AJE AAR Protecting the Republic

[Sathariel]

Welcome!


As many of you already know, AJE has just got its premiere a few days ago. The game is based in Roman times, it includes 5 scenarios (in my version of the game, I believe there are versions with more?) each concentrating on a different civil war.
I got this game yesterday, picked the campaign, quite at random and started playing. You know that feeling when you get a shiny new game and don't really know what to expect? You don't know the events, the AI, not sure what will happen, or from where will the next hit come? That feeling is lost once you've played a few times. I, personally, love that feeling, so I thought to myself 'Why not to make an AAR while I`m still completely fresh with the game?'. Alright, maybe I`m not totally honest here: I've started a few times on the same scenario, on both sides. Both lasting around 20 turns, so the first 20 turns I have some vague idea what can/will happen and what to prepare against. In those games I played both: as Caesar and Pompey. Caesar, I found to be, fairly easy, I was actually defeating the AI without much of a problem, chances are it's only like that at the beginning, but anyway: who wants to follow an AAR where the player goes from one victory to another? No, no, it's not for me, I rather enjoy AARs where it's really hard for the writer to achieve anything, even better if he fails or looses the game. Pompey is my guy then. Not only he lost in RL, I also started this scenario on him before, played for around 20 turns. In those 20 turns I managed to LOSE EACH AND EVERY SINGLE BATTLE I FOUGHT! I haven't won even 1 little, small, insignificant skirmish, nothing at all. My legions were massacred one, after another (or all altogether, didn't matter) and I`m still not sure why. If I repeat my 'performance' from that time - this AAR won't be long at all . I do, however, have that 20 turns of 'what will happen' next knowledge, so it can hopefully save me from an early humiliation. Or not - I really don't know.

Let's begin the slaughter... I mean the fight to keep Rome a Republic!

 

[Sathariel]

Turn 1

Here we go then!!! All filled with patriotic enthusiasm and love for the Senate, the game explains briefly the scenario in a simple message:

I`m not going to worry about Parthians at the moment. I don't know when will they come, if they will come, or even if they are going to be my problem or the AI's to handle? So let's skip that part. Overall situation is quite simple. Caesar is controlling whole Gallia and north of Italy (Cisalpine province). I control Italia, Iberia, Macedonia, Greece, Asia Minor and North Africa. Many Rome's allies are on my side (don't know for how long, but they are for now, and I hope they will join the fight eventually). When it comes to the territory I have a huge advantage, but when it comes to the military units that I have at my disposal, I`m doomed. Scenario description mentions how in Italy I`m defenseless, hard to argue with that:

While I have some stacks active, they are just commanders. P stands for Pompey, he is together with 2 lower rank commanders in Capua. Ca is Cato, also alone (or almost), pretending to defend Sicilly. On the other side of the barri..Rubicon, we have Ceasar's army (C), under his leadership. On the other side of the Adriatic, there is one more group loyal to him (marked with a letter S). Not really much for me to do here, I`m not expecting for Pompeius to pick up a sword and protect the Italy on his own, so I order him to move to Sicilly, join with Cato and I`ll look to evacuate them somewhere before the enemy soldiers catch up with him. I will probably move him here:

In Iberia I actually have some military presence. While all of them are locked in this very moment, most of these forces are unlock the next turn. I`m planning to make Spain the main battlefield of the campaign (it's either Spain or Greece). My troops there are fairly good: the 3 stacks marked with letters are legions under the commands of: VR Varro Reatinus (3-1-3, so quite poor leader), MP - Marcus Petreius (3-5-2, much better) and LA - Lucius Africanus (3-2-2, another poor commander), all between 16k and 20+k troops. The units marked with number 1-3 are auxillary stacks, small and rather insignificant, but I`m in no position to complain. My tactic will be to join them all together into one strong army, find them some reasonable leader and move forward to block possible entry through the Pyrenees. The idea is to create a power that is able to match Caesar's legions. It's obviously fairly simple plan, but, as I know from my previous experience with any AGEOD's game that the original plan never works, so there is no need to draw them too detailed .

I think I've mentioned Greece before. It's under my control as well.

