Chapter 12: Pyrrhic Victories
While the Macedonians were now pushing back against Persia again, it wouldn't be a very long-lived offense. They wouldn't be pushed back as far as they were earlier, but they would still engage Persia in an endless stalemate, with them holding off the endless numbers of Persian Immortals, but not being able to move forward at all.
The attacks on Ancyra especially proved to be ever more hopeless. The 3 Hoplite units that were in the area to the west of it were all killed by Persian Immortals in 158, without even being able to put up much of a fight.
Also, the Persians continued their ever-futile attempts to capture Cyprus by unloading a unit of Immortals there. Don't they ever realize something isn't working?
Farther South, Carthage started pushing through Egypt, starting a long few decades of their conquest of Egypt, with the burning of Hieraconpolis, Egypt's westernmost city, and the capture of Heliopolis, a bit farther East. Alex didn't really like to see this, as Carthage and Egypt fighting each other meant that they weren't fighting Persia as much.
In news of pointless alliances, Scythia got Egypt to declare war on the Goths. As with many past wars, they're way too far away from each other to actually do anything.
As the Immortals on Cyprus were threatening to pillage the Wines there, the Hoplites in Thermopylae went out to stop them from doing so in 155, with the end result of a lot of dead Immortals.
There was also a unit of Heavy Cavalry threatening the Hoplites that were advancing towards Iconium. But Heavy Cavalry are only threatening on the offense, so some Hoplites charged at them, beat them badly, and made them retreat. Another unit of Hoplites finished them off.
At Iconium itself, Pyrrhus' Army charged into the city, defended by 2 units of Spearmen and one of Heavy Cavalry. Pyrrhus found these puny defenses to be rather amusing as he crushed them all and took the city. He also got some of the workers that Persia had captured a while ago.
(Yeah, I know, it's the resistance pic, I forgot to take the "City Captured" pic)
Farther north, random Immortals were sitting in random places. The only one that could actually be killed by the Hoplites in the area, though, was a unit a bit to the West of about halfway between Ancyra and Iconium, so some Hoplites went there and killed them. They were, sadly, heavily injured and unable to leave before more Immortals show up, so they're probably screwed now. Also, some other Immortals closer to Iconium were killed by Heavy Cavalry.
The Persians made their inevitable counter-attack in 153, and the remaining unit of Immortals near Iconium killed some Hoplites. Then the almost-dead ones to the north were attacked by Immortals. They seemed to be doomed, but the unit of Immortals got weaker... and weaker... and... Hey! The Immortals died! Sadly, there were more available to attack, and the Hoplites were unable to pull of the same thing twice.
The Carthaginians requested a trade of Territory Maps with Macedon. Alex would have agreed, if he didn't have to pay them some gold for it, so he declined.
The Romans captured the Celtic city of Gergovia. They were now getting pretty close to the Celtic capital. They were the clear winners of the war against the Celts, even if they were losing to Carthage at the same time.
A worrying number of Persian military units were coming towards Iconium in 150, so the army couldn't advance, just kill the attacking Persians. 2 units of Immortals were killed by Hoplites and Heavy Cavalry, but their victory was soured by Macedonian Heavy Cavalry losing to Persian Heavy Cavalry with the Macedonians on the offense. Then Pyrrhus' army went and killed some Spearmen to prevent the road to some Iron being destroyed.
The Persian counter-attack in 148 saw Immortals killing some Heavy Cavalry, and then some Heavy Cavalry killing Hoplites, followed by... most of the Persian Army heading East again. Were the Scythians winning again?
In Spain, Rome's westernmost city, Confinium, was captured by Carthage. Huh, and Alex thought Carthage was only winning on the seas. Apparently they're winning in Spain, too. Alex will laugh if they start capturing Roman cities in Gaul and the Italian peninsula.
145 saw more random skirmishes in the area around Iconium, without much really happening. Pyrrhus' Army killed some Heavy Cavalry, and Hoplites killed a unit of Immortals. Yawn. The attacks did leave Iconium temporarily undefended, though, so the Persian military would probably predictably head towards it.
