NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: I would attack you, but the Romans are kind of busy right now.

Titicus, don't you have any bull warriors? I don't know much about them, but they were supposedly pretty tough.

King Rodon of Phenocia
"Do not fear these Greeks, they are the terror that has plagued our peoples for centuries. Control your anger, and center it one defeating the enemy!"

IC: Lines the assorted infantry men in the middle, making the weakest point in the center. Places most experienced infantry at the flanks, and the rookies in the center. A full cavalry is centered 80 meters from the center flank. The archers are placed evenly throughout the lines.

OCC: I've seen your men in front of the city protecting it. I have some seige weaponary, in case of a seige. So, I plan to use it against your army. I don't know, but I believe you are outnumbered...

OOC: wait, you were attacking my city of Bitolas or something right? I don't have any defense for that city besides a few thousand local levies. You could take the city if you tried.

My troops are marching from the south and are trying to come up behind your army as it lays siege. I do have more men than you

IC: The main Macedonian Army had arrived, 107,000 strong. The King deployed the army in standard Greek formation, phalanxes in the center and the cavalry on the right. Part of the Macedonian contingent with the Spartan and Athenian troops were on the right, 36,000 strong. The Allied infantry was placed in the middle of the line, their hoplite being weaker and in a position where they could be watched from running away. These numbered 28,000. On the right flank stood the elite of the Macedonian phalanx, 32,000 strong. 11,000 heavily armoured but slow cavalry were placed on the far right as the shock troops.

The infantry were deployed in phalanx, each hoplite bristling with sarissas and wielding a formidable front. Few forces could directly destroy such a force. The armed glory of Greece deployed for the battle.

OOC: THey were pretty close, but still you leaving and running would still isolate your men on Sardina. So *Shrugs* EIther way. WHat page did I put the Hannibal forces full numbers? I forgot to tell the truth. Sheesh let me look. Ok I founde it Here we are.

IC: The Army is arrayed left to right, 8,000 cavalry,11,000 spearmen, 5,000 swordsmen, 15,000 spearmen, 7,000 swordsmen

THe Carthaginian Army marched out, it's sides set up in a formation that if looked at from a plane resembled a bull's heads. THe entire army was only 16 thousand men, a phalanx formation as they were set up on the plains. All of them were the Libyan infantry except for about 570 slingers. Then it appeared from the sides.

Galloping at a quick pace on the right of the enemy army near the swordsmen were the Berber Cavalry of 1500 men. THey had with them the mounted Numidian Archers and Javelin throwers, all mounted. These 1,005 men started dropping a ton of javelin and arrows from the air into the swordmen's ranks. They continiously attempted to get them out of their formation.

On the left flanks where the enemy cavarly came a trumpet that none of the Iberian soldiers had heard in their lives. Huge animals with spears coming from their skulls came on the horses of the enemy. THey trumpeted as the 150 elephants prepared to charge. THe charge came from the left the elephants followed closely by Numidian light cavalry and Libyan Heavy Cavlary.

(Remember this is the first time seeing elephants for the Iberians. You will have droves of them running from terror alone. Remember it took the Romans almost 20 battles before they figured out how to take out Carthaginian Elephants. And that was about 80 years after our current timeline.)

OOC: I am not too worried about my men being isolated, but I am worried about my ships being sunk, so my ships would flee south.

I don't know that none of the Iberians have seen elephants. I mean, Carthage has had territory in southern Iberia for quite some time. Doubtlessly they have had elephants over there. In otherwords; the Iberian king may have information on them, so he would have some idea of what to do.

Ok let me see if I can explain this. I've seen an elephant before. But when just armed with a sword I am not entirely sure I'd know what to do in order to fight one. No they have NEVER fought against an elephant before. And no, he wouldn't know how to fight it because this is the first time they've fought one. And the ROmans at this time didn't know how to fight them so they didn't learn from them either. Remember the ROmans didn't figure it out til 80 years after this time period.

OOC: A few Iberians might have seen elephants, no they wouldn't know how to fight them necessarily. An Sukaida, you just coped my armies stats, what are yours again?

Just as a side note, Carthaginian elephants are relatively small, compared to others

OOC: I suppose the only thing the Iberians have going for them is that the elephants are as afraid of them as they are of the elephants. All they have to do is survive the first (with elephants that is the only) charge. Of course one charge is generally all you need with elephants to do some serious damage.

