Spartan Messinia
23-12-2004, 01:07
The Kings met in secret council with their closest advisors one cold winter night. They discussed a matter of staggering importance: war. A war that could set them on the path to glory and wealth.
Lysander Demetrios, the Spartan king, made the case. "Gentlemen, as you know, we've contested Tremainian claim to the port city of Hellespont since our unification as a nation. Technically, it lies within their borders, yes, but eighty percent of the city's population is English or Greek. They're closer to us than Tremain. Hell, even the name is Greek! The city belongs to us, not those dogs!" Some of the Ministers around the table began to look worried. Lysander occasionally thought thoughts that were too big for Spartan Messinia.
Roger Malthus, the Messinian king, stood up to back up his colleague. "Now I know what a lot of you are probably thinking. Tremain is a nation almost three times our size led by a psychotic dictator who would as soon kill us all as look at us. You must remember though, that Tremain is a nation that gives aid to terrorists in our regional powers like Medinat and Shandar. If we go to war with Tremain, I very much doubt they will intervene at all, let alone militarily. They may even help us."
The Commerce Minister raised a couple points of contention. "That still doesn't account for the fact the Tremain's military vastly outnumbers ours. And what of other nations in the world? What if they aid Tremain?"
"Well," Malthus smiled, "We'll just have to do our work quickly. Lysander, I feel you are better qualified to address the military concerns, as you are a Spartan."
"Thank you. You see, Tremain does outnumber our army. Realistically, they can field 2.8 million men, whereas we can field only about two million. This is only because we have a much higher percentage of the population in the military. Anyway, though they have numerical superiority, our men are much better trained and equipped. Our intelligence suggests that their army is made up of almost a pure conscript force. They have a core group of soldiers, about 500,000 men, with decent training and decent weapons. The other million or so men are poorly trained peasents with second-hand light weapons. The same goes for their air force and navy, a small core group of good soldiers amidst a sea of poor dumb kids.
Secondly, in this instance we have but one objective: the port of Hellespont. If we attack across the whole border, or at least part of it, they will have to commit forces everywhere to fend of small, probing, guerilla-style attacks. We just have to take one medium-sized city and then move back behind our defensive fortifications and let them break themselves like waves upon rocks."
The ministers agreed that it sounded like a good plan, though there were obviously flaws; those would be worked out by the field officers before the assault began.
***Four Days Later***
The First Army, some 200,000 men, was positioned to take Hellespont quickly, and they could do it. The city lay about a quarter of a mile on the other side of the border, and was guarded by a light regiment. Against 200,000 heavily armed and determined men, the three or four thousand conscripts didn't stand a chance. General Dimitri Cyrill informed his men that it was time to go. With that, over half a million men stormed across the Tremainian border, roughly a third of them aimed directly at Hellespont.
OOC: this was worked out between Tremain and I, he provided me with the info about his army.
Lysander Demetrios, the Spartan king, made the case. "Gentlemen, as you know, we've contested Tremainian claim to the port city of Hellespont since our unification as a nation. Technically, it lies within their borders, yes, but eighty percent of the city's population is English or Greek. They're closer to us than Tremain. Hell, even the name is Greek! The city belongs to us, not those dogs!" Some of the Ministers around the table began to look worried. Lysander occasionally thought thoughts that were too big for Spartan Messinia.
Roger Malthus, the Messinian king, stood up to back up his colleague. "Now I know what a lot of you are probably thinking. Tremain is a nation almost three times our size led by a psychotic dictator who would as soon kill us all as look at us. You must remember though, that Tremain is a nation that gives aid to terrorists in our regional powers like Medinat and Shandar. If we go to war with Tremain, I very much doubt they will intervene at all, let alone militarily. They may even help us."
The Commerce Minister raised a couple points of contention. "That still doesn't account for the fact the Tremain's military vastly outnumbers ours. And what of other nations in the world? What if they aid Tremain?"
"Well," Malthus smiled, "We'll just have to do our work quickly. Lysander, I feel you are better qualified to address the military concerns, as you are a Spartan."
"Thank you. You see, Tremain does outnumber our army. Realistically, they can field 2.8 million men, whereas we can field only about two million. This is only because we have a much higher percentage of the population in the military. Anyway, though they have numerical superiority, our men are much better trained and equipped. Our intelligence suggests that their army is made up of almost a pure conscript force. They have a core group of soldiers, about 500,000 men, with decent training and decent weapons. The other million or so men are poorly trained peasents with second-hand light weapons. The same goes for their air force and navy, a small core group of good soldiers amidst a sea of poor dumb kids.
Secondly, in this instance we have but one objective: the port of Hellespont. If we attack across the whole border, or at least part of it, they will have to commit forces everywhere to fend of small, probing, guerilla-style attacks. We just have to take one medium-sized city and then move back behind our defensive fortifications and let them break themselves like waves upon rocks."
The ministers agreed that it sounded like a good plan, though there were obviously flaws; those would be worked out by the field officers before the assault began.
***Four Days Later***
The First Army, some 200,000 men, was positioned to take Hellespont quickly, and they could do it. The city lay about a quarter of a mile on the other side of the border, and was guarded by a light regiment. Against 200,000 heavily armed and determined men, the three or four thousand conscripts didn't stand a chance. General Dimitri Cyrill informed his men that it was time to go. With that, over half a million men stormed across the Tremainian border, roughly a third of them aimed directly at Hellespont.
OOC: this was worked out between Tremain and I, he provided me with the info about his army.