In 143, they did just that. Near Cyprus, the Persian and Carthaginian fleets did battle, with both losing one Galley. Well, Carthage only really HAD one Galley in the area, so yeah.
The Scythians and Carthaginians signed peace that year, in a move that would probably mean absolutely nothing with how far away they were.
Then several people got busy with finally capturing other people's cities. The Goths captured the Scythian city of Kelermesskaya, continuing their slow but steady advance. The Persians recaptured Tyre from Egypt. And the Carthaginians dealt a huge blow by capturing Alexandria, the Egyptian Capital. The Egyptian government moved to Memphis.
This was the first clear sign that Egypt might be on its way to destruction, and Carthage would continue making more signs as they did, indeed, capture more cities and send Egypt on a one-way ticket there.
140 didn't see much on the war front, just the Macedonians returning to Iconium and two Galleys attacking a Persian Galley. And both losing. Sigh.
The Carthaginians succeeded where the Macedonians had failed by sinking it in 138. Then came the bad news: The Persians were heading West again. In huge numbers. And by "huge," I mean "Are you kidding me? Where did all these guys come from?"
Also, some Persian spearmen pillaged the Iron Mountain near Iconium. Meh. Alex didn't care, at the current rate they'd have that city back soon anyway and he had plenty of Iron to spare. In more worrying news, the Persians unloaded units on Cyprus again- but this time they were Heavy Cavalry. They actually posed a threat. Also, Carthage captured Pelusium, giving them control of the canal between the Mediterranean and Red Seas, and this meant that Gaza was now cut off from the rest of Egypt. Either Persia or Carthage would probably get it soon.
The Heavy Cavalry ultimately proved to be as fruitless as all the Immortals that had been sent to Cyprus in 135, when the Hoplites killed them. They may be strong on the offense, but they're still no better than Immortals when defending.
At Iconium, the Macedonians couldn't really do much aside from fire catapults and have some Heavy Cavalry kill Persian Heavy Cavalry. Aside from that, nothing.
Something Alex did like that year was that the Celts were willing to make peace, putting them only at war with Persia again. He had to pay some gold to do this, but oh well, it wasn't too much.
Surprisingly little happened in 133. It started with Carthage getting the Scythians to declare war on Rome.
The Carthaginians proceeded to capture Segusio, a Roman island city to the west of Sardinia and Corsica in an island group called the Balearic Islands, specifically on the island of Minorca. Carthage now had complete control of the Western Mediterranean.
In Asia Minor, a unit of Immortals attacked a unit of Heavy Cavalry- and the Immortals died. Woot! Then the remaining Immortals seemed to, almost at random, either move West or retreat. Weird.
The scientists had another discovery that year, of a new government form. They called it a "Republic." Basically, the people could vote on people who voted on stuff.
Some wanted an immediate change, but it was decided not to do this, as the scientist said that they were busy inventing an even better form of government. People took their word for it, so they waited. They also wanted to build something new, a "Forbidden Palace" to be a second palace to reduce Corruption, sort of. Alex decided he'd build this somewhere in Western Anatolia, once the area got back to its old productive self and the Persians were pushed back a bit, of course.
Like most other technologies, it was traded to Rome and Carthage in 130, for more technology and gold. The new technology gotten was some advances in Medicine that would enable cities to get bigger. Alex didn't find this to be particularly useful, as his cities couldn't get that big anyway, but, hey, new technology, that had to be good. The gold they spent getting Medicine from Rome was actually less than the gold they got from selling Republic to Carthage, but they got valuable Spices from Carthage, which could be far more valuable. It would also allow them to build a Great Wonder that would keep people very happy- once they got the Silks to the North, that is.
There wasn't much that could be done against the Persian army right now, so the Macedonians just bunkered down in Iconium and hoped for the best
.
And... the Persians didn't attack them in 128. They didn't want to deal with Pyrrhus' army, so they headed west. The problem was, now they were heading towards Sardis.
Earlier that year, Memphis fell to Carthage. The Egyptian government headed South again, to the city of Khmun. Things didn't really go that well from Egypt that year, as they also got another declaration of war- from the Celts.
