The Daughters of the Dragon: A Valkyrja AAR (ATW)

[SubRosa]

Vicus Venedae remains a gladiator school.


Once more the Dacians flunk.


Another Thracian army has marched upon Olbia. They seem to have a bottomless pit of manpower.


It takes forever, but I finally get my entire army out the gates and on line against them.


This time I push my infantry forward early, so they would not miss any of the bloodshed.


Another Thracian army bites the dust.


Next turn a second, smaller army followed them. This time I rode out to meet them north of Olbia.


The result was no different.


The Sarmatian Horde is moving south through the Caucasus Mountains. *phew* Now they are Armenia's problem.


Take that you Egyptians!


In the far north-east, Alkippe the Wrathful turns her legendary ire loose upon Campus Sakae, the only remaining steppe settlement that dares to defy Valkyrja rule.


There was a ferocious archery duel at the walls.


Then it was just a matter of battering my way in and cleaning up the rest of the rebel scum.


Campus Sakae was Enslaved.


Kardika the Honest remains busy at Vicus Venedae.


Sadly the second Dacian army ran before she could engage them. I guess they are learning after all.


In the west, Xanthippe the Wrathful has spotted another Thracian army moving up west of Odessos. Rather than wait them out in Olbia again, this time she marches her women to the Dnestr river to make a stand there.


They come to meet her.


Come and get it!


A fearsome struggle ensues at the inner point of my Drakone's V - shaped formation. I like this formation at bridge defenses because it funnels the attackers into that inner point, where they will be attacked from both sides. This is really devastating with pike troops, but very effective with units that have shorter weapons as well.


The Thracian General comes up and rallies his troops at the spearpoints.


Case in point, the Thracian General is cut down from all sides.


If the slaughter my Drakones inflicted looks terrible, then look at what my archers did at the other end of the bridge.


Another Thracian army shattered.


Next turn, the Sarmatians continue to move southward through Armenian lands. So far they have made no hostile moves, and the Armenians have let them pass unmolested.


In the west Xanthippe the Wrathful follows up her success by marching south of the Dnester for the first time, laying siege to lightly defended Odessos. The invasion of Thrace has begun.


There are plenty more Thracian soldiers to the south however. She will have to move quickly at Odessos.

[SubRosa]

I have been gone a few days due to doing a format and reload of windows. In the bargain I bought a new terabyte hard drive, and now my box is a lean binary crunching machine.

I lost several turns due to an accidental deletal, but to bring things up to speed, I have moved my capital south to the newly renamed city of Neapolis Valkyrja.


I took the city of Odessos and have already destroyed one Thracian army that tried to take it back. More are on their way north.


It seems that the Sarmatians are now the Parthian's problem.


I do not see any signs of fighting just yet however.


The Dacians and Germans continue to hover around my western cities like flies.


Young Maia, the new governor of Vicus Venedae begins her duties by taking out some German trash.


The foul German necromancers loosed undead hounds upon us.


But even their sorceries could not save them from defeat.


I like the cut of this young woman's jib. I make her my Faction Heir.


Egypt is certainly Big Yellow in this game.


Two Thracian armies came up to attack Odessos. My hired thug deprives one of its General.


Then Xanthippe the Conqueror sallies against the other army.


I eventually got most of my army out of the gates and into line. It takes forever on Huge scale.


My Drakones got a piece of the Thracian Infantry.


The Thracians want no part of my women.


That tore apart their right.


Their General lost his nerve, and fled for the map edge.


The coward escapes!


But there would be no escape for the Thracian pikemen.


One more Thracian army down.


The same turn, Xanthippe marches out of the city and attacks the second Thracian army.


Once more, the thin blue line reigns supreme.


No survivors.


The best way to defeat Cataphract Archers is to not let your enemy build them in the first place.


Back in the west, Kardika the Honest and Second Equal Klito have taken some troops from Vicus Venedae south and meet a small Dacian force outside of Vibantavarium.


Unfortunately the Dacian General would escape.


The same turn, Veleda marched from Vibantavarium to intercept another Dacian army.


Scratch another Dacian army.


In the north, Maia settles into her new position as governor by sallying against the latest Dacian siege.


She thrashes them most handily.


Then she rides out to deal with the rest of them.


Flawless victory.


