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

[SubRosa]

Well it is about time!


A Scythian army blocks the road to Olbia.


I set out my archers ahead of my infantry, this way they can engage the Scythians as soon as possible. I am not worried about a charge on my archers, as the Scythians are all horse archers. Still, I move my infantry forward through the archers as soon as possible to reduce the amount of time they are vulnerable.


Here is a little trick to hunting horse archers when you do not have them yourself. Use one unit to push the archer in one direction, and send a cavalry unit around behind them at the same time. They end up trapped between your two units.


No getting out of this.


The rest of the battle went no different. Makanyane brushes the Scythians aside.


She continues to Olbia and lays siege to the city. Mindful of the Scythian armies in striking distance to the north, she is careful to position herself on the western side of the city. This way if the other Scythians reinforce they will not be coming in on her flank or rear.


In the east, a Sarmatian force has turned up to defend the approach to Tanais (or more likely they were just on their way to Campus Roxolani). In any case, Alkippe attacks it.


Nomad scum cannot stand against the might of the Valkyrja.


Afterward Alkippe leaves the army and heads back north to Campus Roxolani. A large Sarmatian force has been spotted east of the city, and she will be needed to defend it. Okypous takes the rest of the force south and builds a fort near Tanais, thinking that the Scythians in the open near the city might attack her. In the meanwhile Xanthippe moves east to join her. Now that Olbia has fallen, she is no longer needed to defend Androphagia.


Over the AI's turn, Makanyane is attacked outside of Olbia, bringing the garrison of the city into the battle as reinforcements. If I can destroy the Scythians the city will be mine without a siege.


The goddesses have blessed me with this lovely hill to stand upon. For an archery faction like mine, height is a devastating advantage.


As the first army comes up the hill, I swing my infantry to the right to face them head on. In the no-woman's land between the armies, Makanyane cleans up the lead elements of the Scythians.


It took a while for them to get up the hill, but the first army is finally engaging.


It starts with a clash of infantry.


A unit of their Steppe Spearmen was able to get around my left. They were met by Makanyane and her Sarmatian Mercs.


She continued through the routing spearmen and charged down upon the Scythian General.


He was cut down by the Sarmatians.


Back in the center, the infantry were slugging it out breast to breast.


My women prevailed, and the Scythian right dissolved.


Who let these things out?


Olbia's garrison was now coming into action, especially on my right.


The Scythians have gotten around my flank. Especially disturbing are the Barbarian Cavalry, who have a clear shot at my Mercenary Amazon Archers. I have my Warband on the flank pull out of line and charge them.


Spears vs. horses = dead horses.


The rest of the garrison was cleaned up shortly thereafter. Heroic Victory.


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


I also receive a famous battle marker.


Here is a turn of luck. A new daughter came of age in Olbia immediately afterward.


Back in the east Okypous and Xanthippe have a Scythian sandwich of that army that was in the field near Tanais.


Scratch another Scythian army.


Hmmm, the Dacians are becoming restless. They will be attacking soon. I move to reinforce Vicus Venedae.


My Diplomat has discovered that the Thracians have taken Pella and Bylazora from the Macedonians.


Making them allies seems like a good idea right now.

[SubRosa]

As I expected, the Dacians have crossed the border and besieged Vicus Venedae.


Kardika sallies, bringing in the reinforcements I sent from Vicus Gepidae last turn.


She soundly thrashes the Dacians.


My slovenly spy is investigating the Bosporus before I invade. Neapolis Scythica is nearly 4th tier! Clearly, there are a lot of Scythians that need killing here.


Next turn, the Dacians invade once more.


Same with the Sarmatians. Nobody likes me...


Once more Kardika sallies from Vicus Venedae.


The Dacians have Bastarnae Mercenaries in their army. These are not your father's Bastarnae.


The Dacian General locked onto Kardika and charged early on. She fled before him, and took him on a Scythian Horse Ride around the city walls.


He has not lost much going into the first turn. His bodyguard's second hit point is still holding up.