Well, that was probably totally ineffectual, but still likely not good for Egypt.
The Goths asked for a trade of World Maps with Macedon. Alex's response was something along the lines of "Sure, why not?"
Rome captured the Celtic city of Noviodunum, just west of Alesia. The Celts' two Southwesternmost cities were now totally cut off from the rest of the country, and would likely fall to Rome soon.
Noticing that the reason the Persians ignored Iconium was that they didn't want to attack Pyrrhus' army, the Macedonians decided to try to lure them back there and away from Sardis in 125 by having Pyrrhus send his army to kill a unit of Heavy Cavalry and another of Spearmen, leaving them outside the city. They hoped they could do this repetitively to make the Persians keep moving around and continuously being destroyed by Pyrrhus and other Heavy Cavalry and Hoplites.
Sadly, the Persians demonstrated a previously thought above them level of tactics when they didn't fall into the trap and continued heading towards Sardis in 123. "Guess they're smarter than they look," said Alex.
Due to 2 units of Heavy Cavalry and a bunch Immortals now being close to Sardis, the army sent as many military units as they could to go fight the Persians there. First, they would deal with the Heavy Cavalry. The Hoplites in the city attacked one unit of them and made them retreat. Said Heavy Cavalry were immediately finished off by more Heavy Cavalry. Then Hoplites attacked the other unit of Heavy Cavalry- and they, too, retreated. To a place where they couldn't be attacked. Grr. Oh well, the Immortals were still vulnerable. And there were two units blocking the road between Iconium and Sardis. So, the Heavy Cavalry in Iconium were sent to deal with one unit of them. They did so brilliantly, and a new army commander, Hector, was found.
After this, it was an easy task for Pyrrhus' army to kill the other annoying unit of Immortals.
The Persian counterattack in 118 consisted only of some Immortals killing the Hoplites on the hill outside Sardis. Aside from that, nothing. They moved west, and would be able to reach Sardis in 5 years.
In Egypt, Carthage continued their advance with the capture of Khmun. The Egyptian government was again forced to move, this time south further to Elephantine, their last city that was on the Nile River.
Due to a lack of Heavy Cavalry, Hector's army was filled with Hoplites in 115. Well, that wasn't as useful as a Heavy Cavalry army, but it was far from useless. They proved this when Hector and Pyrrhus's combined armies wiped out 4 units of Immortals without breaking a sweat, and then some Heavy Cavalry killed another unit of Immortals. There were no longer any Immortals within striking distance of Sardis, but there were still a few a bit outside the city.
To the North, the settler arrived at their destination, the Silks near what used to be the Scythian city of who-gives-a-darn-what-the-name-was. They decided to build their city a bit to the south of where the Scythians did, to simultaneously be on the Danube River and the coast, and cause the Teutonic Warriors in the area were impeding their movement.
The remaining few Persian Immortals, clearly not wanting to deal with Sardis, headed South in 113, presumably towards lightly-defended Miletus. Iconium started seeing some units heading towards it, too, from just about all sides.
The Scythians recaptured Kelermesskaya in 113, so they were probably starting to push the Goths back a little, or maybe the Goths were just horrible defenders. Alex didn't really like that Scythia and the Goths were still at war, as that meant the Scythians weren't fighting Persia much. With Carthage and Egypt busy fighting each other, that meant that for the foreseeable future, he was alone against the Persians, and he couldn't really stand alone against them, at least not for very long.
The Carthaginians captured the Egyptian city of Giza. Egypt was down to 4 cities and a small fraction of its former power.
110 saw little fighting, just some Heavy Cavalry fights between Persia and Macedonia that left both of them missing one unit of Heavy Cavalry.
In 108, Carthage got the Celts to declare war on Persia. This looked good, as now only the Goths were not at war with Persia.
However, then came the bad news that Scythia signed a peace treaty with Persia.
Also, a huge number of Persian units were within striking distance of Iconium. With one unit of Hoplite defenders and some Catapults, it was doomed to fall.
