I can't wait of your campaign, Subrosa the Headhunting Maiden! Perhaps you'll come up against Macedonians or perhaps my Seleucid cousins?

Here are my lands. Lots of empty, dark space.


Plus even more out east. The vast distances between my settlements will make this very difficult. Each of them is essentially an island amid a very large ocean. I must use each as a fortified base from which to dominate the surrounding area. Which I expect will be continually crawling with rebels, let alone invaders.


The first turn I build roads and peasants in each of my four provinces. I also disband most of my archer warbands, only keeping one in Campus Scythia and one in Campus Alanni. I expect both these settlements will be the focal points of enemy invasions.

On the second turn I have already found rebels close to home. I send Belinari out of Tanais with a single Horse Archer to deal with them both. He attacks one and drives it before him. Attacking again he brings both into a single battle.


Not really much of a fight.


It was over soon.


The third turn in and Carthage is at war with the Greeks.


I am building these Circles of Api in Tanais, Campus Sarmatae, and Campus Alanni. I need the population boost they give. I would have built one in Campus Scythia too, but there was already a Circle to Kolaksay there.


I recruit a diplomat in Campus Scythia and send him south into Thrace to gain trade agreements and sell our map information. I need every drop of denarii I can scrape up. A great many things grow on the plains, but money is not one of them.


Another diplomat does the same with Armenia.


My Faction Heir Partatua discovers some rebels near Campus Alanni and rides out to chastise them.


I find them in these trees. Noticing there is high ground on their flank, I move my army around to get up upon it.


While my Horse Archers are keeping their Archer Warbands busy, Partatua gives the Rebel Peasants a taste of hooves.


One of the Archer Warbands followed shortly after.


Leaving these poor fellows by their lonesome out in the open. I call this deployment around them "The Triangle of Death" because once you surround an enemy with Horse Archers there is no where for them to go but six feet under.


The outcome was never in doubt.


A new son of Scythia comes of age in Campus Scythia. Good, I need Generals. This will give me one per settlement.


The fourth turn in and Carthage is at war with Rome.


I conclude trade agreements with Dacia, but my attempt to sell them my map results in failure.


The following turn a Thracian traveller comes knocking.


My diplomat in the east not only concludes trade agreements with Parthia, but sells them our map and creates an alliance between us to boot. I am hoping an alliance with them will keep them off me while I deal with the Armenians, whom I expect will come up from Kotias to attack Campus Alanni.


Is there anyone Carthage is not at war with? Those people do not get along with anyone it seems...


Remember those Armenians I mentioned? Well my Faction Heir caught sight of an army of them moving north as he was out building watchtowers. Partatua withdrew toward Campus Alanni, as I would rather fight them there if possible. However, the Armenians caught up with him near the Volga on their turn. Heavily outnumbered, he withdrew rather than fight.


We are now at war with Armenia.


I bring the rest of the garrison up from Campus Alanni and attack the Armenians. Each side has three Horse Archers, one Foot Archer and one General. However, they have a few extra skirmishers as well.


The battle begins with my reinforcements coming in from the left.


There is some high ground in the center, so I bring them over and settle down on the hill.


The Armenians are not coming out to play. I send my Archer Warband forward, hoping they might get the range on the enemy Horse Archers and draw them out.


It works. Here they come. The archery duel begins. Our numbers are equal, but I have the high ground. I also use Cantabrian Circle on my Horse Archers who come under fire. This tires them out, but it makes them nearly impossible to hit.


Some Armenian skirmishers come up to try to break the archer stalemate. Partatua charges them.


He sends them scurrying back to the arms of the Armenian General. I break off the pursuit. I do not want a head-to-head clash with that General yet.


The archery duel continues, and more Armenian skirmishers come forward. I send them off the same way as before.


I am handily winning the arrow war.


Now that his Horse Archers are all but annihilated, the Armenian General comes up.


He charges and Partatua flees, taking a rain of javelins in the back. Ow, that smarts! Those Eastern Generals are nasty that way.