Leaving behind some archers and axewomen to guard Vicus Venedae, Maia takes her Horse Archers south to clean out the last of the Dacian flies east of the Carpathians.


Amazon axes are made for felling men, not trees.


No survivors.


She continues on to run down that Dacian General who had escaped from Kardika the Honest.


No Dacian would escape this winter's day.


Here is where things stand in the west. Kardika the Honest and Second Equal Klito have continued moving south, and have rendezvoused with the Horse Archers from Vibantavarium at the pass to Porrolissum. They are reinforced with a single Drakon unit from Odessos. Their target is the Dacian capital. Taking it will secure the flank of the great sweep south into Greece. Veleda has gone back to garrison Vibantavarium in case any Dacians slip through, but Maia should have cleaned them all out from the passes. Further south, Xanthippe the Conqueror has marched to the bridge of the Danube, where she awaits the pleasure of the 3 Thracian stacks outside of Tylis. Odessos is now occupied by an army of Peasants I collected from the Crimea and shipped over last turn.

[SubRosa]

Time for some river fun. Bloodbath On The Danube I begins when a Thracian army attacks Xanthippe the Conqueror.


They have plenty of regular Bastarnae, the top of the Thracian food-chain.


Standard bridge defense. Step into my parlour...


My line infantry usually do not get as much experience as they have been in this campaign. One of my Drakones has two silver. I think it is because there are so few of them overall.


Here comes the Thracian General.


There goes the Thracian General.


Once the Thracians broke it was like a flood turned loose in reverse.


Heroic Victory.


Next turn there are still two full stacks and change of Thracians left.


In the north, Kardika and Kilto have laid siege to Porrolissum.


While the south it is Bloodbath On The Danube II.


Bring it on!


The Thracians must walk through their dead to reach my end of the river.


Once again their General goes down under a wall of Amazon spears.


Finally they chain routed. I send all of my cavalry across after them.


I am reminded of a Samuel Jackson line "Run *** The Exterminators Are Here!"


Heroic Victory again.


Xanthippe has over 1400 kills alone!!! I think this may be a record for a single unit in one of my campaigns.


In the east, the Sarmatians have finally done something, laying siege to Seleucia.


I just finished building a Catapult Range in Odessos. This means I can now recruit these beauties. Not to mention finally retrain the one I started with.


Xanthippe waits at the bridge, but sends across a slinker to deal with the governor of Tylis.

[SubRosa]

In the frozen north, Pantariste the Conqueror sallies against a German attack upon Vicus Gepidae.


She slaughters every German.


Nearby, Maia rides out from Vicus Venedae to meet another German force in the open.


They have Chosen Axemen.


But arrows kill them just the same.


Once again, no survivors.


I was careful to empty the generals from all of my cities except for those along my German border, which I want to grow in size. Then Veleda - who has come up from Vibantavarium after all - led the assault upon Porrolissum. This will be a tough one. Those Chosen Swordsmen will be dangerous in the streets, and their Archer Warbands will make any direct assault upon the walls suicide. I will require some Amazon guile.


I deploy almost all of my army against one wall.


Except for this one unit of Militia Axewomen at another wall, who push their tower up to a blind spot between the towers.


They take the walls and begin to run the towers while the rest of the army marches around the outside of the city.


Second Equal Klito is the first through the gateway.


But a Dacian Warband comes up from the center of the city. I pull Klito and Kardika back. Putting cavalry against spears is rarely a good idea.


I bring my Drakones up to deal with the Dacian spearmen instead. They would rout moments later.


Then it was on the way to the town square, where the Dacian Captain led a counter-attack.


He was cut down by my Drakones.


The Dacian Noble Cavalry still gave a good fight however, but they would eventually crack.


Down by the entry, the Dacians who had manned the opposite wall had come down into the street and were advancing upon Veleda, who was holding the gateway with a small force.


She slaughters the Dacians.


Now the way to the square was clear. First I send a unit of Horse Archers around to the side to lure out one of their Chosen Swords.


Then I charged into the square to meet their other Chosen Swordsmen, who were coming from the other direction.


The Dacians never got a solid foothold in the square, and my Drakones pushed them out.


Victory.


I Enslave.


Vicus Gepidae expands another tier.


The Sarmatians are at war with Egypt now? The last I saw they were still laying siege to Seleucia. I see the Royalists have finally tired of being the Pharoah's lap dogs as well.


