The Roman Invasion - An AAR

[Marcus Valerius]

This is going to be a little different than any of the AAR's I've read here so far. There's a little bit more fiction involved, and some of what you read will be taking place in my imagination rather than on the computer screen . . .

Oh yeah, I almost forgot . . . what you are about to read will be the basis for judging all future Legion AAR's! (how's that for shameless self-promotion?)

[Marcus Valerius]

The war in the north was going very badly for the Romans. They had crossed the channel many times to invade this barbarian land, and each time they were beaten back off of the island. Finally, after years of trying, they managed to gain a foothold in this wild and untamed country. They struck quickly, managing to suprise the British tribes and take two of their cities. However, the tide was beginning to turn against the Romans yet again. Their general was treachorously murdered in a plot carried out by the British townspeople in the recently captured cities. The soldiers, now leaderless, were demoralized, and the pressure by the barbarian tribes on the borders of this new province was ever increasing. What the Romans neaded was a great general, to lead them, to hold off the barbarians, and to expand the borders of this province . . .

What they needed was Marcus Valerius Laevinus Asiaticus, recently the general of the armies of the east, subjugator of the great Parthian Empire, and descendant of the famous Marcus Valerius Corvus who 400 years earlier defeated a great Gallic warrior in individual combat before a battle between the Romans and the Gauls, demoralizing the Gauls and allowing the Romans to carry the day, and also of the Marcus Valerius Laevinus who led armies against the Carthaginians in the Second Punic Wars. The Emporer, fed up with the difficulties in this province, decided to send the greatest general the Empire had ever seen to take charge, and expand the province while subduing the barbarians.

When Valerius arrived in Anderitum, his first order was for his troops to parade before him, in order for him to address them. "Romans," he said, "you need not despair any longer. Your general has arrived. Together we will march north and sweep the barbarians from this land! Indeed, hanging on as you did for this long, without a proper officer to lead you, is the true mark of courage, determination, and bravery. Now that you have a proper general, we can remove the menace from our borders. We will crush the barbarian tribes, and you will have more plunder than you can carry to take back to Rome with you!" With that, a great cheer rose up from the ranks, as they began to believe that they actually could win, now that they had a great general. Valerius, though, was somewhat more concerned. "Only six units are left?", he thought to himself, "And further, only one legion, the rest auxiliaries, velites, and equites. This province is in much worse shape than had been reported to me. My first task will be to secure adequate funds and supplies to support the troops I have before I even begin to recruit newer troops." Even more ominous for the future of the Romans here was the hatred of their neighbors. The Cantii, to the northeast, and the Aterbates, to the northwest, bordered this province along it's entire length, and both tribes wanted to see the Romans be forced off of the island.

However, Marcus Valerius was well aware of the situation just past his borders. He had sent out scouts to assess the state of the tribes across his borders immediately upon his arrival in Brittania. When they returned, they reported that both the Cantii and the Aterbates were making preperations to attack, however the greater danger was from the Cantii even though they only had two cities, while the Aterbates had three. This was because the Aterbates were also nearing war with their much larger neighbor to the west, whose name is unknown to Roman ears. Since it was apparent that the Aterbates would be occupied for quite some time with their other neighbors, Valerius began to plan for his future invasion of the land of the Cantii, to try to conquer the stronger of his two potential foes before either was able to invade Roman territory. If the lands of the Cantii were taken into the province, there would also be an added benefit - the Romans would occupy the southeast corner of the island, and have a much shorter border to defend, only really needing to garrison two cities. Also at this time Valerius decided that he must plan for defense, so he built forts in each of his two cities before building anything to increase the production or growth capacity of his cities.

Years passed, suprisingly quietly, before Valerius had his army ready to invade. With small forts in his cities now, he was able to increase the size of his units, to make success in battle more likely. He gathered together his army in Anderitum to prepare to invade the territory of the Cantii. He could remove troops from Noviomagus now with confidence, because the previous year the Aterbates lost one of their cities to their mysterious, ever expanding neighbor to the west (who were inexplicably friendly with the Romans). "They will be difficult for me to deal with, but that will be a problem for the future," he thought, "Now I must march my troops east towards Durovern, to begin my conquests!"

