Author Topic: The Daughters of the Dragon: A Valkyrja AAR (ATW)  (Read 30044 times)

SubRosa

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The Daughters of the Dragon: A Valkyrja AAR (ATW)
« Reply #60 on: May 25, 2009, 11:12:30 PM »
Marpesia leads the Army of the Steppe against an Amazonian army west of Artaxarta.


They too have Mercenary War Elephants.


Correction, they have amok Mercenary War Elephants.


While my Agema Archers shred their infantry, I slip my cavalry around their flanks.


Oops, better watch out for those Elephants. Missile cavalry does not automatically skirmish away from amok War Elephants.


It ended the way it usually does.


No survivors.


What is this? The hated Greek Cities have been destroyed? I was hoping to deliver the final stroke myself.


It was the Carthaginians who finished them off.


Back in the east, First Equal Klito assaults Antioch. There will be no escape for the Pharaoh this time...


I set up outside of the square and then let my archers bait him out.


Then it was a slug-fest with spears.


No survivors.


The Egyptians are fitted with iron collars.


What foul treachery is this? My Briton allies have laid siege to Mogontiacum! This crime can only be repaid with the blood of thousands of Britons.


It also seems the Sarmatians are in need of a new homeland again.


Yes, the Egyptians have retaken Thebes. Their horde now moves along the coast west of Alexandria.


Maia the Cunning had been marching north upon Damme. But the treachery of the Britons forced her to turn back. However, she found an army of German rebels blocking her path.


I let my archers who could get in range and my Onagers to soften them up.


Then I cross the river and sweep around their flank.


The Rebels were smashed.


Scratch one rebel army.


Maia was able to march back to Mogontiacum just in time for Cynane to sally from the city.


The Briton army includes Chosen Men... (this is an easter egg that was already discovered by neo_deus, so I can finally mention it myself).


The Britons started on the corner of the strat map, so they head for that corner as the battle starts. Cynane and her Heavy Cavalry run down the stragglers.


The rest of their army does not stop to deploy, but continues for the map edge.


There was nothing to do but charge and force them to fight.


Their Chosen and regular Slingers were able to escape however.


Still, it is a victory, lifting the siege of the city.


Back east, Telesilla has taken a small force and landed upon Cyprus. This will be the springboard for the invasion of the Nile Valley.




« Last Edit: May 25, 2009, 11:14:54 PM by SubRosa »

SubRosa

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The Daughters of the Dragon: A Valkyrja AAR (ATW)
« Reply #61 on: May 29, 2009, 02:06:43 AM »
Telesilla landed upon Cyprus and attacked Salamis, which was woefully under-manned.


The Egyptians were simply annihilated by my Agema Archers. Not one ever came near my women.


Perfect victory.


Telesilla puts the Egyptians to the sword after seeing how dangerously over-crowded the city was (almost 40k thanks to the Awesome temple of Isus that was in it!)


The Iberians have offered an alliance, and seeing that we both are at war with the Britons I agree.


This is a first for this campaign.


In the west, Second Equal Maia the Cunning sallies forth from Mogontiacum after another Briton siege.


She gobbles up the Britons at the end of their line.


While her horse archers intercepted the lead elements of the Britons after leaving the city via a different gate.


The cowardly barbarians did not stop to fight, but headed straight for the map edge.


None make it out alive.


Nearby Myrine led the assault upon Damme with an army heavily comprised of mercenaries (well, heavily for me).


Myrine's women crush the only real opposition, the two Rebel Generals.


No survivors.


She fits the former Germans with iron collars.


Here is a shock. A Carthaginian army has landed in Greece and laid siege to Corinth! All I have in the entire region are three inexperienced Horse Archers and a few Generals. This will be interesting!





« Last Edit: May 29, 2009, 02:08:33 AM by SubRosa »

SubRosa

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The Daughters of the Dragon: A Valkyrja AAR (ATW)
« Reply #62 on: May 30, 2009, 03:13:08 AM »
Okay, time to fix things in Greece. I begin with dealing with the Carthaginian fleet.


I move up the two Generals and three Horse Archers I have in Greece, and hire every mercenary in the region.


Then I attack. I actually have pretty decent odds against them, considering that they caught me with my skirt down.


I send the Horse Archers ahead of my infantry to soften up the Carthaginians. You can see my reinforcements from Corinth coming in on the left, alongside the Carthaginian flank. They are all Peasants, but will prove to be very important.


I send my one General and Horse Archer to destroy the Long Shields on the Carthaginian left.


While another Horse Archer baited their Round Shields into a counter-charge by my other General.


However, this left my infantry wipe open to the Carthaginian General's attack.


I move a unit of Mercenary Hoplites over to help the Merc Peltasts the General is slaughtering, and maneuver one of my Generals on a wide sweep behind the Carthaginian line and into his rear.


That breaks their General.


Their horse all destroyed, now I was able to start picking apart their infantry and ganging up on them with my own.


While all of this has been happening, my Peasants from Corinth have been leading the Carthaginian Sacred Band and one of their Poeni Infantry on a wild goose chase across the map.


Soon I had the rest of their army wiped out.


Just the Sacred Band left.


1500 Peasants charging from the rear will ruin anyone's day.


My Peasants celebrate. They were instrumental to my victory. Quantity has a quality all its own.


