In the early and historically fragmented BCs, the Roman Empire was born, although things had looked bleak for the Roman people. The Roman empire supposedly started when a group of tribesmen settled on rich cattle lands in a town that they called Rome. They grew quickly, producing expedition groups to form other cities, and warrior and archer brigades to protect their fledling society. They quickly became the most powerful post-ice age civilization in the world, capable of taking on any other civilization, or even any two civilizations some Romans boasted.

The other societies were rightly afraid of the Romans; they had become too strong too fast. Afraid that the Romans would pick off their societies, one by one, the other nations debated how to deal effectively with the Romans. Led by the Netherlands, this society became known as the League of Nations with the Netherlands holding the head spot on the council. It was eventually decided that the only way to protect their own nations was to destroy the Romans, and with this in mind, all the known world mustered their troops to invade the Romans. Bablyon and Arabia bordered the Romans, and they committed the most troops of any of the nations to the war. The very powerful Netherlands also committed a large mass of warriors and horsemen that backed the Arabian troops crossing the Crimson Hills, and the Greek and Celtic troops backed the Bablyonian front, making expansion accross the Great Divide nearly impossible for the Romans. It was believed that the Persian troops had joined the League of Nations, but no Roman legion had engaged them in combat.

The Roman tribes fought valiantly, mustering a composite force of all the troops known to the world. They killed hundreds of thousands of troops over the next 3000 years, but by the year 30 BC, the Roman tribal system of despotic rule had begun to fail. The world seemed close to destroying the Romans, until a hero appeared, Lord Kenneth. He hailed from the original town of Rome, though it was by now more a city. In 30 BC, Lord Kenneth had a campaign to unite all the Roman Tribes under his banner, and by 70 AD Lord Kenneth had united all the Roman tribes behind him, officially forming the Holy Roman Empire by crowning himself King in 70 AD.

Although the Romans had finally been united under a single flag, their situation looked bleak. Six nations had been at war with them for thousands of years, and the two fronts were not progressing well. Roman troops, led by First Legionary Division under Augustus had finally fought their way accross the Crimson Hills, but had been unable to form settlements on the opposite side at which to resupply. Troops had pushed accross the Great Divide and into Bablyonian territory, but Celtic and Bablyonian Archers had been assaulting the Roman legions and had managed to halt Roman advance outside of Akkad, along the Dakka River.

Settings: Huge map, 16 opponents, Always War Monarch. More to come, going to start adding pictures in a little bit

The Crimson Hills:
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/Crimsonhills.JPG

The settlement of the Crimson Hills, the ridge of hills that marks the original southern border of Rome, was the first tactical mistake of the Romans. By settling just North of the Hills, the Roman leaders kept their reinforced city plan, where any city could be reinforced from 1 to 5 other cities in a single campaign season(turn) but it also gave attacking Dutch and Arabian forces a huge advantage: their forces could gather on the hills outside of Roman cities and take shelter from the Roman legions until they were ready to attack. After a high-casuality assault, The First Roman Legionary Division along with supporting Legions, Horse brigades, and catapults, stormed accross the Crimson hills and razed two Arabian towns. With a heavy military presence south of the Crimson Hills, Lord Kenneth began ordering expeditionary teams accross the hills to build base camps for the troops. When the five planned cities are in place, it is believed that Roman border security along the south will be invincible.

The Bablyonian Front and the Great Divide:
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/Bablyon.JPG

The original success against Bablyon was short lived. After razing one city, and building two forward operating bases in the area(around the wines), forces from Bablyon and archers from the Celts beset the Roman legions. Heavy casualties were experienced, and the legions became tied up with defense. In the mean team, Greek swordsmen, guarded by hoplites, came up from the south and split the road between Caesargusta and Syracuse. Syracuse, unable to be reinforced immediately, faces a possible enemy capture. Caesargusta, cut off from all friendly cities, is defended merely by the fledgling Second Roman Legionary Division, an army operating at just 1/3 capacity(1 victorious Legion). Lord Kenneth can only pray that the rocky situation on the conflicted side of the Great Divide will work itself out in due time.

Nicely written and interesting, keep it going. How many troops do you have and how far are you technologically? Good Luck!

With Lord Kenneth fully in control, The Roman Empire entered a sort of second golden age. Not only did he fill the Second Roman legionary division, he also created the Third Roman Legionary Division, the All Cumaen Legionary division, so named as the army was filled with all legionaries from Cumae, and the Homeland Defensive Division, an army of Legionaries devoted specifically to halting the advances of the Celtic Gallic Swordsmen into Roman territory accross The Great Divide. Unfortunately, the number of armies, cities, and troops under Lord Kenneth's command became very cumbersome, and he was forced to divide his command up among his subordinates.

