Tides of Conquest Bronze Age campaign - First era completed at 1182 BC

[Karvon]

Assyrians intervene against Sherden allies in Hurria
Map: Middle Eastern Agricultural
Side 1: Assyrian (1365BC to 891BC) Swifter than Eagles
Side 2: Syro-Canaanite (1207BC to 1100BC) Swifter than Eagles

Game posted

pw karvon

pm sent

Regards

Karvon

[Nijis]

The Pharaoh of Egypt, following his recent victories, decides to strengthen defenses on his eastern border, destabilized by the the settlement of the Sea Peoples in Nabatea, as well as the west, where growing Gasgan influence in Cyrenaica threatens eventual trouble. One expedition however does set out southward to fight the black pharaohs of Kush, who have recently decided to build fortresses near the Nile cataracts that separate the two domains.

The Assyrians send a force to intervene on behalf of its vassal, the Hurrian city of Urkesh, whose Sherden-backed rival Nawar has been accused of trying to take control of the river trade on the upper Tigris. Rumors reach Ninevah meanwhile that a migratory horde is on the march in the Zagros mountains to the east and might eventually try to force its way onto the Mesopotamian plain.

The Hittites decide to consolidate their finances in the capital during the period of tense calm after the rebellions. Let it never be said that the king is not merciful, the priests say, choosing as he does to spare the people further conflict! A handful of the more warlike nobles who do grumble are encouraged to venture eastward, where a large migration of Zagros highlanders is seeking support as it pushes over the mountains towards Media, gateway to the fertile Assyrian provinces of Mesopotamia.

The Gasgan king tries to centralize his new state, announcing no new expeditions abroad. Some Gasgan mercenaries however seek their fortunes in Epirus, threatened by the Spartan-allied tribes of Macedon.

The paramount chief of the Sherden federation, clearly impressed by Pharaonic Egypt even as he rampaged through it, announces that he shall now be considered king. When his scribes draw the borders of the new domain, he makes sure that they include several cities in the lands of Canaan currently under Egypt's control, and dispatches an army there to collect tribute from them. His army meets the Egyptian defenders on the dry eastern slopes of Mount Hermon.

Mad king Glados, after consulting his oracles, dispatches an army into Attica to crush rebellious city-states led by Athens who wish to break away from Spartan hegemony. At the same time, he declares that Sparta will adopt the cult of Zeus and the gods of mount Olympus as its state religion. The genealogists get to work tracing the lineage of venerated ancestors such as Lacedaemon back to the Olympians. Meanwhile, Sparta's allies amid the tribes of Macedon launch their own independent raids into Epirus, whose chiefs look to the Gasgans for support.

[anderarcos11]

Challengue created, PM sent

Egyptians attack Sherden-allied Kush
Map: Desert
Side 1: Egyptian (1200BC to 1150BC) Swifter than Eagles
Side 2: Nubian 3000 to 1281 BC (StE)

[kronenblatt]

Mycenaean-allied Macedon attack Gasgan-allied Epirus
Map: Mediterranean Mountains
Side 1: Mycenaean (1250BC to 1180BC) Swifter than Eagles
Side 2: Mycenaean (1250BC to 1180BC) Swifter than Eagles
=> Game set up for SpeedyCM, with password EPIRUS

Mycenaeans try to pacify Egyptian allies in Hellas
Map: Mediterranean Agricultural
Side 1: Mycenaean (1250BC to 1180BC) Swifter than Eagles
Side 2: Mycenaean (1250BC to 1180BC) Swifter than Eagles
=> Game set up for anderarcos11, with password HELLAS

PMs sent.

[Cuddlefission]

Hittite-allied horde try to settle in Assyrian-allied Media
Map: Middle Eastern Mountainous
Side 1: Zagros Highlander (2500BC to 827BC) Rise of Persia
Side 2: Zagros Highlander (2500BC to 827BC) Rise of Persia

Challenge created and PM sent

[anderarcos11]

Egyptians beat Sherden-allied Kush, 54 to 18

The pharaoh again emerged victorious over the black pharaoh impostors, tearing down the fortifications they had built on the southern border and establishing his hegemony over the lands around the southernmost cataracts of the Nile.

[kronenblatt]

Mycenaeans try to pacify Egyptian allies in Hellas
Map: Mediterranean Agricultural
Side 1: Mycenaean (1250BC to 1180BC) Swifter than Eagles
Side 2: Mycenaean (1250BC to 1180BC) Swifter than Eagles
=> kronenblatt (Mycenaeans) defeats anderarcos11 (Egyptian allies in Hellas) 57-25.

[anderarcos11]

Egyptians beat Sherdens, 69 to 38

The Egyptian troops managed to repel the invasion of the sea peoples settled in Nabatea, with a stunning victory in which the Egyptian chariots were protagonists.

[Karvon]

Assyrians intervene against Sherden allies in Hurria and defeated them 49-22

A large gentle plateau sprinkled with occasional rough ground lay on the farside of the field. A rather large farming complex lay just about in the center of our side with some surrounding bits of rough ground.

We deployed our Assyrian foot in the center behind the farm with chariot divisions covering both flanks and our lights concentrated on our right screening our chariots. Our plan was to occupy the farming area with our foot and use our chariots and lights to wear down and possibly overwhelm one wing.

The Syrians deployed a large chariot division on their right a mixed infantry force in the center and a smaller chariot force on their left screened by some lights.

