Bosporos - Ripping at the seams... AAR

[Pelican Man]

Bosporos
Settings: H/H
V 2.01
CAI 3A
BAI 1.0
Character Traits fix
Nudity patch

Let’s begin.

Bosporos sure has a great position to start with especially since it is connected to the water. But, it is also surrounded by the Sauromatae. There are two cities that buffer us, and if they are taken by them, I could be pinned.

After looking at my defensive position, I feel that taking Skythiapolis would be a best option because they would have to go through that in order to reach my capitol. I can leave Paniardis to the North East alone since I have defensive points by my capitol with the river crossings and since Sauromatae love their tiny ponies I have no problem having Hoplites close at hand blocking them.

Turn 0 (start)


In order for me to take Skythaipolis, I felt I needed some much needed trade established, and what better way to do so by taking Chersonesos. So I took my faction leader with 5 hops, one cavalry unit and 3 sets of archers and went right to their army roaming the land.

End result, I cleaned them up quick since it was just horse archers. I moved from there to their capitol and layed siege. I was hoping for them to sally, but they didn’t, so I starved them out until finally sallied forth and played the defensive position.

The Battle of Chernsonesos

It was definitely a good battle because the enemy General didn’t suicide; in previous BAI, the general would go right at my soldiers, and poof…. Cav vs Hoplites… yeah…. Almost buddy.

I took my position on a hill while leaving my Cav unit to deal with the horse archers that would be trailing my hops and I successfully made it to the hill without losing too many of them. I set them up to have gaps in between them. Three units in the front, one unit behind the left flank and my General took care of the right flank.

After they somewhat decimated my cav unit (lost about 40% of them), they approached my army in a condensed formation and charged at my Left Flank (WOO HOO!!). My Left flank held well since I used my center and left Hops to engage, while my rear left flank Hops swooped around and took their left flank and pinned them.

My Archers exchanged arrows with their archers, but due to the hill, I was able to cause more damage. My right flank came forward and swooped around hoping to entice their general to hit their back (which he did!). My plan worked well, and that unit I put on guard mode so they can keep formation and deal with both sides of attack.

I swooped my General around the back of their General and slowly but surely I started to gain an advantage as their troops were becoming uncertain. I may have been a bit thin encircling them, but they held well and it was only a matter of time before their General died that they would flee.

In the meantime, My Cavalry unit which finally rallied, charged at their archers and pinned them so my archers changed their attention to the center of the fight.

They fired away and slowly but surely their #’s dwindled and boom! The video comes on… Their General died valiantly, but in the end, died. At that moment, EVERY unit routed.

I ended the battle right there since there was no use chasing all of them down. The city of Chernsonesos was mine.
The campaign lasted 2 years and my economy was 5K in the red, SO I decided to hold off on taking Skythaipolis for the time being. I sent a Spy to survey the land north of it just to make sure I don’t see any incoming armies attempting to take the city.

During the siege, I have setup trade agreements with the Sauromatae, Hayasden, Pergamon, Epeiros, Macedonians & the greeks.
I had a hard time getting an alliance with anybody, so I decided just to stick with a defensive strategy for the beginning and making sure my lands were safe. In the meantime, I made sure I would at least get trade agreements and bring back my economy to green.
2 years past, and I was nicely in the green and ready for expansion.

My Next Target: Skythiapolis. I felt that was by far, my most important target since it was a key to my strategy. I would get the nice horse archers and foot archers from the Nomadic Tribes. That way, I could hold it with Hops and Foot archers with ease, and use the Horse Archers for my campaign towards the West.

Also during that time, the Sauromatae went ahead and took Paniardis, which pretty much blocked me off from going on foot for the eastern cities around the Black Sea.

I feel tension in the air. They aren’t threatening me yet, but they sure like to hang around my borders teasing me as if they think they can invade anytime they want. They are right. They can invade me ALL they like, I will stop them.

Skythiapolis was lightly defended; 5 hops and two sets of archers. It was a battle that I thought would go easily.

I sent my new General at the ripe age of 16 which had GREAT traits, and was I ever happy to get him to grow. Was I ever wrong; I thought that my four hops, 3 archers and General would take it easily, but that was not the case.