Situation in similar, the plan is similar too. First of all my units in there are inactive at the moment. They will activated later, with time. The idea is to create 1 strong(ish) army and block the entrance into Macedonia by capturing and holding Lissus (marked on the map).

Since no units of mine are active, but a few single commanders in Italy, I just check a few more options:

first of all I recruit additional units in Spain.

Second of all:

I start to create additional legion in Iberia, in Carthago Nova.

Since the idea is to hold Caesar's experienced, well trained and lead troops before they can enter the Iberian Peninsula, I`ll need what I can get there. I should mention that from checking other people's opinions, as well as reading some AARs and even from my previous games I played (the ones up to ~20 turn) I know that the number of soldier doesn't really matter in the battle. What matters is how many out of them are legionnaires.

One last thing that doesn't show here: I've also started building a unit of Cretean Sagittariis (archers) in, surprisingly, Crete. The reason will be clear in a few turns. .

So those were my opening moves, since I'm a few turns in advance already I know that half of them was pointless and didn't change anything (didn't break anything either for that matter).


EDIT: Once I've posted I realized how small the pictures are, and that it's really hard to see anything on them(especially the scrolled out map ones). I`ll take that into consideration for the future turns (thought I`ve taken the screenshots already for the first 3-4 turns, so you may notice any improvement only from the turn 5 and forward ), and will try either to mark them clearer so the reader can understand my plans and places of interest, or I'll take them scrolled in (what should make them visible, but might be harder to share the overall strategic situation). I will probably just use both ways. Either way: sorry for the tiny pics in this post.

 

[Narwhal]

Good luck with the AAR, this scenario is massive.

You might want to use Faststone capture for your screenshoot. It is free (for one month) and very very efficient.

 

[Matnjord]

Nice, I'm really curious to see how this scenario plays out. Too bad it's against the AI and not a human opponent, but one can't be too picky with AGEOD's AAR.

 

[Soulstrider]

Good luck saving the republic.

 

[Sathariel]

Narwhal - thanks . I probably don't really fully realize the scope of this scenario yet, but it's not really that important. I`m guessing it'll be the same as in RoP, you'll have a few fronts to fight on, but not all will be active all the time.

Matnjord - While the Human opponent obviously gives more challenge, I was slightly worried about the amount of time I have to play & write the AAR. Playing solo I can do it at my own pace, without feeling guilty that the other person has to wait for me.

Soulstrider - Might need it! Caesarians are quite a formidable opponent, with a really great army. While playing them I could just walk all over the Senate's forces in 2-3 theaters all at the same time, destroying them with ease. Something I really have to be careful about.

 

[Matnjord]

Matnjord - While the Human opponent obviously gives more challenge, I was slightly worried about the amount of time I have to play & write the AAR. Playing solo I can do it at my own pace, without feeling guilty that the other person has to wait for me.

Would you be interested in playing against me in this case? I will also write an AAR for it, so you wouldn't need to worry about me having to wait for you. Besides, I already have another RoP game advancing at snails pace (my opponent has at least 3 games going on), so it's not like I'm not used to having games going slowly.

 

[Sathariel]

TURN 2

As predicted by the brightest Senate's strategists the undefended Rome has fallen to Caesar's army:

What followed is a shameless surrender of whole Italy. One city after another they changed sides. What worries me much more is this:

I`ve got some units activated this turn... in places I no longer own! I`m really not sure if it means that I lost them, or not? Hope not. A whole fleet lost in Tarentum + some legions in Carfinium would be really painful.

Either way, not much for me to do this turn. My units in Iberia get activated and I order them to gather around 1 city in northern part of the Peninsula. I also try to send them any support I can:

which is not much. Some small stack from Sicilly (before it gets destroyed by approaching Caesarians) and I order my 2 units in North Africa to merge and as soon as they've done I`m shipping them off to Spain.

