At the end of the battle for Athens, 20,000 men were pulled back to sparta, than a other 10,000 were at sparta before the blockade, which means, I had 30,000 men in Greece in total!
also if you siege Sparta, you have to siege it from the north, because Sparta is located on the coast, and coast for Southern Greece are cliffs, you have to scale the cliffs to siege Sparta form the south!
Battle south of Athens: Spartans and Co. (SC) Strength: 5,000 Poznan mercanaries 10,000 Spartans 20,000 Roman legionaires Total: 35,000 Athenian Alliance (AA) Strength: 33,000 Scythians: 6,000 Slave Warriors 12,000 Horse Archers 12,000 Melee Horsemen 3,000 Heavy Cavalry The SC commanders knew that the Scythians were coming. Even over the steady drum of marching boots, they could hear the thunderous sound of approaching hoofs. Knowing that their force needed to reach Sparta largely intact to fight the coming battle, the SC commanders knew that they had to preserve as many of their forces as possible. The SC forces withdrew into the safety of the mountain passes. The Spartans formed phalanx formations at the mouth of the gap that entered a pass as Roman legionaires and Poznan troops moved to cover behind them. Suddenly, arrows from the approaching enemy horse archers rained down upon them, cutting down SC troops as they moved into position. Poznan horse archers responded in kind, firing at the Scythian horses moving in a series of small ovals at the mouth of the pass. In spite of this sudden attack, the Spartans found their positions and the Roman legionaries dug in behind them. Outgunned at range, the SC troops could only huddle and watch as the two ranged forces exchanged arrows. The battle remained this way for some time until long after the last Poznan horse archer had fallen. Free from any possible retaliation, the Scythian horse archers continued to pour arrows down onto the static defenses of the SC infantry. The SC lost troops, but held strong and soon the arrows stopped as the Scythians ran out. The Scythian horse archers withdrew slightly with few casualties and the Scythian melee horsemen came forward behind ranks of slave warriors. Seeing this, the Spartan soldiers closed ranks even closer and braced for the charge. As the Scythians prepared to charge, the horses stamping impatiently and the slave warriors roaring their bloodlust at their foe, the SC troops could hear the distant sound of scraping rocks and hoofs. Then, with a roar, the Scythians surged forward. The slave warriors went first to soften the SC defense and were largely impaled on the Spartan phalanx formations. But the damage was done and with the full force of the horse archer ranks further blunting the Spartan defense, the melee horsemen shattered 4 of the Spartan formations utterly. In spite of this, the SC troops held, Poznan phalanx troops helping to fill the gaps alongside Roman soldiers hurling small spears. But then the soldiers in the rear of the Roman ranks felt something beneath their feet. It was the feeling of approaching hoofs. For a moment they paused, confused as the Scythian melee and archer horsemen clearly were not charging. Then they turned and saw the Scythian heavy cavalry behind them. They had been out-flanked! The Romans turned immediately, hurling spears in a desperate attempt to blunt the charge, but it was too late. The small heavy cavalry charge shattered the rearmost Roman ranks, killing many and carrying a downhill momentum into the others. In spite of this, the Romans regrouped and struck back, killing the heavy cavalry in the face of terrible losses. At the front, the Scythians, seeing their flanking manuver broken and failing to break through the front, turned to flee, but it was too late for them. Having cut down 6 of the Spartan ranks and many Poznans besides, the Scythians had penetrated deeply enough to cleave far into the Roman ranks and too far to withdraw. They had not choice but to stand and fight. What followed was not a battle, but more of a grisly massacre as the Scythians fought to the last man, cutting down SC troops even as their horses fell screaming to the ground and were silenced by SC blades and spears. Scythians remaining: 0 SC remaining: ~12,350
Battle for Athens: Spartan and Co. (SC) Strength: 10,000 Spartan soldiers 1,000 Carthaginians 15,000 Sardinians Total Force: 26,000 Athenian Alliance (AA) Strength: 47,000 total. The sun rose over a bloody battlefield. The lowlands below the hilltop position that the Spartans had taken with their allies was cratered and filled with arrows. As the SC forces rose to face the new day a harsh horn sounded from the city of Athens. It was a sound that the Spartans knew well. It was the call to arms. The SC commanders knew such a moment would come. They knew it when the word came that Sparta herself was under attack. They knew it when so many of their brothers in arms were called away to fight a hopeless battle and they were left behind. They knew it when the sounds of cheers from the city greeted the departure of those troops. They knew they were outmanned by a 2-1 margin. As the Spartan commanders ordered the defense, they could see the fear in the eyes of their Carthaginian and Sardinian allies. But it did not surprise them. They were not of Spartan born and thus were lesser men by birth. But today, they were all brothers in arms. The gates to Athens opened wide and AA troops began to pour out. First came the phalanx men, who formed a front line facing the hill where the Spartans were encamped. Then came the cavalry, streaming out like water from an upturned jar. They cut away from the phalanx formations and began to circle to their enemies' right flank. Then came the swordsmen, who formed blocks behind the phalanx lines. Finally, the archers, the defenders of the city and formally first line of defense, came last, testing their bow strings in preparation for the coming battle. Meanwhile, the SC commanders were barking orders to their soldiers. Outnumbered or not, the Spartans had no intention of retreat. The Spartan soldiers were quick to form phalanx lines shoulder-to-shoulder in a semi-circle covering the crest of the hill where the camp was. Their line stretched to cover the forward and left sides. The Sardinian and Carthaginian phalanx men formed the right flank, stretching in a straight line much further than necessary. Sardinian swordsmen deepened the ranks. Three Sardinian phalanx formations