Hold the Line!
Our proud and noble king, Kleomenes, was besieged in Larissa. With stout hearts, his army bravely sallied forth to engage the Macedonians.
The enemy cavalry saw an weakness, and charged forth, screaming defiance at the top of their lungs.
Perhaps they should have focused on fighting instead.
The barbarians, cowards that they are, took fright, and began to leave the field.
Our brave king and his body guards boldly ran down the enemy phalanxes. The unhonorable scum of the Macedonian general left them to their fate.
The siege of Larissa was over.
Even the mountain of Etna was impressed with our power, and spewed forth scalding tides of lava, to cheer our men on.
In the cool chill of the morning, our hoplites, lead by one of our generals Boksi, disembarked from their ships on the island of Crete. The Cretan peoples, once powerful and mighty under the reign of King Minos, had been reduced to piracy. The city of Kydonia was their base, and would harm their operations if taken. Many of the townsfolk were mad at their kinsmen piracy, and gladly decided to join our cause.
The only warriors in the city were some of the famed Cretan archers, but they were quickly overwhelmed by their kinsfolk.
The enemy commander fought bravely, and slew several of our men.
Despite all the precautions we took, a nearby group of pirates hear the screams of their dying kin, and rushed to their aid, despite the battle being over.
Their rage could not be calmed with words, and they leaped upon our phalanxes. However, their valour was not equal to their rage, and they soon fell under our spear points.
The stragglers were ran down.
It was a hard-fought victory, but Kydonia was ours!
It was not long before Boksi found lawful employment for the Cretans, making the esteemed purple dye of the Phoenicians. Our treasury was much enriched by this.
Doubtless you remember the victories of Pwnzerfaust, in Sicily. With Lilybaeum in the hands of these barbarians, Sicily would not be safe. Pwnzerfaust quickly took action, and besieged the city.
The dew was still drying on the grass when crunch of sandals bespoke of marching men.
The Romans had split their forces after taking Lilybaeum, and were trying to link up again. The sound of arrows soon threw them into confusion.
Confused and alarmed, the white-hearted Romans began to scatter in all directions.
Suddenly, Pwnzerfaust broke into the clearing, followed by his body guards. He slew several of the enemy, before they turned to flee.
Another group of Romans ran into the Greek phalanxes, lying in ambush. The Roman's surprise overcame their fear, and they charged into the field of spears.
Confused and afraid of us mighty Greeks, the Romans turned and scattered.
Hmmm. If I remember correctly, the same adviser that checked for enemy agents was the same that believed in the might of Egypt.
He shall be relieved at once.
Kleomenes had reason to be proud of his son, but had to look to his own wit and skill to defend himself.
The Macedonians had finally mustered another army to deal with Kleomenes. Against such a large hoard of barbarians, Kleomenes had to assume a defensive position.
The citizens of Corinth, happy to be liberated, had sent several of their men to help Kleomenes defeat the Macedonians. While the Corinthians were not the greatest horsemen, they knew that the Spartan phalanxes could easily beat their own. Thus, they sent several of their citizens, lightly armed with javelins and mounted on horses to help. Despite the Macedonian cavalry being better equipped and more skilled, the Corinthian's valour proved themselves, and they routed several of the enemy.
With the Greek horsemen distracted, the Macedonians bravely surged up towards the Greek line, engaging all along it.
The battle was long and hard, with the Spartans killing any Macedon who came close. The Macedonian general, in a desperate attempt to salvage this battle, charge full-on into the Greek line. However, Sheb's warriors, held back in reserve, moved forward to oppose the enemy general. Winded as they were from the long march, the general's bodyguard was no match for Sheb's power.
Against such a wall of spears, shields and men, the Macedonians had no counter, and soon fled screaming into the hills and valleys. The carnage was indescribable.
But Kleomenes had once more reigned supreme on the battlefield, and immediately besieged Thessalonica.
The Macedonians were outraged against such a defeat, and once more summoned an army to attack. But their weary war had sapped their manpower, and only old men and young boys were enlisted.
Once more the Macedonians outnumbered the Greeks, and the loses from the first battle were not replaced.
The Corinthians showed their skills once more on the field of battle, showering the enemy pikemen with their javelins, before charging forward to cut down the fleeing cowards.
But some of the Macedonian pikemen stayed near their cavalry, and the Corinthian's wrath was kept away from their yellow hides. The pikemen moved forward to engage the Spartans. The conquests of Alexander and Phillip had led them to believe that their arms and equipment were superior to Greek skill and valour.
They were clearly wrong.
With old men and young boys against elite Spartan warriors, the battle was easy and swift.
Kleomenes's victory was to be his last, and his death was soon after such glorious achievements.
Pwnzerfaust was Kleomenes's heir, and now the King of Sparta. With such an important ruler in the field, the Romans resolved to capture Pwnzerfaust.
The Romans had brought three armies into the field. Were before they were trying to blindly link up, now they were confidently searching for Pwnzerfaust among the forests. Surely enough precautions were taken so that they would not be ambushed a second time?
They met their folly with a volley of flaming arrows, with pierced their flesh and threw them into confusion. Their comrades, unknowing of their fate, had stumbled upon Pwnzerfaust's position.
They quickly moved close to the Greek phalanxes, to prevent them from running before the two other armies arrived.
Meanwhile, the Romans had reorganized, and remembering their last battle with Pwnzerfaust, charged forward to find him. But Pwnzerfaust was directing the line of hoplites, and had entrusted his archers to adwarf, his lieutenant. Adwarf directed his men to meet the enemy general, where they ambushed and killed him.
The third army of the Romans had heard the cries of their kin, and came to the same conclusions as the first army. Hails of arrows met their folly as well.
Once the second army of the Romans realized that they were alone, they attacked Pwnzerfaust's line.
But two Romans are no match for a Greek hoplite, and the rest of the Romans began to run as well. Pwnzerfaust showed much glee at running the cowards down.
The battle was over.
(Err, adwarf's men were kinda slaughtered when some equiites snuck up on them. Sorry about that. But at least you killed the enemy general!)
The Romans knew that they couldn't defeat Pwnzerfaust. However, with the death of Kleomenes, they thought that the time was ripe to invade the Grecian homeland, and cut off Pwnzerfaust's support.
Their choice was simple. Thermon.
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6 (100%)
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Topic: Greece: Total War LP: Masters of Rome (Read 22055 times)