By the second turn the Dacian bodyguard is almost gone. They would rout two dead men later and be run down by Kardika.


The Bastarnae, being mere infantry, were then baited, tired, surrounded, and destroyed.


Heroic Victory.


The garrison of Gelonos then sallied.


After a long archery duel, the Sarmatian's Virgin Cavalry came out and charged one of my Horse Archers, who promptly took them on a Scythian Horse Ride.


They routed half way around the city as well.


Heroic Victory #2.


Alkippe had marched forward to the bridge on the Don, as she saw a large Sarmatian army moving up on Gelonos. She wanted to either meet the Scythians in the open, or be able to reinforce Gelonos should that army lay siege as the first did. The Sarmatians saw her and forgot about Gelonos.


Their first army is rather small, but that big army Alkippe was concerned about was approaching from behind the trees on the left.


Alkippe immediately charged across the bridge, with several Horse Archers following shortly thereafter.


They put the first army to flight. But that second army was coming onto the field.


Alkippe brought her women back across the Don to wait for their arrival.


As plains battles always do, it started with an archery duel. However, I concentrated most of my fire not on the Virgin Archers you see in front, but the Virgin Cavalry behind them. I knew the Cavalry would be the first across the bridge, and I wanted to blunt them first if possible.


My plan worked, the Virgin Cavalry routed when they came across.


But the rest of the Sarmatians followed, and I was obliged to give them space.


Their General went after one of my Horse Archers on the riverbank. They fled while Alkippe rode over to intercept him.


She caught up with him, and with the help of a few Horse Archers sandwiched him.


He fled.


Then he was cut down.


The remainder of their army was mopped up at the bridge.


Heroic Victory #3.


Now the main event of tonight's card. Makanyane has crossed over into the Bosporus and laid siege to Neapolis Scythica. A small Scythian army from Chersonesos came up and attacked her, drawing the garrison of Neapolis Scythica into the battle as well.


I want that big hill behind the first Scythian army. So I immediately charge forward with everything I have.


Where did the Scythians get these guys? They might be leftovers from the start of the game. But I would have thought they would have taken casualties from the sieges of Chersonesos and Panticapaeum if that were so.


No matter, Makanyane's guard makes short work of them. Did I mention that her bodyguard is now at 3 gold chevrons of experience? The boogieman has nightmares about her.


The first army's infantry is swept aside by my own.


Then their Virgin Horse Archers are penned in the corner and wiped out.


Now I turn my army 90 degrees to the left to face the second Scythian army.


Just in time to meet them head on.


Their General is sent packing.


He meets his gods in disgrace.


I push my army forward as fast as they can go, and the Scythians begin to collapse.


Soon they completely dissolve.


Victory! I was too close to the map edge though, which allowed many of the fleeing Scythians to escape back to Neapolis Scythica and continue to garrison it. Now I will have to take it by siege.

[SubRosa]

Polemusa comes to the aid of besieged Vibantavarium.


Even though it was actually a rather poor performance by myself (check the losses I suffered) it goes down as a Heroic Victory and a famous battle marker.


Further north, Prince Hairyfellas of the Germans had crossed over into Valkyjra territory and needed to be taught a lesson in property rights.


Another Heroic Victory.


The westlands were now free of invaders. For now.


Now to the east. The siege of Tanais has been one headache after another. First I built a ram, not realizing it had stone walls. Then once I did notice I had to spend another turn building a siege tower. Then when I finally went to attack my tower was nowhere to be found. That ticked me off. I am not a big fan of reloading battles, but I am not going to assault a stone-walled city without the siege tower that I wasted a turn building. I reloaded and tried again, and still no siege tower. So in disgust I auto-resolved.


 Tanais was taken, and I clapped the Scythian men into irons.


In the west, Captain Selifator of the Scythians desperately tried to defend their capital of Neapolis Scythica from Makanyane.


Makanyane attacks from two walls.


She makes her entry with no opposition.


Then she runs into fierce resistance half-way to the town square.