The garrison of Vibantavarium now has many gold experience Horse Archers.


Speaking of gold, here is an Agema Archer with gold experience and a silver weapon upgrade.


My slinker eliminates the last Thracian General near Tylis.


First Equal Okypous the Conqueror has come all the way from the eastern steppe to supervise the invasion of Thrace. Since the Thracians no longer have the nerve to attack, she leads the army across the Danube in a wide sweep to the east.


Then she turns west and attacks the first Thracian force. This brings their reinforcements in behind them. If I had attacked head on from the river, it would have meant two Thracian armies coming in from both of my flanks. This is an example of the importance of maneuver on the strat map to give you favourable conditions on the battle map.


This is more favourable that I had hoped for! I love sitting on a mountain when I have an archery faction. I had been worried that my Agema Archers were not with the army, not anymore.


Their Captain dies just a few feet from the General I had sent to block his escape.


Now the second, larger Thracian army was coming into view.


Their Captain went the same way as the first.


The Thracians are coming in on my flank, so I have my entire force of Drakones side-step to the right to keep a solid line in front of them.


As the Thracians begin to draw near my lines they start to rout.


I send my entire force at them in a rush.


They are shattered.


That is as far as I can move this turn. Now that I have moved off the bridge, I see I earned a famous battle marker for one of the Danube Bloodbaths.

[SubRosa]

Over the AI's turn, the Thracians came after First Equal Okypous the Conqueror now that she was south of the river. They were sneaky about it too. One of their forces actually came around from behind her.


But I still have my mountaintop.


Attacking me up a slope like this is suicide.


Here comes the second Thracian army.


They make it about half-way up the hill when they lose their nerve and turn to flee. I send everything after them.


Somewhere in the pursuit I lose Alkibia. I am not sure exactly when or how it happened. I suspect that she was killed by friendly fire from my archers however.


Still, it is a crushing victory.


Armenia and Parthia are at war with one another! *does the happy dance*


The Thracian troops who did not attack me reinforced Tylis instead, including a General. My slinker relieves that General of his responsibilities, forever. This assassin has become quite good.


First Equal Okypous is now known as "The Killer". All of my faction leaders eventually get this nickname thanks to my extensive use of assassins.


In the east, the Seleucids have beaten the Sarmatians off from Seleucia. I wonder where those nomads got too?


I just noticed that Porrolissum (I really need to change its name to Sarmiz-whatever) can recruit a plethora of high-end troops, including Agema Axewomen.


It can also render up Amazon Cavalry, the Amazon equivalent to Persian Cavalry and Scythian Noble Archers.

[SubRosa]

First Equal Okypous the Cunning (that was a quick epithet change!) assaults the capital of the Thracians.


I deploy almost all of my force in front of one of their gateways. My Agema Archers can hit them while still being out of tower range themselves.


In the meantime, one of my Drakones pushes a siege tower up to an undefended stretch of wall further away.


They gain the walls without resistance and head for the gate. A second siege tower is rolling up to the opposite side of the city.


The women from the first siege tower meet the remnants of the Thracian wall defenders.


These Thracian Peltasts down in the street took a serious toll on my women.


Then the second tower disgorged its women onto the wall behind the Thracians.


With the Thracians concentrating on the first tower load of Drakones on one side of the gate, they are too late to stop the second tower's women from entering the gateway.


The way into the city was mine!


Their Phalanx Pikemen put up a real fight, until First Equal Okypous rode in. Then they routed as she came near.


Their Captain was cut down like the dog he was.


These Thracian Infantry tried to stop Okypous as she rode to the square. They failed.


Then it came to the best the Thracians had. Okypous let her Drakones go in first with shields locked while she maneuvered her women onto the flank.


Then she charged the Bastarnae from the side.


It was now a race to get to the town square.


First Equal Okypous was the first woman there.


She pulls back to wait for the rest of the army to come up. In the meantime my Agema Archers can hit the remaining Thracian defenders from this sidestreet.


That brought the Thracians out of the square, and into three of my Generals.


Charge!


Okypous the Cunning leaves no survivors.


The men of Tylis begin their new lives as Amazon slaves.


Vanahemir immediately grows a tier.


The same turn, I send Xanthippe out to scout around to the south and build a watchtower. She discovers that Byzantium is easy pickings, with a light garrison and no Thracian field armies nearby.


