Thank you Marx. I also second what Zavier said about using FRAPS. It makes things much easier.

Zavier, I never noticed that about the colors. Pure coincidence I assure you, seeing as I am from Detroit. I did the Sarmatian link in yellow because that is their faction color. The same with the Carthage one. I made the last green just because I like the color.

Now, onto the battle.

My Peasants sally from Carthago Nova, which draws my Faction Leader into the battle as well since he is adjacent to the city.


I move some of my Peasants out the back gate and around to one of the far corners of the walls. In the meantime my Faction Leader makes his way across the field to where the Gauls have redeployed in the corner of the map.


He moves around their flank, forcing them to change their facing to keep up with him.


I keep pushing around their flank, now at a gallop.


I get past their footmen and have a clear shot at their General. I take it.


We go at it. I am acutely aware of the approaching Gallic foot however, so this will be short.


I disengage and gallop away before the warbands can come up. The Gallic General pursues. That was the whole reason I attacked him.


I slip around the back of the Gallic army and head down alongside the city wall. The Gallic General is still in hot pursuit. Note all those white flags clustered at the far end of the city. That is where we are going.


Bam! The Gallic General followed me directly into the Peasants. They are not much in a fight, but 720 men of any quality has a morale effect on nearby enemy troops. Being outnumbered 16-1 does that to anyone.


Scratch one Gallic General. The remnants of his bodyguard escaped. I did not pursue them for long. Once I saw I could not catch them I stopped and rested. They were not really important. With the General dead, they would disappear after the end of the turn.


Lets try again. Note that the General's Bodyguard have reformed and are on the extreme flank. They do not want any part of my Faction Leader however.


This time I trick a Warband into chasing me around their army and then back toward my Peasants. They stopped half-way and headed back however. Note that they are Very Tired. That means their morale is very low, and they will break easily. Say if a General charges them from behind.


There they go. Soon there would be 240 more dead Gauls.


Third time is the charm they say. I lure another Warband out of formation and after me.


This one follows me all the way back to my Peasants. I guess seeing them changed their mind, because they turned and fled before contact.


That was fine by me, that just meant 240 more kills for my Faction Leader.


That was it for me. I had a good sally, taking out their General and cutting their army in half. I could finish off the rest next turn.


Speaking of next turn. I discovered that the Gauls had retreated to the north. I guess they had enough. So my Faction Leader boarded ship again and headed back for Carthage.


Far down to the south, my Saharan army assaults Nepte. The town has no wall, so I attack immediately.


There was not much to it, although I lost more men to their Numidian Cavalry than I wanted to. Nepte was mine, and all of western Africa.


Back in Iberia, my western army had built a fort outside of Asturica when I saw how many men were inside, not to mention the other army behind me. Next turn the garrison attacked me. Exactly what I had hoped. Now I get a sally.


The AI heads for the corner as it always does in a sally.


My General rides out and immediately charges a unit of skirmishers lagging behind.


While I am dealing with them, the Iberian General turned and charged back into my own infantry.


The unit the General hit breaks under the force of his charge. However, I have more infantry swarming in upon him, as well as my own General.


We ride him down.


The rest of the Iberian army followed shortly after. That would clear the way for the attack on Asturica.


A few turns later my western army made the assault.


Our entry was uncontested, so my army came at the plaza from three sides. My Slingers pull the Iberians out of the square by firing upon them.


They receive a shower of javelins from my mercenaries as they come up.


There was not much more to it after that. I swarmed in from three sides and annihilated them before they could run back to the plaza.


With that Iberia was destroyed. Two factions down.


This is the leader of my western Iberian army. I like this guy. I might make him my Faction Heir.


I am doing well in Iberia. All that remains is Numantia and the entire peninsula will be mine. However, things are not as great as it looks. I am spread out, and the only units I can build or retrain there are Round Shields and Iberian Infantry, and those in only a few cities. All my other units are mercenaries whom I cannot retrain, and many have gotten quite small from casualties. It will be a while before the area is firmly under control.

[This message has been edited by SubRosa (edited 10-29-2007 @ 11:25 PM).]

Good job, SubRosa, as always.

The reason they go off into the corner is because they attacked from a corner. If they had attacked from directly north, south, east, or west, then they wouldn't go into a corner.

Great job with the sally vs Gaul. Peasants and a general, not something I would've tried, color me impressed. A united west africa has to ease your border defense situation a bit, but those Gauls just went to get more methinks.