These Virgin Horse Archers really put up a good fight, better than you would expect for a horse archer unit in melee.


But finally Captain Selifator was laid low.


Resistance collapsed, and it was just a matter of letting the archers mop up the remnants in the square.


Victory.  


If it were another city Makanyane would have enslaved it. But this was the capital of the enemy. A message had to be sent to other nations who thought to attack Amazons. Makanyane wrote it in the skulls of dead Scythians.


Neapolis Scythica can render up several goodies, including these beauties.


The same turn, Alkibia is dispatched south to lay siege to Chersonesos with a few cavalry units. I do not expect her to take the city by herself, but you never know when the AI will try a sally.

[SubRosa]

The Dacians are still buzzing around the westlands like flies.


Polemusa rides out to swat them.


No survivors.


Same turn, she takes on the second Dacian force.


Again, no survivors.


After using her to smite some Rebels, I noticed that Kardika has a +6 to Law thanks to being an upright person. I am wasting her in a tiny place like Vicus Vendedae. I am going to move her to Vicus Gepidae, where I am dealing with chronic unrest from the hairy barbarians.


In the east, Okypous marches from Tanais to deal with one of the Scythian armies roaming Maeotis.


It is all high ground in front of me. Not good at all.


I take my entire army up to the flank and onto a piece of higher ground than the Scythians have.


Then I turn 90 degrees and head straight into them.


Victory.


The second army that was in Maeotis marched south to the Crimea. Now I have several choices to make. Do I call off the siege of Chersonesos and reinforce Neapolis Scythica, assuming they are going to attack it? Do I leave my troops exactly as they are, and hope the Scythians go after Neapolis Scythica and do not attack Alkibia outside of Chersonesos instead? Do I attack Chersonesos right now, and hope that my divided forces can maintain order in both cities and stave off the coming attack?


I take a fourth option. I call off the siege and bring Alkibia and her troops back north, then march out with everything to meet the Scythian army in the open. With them destroyed, the entire peninsula will be mine for the taking.


This rough patch of ground on my left would give me problems in my advance.


However, Alkibia found the Scythian General on that flank and immediately charged him.


Her women sacrificed him upon Freja's altar (the battlefield).


I had pushed Makanyane forward on the right to deal with some Scythians who were threatening to turn my flank. Then she saw an opportunity and did exactly the same thing to them. At the same time Alkibia came over from the left to charge into their other flank, and my infantry advanced directly forward.


The Scythian center dissolved. The battle then became a series of isolated engagements on the flanks.


I just like this picture.


Victory. However, some of the Scythians would escape.


The economy is doing better. I am back to full build programs in all of my cities, and still maintaining the ever-growing military.


Looks like I will be at war with the Thracians soon... I begin moving troops to reinforce Olbia.


Next turn Makanyane chased more Scythians around a bit, then finally brought them to ground outside of Chersonesos, bringing the garrison into the fray as well.


It was very one-sided.


I did not realize it, but that was Scythia's Last general. Their faction is now a memory.


With that Chersonesos and Panticapaeum reverted to Rebel ownership, just as they were at the beginning of the game.

[SubRosa]

A smallish update for this afternoon.

I can now recruit Heavy Cavalry in Neo Themiskyra.


The Thracians have crossed over into Amazon territory.


In the east, Okypous sallies against a Sarmatian army that has laid siege to Tanais.


There sure are a lot of them out there.


Okypous gobbles up the stragglers in their line.


Then she smashes their extreme right flank.


My infantry come up on that flank, and Okypous comes back to lend a hand.


The Sarmatians throw everything they have into it, as do I.


Finally their General is cut down by my Horse Archers.


Heroic Victory. Freja's ravens will gorge themselves tonight.


Hmmm, the Royalists have allied themselves with my enemies.


No surprise here. The Thracians have lain siege to Olbia.


In the Crimea, First Equal Makanyane assaults Chersonesos.


She attacks from two directions.


There was little opposition at the walls. Not after my archers were through with them at least.