were set to guard the rear from assault by the AA cavalry. What few archers the SC had lined up behind the Spartan forward line. The war elephants were reserved, far behind the archer line. The SC commanders knew the only hope for victory was to break the enemy into a rout from the field. Just as the last SC and AA soldiers reached their formations, the AA army began to advance forward as one. The AA soldiers moved quickly, eager to drive the enemy from Athenian land. SC archers and began to fire downwards upon them, to their dismay and the glee of the SC troops. Unwieldy SC siege equipment added to the deadly rain. Foolish AA archers attempted to return fire, only to fall short or hit their own phalanx men in the back as they moved forward. By the time that the AA archers could return fire, the SC archers had killed or injured some 750 AA troops. Seeing this, the AA archers fired with a vengeance, cutting down over half of the outnumbered SC archers. However, this exchange proved to be brief, as the two melee lines closed and the archers and siege equipment were forced to cease fire for fear of hitting their comrades. The melee clash was brutal from the start. Though the AA troops held the advantage of numbers, they were fatigued from moving to engage the enemy at such a range and were at a terrain disadvantage. As the arrow volleys ceased, the phalanx lines clashed with a roar. Screams of dying men filled the air as men fell in droves, the AA taking the worse of the casualties. The AA phalanx lines faltered for a moment, but then the swordsmen ranks moved in, pushing their comrades forward. Seeing the connecting joint between Spartan formations and Sardinian/Carthaginian formations bulge inward from the force, a great bump compared to the solid Spartan lines, the SC commanders had the excess Sardinian forces begin to wrap around the enemy left flank, with Sardinian swordsmen rushing to fill the gaps in the lines and stretching them to far down the AA flank. Meanwhile, at the rear of the SC force, the three Sardinian formations fought the numerically superior AA cavalry in a desperate bid to hold them off and prevent the flanking of their forces. Repeated charges by the AA cavalry failed to break through the Sardinian lines, raising the SC morale. But AA horse archers rained steady volleys onto the helpless SC troops, who could only hope that the SC archers, who had pulled back from the main fight, could put an end to the ranged cavalry before said cavalry did the same to them. The AA cavalry learned from its mistakes, charging as the SC troops lifted their shields to block incoming arrows and inflicting more and more casualties each time. The Sardinian numbers dwindled and the SC commander sent a desperate plea for help to the front lines. Unfortunately for the SC, the battle at the front lines was far from decided. Though the AA charge had petered off in momentum, losing many troops in the process, the SC remained vastly outnumbered. The Sardinian flanking maneuver had failed to break the enemy force and now the SC commanders could only hope to survive. In spite of the failing right flank, the SC commanders pulled back a force of Sardinian swordsmen and sent them to the rear. Suddenly, the delicate battle at the merging point between Spartan and Sardinian/Carthaginian forces took a turn for the worse. The bulge, long strained, broke under the pressure from AA attacks and AA troops began to pour through. With the rest of the infantry occupied and the archers elsewhere, the SC commanders had no choice. They sent in the elephants. At first, the maneuver seemed to work, the gargantuan beasts crushing screaming AA troops underfoot and sealing the gap. But then, a hurled spear struck the forward elephant as it plowed its way into AA lines. The death scream of the wounded animal sent the others into a frenzy and all **** broke loose. The rear phalanx soldiers were dismayed when they were told that they would only receive swordsmen for reinforcements, but were heartened that they were not abandoned. With the swordsmen filling the depleted gaps in their lines, the Sardinians managed to hold the line against the AA cavalry charges. But their relief was short lived. A rogue war elephant, frenzied by the death of its kin, charged the right flank of the new Sardinian lines. The beast was eventually put down by spears and arrows, but the damage was done. Seeing their opportunity to break the stalemate, the horse archers of the AA had killed many of the distracted SC soldiers and the melee cavalry followed with a devastating charge. Though the joint between the center formation and the left formation held, the rest were swept away. The SC archers were cut down in close quarters and the AA cavalry sped by the isolated rear guard towards the flank of the front line. The SC commanders knew the battle was finished when one of the rogue elephants had barreled straight towards the rear lines. So did many of the Sardinian swordsmen. Feeling defeat closing in, many fled to the rear line, hoping to escape, only to be cut down by the AA cavalry as they charged in. The Spartan formations, which had held in the face of the AA infantry charge, shattered as the AA cavalry struck them in the rear. The Sardinian lines, in disarray from the rogue war elephants that they did not put down immediately as the Spartans had, broke under the strain to being stuck on two fronts. The siege equipment and their crews were destroyed. What followed was not a battle, but rather the end of a battle as isolated pockets of SC troops fought desperately against the overwhelming tide of AA soldiers. SC remaining: 0 AA remaining: 14,892
wow i only have 10,000 men left that can fight and they are at Sparta... Well time to raise all my men i sent home(that is 10,000. that means i have 20,000 men left that are serving)
Athenian soldiers get all the war loot they can, and return into Athens. The Phoenician Coalition army of 48,000 is still sieging Sparta, though has set up barricades, since they heard theres an army of 14,000~ that defeated the Scythian one. Another Levantine army is raised in Cyprus, of another 10,000 men. They stay there for training.
Consul Markus was killed at the battle of Athens, Rome's moral suffers a mortal blow -45 moral to all soldiers
So cool and edgy. Your amazing witty insult has us all breaking down in tears. On another note, do you suffer from the Oedipus complex?