It was a blood bath; I had to rally two units of my Hops THREE TIMES!!!! It didn’t help that my General who was coming around the back flank to help out those units which were ready to break got stuck, and I couldn’t get him to move. Once those two units of hops started to route, I was able to get him to move. FINALLY! I rallied them, and they hit the back and the enemy was attacked on both sides. I ran out of Ammo from my archers, and at times I sent them in to attack just to keep the #’s up.

In the end, of the 1300 troops I sent against 1400 there were, I lost 600 men and won a Pyrrhic victory. I didn’t expect to lose so many, but I guess with a fresh General, I should have taken that into consideration.

Turn 16 (4 years)



I settled in and decided to build up my economy for the next 4 years or so before I started off to solidify my Nation.
I made all the necessary upgrades and schools for when the younger Generals would grow up so that I can pick and choose who would be a Fighter, and who would be a Governor.

When time passed, I was already into the game about 10 years (40 turns) and Sauromatae kept growing FAST. They ended up taking Kutatisi in the east @ TURN 16!!!! They were definitely pushing, and also made an alliance with Pahlava. After seeing that, I knew my time was short before I would see the wrath of the horseman. But I will show them the meaning of the Headless Horseman…

I put my attention to Olbia in the west. Once I would take that, I could go south and take Histria and build my empire to be connected by sea with the ease of reinforcing it by ship.

I put together an army similar to the one that I took Skythiapolis with (fresh troops inserted and the troops from that fight were e grouped together) and marched towards Olbia.

The fight was too easy; I took the city with only 70 lost. The army balance was 1:1, but my troops which had +2 valor made easy work of them and I plainly outflanked them in a timely manner so that they would all break at once. My young General was blooded, and had confident troops, so he was gaining respect.

Turn 44 (11 Years)



Once I took that city, I bordered with Getai, and all of a sudden, a diplomat decided to visit me from them.
Alliance + Trade Rights.

My standing: I was a Reliable faction, so I pushed the envelope a little futher…

Alliance + Trade Rights + Military access(both) + Map info (both) + 200 coin(from me) + 200x15 turns tribute (from me).
THEY ACCEPTED.
BOOM. I know that we will have a great relationship from there forth. Bosporos has become a power no longer considered as a minnow, but now atleast a Muskie. ; ) One day, I will be the Great White Shark.

I was now at Turn 50 when I realized, I was playing for 3 hours and I would only get 4 hours of sleep before getting up for work. Haha
I decided to end it there and go to bed with a smile and consider my options going forward.

Let me know your thoughts!

Thanks!

THE P-MAN (don’t ask. lol)

p.s.
I will make some screenshots from this time forward. Sorry about that!

[malibu.stacey]

A good read, P-Man (no, I won´t ask :p), and a good faction choice. Bosporus certainly has a very interesting position and things get interesting very fast (especially if you have a 7 full stack sauro horde stomping through your little kingdom, like I had today), so that should make for a nice AAR.

Keep it up!

[Pelican Man]

Just completed 30 more turns.... will update in the morning... Tired!!!!!!

[V.T. Marvin]

Nice AAR - looking forward to the next chapter!

BTW - how do you generate the nice maps you have there? They provide really good picture on what's going on in your neighbourhood. I love them!

[Pelican Man]

Nice AAR - looking forward to the next chapter!

BTW - how do you generate the nice maps you have there? They provide really good picture on what's going on in your neighbourhood. I love them!

i use the paintable map and then convert it to PDF and then further add my other notes (army locations, watchtower locations, etc) with Bluebeam Software. Then I use an online conversion for PDF to JPG so it is clear. Bluebeam doesn't export a good JPG so I went online to do it.

Dude, I love telling stories about my campaigns. I did the same in EB1. I'm sure I could find it somewhere.... I had some great ones with tips and tricks for Casse. I'll show a link to it as soon as I find it.

Boooooya

THE P-MAN

EDIT:
It seems all my AAR's and guides got deleted in the EBI Forum. poo. They were awesome!

[mr mojo risin]

a good read , look forward to more.

