Rise of Rome, (Divide et Imperia) AAR

[Lord of the Wall]

Chapter One

The year was 278 BC and the Republic of Rome was at war with the Etruscans of Etruria to the north and their Epeiros allies in the heel of Italia, holding the city of Taras and Apollonia across the Mare Ionium. Diplomacy between Etruria, Epeiros and Rome had been stagnant for decades before it began to slowly crack as Rome expanded and swallowed its small neighbors through diplomacy and war. However, in the end a single senator wrong for the post of diplomat brought war to Italia.



Chosen to lead one of the two Legions at Rome’s command was Gaius Fabricius Luscinius Monocularis. Gaius Luscinius led Legio II Adiutrix. At forty-four he felt the weight of his nations survival on his shoulders, pressured by the senate, he began to raise an army in Cosentia. He had no time for proper trained soldiers though and focused on scraping together a militia to defend the Republic he loved. In truth, he liked the pressure and the prospect of war thrilled him.



As the clever strategist he was he marched at Taras and besieged it, thereby tricking Epeiros to counterattack his position. The two sides skirmishes for a few days before he feigned a retreat a few kilometers back towards the border. The Epeiros thought him beaten and the general commanded the army to set sail across the Mare Ionium to Apollonia. Scouts informed Gaius Luscinius about their departure and he force-marched to Taras and took it in a surprise assault at dawn. He looted the city for a good amount of wealth and settled in to expected a counterattack, however, the advantages was his now. Back in the senate the senators cheered and congratulated him on securing southern Italia. With some bribes from his wife Pompeia Gamella the senate threw a few honors on him and a Junia senator gifted him an estate on the hills outside Roma’s walls.

Back in Roma proper Legio I Apollinaris was recruiting an army of Hastati, Principalities and Triarii, all of it under Quintus Aemilius Papus. While he was not of as high birth as Gaius Luscinius that was of the Nobiles, which meant that a family member had achieved consul status, it in this case being the man himself. Quintus Papus was of the Patricii, which was still a high status in the aristocracy of Rome. The Patricii were those in the ruling class of society.



He then led his the I Legion north into Etruria and raided the countryside, killing, enslaving and raping the local people. Etruscan General Lucius left Arretium to defense his people. Quintus Papus formed his men into a Manipular formation and patiently waited for the Etruscans and then advanced his left flank and encircled them. he then pursued the fleeing army and slaughtered or enslaved them. His next move was to assault Arretium’s weakened defenses. It was noted by an officer that Legio I was itself weakened by grave losses in the two previous battles. Despite the worries of one officer, on that summer day in 277 BC I Legion scored an easy victory and laid low the Etruscans and annexed their lands into a greater Rome. The captured survivors he and his men sold into slaver but the citizens of Arretium was spared. Quintus Papus’s reasoning was that they had themselves had done his homeland no harm and he saw no reason to needlessly harm them. A man like Gaius Luscinius would have arched an eyebrow in amusement at just a gesture. The Gaulic tribes of northern Italia stood between Rome’s two legions and an Italia united under Roman domination.

Gaius Luscinius had ones said of him, “For all his earned honors as a true son and defender of Rome, he has a significant weakness. His own intellect, his archaic way of thinking.” What he referred to was that the Pro-Consul refused to use lesser soldiers, meaning men of non-Roman birth or of lesser equipment then disciplined men like the young Hastati. Of Gaius Luscinius Pro-Consul Quintus Papus said, in 279 BC, “Our dear Gaius has never seen a war he has not desired to fight.”
Senator Braetanius had responded, “What did you expect when you name a dog, Consul?” It should be noted however that the good senator was amongst those who cheered Gaius Luscinius when he took Taras and after subtle bribes from his wife he gifted him an estate.

[Alwyn]

Welcome to TWC and to the Writers' Study!

Good start, I like the way that you explore the backgrounds of your commanders and the effects of their ways of thinking (for example on the kinds of soldiers they recruit). It sounds like the First Legion are led by a brutal but effective general. I wonder what challenges are ahead for Rome.