But there is method to Partatua's flight. This is what I call The Scythian Circle. Partatua rides in a circle around all of my Horse Archers, who are showering the Armenian General with arrows as he vainly chases after. This is a trick you can do with foot archers, or even skirmishers, in the center as well.


Finally he routs from the arrow-fire.


...and dies moments later.


The Armenians are crushed.


The pitiful remnants of this army will trouble our people no more.


Edit:

Hey Madly Handsome Prince of Macedon. You got to it before my second post. Someone always manages that. The Headhunting Maiden. I like that. Well see if I do take on Macedon or the Seleucids. It all depends on who turns out to be strong enough to reach me.

[This message has been edited by SubRosa (edited 11-15-2008 @ 01:24 PM).]

Nice work, Subrosa!

Thank you Saint.

Now a small update before this warlady goes to bed.

My western Diplomat reaches Bylazora, sells the Macedonians our map information, and then seals an alliance with them.


He then tries to sell our map information to the Thracians once more. They refuse, but instead decide to give us money anyhow? Well, I am not complaining.


Look at this. More Armenians coming up toward Campus Alanni.


Further west, two of my Generals catch a Rebel General and his henchmen near Campus Sarmatae.


This is the Rebel General. It turns out he is a Horse Archer. This is not uncommon on the plains.


I immediately race my Generals up to either side of him.


One of my guys just manages to clip the Rebels, pulling the rest of them into hand-to-hand.


My second General charges from the other side, making short work of the Rebel General.


The Rebel Peasants followed.


Then finally the Archer Warbands.


These scoundrels will trouble Scythia no more.


Several things happen over the following turn. First Armenia allies itself with The Seleucid Empire.


Then that Armenian army lays siege to Campus Alanni.


Finally some good news, one of the royal princesses finds a suitable mate. It is an added bonus that he appears in Campus Alanni.

[This message has been edited by SubRosa (edited 12-20-2007 @ 11:13 PM).]

i dont understand why you defend and cant send units out of your area

Great work, SubRosa.

I'd love to do an defensive AAR, but I just don't have the patience to play that many turns. The only challenge for you will be a weak economy, but You don't need many HAs to keep your borders.

Crusiminator,
It's a defensive campaign, a different style of playing, instead of taking as much as you can, it's about surviving with what you have. Severous did a brilliant German defensive campaign. I think you'd enjoy it.

HUZZAH!!! Yet another convert to the grassy plains! Happy to see more horse archers, nice going btw. I'm also doing an AAR on VH/VH and in my first battle lost a hell of a lot more men than I used to lose. Still, it adds a lot more challenge to the game.

*Sees AAR*

*Dances*

Yes! I love your AARs SubRosa, and I know this one will be especially good because you'll be in your element.

Excellent, can't wait for more

Thank you all for the encouraging words.

Selifator: I have been in love with the Scythians since I first played them in Mundus Magnus last spring. They are my favorite faction in RTW, while the Sarmatians are my favorite in BI. That is why some folks call me the Lady of the Plains.

Crusiminator: The idea behind a defensive campaign is to do something different that your normal campaign. Rather than expanding and building up huge armies, the defensive game calls for different strategy. It is all about endurance, and making the most with the least. With the right faction it can be very challenging. This one will be very tough because I will be dead broke for the entire game, and will probably never have much more than the original units that I began the campaign with.


Now for our next installment.

Partatua sallies out against the Armenians who have besieged Campus Alanni. The Armenian army is rather small, however they have Cataphracts!


Here is what I thought was all of my army near the gate facing the Armenians. Half-way into the battle I would find that I had overlooked a Horse Archer at the opposite end of the settlement.


We ride out to engage the Armenians. The Cataphracts are quick to charge my Generals. I pull them back, and a moment after this picture was taken the Cataphracts pulled away as well.


However, these Skirmishers have been drawn out in pursuit of one of my Horse Archers.