Anyway, Titicus, you never answered as to whether or not you have bull warriors. Those were the Iberian's best troops.

IC: The Roman ships heading for Corsica enter the Bonifacio Strait and land their troops on the southern tip of Corsica. The troops begin raping and pillaging, recruit 3k mercenaries, and then head for the provincial capital.

Meanwhile, on Sardinia, the 7k principes and 5k mercenaries have arrived at the capital and have it under siege.

Back on the Italian peninsula the 4 Roman armies have been manuevering themselves around the Libyan spearmen, and are now preparing to close in on them for the second time.

OOC: WHere is Corsica? I can't find it on the map. And do I own Sardina? I forget if I do or not? ANd yes that first charge, with lots of troops behind it to take care of the chaos is going to be nasty.

IC: THe fleet around Sardina sailed out with scouts to the rear to make sure the Roman fleet didn't do much beyond trail behind. Now they'd set for Rome itself, preparing a little raid to burn ships in the harbor that were being built.

THe Libyan raid was growing tired, many of them having spent out their rage. Almost no divisioon happened to be in full form. Most had disipated into the countryside. It'd become a guerrilla war a while ago. Now about 2k men were being held by the ROmans. The other 6 having long ago gone into invidiual units to just cause havok.

Roman Army, what are your terms?

OOC: Corsica is just north of Sardinia, and you own both of them... for now.

IC: Our terms are that the Libyan spearmen surrender. They will be taken into captivity until the war with Carthage is over, at which point they will be ransomed back.

OOC: HMMM I suppose I do for now.

IC: "And if Carthage wins?" The diplomat stated with an even voice, buying time as his men started to slowly sift away like snow. They were disintergrating into individual groups. Small little forces like their former comrades so they could do this properly.

I really can't find the information on the bull soldiers - and I'll try to survive the first blow, yes.

no, no, sukaida, you posted your army stats but you actually posted my stats instead

OOC: That buys you how much time? Five seconds?

IC: If Carthage wins, which it will not, Carthage will make the terms. Now surrender, or we will be forced to attack.

OOC: No I don't remember Iberians ever having Numidian cavarly or Elephants. My army is the right one.

IC: "THen I believe that we will surrender." He let out with one long sigh.

OOC: ANd no it can buy at least an hour as he tries to pause and haggle. THat's at least 100 more men who can disappear.

OOC: By the way, I think 150 elephants is a lot, wherever I read there was never more than 40 or 50 elephants. And I guess we can say I have 2,500 bull warriors in the center

IC: The many arrows fired by the enemy was expected, the legends of desert archers preceding them. To protect against this move, the soldiers raised their shields over their heads as best they could, trying to block tha arrows from their bodies. This tactic worked sometimes, others it failed with arrows passing around the shields and skewering men a bit too large for their round shields.

The real problem immediately became apparent with the onrush of the giant trumpeting creatures. The Iberian generals had been told of a possible attack of this kind but were wholly uprepared for the size of the elephants. Acting on pure instinct and will to survive, many men ran away - the rest were ordered to dive aside just before the elephants arrived. This threw the army into complete confusion and killed many men in the process. The leaders screamed at those lying on the ground or who had been bypassed to get up and reform. The cavalry also was forced back, some horses running several miles before regrouping.

Spearmen were ordered to attack the elephants from either side, poking at their eyes, trunks, and underbelly at least in the hope of driving them back if not killing them. In the front, the swordsman continent and some of the spearmen were ordered to reface the charging Carthaginian horse. It was too late in some areas, but others the men were well enough trained to regain cohesion and face the onrush, absorbing the blow. The entire right flank was in confusion.

To counter this, the King has sent 6,000 spearmen into the fray, trying to flank the enemy cavalry before it can surround his men already fighting. Waiting for Iberian avalry to join him as many as possible, the King orders a charge to bring down the enemy infantry. Led by about 6,000 cavalry followed by waves of 9,000 spearmen and 5,000 swordsmen, they were determined to destroy this force and hit the enemy assault from behind.

The Romans move in to take the Libyan spearmen prisoner.

Meanwhile the 1k principes, 5k phalangites, and 3k mercenaries on Corsica have arrived at the capital and have it under siege.

OOC: ANyone know where I can find stats on Corsica and Sardinia at this time. Personally the reason I haven't acted with them is because I don't know where the stats are.

