Slitherine

Preamble

The years following the death of Alexander III of Macedon were quite turbulent both in mainland Greece and in the Successor areas. Fortunately for Sparta, the fertile land of Messenia (lost after the past wars against Thebes) was occupied again and a big portion of the helots (native Messenians pressed into slavery) fell back under Spartan rule. The Spartan institutions, already centuries old remained largely intact with one king being the true ruler and the second king holding an even more ceremonial role than before (just trying to put the sole King in-game into some context). The Ephors, Spartan senior magisrtates, kept pulling the strings from the background while the primary King would deal with the administration of the kingdom and the second King would be just dealing with religious ceremonies. A sizebale Spartan army was re-trained in the Macedonian phalanx after going through a revamped agoge (Spartan training system historically applied to Spartan citizens only) aimed not only to Spartan citizens, but also to Laconian freement who were now enlisted in the army in big numbers. This resulted in highly disciplined units. The intention, deemed suicidal by many, was to expand Sparta into a stronger kingdom able to play a major role in an ever changing world.

Part Alpha: The Dive into Decadence.

The year 310 BC found Sparta ruled by Euclides, a rather plain man with bad administrative skills. Following the advice of the Ephors, farms are ordered to be cultivated in Laconia and a minor corn law instituted hoping to increase the population of Spartan citizens. 3 units of Helots are conscripted, despite Sparta's financial problems and already low manpower pool. The main army of Sparta led by the much promising general Memnon, a Spartan citizen by birth passing through the full Agoge system, is ordered to sail to Crete to attempt to pacify the island, long torn between warring factions, and bring it under good Spartan order.
The year 309 BC the Laconian population expresses their dissatisfaction with Spartan stagnation (one age token). People start to talk that the land of Olympia, independently ruled for centuries by the locals, should be part of the wise Spartans to allow more fair treatment of all Greeks participating in the Olympic Games, holding a long grudge for Spartans being forbidden to take part in free wrestling games (pagkration). The Helot population is re-directed from cultivating the land into speeding up the farm projects. Memnon's army successfully campaign on west Crete and manages to set up pro-Laconian garrisons in all major cities in the area.
The year 308 BC the Laconian population further express their dissatisfaction with Spartan stagnation (two age tokens). This time people start to talk that the city of Argos, the arch-enemy of Sparta in the Peloponnese since time immemorial, should be dealt with once and for all to avoid its continuous threat. In the meantime Memnon, campaign on east Crete essentially bringing the whole island under Spartan authority.

The year 307 BC the Laconian population express their dissatisfaction even further with Spartan stagnation (three age tokens). This time people start to talk that the city of Corinth should be occupied in order to act as a barrier vs intruders from the north that have frequently mingled with Spartan affairs in the Peloponnese, like Thebans and Macedonians. The Spartan king Euclides while visiting an allied city orders his troops to loot it hoping to improve Sparta's finances. The troops are not only surprised by that order but stand idle when the locals throw Euclides from the wall of the city. Carrinas is appointed new King by the Ephors, despite his poor military skills. Carrinas likes to spend time in the nature taking care of food supplies and arranging proper distribution among the populace. Reports of Ptolemy's forces conquering Antigonos's capital reach Sparta. Eastern Crete experiences a plague, so Memnon quickly orders his army to sail to the Cyclades islands.
The year 306 BC a co-operation agreement with Athens is reached. The former rivals have long ago set their differences aside in view of the threats from rising powers like Macedonia and the Successors. Athens is also well fortified and the Spartan army is not so well equipped for sieges preferring head-on battles instead. Some factions from the island of Cephallonia send requests for Spartan intervention in their island, which the Ephors promise to consider for the future, secretly hoping to bring the island under Spartan authority. Memnon's army, now re-inforced with the 3 units of Helots performs remarkably in the Cyclades bringing them under Spartan authority. The farm projects are completed in Laconia boosting food production. An expert stonecutter is under construction now in order to advance future works.

The year 305 BC the Aegean islands are joined under same administrative supervision by senior Spartan magistrates, who improve the integration of the province into Spartan institutions. Memnon is ordered to sail to Cephallonia to restore order and bring the island under good Spartan rule. The Spartan treasure is shrinking and manpower is on a slight rise, but overall quite low.

The year 304 BC Cyclades suffer from plague. King Carrinas focuses construction work on taverns in Sparta and Delos and anchorages on Crete hoping to make the population more extrovert.
The year 303 BC Cephallonia is added to the Spartan kingdom (+1 progress token). Apparently Spartan magistrates fail to impose proper hygiene policies and the plague spreads to Laconia. In a strange move the slave-based Spartans decide to abolish the slave markets of Delos and Cephallonia upon King Carrinas' decree who believes that such establishments bring too much decadence to the kingdom. Epirus is busy in a war vs Illyria to the north and the allied Aetolians and Atheneans to the south. The Ephors advise the Spartan King to declare war on mountainous Epirus fearing on omen from the oracle of Delphi that in the future the Greek King of the mountains would seek to siege and occupy Sparta.

