanium.





The Helvetii were also dealt with in a rather anticlimactic way. They had recently busted their teeth against the forces of the Quadi so they were a shadow of what they were when they attacked our capital so many winters ago. Farabert led his army south and took Octoduris, the capital and only territory of the Helvetii, wiping out the thorn in our side forever.





With all the good news came a little bit of bad news: over the course of a few months, the tribes in the lands that the Arii invaded mounted a counter-attack and now the Arii were scrambling to react. It seems like the Arii bit off more than they could chew in this invasion. This might be a good thing for us because a weak Arii is an advantage for us.





It was then that our diplomatic scheming when into action. We knew that the Arii were hurting for money. The war with all the island tribes was bankrupting them, and they would do anything for financial help. And we would help them, short of actually helping them take over the islands. But this would come at a cost to them. The Helveconae were still hanging around our lands, not doing anything more than being a small threat. They had three armies and one settlement, ripe for the taking. But as mentioned before, we could not just go and declare war, because they were in a military alliance with the Arii. Had we declared war without breaking up that alliance, we would be facing the armies of the Arii and the Helveconae. Something we did not really want.


Then we got word of the Arii’s financial problems. We offered them 20,000 gold coins in exchange for them breaking their alliance with the Helveconae. They accepted, and we began to slowly move away from the Helveconae. First we began to starve them. They came to our cities asking for food when they could not find any in the fields. We turned them away, saying that we had no food for our own citizens. Of course this was a lie, but we hid our food stores well. Soon they began to head towards the coast, probably aiming to set sail towards friendlier lands.





It was then we struck with the full fury of our armies. Isolated and exhausted, they had no choice but to stand and fight. Two armies, one led by the veteran Nevelung and the other by his greener counterpart Karl, faced the single Helveconae army in battle.





For the first time in our history, we fielded the fearsome ballistae, capable of throwing stones long distances. We were very excited to field it, as it would make sieges much easier. No longer would we need to rely on scaling walls with ladders to capture cities, especially as we will soon have to take on the fearsome Romans and their heavily defended walled cities.





It was wonderful seeing our explosive shells knocking Helveconae warriors to the ground.





There was some fight still left in them though, as they slammed their cavalry into our left flank, but our men held firm.





In the meantime our main lines collided in the fury of thrown spears and swinging swords.





It was then that Nevelung’s forces came over the hill, and his cavalry charged into the Helveconae flank.





While Nevelung’s cavalry was making a royal mess of the Helveconae forces, Karl and his bodyguards charged to help our left flank with the Helveconae cavalry.





The fighting was fierce, though most of the bleeding was done by their men, thankfully.





After dealing with the Helveconae ranged units, our cavalry slammed into the rear of the Helveconae line.





After that it did not take long for us to claim victory.





We had almost annihilated the Helveconae army save for a small handful.





While not completely annihilated, that army was effectively gone. Still, we would have to ensure they were wiped out, but we had bigger problems. Three Helveconae armies had left their homeland over two years ago. We had just defeated one of them, and another one was surrounded by our forces. But where was the third army? Our scouts searched the area but could not find them. Did they make it to the coast and sail away? Or maybe they were lying in ambush somewhere, waiting to exact revenge for our actions. We did not know, but I had a feeling we would find out soon enough.

[hooahguy14]

Chapter Eleven

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Helveconae left their capital and only settlement, Setidava, wide open for attack. So we attacked. I sent one of the (former) Quadi generals with his force, mostly mercenaries, to take the town. They did, but with heavy casualties. It was a hard fight for them, but now the Helveconae no longer have a place to call home.





We then cornered one of the last two armies by the coast. They were trapped, and we were going to deliver the killing blow.





They were cornered against a cliff, with a large hill overlooking it. We set up along the hill, wanting to use the height to our advantage.





The Helveconae had a lot of cavalry, and they made numerous strikes against our main line, almost as if they were just testing our strength, as they pulled back almost immediately after charging.





Unfortunately for them though, our archers had them in range.





Eventually when they charged they got stuck in melee with our men, and we struck them down like the dogs that they were.





Then their infantry came up the hill. Now I just want to mention that our spies reported that this army was not just your average arrow fodder soldier that we have faced dozens of times. No, these men were hardened elite warriors who would chew up your average soldier and eat them for lunch. So hitting them at range was imperative before they could do too much damage.





And speaking of range, our cavalry was making a royal mess of the stray Helveconae ranged unit that strayed too far from the safety of friendly spearmen.





And when our cavalry was finished wiping out the enemy skirmishers and bowmen, they turned around and charged straight into the rear of the Helveconae infantry.





And while our cavalry was making a mess of the enemy ranged units, their infantry was making a mess of our infantry. In one section, their elite infantry wiped out an entire unit of veteran swordsmen, and were halfway through another one when our cavalry crashed into their flanks.





When those elite units broke, our cavalry chased them down with a vengeance.





The Helveconae were utterly defeated, with only a handful of survivors on their side, the rest being either killed or captured.





It was a great victory for us, though at quite a cost, considering how badly we outnumbered them. We had lost one unit of veteran swordsmen, and a few others had taken many casualties.





With that remained one final Helveconae army, who reappeared on the other side of a large forest bordering Belgae territory. Perhaps they were trying to cross into their lands for safety?