After five long seasons of marching, Legio VII reached the plains lying before the gates of Durovern. Valerius called his troops before him, to address them. "Men," he began, "have you not waited for this moment, ever since you crossed the channel into this barbaric island? What you see before you is yours. The city, the people, all within the walls are yours. All you must do is run the enemy off of the field of battle. Look yonder, they can hardly muster an army to defend themselves! Do you think that rabble can stand up a legion of Rome? Hardly! They will break before they see you even begin to advance! Defeat the army, and take the city. I merely want the walls and buildings. You can have everything else."

Thus, Valerius began to consider how he wanted to fight the coming battle. The battlefield was mainly gently rolling plains, with a small grove of forest between the Roman and Cantii lines, towards the Roman right. All of the enemy that he could see was a small unit of archers, though he knew for city defence, there would certainly be more. "Curse that scout Xanadu, for his shoddy work!" Valerius exclaimed, "If this battle goes poorly because of his lack of effort, he will be flayed!" ( ) He went on to position his soldiers the best he could based on this incomplete information of the enemy. He deployed his equites almost directly opposite the enemy archers, just to the left, so they would be able to swing around the forest and attack the archers from the side (and also hoping that there would be no heavy infantry between the archers and his equtes). He then lined up his legionaries to the left of the equites, with the velites directly behind the legionaries. His hope was that, wherever the enemy might be deployed, to draw them out into the open field in front of the legionaries where they might be more easily mowed down.

The battle was not to work out exactly like this, however. It would seem that the enemy had merely four small units defending their city. "Perhaps I overestimated them," thought Valerius, "but they could never muster a force to invade my territory. Nonetheless, I must take their cities before they become more powerful, and are able to mount a successful invasion." The enemy had, in addition to their archers, a unit of cavalry, a unit of javelinmen, and another unit of archers, all positioned almost directly opposite my equites, with their cavalry in the front. Valerius's only worry was that with the equites on rapid advance, they would be overcome by the enemy missile fire before the legionaries and velites could come to assist them. Alas, this was to come to pass. The equites charged headlong into the enemy cavalry, and while they fought valiantly, and managed to rout the enemy cavalry, they were soon overcome by the missile fire and were routed themselves. By that time, though, the rest of the army had arrived (to the right side of the battlefield, near the small forest in which the British troops were trying to hide), and the outcome was certainly no longer in doubt. There is no possibility that three units of already damaged British tribal missile troops could stand up to three heavy Roman legions backed by three velites! After getting over the initial anger at watching his equites cowardly run from the field, he began to revel in the beauty of watching his legionaries cut down all of the enemy troops in front of them. "Truly a great victory," Valerius said to his aide, "Not a single British soldier was able to walk off of the battlefield. They all fell before my legions. Xanadu is truly lucky today, that the rest of the enemy was near the one unit he was able to report to me. He will live, at least until he fails me again."


More to come, later tonight . . .

[Xanadu]

I knew you would win....that's why I didn't tell you about the other units. Not to mention I am not quite used to this strange area.

Great Work Marcus!

[Marcus Valerius]

Thanks Xanadu.

Wow, that was a lot of work. I'm really impressed with all the AAR's everyone else wrote now (even more so).

[Marcus Valerius]

After the battle, while the victorious Legio VII was celebrating, drinking wine, and pillaging the city, a few of the equites who had run from the field of battle began to wander back into the Roman camp. Suprisingly, enough returned to reform the two original units of equites, of course with the casualties to be replaced with new recruits. Marcus Valerius was quite happy, that his only army, Legio VII, survived its first battle essentially intact. Also, one of the legions and one of the velites who began to run at the very end of the battle had enough survivors remaining to reform. He was quite concerned, though, that his men would break and run so close to victory, with so many of their fellow soldiers following right behind them. "This is something to be addressed with further training," he thought.

Even now, on the heels of his great victory, perhaps even greater than any in his earlier campaigns against the Parthians, Valerius began to plan for his next conquest. As soon as his army had healed, and secured fresh recruits to replace the casualties, he would move against the second and last city of the Cantii, Durobrivae, just to the northwest of Durovern.