I'm in the part of my AAR where the next few turns decide a lot as well, just not going to post 120 pics in one post. Looking foreward to seeing how your situation in Iberia works out. Good luck

[This message has been edited by Krymzon74 (edited 10-30-2007 @ 03:59 AM).]

Krymzon: That sally was something straight from the book of the old master Severous himself. I learned it from his AARs. I have never seen anyone use Generals and Peasants so effectively as him.

Awesome peasant and general tactics!

I also never knew that fatigue actually helps break down the enemy. I really never thought the RTW would actually take ALL THOSE FACTORS into consideration.

I'm also rather impressed by the peasant attack. Only time I use peasants is if I'm extremely stuck for flanking troops. 120 men smashing from behind can also be a moral-hitter.

(On your comment about saves) Well, we all learn from one another in different ways My beautiful silver chevrons, though...
*ahem*

nikhilm92: The modeling of fatigue and morale is one of the things I really like about RTW, as those were important factors in ancient (and modern) warfare. For example, The Battle Of The Trebia, where Hannibal used his Numidians to lure the Roman army out to fight. The Romans were hungry from not having breakfast and tired from chasing after the Numidian Cavalrymen through the snow and freezing after wading across an icy river. While the Carthaginians were dry, well-fed, rested, and relatively warm. Obviously that makes a big difference in how two armies fight.

I probably could not play this game in Arcade Mode, where fatigue and morale (as well as ammo limits) are disabled. For me, tiring out and disheartening an enemy is just as important as it was to Hannibal. It is how you can make the most of having less. Tactics like those with my General and Peasants would certainly be impossible.

Now, on to the war.

An all-Skirmisher Numidian army has come into my territory from Lepcis Magna. My diplomat has passed that way, and discovered that both Tripolitania and Libya are Numidian, possibly Cyrenaica as well.


All Skirmishers vs. all horse. The result was never in doubt.


In western Iberia, my new Faction Heir Bisaltes has caught up with the former Iberian (and now Rebel) Generals lurking south of Asturica.


The first General is lured out on the my left by fire from my Slingers. I swarm him with cavalry.


One General down.


The second General charges my reinforcing Round Shields, and is also ganged up on and killed.


Mopping up the remaining Iberian infantrymen was simple after that.


In eastern Iberia my army has been reinforced by Round Shields recruited in Carthago Nova. They march out and engage a Gallic force near the mountains north of Osca.


There was not much to it. One Warband did manage to escape however.


Next turn my Faction Heir Bisaltes, fresh from smiting Rebel Generals, marches east to Numantia. There is a Gallic army in the field outside of the city. He attacks it, drawing Numantia's garrison out into the open as reinforcements.


Here is a view from the Gallic field army. My troops are before them in the valley, and the reinforcing garrison behind me and to the right, in front of the big rock. You can see Numantia in the distance behind them.


Here they come onto the field. I shift my entire army over to meet them, sending my Numidians far forward to soften them up.


A side view. My Numidians are pulling back to the right, hoping to draw the Gauls after them. In the center you can see my Balaeric Slingers are already working them over.


The Gauls do not pursue, so I send the Numidians back.


They use the last of their javelins on the Gauls. Firing right into their exposed right side.


That got their attention. My Numidians flee into the arms of my Round Shields.


The Gallic General now charges at my Slingers.


I counter with Round Shields, infantry, and my own General.


He breaks before my footmen can even get there.


Down he goes.


There goes the rest of his army.


The garrison finished off, I turn to face the Gallic field army. It is a long trudge across the field to where they sit on the far map edge.


My Slingers get there first, and get the attention of these Gallic Skirmishers.


Before the Skirmishers can get into my Slingers, my horsemen charge into their flank.


We pursue them right up to the Warbands, then pull away. They have lots of sharp pointy things that our horses do not like.


But the Warbands are not attacking us. Instead they are fleeing past us for the map edge. We charge into the back of the last one and shatter them.


Unfortunately, one of the Warbands escaped and retreated into the city. So now I will have to take it by siege.


In other news, I have been steadily building up my eastern cities. I still have a little way to go before I can field a first-class army, but my Awesome Temple of Baal has been completed in Carthage. Those of you who have played Carthage before know what that means. Look at these lovelies. (These are their stats with no upgrades).