With these order I click end of the turn. And since not much has happened:


TURN 3

I get an event:

I can either move to the east, where I`ll get (apparently) a lot of money but I`ll have to build a new army, or I can go to Spain to try to fight Caesar there, with the help of the experienced and loyal to me legions. While historically Pompeius 'picked' the first choice, I`m going for the second. I don't really know the outcome of any of them, can only assume. My 'idea' is to, instead of building a new, inferior units en masse and send them wave after wave at the enemy, to use a smaller but well trained Spanish legions. To beat Caesar with his own weapon, or at least to hold him off long enough to get the territorial advantage to pay off. I`m quite sure I have an advantage in the long run, all I have to do is to survive the few opening years. Think of RoP's Austria vs Prussia, Pompey (Austria) has bigger, but less trained army, with worse commanders, but more potential to train/get reinforcements. Caesar (Prussia) starts with fairly elite troops and good leaders, but with very limited capabilities to replace those lost in combat.
I`m hoping to grind Caesar's legions in Spain long enough to train enough units to eventually attack from Greece into Italy.

Here is the situation in Spain:

Circled unit is my main army:

with a few more units expected to arrive. It begins to look like a fighting force and Marcus Octavius is actually a fairly good commander. He won't remain one for long, though, and is to be replaced by the Pompeius himself once he arrives to the camp. The red line in the north is the border, from where the enemy is expected to come. Not yet though as he is otherwise engaged:

He first has to capture Massalia, the one city in present-day France loyal to the Senate. It's besieged already, but the defenders are in good shape, and there is quite a few of them (21+k). I don't think I`ll be able to save the fort and would rather like to abandon it to use this army somewhere else but they're all locked. Actually, not all, the fleet and 1 unit of auxillares isn't so I move it aboard and order it to move to Spain. At least I`ll save some soldiers. The rest, that I can't move, is expected to last a few turns, giving me enough time to finish with creating my army, then I can try (or at least consider) helping them.

That's all from the Western theater. Now the Greece:

I believe the units in Appolonia are the ones from the Turn 2, activated in Italy at the same time when I lost it. I was afraid for them to be gone, but they've just reappeared in Greece (again, I`m not 100% sure about it - but the amount and type is about right). They need 1-2 turns to reorganize, then I can try to organize them into some type of threat for the Caesars legion to the north. It would be quite helpful to destroy it now, as I believe it to be not that strong and alone. It's just a matter of time before it get reinforced (now that the Italy has fallen) and then I probably won't be capable of facing it.

One last place with some type of action is, mentioned by me in Turn 1, Crete:

A unit of pirates appeared there and started to harass my holding. I`m sending 1 unit of Rhodesian Sagittaris, they are to merge with their Cretean counterparts (I've ordered their building in the 1st turn, knowing the pirates are going to appear, so I did 'cheat' a bit, but my knowledge as to the future events won't last for long) and together will hopefully be enough to get rid of these parrot-abusing pests.

 

[unmerged(134084)]

Good luck!
I have played this scenario for a bit as Pompeius as well. I took the 2nd choice (for the East), but everything went quite well in the beginning. I lost nearly all battles in Spain (because I didn't check my commanders and thus failed to notice that the guy in the north has a trait that makes him ineffective in defense), but I didn't loose any legions completely. After I realized my mistake and brought in more capable commanders, I was eventually able to regain ground and to contain Caesar's forces in Spain.

At the same time, I built up a large invasion force in the Illyricum, and let them set sail for Brindisium to recapture Rome. But then, disaster struck, and my transport fleet was caught by a storm and almost completely annihilated. Only 6 units with around 50 combat power reached Brindisium, out of a force with more than 2500 power... that was too much and I simply ragequitted

 

[Narwhal]

So far, it is still the opening, so not much comment, except that the quality of your pics improved !

 

[Sathariel]

Matnjord - alright, we can do it, but I`d really strongly recommend trying to find 1 more victim... I mean player and have a right threesome . Oh, and yeah I can really not guarantee how often I`ll be able to do my turns, but usually 1 per day sounds reasonable (might be more until my classes start in 2nd week of October, might be sometimes less after).

Ech_Heftag - I know what you went through in Spain, in my other game as Pompeius I lost all the Spanish legions and ragequitted as well .

Narwhal - I know, I`m trying to fast forward through the opening maneuvers, since they are slightly boring, but on the other hand I don't want the readers to loose sense of what is happening from the strategic point of view. And thanks for the comment about pics - took a bit of time and editing to make them more visible .

