Swap 2013

[Jubal]

We have faith in you. We need to have because none of the rest of us can actually play this game well. 

[Will]

No pressure then.

[comrade_general]

Thrace lives!

The chronicles of this time are somewhat shady due to the turbulence among the Thracian people as they fought quite literally for their very existence. (or because I'm lazy )

229 BC - 226 BC
King Spartacus did some studying of the enemy and decided to lure the Gypsies into fighting on bridges (or Tunnels of Death as he called them).
These traps were set across the Nile near Memphis and Thebes. Many tens of thousands of Gypsies were slaughtered in these years, but that was the cost of Thracian freedom.
Once he felt the path was clear enough, Spartacus took as large a force as he could muster and besieged the city of Memphis, while a smaller guard gloriously defended the bridge south of the city.
The Gypsies attempted a sally from Memphis but were cut to pieces by Spartacus and his small band of cavalry, however some of them made it back to the walls.

226 BC - 224 BC
Finally the Egyptians managed to bring a relief force to Memphis to try and rout Spartacus. They joined forces with the army of Memphis, but it was all in vain, for Spartacus dispatched the entire 3,500 man army with his faithful cavalry. Memphis became Thracian again! Spartacus had the city cleaned of filth, and his coffers did fill.

224 BC - 220 BC
An age of prosperity and growth came to the new lands of Thrace. Alexandria, the jewel of the Greek world, became so swelled with population that it became indeed "huge". Even the island of Crete saw growth under the Thracian's goodwill. King Spartacus trained new forces these years, and restocked his veteran legions with his most formidable men, creating a professional army of over 3,000 Thracians!
The Egyptians now looked on with fear at this new war-machine as it marched eastward toward their remaining lands, erasing their armies from existence along the way.

Now begins the Golden Age of Thrace!

Save file sent to you, Jubal.

[Clockwork]

Well done, but how the hell did you manage to get the happiness level high enough whilst disbanding the army??

[Will]

Well done, but how the hell did you manage to get the happiness level high enough whilst disbanding the army??

Magic!

[comrade_general]

Well done, but how the hell did you manage to get the happiness level high enough whilst disbanding the army??

Population Extermination

[Clockwork]

On Alexandria? I had to stack so many troops there just to keep them from revolting. Serious kudos for winning Memphis back

[comrade_general]

No I exterminated Memphis. I think that made the people of Alexandria second guess their discontent.

[Jubal]

Won't get mine done until Monday I think, very well done good sir 

[comrade_general]

Well done, but how the hell did you manage to get the happiness level high enough whilst disbanding the army??

I forgot that upgrading Alexandria to a huge city did a lot for public support as well.

[comrade_general]

How's it coming along, Jubal?

[Jubal]

All done & sent to Will



220: Execution square in Memphis pulled down, ending barbarous Egyptian practices. Memphis reinforced with pikemen. Spartacus moves toward Jerusalem.

219: Memphis besieged. Egyptian force catches up with Spartacus in the desert under Nakhti the Cruel. Around 1000 Thracian casualties but Egyptian force badly mauled and reduced to a few hundred leaderless men. A captain called Heruben then attacks the force; his heavy infantry are badly outmatched, and for just 200 Thracian losses the 1000 strong force is reduced to just two men. The battle is afterwards named Cruelty's End by the Thracians, that all shall remember the fall of Egyptian tyranny. The way open, Spartacus marches on Jerusalem, only to find that its garrison is great in strength and numbers.

The assault on Memphis then happens. One and a half thousand Egyptians die scaling the walls, to around a thousand Thracians. The Egyptian cavalry and chariots are unscathed, but their commander refuses to commit them to attacking a breach in the walls, instead standing back and eventually retreating.

Spartacus is attacked again by three vast Egyptian forces. The peril is great and no retreat can be effected. The battle of Mukapaibes' Hill commences; Mukapaibes, the Thracian second in command, sacrifices himself to allow the Thracian force time to turn and face its pikes to the Jerusalem garrison before turning and beating a second Egyptian force. The third and largest force, fearful of Thracian arms, refuses to abandon a position on a high nearby hill and watches Spartacus defeat the first two Egyptian armies. He loses around 500 men, killing nearly 800 of the foe including the destruction of many chariots.

The fighting is not over yet, however; a second huge army under Wah Philometor attacks the Thracians, hoping for a swift victory as their battered forces rest. His uphill assault goes poorly, however; his own bodyguard are mauled in the first charge and the Thracian cavalry make swift work of his mercenary spearmen. His chariots, absent in the first charge, are then cut up by the phalangites; the remainder join a hasty retreat, just 100 or so of his 1700 men leaving the battlefield. Eight hundred of 1300 Thracians remain; a weakened force, but a victorious one.

218: Jerusalem besieged. Repairs ordered to the walls of Memphis. Alexandria besieged by Egypt. Memphis besieged by Egypt.
Egypt makes a further attempt to relieve the siege of Jerusalem. It turns into another disaster for Egyptian arms as the Egyptian infantry fail to slog uphill and attack the bow and pike armed Thracians, with two of their generals killed and under forty men leaving the field alive. The garrison of Jerusalem is almost obliterated, and the 830 man relief force is left with just forty men and its general gone.