I send my new family member after them.


They rout in seconds.


That however brought out the Armenian General.


So my new General treats him to a Scythian Horse Ride around the city. This is the same as the Scythian Circle, except instead of circling around your archers, you go in a straight line instead while a Horse Archer or two follow the enemy unit in pursuit of you. They shoot the enemy in the back the entire way. On the way I pick up that errant Horse Archer.


In the meantime I have a single Horse Archer, my Archer Warband, and Faction Heir keeping the rest of the Armenians busy at the front gate.


Three quarters of the way around the city, and there is not much left of the Armenian General.


I decide to finish him off.


He flees!


As is wont to happen in battles taking place all over the map, I was not paying attention when the Cataphracts began their charge on my Faction Heir. I only caught it at the last moment, and was unable to get him away in time.


After taking some casualties I am able to pull him out of the Cataphract crush.


They turn and go after my Archer Warband. You can guess how that turned out. See that lone Armenian horseman in the front and center? That is the fleeing Armenian General. The rest of my army is in pursuit just off the screen to the left.


Finally he goes down in a hail of arrows.


With the Cataphracts riding down my routing Archer Warband I try a desperate measure. I charge them from all sides with everything I have. Yes, Horse Archers in melee against Cataphracts. Sometimes you have to roll the hard six...


They insta-rout, and the battle is mine! That would finish off the last of the Armenian invaders in our lands. For now.


In more peaceful news, our western diplomat concludes a trade pact with the Greeks and sells them our map.


Our eastern diplomat does likewise with Pontus. This influx of cash has given me the rare opportunity to begin building projects in all four of my cities, as well as build many watchtowers in the interiour. Circles of Api and farms are highest on my list. However, I also build palisades in my inner cities just to be on the safe side.


Another one of my daughters brings home this dinosaur. No way is she marrying him!


Well, the Greeks are at war with my Macedonian allies.


In the north, Belnirari catches up with some rebels that had been plaguing Campus Sarmatae.


The battle was much tougher than I expected, but resulted in victory.


My western diplomat continues on his march around Greece and forges trade agreements with the Brutii and sells them our map.


Another son of the plains has taken up arms.


He looks like a good candidate to build watchtowers.


Speaking of which, I have two of my Generals who have reached the Caucasus doing exactly that.


While my eastern diplomat makes trade agreements and sells our map to the Seleucids.


One of my tower-building Generals is ambushed!


Where 10-1 odds might worry another man, Palaucus sees it as an opportunity to exercise his sword arm.


He nimbly dodges aside the Peasants and bears down on the two Rebel Archer Warbands.


He takes them both at once.


Then the Peasants join the melee, giving some of the Archers time to flee to safety and reform.


Palacus finished off the other Archer Warband, to find the Peasants had reformed as well.


No time for rest. Once again he rides around the Peasants and runs down the Archers.


The Peasants routed without even contact after that. The battle was won.


Far to the west, a German diplomat makes us an offer of trade rights.

[This message has been edited by SubRosa (edited 11-15-2008 @ 01:26 PM).]

Alea iacta est indeed. Great work fighting off the Armenians; very lucky with those cataphracts too; mob tactics do work.

Are you going to daisy chain forts between cities at all?

Not right now, although I might do something like that later in the game, after I have built all my watchtowers. However, A fort between Campus Sarmatae and Tylis would dominate the entire central region, and would be a good place to put one of my less-savory Generals and a few Horse Archers to hunt rebels.

[This message has been edited by SubRosa (edited 12-20-2007 @ 11:11 PM).]

Do you have battle time limits and/or ammo limits? I would know if I looked at the screenshots, but I'm on a low-bandwidth right now. ^_^

If you do have ammo limits and find yourself running out of ammo, which I'm fairly used to, you can conserve ammo by cycle-shooting and such. It can be tricky to pull, but it gets you the best kills-to-arrows-shot ratio; however, it works best with small armies on your side, so you can really micromanage every shot. That's my specialty as a result of playing Parthia in RTR, haha. It's a nasty trick to pull a horse archer unit a few feet behind an advancing phalanx, and shoot them from behind - you can see literally dozens of men go down in one volley if it's a high-level HA unit!

