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Post by Gandalf on Oct 18, 2021 9:10:53 GMT -5
Sulla waits for his legions to return and, after some rest and recuperation, has the army formed up in battle formation. With the fortified encampment complete, the Romans begin their advance slowly and methodically into the valley, choosing some wide, rough, and uneven ground to defend. The light auxilia is sent ahead of the main force with a cavalry detachment to harass the Pontic army and attempt to lure them out into open ground. Sulla hopes that the overconfidence of their success in the nearby pass will tempt the Pontic force into battle on more favourable terms to the Romans.
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Post by FieldMarshal Bismarck on Oct 18, 2021 15:43:58 GMT -5
Mithradites did not budge. He'd fight if Sulla wanted to but only on his own terms.
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Post by Gandalf on Oct 18, 2021 16:04:47 GMT -5
Not fancying their chances in the pass, the Romans pull back to their camp and continue building fortifications; ditches, wooden walls, rock barriers, makeshift towers, the works. It soon becomes clear that they are attempting to cover the entire length of the pass, hoping to block Mithridates in from this end or at least make it appear so. While the King of Kings was content to do nothing, the Romans were busy building, each legion and each cohort doing so in shifts. To the Pontics, the Romans seemed to be digging in on the defence, content to winter in this very spot.
The Romans would then find makeshift branches and shields and lean them against the wooden walls, so from a distance it might look like a sentry holding a weapon. A handful of auxiliaries would be left behind to hold the fort, around one thousand light infantry to cover the lines of supply. Under cover of darkness, Sulla would then take the legions west into Pontus, hoping to steal at least a day or few on the King of Kings as they made for the very heart of his kingdom. There they would pillage, loot and burn the royal estates of Mithridates, threatening his capital so as to draw him away from the defensible valley onto ground of Rome's choosing.
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Post by FieldMarshal Bismarck on Oct 19, 2021 3:25:33 GMT -5
Mithradites, allerted to the Roman ploy moves his entire force, Gordius included to take the Roman defenses which are held by their Auxillary.
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Post by Gandalf on Oct 19, 2021 5:25:39 GMT -5
The auxiliaries were left with orders to harass the Pontics from the defences and then set them alight as the men of Pontus begin climbing the walls. They are then to filter out into the countryside before coming to join the rest of Sulla’s forces, which are now at least a day away having stolen a march during the night.
Meanwhile, the Romans choose some advantageous ground on the Anatolian plateau to encamp and rest. Riders were sent out into unguarded Pontus to steal and plunder whatever they could find and return it to the Roman camp, while a detachment of cavalry was sent to observe the movements of Mithridates back at the valley.
The Romans get 13,000 denarii's worth of plunder from the surrounding Pontic lands.
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Sulla decides to send feelers out to Gordius, dispatching a rider disguised as a native Cappadocian to slip through the lines bring the man an offer. In exchange for betraying Mithridates and leading him into a Roman trap, Gordius would be named King of Cappadocia, as well as a friend and ally of the Republic. He would also be given the hand of one Mithridates daughters in marriage, and be granted a portion of his supposedly vast treasury in reward for this service.
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Post by Gandalf on Oct 19, 2021 13:03:09 GMT -5
The Greeks dispatch word to Mithridates of their success in battle against the Roman. They invite him to bring more forces to Greece, in which a substantial Roman army has been defeated, and assume command as their hegemon. They regretfully inform him that Archelaus has been killed in battle.
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Post by rhapture on Oct 20, 2021 9:34:09 GMT -5
Gordius brings the man who made the offer to Mithrades, explaining the situation. Gordius knew he was a general , not a king. They needed to defeat and drive back the Romans.
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Post by FieldMarshal Bismarck on Oct 20, 2021 9:59:17 GMT -5
The man's throat is slit by a guard of the King of Kings who looked at Gordius. "We shall fight them!" he roared through the halls or where ever he was staying.
"Prepare the army and seize the initiative."
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Post by Gandalf on Oct 20, 2021 10:09:32 GMT -5
The Romans would form up on on the Anatolian plateau, near Zela, choosing an uneven hilltop to meet the King of Kings in battle.
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Post by sforza on Oct 20, 2021 10:27:18 GMT -5
Cinna prepares his Legion Fulminata for battle. Despite his recent nightmares and drinking he was fit for combat this day.
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Post by Gandalf on Oct 20, 2021 10:44:49 GMT -5
"Hold my line, brave Antigonos. Let none past you."
Sulla was doing his rounds of the lines, offering encouraging words to his men and engaging in camaraderie with his officers. The men laughed at the comparison of Cinna to the ancient one eyed satrap, but Sulla meant it as a compliment as he did his theatrical and exaggerated impression of the ancient Megas Alexandros, complete with a purposefully terrible Greek accent.
"And you, Caesar, you will be my hammer. Make Aeneas himself proud of our victory here against these barbarians."