Now that the Thracian heartland is mine I am rich (at least compared to everyone else). I have been building troops like crazy these past few turns, churning out more Agema Archers and Drakones to fuel the Thracian War.


But the Romans are more Advanced.


Just as important as archers and spearwomen are this load of Peasants I have brought over from my Bosporan cities. They will free up my army to maneuver by providing a ready garrison for Tylis.


Nearby, the Dacians want their old capital (of Sarmizgetusa) back.


Veleda sends them packing.

[SubRosa]

The Seleucid Empire is no more! I am not sure what the cause was however.


Their last two cities were not taken by enemies. They are now Rebel-owned. I suspect that their family died out of old age, destroying the faction. I saw the same thing happen to Thrace in my Defensive Scythian AAR.


It appears the Sarmatians are filthy rich. I wonder how, so far as I can tell they have not sacked a single city yet.


Now this is more like it.


A big Thracian army has come up to attack Sarmizgetusa, I guess they wanted no part of the Army of Thrace that is marshaling in Tylis. Naturally I sally.


The Thracians were on the corner of the strat map, so they head for the corner as the battle starts. Veleda and Kardika gobble up them up as they go.


They eventually formed a line in the corner, whose flank I promptly turned.


At that point they were surrounded, and it was a simple matter of wearing them down with arrows and then tearing them apart a piece at a time.


Down where it is warm, Xanthippe the Mighty assaults Byzantium.


Her Drakones work on the defenses to either side of the gate.


Then her bodyguard gives the defenders a dose of javelins through one of the breaches.


Then she was into the city, and the Thracian Captain came to intercept her.


He was cut down in the shade of a side-street.


In the main street of the city, a unit of Drakones has met up with some Thracian Peltasts on the way to the square. Those Thracians cut them up pretty badly with their javelins.


Then Xanthippe was into the square behind them.


The Peltasts were cut off, game over.


No survivors.


As it is tiny (just over 400 souls) I Occupy.


Next turn I found a small Thracian force near Sarmizgetusa, and sent a brand new General out to get some experience killing them.


She promptly surrounds the slow moving phalanxes. Then her horse archers shoot the backs of the units across from them rather than those directly in front. This negates their shields.


Then it is the turn of her javelin women as well. One thing I learned in my Thracian AAR was to always use up all of my javelins before closing in for the kill.


Kill them she did. All of them.


Speaking of killing, my hired thug is now working over Thracian assassins in Bylazora.


This gives First Equal Okypous a Master of Assassins ancillary.


The Parthians offer me an alliance. Since they share a border with Armenia, it seems like a good idea.


Look what I can now recruit! *cue fiendish laughter*


Next turn a moderate Thracian army wandered too close to Tylis, so Second Equal Klito marched out to meet them.


Here is a sneak preview of things to come. I have four Agema Archers in the Army of Thrace. They stand behind an impregnable wall of spears and start shooting.


The Thracians advance on my right, so I move Klito around from the left to meet them and shift all of my arrow-fire on them.


Most of the Thracians retreated before engaging. But their General was caught up with my Heavy Cavalry and second General.


A ferocious battle ensued.


Then Klito's women added their numbers to the melee, and the Thracians ran for it.


Their General was cut down by her bodyguard.


The Thracians have been torn to shreds by my Agema Archers. I send everyone forward at a run.


Victory. I need to add a few more cavalry to this army to chase down the routers. I have had to send my Horse Archers away to defend my recent winnings.


The Agema Archers have the lion's share of the kills.


The Germans and Dacians have not let up the pressure up north. This was their largest attack.


They fared no better than on previous occasions.


Here is a pic with Fog of War off. Egypt seems to have stopped everywhere, and the Gorgons are taking it to the Numidians. Gaul has just about been wiped out by the Britons and Iberians, and the Romans seem to be a bit paranoid about the defenses of their capital.

[SubRosa]

Lousy 'Gypos.


Hah! That shows them.


Hmmm, the Royalists have gone to war with Armenia, and my Parthian allies have become a protectorate of Egypt, making peace with Armenia in the bargain.


In more pertinent news, the Thracians have sent an army to take Byzantium back. Xanthippe the Mighty sallies against them, and First Equal Okypous the Cunning has come down from Tylis to lend a hand.


