posted 11 December 2007 22:52 EDT (US)
The other night, I was turning on the Christmas lights outside when I noticed something on the ground. It was quite long but quite skinny. Initially I thought it was a jump rope or some kind of cord. It was hard to see at night. But when the Christmas lights came on, I noticed a distinct reptilian pattern all over its long body. It was a snake to be sure.
I ran inside to retrieve my camera, but by the time I returned, the snake had already slithered off somewhere.
Was this a sign from almighty Zeus to lead the Thracians into battle (at least for a few rounds)? Not one to disappoint the deities of Olympus, I decided to give Thrace a whirl. Besides, the Prince_of_Macedon is also a protector of Thrace.
Thrace is basically a cross between the Greek City-States and Macedon but without the excellent spearmen of the former and without the efficient cavalry of the latter. In short, Thrace doesn't really succeed on any level.
So what kind of gameplan did I have for Thrace? Well, since Thrace doesn't have any good quality units, I had to compensate. And just how does one compensate for poor units? That's simple: upgrades, upgrades, upgrades and an adherence to the old adage, “quantity is a quality of its own.” In short, I was going to build so much crap that it would be really difficult for one person to clean it all up. That's the Thracian Art of War in a nutshell. So let's see how well this theory holds up against some random opponents.
By the way, I didn't use my normal "Prince_of_Macedon" screenname for these battles. Instead, I opted for “Lysimachus” in honor of the Successor ruler who governed Thrace after Alexander's premature departure.
Grassy Flatland
GangBang: hi do you want to lose?
Lysimachus: sure
GangBang: yes you do
Thrace (Lysimachus)
- 5 Phalanx Pikemen (plus general)
- 6 Archers
- 2 Falxmen
- 3 Greek Cavalry
Greece (GangBang)
- 3 Spartan Hoplites (plus general)
- 4 Hoplites
- 9 Archers
- 4 Greek Cavalry
We started off with similar deployments. We both had a phalanx line. Our cavalry was placed behind our respective phalanx lines in order to protect the archers in the middle. On top of that, I brought some Falxmen knowing just how much the Greek City-States detested barbarians.
I had to march to the opponent, but that suited me quite well.
The action started when our archers (Thracian and Greek) up opened on each other with a barrage of missiles. My archers had a huge edge in this department due to my multiple upgrades to these units. Several of GangBang's archers were routed from the action after only a few minutes.
My opponent then tried to sneak a Greek Cavalry unit behind me. I made no movement towards my rear because I wanted him to think he had the drop on me. So once he thought it was safe, I let him charge into my upgraded archers. Due to the upgrades, they held out long enough for my own Greek Cavalry unit to come slashing through. After routing his impetuous horse unit from the battlefield, I felt more comfortable since we were now equal in cavalry strength.
Now I decided to march closer to GangBang's army because I wanted to start the phalanx battle ASAP since everything else was going so well for me. As my phalanx approached his, I sent my Falxmen around my opponent's right flank. Faced with a pincer movement from my Falxmen and onrushing Pikemen, my opponent was forced to turn his Spartan Hoplites in that sector. Complete disaster befell his Spartans (and his entire right flank).
While the Greek phalanx was getting hammered, my cavalry managed to rout the opposing horses. His Archers soon fell prey to my light horses.
GangBang's Hoplites couldn't stand toe-to-toe with my Phalanx Pikemen. As a result, my Pikemen (and Falxmen) were able to gang up on his remaining Spartans.
My own cavalry galloped to the far corners of the map to mop up any Greek stragglers.
Grassy Flatland
Thrace (Lysimachus)
- 6 Phalanx Pikemen (plus general)
- 7 Archers
- 3 Greek Cavalry
Scythia (Haze)
- 1 Barbarian Chosen Warlord (plus general)
- 3 Scythian Noble Archers
- 2 Scythian Horse Archers
- 1 Scythian Noble Women
- 3 Scythian Nobles
- 2 Head Hunter Maidens
- 3 Axemen
My next opponent, Haze, opted for the Scythians in this battle after he saw me pick the Thracians.
Lysimachus: GL HF
Lysimachus: hey man, have fun
Haze: ...
For this battle, I made one huge phalanx line. I placed my archers within the ranks of the Phalanx Pikemen. And just in case I needed them, I hid a small force of Greek Cavalry in the tall grass.