It was to be years before this was to come to pass, though. Apparently, the British tribesmen are not eager to serve in the Roman legions. "Perhaps we should use more persuasive methods to convince them of the merits of serving in the Roman army," Valerius mused, "No matter, though. I need time to rebuild some of the structures in my newly captured city, to produce more resources to keep my soldiers supplied in the field. I am a patient man, I can wait until the time is right to press on with my attack."

After two years of biding his time and training the new recruits, Valerius again ordered his troops to gather and prepare to march into enemy territory. "Now we conquer what is left of the Cantii," he said to his troops, "Their final city will fall to us as easily as did the first. These barbarians do not know how to stand against a Roman legion. I have faced much stronger enemies than these weak barbarians. They are nothing compared to the power of the Parthians, and yet even the Parthians bowed before me. The Cantii will not resist, they will see your standards marching towards them, and they will turn and run. Take heart, legionaries, the day will be yours, as will Durobrivae." A long year of marching lay before them, though.

The following summer, Legio VII arrived at the gates of Durobrivae. The city's garrison reluctantly moved out onto the plains in front of the walls to answer the Roman challenge, every man among them knowing it would be their last day in this world. "Look men," Valerius said, "they fear us. They know they can not defeat us on the battlefield! They also know they could never withstand a siege, so they prefer to die quickly by our swords rather than die slowly from hunger. On to battle, men, once you make short work of these women, the city and everything inside will be yours!"

The layout of the battlefield was quite similar to that of the last battle, with the notable exception that the forest between the Roman and Cantii lines was on the Roman left, rather than right, and also there were a few more hills. The only enemy visible to Valerius was one medium unit of British fanatics, directly behind the forest. "It would seem they are trying to draw my legions into the forest to fight," thought Valerius, "I will certainly not let that happen!" Thus Valerius lined up his men as far back as he could, with the legionaries in front of the velites as per usual, directly across the forest from the fanatics, while ordering them to hold until they saw the fanatics, and whatever other troops the enemy was hiding emerge from the forest. The equites were placed on the right flank, to guard against any attack from that area while the legionaries are engaged with the fanatics. The equites are of course ordered to hold for as long as the rest of the army, so they do not get carried away with their attack and get seperated from the rest of the army and then routed.

When the enemy actually began to advance, it became apparent that the fanatics were simply a diversion, as they were alone, and the remainder of the enemy force (two cavalry and an archer) were stationed almost off of the battlefield on the Roman right. "My plan will work perfectly," Valerius thought, "My equites will hold off their cavalry and archers while my legionaries cut down their fanatics. My troops must just be disceplined enough to hold their attack." That was not to be, however. An inexperienced junior officer in charge of the equites decided to disobey orders and take the initiative. (note: they didn't actually disobey orders. I just forgot to change their orders to "hold" before I clicked ok! ) He had his cohort race out immediately to meet the oncoming enemy cavalry as soon as possible, and intended to cut them down before the legionaries even joined battle with the fanatics. His inexperience showed, though. A cavalry unit without missile backup facing a cavalry unit with missile backup will most likely be unable to even hold its own, much less rout the opponent. Thus, the Roman equites quickly routed. They begin to run away just as the legionaries were engaging the fanatics. The fanatics went down quickly, though. Their severe lack of armor and lack of numbers made them unable to stand up to a Roman legion for any significant period of time. They didn't even get a chance to run away, they were surrounded and killed, to a man. The fanatics didn't even hold up long enough to allow their cavalry to engage the Romans on the flank. After the fanatics were crushed, the legionary cohorts still had time to turn and face the cavalry before they engaged each other. This was not a fair contest, though (at least for the Cantii). Two units of already-damaged cavalry can never stand up to three heavy legionary cohorts, still in their ranks, on level ground. The Cantii cavalry went down even fast that the Roman equites, followed by the lone remaining unit of archers shortly thereafter. "Romans," yelled Valerius, urging his men forward to complete the victory, "from this point forward you will be known as Legio VII Victrix, for your total victory here today and complete, singlehanded subjugation of an entire nation!" Again, every one of the Cantii on the battlefield was killed. Not a single Cantii soldier was left throughout their former land. In fact, their nation had ceased to exist, as it was now annexed into the Roman province of Southern Brittania in its entirety.

