Cyrenaica wars and their generals

[IsaacCAT]

This AAR is a collection of the wars fought by the kingdom of Cyrenaica from 304 BCE to its end as independent kingdom. The protagonists are the armies, navies, battles, generals and everything in between.

Version: 2.0.3 (Marius)
Difficulty: Very Hard
Mode: Ironman

We start very small in Cyernaica, but our nation will grow big after each war:

First war is an unexpected one, we are called by our ally Egypt to the war of the Diadochi:

For this war, we can only send our Cyrenaican levy led by our Basileus Epimenes I Charinid:

They depart from the port of Kyrene on the 303 BCE on board of the 2nd Nautikon lead by Philonides Anaximandrid. The fleet has mainly Liburnians and Triremes.

Philonides has chosen the harasment tactic as he will try to avoid fronts assaults against big navies. The objective is to bring the 1st Levy of Cyrenaica to the unprotected city of Naxos in Cyclades for the glory of Epimenes.

After some detours to avoid enemy ships, it seems they are closing to their objective:

And Naxos is looted. However, the navy of Eretria catches the 2nd Nautikon in the Mare Creticum in the way back. Our harassment tactic is neutral to the close ranks tactic of Stilpon, the admiral of the enemy fleet.

They have double our starting morale, but our navy has more ships and we are flanking them. Certainly, we are able to win this battle easily without losing any ship. The Eritrean navy loses all their ships.

Next objective is to ferry the 1st levy of Cyrenaica to the city Appollonia Palaistinas. The unprotected city behind the lines of our enemies while they are occupied facing the Egyptian armies in Philistia:

In their way to Appollonia, we are ambushed by the Aeolian fleet in the Mare Icarium. We have more ships and the harassment tactic against the probing attack of Hypereides Demostenid.

We win the battle and capture one their ships.

We are too late to take the city of Appollonia as the Egyptian forces have already advanced north, we decide to loot Ake in Galilee instead:

We stay in Palistene, looting all the cities while letting our navy to repair their damage in the port of Paliouros back in Cyrenaica. The Seleukids have declared war to Antigonid and he cannot possible wage a war in three fronts.

This way, the cities of Berytos and Panais in South Phoenicia are looted by Cyrenaican levies. The next prize would be the city of Paphos in Cyprus. It remains undefended and will be an easy prize for our soliders.

Before we can embark our soldiers, our navy is attacked by Ionia in the Mare Phoenicium. We both have a harassement tactic, but we have more ships and we are already flanking them. Their admiral, Gaizarotirx, is very capable. This battle won't be easy.

Gaizatorix skills are not engough for our flanking bonus, we end up winning the battle and capturing another ship:

We have looted Paphos but leaving the Temple of Aphrodite intact, now we will try to siege down the fortress in Salamis Kyprias to control the island of Cyprus. We will not engage a superior force and try to get out of the island if the enemy appears.

The Siege of Salamis Kyprias has started, but we do not want to wait many months as we do not have enough food for a long siege and we do not want to risk an enemy ship bringing reinforcements. We will assault the fort. We have enough assaulting troops of infantry to win against the 500 men garrisoned. We expect heavy loses but we will swiftly retreat to cyrenaica to reinforce our levy after the assault and looting the city.

Less than a month and we have assaulted the fort and looted the city. We have lost 1,800 men in the assault.
Before we can prepare for another looting, the war is over! Egypt has taken Palestine and Syria from Antigonid and peaced out.

Meanwhile, Cyrenaica has been fabricating a claim on Polyrrhenia in the island of Crete. The objective is to conquer the Island as soon as possible. But this will be the next war.

 

[HistoryDude]

Cyrenaica appears to be a naval power.

Also, why was the Diadochi War unexpected?

Will you break your alliance with Egypt in time? They might simply take advantage of your contribution and not give you anything.

It's always nice to see Imperator AARs!

 

[IsaacCAT]

Cyrenaica appears to be a naval power.

Also, why was the Diadochi War unexpected?

Will you break your alliance with Egypt in time? They might simply take advantage of your contribution and not give you anything.

It's always nice to see Imperator AARs!

Naval power is mandatory to survive against neighbourghs like Carthage.

Cyrenaica was allied to Syracuse when Egypt called the alliance. At start Egypt was not keen to ally Cyrenaica because rank difference and competing power (?). So, we were not supposed to participate in the Diadochi war.

Egypt will call back the alliance soon enough. We got to be ready to face them in the future, the AI was right, we aspire to be a competing power.