IC: The LIbyan spearman were a solid wall of spears, and as the enmy slammed into them, they proved how unmovable a force they were. They didn't charge, they just stabbed and jabbed at the enemy, proving two things.

The First was that sending cavalry against a wall of spears is not a good idea. Horses get impaled on them, and usually die in droves while doing very little damage to the actual lines.

The Second is the fact that the Iberian swordsmen were not the legionaries of the future century. They didn't have the discipline to break through the long Libyan spear wall. In truth only the center seemed to be in any real danger as it was man against man, spear against spear, sheidl against sheidl in one long deadly game. Here the Libyans discipline would be the winner of the day, as each line replaced the one in front that was caused by death. These were proffessionals, soldiers who'd campaigned for money before. And despite what history may later write about them, that drive made them the equal of any Roman soldiers, and definetly above any Iberian woodsman.

The cavalry that assisted the elephants, made sure to guard them as they drove themselves from the field, following it seemed towards the wagon train itself. They stopped, reforming as the enemy tried to outflank them, slaming into the flanking party as the elephants retreating momentum sent them straight into the enemy wagon train. The elephants were panicy now and they didn't so much as try to disrupt the enemy camp, as to just plow right through it. It'd take at least a couple uninterrupted minutes to get the elephants under control, and that would be once they were past the camp.

The skirmishing cavalry continued to rain down javelins and arrows on the enemy, taking times alternating from aiming at a specific target, and just filling the air with projectiles.

(Did I ever say where the slingers were?)

OOC: I don't have any statistics. What kind of statistics are you looking for? Population?

OOC: Population. MIlitary capabilities.

OOC: I don't know about population, but since you didn't station any troops there they should only have garrison forces.

The battle was not going well, the soldiers on the right being rained down on by arrows and the attack on the left being pushed back. At leas the elehphants were out of the battle for the moment. In the lull, this was where the King was forced to commit all reserves in a desperate attempt to save his force and win the battle. The troops who survived on the right flank were reformed and half were ordered to screen the rest, spears and shields out, watching the center of the battlefield and the other battle going on. Then the remaining swordsmen (3,000) and spearmen (6,000) were sent along with the 2,500 bull warriors to strike the Libyans from their left flank, marching through the unoccupied enter-right of the battlefield to accomplish this.

The cavalry had lost a catostrophic 33% of its force in the charge, but the remnant reformed and was ordered to pursue the enemy horse-archers, driving them away from the infantry if possible.

The heavy cavalry attacking the right was holding, but the horses and men were exhausted. THeir attack capabilities hurt as their casualties were starting to mount. THey were reaching a stalemate.

The Nimidian horsemen on the other hand loved to see the cavalry pursue them. It meant they could retreat, their lighter held mounts much faster than the enemy cavalry, raining continious fire. It also allowed them to fall upon their own supply line to rekindle their dwindling arrow and javelin resources. THen they fired even more into the dwindling line.

The Libyan infantry saw the Bull Warriors approaching, having already depleted the first attack, and held firm. Now they could see the attack trying to hit it's flanks. So they took a few steps back, reforming their lines to create a horsehoe to show a bristling porcupine to the enemy. THen it bent under the attack. THe horseshoe bending even further until the middle of the line broke open.

At first it appeared that the enemy army had been split in half. THat the flanks had been pushed so far they were being weakened. That's when they folded on those flanking them. (THink a candy cane type formation.) Counterattacking on their enemies flanks. It got messy as the courage of the bull warriors went against Libyan discipline. THe swordmen didn't concern them as a quick overruning phalanx took care of any swordmen in front. Libyans found some of their line hit by spearmen, one huge slaughterfest held as even odds met even odds. And then the Libyans fighting the bullwarirros on each side. Numbers could tell, despite the 4,000 dead from the first attack with the spearmen. It still left 4,000 to meet the Swordsmen, 3000 to meet the spearmen, discipline once again proving the advantage. And the 5,000 men to meet the bull warriors. It was messy as they attempted to flank the flankers, getting an advantage from that.

(Well this army will win, but it's gonna be messed up. Thank god for the reinforcements.)

(ALright I'll make up something for the Corsicans. That way I can make it without stalling you anymore.)

wait, I am just getting this straight - you are flanking my flanking force? You bent back and then bent forward to flank? If so you must know that you are trying to flank a longer, larger force.