Again, nice one I love running cavalry like that through an army! Gives you a warm feeling inside when they start running into each other.

Quoted from aznninjahitman:

Do you have battle time limits and/or ammo limits?

Yes, I always play with the timer on and limited ammo, morale, and fatigue. I find that the combination of all four are important parts of my tactics. Well, not the limited ammo part. But horse archers would be just too overpowered without it.

I too use cycle-shooting when I have only a few Horse Archers and a lot of enemies, leaving fire at will turned off and only shooting when I have a clear back or right side shot. But in times like these last few battles where the odds were even I do not bother and just leave them on fire at will.

It really is amazing what Horse Archers can do when they start getting into silver experience chevrons. I expect to have the same Horse Archers I began with until the very end of the campaign. So I am sure they will all be gold. Good thing too, considering the late game units I will most likely be facing.

Big update tonight, including several major battles.

First, my diplomats make some nice, peaceful, and profitable agreements. First with Gaul.


A few turns later the Brutii decided to give us money rather than buy our map again. Nice fellows those Romans.


My Faction Leader Zipoetes is growing long in the tooth, so I sent him out of Campus Scythia to meet up with Belnirari, who was building watchtowers along the north-west frontier. My intent was to unload Zipoetes' retinue upon the younger General before old age could catch up with him. However, the Thracians seem to have seen this as an opportunity...


Sure enough, next turn two Thracian armies debouch into our lands. One lays siege to Campus Scythia while the other continues north and east. If that were not bad enough, a large band of rebels has also popped up directly between my Generals and the city. When it rains in this game, it pours!


Needless to say, this means war!


Not to be outdone, the Armenians have become restless again as well.


Time to start doing something about this mess I have landed in. First the garrison sallies from Campus Scythia.


Here you can see both my entire army and that of the Thracians (I am not counting my Peasants). Since they attacked me from a corner on the campaign map, they head for the corner as soon as the battle starts.


I immediately rush out to get some good back shots in as they go.


Finally they get set up and I get my army outside the city. I noticed there was high ground off to the far flank of the Thracians. So I sent two Horse Archers to get up there.


In the process they get the attention of these Militia Cavalry. One Scythian Horse Ride coming up.


After leading them around half the map, I bring them back to the city and fall upon them with all my Horse Archers. Scratch one Militia Cavalry unit.


I took some time to rest, then it was on to Round Three. I engage their line on a broad front, and the Thracians send out their hoplites.


Naturally they cannot catch my Horse Archers, and turn around to go back. This gives me a lovely view of their backsides.


They rout from the arrow-fire. However, these Pelasts coming up on the left provide them with cover to withdraw.


However, no one is providing the Peltasts with cover!


Round Four. This time the Militia Cavalry on the other flank comes after my Archer Warband.


I shift all my Horse Archers over and charge them. I even throw my Archer Warband into melee with them. The Thracians rout!


This sets off a chain rout in the nearby Thracian units. My Horse Archers split up to run them all down.


We chase them back to the Thracian line.


Better stop, those Hoplites are awfully close!


OOps, there goes one of my Horse Archers.


I pulled back, rested and waited for the Horse Archer to reform, then went back at the Thracians for Round Five. Horse Archer battles are all about endurance.


The last Thracian Milita Cavalry unit is pulled into a Scythian Horse Ride.


Uh oh, their General has taken an interest and is closing in. I decided to finish off the Militia Cavalry faster than usual to pay more attention to the General.


We play tag with him in the trees.


Then descend upon him from all sides.


Down he goes.


Phew, this has been one long, hard fight. The Thracians have had enough, and are heading for the map edge. I am out of ammo and my HAs are all on the verge of falling over from exhaustion. So I was not going to get in their way.