Veii, the second Roman city to pledge Allegience to Lord Kenneth, and the site of the all important Great Library, where scientists from other nations illegally met to discuss scientific matters(and of course teach the Romans of the sciences and keep them abreast of all rivals), was chosen to house The Pentagon, a place where his generals and military advisors would meet to discuss military actions against the world of enemies. Roman Legions had been advancing into Arabian territory much quicker, thanks to the First and Third Legionary divisions, and had even captured the Arabian capitol of Mecca, taking the magnificent Pyramids and the Great Lighthouse. The city was a spot of great commercial interest, and a prime city location. Located on the sea with access to a large horse herd and two full acres of rich wheat, the city was bound to become an economic powerhouse. Lord Kenneth was afraid that the city, so far away from his seat of power, would fall to corruption. With that in mind, he ordered his trusted advisor Octavian to head into the captured Arabian lands and build a second Palace, where Octavian would rule as a second king over the Arabian land.

The Bablyonian front accross the Great Divide had been fairly fixed for the last several hundred years. Gallic Swordsmen, Bablyonian Bowmen, and the much feared Persian Immortals would strike at the five cities west of the Great divide, Virconium, Syracuse, Ceasuragusta, Tarantum(which had just overthrown the celts to rejoin the Romans), and Cumae. Three seperate armies, the Second Division, Homeland Defense Division, and the Cumaen Army were completely bogged down with keeping the cities under Roman control.

At this uncertain phase in Roman history, where Rome itself was still indanger from capture from troops moving up the Great Divide, Rome had the largest and strongest army, but not by much. Records surviving from around this point in history indicates that Lord Kenneth had at his disposal 6 pikeman division, one unequiped group of warriors, 2 spearman, 2 mounted units, 5 armies with the equivalent of 3 legions apiece, 26 legions, 9 catapults, 6 middle-ages infantry, and just 9 workers for the entire nation. That amounted to some 66 armed units.

Securing Rome

After centuries of attacks on the Roman capitol of Rome, Lord Kenneth finally devised a plan to secure the Roman heartland from attack up the Great Divide Mountain Range. For nearly as long as the war itself, troops had been using the Great Divide to slide up from the enemy-controlled territory, through Roman lands, and right up to Rome. It was simply too dangerous to attack enemy troops on the mountains, the casualties would be staggering. A lone Pikeman division had mapped part of the Great Divide, and using this map Lord Kenneth divised his plan.

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads9/Operationsecurerome.JPG

The red dots indicate bases that Lord Kenneth intends to build. The bases will effectively block up The Great Divide and make protection of Rome very easy. The military plan calls for the First and Third Divisions to sweep up along the Arabian lands from the East and take Basra and then the Celtic town on the hills inside The Great Divide. Meanwhile, the All Cumaen Division will push back the Greek swordsmen and Hoplites on the West Side of the Great divide and protect the settlers until the base is well settled.

To this day, Historians look back on the time of Operation Secure Rome and wonder what the biggest contributer to Roman failure was.

The First Roman Division had succesfully taken Damascus and were within striking distance of Basra, the Arabian target in Operation Secure Rome when Dutch forces assaulted Damascus and overran The First Roman Division. At about the same time, the Mayans and Aztecs joined the League of Nations and joined forces against Rome. Shortly thereafter, the Romans met the Russians. Rome had gained a small power lead on the Dutch some time ago, but the Russians were much stronger, larger, and just as advanced as the Romans. Russia, in an effort to gain world favor and total domination, joined the league of nations. In just a few short years, a wave of midievil infantry washed accross the Roman border cities accross the great Divide. All five cities west of the Great Divide fell to Russia, and the All Cumaen and Second Legionary divisions were obliterated. The Homeland Defense Division fell back to Rome, now exposed to direct assault from Russian troops, to lick their wounds and regroup.

On the southern border, the destruction of the First Division and its supporting troops had shocked the Romans and left a giant hole in their southern defenses. The dutch were quick to surge forwards, washing over the crimson hills and driving a wedge through the empire nearly to the ocean. The third legionary division was powerless to stop their advances, and it was eventually lost in protection of Veii. Some historians believe that Rome fell because lord Kenneth stretched the Roman armed forces too thin for Operation Secure Rome, but most agree that even Rome just wasn't up to the task of taking on an alliance of 11 different nations.

Ok....So maybe a 16 opponent, Always War Monarch game on a pangea map is beyond my abilities for the moment. Sorry if you were rooting for me...