12,000 vs. about 10 to 15 thousand. And my troops are more experienced and disciplined. Yeah I think I can pull that off.

OOC: I thought I had more. I sent 14,000 in the first wave, and 11,500 in the second, flanking move. You said you lost 4,000 men, and I could see myself losing up to 8 thousand in the first attack, but that would still leave maybe more than 18,000 men. You could still win, but I think thats a more accurate number.

Being flanked by the Libyans and taking heavy casualties, the Iberians were forced to face a bleak probability that continuing like this would lead to defeat. Their men were being struck down by arrows and spears, new ranks marching up but being killed by the well-trained Libyans too fast.

The last chance came with the cavalry charge that had followed the enemy horse archers. With both cavalry forces skirmishing, the screening force of about 8,000 men, mainly spearmen was released to rush into the fray. With a yell they started over the battlefield and towards the center of the Libyan lines. This force was determined to break the Libyan line which had thinned to flank and destroy the infantry before the rest of the troops folded or the rest of the enemy army returned.

Under continuous attack from the enemy skirmishers and archers far to the right, the Iberian cavalry began to fall apart, many horsemen fleeing to the rear.

THe LIbyan flanking order started to fall apart, the units cohesion that brought them victory falling apart. WIth fresh troops, the mercenaries started to break apart, falling backward into a messy army. Hannibal, not liking to be flashy, but knowing that in this it might be neccesarry, galloped his horse right at the top of a hill above where his army was falling. "REFORM!!!" He shouted as he drew his sword, an arrow hitting him in the shoulder. Not flinching, he kept his sword drawn, the out of order Libyan forces reforming on the top of the hill, their spears coming under order again as they prepared the spear wall at the top of the hill in one long line again. Men were under pressure, and those who were last were punched against their own lines. BUt the new line created under the wounded general held firm again. It was smaller now, losing 4,000 in the flanking manuever as the fresh enemy troops came. BUt now that cohesion that they'd lost was gained again. THe line became a wall that the fresh troops could batter themselves against.

THe Light cavalry saw the units falling back, continuing their fire as they slowly followed after the retreating units. Then at that moment, the slingers came out of their hiding, launching stones towards the cavalary, and some judicious ones firing at the rear of the attacking lines on the Libyan wall.

As the last light of day began to ebb, the Iberian King knew that the battle had to be ended now or never. He had lost dearly in the last attack, losing some 3,500 more men, leaving him with only 15,000 men in battle-ready condition. Yet he knew that the enemy had also been crippled and had lost heavily - this was now like blind men punching each other in black room. The attrition was really beginning to get to his men and they all knew that a victory now would be the destruction of only the infantry and not the cavalry or elephants. But now for this attack.

The remaining cavalry forces broke under the barrage of the Carthaginian horse and fled, a few hundred of the bravest galloping off to join the kings bodyguard. Dismounting and joining this force and the Bull Warriors presented the strongest force the Iberians had presented yet in the day.

The king rallied his men and they marched up the hill. Just as they reached the Libyans and had engaged, the force broke in two and sprinted to the left and right, 7,000 men respectively. A thousand or so remained to keep the Libyans facing forward. Each move was intended to split the Libyans into two weaker groups (more easily exploitable) and strike behind and into the flanks of the Libyans before they had turned and fully recreated their cohesive spearfront. Failing in this, the attack would develop anyways. The Bull Warriors and Kings Guard took the left attack, the King personally in the second wave.

This would end the battle or his army. The lines slammed into each other, the screams and yells softened by flesh and blood. The sounds of metal and wood and smell of dirt soared into the air of war, the battle ongoing.

The elephants from the front were just starting to slow down from their panic. However, the five elephants that had been in the middle had been able to stop their charges much sooner. the 5 elephants had been in the middle of the attack, therefore not getting the majority of the pokes from spears. THey pulled their elephants into a gallop, forcing them forward. The heavy cavalry found itself without an enemy as the king pulled them for one grand assault. THey felt fear prickle up their neck as they heard pounding. SUddenly a loud cheer came from the depleted heavy cavalry. Elephants had returned. They didn't care it was only enough that you could count their number one one hand. It instantly boosted morale on the right as the heavy cavalry, already missing 1/3rd of their number charged forward. THe elephants carried by the wall of horses as they charged after their opponennts backs.