[Skotos of Sinope]

Welcome, Lord of the Wall!

And I agree with Alwyn, a good start. Looking forward to more. BTW, I think you're going to be very happy when the DeI Rise of the Republic overhaul is completed. (I'm going to be switching my Tarchuna/Etruscan League AAR over to DeI when that happens.) You have great taste in mods, I must say.

[Lord of the Wall]

Chapter Two

Start of the First Punic War

On his return to Roma proper II Legion recruited a second unit of Leves, poorly armored javelin throwers, a unit of archers from Sardinia and two units of auxiliary cavalry. He knew as much as any Roman commander that they lacked the efficiency of the cavalry utilized by barbarians in, for example, Gaul. Therefor foreigners was brought in and Romanized with effective Roman equipment and training. He also trained Hastati, Principes and Triarii. It would take him the better part of two years to conclude the recruitment process. In 255 his wife Pompeia Gamella gave birth to their first child, Gaius Fabricius Glabrio. Gaius Luscinius did not sit idle in these years of waiting, for he argued in the senate that more threats to Rome had to be dealt with before they became threats. His constant opponent in this was Quintus Papus who argued for a prosperous peace to grow. Finally in 254 the senate voted for a foothold on Sicilia and sent the II and I Legions to conquer the city of Syracuse. When setting up a temporary night camp outside Cosentia word reached Gaius Luscinius that his wife had given him a second son, Aulus Fabricius Varro. In Ariminum a third legion was raised by the senate’s command. Legio III Fretensis was under the command of Lucius Calpurnius, a a young man that had risen up the ranks from the Plebes.



The threat was that of a pirate fleet that journeyed up the eastern coast of Rome. Around this time Pompeia Gamella gave birth to a daughter after a short visit to her husband.
The siege of Syracuse lasted for a year before the two legions stormed its battlements and added the city and tis surrounding province to Rome, however, just less then half the soldiers that partook perished and Quintus Papus took the opportunity to blame Gaius Luscinius, though he lacked the support in the senate and would regret his condemnation when his legion was chosen to remain and stabilize the new province and Gaius Luscinius and his II Legion would march back to Roma. As the commander that oversaw the capture of Syracuse a triumph would be held in his honor, leaving Quintus Papus completely out of it.



The cheers were short-lived however for Carthage declared war upon Rome. All knew that only one of them could be the ruler of the Mediterranean and for as long as anyone could remember it had been Carthage, but in recent decades Rome had threatened their economic and military supremacy. The islands of Corsica, Sardinia, the Balearic Islands and Sicily had allowed them to dominate trade for generations. Gaius Luscinius puzzled together a full legion out of I and II and marched upon the Carthaginian port town of Akragas. Quintus Papus began the long march back to Roma to refill the ranks. When he would finally march south again he and Gaius Luscinius expected III Legion to join him.




He divided his infantry into three formations, each with two units of Hastati in front and two units of Principe in the second row. The left formation had a unit of Romanized Hoplites from Taras. He assembled his cavalry at his back as a force to response to opportunities.



The Leves and Sardinian archers was sent forth to provoke the Carthaginian local commander.



Luckily for him the local commander was hotheaded and quickly commanded his men to advance and from the rear Gaius Luscinius watched the clashing of bronze swords and plates and shields. He sent commands by riders to maneuver his infantry about.



The right flank infantry moved into the town and spun left to find themselves facing the rear of the Carthaginian lines. They charged at them and pinned them in place for a massacre.



On the left the Roman cavalry cut down the Carthaginian javelin-men with ease until the local commander led his heavy horse into the fray and gained some temporary security for them. however, when the Roman cavalry commander withdrew he returned to command his ill-battered main force and it left the ranged forces that remained as open game for the Romans.