The year 302 BC the Laconia population is still deeply dissatisfied with their status (+1 age token) now demanding that Thebes should be punished for their past wars vs Sparta. In world affairs everyone considers Sparta a relic of the past, an old Monarchy on a deathbed. On the good news, Sparta's finances finally show positive growth. Memnon adds the island of Corcyra to the realm making Sparta look like more of an island kingdom. King Carrinas order the slave market on east Crete to be abolished.

The year 301 BC the nature loving king Carrinas meets his doom during one of his beloved hunting trips. Epycidis succeeds him, a skilled administrator and military mind bringing hope for better days ahead. Memnon decides to engage the main Epirot army. Memnon chooses the ideal battleground for the Spartan phalanxes but underestimates the big numerical advantage of the Epirots. The Spartans eventually come out victorious from the vicious fight escaping defeat thanks to the high elan of some Spartan units who did not break even when surrounded and charged from all sides. Spartan veterans would sacrifice to the gods for several days.
The years 300 to 298 BC plague spreads to Cephallonia as a confirmation of Spartan magistrates poor sanitation policies. The Athenean navy destroys the main Epirot force at sea, which enables the Spartan army to move to mainland, occupy Epidamnia and create the province of Epirus for more efficient administration. However, the Laconian population is still unhappy due to lack of reforms (4th age token) causing great turmoil. Under unknown circumstances the King is poisoned and Ordos rises to power. Ordos is a free Laconian under whom some people would refuse to take arms, but he is admittedly a very skilled military mind and diplomat. Apparently Aetolian view this as an opportunity to attack dragging their ally Athens into the war. Memnon receives orders to proceed to Aetolia double time and assault it.

The year 297 BC King Ordos dies during a hunting accident and Philimon is declared King, a poor diplomat but good military mind. Aetolians are defeated and Memnon is ordered to occupy the land of Olympia. During the war Vs Epirus the Spartans were surprised to fight against War Elephants (previously sent to the Epirots as gifts from the Successor states), but they had heard about these beasts before and were well prepared to deal with them. In the aftermath of the war, they decide not to use these unreliable beasts of war but to keep the small Elephant farms for production of ivory for various works of arts like the temples in Olympia. Otherwise ivory is a rare and expensive material.
The years 296 and 295 BC Olympia is occupied (+1 progress token) but the population remains resentful of the old Spartan ways (+1 age token). The Ephors convince King Philimon to construct a small navy to keep the island domains safe, despite Spartans general aversion to ships. Philimon also decides to declare war on Corinth and, taking advantage of Sparta's improved finances, to order more military units for recruitment. Corinth is well fortified but Philimon decides to strike now yielding to previous demands of the population for taking control of Corinth. Athens is also at war and under soon to be under siege, but its strong defenses are expected to hold for long, so Corinth seems a good alternative for a second Spartan army to also slowly siege in order to secure the Peloponnese. In the meantime Argos became independent of Antigonid rule, which King Philimon saw as a great opportunity to attack the city and take it permanently under Spartan rule in contrast to past wars when the Spartans would defeat the Argives and then head back home leaving the city unharmed.

The years 294 and 293 BC the Illyrians declare war on Sparta threatening to overrun Epirus if unchecked. The Spartan armies are tied up in the sieges of Corinth and Athens. The Laconian population send a demand to King Philimon that he should also target Euboia to bring it under Spartan rule.

The year 292 BC reports reach Sparta that the Macedonians have conquered Ptolemy's capital in Egypt. The Laconian population demand that Athens is added to the realm. However, King Philimon seeing the futile siege of Athens and wanting to divert troops to the north in case of an Illyrian attack, decides to request a peace treaty with the Atheneans.

The year 291 BC the Macedonians, previously occupied in their war Vs Antigonos declare war on Sparta. This is quite alarming but also an opportunity for the Spartans to attack the Macedonian regions in Greece. The King decrees an emergency levy ordering free Laconian men and veteran Spartan soldiers to enlist in order to form an army big enough to attack Macedonia after hopefully first assisting with the siege of Corinth. Cretan archers are also order to be recruited, though their transportation to mainland Greece seems perilous due to Athenean, Macedonian and Achaian supremacy at sea. The existing Spartan armies occupy Thessaly.