We slowly shifted our foot into defensive positions within the enclosures and nearby village and rough while our lights and chariots on the right moved wide to engage the opposing smaller enemy chariot division and supporting foot. We kept our left wing chariots initially back covering the left flank, hoping to draw the opposing chariots and lights to engage them.

Our our right, our superior number of lights and chariots inflicted significant losses on the advancing enemy foot, though we lost a few lights to their chariots. We slowly fell back and regrouped as we were driven off by his charges. These did leave the Syrians a bit spread out in the center and our right.

The Syrians advance aggressively on their right towards our chariots and awaiting foot. As they got closer, we shifted our chariots through the farm to support our regrouping right wing. His own right wing swept up to the edge of the farming complex and a prolonged exchange of arrows took place. We lost one unit to concentrated fire, but our advantage in numbers resulted in most of his chariots fleeing for safety.

With the reinforcements from our left, we surrounded and shot down or flanked a fair amount of his rather strung out foot and chariots and the surviving rebels had enough and abandoned the field.

Law and order has been restored.

[Karvon]

Hittite-allied horde attempt to settle in Assyrian-allied Media was repelled 64-48.

[kronenblatt]

Mycenaean-allied Macedon attack Gasgan-allied Epirus
Map: Mediterranean Mountains
Side 1: Mycenaean (1250BC to 1180BC) Swifter than Eagles
Side 2: Mycenaean (1250BC to 1180BC) Swifter than Eagles

=> kronenblatt (Mycenaean-allied Macedon) defeats SpeedyCM (Gasgan-allied Epirus) 52-20.

[Nijis]

That appears to be all the battles. Will resolve the turn shortly.

I also wanted to hear your thoughts on how this campaign should continue and/or conclude. Inevitably, you end up fighting a lot of the same battles versus the same opponents, but you might also want to see how things evolve. I also had not come up with a fixed length or scoring system because the realms' starting positions are asymmetrical, so balance would be tricky.

Options would be...

1) Keep on going indefinitely. Try to get the biggest realm and the leader with the highest total stature. The longer we go, the less important the imbalances in starting position.
2) Keep on going for 2-3 more turns, then conclude the campaign with two final scores: a battle score based on wins/draws/losses, and a campaign score based on how much your realm and sphere of influence expanded.
3) Fast forward to another era with your existing realms, maybe after a few turns. Your kingdoms would be at the whims of chance and the AI for a few centuries, but we'd pick this up again with successor states and different armies at a later date.

[kronenblatt]

Thanks a lot, Nijis, for running this campaign! I'd be happy to continue as is for more than 2-3 turns but not indefinitely. So say 4-5 more turns. This said, I also like your option 3 of AI fast forwarding a couple of centuries and then do 4-5 more turns starting from there.

And to me any victory conditions are not that important in this campaign: I do it mainly for the fun of it, with AI making my orders and me carrying them out, seeing where that leads me. Basically MP with a role playing campaign context.

[Cuddlefission]

I think the option 3) of doing a simulated time skip seems fun, if people are up to continue that way. Shakes up the lists a bit while keeping the context.

[Indibil]

Hi Nijis

I would like both options 2 and 3.

[anderarcos11]

Hi, for me options 2 and 3 are ok. But at least 4 or 5 turns i think. Probably can be interesting publishing different ránkings with country and battle numbers

[Nijis]

All right! The time jump is also the most interesting to me, so I'll resolve the battles, do one more turn so as not to change things too abruptly, then leap ahead to the early Rise of Persia lists. Then we can go another four turns, and take stock from there.

[Nijis]

So... Here is a map of the Near East at the end of the year 1188 BC.

1188bc map.png (688.72 KiB) Viewed 1125 times

Next up, the file and battle reports. We can go one more turn with this generation of kings and ministers, then fast-forward.

[Nijis]

The Spartan royal army stormed into Attica, defeated the Athenians and their allies, and placed the cities of the region under royal authority. Unrest lingered under the surface, encouraged by the Egyptian merchants and smugglers who continued to slip in and out of the ports. But clearly the Spartans had the upper hand in its contest with its neighbors over Achaean loyalties, with pro-Spartan factions emerging even in its longtime rival of Epirus.

Egypt's foray into Kush, together with its successful defense of Canaan against the Sherden kings of Nabatea, cemented its authority in its border regions. The Blemmya tribes of the eastern desert ceased their raiding and pledged their loyalties to the Pharaoh, while the Arabian state of Thamud sought the protection of Egyptian warships for its incense convoys in the Red Sea.

Assyria's victories in Hurria checked the rising power of the Sherden state, with both Hurrian and Syrian cities firmly aligning with Nineveh. The Sherden stood isolated for the time being in their desert mountain fastnesses in Nabatea.

A Hittite-allied horde of Zagros mountaineers was prevented by Median tribes from descending into Mesopotamia. Its herds beginning to starve, it desperately cast around for another land in which to settle.

[Nijis]

And here's the turn... Last chance for your bids for Bronze Age hegemony before we fast-forward to a new era. It will be "Load multiplayer game 4" in the load screen. You may have to delete or replace any previous game #4.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ekln2h02 ... 2e5kr&dl=0

Note that the Sherden player probably does not have enough resources for any offensive actions this turn. Sometimes this can happen with settled hordes, as their new homelands are still recovering from when they settled in it. If the Sherden aren't fighting any defensive or proxy battles, I'll have them fight on behalf of the Zagros horde, wherever it decides to go, assuming they want to.