With generally light casualties II Legion came out victorious. The garrison forces that surrendered was put to the sword and he turned his gaze on the last Carthaginian holdout on Sicily. If only he could seize it before reinforcements arrived from North Africa. In his letter to the senate he advised Akragas to be made the main Roman naval port. From their a mighty navy could beat Carthage at sea. In summer of 271 II Legion crushed rebellions around Syracuse as Carthage took Akragas but lacking forces to garrison it they liberated it and left them to fend for themselves with Carthaginian arms and gold. Upon Gaius Luscinius’s return to the city he put it to the torch and the garrison’s survivors and a third of the citizens was crucified or simply died in the massacre. He wanted to show what happened to those that refused Rome, those that rose against her might a second time.
Back home General Lucius Calpurnius was relieved of command of III Legion after his many rabble rousing speeches in Roma. The plebe-turned general angered the masses against the upper classes of society and the senate acted swiftly by stripping him command of the small III Legion. The young man swore that one day they would need him and then he would revel in it. the senators scoffed and dismissed his furious claims. His speeches continued though, but the people of the Latium and Italia regions lived well and most dismissed him, especially after he was himself dismissed from his command. He did however, find an unlikely political ally in Quintus Papus. The skilled general of I Legion was frustrated over the senators himself. They had recently began to casually discuss threats and expansion after the war against Carthage.

The Greek City-state of Ardiaei offered Rome a defensive alliance. In the senate they debated their response for weeks before they concluded that they agreed, thinking that mayhaps the Greeks of Ardiaei would send men, however they did not anticipate that they would ever be required to put a legion on Greece to do the same. It would not be until 270 that further progress was made by either Rome or Carthage in the war. Spies informed Gaius Luscinius that the Carthaginian had sailed from Panormos and the warrior general saw an opening and marched his weakened legion there. Due to a manpower shortage his legion was greatly weakened from quashing rebellion on Sicily. At Panormos he-like the First Battle of Akragas-he outmaneuvered his foe and claimed victory with low casualties.

Quintus Papus chose to change his plans as the province named Sikelia laid under Roman control thanks to II Legion. He prepared to sail to take the island of Corsica for Carthage. These plans changed a month later when a message arrived that Gaius Luscinius required assistance. Akragas had fallen to Carthage and then been captured by rebels, Panormos was burning and rebels had risen near Syracuse. Mere months after the message had been received Carthage sacked and reclaimed Panormos.
In the more peaceful setting of Roma Pompeia Gamella adopted a young woman named Pontia into the family and she soon married a politician named Gaius Sittius Triarius. He was a youth of twenty-five, three years younger then Pontia.



On word from Gaius Luscinius Pompeia Gamella arranged to grant Gaius Triarius a post as admiral. He would command the first proper fleet of Roma, Classis I Ravennas.
Once I and II Legions traveled together the Greek rebels in Syracuse were crucified and Akragas fell swiftly thereafter and anyone captured was executed on mass and the town was looted for all it was worth. Panormos suffered a similar fate and in that year of 268 BC Gaius Luscinius breathed a sigh of relief. He had grown frustrated and tired of Sicily years ago by that point.