I cannot believe how fast my eastern cities are growing. It is only 256 and Carthage has a population of over 18k. It is expanding so fast that I cannot keep up with the construction of buildings in it. Thapsus, Lilybaeum, Messana, and Syracuse are the same. My strategy has been to build temples of Tanit in all my small settlements to get the bonus to farming (and thusly to population). Then when they become big I tear them down and build temples of Baal for the law bonus (and Sacred Band). I never had to do that in Carthage however, its population was a skyrocket to begin with.

So far my naval strategy has been highly successful. I am continually fending off Julii, Brutii, and Greek fleets. But so far I have kept them all in check, and I have several ships with silver experience chevrons. The worst has been the super-pirate fleets that tend to appear from nowhere. They have handed me several defeats, but I have been able to quash them as well.

Money has finally been getting better. The last few turns I have been actually making a profit for once. Of course I have not been building any military units, and have even been disbanding quite a few that it looks like I will not need. Such as most of the garrison of Caralis. The remaining Round Shields I had there will be shipped over to Africa to hunt rebels. I have also decided to ship my Elephants from Sicily to Iberia. I am sure they will make quite an impression on the Gauls. It was that or disband them, as I plan to take War Elephants with me to Italy. I will soon have a stable in Thapsus that can build them.

[This message has been edited by SubRosa (edited 11-10-2007 @ 02:34 AM).]

Carthage and that one city in Spain grow like crazy. I did a migration campaign as the Selucids and went west to where Carthage is. I can't remember what year it was when I got there, but it was already a huge city. I think it was maybe ten to 15 years in or so.

Corduba is the other city in Iberia Zavier. It has a 6% growth rate now, and only has the first level farm upgrade. I have not built growth upgrades there either, because I am afraid of when it gets too big to keep order there.

Now onto the show.

A big Gaul army has come down through the Pyrenees, so my East Iberian Army marches out to attack it.


My, there sure are a lot of them. I must admit that their sheer numbers made me wonder if perhaps attacking them had not been such a good idea...


Here we go, I only managed to get pictures of the opening moves from my right flank, but the left was doing the same thing. I have deployed my infantry and General in the center, with Round Shields on both flanks. My center stood their ground while the Gauls advanced, Slingers firing into the advancing barbarians. My Round Shields started a long sweep around the Gaul flanks. The Purple and Blue Round Shields going all the way. While the Red one going only part way out and stopping,


My Slingers skirmished away as the Gauls approached, leaving my General and the Scutarii Mercenaries to face the entire Gaul center alone. The Gauls converge in from all sides, and I am quickly being overrun. However, this also creates large gaps in their line between their center and both flanks. My Red Round Shield threads this gap and charges at the Gauls from the rear. In the meantime my Purple Round Shield has swept completely around the Gallic army, and heads for their center. The Blue Shield is unable to get past the flank in time, but he does keep them occupied, preventing them from moving to assist the suddenly threatened Gallic Center.


My own center is just moments from routing, but by now my Round Shields are charging into the rear of the the Gauls.


Their General is killed and their left center instantly dissolves under the blow. That leaves the General's Bodyguard, who are still fighting even though he has died.


They are hit from behind my Round Shields from the left and rout, taking the rest of the Gallic center with them.


The Gallic flanks are still a threat however. Now they are closing in on me from both directions.


The Barbarian Cavalry get to me ahead of the Scutarii. After momentarily giving way before them to draw him in, I hit them with Round Shields from three sides. They evaporate.


The infantry go next.


The remaining Warband on the other flank goes soon after.


Heroic Victory. Phew, that was exciting! At the beginning of it I was seriously thinking I was going to be wiped out. Even I am surprised at how I was able to get my Round Shields around and through the Gallic infantry to hit their center from behind. It is amazing how the situation can completely reverse in seconds.


The same turn, my Faction Heir assaults Numantia. This will not be so exciting as the Battle of the Pyrenees, as there is only a single Warband left to stand against me.


There was no resistance at the walls, allowing me to enter and freely deploy around the town square.


My Slingers pull the Warband out of the square.


I counter-attack with my Faction Heir and infantry. The Gauls rout even before my Round Shields can charge into their rear.


Numantia is mine, and now I am the sole ruler of Iberia.

[This message has been edited by SubRosa (edited 10-30-2007 @ 09:31 PM).]

Amazing job at the Pyrenees!

Make sure you keep recruiting soldiers at Carthage, that's the only way to keep the population from getting too large.

Yeah, good job in Iberia too. I agree with CaesarVincens that you should build lots of soldiers in Carthage. In my previously mentioned Selucid campaign, I had the city cranking out phalanxes nonstop.