Victory, the threat to Greece is over.


In the east, Marpesia marched to Artaxarta, but was compelled to turn to face an Amazonian army that advanced upon her rear.


Scratch one Amazonian army.


Far west in the murky forests of Germania, Second Equal Maia the Mighty sallied against yet another Briton siege.


Scratch one Briton army.


The Sarmatians have settled again.


There they are in Menelaus Point. Looks like the Egyptians are not going to sit still for it though.


One of my spies has discovered that Alexandria has the plague. I guess it will not be a good idea for Hypsipyle to attack it (she is in that cluster of three fleets half-way between Rhodes and Alexandria).




« Last Edit: May 30, 2009, 03:15:30 AM by SubRosa »

SubRosa

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The Daughters of the Dragon: A Valkyrja AAR (ATW)
« Reply #63 on: May 31, 2009, 02:24:25 AM »
First Equal Klito the Conqueror assaults Sidon.


The Egyptians deployed down at the end of the wall, near the gate. Good for me.


I meet little resistance as my troops enter the city.


Klito chases the routing Egyptians back to the edge of the square, then sees fresh Eggies approaching. Instead of becoming embroiled in a melee with infantry, she continues down the street.


This leaves the new Eggies to the Drakones coming up behind her.


But the Egyptians had those damnable Chariot Archers defending the square. I did not want to charge with Klito because General vs. Chariot always = Dead General.


So Klito and her bodyguard settled down into an archery duel with the Chariots while the rest of the army came up the street.


Finally I was able to get my infantry into the square.


That is when I noticed that these Agema Archers defending my breach had decided to advance past the spear women defending them and go into melee combat with two units of Nile Spearmen. WTF?


I pull the archers back and send my Drakones and Companions in to crush the Nile guys.


Now my troops were streaming across the square.


I leave part of the army deal with that Egyptian spear unit in the square, and send the rest to the opposite entrance to block the rest of the Egyptian army from entering.


I get there just in time to deploy and meet the Eggies.


Their Captain was chopped down in the shade.


As always, I continue to the battle to kill every last one of them.


Now there were just a few stragglers left to clean up, like these Pharaoh's Guards.


100 men dead in a matter of seconds. I love Agema Archers.


The rest did not fare any better against my Drakones and Companions.


Victory. I am not sure where that last one Egyptian is.


As usual, I Enslave.


Even after removing half the population as slaves, Sidon still has 17,000 people in it! Here is why, a 5th tier temple to Isus. The women of Eg are most fecund indeed...


Hmmm, now what is this Roman up to?


In Armenia, Marpesia assaults Artaxarta.


A very ugly archery duel ensues at the walls, which I lose a lot of women to. I did not notice that they had so many Amazon Archers when I glanced over the units they had in the odds scroll...


I knock two holes in the walls and enter.


Their Captain was quickly cut down in the street.


The Amazonians quickly counter-attacked my breach.


But they cannot stand against my women.


They come down from the walls to meet me.


In the square there were only Peasants to oppose me.


Victory, but with heavy losses.


I Occupy.


Victory! Once again the victory movie does not play. *grrrr* None of the videos I make will work.  


The Tale of the Tape. 60 territories.


Now some Lists. I am way out ahead in Overall rankings.


Same with Military Ranking.


My Production has been all over the place. I have never fully understood what this one means.


No one is close to me in Territories.


I am also filthy rich. I am not sure how the Sarmatians got so much money. As far as I can tell they never sacked any cities.


My policy of Enslavement has put my population through the roof.


Now some maps with FOW off. Northern Gaul is all Briton, and western Germania a battleground between them, the Rebels and myself.


Southern Gaul is Briton as well, except for Narbo Martius, which they are trying to take from the Iberians.


All of Iberia is Iberian.


Carthage has been reduced to an island empire, existing only on the Balearic Islands, Sardinia, ...


...and lastly Sicily.


North Africa is all Gorgon, with Tecape being the western end of Egyptian expansion.


The rest of Africa is Egyptian, except for the Sarmatians hanging on to Menelaus Point.


The Levant is contested by Egypt and myself.


Amazonia, Parthia, and Armenia are all penned in the eastern mountains.


Well that is it. Stick a fork in me, I am done. *phew* These AARs really get wearing by the end.

« Last Edit: May 31, 2009, 02:29:30 AM by SubRosa »

Jubal

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The Daughters of the Dragon: A Valkyrja AAR (ATW)
« Reply #64 on: May 31, 2009, 09:46:43 AM »
Well done! A very interesting campaign to watch unfold. Do you think the amazon factions have a tendency to be more powerful as the AI? The Gorgons and regular amazons aboth seem to have kicked ass (regular amazons only until you arrived of course).
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SubRosa

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The Daughters of the Dragon: A Valkyrja AAR (ATW)
« Reply #65 on: May 31, 2009, 06:08:29 PM »
Thank you.

Actually I worry about the Amazon factions not doing well enough when in the hands of the AI. The Valkyrja generally do not get far on their own, and the Gorgons rarely get beyond North Africa. Amazonia is usually does well to start with, but is eventually swallowed up by a combination of Armenia and Egypt.

I noticed that the AI was not producing many archer units for Amazonia, so I am now experimenting with trying different build options for descr_strat. I have also thought about making their units cheaper in general to help the Amazons out.