Felix offered his subordinates each a salute in turn as he galloped before them on the distinctive white stallion he had grown accustomed to riding. The men were rattling their shields, whooping and cheering.
"Young Regulus. Fortuna smiles on you, for there are no goats among the enemy today." The Pro-Consul chuckled to himself, and waited for the laughter of the soldiers to subside. "Only elephants. Which are but a trifle from a man descended from the brave and true Romans who threw the Carthaginians from Sicily."
Sulla turned his horse around and addressed the rest of his men, as many as could hear.
"Brave Romans. I know you all, to a man. I have bled with you in Africa, in Gaul, on Crete, and in Asia. We have fought together, drank together, won victories together. I say without boast that you are the finest army we have ever assembled."
He looked to the veterans in the crowd, many of whom had enlisted nigh on a decade ago to fight against Jugurtha. Hardened men, who had known war most of their lives.
"Even Hannibal would shake in his boots at the sight of us. You may be the scum of the city, but I would not trade any one of you for a hundred thousand other men! One last battle, one last foe, and the riches of the east are ours, as well as glory unending!"
Allowing the men to cheer and soak up his words, Sulla had them form up, taking his own position on the right flank as he waited for the hopeful arrival of Mithridates.
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Post by FieldMarshal Bismarck on Oct 21, 2021 17:57:12 GMT -5
Mithradites showed no effort to move on the Roman position. He'd remain some several hundred meters from Sulla, the armies both seeing each other. Mithradites had the water supply. The Romans would have to give battle or dry out.
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Post by Gandalf on Oct 21, 2021 18:03:20 GMT -5
With their hands forced, the romans advanced. At least they were out of that treacherous valley and on relatively even ground. Sulla rode on the right of his army, keeping the men in good spirits as they marched in lockstep. They would stop just out of skirmishing distance from the Pontics and form up for battle.
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Post by Gandalf on Oct 22, 2021 7:39:43 GMT -5
{Orders}
Left: Gaius Julius Caesar (2 command)
2700 Legionary Cavalry
Legio XII Cornelia
Legio V Cremona (1 battles)
Centre: Lucius Cornelius Cinna (3 command)
Legio VI Fulminata (1 battles)
Legio VI Samnium (1 battles)
Right: Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (4 command)
2600 Anatolian Cavalry
1200 Light Infantry
Legio III Victrix (2 battles)
Legio I Sabinia (2 battles)
Reserve: Lucius Atilius Regulus (2 command)
Legio XIII Felix
Orders:
As a whole, the army is to advance on the Mithridatic position. Corridors will be left between the lines for chariots and elephants, which will be targeted by sustained Pila fire until they are killed/destroyed or turn around. The uneven ground should prove to be a hindrance to the famously fragile chariots.
In the centre, several cohorts will form wedges to pierce through the front line, which presumably will be pikes. Sustained Pila fire will be used to open up gaps within the rigid formation which will be focused on and swarmed. The idea is to break the cohesive phalanx into several isolated chunks, rendering it useless, as these chunks will be attacked from all sides and put to flight. Once the pike lines are broken, the Romans will focus a massed assault on the enemy line.
On the left, the main bulk of the army will do the same. A cohort from the Legio V will detach with the cavalry to execute a flanking manoeuvre, engaging the enemy cavalry if they move to do the same. Their main target will be the King of Kings. The man who captures/kills him will be rewarded with a ten thousand denarii bounty from Sulla's war chest. Any other enemy commander will fetch a two thousand denarii bounty.
On the right, 2 cohorts (800 men) of the Sabinia legion and the Anatolian cavalry will move to the far edge of the flank in an attempt to draw away any enemy cavalry from the battlefield, as well as creating a cloud of dust with the massed movement. They will be screened in this action by the light infantry auxiliaries. The basic idea is to stretch the enemy army out as much as possible. Then, the cavalry will double back on themselves as the infantry charge and pin the opposing cavalry to buy time. The Anatolian cavalry will then be free to crash into the side of the enemy army. As they rush to meet this threat, Sulla will personally lead the veteran legions in a 'hammer blow' designed to break the spine of the enemy left and rout them from the field.
If the worst comes to pass and the Romans are to pull back, Regulus will hold them off with the Legio Felix.
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Post by FieldMarshal Bismarck on Oct 22, 2021 10:05:57 GMT -5
The Roman effort on the flanks turned out great. Their plan on the flanks worked as the center crumbled on the cavalry advance. The only thing saving face for the Pontic army was their large reserve. Losing some 500 men in the orderly retreat under the command of Neoptolemus. Roman victory. The Greeks take 2500 deaths in the defeat and another 500 during the retreat. The Romans walk away with 1230 deaths some 70% of which in the center. The Romans suffer 381 wounded 849 lay dead.
Roman commanders survive, Mithradites his son and Gordius fell in battle.
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