Speaking of Phalanxes, are you making Sacred Bands yet? I know that they have the same uniform style (but different color) than the Greek Armored Hoplites, but do they have the same stats?

I also notice on your campaign map that Dacia is doing much better than it usually does in any of my campaigns. Do you think you're going to end up fighting them at all this campaign? How far east do you think you'll go? Are you going up north to the British Isles? How far east in Africa will you go? Any contact with Egypt in the near future? I assume you're going into Italy eventually, but are you going to wait until after the Marius reforms so you get better generals? Are you tired of all my questions right now?

I'm done though, so don't worry.

Hey guys. I am churning out Sacred Band from Carthage non-stop. I do not plan to stop any time soon. Right now I am building up blacksmith/armorers so they roll off the presses good and tough. But after that I will probably turn to the Secret Police buildings. Right now my Faction Leader with his stellar Influence is keeping a lid on the disorder. He is really long in the tooth however, so I have my new Faction Heir coming over from Iberia to take over running the city..

Wow, tons of questions there Zavier. Well, let me see. First if you check a few posts up I have a pic of the Sacred Band stats up there. If I recall, I think the Armored Hoplites were a little tougher, but I have not seen their stats in a while so I am not sure.

I was surprised at Dacia too. That map info is rather old though, so things may have changed by now. I doubt I will want to go that far up. The cities up there are not worth much, money-wise. I will be going into Gaul however. I am not sure how far north I want to go. Maybe as far as Alesia. At least along the southern coast. More on that below.

As far as Egypt goes, I do not really want to go that far east into Africa. I am happy with Lepcis Magna. I prefer to leave the Numidians in between us, that way I will not have to worry about fending off Egyptian attacks.

After Italy, I will probably cross the Adriatic and go into Greece and the Balkans. To destroy the Romans there is for no other reason. I am not specifically waiting for the Marian Reforms. I have just been waiting to be able to put together a full stack of Sacred Band, Long Shield Cavalry, and Archers before doing so. I am on my way to that now. So it will not be too much longer.


Okay, now on to the next update.


Several years of game time have gone by and not much has happened other than lots of naval battles. I have been turtling while building up my Great Armament to attack Italy with.

This is something interesting that I noticed. Osca has a Shrine to Esus, and I have the option of building a Temple of Baal over it. I was not expecting to be able to do that to a temple belonging to a different culture. I took a look under the hood and found that both are classified as Temples of Justice, which is must be why it is doable. Set is the only other Justice Deity in the game, so I am sure that one could do this with all three.


This is the first of several offers of peace from the Greeks. I would be glad to make peace and establish trade with them again. I do not plan on getting to mainland Greece for a long while. However, I am not paying 10k for it. Whenever I try a counter-offer without the payment they turn me down. So it looks like I will have to keep on sinking their fleets off southern Italy.


This is an interesting battle I fought. I sent some Round Shields out to lay siege to Lepcis Magna, and had a General coming up to reinforce. The Numidians sallied before the General could get there. This was neat, I do not often get to fight someone sallying against me.


I find my Round Shields lined up outside the main gate, and a moment later the first of several Numidian Javelinmen start coming out.


I charge. Nothing fancy, just straight ahead.


Bam! The first Javelinman unit routs second after contact.


The rest follow, and my horsemen are pouring into the city. Note the Numidian Cavalry who are going out the gate to the right. At this point they changed their minds and started back into the city.


I race them to the plaza.


A general melee ensues.


I crush them for a Heroic Victory and Lepcis Magna is mine!


A few turns later I find I am the Richest Faction. I have gone from having barely two denarii to rub together to being swimming in money. Taking Iberia really helped there I think. Believe it or not Corduba is my wealthiest city. It brings in more money than Carthage, even though it is a quarter the size. I never would have imagined that.


My first archers roll off the archery range at Syracuse.


Then my first War Elephants at Thapsus.


One of my diplomats has made his way to Egypt. It seems that Alexandria has rebelled. A turn before this there was an Egyptian flag flying over the city.


Finally, my newly named Army of the West has just crossed over into Gaul, packed full of Round Shields, Mercenary Scutarii, Balearic Slingers, and my Elephants from Sicily. This is the largest army I have fielded in the campaign so far.

[This message has been edited by SubRosa (edited 10-31-2007 @ 00:39 AM).]

Wow, SubRosa. I'm really impressed. I just found RTW a few weeks ago...the whole Total War series actually. I had never played any of them.