Alex decided to deal with the two problems of the trapped units in Iconium and Scythia and Persia being at peace in 105. First, he went to Scythia. "Come on guys, how many times do I need to tell you that I really need you to fight Persia? So please fight them. Please?
He had to give them some Iron, but that was probably good- now they could build better units to fight with.
Now, Iconium. It was decided to move the Hoplites and catapults into the mountains, and then head west. Then it was remembered that, being wheeled, it was impossible to actually move the Catapults into the mountains. Sigh. There seemed to be no way to save them, until someone figured out that they could give Iconium to someone else, and that would somehow magically teleport the Catapults to Athens. Nobody asked this person how that worked, just that it worked.
Now, they decided to deal with the Heavy Cavalry and Immortals near Sardis and Miletus that they could deal with. A unit of Heavy Cavalry attacked a unit of Persian Heavy Cavalry, and the Heavy Cavalry problem was dealt with. Pyrrhus' army killed 3 units of Immortals, and then Heavy Cavalry killed the 4th unit. The problem was, these Heavy Cavalry and Pyrrhus' army were now kind of stranded near a bunch of Persian units. A unit of Hoplites were sent to defend them all. It was quite the victory. Hopefully, that will be enough...
103 proved that it wouldn't be. First, Persia quite obviously captured Iconium, and in the south, Carthage captured Elephantine, Egypt's 4th capital. The Egyptian government moved to Gaza. Alex has no clue how they got there.
Then, came the attack on the stranded Hoplites, Heavy Cavalry, and army. It started out well, with the first unit of Immortals being killed by the Hoplites with little trouble. However, this "little" trouble led to the Army being the defenders- against an attacking unit of Heavy Cavalry. Things looked bleak for Pyrrhus army, but they prevailed over these Cavalry. Barely. The Hoplites were then attacked again, by Immortals. They held off one unit, but the second unit finally killed them. Then Pyrrhus' army were the defenders again, this time against Immortals. They sadly weren't strong enough to defeat them, or smart enough to retreat, and the army was lost. The remaining unit of Heavy Cavalry did decide to retreat when attacked by Immortals, but another was able to attack them and kill them. Their earlier victory against the Immortals and Heavy Cavalry in 105 had gotten them destroyed. People have labelled victories of this type to be a "Pyrrhic Victory" after these events. Many more examples on all sides of the war can be found at previous points in the war.
To the north, the Scythians attacked some of the Goths' Teutonic Warriors, with an unknown result, the Macedonians couldn't really see.
With one army down and the other healing, there was little that could be done against the Persian military in 100, which was certainly not good- the wounded units could retreat and more Immortals could head towards Sardis and Miletus without worrying about attackers. But, there was one unit of Archers near Iconium that would be easy for the Hoplites still trapped in the Mountains there to deal with, even if the Archers were on mountains themselves. And they were victorious. Why do the Persians think that Archers are still useful, anyway?
The Hoplites were, themselves, killed in 98. Of course. A Persian Galley also sank a Carthaginian one.
Egypt's southernmost city of El-Amarna was burned, probably by Carthage. It was so far South that it was hard to even see it was there, or what the name of it was.
Hector was healed in 95, so a limited counter-attack could take place. It started with a lone unit of Immortals killing attacking Hoplites and Heavy Cavalry. Okay, the Cavalry were injured, but come on, they weren't that tough! Hector's Army put a stop to that nonsense by killing the Immortals, and some Heavy Cavalry. 2 more units of Heavy Cavalry were then killed by Heavy Cavalry and Hoplites, and that was all that could be done, sadly. There weren't any more Persian military units that could be attacked, but none of them would be able to reach Sardis, either. Still, there's too many for comfort in the area, and the Macedonians have only one army right now. They really need some help.
Hopefully, with Egypt almost dead, Carthage will start fighting Persia soon and that will draw Persia's attention away, but maybe they won't fight Persia much at all. Whether or not they do, Alex sure needs them and Scythia to fight Persia. There's no way he can take them alone.
) to Macedon, who will be your next target? Scythia? Egypt?
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