This AAR is an experiment, focusing only in the strategy and tactics of wars to tell the story of the kingdom. I:R has so many aspects: nation building, politics, characters, etc… I wanted to make an original take. Not sure if it will be interesting enough, we will see.

 

[IsaacCAT]

The Cretian wars

Cyrenaica ambitions are on the island of Crete. From there we can jump to Hellas and Asia and start conquering one by one the small Hellenic kingdoms.

We have a claim in the small city kingdom of Polyrrhenia. They are isolated without allies. As soon as we can mobilize again we will declare on them. That would be next June 300 BCE.

Meanwhile we will fabricate a claim for the city of Tarrha, a feudatory of Gortyna. By declaring on Tarrha and not on Gortyna we may not face the defensive league of Gortyna, Rohdes, Kybyratia, Ierapetra and Knossos. However, if they do attack us, this will give us the opportunity to size the island altogether. We will see what happens.

On the 30th of June The 1st Levy of Cyrenaica departs from the port of Kyrene to attack Polyrrhenia. They are at war with Lappa and we do not know what army we will face. The HI from Cyernaica is in the front row, flanked by LI and our camels will try to overrun the enemy.

The City of Polyrrinia is in Hills, with a combat width of 20, our meager Levy with 15 units will not cover the whole field. We expect that theirs won't either. Cyrenaica has no advantage in Hills, we have not yet discovered any military tradition, but in the future we will look at terrain modifiers for our best advantage.

We declare war on the 30th of July, the day we disembark our levy to face their 1st Levy of Greece. Their general Arrhabaios Demestenid is as good as Epimenes an we have a great advantage on units. We will probably face their archers first, so we keep our HI in the front.

As predicted, their archers face our HI. Arrhabios has gone front assault against our envelopment tactic. This is foolish on their side, as they will have a lot of casualties, but they will also create more damage to our cohorts. They are not going to win, but they will take many valid men in this battle.

The battle is over, we have killed almost double of their men due to our flanking but their superior tactic has robbed us 533 men. Knowing how foolish they are, we switch to bottleneck to counter their frontal assault tactic.

The siege for the city of Polyrrinia has started. We won't assault it this time, as we want to save morale and men for the battles that will ensue. The siege is advancing slowly and we are worried with our food storage. We only brought a unit with the levy. At this rate food will last more than 60 months. We should be able to break the siege before we run out of food.

We have made a mistake! The port of Polyrrinia is not blockaded. Our navy is in the Mare Aegyptium and their port is in the Mare Creticum. As fast as possible, we move our fleet there. After one year, we break the resistance of the city and gently loot it. Two pops have been enslaved and sent to Kyrene and Euesperides.

Our next step in this war is to siege down the City of Kydonia. We might assault it as this will end the war with Cyernaica taking both territories in Crete and being able to reinforce the levy soon after. The siege progress proves to be faster than Polyrrinia. We wait until november when we break the city and make a peace deal to take all the territories in Crete. This war was decided in the battle of Polyrrinia:

We won't disband the Cyernaican levy as we will declare to Tarrha as soon as reinforcements are finished.

This is February 298 BCE. We declare to Tarrha kowing that Gortyna will defend their feudatory. The strategy is to defend from their attacks and kill enough of their men until we can siege down their fortresses. As expected, declaring to Tarrha only brings Gortyna and not all the defensive league. We will start fabricating to Knossos as soon as possible.

The first battle in Tharra is a bloodbath, our superior numbers kill 500 men with no losses in our side. We will wait for Gortyna's army for a real battle.

Gortyna army is blocked in Korion. Our navy is guarding the seas and they cannot ferry them to try to break our siege in Tharra. Our naval superiority is vital. We also have more men than Gortyna, they seem to not have enough money to buy those mercs. If that came to happen, we would be in real danger.

As planned, we siege down the city of Tharra, but we do not go directly to Gortyna as they have a big fortress there and we are running low on supplies. We expect a long siege there so we will resupply our men in Polyrrinia.

After four months of unit reorganization and resupply, we attempt the siege of Gortyna. Our navy is crucial again to allow the movement of our cohorts.

Luckly for us, the fort defenses are not as strong as they could be due to lack of food in the province. We might break without needing to mobilize the levy of Greece. Their army does not dare attack us, they know our superiority.

Finally! the war is over. This time there was no need for a big battle to decide the winner.

Next step in the Cretian wars is to declare war against the defensive league that includes Rhodes. The price is the Colossus of Rhodes that has been built recently. High risk for high rewards.

 

[stnylan]

Rather nice idea for an AAR

 

[HistoryDude]

Crete is falling, which is good.

On the other hand, getting a different general might be a good idea - wouldn't want to face a rebellion...

 

[IsaacCAT]

Crete is falling, which is good.

On the other hand, getting a different general might be a good idea - wouldn't want to face a rebellion...

It has only been three years since he left Cyrenaica to lead the levies in the Cretian Wars. Now he is back, planning the demise of the defensive league.

What would his adversaries and sons think of him if he stayed home? That he is weak and unworthy of the Throne. Everyone is pushing him to perform in the war.

There will come the day that Cyrenaica will have professional legions, but his capital levy will always be lead by the king.

Although, we hope Epimenes lives for a bit longer, now he is 51 and his 1st born child is only 3 years old. The succession is guaranteed by the loyalty of the other pretenders, but we do not want a three year old leading the 1st Levy of Cyrenaica!

 

[IsaacCAT]

Cretian Wars continued

After one year in Kyrene, the claim for the land of Knossos in Crete is ready. Epimenes goes to war once again to seize the island. The biggest enemy in the defensive league is the Plutocratic Republic of Rhodes. Epimines plan is to stay in the island to defeat one by one the armies of the members while controlling the sea with the Cyrenaican navy.

On may 295 BCE the levies of Cyernaica sail again to Crete. The weather is shiny and clear, the objective is to land in Gortyna, the Cyrenaican capital of Crete, and defeat the armies of the defensive league before they can regroup.

While trying to catch the armies of Eleutherna, Epimenes is caught in a trap by Knossos. They are regrouping in Gortyna. He hopes to catch the Agathokles I Demonstenid army in the hills of Korion before they can join forces with Nikokles I Mnesidemid army.

Epimenes is able to catch them. Once again the Cyrenaican HI is rightly placed to face the Cretian archers. This time Epimenes’s Deception tactic is the right one against the enemy’s skirmishing tactic. This is going to be a great victory! The Knossian army will not be able to join the battle as Gortyna has a fort that stops them.

A victory it is, although not a definitive one. Epimenes will need to softer their armies before he can lay siege to their fortresses. Now it is time to pursuit the retreating army before they can hide behind a fort.

It seems he will catch both armies in the city of Knossos. That would be a great battle and a certain victory for Epimenes. So it beggins the battle of Knossos:

Ending with a sound victory for Cyrenaica. Unless Rhodes comes to the aid of their allies, the small kingdoms armies have been defeated. It is only a matter of time that they are destroyed.

This happens in the battle of Arkades. After pursuing the retreating armies, they are obliterated to the last man.

After the sieges of Eleutherna and Arkades are finished, the only resistance left in the island is the Autocratic Monarchy of Ierapetra. They have a single army of 2,000 men and no forts in the City of Hierapytna. This is going to be an easy win before Cyrenaica jumps to the big prize of Rhodes.

The battle of HieraPytna after the defeat in Praisos is the end of Ierapetra.

Now, full of supplies and only with 287 men lost, Epimenes embarks the Cyernaican soldiers to take on Rhodes.

Epimenes, probably blinded by his success in Crete, disembarks in Rhodos, unaware of the Rhodes legion and levies stationed in Kaunos. Although inferior in number, they are a foe that cannot be ignored.

On landing in Rhodos, Epimenes realizes his mistake and makes good the opportunity that the mercenaries of Xenonid are stationed in Rhodos. He hires them and send them in the 2nd Nautikon to Gortyna to equip them to make battle against the cohorts of Rhodes. Let's hope they can come back in time before they try to break the siege in Rhodes.

A great storm receives Xenonid and the 2nd Nautikon back to Rhodos, but this omen will not break the will of Epimenes. Now that he has got the strength of the mercenaries, he feels victory is at hand.

Finally, in April 292 BCE Rhodos is broken. The Colossus is ours! The only thing left is to conquer the provinces in Asia and Cilicia that are own by Rhodes to get the best peace deal possible. This requires a final showdown with Eumenes Sosiklid, the general of the 1st Taxis Stratos of Asia in the hills of Daidala.

The battle starts without Epimenes, he has decided to let Xenonid's mercenaris to take the heat of the battle first before reinforce. This could had been a good idea but the levies of Kybiratia are descending from the hills of Milyas. This can be a defeat for Cyrenaica if Epimenes does not show up soon.

Epimenes does show up, but so the Kybiratia troops. The battle now is even, with the Cyrenaican troops being in disadvantage due to the terrain. Epimenes ponders a retreat to Rhodes to recover if the line does not hold, he cannot allow the enemy light cavalry to flank his troops or this will be a massacre.

At the end, the Cyrenaican soldiers are flanked and Epimenes calls the retreat. He wants to live to fight another day. He decides to retreat in Lindos, behind the fort of Rhodos to recover the morale of the troops. The Legion from Rhodes has proven lethal and Cyrenaica has lost 584 more men than Rhodes.

On his retreat to Rhodos, Epimenes decides to send an envoy to Rhodes and the defensive league to end the war. Cyrenaica takes all the land in Crete, the island of Rhodes and their possessions in Asia. This is a great deal for Cyernaica and Epimenes has his mind in another conquest already: the land of Laconia from the Oligarchic Republic of Argos.

 

[stnylan]

Cyrene is definitely turning into a quite a nice little power here.

 

[HistoryDude]

Excellent! Crete and Rhodes should give you control of the sea...

 

[IsaacCAT]

In February 291, Epimenes wants to start his probably last campaign against the Republic of Argos. Argos is located in Laconia, where the proud people of Sparta had their capital city. Sparta is a feudatory of Argos and they are relegated in two small territories in Arcadia, the proud city of Sparta, now is a mere settlement. Argos has two other feudatories, the cities of Tanagra and Epidauros.

The prize of this campaign is the city of Argos, but Epimenes knows better to land the Cyrenaican expedition directly to the city of Argos and he is planning to land in Laconia to control the province before attacking the capital. For that, he will take the fort in Sparta:

To fight the Argonians, Epimenes will lead the Cyernaican levy and will hire the mercs available in the area to support his campaign. He does not expect great resistance from the Argonians and their feudatories. The terrain is mainly farmlands with a big combat width, and in case bigger armies attack them, Epimenes will try to fight in the hills or mountains of Laconia:

In September 291, the levy departs from Kyrene on board of the famous 2nd Nautikon, lead by Philonides Anaximandrid. Epimenes is 57 years old and in perfect health. He is confident on this new adventure. Just as planned, Cyrenaica declares on Argos and right away disembarks in Gytheion.

Once the coast line is taken, the troops start sieging the fort in Sparta. Epimenes is looking for mercenaries and hires the Niketid's mercenaries from Athens. They will swiftly move to the coast to prepare to assist Epimenes's levy.

Sparta has fallen, and Epimenes leads the troops to siege Argos. There is no sight of the enemy cohorts. Everything is too quiet in the front. When Epimenes sets camp in Argos, he finally sees the enemy. From the city of Epidauros, the levy of Sparta and Argos are charging against the Cyernaican troops. Areus I Agiad, the Spartan general leads the troops. Although Epimenes has more troops that the coalition, Areus is a formidable general. The Cyrenaican will flank the other army in the plains of Argos but the battle is not assured for the blues:

At the last minute, the Argonians call off the attack and regroup in Epidauros. This is a relief for Epimenes that will have more time to siege the city and call in the Athenian mercenaries when they are finished preparing.

CALL TO ARMS! our ally Egypt has called Epimenes in their war against Antigonid Kingdom and their allies. He accepts, although the recent Cyrenaican conquests in Asia and Crete are going to be in danger in this unexpected war.

The war has caught Cyernaica between two of the major powers in the Mediterranean:

After some months of sieging, Epimines breaks the fortification of Argos and enters the city triumphant.

The only resistance from Argos is located in Epidauros. The three levies commanded by the Spartan General have not moved and await the attack of Cyernaica behind the fort in the mountains of Epidauros. That will negate the flanking advantage to Epimenes and they know it. But Epimenes is resolved to finish this war as soon as possible to defend against the threats of the bigger war with Antigonid.
BIG DISGRACE! the 2nd Nautikon was destroyed when tried to capture the Argonian fleet after taking the port in Argos. The Antigonid navy has sunken or captured all the Cyrenaican fleet and made prisioner the admiral Philonides Anaxmiandrid! Epimenes cannot go back to Kyrene and is stranded in the Peleoponese.

Epimenes does not despair and decides to move forward and siege Epidauros, as expected the three levies this time attack the Cyrenaican levy, but Niketid's mercenaries are closing in to help Epimenedes. The first army to arrive is Epidauros levy, their bottleneck tactic is countered perfectly by Epimenes skirmishing.

Soon enough, the other levies from Sparta and Argos join the battle. Epimenes sends the camels to attack the flanks of the Spartans but Areus, the Spartan general, keeps the soldiers in line.:

Epimenes calls in the mercenaries and knowing that the enemy tactic remains bottleneck, asks Niketid to change their tactic to skirmishing too to get the best effect. This is going to be a close call, when the mercenaries arrive Epimenes cohorts were on the brink of retreat:

But the brilliant tactics of Epimenes and the superior numbers are for the win, the enemy soldiers retreat after being defeated:

Epimenes sends Niketid to follow the defeated armies to Kleonai while he sieges the city of Epidauros. The battle ends with the total destruction of the spartan army, although the Argos and Epidaurian levies escape to Tanagra.

In a suprising move, the Argos 1st levy disembarks in Knossos, Crete. The unfortunate destruction of the Cyernaican navy has left Epimenes without naval supremacy against Argos but the citizens of Crete are proud and raise their levy to fight against the invaders:

The battle of Knossos does not end well for the interests of Cyernaica, the levy is defeated due to the low skill as a General of the Governor of Greece, Polydoros, and the low morale of the troops. Polydoros retreats to Gortyna to reinforce the levy before trying again.

In another disgraced news, Anaximandrid has managed to escape the Antigonid captors, but has been lost for the Cyrenaican cause. Now he is a cityzen of Lyctus and Epimenes has lost his best admiral so far.

The Argonian levy has landed in Laconia to try to sneak another win from Cyrenaica. This time Epimenes knows in advance from their landing and sends Niketid mercenaries with the shock tactic to face the traitorous Andragoras Mnesidemid levy in the hills of Kythera.

This time, Argos is defeated and Niketid pursuits the retreating army to deal the final blow to the resistance.

At the same time, Epimenes breaks in Epydauros and after sieging Hermoine sets the terms of peace with Argos:

It is time for Epimenes to focus on the war against Antigonid. The war goal is the province of Palmyrene, but the war has spread in every corner of Anatolia, Greece and Egypt. There is no clear winner yet and Epimenes wants a bigger role for Cyrenaica in the World affaris, maybe his role in this war will prove his point.

 

[HistoryDude]

That looked like it might be a problem. Nice to see that the Cretans pulled through.

The Antigonids will be a mighty foe. Are the Ptolemies aiding Cyrenaica here?

 

[IsaacCAT]

That looked like it might be a problem. Nice to see that the Cretans pulled through.

The Antigonids will be a mighty foe. Are the Ptolemies aiding Cyrenaica here?

Crete is fine, only their pride and the city of Knossos have been affected. It was only one month away that the Cretan culture was integrated in Cyrenaica. More men would have joined the levies and probably the battle would have been won.

Ptolemy Kingdom is not helping Cyrenaica, on the contrary, they are losing in Greece and Anatolia and only concentrating on the war goal in Assirya. Now that Epimene has ended his war, Cyrenaica wants to be decesive to end the war that the Egyptians started against Antigonid. The only problem is the destruction of the Cyrenaican navy.

 

[IsaacCAT]

Epimenes is stranded in Arcadia with the 1st Levy of Cyrenaica after the 2nd Nautikos was destroyed in the current war with the Antigonid Kingdom. He is pondering his options to help Egypt end this war so Cyernaica can rebuild his navy and keep expanding.
The obvious choice is to attack the city of Kortinthos, the Feudatory of Antingonid Kingdom next to the recently conquered city of Argos. From there, Epimenes can try to assault Megara and Eretria. The idea would be to defend Andros from the advancing armies of Delos:

On the other hand, Cyrenaica could raise the levy of Asia, hire some mercs in Rohdos and liberate the Cyrenaican city of Kaunos:

Epimenes, decides to try both strategies and fight for the Ptolomies's war. The objective is to sack as many cities as possible for the glory of Cyrenaica. However, only some months after Epimenes starts his strategy, Egypt gets a peace deal with Antigonid buy getting the province of Palmyrene.
This turn of events, leaves Epimenes with free hands to attack Messenia and the Defensive league of states in Greece. First things first, Cyrenaica rebuilds the navy and gives command to Arisophon Charidemid to bring the mercenaries from Rhodos to Greece:

The strategy for this war is to fight each of the small kingdoms and republics levies divided before Epimenes and the mercenaries siege down their fortress:

Xenonid's mercenaries attack the levy of Messenia in Mothone, while Epimenes with the first levy of Cyrenaica looks for the Tegea army in Tegea. The battle of Messene is a complete victory with the 500 troops form the Messenian army killed in the battle. Epimenes is less lucky and the 1st levy is entangled in the mountains of Manteia against their levy. The problem is all the different levies that are grouping to reinforce the battle in Manteia. To avoid a big defeat, Epimenes calls in the levy of Greece. This time Polydoros has a levy of 6,500 men thanks to the support of the Cretan men that have been integrated in Cyrenaica. Epimenes wants to be sure about this battle, and also asks Xenonid to come to the aid.

Finally, the battle is won before any enemy reinforcement can arrive and the coalition forces move their best troops to Klenoai, the hill north of Argos. Epimenes will face them there, as he knows that Xenonid's mercenaries are coming:

The battle of Kleonai is won by Epimenes without Xenonid's help. The skirmishing tactic and the superior numbers have won the day for the Cyrenaicans. It is worth mentioning that the Cretan help has been crucial to win this battle without the mercenaries help:

After all these victories, Epimenes is confident that the strength of the defensive league is weaken enough and send Polydoros to siege Stymphalos and Xenonid to Messene, while he stays in Tegea to take the fort. This proves a bad decision when the defensive league attacks Polydoros and wins a decisive victory in the mountains of Stymphalos:

The only option for Polydoros is to retreat to the position of Epimenes and wait for the siege to end. And so it does. Xenonid has broken Messena and is moving north to help Epimenes and Polydoros as well:

Next battle is set to happen in Mantineia. Epimenes has moved there to siege the fortress, while Xenonid was going to siege Stymphalos. But the coalition forces have concentrated all their men and are attacking Epimenes army. Polydoros 1st Levy of Greece is not yet recovered from the last defeat and is in Argos. Epimenes sends messages to Xenonid but he is already in the mountains when receives them. Now he has to go back to Argos before joining Epimenes. This time Epimenes switches tactic to bottleneck and he will try to resist the enemy forces while waiting from Xenonid arrival:

The change of tactic is a great success and Epimenes first encounters the Heraia troops lead by Pilippos Kephisodotid. The enemy troops will arrive on the 29th of october while Xenonid's mercenaries will need until the 12th of November to join the figth. Let's hope that the change of tactics gives Epimenes the edge it needs to resist those 12 days:

This is not looking good, there is only 2 days more and Epimenes army is completly depleted and only a handful of cohorts are resisting the enemy. Will Xenonid arrive on time?

YES! he does arrive on time, but it could be not enough to win the battle. Epimenes sends messages to Polydoros to send whatever men they have to join the battle and ensure a victory for Cyrenaica:

Epimenes was right to call Polydoros, but that may not be enough either, the defensive league is also reinforcing with more troops. Let's hope thei army is defeated before they arrive or Cyrenaica will have lost this battle:

They cannot do it, and the reinforcements arrive in time to save the day for the Defensive League. Epimenes has to call retreat and move back to Epidauros to recover men and morale. It has been an humiliating defeat for Cyrenaica:

The brunt of the defeat is for Polydoros, although in all fairness, Cyrenaica killed more men in the battle. The war is not yet over.

The defensive league tries to take back the war goal in the city of Messene. Epimenes, Polydoros and Xenonid are reinforcing in Arcadia and Laconia while they move to defend the city:

When they see arrive the Cyrenaican armies, the defensive league forces move up camp and try to attack the unfortified city of Megalopolis. They are chased by Epimenes to again the fortress of Mantineia. Once more, their stronghold is testimony of the battle between the two armies:

This time though, Cyrenaica is the winner thanks to the tactic, Xenonid's General and superior numbers:

After this defeat, the war is practically won by Cyrenaica. The small kingdoms and republics have not manpower left to fight and Epimenes sieges all the fortress left. Not before Epimenes has to take a difficult decision with Polydoros:

The peace deal is sealed:

The next step for Epimenes is to consolidate his power in the East Mediterranean and try to rival the great powers around Cyrenaica:

 

[HistoryDude]

That was dramatic and close. Cyrenaica might want to hire some mercenaries...

Who will Cyrenaica attack next? Macedon? Thrace? The remaining small Greek states?

 

[IsaacCAT]

Epimenes at 65 years old is facing a dilemma. He wants to keep conquering small kingdoms but he is too weary to face Macedon, Thrace, Antigonid or even Carthage and Rome, the powers in the west. His son Heromenes Charinid has grown to a fantastic leader, although depressed, he shows promising martial skills:

It will be up to him to start a war with the big six (not to forget our convenient ally Egypt). For now, Epimenes will fabricate a claim against the federated tribe of Kibyratia in Asia.

As it is, Epimenes raised the Cyrenaican levy the 1st of February of 280BC to declare war to Kibyratia and their allies Rhodes and Ormelia. From the city of Kaunos, Epimenes will control the Rhodenian settlement of Daidala and the access from the mountain pass from Bouban in Milyas. This is not going to be a war, but a triumphant promenade for Epimenes before his retirement.

First battle breaks out in Daidala. The Rhodenian have less troops but Epimenes do not get the best tactic and it is not flanking the enemy units with his camels. He will win the battle but his first line of archers will surely flee the battlefield before it ends:

We are proved wrong, and the first line of archers is enough to break through the Rhodenian troops in the battle of Daidala:

During the siege of Daidala's fort, news arrive that Epimenes has dyphteria. This is surely his last campaign, and maybe his son will have to finish it for him if the fall of the Asian alliances of tribes last for much longer.

Because of these news, the Cyrenaican troops assault the fort in Daidala and move on to the capital of Kibyra. However, meanwhile Epimenes is reorganizing his troops, the whole levies of Ormelia and Kybiratia and the Taxis of Rhodes sneak back to Daidala and try to get it back. This is going to be a tougher fight for Epimenes. He seems to want to die in battle as he switch his tactic to skirmishing and charges the coalition forces:

Just in case, the governor of Asia, Heliodoros Anaximandrid rises his levy to help Epimenes in his battle. Epimenes decision to change the tactic is vindicated when he finds out that Appausu Gaumatid, the Chief of the Ormelians has decided to stick to the bottleneck tactic:

Both armies occupy the same length, but the Cyrenaican levy from Asia is coming to help flank the enemy. When Heliodoros arrives, the battle is already over, but Epimenes is happy to give the command of the armies to Heliodoros to finish the job:

Fantastic win against the coalition of tribes and Rhodes, now with the help of Heliodoros, Epimenes rushes to end this war to go back alive to Kyrene.

The pursuit of the enemy armies is stopped by the fortifications in Kibyra. The Kibyrates armies are hiding in Kidrama, thinking that the fortress will hold until their friends in Ormelia can regroup and come back to join the battle. But Epimenes is wiser than that and sends Heliodoros to siege the fortress while he takes control of Boubon. When Boubon falls, he will have save passage to Kidrama hills and will kill the remaining Kibyrates.

Soon as it said, that is is done, Epimenes marches next to the fort without opposition to Kidrama. The battle is won with ease and all the enemy soldiers are killed. They will not be able to reinforce any army now.

Before this war ends, Cyrenaica and Epimenes have to take an important decision. Egypt wants Cyrenaica to help in their war against Nabatea, Thaqif and Qedar. Epimenes does not want to help Egypt but this will break the alliance that has given Cyrenaica the security required to expand in the Mediterranean. Finally, Epimienes decides to decline the Egyptian Call to Arms and break the alliance.

As expected, the remaining armies retreated from the battle of Daidala, threaten again the Cyrenaican troops. They will not have the help of the Kybirates that were slain in Kidrama, but they are still a force to reckon. Epimenes remains with the Skirmishing tactic and awaits the 7,000 soldiers while sieging the fortress in Kybira:

1 day before the first army arrives, Epimenes is able to break the siege and get inside the fortress. Now Cyrenaica controls the territory. The battle starts and once again Appuasu gets the tactic wrong. He is a better general, but Cyrenaica has the control of the territory.

The enemy reinforcements arrive but they are not enough to change the fate of the battle.

And the war is over with the total capitulation of the tribes and Rhodes to the Cyrenaican rule. Epimenes goes back alive to Kyrene and starts the proceedings to pass the power to Heromenes. What would be his first move? Is he going to be as ambitious as his father? We do not know, what it is assured is that Cyrenaica has lost a strong ally in Egypt and will have to demonstrate that can survive among the big ones:

 

[IsaacCAT]

In 278 BCE, Thrace sends an alliance proposal to Epimenes while he is navigating back to Kyrene. It is Hermoenes in the Palace that decides this time and he accepts because he thinks Thrace will help Cyrenaica beat Macedon in Hellas. Also the Antigonid Kingdom is a nice target for Cyrenaica and Thrace can help in Anatolia while Cyrenaica gets the rich provinces in Cilicia.

In 277 BCE the First Punic War starts when Rome demands the lands of Sardinia Borealis from Carthage. This is an opportunity that Epimenes has long sought for Cyrenaica to take the lands from Trepolitana that belong to Cyrenaica by right!

[NARRATOR] I have lost half of the story due to not saving the draft, sorry! Here a summary of the events lost (images uploaded to the post):

Epimenes dies in the middle of the war with Carthage. Heromenes gets in charge but the war between Rome and Carthage ends and Macedon declares against Thrace. Cyrenaica is in a dire position, facing alone Carthage and being threaten by Macedon in Hellas.




Heromenes is able to control Tripolitana and defeat the armies of Carthage against all odds. He peaces out Cartaghe to reinfoce the Hellas front against Macedon.




However, when he is in the 1st Nautikon going to Messene, the Antigonid Kingdom declares upon Cyrenaica for the province of Cara Inferioris.

Heromenes abandons Thrace war against Macedon and goes to defend Cyeranaica in Asia. He lands there and faces the mercenaries hired by the Antigonid Kingdom.


Macedon peaces out Thrace and gets the province of Rhodope. Thrace is entangled in his 2nd war against Odryssia and Odryssia rebels in the north, but Heromenes expects some help in the south against Antigonid.

Right now, the battle of Diospolis Lykou is a close call between the high morale of the Cyrenaican troops against the discipline and terrain advantage of the Antigoinid's mercenaries.

The enemy is able to reinforce and Heromenes decides to retreat before losing more men to the superior troops of Antigonid. Our higher morale killed a lot of our brave men, Cyrenaica may not have enough manpower to sustain more battles like this!

On the side of good news, Aristophon and the 1st Nautikon have won the battle of Mare Icarium, capturing the admiral of the Eretria's fleet:

Antigonid is pushing towards the wargoal of Cara Inferioris, only the city of Kaunos remains for them to take. Heromenes is rallying the last men of Cyrenaica to take the battle there, but manpower is draining fast. Will help from Thrace come at last?

[NARRATOR] This post is heavy with images and I have lost many written words. The outcome of the battle in Kaunos and the war against Antigonid will be in the next post. Thanks for reading!

 

[HistoryDude]

Well, that seems to be quite the situation. Let's hope Cyrenaica can defeat the Antigonids.

And, if you want weak foes, it might be a good idea to backstab Thrace...

 

[IsaacCAT]

The battle for Kaunos is closer by the day. We left Heromenes rallying the last of the Cyrenaican brave men in the settlement of Physicos while the fortress in the city of Kaunos was waiting the siege of the Antigonid troops. Their troops are lead by Bas Pacorid and Heromenes knows from the last battle that he is using deception as tactic. For this reason, he changes to envelopment for the incoming fight. Heromenes will wait for Bas Pacorid to lay siege on Kaunos to attack.

This happens in April 270BCE, when the Cyrenaican troops led by Heromenes charge against the Antigonid forces stationed in Kaunos. There is an urgency in this push back because another stack of mercenaries and the levy of Lycia have been spotted in Saleia Salbakes. A contigent of at least 9,000 men to reinforce the other 9,000 men in Kaunos.

The Battle of Kaunos starts very good for the Heromenes, the change of tactic has given the Cyrenaican troops a great advantage on the field. Although the envelopment tactic with superior numbers would have worked much better if we were not limited by the combat width of having a battle in hills. Also the enemy general has the terrain against him as he had to cross a river to get to Kaunos.

The battle is an outstanding victory of Heromenes, specially for the low number of causalities among the Cyernaican troops. Already the manpower of Cyrenaica is exhausted and the levies will not reinforce to their full potential. Any battle from now on will be more difficult.

And not too soon, the other army from Antigonid is charging Heromenes men in Kaunos. He has send messangers to Xenonid's mercenaries to help him win this next battle. Antigonid is not waving yet and another reinforcement is coming from the north, the 1st Levy of Phrygia. Happily, Orgame and Mesembria, two vassals of Thrace are coming to our aid, finally we will see our ally helping us.

The second battle of Kaunos is also a win for Heromenes, but men are exhausted and there is a concern between the Cyrenaican generals about how long this war can go if Cyrenaica is to win. Without manpower the levies of Cyrenaica and Greece are not reinforcing and there is only so much money to pay for the Xenonid's mercenaries. Finally, bad news come from the sea, the navy has lost the battle for supremacy against Antigonid Kingdom fleet at the Mare Carphatium. Their admiral, Zipoetes Aramid was clerarly superior to Aristophon. He decides to retreat to the port in the city of Hierapytna in Crete.


After this battle, Heromenes is convinced that this war cannot be won and decides to reach an agreement with Antigonid Kingdom for the best outcome possible. The peace deal is accepted by Antogonid as it is very generous and they cannot refuse it.

This leaves Cyrenaica still at war against the Odryssian Revolt from our ally Thrace. Heromenes gets the remaining troops in the port of Kaunos and calls back the 1st navy to ferry them to the distant lands of Europa in Thrace to honour our alliance. The stories of the last Cyrenaican men in Europa and the next episode of Heromenes Kingdom will be told in the next post.

 

[HistoryDude]

Cyrenaica has won against the Antigonids, but they are very weakened. I suppose that they will take some time to recover...