Anyway, I played through the Brutii Campaign and started an Alemanni campaign on BI and a Carthage one on vanilla. Then I found you're AAR's. I'm really impressed at your ability to win even pitched battles while taking so few casualties. To this point I have been a pretty infantry heavy army, but you are making me rethink all that.

Anyway, my main question is to ask how the heck you are getting some of those camera views you are getting. I can only go so far away from my army, but it seems like you are panning all over the battlefield. Is it just me?

Keep up the good work, I'm keeping up with this AAR and working my way through your Sarmatian Campaign as well. Thanks for doing these.

Go to options, game options, then uncheck "restrict camera." And have fun flying all over the battlefield.

Hi Bones. Thank you for the compliment. I was very much a heavy infantry girl when I started to. All those years of reading about the Greeks, Macedonians, and Romans no doubt. It took me a while to get the hang of fluid, all-cavalry battles, especially with horse-archers. Now I am a Sarmatian Virgin through-and-through, and horse-archer factions are my favorite.

The reason your camera view is restricted is one of the game settings. When you start your game go to Options, then Camera Options. Uncheck the boxes for Restrict Camera View and General Cam. I am not sure what the Real Time Strategy Camera does, but I have it unchecked as well.

[This message has been edited by SubRosa (edited 11-07-2007 @ 05:03 PM).]

You have restricted camera on, when in an campaign hit esc and go to game options and click the restrict camera box to untick it(might be during a battle) the only other time you'll have to do it again is if you do the tutorial again or reinstall the game.

Tonight's update. This will be a big one.

Well, the Greeks want peace again. This time they are asking for twice as much money and Syracuse! They can bite my elephant.


My Western Army attacks Narbo Martius. I did not even need the Elephants to batter down the walls, one of my spies opened the gates for me.


There was no real fight for the walls. I approached the square from four directions. While I was still getting prepared for the final attack, the Gallic General charged some of my Balaeric Slingers. I countered with the Mercenary Scutarii and Round Shields who were guarding them.


Now I have more Round Shields charging him from the rear. About this time I ordered my other Scutarii to unload their javelins on the Warbands in the town square.


Down goes the Gallic General.


I looked back at the square, and was horrified to see that my infantry was fighting it out hand-to-hand with the Gauls. I had only wanted them to throw their javelins!


So I send everyone in. Including the Elephants.


Narbo Martius was mine, although at a higher price than I would have liked. It is a tiny village, with barely 700 people within. All these barbarian settlements have been this way. I think because the AI is churning out Warbands whenever my armies come near. That has a big effect on Huge scale.


A small Gallic force was lurking in the hills near the settlement, so I sent a small force out to deal with them. When I started out playing RTW I would have sent my entire army after them, and then would have ended up chasing them all over the countryside because they naturally would retreat. Now I always send a force of roughly equal size so the computer will stand and fight. Besides, I really do not need a sledgehammer to kill a fly.


Not a very remarkable battle, again I lost more than I would have liked to however.


This is what I had been hoping for. I receive a Man Of The Hour. I am short on Generals in Western Europe, I could use some more.


Next turn I saw a Gallic General with a big army on the coast nearby. So I marched out to attack.


This time I set up with my heavy infantry far back, and my Balearic Slingers out far forward in the center, with my Generals and Elephants acting as security for them. My Round Shields are spread out along both flanks. My intent was to engage the Gauls with missiles as long as possible, then fall back to the heavy infantry. In the ocean to the right you can see a pirate fleet that would give me some huge headaches over the following turns.


On the right, a unit of Gallic Cavalry charges one of my Round Shields. My other horsemen all close in on them.


The Gauls give way.


Now you can see the Gallic General is moving behind his army to the threatened flank.


Here is a side-view of the armies, with the Gallic General coming forward in the center. He is looking to take my Round Shields in the flank. I am already moving my Generals and Elephants down behind my own army in order to intercept.


I bring my new General and all my Round Shields on that flank against him. My main General and Elephants are still too far away to reinforce.


They are still going at it as my Elephants start to come up. A Gallic Skirmisher on the extreme flank routs as they approach.


Finally the Gallic General goes down.


The Gallic left completely dissolves in the chaos and flees.


All this time my Slingers have been working over the Gallic army, which has remained stationary before me. So I brought my heavy infantry up at a run. Here they are giving they Gauls a volley of javelins.


My Round Shields on my left, which have been stationary up until now, sweep around the Gallic flank. The entire Gallic army turns and heads for the map edge.