After the battle, while the victorious soldiers were running wild through the streets of Durobrivae, the remnants of the cavalry force began to make their way back to the Roman camp. Somehow, yet again, there were enough remaining equites who escaped the battlefield to reform both cohorts of equites. Valerius gathered the few remaining equites together to address them. "You fought well, my friends," he said, "You kept order and discepline, even while charging into disaster following the unlawful order of your legate. You held the main arm of the Cantii forces at bay long enough for the legionaries to dispense with the enemy fanatics and turn to face their attackers. Because of you, our forces carried the day. You are to be commended for this, double rations of wine for all of you! I have something different in mind for your leader, though. Bring him forward!" Publius Licinius slowly walked forward, his head hanging low, knowing there was no crime worse than that which he committed. "Publius Licinius," Valerius said, "for your treason, there is but one punishment: death. You will be scourged, and then beheaded, at sunrise tomorrow. Centurion, take him away."

"As for Xanadu," Valerius thought, "I will have to deal with his inept scouting abilities. He completely missed the main body of the Cantii troops. If this happens against a more powerful enemy, this legion will be destroyed. Now is the time for celebration, though. I will deal with him another time."


Thus ends chapter 1

[Xanadu]

Surely you can't expect me to predict an enemy with whom we have virtualy no knowledge of their battle tactics. I can only ask that you bring we with you on your next mission so I may gain the knowledge of the barbarian ways.
I fear the deeper we go however my scouting reports may be just as a mystery then as they are now. I would be more useful back in our own lands, but if I am to scout for you outside our lands I will have a much more difficult time.

Scout Xanadu


Great read Marcus...excellent job!

[Marcus Valerius]

Maybe I'll help you out with a few watchtowers . . .

BTW, I like your new "rank" - Blind Scout, that's a good one!

Edit: oh, and thanks, I had no idea how much work you guys put in on these before I started working on this!

[Xanadu]

Originally posted by Marcus Valerius

Maybe I'll help you out with a few watchtowers . . .

>>>>>That would work for me

BTW, I like your new "rank" - Blind Scout, that's a good one!


>>>>>..I figured you would like that

Edit: oh, and thanks, I had no idea how much work you guys put in on these before I started working on this!

>>>>>Neither did I until I did those Beta AAR's.
Good work though

[Marcus Valerius]

Did you like my little "mistake" in the second battle? I think I actually started cursing out loud when I saw my equites moving forward while the rest of my troops were just sitting there!

[Xanadu]

Done that myself on several occasions
Oh well, ruling an empire is so demanding
I await your next update

[Marcus Valerius]

Sitting in his governor's palace in Anderitum, Marcus Valerius was taking some much deserved time to rest and relax after the difficult campaigns of the previous years. Yet even now, on the heels of his great victories, Valerius was beginning to plan his next moves to expand his province and secure its borders for all who live within. "My next move must be to annex the territory of the Aterbates, to the north and west," he thought, "and then continue westward against the Durotriges, to take their nearest city. This will leave me with quite easily defensible borders, consisting of rivers to the north and the west, and the ocean to the south and east. This is my goal for the longer term, but first I must recruit another legion, Legio VI, to consist of three cohorts of heavy legionaries, three of auxiliary archers, and two of equites. Also I must give Legio VII Victrix time to heal and recruit fresh soldiers to fill out their ranks. Unfortunately all of this will take time, something in short supply at the moment."

Over the course of the next year, Valerius saw to the improvement of his cities, first and foremost the organization and construction of a quartermaster's office, in order to support the larger armies necessary to wage the coming war, along with numerous other civic improvements. His cities were swelling with immigrants from within the Empire, wanting both to live under the governorship of such a famous general and efficient statesman, and also to do what they could to help subdue the barbarian menace beyond this province's borders. By this time, the dignity and personal standing of Valerius within the Empire (and also among the barbarians beyond its borders) had surpassed even that of the Emperor himself! In fact, it was widely believed among the leading citizens of Rome itself that the Emperor, a very old man at this time, would name Marcus Valerius as his successor to the Imperial throne.

After organizing the proper supply sources, Valerius's next task was to see to raising his new legion, Legio VI. By this time, there were plenty of newly arrived immigrants with which to fill out his cohorts, he simply needed to ensure that they were properly trained to take on an army as wild and barbaric as that of the Aterbates. Thus, he saw to the training in Noviomagus personally while leaving Legio VII Victrix in Durobrivae under the command of his most senior legate, Quintus Fabius.