The slingers were few in number, but they'd only taken a handful of casualties, and they slung into the units attacking the infantry.

THe light cavalry didn't chase after their defeated foe. THey'd experienced almost no losses at all, keeping their enemy at a distance. Now they charged towards the king's entourage that was preparing to attack their infantry. THey lobbed misslses into his ranks, making sure to keep on his flanks to constantly harrass the enemy. It seemed as if they wished to empty their rounds from even the supplies they'd gathered when falling on their supply lines.

The infantry of LIbyans was where the chaos was worst. THey could see a dozen different directions preparing to hit them. Hannibal held his injured arm, looking around as he saw a single way of getting out of this. "CHARGE!!" It wasn't neat, it was half organized, but now the Libyan forces were putting this next one directly in front. THe occupying force got the full force of their soldiers, desperation, high morale as the Libyans clashed with the soldiers, pushing forward, ignoring their rear and flanks. Hopefully the rest of it would happen.

THe heavy cavalry and 5 elephants charged right into the first flanking unit. Slashing like madmen as the elephants smashed through lines. THey wre few, but now their morale had picked up as they prepared to slice through this line.

THe Numidians were fresh, and had just driven off a larger cavalry unit. THey showered abuse on the flanking movement, waiting for something to break. Something had to break. Madness was filling the battlefeild.

(Hehe to tell the truth you've used numbers rather well. In the end I think we've both been rather fair and we've basically reached a rather nice motly crue last stand. I mean this is a nice testament to wills here. I'm having alot of fun, thanks.)

The holding force of Iberian swordsmen vanished as soon as the Libyans charged, the front being broken. And as the flanking movement came into full fruition and began to slam into the rear and flank of the Libyans, the heavy charge of the Carthaginain horse and elephants arrived. Tossing men side to side and creating a swath through Iberian columns, the elephants tore through the back of the spearmen. Many men ran and the right flanking movement neared failure.

The King's guard and dismounted knights fought dearly, ripping into the back of the Libyans while fighting for all they could against the enemy cavalry. The Bull warriors turned and fought in a melee, the fever of battle seizing them. Everywhere, in each direction fighting took place.

Simultaneously, the left flanking movement ran into the Libyan rear, smashing into the completely undefended spearmen. This cracked great holes in the enemy lines by default and was a great opposition to what occured in the right. The Iberians tried one last charge to completely rout the enemy spearmen and cripple the cavalry before the battle ended. As darkness slowly set in, the fighting continued. As the Iberians made their last charge, killing as many of the enemy, knocking cavalry off their horses, the spearmen on the left began to withdraw to the north.

In long lines of bristling spears they covered as the remained of the other flanking movement, several thousand spearmen, the kings guard, and the bull warriors withdrew. This slow withdrawal into the darkness spelled the end of the battle, at least all Iberia was willing to offer. Any stalemate and survival of this battle was a good result.

(thanks, you fight well and fair too. This is cool)

(Well remember I lost a large chunk of this army. THe problem is I cracked yours. I have 45k more reinforcements now to your south. I could sacrifice this army as long as I crippled yours. Strategy over tactics.)

The Heavy cavalry was tired, exhausted as they fell off their horses, unable to pursue. The Libyan spearmen were spread out. THeir rear had been cut to peices, and out of the 16,000 who went into combat, only 3,500 were still fit. Those were spread out over the battlefield, helping comrades. THe problem that the retreating Iberians had was that their retreat was slow and plauding, and leaving the feild to the enemy meant that the light Numidian cavalry, that had only 25 dead and 67 wounded, had used it's entire compliment of javelins and arrows. But with the enemy retreating, they went back to their supply wagons. Their they stocked up once again on missle weapons, following at a gallop to harrass more and more at a distance the retreating column.