Jerusalem opens its gates to the invaders; the populace is treated brutally, but the loot replenishes the Thracian treasury to its greatest strength in decades. This great victory pushes Thrace above Egypt in production and financial rankings for the first time.

Thrace must then look to her defences, though. The assault on Alexandria comes, but is easily repelled, the 800 strong Egyptian force obliterated for just thirty Thracians; their ram destroys the gate but their cavalry charges to its death against the pikes that fill the narrow gap.

217: Memphis assaulted. The few infantry in the force are beaten off the walls easily. A Royal Palace is ordered in Thebes, and new building projects are commanded in Kydonia

216: Drenis, elder son of Spartacus, comes of age. Taking a force mostly of mercenaries, he takes a gamble and marches on the poorly defended city of Sidon. Memphis besieged again.

The garrison of Sidon consists only of the personal guard of Tantamun the Killer. Drenis' men swiftly capture the walls and his mercenary War Elephants make swift work of the Egyptian cavalry in the square. Once again, the inhabitants are shown scant mercy by the attackers, and once again the Thracian treasury overflows with gold.

But Drenis' plans do not stop there; taking only his cavalry and elephants he swiftly marches on Damascus.

215:
Spartacus dies, and Egypt besieges Jerusalem. Kersebleptos, a promising commander, is adopted by Drenis as his second in command, and they march north to threaten Antioch. A force sent south against them kills a significant number of elephants but otherwise the force is barely harmed. Antioch is besieged.
The assault on Jerusalem; the Egyptian army is vast, and eventually manages to swamp enough of the defenders to burst a gate open and let their cavalry rush in to massacre the defenders. It is a black day for Thrace, leaving the northern provinces (Sidon, Damascus) cut off from the Nile regions. Recovering Jerusalem must become a priority.

At Antioch, the Egyptians counterattack; Drenis is killed, but Kersebleptos leads the Thracians to a narrow victory and Antioch falls to them thereafter. There are now effectively two Thracian states – unless and until Jerusalem is re-taken.

214:

As a feint, a small force of camelry lays siege to Petra but are quickly chased off.

Kersebleptos adopts two more generals; one of them marches south to govern Damascus, along with forces from Sidon to boost the garrison. They are just about to meet when the Egyptians attack. They have many chariots, but Rescuturme's forces beat them off with pikes and bows.

Sidon is besieged.

213:

Eptecentus governor of Alexandria moves to lift the Pharaoh's long siege of Memphis, and attacks. After losing two chariot units against the Thracian phalangites, Pharaoh retreats and the siege is broken! Arrangements are made to replenish the garrison of Memphis.

Disaster then strikes. The men of Pontus attack Antioch! We can only pray that this war will not go too ill for us, or we could lose much that we have gained.

Eptecentus moves to guard the bridge near Memphis.

212:

The Pontic forces begin their assault. Their plan is to destroy our gatehouse and towers with onagers then breach the walls – but taking the breaches proves impossible for their pathetically weak spear-armed infantry and chariots. Eight hundred Ponticmen die for few Thracian losses. The Pontic leaders quickly re-lay the siege.

211:

Eptecentus marches past Pharaoh's army and toward Jerusalem. Pharaoh chases it, leading him away from Memphis, and attacks it near the head of the Red Sea. Each side loses around 1500 men, and Eptecentus dies, but it is enough to give the numerically superior Thracians a narrow victory.
The leaderless force pushes on towards Jerusalem, though with little chance of success; Rescuturme moves south towards the great city, effectively abandoning his base in Damascus, to try and tempt the Egyptian forces besieging Sidon away from the city's walls.

Iptacens, the captain leading Eptecentus' former army, is swiftly set upon by marauding Egyptian troops. Their force has many chariots and they panic the Thracian left flank, but the centre holds firm and the chariots meet their doom there.

Rescuturme gets attacked as well, by one of the forces threatening Sidon. They are even matched in strength, but the inexperienced Egyptian captain tries to
force his men to attack uphill and is beaten back by pikemen, losing his own life in the process.

Iptacens is then attacked by the Pharaoh himself; he commands his men to hold firm, for they cannot retreat. The Pharaoh's bodyguard is wrecked upon the Greek pikes, but he and his second in command both manage a hasty retreat once again.

210:

A new force is ordered to assemble in Egypt and move towards Petra. Rescuturme besieges Jerusalem, and Iptacens moves north to reinforce him.
What next? Who knows?

[comrade_general]

lol "camelry"

Good work, Joob!

[Jubal]

Yeah, we're about evens with Egypt now, if we retake Jerusalem and capture Petra we'll be fairly well in control in the war - though the Pontic front could be a real issue, they're vastly more powerful than we are. Also Egypt still has a higher military ranking and (narrowly) more provinces than us so we need to at least reduce their current forces which will take some hard fighting and then preferably take a city or two more.

[comrade_general]

You have your orders, Will.