It takes a while to get my army out the gate and into line, not to mention for the reinforcements to get on the field.


Okypous is taking forever to get into the battle. It has been going on for quite some time and she is still dawdling. I guess that is one of the prerogatives of being a Faction Leader.


The Thracian General has locked onto one of my Horse Archers. Naturally I flee.


I send the Horse Archer directly into Okypous' lagging bodyguard.


The Thracian got one look at that 100+ woman bodyguard and changed his mind. He is now running back to the warm safety of the rest of his army. I send another Horse Archer to block him long enough for Okypous and my first Horse Archer to catch him. This is going to hurt.


The Thracian balks when the second Horse Archer gets in front of him. I quickly pull it back before their women get into melee with him.


That was all I needed. Okypous was now into it with the Thracian.


He flees!


Back in the rest of the battle, Xanthippe and her women have been tearing up the lighter Thracian units and sending them scurrying. She has to pull up short to avoid being spitted on those pikes though.


Soon the rest of their army routs behind those Pikemen however.


Then the Thracian General was finally brought down.


His army did not last long after that.


The same turn, Second Equal Klito leads her army into the mountains of northern Macedonia and attacks a Thracian army outside of Bylazora. This brings the second Thracian army garrisoning the city into the battle as well. This will be one big show.


Here comes the first army.


They move toward my left, and I swing my right forward keep an even line with them.


Their lead elements rout before reaching my Drakones.


Now my cavalry are behind them.


More Thracians are reaching my line, and routing as they make contact.


The first army has all but disintegrated.


Time to chase them down. I really need more cavalry in this army.


Now the second Thracian army is coming into action, and I have to hurry to get my Drakones back into line.


Their General comes right up. I braced for his charge, but he just stopped there.


My Agema Archers cut him down along with his bodyguard.


Once again, the leading Thracian infantrymen rout as they meet Drakone spears.


Now the Thracian heavies are coming up.


While all of this has been going on, my cavalry has been picking off routing Thracians and stray units.


Here we go, the main event begins. Drakones vs. Phalanx Pikemen head on.


Not to be outdone by the pikemen, their Bastarnae are now in it too.


But now my cavalry have come back to the line to lend a hand.


This is what 5,000 dead Thracians looks like.


It was a slaughter.


Nearly 800 kills for Second Equal Klito alone. The four Agema Archers account for over 2,000, with over 700 kills by the Agema Archer unit I began the game with.


With that, Bylazora was mine for the taking.


The men of Thrace are led away in Amazon chains.

[SubRosa]

Lousy 'Gypos...


Germania and Dacia continue to batter themselves senseless against my western defenses. One of their larger attacks was against Vicus Gepidae.


Pantariste sallied and now she sweeps around behind the German heavy infantry to get at the soft Skirmishers and Archers behind. I do not click on the enemy units to attack them, as that will draw Pantariste directly into the German heavies as well. Instead I double click on the ground behind the Skirmishers so that she will run through them.  


She has crossed completely behind the German army.


Now she turns into the Barb Archers.


The rest of their army routed shortly afterward.


Easy Victory.


This is more like it.


Another target of opportunity has presented itself. One of my slovenly spies discovered that Singidunum was lightly defended. So I scraped up some units from Sarmizgetusa, Tylis, and Bylazora to go and take it. I am just short of making it there this turn.


In the east, the Royalists are really going at the Armenians.


Back in the west, a German army has entered my territory between Vicus Venedae and Vicus Gepidae. Maia the Honest rode out to attack them, but was nearly ambushed by more Germans!


She leaves no survivors.


Maia continues on to attack that first German army, and Pantariste comes from Vicus Gepidae to join the fun.


The Germans are very quickly trapped.


Their Noble Cavalry charged my women, and I countered with Pantariste and Maia's bodyguards.


They were cut down with ease.


No survivors.


Down south, young Molpadia has taken a small force from Bylazora to meet a Thracian patrol in the mountains. I only mention the battle because the Thracians consist of Cretan Archers and Rhodian Slingers. Not the mercenaries, but the regularly recruited variety. All of the Greek culture factions can recruit them in territories adjacent to the Aegean Sea.


Cretans are almost as good as Agema Archers.


Rhodians are nothing to sneeze at either.


I waste no time and immediately charge both. I do not want to give these guys any time to shoot at me.


They are elite troops, but do not stand much of a chance against heavy cavalry in a slugfest.