Fabius was a more than adequate leader for Legio VII. He had fought bravely in the earlier campaign against the Cantii. He possessed a strategic and tactical mind unmatched throughout the entire Empire, save only for Valerius himself. His only flaw was a tendency to race to the front line of the battle and engage the enemy there along with his troops, leaving himself in great danger, though by doing this in the final battle against the Cantii he was able to personally kill their king, who was trying to rally his men even after all hope was lost for saving his kingdom.

Thus Valerius felt secure in leaving that section of the province under Fabius's command. No sooner did he begin the training of his new legion, though, than a messenger arrived from Durobrivae, his horse panting for air and nearly dead from exhaustion. "Imperator!" the messenger exclaimed (hailing him with the not yet accurate title), "We are under attack! The Trinobantes have declared war, and are marching an army towards our territory as we speak!" "Why?" asked Valerius, "What cause have they for this action? We have not violated their territorial boundaries. Or are they simply demonstrating their barbarian aggressiveness?" "We know of no cause, General, perhaps they believe that Legio VII is still weak and not yet recovered from its recent campaign," replied the messenger. "Yes, that must be it," said Valerius, "They fear us when we are at our most powerful, so they attack when we are weakened. It is not to worry about, though. Legio VII can certainly deal with a mere invading army from these weak Britons, after entirely crushing an even more powerful nation by themselves. Return to Durobrivae immediately, and tell Fabius that he has full military authority to deal with these invaders as he sees fit, short of crossing the river Duro into their territory and taking their lands. I want to keep that river as the northern boundary of the province. I will remain here to continue to train Legio VI, and now with this new threat I must raise an additional legion as well." With that, the messenger, now on a fresh horse, galloped off to inform Fabius of Valerius's orders.

"This is certainly an unexpected development," thought Valerius, "I do not want to move north of the Duro until I have secured all of the territory to its south. It would seem that this will be a defensive war, and I am certain Fabius can handle that. I will need to raise another legion, though, if Legio VII is to be tied up with the Trinobantes." This new legion, Legio X, was to be composed of the same types of soldiers as was Legio VI: three cohorts of heavy legionaries, three of archers, and two of equites. Valerius began recruiting them immediately.

Shortly after Valerius began anew the training of his two new legions, another messenger arrived from Durobrivae. It would seem the battle was over already. Fabius had wasted no time in engaging the enemy after he found out that it was his responsibility. Immediately upon receipt of his orders from Valerius, he moved into the plains between Durobrivae and the river Duro. There, he engaged the enemy's invasion force.

"General!" shouted the messenger, "I have news from Quintus Fabius!" Upon hearing that, Valerius allowed one of his subordinate officers to take charge of the maneuvering drill, and he went over to speak with the messenger. "What news do you bring, legionary?" inquired Valerius. "Fabius has won a great battle on the plains by the river Duro, General!" said the messenger excitedly, "There he took Legio VII Victrix and faced the army Trinobantes on the open fields. All of the Trinobantes fell before our swords that day. We lost only nine of our men, while the enemy lost well over 100! It would seem they do not think much of our military; their army consisted solely of three units of peasants! I am certain their next army will consist of considerably more, though. They learned a painful lesson that day." "I see the faith I held in Fabius was not misplaced, then," said Valerius, "Tell him to remain in the area of Durobrivae. An army of three peasants is by no means all that we can expect from the treacherous Trinobantes. I am certain they will attack again, with a stronger army, and we cannot afford to lose a city that was won with so much Roman blood. Tell Fabius to drive whatever army the Trinobantes send at him back across the river Duro!"