I send my army in hot pursuit. Here some of my Mercenary Scutarii come up on the only Gallic unit not running. Their Druids, who appear to be exhorting their comrades to come back and fight. They would meet their Gods a few moments later.


My Round Shields hit the Gallic infantry on the left.


The break.


We run them down. Victory.


I decide to jump-start Narbo Martius' population. I hire all the mercenaries in the area. Then I disband them.


They enter the population of Narbo Martius, and the settlement expands.


Next turn, another big Gallic army lays siege to my Western Army in Narbo Martius.


I sally. Once again, there sure are a lot of those Gauls. However, I have reinforcements that have made the trip all the way from Syracuse. Two units of Carthaginian Archers. Added to my three Balearic Slingers, I now have a powerful missile arm.


The Gallic army picks up and moves to the corner as I start bringing my troops out of the city.


The Gallic army sets up in the corner.


I bring my army up spread out, with my missile troops up front. This unit of Barbarian Cavalry thought one of them looked like a juicy target.


Until my new General slammed into them.


Then my main General from behind, with Elephants in tow. That was it for the Barbarian Cavalry. Note the single Gallic Warband coming up on the left, behind my Elephants. They are being shot by Archers right in front of them, and Balearic Slingers from the flank. A moment later my infantrymen would unload a volley of javelins into them.


That was it for the Warband. The rout as well.


Here is a side-view of the field afterward. The Gallic army makes a long neat line. Mine is pretty ragged and spread out. However, I have 5 long range missile units who are working the Gauls over. All they have are Skirmishers, who are too far away to shoot back. As my army is more mobile, if the Gauls advance I will simply retreat and charge their flanks with my horse. If they stay they are shot to pieces. If they retreat their rear is wide open. This battle was won before I fought it.


As in the last battle, I send my Round Shields on my left in a sweep around the Gallic line.


A lone unit of Barbarian Cavalry on that flank comes after me.


I send all my Round Shields at them, and the Gauls vaporize.


Now the Gallic General comes after them. Once again, I send all my cavalry in after him. He did not give in so easily, and this battle lasted for quite a long time.


Back on my right, another Warband comes out after my Archers. I let them come forward and hit them with my second General. They rout.


Another Warband breaks upon my heavy infantry. Far in the background you can see my Round Shields still fighting the Gallic General.


I can feel the Gauls breaking and I send my entire army forward.


Finally the Gallic General goes down. With him dead, the rest of the Gallic army fled.


The Gauls are crushed. My missile troops took out about 1,000 of them. One unit of Balearic Slingers accounting for 450 of those.


The enemy army routs.


There is another big Gallic army lurking around southern Gaul that will have to deal with. However, my Round Shields are pretty beaten up and I cannot retrain them in Narbo Martius. I would have to send them back to Osca, which I do not want to do with that big army nearby. So I think I am going to board ship and assault Massilia from the sea. My spies show that it has a stable that can retrain my cavalry, and I can attack with my Elephants in the same turn I land.

[This message has been edited by SubRosa (edited 10-31-2007 @ 08:02 PM).]

One more update before bedtime.

Well, I did have the Army Of The West board ship for Massilia as I had intended. They ended the in the sea half-way there. So naturally on the computer's turn guess what happened?


I was not going to let the Gauls foil my plans. I decided to split my army in two. My two juniour Generals returned to Narbo Martius with most of my Round Shields and my Balearic Slingers, while my senior General would forge on ahead to take Massilia. Here you see the force sent to relieve Narbo Martius.


My Peasants sally from within the city, drawing the relief force in as reinforcements.


The Gauls set up in the corner of the map.


Once again, I lead with the Slingers and they start taking a toll on the Gauls. The Gauls advanced on me.


Not wanting to pitch into it so soon, I retreated. Note that I sent two Round Shields around the Gaul right flank in the far distance, rather than bringing them straight backward.


This brought the Warband chasing them directly in front of one of my towers.


When the Gauls realized they could not catch me, they gave up and went back to their original position. Their backs made excellent targets for my Slingers. You can see from the lines of corpses which way they came and went.


Now the Gauls advance again, this one Warband out far in front of the others. I saw an opportunity to destroy it quickly, and sent in all my cavalry on my right.


OOps, it was not quite so far out ahead of the others as I first thought. I stop my cavalry charges before they can make contact and pull my horsemen back. I do not want a pitched battle with 3 Warbands.