Again, no survivors.


Veleda is now able to attack Singidunum. She has brought two newly recruited Onagers with her, so she does not have to waste time building siege equipment.


The Onagers knock a hole in the wall and destroy the flanking towers, then my Drakones are into the city.


They crack the first line of Thracian defenses.


These Thracian Infantry would put up a heavy fight in the street however.


By the time I reached the square my infantry were tired out, so I stopped to rest them.


Now for the lightning round. The Drakones march in and take on their Phalanx Pikemen, while my Generals and cavalry ride around behind the Thracians.


Then they charge in from behind.


Here you see one of my Drakones receiving an experience power up.


For the fourth time tonight, no survivors.


The Thracian men are fitted with collars.


Thatis immediately expands with the influx of thralls.


Here is where things stand in Macedonia. The Thracians have sent a large army east to go after Byzantium again. This has left Pella unprotected. I had been planning to wait in Bylazora a few more turns to let the unrest die down and bring the Onagers south from Singidunum. But seeing this I changed plans and immediately sent Klito and the Army of Thrace south to lay siege to Pella. With any luck the Thracian army will turn back. If not, well, sometimes you have to roll the hard six.  

[SubRosa]

I think I will give the Royalists a bit of help against Armenia. I have an assassin who has killed more people than small pox. He adds an Armenian General to his Death Note.


The Germans want to end the bloodshed, for a price. I tell them to get stuffed.


I am not rich because I give my money away!


This seems like an afterthought. The Dacians have been moving through German territory for about 30 years now in order to attack me.


In Macedonia, my siege of Pella has brought that Thracian army back.


They are too late to save the city however. Second Equal Klito assaults.


One of my slovenly spies has opened the gates, and only a unit of Cretan Archers waits beyond.


Rather than wait for my women in the siege towers to take the walls (and get shot to bits by the Cretans running to the gatehouse), I send Klito directly into the city, routing the Cretans. A unit of Drakones would follow to climb up into the gatehouse and secure it so the rest of the army could enter the city in safety.


The Thracian King counter-attacked hard on the way to the square.


Klito soon found herself surrounded by Thracians.


But it was the Thracian King who would fall this day!


At the entrance to the square their Noble Cavalry attacked. Their javelins took a terrible toll upon my women. The Thracians are truly the most javeliny-powerful faction in ATW.


Victory. It was a little disappointing however, as my Berserkers never even reached the Thracians after I turned them loose.


The Thracians are led away in chains.


Vicus Venedae immediately grows a tier.


It seems my helping hand was all the Royalists needed. They have taken Kotais.


They have also taken Seleucia. I would soon discover that they have taken Arbela as well. They are really turning it up in the east.


The Sarmatians are now the richest however. No wonder, it is not like they have anything to spend their money on. I am not even sure where they have gotten to anymore.


My agents report that the Thracians do not have much left in Greece.


The Sarmatians are no longer richest.


Second Equal Klito marched from Pella to take on that Thracian army to the east.


They have their backs to the sea.


I let the Agema Archers work them over a bit, then just sent everything forward.


The cavalry smashed their flanks.


Then the Drakones hit the center.


No survivors.


Back up north, the Dacians have scraped up a big army and once again laid siege to Vicus Venedae.


They are smashed. Unfortunately their General escaped however.

[SubRosa]

We Valkyrja are mighty!


But the Sarmatians are still rich...


My Royalist cousins are doing all too well in the east.


I will see if I can throw a spanner in their works.


In the meanwhile, back in the west my slinkers revealed that Larissa was weakly garrisoned. So Second Equal Klito moved out and assaulted it.


My Agema Archers worked over the Thracians on the walls while my Onagers battered a way in.


My Drakones were the first in, receiving a devastating volley of javelins from these Thracian Infantrymen on the way in (I lost 30 women in that one shot).


But as Klito charged in to lend a hand, the Thracian's nerves turned to water.


Klito pursued them nearly to the square. Then she noticed that the Thracian King was coming out after her, and that she was far out ahead of her supporting troops. So Klito pulled back in order to let her Drakones come up. This takes forever on Huge scale.


The Thracian King saw Klito surrounded by her spearwomen, and pulled back as well.


However, my Agema Archers were able to persuade him to return. This time directly into a shield wall of Drakones.