Not even a year was to pass before the Trinobantes sent another, more powerful army across the Duro. Valerius again heard of the battle from a messenger after its completion, while he was still busily preparing his new legions. "They’ve attacked again, General!" said the messenger, "They marched up to the very walls of Durobrivae, and bid Quintus Fabius to come outside and face them in battle. Apparently Fabius had done much to win the support of the remaining Cantii population in that city, because before he marched his legion out through the city gates, the local leaders came to him and informed him that they had enlisted three units of volunteer fanatics to assist in the defense of their homes. They fought well too, sir. They distinguished themselves on the battlefield almost as would a Roman!” “Barbarians fighting as Romans??” Valerius exclaimed incredulously, “A few short years ago we were fighting against them, rather than with them on the battlefield. They barely even saw our standards begin to advance before they broke and ran. Where did they learn this discipline? Perhaps simply from living with proper Romans, they desire to be as we are. Go on, man, tell me of the battle!”

The messenger continued, “Fabius positioned the fanatics in the front middle of his lines, in front of all the other troops. Perhaps they simply wanted to acquit themselves of their ignominious loss of several years ago, which also took place on the very same battlefield. Perhaps they viewed it as an omen, that they failed once under Roman eyes in the very same spot they were to fight that day, and they could not bring themselves to let it happen again. Fabius however felt the fanatics were expendable, as he remembered how they performed in battle just a few short years ago. He ordered them to advance rapidly and face the enemy, to do as much damage as possible while he held the advance of Legio VII. He positioned the fanatics directly across from the two enemy peasant units, while there were 4 enemy javelinmen positioned behind the forest between the two lines, slightly to the left (our left) of center. Fabius had planned to hold his legion until the fanatics were all cut down, and wait for the enemy to advance through the forest before engaging them on flat, open terrain, knowing full well that exhausted, heavily damaged barbarian peasants and javelinmen would in no way be a match for a fresh, rested legion. His plan worked even better than he could have hoped, though. The fanatics cut through the peasants like they were not even there, and then turned to engage the javelinmen on their left. As soon as Fabius realized that the fanatics alone would defeat the entire enemy army, he quickly ordered his legion to advance. By then it was too late, though. The closest cavalry cohort made it into the battle just as the last unit of Trinobantes javelinmen was routing, just in time to chase down all of the enemy soldiers who were trying to run away, and cut them down before they even made it back to their camp. Fabius, duly impressed by the outstanding courage and valor shown by the men of Durobrivae, rewarded them all with plunder taken from the Trinobantes camp, and asks that you confer upon each and every one of the soldiers who volunteered to fight Roman citizenship, as a reward for their service to the Empire.”

“Let it be so,” Valerius ordered, “They shall become the first new Roman citizens in this land. As for the Trinobantes, what word of them? Do they send more troops towards our borders?” The messenger responded, “We have dispatched scouts into their territory, General, and they report back that we have smashed the entire offensive strength of that nation. All that remains of their military are the few units holding their cities. If we act now, we can seize all of their lands before they can raise another army to defend themselves.” “NO!” roared Valerius, “We will not move forth past the Duro until we have subdued all of the lands to its south! This province is not yet strong enough to defend such an extended border. You are to return to Fabius immediately and to pass to him my orders that he is not to cross the Duro under any circumstances! Now be gone, do as I say.”

Valerius then returned to the preparation of his troops, content in his knowledge that the northeastern border of his province was safe from the threat of the Trinobantes, at least for now, since they had just been forced to sue for peace. The Trinobantes sent two delegations of their most eminent leading citizens, who kneeled before Valerius begging him to forgive them for the mistaken, foolhardy decision made a few hotheaded younger men who had controlled their (now wiped-out) army. Fortunately for them, the envoys said, these men were killed in battle, so there would be no more talk of war in their land. Both times, they were sent back to their homeland because the tribute they offered was inadequate to even compensate for the cost to the Romans of waging the war. Finally, the third time the envoys arrived in Anderitum, their offer was accepted, and there was peace between the Romans and the Trinobantes. “Now go back to your homes and hearths,” said Valerius as the envoys were departing, “but be mindful of this: If I receive word that any of your armies are even moving towards this province, I will not let a mere river stop my advance. My legions will move across your territory before you can even raise peasants in your defense!”

By now, Legio VI and Legio X were very nearly ready to begin the long awaited campaign against the Aterbates, which would bring nearly all of the land south of the Duro under Valerius’s control, and further would be the next step to his conquest of the entire island of Britannia. He had even more reason to be pleased, though. He had just received word that he now had the perfect excuse to break the peace between the two nations. Earlier that year, an Aterbates army passed through Roman territory, quite obviously just moving through to attack an enemy on the other side with which they were at war. However, Roman territory was inviolate. Simply marching your army onto Roman soil was reason to declare war, and now, Valerius had both the armies and the cause to annex the lands of the Aterbates into the province Southern Britannia.


