Master of Rome - A Caesar vs Pompey AAR

[Nepos96]

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This civil war is not only pitting Roman against Roman, but brother against brother: while his brother Gaius is fighting for the Pompeians, Quintus Cassius Longinus has decided to join the Caesarians. Not a very skilled commander, Caesar has decided to leave him in charge of Hispania Ulterior (further) alongside Calvinus, who is taking his two legions in Carthago Nova. Should trouble break out in Hispania, these two should be able to handle it, if it is nothing major.

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Gallia enjoying the benefits of Roman civilization.

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We also receive confirmation that Octavius and a few Hispanic legions (remnants of the army we were fighting just a few months ago) plus auxiliaries, have just joined the rest of the Optimates army in Africa. I suspect these surviving legions might be understrength though, thus unlikely to join Pompey in Italia soon.

[Nepos96]

Turn 15 - February 48 BC

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Dolabella reaches the city of Emporiae and the army that is eager to face the Pompeians in Italia. Unfortunately for us, a storm severely damages the fleet, many ships at the bottom of the sea. Caesar must hope and pray to the Gods that no storm is there to sink the surviving ships with his army aboard. Caution is not an option right now.

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The Numidian cavalry will reach Italia by land, as I cannot afford to wait so that I may embark them as well.

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Our destination is Pisae, one of closest Italian ports available to us. Rome does not have a proper harbour, while Neapolis (where the rest of the army is located) is too far, going there would force me to stay a sea even longer than I am comfortable with.

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After consulting with Fabius, Anthony comes to the realization that Pompey could easily bypass his position if he chose to take the Via Appia, a road connecting Rome with Brundisium through Capua (completely bypassing Neapolis). He then orders the two armies to retreat back to Rome.

[Nepos96]

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While Decimus’ fleet moves to Drepanum (Sicilia), as I fear a surprise appearance of Pompey in Neapolis could cause significant damage to our ships located there.

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The gods really seem unhappy with us, another epidemic, this time targeting our Italian ranks. A battle within the next few days could prove catastrophic.

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Former Praetor Servilius Vatia Isauricus (son of the namesake man who fought against the Isaurians, current Princeps Senatus and is available in the “Mithridatic war” scenario) joins our ranks. He will probably join the army of Anthony, but his decision to back us up during this conflict (even with the Pompeian army approaching) is going to be rewarded with the consulship for coming year (starting in March), Caesar of course being is colleague (after a very short stint as Dictator).

[Nepos96]

Turn 16 - March 48 BC

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Pompey does indeed bypass Neapolis, taking his army to the walls of Capua. A short siege of the city is all that is left between Pompey and Rome.

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It is that time of the year again, where people happily part with a portion of their earning for the good of the state. Since we now also control Hispania our income should be fairly close to what the Pompeians are getting from their eastern provinces. We wisely spend part of that income (460000 Denarii) by splurging on 50 new Quinqueremes.

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Our armies took quite a beating over the last 12 months (battles, desertion and epidemics). New replacements are being trained so that they may soon join our legions. Finding enough men to fill up the legionary ranks cost us at least another 460000 Denarii. Some money has also been set us aside to reinforce our army in Hispania with a few Equites.

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Current situation in the Res Publica: the conquest of Hispania gained us all our Iberian objectives; however, Pompey still controls the majority of them. Their morale has recovered since the loss of Rome and the VPs race is still hotly contested. Our army is almost as big theirs, but their fleet is at least 6 times bigger than ours. Truth be told, work on our new squadron is Drepanum has just started, while Dolabella fleet recently suffered quite some losses due to a storm. It will take us a while to replace said losses as I choose to focus on our land unit, but once our fleet has been patched up, the gap between us may not be as big as this screen would otherwise lead us to believe. Still, it is quite obvious that Pompey is doing everything he can to retain control of the sea.

[Nepos96]

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Still hungry, but not as much, thanks to the conquest of Baetis. Progress!

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Speaking of progress, the people of Hispania are starting to come around to us.

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Julius Caesar is back in Italia. His army is simply too much exhausted to even contemplate a march on Rome right after disembarking. However, Caesar mere presence in Rome may be enough to stop Pompey. After all, while Anthony legions are mostly made up of new recruits and former Pompeian soldiers (except for the two legions from Gallia Cisalpina), Fabius’ legions are veterans of his Gallic and Hispanic campaign.