 

[Sathariel]

TURN 4

The turn has welcomed me with a few events non-related directly to warfare (but helpful nonetheless)

and my first battle of the scenario!!!! TADAM:

OK, so maybe it wasn't exactly Cannae-size of battle, but at least I won.... What happened is: the pirates are trying to capture a fort on the Crete Island and my brave defenders are not letting them.

That would be the end of good news though. Remember how I counted a lot on 20+k strong force in Massalia to sustain a long siege and then either be relieved or at least go down with a fight and take many Caesarians with them. Well, none of it will happen:

The 12 units instead just decided to surrender! Darn traitors. The only reason why the enemy didn't capture the city is the single unit of skirmishers that I tried to evacuate through the sea last turn. They didn't manage to leave, but they haven't surrendered either and now are the sole defenders of Massalia. Alamo anyone? Anyway, even if they last just 1 turn, it's still 1 more turn longer that I can prepare, and the preparation are underway:

I recruit some more allies, an archer unit in Spain.

I've also ordered building of many new units:

5 Iberian units in Spain. They are of much worse quality than the Legions, but also are the only units I have left from the pool to be recruited there. Since I had a lot of resources (mainly cash) left I've also started building 1 legion unit in Macedonia (in Thessaloniki) and 2 in Asia Minor (in a city just east of Byzantium). They will eventually create a force to attack Caesar on that front, but it's still early for that.


Just an overall look at the situation in the most important place:

More and more single units are either activate or recruited and ordered to march and merge with the main army. I have some leaders and additional reinforcements in the Baleares - a fleet is going for them.

 

[Sathariel]

TURN 5

Again, since there wasn't that much action the previous turn, I`ll make 1 more update today.

A quick recap of the news:

Pirates try again to harass the Createan population:

Didn't manage to kill one pirate, yet lost 61 men... some victory :mellow:.

I get to create more cavalry in Iberia:

Rome population start rioting:

and rightly so, I`d just like to use the opportunity and remind the Roman people that under my enlightened rule they suffered no hunger and I`m willing to accept them back under my protective wings .

At least one person accepted my invitation:

A good commander is always welcomed. He brought some cavalry units with him too! Excellent.

Finally I get to collect profits from ports under my control:

That would be all the news. Oh almost forgot one, the most important.

Caesar decided he won't wait for one small fort of Massalia to surrender and ordered his troops to invade Spain already:

5 legions with some additional forces, under the command of Caius Fabius (that I know nothing about). Opposite them stands my army in Tarraco (that has been serving as the gathering point of all my units in that area since the game began). The overview of the army is as follow:

most important part: 7 legions. And Octavius as a leader, 5-4-3 general is not too bad at all.

Now I have 2 choices to consider: 1 is to wait 1 more turn, for the arrival of Pompeius so he can take over the leadership of the army. I considered it briefly, but eventually decided against it. I believe I have an opportunity to damage an isolated (yet still strong) enemy corps. I have to, at least, try and use that chance. Octavius is a very reasonable commander, and he has quite a nice force under him. Having that in mind I put him on offensive orders and my army is to march out and meet the opponent:

After the battle (assuming I won) he should move 1 province north of Tarraco, so he can meet any possible reinforcements that Caesar might send. I should add that there is still a bit more units on their way to meet the main army, I put them all (but the ones that are expected to arrive by sea) on passive posture, hoping they can avoid meeting any enemy while alone.

 

[General_Hoth]

5$ you will loose this battle. It's nearly impossible to crack open the veteran's legions of Caesar in the first years.

 

[Thandros]

Hmm I think he only has 4 legions plus some Legionary Marines. That gives you around two to one in numbers and possible an advantage in Numbers. It'll come down to Who can hold the line in the end I think. Good luck you'll need it.

 

[germanpeon]

I'm inclined to agree with General_Hoth, though as of yet I don't have enough experience with the game and that scenario specifically to know if remaining on the defense is better than attacking. In any case, frontage rules will do you in until you can get your legions some experience and destroy enough Caesarians that the quality of their legions suffers from green replacements.

At the end of the day, an experienced legion is an opponent's worst nightmare. An experienced legion led by an excellent commander is a waking nightmare. Best of luck sir.