More to come later . . .

[Xanadu]

I see Fabius is doing quite well for you .
Great narrative Marcus!

[Marcus Valerius]

Thank you, Xanadu.

There is much more yet to come. It's actually difficult for me, I just want to keep playing, but if I go much further I'll get too far ahead of myself and I won't be able to remember all the details I want to when I'm writing!

[Vermithrax]

Excellent story, Marcus! And quite inspiring, too. One of these days I may have to start an AAR of my own. Any pointers you (or Xanadu or anyone else) might have would be highly appreciated, but don't let me distract you from continuing your writing. I look forward to reading the next chapter.

[Marcus Valerius]

Thanks, Vermithrax!

I'm going to *try* to get the next section written tonight. I've already played it and taken notes, but I still have to do the writing (the longest part ). I have a lot to do tonight, though, so I don't know if I can finish it . . .

My suggestion would be to take very good notes. If something happens during the game you want to mention in your AAR, take note of it, because by the time you begin to write, you will probably forget about it! Also, don't let your playing get too far ahead of your writing. I've found that it is much easier to write when the game is still fresh in my mind.

[Xanadu]

Vermithrax,

During battles use the spacebar to pause the action. Sometimes your brain comes up with some good writing ideas in the heat of battle .
If you plan on a descriptive AAR be ready for a VERY LONG writing period. Writing these AAR's are a lot more involved than you might think. Keep the flow of the story going, so commenting on what you do every single season might slow the reading down a lot.
I'm sure there are other suggestions, but after all it is your AAR and you can do it any way you want.
Enjoy

[Vermithrax]

Thanks, guys (especially about the spacebar, Xanadu; I had no idea you could do that )! Now to decide on a tribe & campaign to write about....

...you'll be hearing from me again soon.

[Marcus Valerius]

The spring after making peace with the Trinobantes, Valerius set out from Noviomagus with his two new legions, VI and X, for the territory of the Aterbates. Now that he had his legions adequately prepared for war and had proper cause to invade (however weak it may be), there was nothing to stop his advance, save for the river Duro. His immediate plans were to move towards Yule, the capitol of the Aterbates, and the easternmost of their two remaining cities. When Valerius reached the provincial border, directly south of Yule, he halted his legions, and sent ahead two distinguished envoys, the two most prominent citizens of the provincial capitol, Anderitum. They were to travel to Yule, meet with the Aterbates chieftain, and inform him of his trespass on Roman soil while demanding proper compensation. Of course, Valerius saw to it that the compensation demand was exceedingly more than the amount of damage caused by the Aterbates army in Roman territory. He knew that the chieftain would never accept such an ultimatum, giving him no choice to invade, in what would be seen by other nations as a just and equitable war.

What Valerius did not know was how the Aterbates chieftain would react when faced by such an extreme and unreasonable offer. He had very little experience dealing with such barbarians. Most of the previous 10 years for him had been spent subduing the Parthians, certainly not a civilized race by Roman standards, but nowhere near as barbaric as these harsh, northern people. What was to come next from this barbaric chieftain was to shock and horrify the entire Roman population of Southern Britannia. The chieftain, taking offense to the Roman demands, took out his anger upon the innocent envoys, whose only crime was conveying a message. He had the envoys grievously murdered, and his own envoys back to Valerius, while he was waiting just south of the Aterbates border for the return of his good friends.

Valerius saw two horsemen riding towards his camp from the distance, but as they grew nearer, he did not see the purple-bordered togas of Roman citizens of high standing as he had expected, but rather two peasants dressed in little more than rags, each carrying a strange looking basket. As they approached the Roman camp, they hailed the esteemed Roman provincial governor. “General,” they called out, “we bring you word from our king. These are the reparations he has agreed to pay you for his supposed trespass.” They set the baskets down just past the furthest Roman outpost outside of the camp, and rode of quickly, fearful for their lives. Valerius grabbed his horse and quickly rode out to the outpost to see just what sort of “reparations” the king of the Aterbates had seen fit to give.