Hannibal sat on a limber, his two wounds being treated. He'd barely escaped with his life. He let out one long sigh as he looked towards the remains of his men. They'd fought well. And even now they were starting to slow march of wounded towards the wagons to they could be sent south. It'd take a week to get their, a few of the wounded treated with the supply wagons before being shipped for permanent treatment. His Libyan's were done. THey'd never fight cohesivly again. HIs elephants surprisingly only lost four. So that would be absorbed by the army building to the south. His light cavalry whose leader now harrassed the enemy army was almost completely unharmed. He even heard that his slingers had lost only two men killed. It seemed shocking to see such a low percentage of casualties on one side, and so many on the other. His heavy cavalry was sitting in the night, trying to rest their charges. Some had horses killed and had fought on foot. Either way it didn't matter. None of the army save the slingers and the now harrassing Numidian cavalry had any order to it at all. It'd be another four hours before the elephant crews captured the enemies supplies and reported it. Was this victory? He didn't know as he went to sleep. Thankful he'd see another day.
---

Sumidian grinned as he got the note. His political rival had damaged the enemy severly. ANd he could now afford to bring his huge army out of hiding. It had been resting with a ton of levies behind walls. BUt they were there for simple show. In truth he had about all he needed for a large seige with what he had. If he could pull his levies out with the combined new army of Iberia, he could have 50k men. If he absorbed the surviving remnents of the old Army of Iberia, he could have almost 55k men. THat would definetly conquer this little wasteland. Rome may be a problem in the west, but he'd find a way to crush that too. A new army was being built to crush the besiegers of Corsica and Sardina. And besides, the huge colony of Iberia would be his as governor to rule once the war was over. Soon he'd make sure to take care of this.

(Soo which siege do you wanna mess with first? Sardina or Corsica?)

The Iberian army slowly withdrew to the north back to their fasts in the mountains and wide spaces of central Iberia. There was some skirmishing action for some time and a bit of a Carthaginian harrying movement, but the dark of night set in to slow that. After the army had gotten some miles away, it turned and then in long columns marched away. Skirmishers remained out to watch for enemy cavalry, but the consensus was that both armies were exhausted.

The Iberian Army had been wittled down from its former size by a large amount, losing 23,000 casualties out of the original 48,000. The swordsmen in particular had been severely mauled by the enemy spearmen and a lesson about their utility had been learned. The Iberians withdrew, and returned the way they had begun the season months ago. The King knew that he would need time and to wait out the remainder of the summer until next spring when the army could be replinished. The losses could be remade by then, they would just have to avoid battle until then. Iberia would not fall that easily - they had not lost this battle after all.

(by the way, I still think 150 elephants is too many)

OOC: I chose the number that Hannibal brought with him. Remember you see what he had in Rome after the Alps. That's the death rate my elephants would have had, had I gone through the Alps. These elephants did not, therefore I have kept the majority of them. And now I don't have 150 elephants. I have 146.

IC: Hannibal's Army streamed south, reaching the colonies slowly. At the sight of them, the commander of the new Iberian army decided to let them stay in the city. They'd fought out enough. Now he'd use more levies to get at the Iberians. He'd make Iberia howl. What Hannibal had started at the north, he'd do in the south right above the Carthaginian colonies. His levies would definetly have fun as they were known for not being as united as some parts of Iberia. Soon, the preparations would be sent to cause chaos no matter what season it may be.

OOC: Doesn't matter. Remember though, I am sieging, not assualting, so unless you want to sally there shouldn't be any combat.

OOC: Aka with large cities like that it's a long long seige. Months to years. Course how many men do you have besieging each of these?

OOC: 9k on Corsica, and 13k on Sardinia. I know it will take a while, but I don't have the men to assault it. These cities aren't that large though. They are capitals, but they are capitals of very rural islands. I would imagine around 100k or so.

OOC: Ergo probably about 5k regular soldiers and maybe 20k militia.

OOC: One fourth of the populace might be a bit high. For instance; I doubt Rome ever had anywhere near 250k men protecting it. Although it is true that it is different for such a big city, I don't think it would be that different.

OOC: How do you know that 20k is 1/4th the populace? Do you have an idea of the population?

OOC: I estimated 100k seemed about right for them as they were rather backwater provinces and even Carthage itself was somewhat less than 500k at this time. 25k (counting the regular soldiers) is one fourth of 100k. Now if you were refering to the whole of the islands then that is a different matter.

(I was gathering that a large amount of the rural populace would seek safety in the walled cities. Adding to the manpower.)

OOC: All right, but most wouldn't have training or equipment. (On an island there would be little need to garrison every little town).

OOC; Of cource archery training now adays isn't as long as the longbowmen. So thats what the majority of them are needed for anyways. You don't need much training for defense if you have numbers.

OOC: Ok, but I don't see how archers will be usefull when I am just starving you out.

If I am starved out, then I can simply attack you with my regular troops, and even if I have green troops, their morale will be high due to wanting to protect their homes. And also that I'll have numbers on my side. See ya then. Soon I will post the iC reaction. Very soon.