Whatever their plans were, they did not get the chance to enact them as the Helveconae general, who was the last member of their royal family, was assassinated in a coup by his own men. They did not want to fight anymore, and with their general dead, they surrendered peacefully to us. The Helveconae were no more.





We received word that the Roman faction led by Octavian had declared war on us! And it happened at an almost perfect time.





It was quite the folly on the Roman’s part; our scouts did not show any major Roman armies in the area, and they were rather vulnerable, with the Roman towns of Koria, Treverorum, and most importantly, the major city of Vesonto well within our reach. I have a feeling that the Romans would be regretting their decision soon. The war with the Helveconae was over and the Romans would feel the wrath of 17,000 veteran Germanic warriors bearing down on them!

[hooahguy14]

Chapter Twelve

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

With the declaration of war from Octavian’s Rome, our armies went on the offensive. We first took the very vulnerable town of Koria without a fight. There was no Roman garrison so we can only assume that they had given up the town even before they declared war. Koria had been a hotly contested town from the very beginning, changing hands almost every other year as it changed ownership from the Raeti to the Quadi to the Helvetii to the Romans, and then back and forth until map makers stopped listing the ownership of the town on their maps, as by the time the maps were distributed, the ownership probably changed by then. But now that it’s in our hands, we hope to keep it that way for a very long time.





As the map makers were feeling confident enough to label Koria as belonging to us, I, along with Karl, led two armies to assault the Roman fortified town of Vesonto.





We had multiple siege ballistae so we were feeling very confident as we launched our assault on the town. We did not thoroughly scout the surrounding areas so there might have been Roman armies lurking about that we did not know of. Even without reinforcements, the garrison posed a serious threat, as they had plenty of veteran legionaries who could do some serious damage.





But as we said before, we had powerful siege artillery, so we were not too worried.





We also had ladders to scale the walls with.





They had veteran legionaries on the walls so we had to whittle them down with our archers.





They delivered serious damage, as hundreds of arrows fell upon the hapless Roman defenders on the walls, stuck between raising their shields to protect themselves from the arrows and lowering them to protect themselves from our swords as we stormed the walls.





Some Romans even took the coward's way out and jumped off the walls instead of facing our warriors.





For the ones who decided to stay and fight, they faced our wrath as the walls became slick with the blood of Romans.





With the Roman units on the walls taken care of, the rest of our forces stormed the gaps in the wall created by our artillery. They soon encountered Roman resistance, which was scattered at first.





But enemy reinforcements soon arrived.





The reinforcements we faced were hardened soldiers, and even flanking them had little effect on the morale of the Romans. In fact, they just fought harder.





Both sides fought hard. It was a brutal fight, with both sides spilling a lot of blood. We had taken fewer than a dozen casualties taking the walls, but facing these soldiers, we lost hundreds of our men.





The Romans were blocking both paths to the city center, drawing out the bloody fight even longer. But finally we were able to flank the main body of the Roman resistance from behind.





Being pressed from all sides, even the Roman veterans crumbled in the face of our seasoned warriors.





Things were finally looking as if the battle was won, but then came another large group of Roman defenders, who came with vicious dogs who jumped at us and tried to tear our necks from our bodies. It was a shame that these dogs were bred for such a purpose, with no free will of their own, and it was with heavy hearts that we had to kill them along with their human masters.





Finally the Romans began to flee, and the city was ours!





The city was a mess. Besides having two large holes in the wall, the city was littered with dead bodies, and blood literally flowed down the street in some areas. Cleanup and repairs would take a long time.





It was a great victory though. We had lost barely over 600 men, and had annihilated the Roman garrison.





The Roman town of Treverorum also fell to us, with very light casualties. We had taken three Roman towns in the first month after the Romans declared war on us. The war was going very well, and still no sight of any major Roman armies! If the war continued like this, I would be shocked if the war lasted longer than a couple of years.





Meanwhile, our scouts found the city of Rome. The Roman faction led by Pompey had control of the famous city that our forefathers had conquered a century ago. That was a shame though, because we were on good terms with Pompey, though that was probably because of our war with his rival, Octavian.





Word of our victory over the Romans spread, and our confederation grew. The Arii, freshly kicked off the British Islands by the local tribes, had entered the fold of our glorious confederation of Germanic brothers.





The Nahanarvali, who were in a war with Dacia, also joined our confederation on the condition that they ended the war with Dacia, who we were on good terms with.





Finally, the last holdout were the Helisii. They were fiercely independent, but with a bit of coaxing they joined us as well.





With the Helisii in our confederation, the Germanic tribes were finally united under one banner. We have not been this strong since the times of Chlodochar! That first battle with the Vindelici which started our whole rise to greatness seemed like it happened so long ago!


But with the tribes united, others feel rightly threatened by us. After all, we were one of the largest and strongest powers in the region. Everyone in the past who faced us ended up dead, so for a reason I cannot fathom, the Gauls declared war on us, who were joined by their allies, the Belgae, who we had tense relations with for decades now.





But that was not the worst news to come: the Caledones, a British tribe who declared war on us a few years back but never acted on it, had attacked and taken the town of Flevium! The town’s garrison fell quickly to the combined Caledones forces and everyone was slaughtered.







I was incensed! The Caledones would pay for this with their blood! We would spill their guts over the graves of our brothers and sisters! There would be no rest until their blood is avenged, and the Caledones will rue the day they stepped foot onto our shores!