But their General came over to counter-attack my mercenaries as they marched into the city.


He fled when Makanyane herself appeared.


In the meantime my Spearwomen were marching upon the town square.


Then it was just a matter of letting the archers clean out the last of the Rebels.


No survivors.


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


Vicus Venedae immediately grows to third tier.


As does Vicus Gepidae.

[SubRosa]

Tereis, now a hardened veteran from decades of hunting Rebels, sallies against the Thracian army laying siege to Olbia.


I come at them from two sides, and they form two lines to repel me.


I give them a bit of arrows, drawing some of their infantry out on their left. Then I charged them as they headed back to their lines.


Their left evaporates.


In the meantime, my Mercenary Amazon Archers were softening up their Phalanx Pikemen in the center.


Okay, Round Two. I have pulled my troops back after chasing down the routers from the left flank and rested them. Once more I spend a while giving the Thracians some arrows.


I see a weakness form on their right flank, and charge.


Part of their center chain routs as I smash the flank.


Then it was just a matter of cleaning up the remnants.


Heroic Victory.


I hate when the AI does this to me. Damned Diplomats!


Alkippe cannot reach Campus Roxolani this turn. I do not want to wait another turn, because that will give the Sarmatians time to build a unit to garrison the city with, then I will have to retake it by siege. So Alkippe moves toward the city, then hires a Mercenary Virgin Horse Archer. The mercenaries then ride forward with a full movement rate and reach the city, taking it with no opposition.


It is my city, so I Occupy.


The west has not been quiet either. This is one of two Germanic incursions.


Both ended the same way.


That one got a famous battle marker however.


Who's your momma?


I do not have any assassins to take care of that Sarmatian Diplomat outside of Campus Roxolani. So I deal with him in a way that I have found to be very effective. With money.


Lousy Egyptians...


I have found that my enemies always make alliances with one another. You could say that I always unite the world in RTW, against me that is...


On the other hand, I can now recruit these lovelies in my capital.


Money has been in short supply again, so I sell my map to the Pharaoh.


A Sarmatian army has crossed the Don. Alkippe rides to meet them.


The Sarmatians are destroyed, and Alkippe marches east across the Don and into Sarmatian lands. Her next stop is Campus Sauromatae.

[SubRosa]

The Dacian King led an army against Vicus Vendedae.


Dacia now needs a new King...


In the east, a Sarmatian army has intercepted Alkippe the Honest on her march to Campus Sauromatae.


Here is an example of how I try to deal with the Sarmatian Steppe Lancers. A Lancer has locked onto one of my Horse Archers. I let my HA skirmish away, drawing the Lancer after it. At the same time I send Alkippe in to intercept the Lancer from the flank, with another Horse Archer coming along for the ride (just to add numbers).


The Steppe Lancers rout before Alkippe can strike them. This is one reason I brought along that second Horse Archer. Their numbers helped reduce the morale of the Steppe Lancers.


In the end Alkippe was victorious.


Next turn another Dacian army besieged Vicus Venedae, and a Thracian army I have been tracking did the same to Olbia.


Xanthippe turns her famous wrath loose upon the Thracians.


I have to watch out for these javelins of theirs. They really pack a wallop.


In this case I ran away just in time to get out of range as the deadly Thracian missiles were in the air.


Here is a little example of the kind of maneuvering you can do against armies that are mostly infantry. One of my Horse Archers is chasing down a routing Thracian unit on the other side of their army. However, they have a Militia Cavalry unit going after my HA. I see an opening in their line, so I send Xanthippe through it.


She easily passes through the Thracian army and falls upon those Militia Cavalry, routing them.


By the time their infantry were reaching my own, my Mercenary Amazon Archers had taken quite a toll. This one unit routed before contact.


This Greek Cavalry had locked on to one of my Horse Archers, so I ran the HA behind my Warbands.


This resulted in the Greek Cavalry slamming into a Warband.