The Thracian King is putting up a valiant fight.


But the women of Valkyr would lay him in his graves.


With that the way to the square was open.


Berserkers and Drakones led the way.


No survivors.


This is the deepest penetration into the ancestral lands of the Greeks that the Valkyrja have made. The Macedonian lands which where previously conquered were the home of nothing but rustic herders when Triton was destroyed a thousand years ago. The Thessalians on the other hand, were counted among the Athenian-led alliance that laid that noble city of Libyan Amazons into its bloody grave. Amazon vengeance would begin here...


A Roman diplomat offers an alliance. Since they do not have a border with me, but do border my enemies (and future enemies), I accept.


Hmmm, now where do these Royalists think they are going?

[SubRosa]

The Sarmatians are not so rich anymore.


The Royals have crossed over into Valkyrja territory. Somehow I do not think they want companionship...


Toxaris moves out of Ulski to a point nearer to Thatis. This way if the Amazonians lay siege, she can come in to reinforce them.


In the west young Molpadia has put together a force of women and is working her way through the mountains of western Greece toward Thermon.


Next turn the Amazonians attacked Toxaris in the open! This means War!


The Royals are stupid, as if bowing and scraping before a so-called Queen was not proof enough, they brought infantry to a cavalry fight. Here their Axewomen have been drawn out away from the hoplites and are about to be charged by my Heavy Cavalry.


They were smuushed.


After spending a while shooting up their line of spearwomen, I decided it was time to get around behind them.


Molpadia and the Heavy Cavalry go after their General, but she flees.


The sight of the barbaric holy place changes her mind, and she turns to fight.


It is Aristocrat vs. Equal.


The Amazonian flees!


But she does not make it far.


Then it was just a matter of isolating and destroying the infantry one at a time.


Heroic Victory. A good way to start a war.


Amazonia has plenty more where that came from however.


But their heartland is poorly defended. Even now Second Equal Klito is sailing from Greece...


The Western Campaign does not stop just because the Second Equal has taken her army aboard ship. Molpadia forges ahead to Thermon and attacks.


The Thracians are slaughtered on the walls.


Then a breach is made.


Molpadia enters with the Drakones.


They drive the Thracians before them.


These Thracians Peltasts would block the way however. Once more, they gave a far better fight than one one expect from any peltast.


Then it was on to the last defenders in the square.


Molpadia leaves no survivors.


The Valkyrja have no mercy for Greeks. Freja's ravens will feast upon their bloated corpses.


This is all the Thracians have left. Only two cities, but they still have a few good fights left in them.

[SubRosa]

A foolish army of Germans has crossed the border between Vicus Gepidae and Vicus Venedae.


Time for an Amazon sandwich, with some tasty German filling.


Maia the Conqueror leads the attack.


One of the three German Generals crosses the river.


Maia on the other hand has already gone to the German side with half of her Horse Archers via a ford.


That General on my side is treated to a Scythian Horse Ride.


Down he goes.


Next the Germans send some infantry across.


While back on their side of the river Pantariste the Mighty's Horse Archers have dispatched another German General.


It was just a matter of taking them apart one piece at a time.


The Germans were crushed.


This depraved fellow escaped however.


Further south, young Cynane had marched from Sarmizgetusa to attack a lightly defended Campus Tevrisci. But she was attacked herself before she could invest the city.


Here is the attacking Dacian army.


And here is the garrison of the city.


First my cavalry worked the Dacians over.


Then my infantry.


That was the end of the main Dacian army, which prompted the city garrison to retreat.


The one man who made it across the red line died a step later.


No survivors.


Some of my ships at the hellespont were attacked by a fleet of Rebel Star Destroyers.


There is no defeating these guys.


Lousy Egyptians.


Next turn Cynane assaults Campus Tevrisci, which has recruited a new garrison of Chosen Swordsmen.


They were drawn out of the square by my Amazon Cavalry.


Then the rest of the army rode through the square behind them and trapped them in the street.


Game Over.


The men of Dacia are led away in chains.


Further south, the Thracians are in need of a new Faction Heir.


They came up with one, and he brought an army with him into eastern Epirus. Molpadia has marched north from Thermon to intercept him. With any luck, he will attack her with her back to the mountains.


In the east, the Amazonians are about to land a heavy blow against me.


But Second Equal Klito is about to land as well.