As the battle started, my opponent made the first move. I'm not sure what he was thinking but he sent his two Scythian Horse Archers into javelin-range of my phalanx line (where my Archers happened to be). My Archers knocked out 20+ Scythian Horse Archers before they finally went into Cantabrian. Once that happened, there wasn't really much happening. My Archers exchanged arrows with Haze's various mounted archers for 30+ minutes. Because he used Cantabrian Circle, he suffered few casualties.
At some point in the battle, my opponent must've realized how low he was on missiles.
He spent the next few moments charging my phalanx from behind at certain segments. He actually succeeded in smashing through my middle with miscellaneous heavy cavalry units.
Seeing my phalanx split in two, I decided to re-organize my phalanx. During that time, Haze caught my extreme left flank rushing to the center. Haze slaughtered that pike unit with a cavalry attack from both sides. Yes, I was losing soldiers, but my opponent was too (and his arrows were gone now). With no more arrows to play with, we longer had to play his game. On the contrary, he was now forced into a situation where he could no longer attack me from a far distance. If he wanted to win, he had to come and get me. I was missing 2 units of Pikemen, but even with his army still up to 90% in terms of manpower, he couldn't even hope to touch my pikemen.
My opponent was now forced to launch a grand charge from all sides in an attempt to overwhelm my newly-positioned phalanx. Suffice it to say, my Thracians knocked anything down that carried an axe or rode on horseback. It was however a tough fight.
At the climax of the battle, my opponent was reduced to a Scythian Noble unit. He probably thought that he could run from me but I took my Greek Cavalry out of hiding, and chased his horses as far as it took.
Thracians win 'cause they'll fight till the end.
Oddly enough, my opponent delivered this message before he quit the game.
Haze: your a noob – just think about it
Lysimachus: if you lose to a noob, what does that make you?
Grassy Flatland
Thrace (Lysimachus)
- 5 Phalanx Pikemen (plus general)
- 6 Archers
- 2 Falxmen
- 3 Greek Cavalry
Rome ({OMG}HB-Boudica
- 1 Onager (plus general)
- 4 Legionary Cohorts
- 2 Legionary First Cohorts
- 4 Archer Auxilia
- 4 Equites
I was wondering if I'd ever fight a Roman as Thrace. Well, Boudica (my opponent) answered that question.
At the beginning of the battle, I had to rotate my army nearly 27 degrees to my left in order to re-align myself with Boudica's Roman army.
She had formidable infantry – 4 Legionary Cohorts and 2 Legionary First Cohorts . But I was quite relieved when I saw that she had no Praetorian Cavalry. Instead she brought Equites which were still superior to Greek Cavalry, but not by much. Her Onager and Archer Auxilia force outranged my archers easily. But that didn't bother me too much since I wasn't going to sit back and get pounded by her.
My Roman opponent was content with letting me come to her. I obliged her. As my army got within arrow range of the enemy, Boudica decided to send her 4 Equite units around my flank and tackle my 3 Greek Cavalry units who were trailing the phalanx. I knew she didn't upgrade her horses. So I had no hesitation charging her horses head-on.
My cavalry suffered negligible casualties in the quick scuffle.
During that time, my archers were exchanging fire with the Roman Archer Auxilia. Although they were outnumbered, the Archer Auxilia were superior to my own. But with the cavalry superiority I now had, I was able to hook behind the Roman lines and stampede her elite Archer Auxilia.
My phalanx had a tougher time in this battle, though, as it had to advance against the legendary Roman pila. My pike unit on the far right, for example, was routed before they even touched the Roman Legionnaires.
In any case, I had more infantry than she did which enabled me to finally close the distance and outflank her. Legionnaires of any form are all very deadly, but in this battle, the Thracians were even deadlier.
My Greek Cavalry combined with the Falxmen to give an edge to the stoic Pikemen over the Legionnaires.
In the ensuing mayhem, the Romans were in full retreat. The Greek Cavalry cherry-picked any Roman stragglers that hadn't exited the battle properly.
The battle could've been really tricky but my opponent threw her cavalry away which gave me a slight edge in the long run.
After that, I called it a night for my Thracians. I hope these battles pleased Zeus as well as the goddess, Athena. I intend now to return to the battlefield with my Macedonians. Zeus be with us!
"It is a lovely thing to live with courage and to die leaving behind an everlasting renown." - ALEXANDER THE GREAT
[This message has been edited by Barbarian_Prince (edited 12-12-2007 @ 00:07 AM).]
