This AAR ended long ago due to both the holidays and the arrival of the 2.3/31 beta patches
But here's a wrap-up from the last bit that I kept wanting to update:
Armenia finally invaded the Seleucids during their civil war of 513 AVC.
Joining the side of the rebels fighting in Parthia, Astyages launched a two-pronged invasion into Syria and Cilicia. After only a few short months, Antioch and fell and soon the entire Mediterranean coastline with it. The war could have been a quick and easy blitz for Armenia, had it not been for a Rhoxolani invasion soon after the start of the war.
The Seleucid loyalists managed to field two armies to confront Astyages, but in the end, they could not fight a two front war. Most of Syria, including Antioch, and a huge payment was ceded to Armenia.
Meanwhile the Rhoxolani war was fierce due to the limited number of troops committed to the northern campaign. A large barbarian raiding party from the west also entered the fray and ravaged both armies. After the cessation of Seleucid hostilities, Astyages raced north to finish the fight and secured dominance of the Bosporous.
A few years later, a border dispute with the then-shattered Bosporan Kingdom erupted into war and the Bosporans were quickly overwhelmed. Their allies, the Bithynians came to their aid but despite putting up a valiant defense and a short-lived counter attack into Pontus, they too fell to Astyages. By 1 April 518 (the end of this game and AAR), Armenia and Egypt had emerged the dominant powers of the North and South, respectively, and who knows who would have emerged victorious in their struggle to gobble up the crumbling Seleucid Empire?