OOC: Hmm, it Titicus gone now too?

OOC: I don't know. I thought the battle was pretty neat. Don't tell me everyone left. I was having fun. ANd it was still anyones game, though Iberia was most likely lost. Carthage and Rome were still unharmed though.

OOC: not a lot to do, my army is in Macedonia waiting for the Illyrians, who are not going to show up. So i think I will just rp their army, hopefully a victory by my people. heh heh. Then move to help Rome from - who?

Iberia is crippled, not gone, but they will not come out from the inland for some months

(Which is why I am going to make the finishing blow.)

The loud shattering of metal and rock against walls rang out across the countryside, muffling the trudging of feet against soft grass. In the distance could be seen the regional capital of northern Macedonia, stark and black against the green and yellow of day. The city stood as a bulwark, which indeed it was, holding out against the horde of Illyrians, the despicable of the earth, those who would despoil what was good with the lands of civilization.

And the army moved on. Climbing a hill to the west and arising from the grass as if Athena from the forehead of Zeus, the army arrived, just behind and to the right of the enemy. Unknowing and unsuspecting, the Illyrains continued their attack. By now swaths of the northern city were on fire, a wall fallen into disrepair where small figures could be seen fighting, ants with sticks and hats.

The Macedonian Army, numbering over 100,000 men could not stay hidden for long though, the high walls of the sarissas creating a bewildering pattern of lines and bloody destruction portrayed. The Illyrian Army of 75,000 men turned as quickly as possible, the large amount of resting cavalry jumping into action, but for some of the army, it was too late. The Macedonian phalanxes slammed into the corner wall of the Illyrians masses, rolling up the side.

The cavalry roared onto the field, flanking the already badly turned enemy. The Macedonians advanced echelon by echelon, slicing into each Illyrian battalion as they turned. As the last wing of the army came into play, the full brunt of the rallied Illyrian heavy cavalry slammed into the Argive and Athenian contributed auxilia, hitting at a strange angle for the pikemen to cover, coming from above the rough ground on which they stood.

For a moment the battle was in danger, but then the Macedonian and allied cavalry returned to crush the back of the enemy cavalry. Simultaneously, the Macedonian elites on the far right had come in behind the enemy left, enveloping the line to its detriment. With the destruction of the cavalry, the Illyrians realized their loss, and the surrenders began.

Soon the battle was over, the Macedonians victorious, with heavy casualties only present in the allied infantry on the far left flank. Some Illyrians were pressed into service, but the goal was achieved as the enemy king was captured. Macedonia was free from danger and could now continue on the march. King Antigonus Gonatas orders a march by two columns, 50,000 men each on the Illyrians strongholds to the north to break their power once and for all. The second column is to do this and then pivot east to take the city-states of the Thracian peninsula, notably Byzantium.

OOC: As soon as you're done with the Illyrians continue north into Gaullic lands and we can take them out together. Of course Keltoi is gone so we will just rp his side.

OOC: Isn't 100,000 rather large for a Macedonian Army?

OOC: well, it is pretty big but I originally rped an army of 50,000 Macedonians, and then as I conquered lower Greece I added a few thousand of each city as my allies - and this is all troops I own. Greece has the capabilities to assemble such an army due to its size and density, army's of that size are just unwieldy, tough to supply and can revolt. But this battle was in my heartland so I could provide it. Any army I send abroad will not be this large

IC:After seizing several Illyrian towns, the main army is to march on the main part of Illyria and southern Gallic lands. The other column has been stopped at a chain of cities across Thrace and is laying siege on its way to Byzantium.

OOC: Alright I guess. Due to graduation I can not play on here anymore, and therefore relinquish control of Carthage.

Macedon has united all of Greece! the glory days of Alexander are soon to return! An Army of 45,000 men are being despatched across the Aegaean to conquer Lydia and reunite all of the Greek Sea.

Another army of 40,000 hoplite is dispatched to aid Rome and defeat the alliance of Carthage and the Gauls once and for all!

OOC: Too bad we are the only two left. Should I just declare the thread dead?

yep, it was fun for the short time it lasted. People may just not be interested in rps older than 1800... That sucks cuz I like them the best

OOC: I know what you mean; maybe one of us can start a new one. Anyway, this thread is officially dead.