It was in spring the following year that Carthage chose to send their main army to attack and take Panormos. They faced the I Legion in a bloody urban battle in the streets of Panormos itself. It was a total success for Quintus Papus and when the Carthaginian retreated by ship the fleet under Gaius Triarius.
With victory achieved at Panormos Rome’s military leaders agreed that finally it was time to take the offensive against Carthage outside of Sicily. The main army of Carthage had been destroyed and it was finally time for the war to be waged outside of ravaged island of Sicily. It was decided that the fleet of Gaius Triarius and Gaius Luscinius’s II Legion would sail for Sardinia and from Roma the men of the IV Legion (formerly the III under Lucius Calpurnius) would finally get the opportunity to prove itself in battle as it sailed for Corsica to assault the port town of Alalia. It was commanded by General
Plans were also made for an assault on Carthage itself, not to capture it but to burn the city to ash and crush their economic might. The I Legion would remain in Sicily and defend Akragas and Panormos and Syracuse if needed, but at this point Carthage had not attempted to assail her walls.
Sardinia fell to Rome after a naval engagement outside its harbor that was followed up by a land assault. Gaius Luscinius did not celebrate his victory however, as news arrived from home that his young son Aulus Varro had died in pneumonia. Furthermore a Carthaginian fleet assaulted the recently conquered Karalis and Admiral Gaius Triarius went down with his ship. However, the Carthaginian admiral, an old man named Siripo, feared that II Legion waited nearby and would not let his men ashore and assail the minor garrison in sight of them. Siripo had seen enough ships of his people burned through the Sicilian campaigns since the war began. What he could not have know was that Gaius Luscinius was out of positon with his legion and his son-in-law the late Gaius Triarius and the local garrison commander stood between Siripo and retaking Sardinia. That commander was a Plebe named Agrippa Luscinius, commanding less then twenty Roman veteran officers and two hundred poorly armed volunteers. As he later wrote in his own notes, “It would have been a walkover if they landed they men. My men and I would have been slaughtered. Praise the gods for the Carthaginians foolery.”




The ships that remained of Gaius Triarius’s fleet, Classis I Ravennas, sailed for Corsica with what was left and a new admiral was chosen. Due to necessity rather then choice Lucius Calpurnius became the next admiral. He had indeed promised years ago that he would be needed and it was an arrogant man that sailed from Roma to assume command, a pleased and smug man. His support among the people of Roma grew when his claims that they would need him came true.
Back home in Roma the senate desired the war to end. With Sardinia, Sicily and soon Corsica under their boot they had a good footing to displace Carthage as the great mercantile and naval power in the Mediterranean. Over the last year they have grown to believe that the only way to end the war was by taking Carthage itself, conquer their capital and crush their economical capability to wage war. Senator Braetanius had stepped out of the shadows of greater men and to become the leading man among the senators that desired a final push for Carthage itself to end the war.

As the senators picked IV Legion’s General Decimus Rufus and the Classica I Ravennas under Lucius Calpurnius engaged the garrison at Alalia. Lucius Calpurnius maneuvered his flagship to ram and sink enemy ships as his other vessels fired volleys of arrows at them. He then unloaded his marines-commanded by himself-in the port. The garrison had left the town to engage Decimus Rufus’s legion by the town’s outskirts. It became a success and the marines charged at the defender’s rear and they were cut down from all sides.




In autumn of 265 II Legion sailed out of Panormos to Karalis and halfway across they met I Legion and the fleet and would sail to a landing area a good way west of the Carthaginian capital. By early 264 they had arrived and swept aside the army of a client state of Carthage, then laid siege to the capital with both legions and the fleet. Gaius Luscinius, Quintus Papus and Lucius Calpurnius agreed to starve the city into submission before they attempted a costly assault.




With the siege in progress there was a revolt outside Arretium and Admiral Siripo attacked Alalia. Decimus Rufus managed to defend and region and his cavalrymen slew the admiral in the field.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

And then the last Carthaginians faffed about for thirty minutes.

The Carthaginians sortied out from their walls and was smashed against the Romans, who promptly took the city from them. still, however, the Carthaginians was as much against peace as before their capital fell, before their economy was shattered. Gaius Luscinius grew frustrated and feared he would have to spent decades conquering every last Carthaginian holdout and client state.



A Carthaginian army scrambled to reclaim Carthage was eliminated three months later.

[Lord of the Wall]

Sadly this save was lost, however another game is in the making to replace this one. "Rome, Rise of an Empire"

[Lord of the Wall]

Oh, what I should have written was "Imperatoria Roma". Wrong folder just above.

[Alwyn]

Great update, it looks like Rome was expanding fast against the threat from the south.

I'm sorry to hear that the save was lost. (When that happens, you could continue the AAR if you wanted to with a new campaign. Of course, there's nothing wrong with starting a new AAR instead, if you prefer that).