But then that small Peltast unit routed as it went past. I could not pass up such an opportunity and charged. The larger Peltast went moments later.


I let the rest of the Thracians march off in peace. This was a very good sally already. Better than I had hoped for in fact. My first Heroic Victory of the night.


Each Horse Archer killed almost 400 men. I have found that you can generally get from 300-400 kills per HA every battle. Unless there are not enough targets to go around.


In any case, we shall not be seeing those scoundrels again.


Guess what happens the next turn? The other Thracian army lays siege to Campus Scythia.


Once more I sally. While this army has no heavy infantry like the last one did, it is packed with Militia Cavalry.


Once again, here you see both armies.


They head for the corner. I nip their heels as they go. I like the touch of the henge in the distance (although I do not believe there are any henges in the Ukraine).


These Peltasts are a juicy target. Looks like meat is back on the menu.


A unit of Militia Cavalry took exception to my killing their Peltast friends. A few moments later I arranged a Scythian Horse Ride from them.


I sent several of my Horse Archers in pursuit, but one refused to do anything but mill around outside the main gate. Here is the reason why. These two yo-yos from the unit sitting in the town square, mucking up the movement of the entire group.


It took some maneuvering to get them headed outside to join up the rest of the band. This guy had trouble finding the gate. Units on Huge scale are difficult to control in and around settlements.


That previous Militia Cavalry unit taken care of by my other Horse Archers, it was time for Round Two. I pressed the Thracians and some more of their cavalry came out to play.


One more Scythian Horse Ride coming up.


Round Three begins with two of my Horse Archers still heading back after dealing with that last Militia Cavalry.


These Peltasts come forward after my Archer Warband. I bring my distant Horse Archers up at a gallop.


My archers get into it with the Peltasts, and the Thracians break.


I send my Horse Archers forward to run them down.


More Thracians begin to rout.


But their Captain comes up and routs one of my own Horse Archers. I send everything I have left against him.


He was tough.


But eventually he was put to flight.


A second Heroic Victory.


Once more, that was the end of the Thracians.


The Thracians do not have much left. They are lucky we Scythians are a peace-loving people, otherwise we would cross that river and teach them some manners. But that is not our way, and there are rebels that need taking care of here at home. Next turn.


Speaking of rebels however, one of my new Generals moves on another large band of them near Campus Sarmatae.


It was not an especially momentous battle. However, I thought this pic looked rather appropriate for the holidays that are right around the corner. These Scythian Generals make nice ornaments...


Ornamental or not, my General won the battle and put the rebels to flight.


Same turn, down in the furthest reaches of the Caucasus frontier another of my young Generals sees this little Armenian army on our side of the mountains. From a distance I could see that two of its units were Eastern Infantry. Gambling that the rest of the army would be little better, I attacked.


My gamble paid off. They are all Eastern Infantry.


Add a third Heroic Victory to tonight's tally.


It looks like the other Armenian armies had better ideas and headed back to their side of the border. Just as well, I have more watchtowers that need building.


Edit:

Reading though eightyseven87's topic on the campaign without Egypt got me to thinking. Would everyone like to to take off Fog of War occasionally to see how the rest of the world is progressing? I think it would be rather neat to see who does what to whom.

[This message has been edited by SubRosa (edited 12-21-2007 @ 09:46 PM).]

Great job; three heroic victories, how do you do it, oh yeah, RTW undervalues HAs.

I think it would be neat to take a world pic every fifth or tenth year, starting in a year divisible by five or ten of course.

Yay, SubRosa doing another AAR and the Sycthians, halelluha! This has inspired me to do a Parthian capaign to get HAs(I can't fiddle with my game, I'm hopless with modding it myself) and I think I'll start an AAR for it.

[This message has been edited by Legionary_994 (edited 12-22-2007 @ 02:10 AM).]

Wow, nice one SubRosa! Defending as Scythia!