Funny thing happened a few moments later. The Gauls routed. I think it was mainly from the concentrated bullet-fire they were taking from the Slingers directly to the left of them, who were firing into their rear at point-blank range. That unit has two silver chevrons of experience, so they really pack a wallop.


I felt that was the turning point, so I sent my cavalry in. All of it.


The Gauls retreat. Here you see the Round Shields on my left charge a Warband that is out on the flank of their army.


My second General hits one of the Warbands in the center.


My first comes in to reinforce, and my Round Shields are coming in from all sides as well. The entire Gallic army routed moments after this pic was taken.


I almost missed this lone Swordsman.


One more Gaul army down. Again the Slingers accounted for half the Gallic losses.


Phase Two of my operation. The senior General lands near Massilia and marches on the city. I just noticed that he has 10 Command Stars now.


He immediately attacks.


Here is a picture I like to see. Carthaginian Archers firing over the walls.


Here is how it looked on the other end.


By the time the Elephants had battered down the gate there were not many of the Swordsmen left. They did not stick around to fight.


The Elephants go in first.


I converged on the square. I was setting the Elephants on one side, intended to charge them in with the rest of my cavalry once my archers pulled the defenders from the square and my infantry engaged them in the front. But somehow one of my General's bodyguards got himself in the middle of the town square. I had a devil of a time keeping the rest of his bodyguard from diving in too. Then the Gauls came out after my Elephants, who were between them and my General. At first it did not look like much of a problem.


But then it got worse. Elephants without close support do not do well. That is when they get killed. As you can see, my Round Shields are still coming up on the right.


Finally I get them and my General into action, but not before I lost two Elephants.


Then it was on into the square. Here you can see some of my mercenaries receiving an experience upgrade.


Massilia was now mine. That gives me the southern coast of Gaul. From here I think I will probably thrust directly north to Lugdunum and Alesia. I am not sure if I want to keep them however. I may just exterminate and destroy everything, then withdraw to the coast. Hmmm, I might do that with all of Gaul, destroying them as a faction and leaving a buffer zone of rebels between me and the other Barbarians.


One of my diplomats has made the long trudge from southern Italy and around the northern Greece. He has discovered that the Brutti have taken Pella, and Macedon seems relegated to only the single settlement of Bylazora.


Sad news, my Faction Leader has died. I was expecting it, as he was in his mid-sixties, and I had already given all his retinue members away.


Here is my new Faction Leader, the same guy I picked for Heir back in Iberia. Only 31 and he already has an Influence of 10. I will probably be keeping him in Carthage to prevent the city from rebelling. My new Faction Heir is none other than my 10 Star General in Massilia, who is also ten years older than my Faction Leader (the computer picked him, not me, not that I mind).

[This message has been edited by SubRosa (edited 02-17-2008 @ 01:00 PM).]

Again, nice work with slingers and killing the Gaul stacks.

Planning to expand into Gaul itself, or bite down into Italy from multiple direcitons?

Thank you. I am always most at home with missile troops, although slingers are my least favorite. I am finding them to be most effective in small unit engagements however, where there is little danger of them firing into friendly troops. I still have the Balearic Slingers I began the game with, and now that they are up to two silver chevrons of experience each they are quite frightening. Especially against lightly armored barbarians.

I am still not sure exactly what to do with Gaul. I think I will probably take and keep Lugdunum at least, because its location makes a good base of operations to dominate southern Gaul, and it is a large enough size that I can actually retrain troops there.

Now, on to the serious business of war!

I have sent my new Faction Heir (he of the 10 Command Stars) south by ship for Sicily. He will lead my Great Armament to victory against the Romans. I have sent a promising young General from Sicily north to take his place.

While both were enroute, a band of rebels had appeared in northern Sicily. Foolish mortals, they will serve as a sacrifice upon the altar of my Great Armament.


I bring some troops of the army I have been assembling to invade Italy with. Here you see a beauty shot of them marching forward, Carthaginian Archers first, followed by Sacred Band, and then War Elephants.


Here is a nice close up of the Sacred Band. They are dead sexy.


Here a War Elephant is already in action, an archer in its tower opening fire on the rebels.


The Sacred Band meet the rebels.


The War Elephants meet the rebels. It was not really any kind of challenge at all. Just a chance to show off my new army. However, the Elephants did gain an experience chevron from their afternoon of rebel bowling.


Up in Gaul, I had concentrated my Army of the West in a spot between both Narbo Martius and Massilia. Naturally a Gallic army avoids me and instead goes behind me to lay siege to Narbo Martius. What is this, the 3rd of 4th siege?