[Pelican Man]

Part 2 – Restructure the Economy / Prepare for WAR

After that long night of playing, I had a good sleep and before falling asleep, I had to make some decisions on how am I to go forward.

After reviewing my situation, nothing has really changed from Turn 44 to Turn 50. I see that the Macedonians are attempting to expand gradually, and they are definitely flexing their muscle, but so far, they have not entered my lands. They sure like to sit on the border though…

I decided to do some restructuring and build up my economy. I see that I wasn’t too much of a threat, so I started building and disbanding some useless mercenary infantry. I sat back and clicked end turn a good 40 times and watch the world develop and survey the lands around me. I was properly set up for defense and happy with my situation.

Then, a diplomat decided to visit me… the Macedonians. They offered Alliance, and I refused. I had amiable relations with Getai and we both were holding a decent position and I felt that one of us will be threatened by them sooner or later due to their gradual expansion. We held a line from the Black Sea to the Adriatic Sea.

For the next 40 turns, I continued to develop my economy. During that time, Pergamon took Byzantium and started to show some life. The Macedonians were Crushing the Greeks, and the Romans were doing the same with the Carthaginians.
I established a great economy and I was ready for anything.

It is now Turn 70, and the Map currently looks like this:



I then decided that I would like to expand into Southeastern Europe (Turkey) and grab a foothold there just in case I would like to expand there one day and go for the dominance of the Black Sea. So my target was Sinope.

The City has already defended against numerous attacks and held firm. Well, they haven’t met me. I then proceeded with sending a spy there, and survey the situation. In order for me to Control the Black Sea, I needed a Navy, so it was time for me to build a Navy. I built 3 Triemes and moved my army from Histria and sail to new lands.

I sieged the City right before the Sauromatae could with their army. So they just watched as I laid siege.

After a few turns, they sallied out and I crushed them. It was truly no match. I think I lost 40 units in total. No need for a Battle Report.

I then began to build specific armies for certain Situations. I began to see that the Macedonians were moving closer and closer to Getai and realized that they found my ally weak. They were being underestimated. I would make sure that they would not be touched so knowing that the Getai would be threatened, I made sure that my army in Histria was made up of Fast Horse Archers and Foot Archers, with Hops as the front line.

10 more years passed and I rearranged my armies with great results. The following are the makeups of my armies:

Northern Borders with Sauromatae:

9 Hops
4 Sauromatae Foot Archers
2 Horse Archers
1 Cavalry
1-2 Generals

Western Borders with Getai and the Macedonians:

3 Hops
2 Swordsman
4 Sauromatae Foot Archers
4 Horse Archers
1 General

Southern Borders with Pontic and Pergamon:

2 Hops
2 Swordsman
4 Sauromatae Foot Archers
2 Horse Archers
2 Generals

Turn 80 looks like this:



As you can see, Epeiros has long lost the Italy foothold but they have expanded to Southern Greece, so they are still doing ok (surprised TBH).
Macedonia has taken the last buffer city between us and Getai, so preparation for an invasion needs to be done.

The Romans are continuing to kick butt, which means I will have to somehow deal with them, but that probably won’t be for another 100 turns.
The next 40 turns would probably be the most crucial in the development of the Power of Bosporus and their strongest Ally, the Getai.

I then saw an opportunity for both Bosporus and Getai.

Klepidava.

The city is located northwest of Olbia and connects both Getai & Bosporus.

I quickly queued up 4 hops at the capitol and swung my Navy to go and Pick them up. I queued up Sauromatae Archers at Skythiapolis and made sure they would go to Olbia. I had a fresh young General who had a lot of promise and decided he would lead the charge.

Luckily, it was winter when I made the decision so the army was made quickly. Two turns later, My army began its march on Klepidava from Olbia with the following army makeup:

4 Hops
3 Sauromatae Archers
1 Lugo Light Spearman
1 General

The city itself defended a few Lugo attacks, so it was not as difficult to take. It did have 7 Units of Horse Archers with 4 valor each, and some foot soldiers and skirmishers + the General (Horse Archer Unit).

I clicked to attack the city and it would take 2 Turns to reach it. End Turn.

AND THAT IS WHEN THE POO HIT THE FAN.