Interesting thing, fate is. I had just began playing a Scythian campaign to divert my attention after a CtD from my Seleucid campaign. After wiping out Thrace in 5 turns, I thought it would be fun to do an AAR on them after finishing the Seleucids, and here you are, one step ahead of me (again).

I'm guessing this is going to be really difficult. The only melee infantry Scythian gets is Axemen, and melee infantry is sometimes quite important in defending. But since you won't have to contend with Stone Walls, I guess it isn't so important if you always manage to sally, right?

Looks like great minds do think alike xingjianma!

I am not too worried about the lack of solid infantry. I have found that the best defense is a good sally, and heavy infantry are not really of much use under those circumstances. The General and Horse Archer rule supreme in those battles, and I should get at least two sallies before the computer assaults the walls. That should be enough for me to drive off or destroy any besieging army. I hope at least.

What I worry about most is a large army sneaking by my frontier and getting at one of my two interiour cities, where I have only Peasant garrisons. That will be trouble.

Now on to the show.

Remember those rebels lurking north of Campus Scythia? Well now I can finally deal with them. My Faction Leader Zipoetes and Belnirari come from the north, while the garrison of Campus Scythia comes up from the south, trapping the rebels between them.


There was not much to it.


However, I now have my first Horse Archer at silver experience. They start to get scary now.


Looks like those waffling Armenians are back again.


Some odd pieces of diplomacy here. The Seleucids broke their alliance with Armenia, then made an alliance with Armenia.


Next turn and more rebels. Tons of them. There is never a shortage of these buggers on VH.


I have a brand new General who just came of age, and unfortunately he has the Doubtful Courage trait. To help him overcome it I send him out with a single Horse Archer to deal with the rebels.


The first band goes down with no sweat.


The next bunch is a lot larger though, so I send a second Horse Archer to reinforce him.


My youngin' drags most of the rebels off chasing him. However, the Rebel General has taken an interest in one of my Horse Archers. One Scythian Horse Ride coming up.


I bring my General over after my Horse Archers have whittled the Rebel down some.


Then I send him in. I hold the Horse Archers back. I want him to do this all on his own. A true son of Kolaksay, he finishes off the rebel in breast-to-breast combat.


Now on to Round Two. The rest of the rebel army is coming up, and I let my Horse Archers soften them up a bit.


Then I send the General straight in, and one after another they rout.


Here is another Heroic Victory. Pretty good for a General's second battle. Unfortunately he did not shake his Doubtful Courage trait, although he did gain a Command Star and several good retinue members.


Hmmm, here is another rebel army I did not notice earlier. It will be a while before I can get anyone out there to deal with them.


Year 260 B.C.E - Here is a pic of the world with Fog of War off. Nothing too surprising so far.


Next turn the Dacians invade.


I bring my new General down to reinforce. Because he is standing next to the settlement he will join the battle. If he had been adjacent to the Dacian army, but not next to the settlement, he would not have entered the fight. That is the trick to bringing reinforcements into sallies.


Here they are. Because the Dacians came at me from a corner on the strat map, they immediately begin moving to the corner as soon as the battle starts.


My General rushes out and charges the last Warband in line. They turn and give back pretty well, so I am obliged to pull my General back.


Instead I do what I should have from the beginnning. I let the Horse Archers soften them up first with shots from behind and to the right (open shields).


Then I charge what is left of them.


Okay, no more foreplay. The Dacians are fully deployed in the corner and my reinforcements have engaged.


My reinforcing troops have isolated this Warband and are now destroying it.


Here is a view from the corner of the map, looking back at the settlement. I have slipped a Horse Archer up here to get on the high ground and start getting the Dacians in the back. A Warband came up after them, and are now being dealt with.


My reinforcements have now isolated the Dacian Captain. Here my new General charges in for the kill.


Down goes the Dacian.


The slaughter is complete.


The westlands are mostly clear, for now. Goddess I hate to look at that big black scorch of devastation though.