The baskets had already been opened by the time he had reached the outpost. He could tell by the looks of anger and disgust on his soldiers’ faces that the barbarian chieftain had declared war that day. When he actually saw inside of the baskets, though, his rage reached a level unimaginable for a Roman citizen of his standing. What he saw inside were the heads of his two very dear friends, brutally hacked off while still alive, simply for conveying a message as requested by Valerius himself. He was beside himself with anger at this unimaginable crime, committed by such a weak local warlord. He immediately ordered the cavalry detachment stationed at that outpost to ride down those who brought this “message” and return them to his camp. He then returned to his camp and ordered the bugle call for his men to assemble before him. As his men gathered, they knew already that something horrible had happened that day. “Romans,” the general began, “Gaius Sulpicius and Marcus Junius were your friends as well as mine. There is not a man among you whom one or both of them has not given his patronage in some manner. Now, they have become the victims of a crime unparalleled throughout history in both its senselessness and heinousness.” As he ordered his centurions to hold out the baskets for all to see, he continued, “Our friends have been brutally murdered this day! The king of the Aterbates has broken the laws of nations with his grievous actions! He has ambushed two peaceful envoys who arrived at his capitol under the flag of truce. Such nations can no longer be permitted to exist in this land. We will move north today, and let nothing stop us until we reach the river Duro. There we can rest, knowing that our friends have been avenged. With the Gods as my witnesses, that man will be punished for his crimes!” The horn was then sounded twice more, and the men were ordered to break camp and make ready to march.

Never before in the history of this great nation has one of her legions broken camp faster or more efficiently. All of the men moved as one with their preparations, knowing that the sooner they began to march, the sooner they would be facing this evil and treacherous enemy on the field of battle. When his legions were nearly ready to depart, the cavalry detachment returned to camp with their prisoners. Valerius ordered that they be crucified for their participation in this brutal crime, and left on display in the countryside of the Aterbates, for all to look upon if they were again contemplating any action that might anger the Romans. That afternoon they departed their camp, crossed the border into the territory of the Aterbates, and began a rapid march towards the capitol, Yule.

It was not to be an easy march, though. Bands of British cavalry alternately harassed their van, flanks, and rear, intent not on meeting the Romans for battle, but simply slowing them down to give their king more time to prepare his defenses. It was a very difficult march for the Romans. They had to march much of the time in full armor with their weapons, just because they did not know when or where they might be attacked again. In the end, it took two full seasons to make the journey to the enemy capitol.

When they arrived at Yule, such a horrifying and barbaric sight greeted them that in Roman memory nothing like it had ever been seen before. Before the barbarian king had sent the Roman envoys’ heads to Valerius in baskets; now he impaled their bodies on spikes sticking ten feet out of the ground, left before his walls for all to see. Clearly the intent was to frighten the Romans, to scare them back into their own territory, but his plan did not work exactly as intended. The Romans, upon seeing this, were so enraged that they could barely be restrained from scaling the city walls before they even dug the ramparts of their camp! Valerius, in fact, used this anger in his favor. He delayed the battle until the following day, by saying that the omens for battle were not in his favor, when in reality they were never better. He was simply letting his troop contemplate all that had been done to injure Roman dignity and pride, not even to mention the crimes committed against her own citizens. Valerius purposely set up his camp within view of the bodies of the two great men, so his soldiers could look upon them while they worked. Later that evening, when all work on the camp had been completed, he ordered a detachment of his elite soldiers to leave the camp and retrieve the bodies. He then held a proper Roman funeral to honor his friends, culminating in a huge funeral pyre in the midst of the camp parade grounds. Valerius addressed his troops at the end of the ceremony. “Sleep well tonight, soldiers,” he said, “for tomorrow we face these barbarians on the field of battle and drive them from it. All that is theirs will become ours. The day will be yours, Romans, you must simply seize it!”

Next, the battle . . .

[Marcus Valerius]

Guess that's all for today for me . . . I thought I was going to get more done, but I ended up writing a lot more than I had planned to happen before the battles started . . .

I'll try to get the next part up tomorrow or Wednesday.

[Vermithrax]

No problem, Marcus, that was a great read! Well worth having to wait for the battle...