• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.

Soulstrider

God Emperor
35 Badges
May 13, 2011
1.032
11
  • Crusader Kings II
  • Victoria 2: Heart of Darkness
  • Victoria 2: A House Divided
  • Victoria 2
  • Supreme Ruler: Cold War
  • Supreme Ruler 2020
  • Sengoku
  • Semper Fi
  • Rome Gold
  • Magicka
  • Leviathan: Warships
  • Cities in Motion
  • Heir to the Throne
  • Hearts of Iron III: Their Finest Hour
  • Hearts of Iron III
  • For the Motherland
  • Europa Universalis IV: Call to arms event
  • Europa Universalis IV: Conquest of Paradise
  • Europa Universalis IV
  • Divine Wind
  • Europa Universalis III Complete
  • Dungeonland
  • Deus Vult
  • Darkest Hour
  • Mount & Blade: Warband
  • Pride of Nations
  • Hearts of Iron IV Sign-up
  • Europa Universalis IV: Pre-order
  • Crusader Kings II: Holy Knight (pre-order)
  • 500k Club
  • War of the Roses
  • Warlock: Master of the Arcane
  • The Showdown Effect
  • Europa Universalis III Complete
  • Europa Universalis III Complete
f26FcKK.gif


Hi and welcome to my 2nd AAR

Due to some reasons mentioned in the respective thread I had to put my DH AAR into hiatus since pretty much nowadays I can only play AGEOD games.
I wanted to try to make more a gameplay based AAR instead of the narrative one I was writing for DH, since it seems more easy and enjoyable to write, which is good for a lazy guy like me.

I will be playing as Rome the historical winners and my opponent will be Geoffrey Griggs. I have already played 2 AJE games and 1 WIA game against him, having won one of AJE and lost the other 2 games. He is a better player than me but I don't plan to loose this time.
He may or may not make some updates of his own for this AAR, it depends on his busy schedule.

A bit of historical background regarding this war for those not familiar. The First Punic War was the first of 3 struggles between the two great powers of the Western Mediterranean, Rome and Carthage. And like most of the great wars it started with something apparently small and unrelated that escalated quickly.

The Mamertines—a group of Italian mercenaries originally hired by Agathocles of Syracuse—occupied the city of Messana killing all the men and taking the women as their wives. After having established themselves they started raiding and pillaging all nearby lands, making them enter in conflict with the rising Greek power of Syracuse, a significant state on it's own but overshadowed by the titans that were Carthage and Rome.

Having been defeated and fearing the wrath of Syracuse, the Mamertines requested both help of the Carthaginians and Romans. Carthage was the first one to reply to their call, negotiating with Syracuse a cease of hostilities and sending a garrison to Messana. However for some unknown reason, the Mamerites changed their minds and betrayed Carthage, petitioning an alliance with Rome and expelling the Punic Garrison.

The Senate after much arguing if they should help a group that had basically unlawfully stolen a city, decided to help the mercenaries and send troops over the fear of Carthaginian hegemony over Sicily.
And so the First Punic War starts, with Carthage and Syracuse on one side and Rome in the other. Of the Mamertines, they faded from history after the beginning of the war, so in this game they act just as the locked garrison of Messena.

The first update will come in a couple of days as this game still only recently started.


hmDAMCO.jpg
 
Last edited:
The First Moves

This update will cover the first 9 months of the War which were pretty quiet.

I started with 2 Consular armies, each one of them constinuted by a rotating Consul, 2 Roman Legions and 2 Italian Soccii Legions.

The first thing I did was to rush with one of those Armies to Messena to help the Mamertines, I fear that if my opponent manages to take control of it I won't have a way to cross the strait and he would turn Sicily into a virtual fortress.

The other legion is going to attack the Volsinii, a Etruscan city state allied with Carthage just next door to Rome. They aren't much of a threat but they still have a significant army and I don't want my opponent to evacuate it to Sicily.

In the next month my Southern Army reaches the strait, only to find a Carthaginian navy blocking it's passage.

8Sfk95B.jpg

Thankfully I have just the solution for that.

iznL6MD.png

And I manage to cross with no problems.

And now we reach the boring part, with me on Messina and the Syracusan-Carthagenean army looking at each other for months with neither one of us feeling confident enough to tackle it's opponent. My opponent was clearly building up is strength and outnumbers me, but fears the power of the Legions, meanwhile I was desperately praying for the siege of Volsinii to end quickly so I can free up the other Consular army and send it to Sicily.

In the north there is a small skirmish with the Etruscans but nothing conclusive came out of it.

QRXQipt.png


Finally in December, Volsinii surrenders giving me 1 NM and I rush my Consular Army to the South.

d6KmwXA.png

I also convince the Greek City of Massilia to join me.

QIKUJ81.png

Will I manage to form a double Consular Army and destroy the large enemy Stack at the South led by Hiero II of Syracuse? Wait for the next update to find out.
 
great to see this, and a useful bit of opening context as well

Looks interesting. Good luck with the game.


Thanks

Looking forward to this one. Are there any major game differences between AJE and BOR?

Besides the different scenarios and units it's exactly the same game afaik.

Will watch this, Just so you know I'm rooting for Carthage.

You baby killing monster, you are kicked from this AAR

Joking aside I too tend to root always for the historical looser in all MP AGEOD AAR's I read.
 
Hmm if you move against Syracuse they may well turn side. Didn't the Starting briefing mention something about that.