Lastly, I try to sell my map info to Pontus again. They turn me down and give me a pile of cash instead. I wish that would happen in real life!

[This message has been edited by SubRosa (edited 12-22-2007 @ 08:45 PM).]

A small update.

Pirates have blockaded Campus Alanni! Naturally they are uber-pirates with top of the line missile frigates...


While in the west a Thracian army has come to lay siege to Campus Scythia again. There is never a dull moment around here.


Here is some more puzzling diplomatic news. The Seleucids have allied themselves with Armenia and Parthia. Even though they already were allied with them.


Speaking of Armenia, my eastern army catches up with their army in my territory.


...and deals with them most heroically.


My aging Faction Leader Zipoetes has caught up with the rebels near the Crimea. Outnumbered 10-1, he attacks them.


I let them get close, the send Zipoetes to the flank at a gallop.


He crashes into the Archer Warband there.


They rout in seconds, and Zipoetes turns in to hit the rebel Captain.


He goes down!


Zipoetes continues working his way through the rebel line.


The rebel cavalry driven off, he routs another Archer Warband.


Skirting around the Peasants, he is into the last Archer Warband.


Soon the last of them are running.


The old guy still has it in him. Heroic Victory.


Meanwhile, Belnirari sallies from Campus Scythia. I just noticed that he has 10 Command Stars. I think I am going to make him my new Faction Heir. I usually do in my Scythian campaigns.


Here we go. Once more the Thracians will move to the corner.


This time I do not get a good opportunity to run down any of their troops on the way. Instead I skirmish with them some as they get situated.


As in previous battles here, I send some Horse Archers around the left to get on the high ground.


The Thracians decided they had enough, and turned and headed for the map edge.


I send my army off in hot pursuit.


I roll over the last of their troops and keep going.


Their General and Militia Cavalry escape, thanks to the speed of their horses.


The rest of the Thracians are trapped however.


Victory for Scythia.


Here come more Armenians, and look, more rebels!


Thank goddess people keep giving me money. I have never had a campaign where other factions have been so eager to throw denarii at me.


Hmm, my enemies are allying with one another.


My Faction Leader has finally caught up with the rebels outside Campus Sarmatae.


They are dealt with harshly.


This is one of those traits you always pray for. I think I will leave this guy as my Faction Heir after all, so he does not lose any Influence. Belnirari seems to have quite a bit of Influence as he is, so I do not think he really needs it.

[This message has been edited by SubRosa (edited 04-06-2008 @ 01:33 AM).]

Very good. I've always liked defensive AAR's, they make for an enjoyable read. I would wish you good luck, but based on what I've seen so far, you won't need it. Regardless, good luck!

Really good going you've got there. Are you planning to stick through until 4 A.D.?

How's the financial front coming along? I think that's what you have to worry about the most in a defensive campaign right?

Thank you both for the compliments.

I do intend to stick it out until the end of the Campaign, which I believe is 14 C.E. Assuming I am still alive that is.

Money is a problem. A big one. I can typically only have one or at the most two cities producing buildings at a time. I have been concentrating on the economic infrastructure, roads, farms, mines, ports, and population growth temples. But even with that, there is just no money to be had on the plains. That is why everyone always left!

I still have only the units I began the game with, except for a single new Horse Archer I recruited in Campus Scythia to send to the central front for chasing rebels. I have now just started building archery ranges in Campus Scythia and Campus Alanni so I can retrain the depleted Archer Warbands I have in each city. At some point I would like to recruit a unit Chosen Archers to replace the Archer Warbands. But that is still far off in the future.

I have been thinking of converting this to an HSR. Well, a variation of one at least. It is an idea I had toyed with when I started, but discarded since I thought it would take more time to do the write-up in character. Now I am not so sure. What does everyone else think?

[This message has been edited by SubRosa (edited 12-23-2007 @ 01:16 PM).]

Three boats in the caspian? Bit much, surely.

Very nice one, and a HSR would be interesting since I've never seen you write before Explain away the defencive stance