 

[Sathariel]

General_Hoth - I`m quite afraid of that, but still I believe my numerical superiority, and higher number of legions, should let me win. I THINK I`m facing just 1, fairly understrength corps, should be alright. Besides we will find out soon...

Thandros - that's what I`m thinking. Obviously the Caesareans are strong, much stronger than my units, but if I can't defeat this weak legion then I can really pack my bags and run from Spain already

germanpeon - I don't have that type of experience with the game either, but the few turns I did play on both Pompeius and Caesar. From that I have to admit: I`m in trouble. But anyway, I wasn't preparing so carefully there and didn't pay much attention to commanders. And Octavius is a good one, worse than the Caesar, but more than adequate. Let's just say I have faith in his abilities.

 

[Sathariel]

TURN 6

After the order to attack that I gave the last turn, everyone in the whole Roman Empire was preparing to hear about the results of the first big battle of the war.
Unfortunately, Caius Fabius (the commander of Caesar's corps in Spain) refused to play:

He's just moved out of my way and captured 2 cities! Coward! A battle did happen, however. Not exactly what I was expecting:

A Germanic mercenaries cavalry unit, fighting for Caesar, stepped right into my main army and got destroyed completely. Alright, a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. Yet, it's not what I planned, I WANT to engage the whole corps, trying to exploit the opportunity of it being alone (and the fact that another of Caesar's corps is still besieging Massalia). Octavius gets his orders: to follow the enemy and engage whenever possible, then to come back to Tarraco, to pick up the units that should arrive there, and to provide some protection in case Marcus Antonius' corps decided that Massalia is not that important after all (or, what is more probable, if it just surrenders).

At the same time, a few more of my units are on their way to Tarraco. They are put on passive postures, in case Caius Fabius again decides to run all over Spain unopposed and meets them. Don't want them to finish like Germanic cavalry. Pompeius stays in Tarraco with damaged units, wouldn't want them to get destroyed and I think they are quite safe there. I`m not expecting the Marcus Antonius (who leads the siege of Massila) to move until the city surrenders, but better to be prepared.



On another front:

The units in Macedonia get activated this turn.

Their commander is absolutely useless, worst of my generals I believe. He is immediately relieved of command. To replace him, Cato is boarding a ship in Spain, that will take him all the way to Apollonia. It will take 2 turns, that I want to use on gathering my units. A 2 legion-strong corps (15k troops) is marching from Asia Minor as well. Together it should make up around 50k strong army to pester Caesar in Illyria or Italia (haven't decided yet).


Before I finish the turn, I realize I get 2 new diplomatic options.

Not sure at all which one to pick. I`m really tempted to take the one that gives Syria away, hoping for a stable peace with Parthia. I really should probably concentrate on fighting Caesar only. On the other hand - it's quite... un-Roman to just surrender the land, so I may just pay the Parthians off. However, as of now, I can't afford it, so I just leave it for further consideration.

 

[Narwhal]

I am following this with attention. the Mr Caesar vs Mr Pompeius case is the only one I never really played at length. I see what will happens now !

 

[Sathariel]

TURN 7

Again, unfortunately, no battle. Caius Fabius moved and our forces haven't met. BUT! He split his forces even further! I can see some units besieging the city of Pamplona, some others are in the city next to it. While Caius Fabius is finally stuck, besieging the city of Salduba. Octavius gets whatever fresh and battle-ready troops are in the main camp in Tarraco and leaves to help the defenders, and hopefully meet the enemy.

I`d almost forgot: due to all these maneuvering another quite unlucky Caesarian cavalry unit steps right into the last place on earth it'd like to be:

Another cavalry unit wiped off the planet. This time even better, not some mercenaries, but Roman cavalry.

Only 2 other things worth mentioning happened this turn:

First of all I`ll get an option to activate Numidia (for a price of course)

and I take it.

Second one is rather weird:

Hmmmm.... Married siblings? At war with each other? Whatever floats their boats, I guess, but keep me out of that, please.




At the end I should mention (before I lose any readers, bored out of their mind with following stories about people walking all over Roman Empire ), the next turn I DO finally catch up with Caesar's corps and the battle will happen! Just a little spoiler to, hopefully, keep some people interested. .