Back up north, a large Dacian army that had been threatening Singidunum had moved north in response to Cynane's attack upon Campus Tevrisci. I see another opportunity for an Amazon sandwich.


Cynane moves south from Campus Tevrisci, and Veleda north from Singidunum, trapping the Dacians between them.


Oh great, marching through this will take forever.


Cynane's army started by attacking the cavalry on the Dacian's right.


Her Amazon Cavalry chop them to pieces in hand-to-hand.


Cynane herself does the same on the other flank.


The Dacians are being pushed together into a mob in the center.


These damn dogs are eating my women, while they stand by doing nothing because the handlers are out of range. I hate wardogs.


Time to get at those handlers.


No girls, that is not your tummy's growling. Look behind you.


I am still waiting for one of my reinforcing units to get on the battlefield.


Victory.


The Dacians are nearly done for. I am not normally a blitzkrieger, but these two lightly defended cities are too juicy a target to pass up. I am going after them.

[Jubal]

Your skills - modding and gaming- will never cease to amaze me. Keep it up!

[SubRosa]

Thank you.

It has been a while, so here is a pic with the Fog of War off. The Roman war machine has moved off from Rome and is enjoying the beaches of southern Italia. The Egyptians have just stopped doing anything, and the Gorgons have almost squeezed out Numidia. Gaul is on its last legs, with the Britons having taken all of modern France.


As far as I can tell, this is all that is left of the Sarmatians. I am guessing those units they do have are tiny in size, as their flag is barely filled in at all.


Now back to the war. A sad day, First Equal Okypous the Cunning has gone gently into that good night.


However, she has left the Valkyrja as the most advanced faction in the world.


But the Sarmatians are richest once more.


A big German army has come to batter itself upon the walls of Vicus Gepidae.


Pantariste crushes them.


That big Thracian army I saw in Epirus ignored Molpadia and instead headed east to lay siege to Pella.


Thankfully I had seen them coming and managed to get a few Generals and Agema Archers in the walls before their attack. Xanthippe the Mighty is no stranger to killing Thracians. She sallies.


My Agema Archers can hit the Thracians from the walls. Got to love that.


I start by disposing of their cavalry.


Soon their entire army turns and heads for the map edge. I notice there are a lot of bodies piled up along the line they had been deployed in. It looks like my two Agema Archers from the garrison were what made the army retreat. This is why their unit description says they have been known to single-handedly defeat enemy armies.


I run down as many as I can.


Victory.


Here is the tale of the tape. As I suspected, the Agema Archers killed half the Thracian army.


Now it was time for Apollonia. One of my hired thugs removed the Thracian General there of his responsibilities, forever.


Then the Army of Thrace, now led by Kardika the Honest, moved up to the city.


In the east, First Equal Klito (all those stars and she does not have an epithet yet?) makes landfall and immediately assaults Themiskyra. After five centuries, the Valkyrja have come home.


As you can see, half of my fleet has sailed up onshore...


These foolish women have not built stone walls.


That oversight costs them dearly as my archers work them over.


Eventually I was into the city.


The Amazonians tried to stop me.


But the free women of Valkyr cannot be dissuaded.


The Amazonian Captain was cut down as she tried to flee to the square.


Uh oh, some Amazonian Agema Axes have come over from the other wall, behind my troops headed for the square.


I get some Drakones in place to block them.


My spearwomen really cannot hope to stop these head-hunters on their own.


So my Onagers lend a hand.


As does a unit of Heavy Cavalry.


That still did not do it. Finally I got some cavalry in behind them.


That broke them, but only after losing a lot of women.


Then it was on to the square, where my Agema Archers were baiting the remaining Amazonians out and into the street.


How is that for the clash of spears?


While that was going on, First Equal Klito and a unit of Heavy Cavalry were sweeping through the city streets to enter the square from another side.


They enter as the last of the defenders are engaged by the Drakones. One charge and that was it.


No survivors.


Once again, it is the archers who did all the heavy lifting. You can also see that almost all of my losses came from that one unit of Amazonian Agema Axes.


As these are sister Amazons, merely misguided by aristocratic tyrants, I Occupy. Besides, Themiskyra is near to being Huge level, which means Companions. Once the initial unrest dies down this will be an invaluable base for all my operations in the east.


Speaking of which, the Amazonian heartland lies bare.