Across the battlefield, Xanthippe's guard smote the Thracian's Captain's ruin upon the snowy fields.


Heroic Victory.


Nearby, Pantariste sallies from Vicus Venedae again.


Another Heroic Victory.


In the east, Alkippe the Honest has marched upon the capital of the enemy and laid siege to it. They have several armies lurking about the countryside. I expect at least one to come over and attack her. I have also sent Okypous out from Tanais and into Sarmatian territory to the south, in the hopes that she will draw some of those Sarmatians away.


Still the same turn, First Equal Makanyane assaults Panticapaeum.


The Spearwomen are the first into the city.


They are also the first to mix it up with the Rebels.


Not to be outdone, my Mercenary Amazon Hoplites kill the Rebel Captain.


No survivors. Panticapaeum was mine.


Makanyane enslaves the Rebels. Amazon whips will teach them to obey.


Over the AI's turn, the Sarmatians obliged Alkippe by attacking her, drawing the garrison of Campus Sauromatae into the battle as reinforcements.


This is how you kill a General with Horse Archers (and one Merc Hoplite).


Down he goes!


One more Heroic Victory.


Campus Sauromatae was mine, After twenty long years of war, the Valkyrja's first real blow into the heartland of the betrayers.


The enslavement puts Campus Roxolani up a tier.


Watch that puddle.


I am large and in charge.

[Jubal]

I really should start an AAR... I'm thinking CTW Byzantines atm.

[SubRosa]

Chivalry Total War?

[Jubal]

Yea.

[SubRosa]

I do not think I have ever seen that in action. So I think it would be a fun AAR to read.

[SubRosa]

The Dacians and the Germans are in a race to see who can take Vicus Venedae first.


They will have to bring more than that if they want this city.


After gobbling up one Warband, the rest headed for the exit.


Pantariste hit the last Warband in line, and the other two nearby chain-routed with it. Got to love that low barbarian morale combined with a ten star General.


They are smoten


To deal with the Germans, I brought Kardika the Honest out of Vicus Gepidae to reinforce Pantariste.


More food for the crows.


In the east, First Equal Makanyane has crossed the sea to attack Thatis. Her slovenly spy has opened the gates for her, so she immediately attacks.


The Sarmatians do not have much.


This pretty well sums up the battle.


No survivors.


As it is a tiny settlement, Makanyane Occupies.


In the west, more Dacians and Thracians are on the way.


Thrace is really going strong. They have pushed Macedon back to a single city - Thermon - and will soon have them eliminated.


Now about that Dacian army I saw last turn...


They sure brought a lot this time! They started on the corner tile in the strat map, and head to that corner as the battle commences.


Veleda gobbles up the lagging Dacians.


Eventually the Dacians form a battle line (the ones that made it).


Now it was time to pick them apart a unit at a time, starting with their Captain.


Heroic Victory.


Germania is now allied to the Sarmatians.


Speaking of the Sarmatians, they tried to sneak an army past Campus Sauromatae.


Alkippe the Conqueror thrashes them most soundly.


Now for those Thracians at Olbia.


I have some infantry at Olbia, including a new Spearwoman recruited from Neapolis Scythica. It was nice to see the lines meet once more.


Not to mention hit the Thracians with the hammer once they were upon the anvil.


Heroic Victory.

[SubRosa]

The Thracians have destroyed Macedon.


However, we Valkyrja are still more Advanced than they are.


The Dacians have brought a better army to Vicus Venedae. This time they have Noble Cavalry and Bastarnae Mercenaries.


This is more of a challenge.


I start on their left.


Their General comes into it, and I mob him.


He dies under a flood of Horse Archers.


One of my Horse Archers has drawn the attention of a Noble Cavalry. I withdraw my HA across the front of the rest of my force.


The Nobles rout when I order all my units to attack them.


Then I pull my women back for a rest.


The other one of those Noble Cavalry locked onto a Horse Archer. Once more I fled, allowing two other Horse Archers to shoot into the flanks of the Nobles as they pursued.