They may, but the problem is to reach Syracuse I have to beat the large army between me and the city, an army which without the northern Consular Army I have no hopes of defeating. I forgot to take a screenshot of it but it quite enlarged since the first one.
 
good start, I've just been dipping into some of the BOR scenarios SP and it does seem as if sieges are slower (even with the Romans). Be interesting to see how the game engine copes with the rythym of the first war. If I recall correctly it was more akin to say the 100 years war, in that periods of active campaigns were broken up by long periods of both sides looking aggressively at the other but not doing much.

... and the sheer number of turns makes this quite the commitment.
 
Again looks like a good opening move. I am assuming that as Rome you start with minimal naval forces which obviously limits your strategic options. Do you get a navy by event or do you have to build it? Are you vulnerable to having both of your forces bottled up in Sicily whilst he lands in Italy?

What objectives do you need to take to win is it the case only Carthage will do or can you win by culling some of their peripheral cities? Sorry lots of questions!
 
good start, I've just been dipping into some of the BOR scenarios SP and it does seem as if sieges are slower (even with the Romans). Be interesting to see how the game engine copes with the rythym of the first war. If I recall correctly it was more akin to say the 100 years war, in that periods of active campaigns were broken up by long periods of both sides looking aggressively at the other but not doing much.

... and the sheer number of turns makes this quite the commitment.

I doubt the war will last that long though. In SP I won it in 3 years but it was mostly because after securing Sicily as Carthage Rome didn't do anything.



Again looks like a good opening move. I am assuming that as Rome you start with minimal naval forces which obviously limits your strategic options. Do you get a navy by event or do you have to build it? Are you vulnerable to having both of your forces bottled up in Sicily whilst he lands in Italy?

What objectives do you need to take to win is it the case only Carthage will do or can you win by culling some of their peripheral cities? Sorry lots of questions!

Yes I start with a minuscule navy not worth mention, latter I will have events that will increase my ship production and unlock new types of ships. Being bottled up in Sicily it's not a problem, an enemy landing in Italy will spawn a dictator and lots of new legions, so he will only dare to invade me if he has an humongous army and destroyed my starting legions.

Regarding the victory conditions there are two ways of winning, capturing your rival's capital or holding all of Sicily for two years.
 
You baby killing monster, you are kicked from this AAR.

I am honoured to be Soulstrider's opponent in this AAR.
I would agree that the Carthaginians had the slightly unusual habit of sacrificing their first born children to their delightful deities, but hey let's not be judgemental in our modern multicultural world!
I am looking forward to commenting further as the game unfolds.
 
Roh roh I am in trouble

So unfortunately my army troops didn't reach on time but luckily I have managed to retreat from through the strait without having suffered major casualties. The mamerite units who were locked escape with me, giving me around 100 extra pw, not bad. I guess they will actually see some action in this war.

SwNPk7y.png

Next turn I join my two armies and attempt to cross again

TDMk9ov.png

Another defeat but still left relatively unscathed.

yl4mruS.png

I decided to join my two minor fleets and stupidly send one through the strait, with expected consequences.


DIAQ0V4.png


And so we look menacingly at each other across the straits.

IaeCiqm.png

In this turn I also get the option to build military ports, once they are done I will be able to build quinquiremes and compete with Carthage at sea.

vCjALNb.jpg

Which reminds me I had earlier in the game this event and had forgot to post it


kFLwFpE.jpg

I try one last desperate attempt at crossing over before Messana falls.

6xoTq7x.png

And once again complete failure

5S6KDki.png

To lighten the dark mood in Rome, some patricians start a much noble and humane tradition.

M1itDRi.png

So I can't build more legions, Carthage controls the sea and there is no way of me crossing the strait to save Messana, what can I do?

Well I can launch Operation Blue Sea, aka Operation Asshole.

DteHs9F.png

What is it? And will it succeed?
 
Last edited:
You were beaten off Sicily in a fairly thorough manner, but thankfully your attempts to recross the straits didn't cost you too much blood - I was anticipating D-Day Omaha Beach-style slaughter of your forces against that enormous Carthaginian army.

I'm curious about operation A-hole (but perhaps not that curious). I hope it refers to a behavioral description, rather than anything anatomically... <Shudders>

On a different note, I agree we should cut geoffreyg some slack. Let's not think of it as baby sacrifice, but rather as using renewable resources... Okay, maybe that's a stretch to far. :)

Anyway, looking forward to finding out how the stalemate is resolved, one way or another.
 
I agree with Stuyvesant you seem to have got away from Sicily without decimating your army.

I'm sure you can't wait to get some sort of naval parity with your opponent. Perhaps it is time to march overland to get at those Carthagian possesions in Spain?
Anyway I am looking forward to seeing the launch of Operation Asshole I am sure it will go down in the an(n)als of military history:)
 
Anyway I am looking forward to seeing the launch of Operation Asshole I am sure it will go down in the an(n)als of military history:)
Badum-tish. :)

I looked it up and according to ever-reliable wikipedia, the proper Latin translation for 'asshole' would be Culus. Operation Culus: already sounds a lot more dignified, right? ;)
 
I looked it up and according to ever-reliable wikipedia, the proper Latin translation for 'asshole' would be Culus. Operation Culus: already sounds a lot more dignified, right? ;)

given that gladius obviously rhymes with culus then we have the basis for an endless number of limericks .... :cool: