Meet The Spartans

[GuileMike]

Hello, and welcome to my Spartan AAR. My format of writing this is similar to the US military, it will discuss national goals, what was supposed happened, and what happened. Just to let everyone know, I will be playing on easy as I am still learning the game. Wish me luck as we try to make the Pelopenisian Power rise to glory!



All rise for our Basileus Areus I of the Agiad. A man of Mediterranean complexion and ambition that grows beyond the peninsula.


First order that needs to take place is to find a bride and to make our family line firm. This one is wildly beautiful with eyeliner from the Gods. Behold Basileia Timarete.


Our first babe is a daughter, wish it were a boy but we have plenty of time to make more.

 

[Nikolai]

Good luck with your AAR!

 

[GuileMike]

Our short term goals are to evict the powers of our neighbors of our peninsula. After the we take our peninsula back, Crete and Macedonia are mid terms goals. Looking ahead to fight off these mountain men of Greece, a mutual ally to curve their power is crucial. Epirus and our kingdom will foster order for the area for years to come.


Having a strong army with access to iron is essential to success, but we must also have wood to build a navy. Staying isolated and cut off via the water will spell doom for our expansion and we must invest in a navy to take on the the Macedonian threat.

Our first conquest will be to the west against Messenia. A weak republic that needs to be under our yoke. We will rush them by land and blockade their ports.


The war goes great on land, but our navy is destroyed. We will have to start from scratch building our boats. For our conquests, unless it has circumstances of extreme hatred or revenge, I will be lenient towards our new subjects and let them live within our realm. Who knows, some may be worthy of high level jobs.

 

[GuileMike]

Looking to northwest of the peninsula, we fabricate reason to invade Lepreon, our war with them drags many of their city state allies with them into doom. We annex them all.



Continuing North and we continue with our covert ways and make plans to invade Patrai. We pick up more territory with Allies tagging along.



A look at our conquests so far. For now, we need to regroup, gain manpower and replenish our treasury to build our navy to expand beyond our shores.


Foolish Argos declared war on us and we took their lands for their insolence.


Epirus is having difficulties fighting off Macedonia, adding others to the fight in our league is smart.


This is going to be interesting if we can escape doom here. Currently Macedonia must be in a war with 7-8 different factions. Hopefully their war exhaustion will be to great to give up hope. Our manpower pool is low to add to the ranks currently.

 

[Nikolai]

Macedon is a dangerous opponent.

 

[GuileMike]

Indeed, Macedonia is deadly. Here is the last great victory we had as a joint venture with Epirus.


Epirus would fall to a power just north of them and then it was time for us to crumble with our allies. Conclusion to come on the next post.

 

[stnylan]

Did not Lycurgus say do not make war too often, lest you teach your enemies how to fight?

Enjoy AAR-writing

 

[Specialist290]

Well, looks like I've squeezed in just in time...

Hoping to see more, no matter how much (or how little) more there is at this point

 

[guillec87]

subbed... hope not too late

 

[GuileMike]

Thus the destiny for Sparta's future was to be under the yoke of Macedonia. Diplomatic actions were to take place from here on and no doubt Sparta's occupied manpower will be used for the Macedonian cause.

So what happened in this short history in Spartan fiction?

First what went right?
Expansion for the most part went quickly and considering the manpower we held, our enemies fell to the sword quickly. Our allies were somewhat of a help, but they were constantly tied down to be a serious help.

What went wrong?
We expanded way to fast and in the wrong direction. After taking 3/4 of the peninsula, we ran out of buffer states and bordered Macedonia. Our allies went down with us, and clearly Macedonia was just too much to handle with the resources we possessed.

In hindsight, we should have chosen different allies, most notably, Macedonia. They would have been a strong force to cover our northern flank. Assembling a navy and invasion force to take Crete would have been a better option to gain territory, capital, and manpower. The peninsula is not going anywhere, we could have taken it when we were stronger and not having Macedonia as an enemy.

I know this was short, but thank you for reading my abridged version of this campaign.

Cheers,
G-Mike

 

[Nikolai]

Good story as long as it lasted.

 

[Specialist290]

Complete, concise, entertaining, and informative -- proof that an AAR need not be a sprawling epic to be enjoyable, nor an endless procession from one triumph to another. Do keep us in the loop if you have any further plans for an AAR or two in the future

 

[stnylan]

Nice to see an AAR that didn't quite go according to plan

 

[Arentak]

I've had so many Spartan playthroughs end this way. Its even tougher as Epirus. Epirus has to face Macedon in the first 10 years, and its win or restart.