I do not bother with a sally. I do not need the extra advantage here.


I deploy most of the army in the open, placing the cavalry on both flanks in the trees. We advance slowly, allowing the missile troops to do their work.


The Gaul Captain advances on my left.


My Slingers welcome him.


Then my Elephants.


Scratch one Gallic Captain.


The rest of the Gallic army gave way before that and were run down. Here goes the last one.


One more Gallic army destroyed.


Another Gallic army was approaching from the north-west, and it looked like I could attack it this turn. However, that turns out not to be the case. Note that small Gallic force to the east. I was expecting them to lay siege to either Narbo Martius or Massilia, so I built a unit of Round Shields in each city to sally with.


Next turn, guess what?


My new General of the Army of the West has come up however, he lands and attacks the Gauls besieging Massilia, drawing the garrison out into the open field with him.


There really was not much to it. Just a matter of riding around the Gallic infantry until they were tired out, then hammering them with charges from both directions. Still, it was a Heroic Victory. A good way for young Tydeides Mago to begin his tour of duty in Gaul.


Further north, the Army Of the West splits into two in order to attack Gauls in both directions. The juniour General leads a small force against these Gauls.


It was nothing special. My Balearic Slingers shredded the Warband while they vainly chased after my cavalry.


Then when they were tenderized, my horsemen crushed them.


No survivors.


The main body of the Army of the West engaged that large Gaul army I saw to the west on the previous turn.


The field was dominated by this huge hill on my right. Both of our armies tried to get to it.


My Round Shields got there first, with my Slingers in tow.


The Gallic General charged right into them. Note that to the left I am trying to bring up my Elephants to relieve the Round Shields.


The General goes down before they get there.


The Gallic army disintegrated moments later.


Another Gallic army sent packing.


Finally, the Great Armament is completed! Sanctified in rebel blood, they are ready to march. Rome Must Be Destroyed!

[This message has been edited by SubRosa (edited 11-01-2007 @ 05:51 PM).]

I find Carthage to have one of the most mobile combined arms armies of all available factions. Nice destruction of the Gaul armies. Though you should really go after the cities, otherwise they will keep sending armies after you.

How are you keeping a lid on PO in Corduba, just a good general and no farms?

Anyway, very good use of slingers, I hate them but that's just because I never thought to use them like you do.

Selifator: I might still take all the Gallic cities. But then that just means I will be fighting the Germans and Britons. So I think I might go with my idea of taking all the cities letting the rebel, as I did with Capua. That would give me a buffer zone of rebels between me and the other barbarian factions.

Legionary_994: Actually Corduba has not been a problem yet. It only just passed a population of 9k, which still makes it the largest city in Spain by far. I have taxes set to Very High to keep the growth rate as low as possible, but I have neither a super-large garrison nor a General there, just a half-stack of Peasants.


Edited to Add:

Here is a small update for tonight.

Well, the Brutti are finally getting around to taking Capua.


While up north, Masillia has once again been besieged by the Gauls.


The new Commander of the Army of the West sallies once more.


It is a carbon-copy of the last sally. A Heroic Victory and not one Gaul survives.


Down in Messana I can now build Poeni Infantry. This is a good thing, as my Sacred Band can only be retrained in an Awesome Temple of Baal, which I only have at Carthage and Thapsus at the moment. These Poeni can be retrained anywhere there is a 4th tier barracks, so they will most likely be the backbone of my military when I expand beyond Italy and into Greece.


Speaking of new tech, here is my newest warship. The Quinquireme. If you take a look at the map in that picture, you will see that the Great Armament has landed in Italy, just outside of Croton.


Back in Gaul, Tydiedes is finally able to join up with his army, and he leads the assault upon Lugdunum. Wow, where did he get those 10 Command Stars when attacking?


The city is taken, although with more casualties than there should have been. One of the towers was somehow able to shoot my men in front of the gate, in spite of it not being nearby. That annoyed me.


I have sent a spy ahead into Alesia, and he discovered that it has a Sacred Circle of Abdona, which confers a Gold (+3) upgrade to missile weapons. It also has a 3rd tier archery range, so I can build archers there too. I have decided that I am going to take and hold Alesia, and all of Gaul with it...

[This message has been edited by SubRosa (edited 11-02-2007 @ 02:37 PM).]

[This message has been edited by Selifator (edited 11-02-2007 @ 02:37 AM).]

all that in 20-odd turns :O