The year 290 BC the Dardani send a proposal of co-operation to Sparta, which is joyfully accepted. The Dardani are ar war Vs the Illyrians, so hopefully Illyria will be occupied with them and avoid a campaign Vs Spartan Epirus. Athens reject the peace offer from Sparta. Macedonia re-occupies Thessaly, as the Spartan armies need to retreat in order to re-group with re-inforcements and recuperate from previous battles. On some more unpleasant news, the Laconian population is on unrest demanding more reforms (Age token received).
The year 289 BC all Spartan units on the mainland of Greece are ordered to meet in Corinth and form one army under the great general Memnon. This will leave the initiative on central Greece to the Macedonians, but it seems the only way.

The year 288 BC Sparta is officially known as a decadent Monarchy. The volcano of Thera near Delos explodes damaging people and infrastructure. Thebes is lost to the Macedonians. The Spartan army counter attacks and drives the Macedonians off Thebes and Thessaly again. Another peace offer is sent to Athens.
The year 287 things look gloomy for the Spartan social structure with the population still demanding more reforms (+1 aging token, +1 progress token from taking Thebes again) the Ephors advise that most citizens should be diverted to culture related activities in an effort to relieve the social tensions and try to involve more citizen assemblies into decision making processes. The accumulated iron stockpiles are sold in order to fill the ranks of possible recruits. The treasury is slowly bleeding money.

The year 286 BC Athens accepts peace, which will enable the Spartans to advance north to the Macedonian capital leaving on their rear one enemy, Corinth, instead of two. The population demands that Pella is added to the realm, which the King also hopes to yield a good amount of money from the looting of the Macedonian treasury. The Spartan army under Memnon is thus ordered to invade and assault the Macedonian capital without further delay.
The years 285 to 281 BC Sparta completes the conquest of the Macedonian homeland hoping to soon be able to recruit the famous Macedonian light cavalry. The Macedonians bring in armies from their Asian provinces and siege Sparta itself. The strong Spartan garrison decides to sally forth at once, but the Macedonian army cowers away before the battle heading to Argos which falls back Macedonian rule. The Spartans propose peace treaty with Illyria in order to reduce the number of ongoing wars. The Antigonid realm is broken into numerous splinter factions, including a revived Epirus on Euboia. The most worrying news is that the mighty Rome, alarmed by Spartan progress declares war on the pretext of wanting to restore independence of the Greek city states (an actual pretext in real history used by all parties wanting to mingle in affairs of mainland Greece). Rome is a serious threat able to field more numerous and equally skilled armies on the battlefield. The Etruscans reduced to a roman puppet pose an additional threat. The ephors advise the King and Spartan assembly to improve slave rights in an effort to avoid any internal uprising in addition to the several external threats.

The year 280 BC marks a crucial year.

Sparta is still considered a decadent kingdom, but social tensions seem to stabilise and the kingdom is on the rise with lots of territorial gains over the last few years (Tier II with a couple of progress tokens with some fluctuations due to objectives taken and lost). The mainland Greece seems to be well within Spartan grasp, despite the war Vs Corinth and the Macedonian army in Argos and Rome's declaration of war. Finances are stabilised and so are manpower needs and Sparta has two potent armies and a small navy to defend the kingdom.

However, all neighbouring kingdoms and their friends apparently smell blood and declare war at once. Newly revived Epirus declares war having already built a sizeable army. Lysimachos and his Thracian puppet declare war fielding quite large forces. The Bithynians and Paphlagonians in Asia Minor join as Lysimachos' allies. The Macedonians seem to be gathering more troops in Asia Minor to send across the Aegean to reclaim their homeland. In the North, the Dardani have almost finished off the Illyrians and can attack south any time. The Romans are engaged in some other wars, but they can easily divert potent forces against Sparta. The Spartan's enemies dominate the seas.
Most people in the kingdom believe that any further attempt to continue the wars is doomed to fail and they may as well surrender now. The Spartan Assembly, the Apella, gathers at the presence of the Ephors and the King of Sparta. Despite the overwhelming odds and some voices to bend the knee to the enemy, the homoioi (Spartan citizens) eventually unanimously vote to stand true to the Spartan ways and old king Leonidas's legacy. The Spartan armies will fight and return with their shields or upon them.

The small Spartan fleet is ordered to sail out of its heaven harbour and manages a minor success against an even smaller Macedonian patrol fleet; any victory no matter how minor is welcome. Sparta's 1st Army under Memnon is ordered to attack the revived Epirots before their army grows bigger and then engage either the Corinthians who are rebuilding their army or the Macedonians in Argos.
Sparta's 2nd Army is ordered to attack Lysimachos' puppet capital in Thrace to temporarily knock them out of the picture and then engage Lysimachos' own armies in the area. The Spartans may go down, but not without a proper fight!

(Preliator) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebk877L4DeU

AAR to be soon continued in part Beta...