They routed just from the arrow-fire. Horse Archers do not have an especially high missile attack to start with, but once they get to multiple silver experience with a few weapon upgrades they get scary.


Now it was just a matter of picking apart their infantry one at a time.


Heroic Victory.


I now have a Large Temple of Artemis in Vicus Venedae. This means gold weapon upgrades for my Horse Archers. I am a micro-manager, so I will rotate all of my Horse Archers on the Western Front through here to get the bonus.


Vicus Gepidae seems to have a permanent 45% unrest. I tried moving Kardika out of the city and it did not change, so she is not causing it. There is either a spy within the walls, or a bug causing it.


In the east, Alkippe the Wrathful is now marching upon Campus Alanni.


Further south, First Equal Makanyane joined forces with Second Equal Okypous, and they attacked the last Sarmatian army of note outside of Ulski, this brought their King and the garrison of the city in as reinforcements.


This big dragon's tooth will anchor my flank rather well. I put all of my infantry to the right of it, where the trees are.


Things get going quickly on that flank, as Virgin Cavalry immediately charges one of my Horse Archers. I have them retreat directly to where Second Equal Okypous waits in ambush.


As the Virgins draw near, Okypous broke cover and charged directly into them.


In the meantime, my infantry were under heavy attack by the Sarmatians.


The left is a pure cavalry affair. My forces, led by First Equal Makanyane, are ganging up on individual Sarmatian units and destroying them.


On the right, my infantry have held against the Sarmatian storm.


Okypous charges directly into the fray as a second wave of Sarmatians comes up.


The Sarmatians have been broken on the left.


The right is a meat-grinder however. Now the Sarmatian General has joined in.


He is cut down by Okypous' women.


The first Sarmatian army is on the run. But the second is now coming on line. I pull back my pursuing cavalry and reform near the Tooth.


Here comes the King.


Okypous chalks up another Sarmatian leader.


The Sarmatians still have more coming up, and my women are worn down and tired.


Nothing to do but win. I send everything in at the Sarmatians.


They are on the run!


Heroic Victory.


With that Ulski was mine. It is not very big, so I Occupy. This city will become an important base against the Armenians, so I want to keep its population intact.


Speaking of the Armenians, I foresee war with them in the near future.


Lousy Egyptians...


The Sarmatians are broken. Their remaining two cities will soon be in Valkyrja hands.

[SubRosa]

Oh yeah.


This was just a matter of time.


While I was exchanging units between Vicus Gepidae and Vicus Venedae to retrain them in each city, the Dacians decided to attack. Little did the fools realize that with the garrisons for both city's on the road between them, this meant that they could all come in as reinforcements. This will give me the largest army I have had yet in the west.


There are a lot of those Dacians, and they head for the corner as the battle opens. You can see my reinforcements coming onto the field in the background.


The Dacians do not reach the corner.


Their Warlord is cut down by a hail of Amazon arrows.


Then it was just a matter of shooting them to bits until they routed.


The Dacians are smashed.


A turn later and another Dacian army comes up.


Scratch another Dacian army.


Hmmm, this makes Pantariste an Excellent Ambusher?


It is definitely just a matter of time before Armenia attacks me.


Lousy Egyptians.


I have decided to simply blockade both remaining Sarmatian cities rather than try to take them by storm. I have sent most of my infantry west, and really do not want to slug it out in the streets with my Horse Archers. This is the garrison of Campus Aorsi. I was wondering who had their legendary artifact.


The Armenians are rolling out Cataphract Archers now. This will not make fighting them easy. I will have to get some assassins down there to start destroying their stables.


Back west, Pantariste found yet more Dacians underfoot, and rode out to chastise them.


I mentioned how scary Horse Archers can get with some experience and weapon upgrades. Well, here is is.


Scratch another Dacian army.


The Seleucids want an alliance with me. I really do not see the point, since they are on the endangered species list.


Amazonia has become a protectorate of Egypt? This is odd to see so quickly, with Amazonia still quite strong.