The Macedonians declared war. They marched into Getai Territory and defeated a small army of the Getai.

I had to do something.

I hired 4 units of Horse Archers outside of the city of Histria and sent them directly to help defend Argedava (the city beside Histria).

I then laid siege on Klepidava and clicked end turn hoping that the Macedonians would gather their armies and not yet march on Argedava.

Knowing that the army in Klepidava would sally once I Sieged it since it outnumbered me 2 to 1, I had to devise a plan before I clicked end turn.

The Siege of Klepidava

Since the city had Stone Walls, I knew that I could rush my Hops in AS FAST AS POSSIBLE to the entrance where the walls have a Shape of a U and the door would be at the back. That way, when the army comes out, I could pin them there with my hops and just fire away in the center with all my archers.

SO here is a visual of the beginning of the battle:



I was able to do my plan since their army setup exactly what I thought it would. Their archers did get up on the walls (which surprised me!) and did quite a bit of damage, but I expected some damage to be taken.

It was quite bloody, but my hops defeated the horses and the Lugo Light Spearman did a fantastic job with working their left flank. My concern was that they would break, so I made sure my General was close at hand.

After I routed a few horse archers, the rest followed suit; the General stayed, but not for long since my General beat his ***. I quickly ran in and sent my lugo Light Spearman on one side of the wall to take care of the archer unit, and another depleted force of hops to pin the other archer unit. The street battle was by far the easiest; all I had to do was push with my hops and soon enough, the battle was over.
I gained the city that I think will play a major role in the war to come against Macedonia.

Here is the situation at turn 90:


Right after the battle, I had my diplomat setup right beside Argedova and did what I thought would strengthen our position.
The Getai couldn’t lose Argedova because then they would have penetrated the line, and they needed a backup.

I treated with my allies, and offered them us Attacking Macedonia.
I also added one more thing: the city of Klepidava.

They were ecstatic. Our relations went from Amiable to Good and the Alliance further solidified.
I quickly marched my army towards our borders with the Macedonians, and ended the turn.

Here is the situation at turn 91



And then, the wife called me upstairs. lol

I ended it there with the tension and excitement still in the air…. It was the hardest thing to do. Haha
Happy wife, Happy Life!!!

I hope you enjoyed this as I have. I will most likely have an update on Tuesday / Wednesday.

Feel free to tell me your thoughts and suggestions.

Thank you very much!

THE P-MAN

[Ehrmahgehrden]

Congratulations, this seems to be a great AAR, but wouldn't it have been a better idea to first take Skythiapolis and then the settlement Northeast of your capital (which was then taken by the Sarmatian hordes) instead of the region that is West to your capital ?

It would've given you sea access and also a border with the Sarmatans, which (provided that you sued for trade rights with them) would grant you a nice sum of money each turn.
It also would've sort of cut off Sarmatians from the Caucasus, so the city in the Southwesternmost of the Caucasus (which was also taken by the Sarmatians) could be conquered with relative ease, and also before anyone'd massacre all the precious Greek population in the city.

What's your stance on this ?

[Nerva]

Great AAR P-Man, just a little detail, its the Black Sea not the Baltic

[Pelican Man]

Great AAR P-Man, just a little detail, its the Black Sea not the Baltic

lol Yeah, I must have been thinking about the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth (baltic to the Black Sea). lol

I edited it to reflect the true info. Thanks Nerva!

Congratulations, this seems to be a great AAR, but wouldn't it have been a better idea to first take Skythiapolis and then the settlement Northeast of your capital (which was then taken by the Sarmatian hordes) instead of the region that is West to your capital ?

It would've given you sea access and also a border with the Sarmatans, which (provided that you sued for trade rights with them) would grant you a nice sum of money each turn.
It also would've sort of cut off Sarmatians from the Caucasus, so the city in the Southwesternmost of the Caucasus (which was also taken by the Sarmatians) could be conquered with relative ease, and also before anyone'd massacre all the precious Greek population in the city.

What's your stance on this ?

I went with a more realistic point of view. I could have gone east, but I wanted to develop a relationship with the Getai. I felt that a strong alliance with a semi-barbaric Nation would help further my cause.

