By 290 BC, The Road System was complete and the Crown Prince Spartikos had been fighting the Roxolani for 2 years. However the Roxolani refused to commit to stand up battle on favorable or even terms. preferring raids and skirmishes and always slinking away from Spartikos whenever the campaign seemed ready to swing fully his way. This finally ended in late July of 290 BC with the Battle of Red Field. Spartikos, seeing that he would never be allowed battle with the Roxolani unless he was in a poor position, decided to feign weakness by splitting his army up. In order to ensure maximum casualties, Spartikos seeded the tall grass of his chosen camp site with Caltrops. These spiky impediments were functionally invisible to the Roxolani, covered as they were by the tall grass of the Steppe and when the Roxolani attacked Spartacus' Camp that night to take advantage of the lesser number of troops, their mounts ran into the caltrop fields, breaking their legs and stabbing their hooves via the caltrops. It was at that point, with the Roxolani Charge Stalled out by Caltrops that Spartikos sent the signal by way of bonfire to his commander. The rest of his forces had made camp just over the horizon from Spartikos and came marching in quick-time to catch the Roxolani in the flank. By dawn the Roxolani King asked for terms and a great portion of the Roxolani Steppe, from the Meotis Coast to the River Tanais* and down to the border with Colchis was ceded to The Bosporan Kingdom. Of the Roxolani themselves, only a few Clans Swore Fealty to the Bosporan Crown, mostly those living in the ceded territories. The rest of the Roxolani moved East towards the Hyrcanian Ocean** and would quarrel with the Caspi who lived there for land. Spartikos then marched to the City of Tanais at the mouth of the River of the same Name and secured the Fealty of it's King before marching Home.
3 years later in 287 BC there would come another crisis. Olbia, Borysthenes, and Tyras were a Trio of Independent Greek Cities to the West of the Border of the Bosporan Kingdom. Olbia and Borysthenes were the closest, lying on opposite sides of the Borysthenes*** River from each other. Tyras was further distant on the eponymous River Tyras**** and technically under the Sway of the Diadochus Lysimachus, whose armies controlled Thrace, Hellas, Macedonia, And Asia Minor from Bithynia South to Lycia and West to the Aegean. However Lysimachus was embroiled in a War with Alexander, Son of Cassander, former Basileus of Macedonia and Hellas. Alexander was backed by Demetrios I of Epirus and had rallied the Cities of Hellas and a few of the noble Clans of Macedonia to his cause. The War drew Lysimachus' Attention away from the Borders and this emboldened the Dacians. Dacia was a landlocked nation, rich in metals from their mountain Heartland, but poor in agriculture. The Dacian King, Gela, knew that to Strike at Thrace would be folly as it would cause Lysimachus to make peace with Demetrios and provoke a full scale response. However smaller Vassal Territories like Tyras would not be as missed as the Heartland of Lysimachus' Power. Gela assembled a large army of 40,000 Dacian Clansmen, many armed with the Dacian Rhomphaia, and marched this force to assault Tyras. The Other two Independent Greek Cities of Olbia and Borysthenes, fearing a resurgent Barbarian Power coming from the West, begged Eumelos to intervene on behalf of Tyras and pledged fealty to the Bosporan Crown if Eumelos would defeat the new threat. Ironically Tyras did not call for aid themselves, but attempted to gain the protection of their Nominal Overlord Lysimachus instead. However Lysimachus seemed to feel that Epirus was the Richer Prize and paid little heed to the Archon of Tyras' Pleas.
This prompted Eumelos to send 3 Legions West under his Son and Heir, Spartikos, defeater of the Roxolani some 2 years prior, to reinforce Olbia and Borysthenes, gather what troops those two cities might be able to muster, and aid Tyras. Spartacus did so and Rode at the head of 15,000 Troops to fight the Dacians. At Olbia and Borysthenes, Spartacus was received by the Assemblies of the Two Cities and was able to muster an additional 4,000 Troops, though these were mostly Hoplites and Companion Cavalry in the Hellenic Fashion. Recognizing the Weakness of his allies' Formations, Spartacus would make sure to put their Hoplites in the Center and use his Legions and cavalry for the Wings of his formation. This allowed the More Mobile Legions to cover the Flanks of the More Immobile Phalanx in battle, effectively synergizing the two methods of fighting to eliminate the weakness of the Phalanx and allow it to strengthen the Legions.
This formation would prove the key to victory at the Battle of Tyras, in late 287 BC where Gela's forces attempted to exploit the Weakness of the Phalanx only to be stopped dead by the more flexible Legions. The Battle of Tyras would last for most of a day, when just before dusk, as Gelas forces exhausted themselves against the better armored Legions and Phalanx, a sally from the City led by the Archon of Tyras succeeded in breaking out past the siege lines and savaging Gela's Rear. Panicked at being taken from behind and stymied in front, Gela's more undisciplined clansmen began to rout, which was just the Opening Spartikos wanted as his cavalry, thus far held in reserve in case the line broke, was sent in to cut down as many fleeing Dacians as possible. Unfortunately, Gela and his more disciplined Bodyguard were not amongst the Dead by the end of the Battle, having retreated in better order and attempted to get his men back under control. Spartikos was prepared to March into Dacian territory if need be, but ultimately was stopped from doing so. Not because he would need to cross the territory of several Thracian Tribes who themselves had been savaged by the Dacians, nor by Gela's Army, but by the prospect of crossing the Dacian Mountains to get to Gela's Core territories. Ultimately however the Dacian Threat had been broken and the Archon of Tyras pledged fealty to the Bosporan Crown, as Lysimachus was still fighting Demetrios, who now had an extremely capable commander in the form of his Nephew Pyrrhus. This meant that Lysimachus could care less about Tyras. The New Arrangement was sealed and Spartacus returned home successful.
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I'm back to working on this for now
*The Don
**The Caspian
***The Dneiper
****The Dneister