Xnophanes666
Legionary
posted 03 April 2014 02:10 EDT (US)
I'm playing as the Scipii, and I already know from my campaign as Carthage that the egyptian Pharaohs guards are tough nuts to crack, as even when I charged them from the rear with Armoured Elephants they only lost a maximum of seven men. So, as a Roman faction, how do I beat them, when the usual flanking doesn't seem to work?
Xnophanes666
Legionary
posted 03 April 2014 03:45
EDT (US)
2 / 4
Thanks, I used this a lot but only just had the time to get an account.
Well, I just started the campaign so I am blocking the Brutii from taking Greece, but when I get to that point I'll try that.
ShieldWall
Legionary
posted 06 April 2014 12:19
EDT (US)
4 / 4
I've rarely been the Romans vs Egypt, but I have been Egypt vs other people, and yes Pharoah's Guards are oddly susceptible to archers even from the front despite all of their armour. I was not happy to be losing very expensive men so easily.
If you've got a pre-Marian army I'd recommend getting some Cretans or slingers alongside your archers as you'll need the range to hit them as early as possible on the battlefield. If you're fighting in a city though it doesn't matter, just put any archers on the walls and get them to shoot into the streets below.
If you're post-Marian, archer auxilias will do a nice enough job on their own. Take a generous amount of them, 4-6 in an army perhaps. Egyptian armies tend to be very heavy on skirmishers and chariots, so there's no need for an excessive number of infantry and even though cavalry would be enormously useful against their skirmishers, their movements are always extremely restricted if there are chariots around. But a lot of good archers will be very effective against anything in the Egyptian arsenal.
If archers are still not enough to get it done, then get one or better still two legionaries to throw all their pila into their backs and then charge as they're about to engage one of your units. They'll lose a lot of men quickly to the pila, which might be enough to shake even their morale for the subsequent charge to break them.