Also add in the fact that IF Sauromatae were to invade from the North East, they would have a hell of a time (two river crossings!!!). My Hops would eat those horseman alive.... My North West City would at least be a buffer zone to give me enough time to prepare a counter attack.

Imagine I did go with the eastern City.... They could possibly run out of room and feel the need to push south sooner.... THEN I would be truly screwed.

Let them go South... the moment they run into the Selucids, they will just perish.... too many decent spearman against Horse Archers....

As for trade rights, that was taken care of before the first end turn.

I Also wanted one more aspect in the game for me.... one more variable... A CHALLENGE. I find most TW Games easy, and frankly, I'm tired of rinse and repeat. I want a challenge... I want tension and excitement to defend and attack at the same time!!! And that is what I feel I am achieving regarding the (possible) defense against Sauramatae and the attack against the Macedonians.

I hope you can understand why now...

BOOOOOYA

THE P-MAN

[Nerva]

I like you P-Man, your style resembles mine a lot

[Wulfburk]

Looking good mate! But maybe some in game pics?

[Pelican Man]

I had some in game pics, and I planned on releasing them at the next chapter which was titled WAR. We and the Getai were getting attacked, and Getai was getting pushed back, so I did what I thought would be best for them not to spam troops (this was Sunday). I launched an attack against mainland Greece to burn and pillage ALL of their cities. I took my best troops and went on a ship and went first for their capitol. I didn't even plan on keeping any cities either.... Then I ended the night with a pint and went to bed.

Last night, I decided to take a break from the campaign and write up the next chapter... until that itch came to me and I decided to go ahead and start a Sweboz campaign for the hell of it....

Well, that is where the downfall started.... I ended the night with taking over the southern and northern cities of the capitol, and saved the game.... 4 pints in.... and saved over my Bosporus campaign.

My face went like this:


I couldn't believe what I did.

I'm sorry guys, but it seems the campaign is lost.

I will try and make up for it with a future Numidian Campaign or the current one....

THE P-MAN

[mr mojo risin]

I had some in game pics, and I planned on releasing them at the next chapter which was titled WAR. We and the Getai were getting attacked, and Getai was getting pushed back, so I did what I thought would be best for them not to spam troops (this was Sunday). I launched an attack against mainland Greece to burn and pillage ALL of their cities. I took my best troops and went on a ship and went first for their capitol. I didn't even plan on keeping any cities either.... Then I ended the night with a pint and went to bed.

Last night, I decided to take a break from the campaign and write up the next chapter... until that itch came to me and I decided to go ahead and start a Sweboz campaign for the hell of it....

Well, that is where the downfall started.... I ended the night with taking over the southern and northern cities of the capitol, and saved the game.... 4 pints in.... and saved over my Bosporus campaign.

My face went like this:


I couldn't believe what I did.

I'm sorry guys, but it seems the campaign is lost.

I will try and make up for it with a future Numidian Campaign or the current one....

THE P-MAN

lol

[Pelican Man]

lol

It was the BOOOZE!! lol

not funny mojo... not funny.

; )

[get_rhythm]

Nice read. Did you make all of those maps from scratch or is there a template somewhere?

[Pelican Man]

Nice read. Did you make all of those maps from scratch or is there a template somewhere?

There is a template. As for modifying them, I used paint (to fill in the progress of the campaign). Then I changed it to a PDF so that I could do further modification by adding where troops are stationed and add some more info. I then converted it back to an image and uploaded it to a site so that I could link it here.

BOOM!

I wish I still had that campaign!

[Darkan]

This is the exact same reason why I now keep one or two additional saves for each important campaign.
I hope you'll start another one whenever you have the time. I know writing things up takes more than you would think at first.

Cheers!

[Pelican Man]

This is the exact same reason why I now keep one or two additional saves for each important campaign.
I hope you'll start another one whenever you have the time. I know writing things up takes more than you would think at first.

Cheers!

I'm in the process of starting one up.... though I do not know which one to start as.... I might start a poll if I can't decide

[Darkan]

Maybe Arevaci? Interesting position, Lussotanan and Carthage as well as Gauls to the north later. Plenty of RP possibilities...