The unrest in Vicus Gepidae has gone up?


Wait, next turn it is down to only 15%? There are definitely one or more spies lurking within. I have put an experienced spy of my own within the walls to ferret them out.


With their city about to fall at the end of the turn, the garrison of Campus Alani has sallied forth against Alkippe the Wrathful.


They led with their infantry. I chewed up their Steppe Spearmen and spit them out, then settled into an archery duel with their Virgin Archers.


I was wondering where there cavalry were. Here they come around the corner. I move Alkippe, my Heavy Cavalry, and a few Horse Archers to meet them.


Alkippe wastes no time and charges their Virgin Cavalry, routing them. In the meantime my Horse Archers penned the Sarmatian Virgin Horse Archers and slowly destroyed them.


Then their Captain (another Virgin Cavalry) came out to play.


He too was routed.


I do not give chase. They have stone walls, and I do not want any part of their towers.


Their Captain reformed back in the square and came back out again. This time my Horse Archers finished him off.


That is enough for me.


Victory.


I Enslave. This time I was expecting it, so I had emptied out all of my cities of their governors. Except for the four cities along the western border, which I want to grow. So the slaves were all sent there, and to the capital of course. This is a sneaky way that you can really catapult small settlements up in size.


That put Vibantavarium up a tier.

[SubRosa]

Another Thracian army threatens Olbia.


Another army crushed under the Valkyrja heel.


Pantariste meets a small German force outside of Vicus Venedae.


They have Night Raiders. That means they must have reached 4th tier somewhere.


In ATW, Night Raiders throw their axes before closing into melee. This is going to hurt.


I lost 50 Militia Axewomen in that one volley. Pantariste herself is moving to hit the Night Raiders, but there is a unit of German Axemen coming after her.


She routs the Axemen and hits the Night Raiders from behind. I have now half of my Militia Axewomen.


The Germans rout as a unit of Horse Archers closes in to lend an axe.


No survivors.


Hah! I caught the spy! At least one of them. I think there is still one more in Vicus Venedae.


The Sarmatians are about to be history. They will sally this turn.


But before that could happen another Thracian army came to Olbia.


I come out the gates to meet them.


Their General is drawn away from their lines by a Horse Archer, allowing one of my Generals to trap him.


Bam! I bring in the Horse Archers to mob the Thracian.


He is cut down by a Horse Archer's axe.


My Spearwomen want some of the Thracias for themselves, so I send them all forward.


The Thracians are destroyed.


No place in the western front is quiet. Vibantavarium was besieged by the Dacians, obliging Veleda to ride out to thrash them.


Thrashage ensues.


Kardika the Honest has now taken charge of Vicus Venedae, and she meets a small Dacian force north of the city.


I have a new toy in the west, Amazon Archers.


I just like this picture.


No survivors.


In the east, the Sarmatians sally against Second Equal Okypous.


They come right at me, and I meet them head on (with my Sarmatian Mercenaries that is).


On the other hand, my Virgin Horse Archers withdraw before their Virgin Cavalry. Here you see one Virgin being set up for Okypous and a Sarmatian Merc to charge it from the flank.


Then it was the turn of their younger General.


Finally the Sarmatian King rode into battle. Okypous withdrew before him, while the Sarmatians to either side charged his flanks.


Okypous then turned to meet him.


The Sarmatian King was cast down into the dust!


Now my Mercenary Amazon Hoplites took up their siege tower and rolled it over to a blind spot in the walls.


They took the undefended gate, allowing Okypous into the city.


She certainly is brave.


But there is no stopping Okypous the Conqueror.


Campus Aorsi was now mine.


As this will become a valuable border city, and I do not plan to advance further south in the near future, I Occupy.


With that the Sarmatians have horded to the east of Campus Aorsi. Now that I think about it, I wonder why the Scythians did nor horde when I wiped them out? Maybe because I killed all of their Generals while they still had remaining cities?


In the hour of our great triumph, darkness falls. First Equal Makanyane has gone into that good night.