I've never played as the Gauls, but if they have spearbands like the Germans (which I have played) then the use of spies is a good way to go.

The spy identifies units in an army or city. If the Gallic spy sees no chariots, destroy at will.

If he does, get a lot of spearbands. Deploy in two armies. Your primary target is not to defeat the enemy army. Your primary objective is to destroy those chariots. Finish them off then defeat the rest of their army with your second army.

Costly, but potentially potent.

The other thing the Gauls have are the Forester Warbands. These are some of the most potent archers in the game and archers will destroy chariots in no time flat. Also, they have spears for melee combat and decent armor, which means they'll stand up to a chariot charge a lot better than most other units.

I finally managed to take Belgica off the Brits; meanwhile in the south my hordes have reached Capua, so the funds are now flowing freely enough I can afford to keep the rest of them on their island for now. I'd like to take it sooner rather than later - but I think I may wait until I can raise just a few units of foresters from Alesia so that I can finally shoot back!

Thanks for the tips!

Long range archers are definitely my unit of choice- even if I have to go hire Cretans. Against the AI, they're one of the most effective units, particularly since you can keep the out of melee range and just stack up the experience. In many smaller battles, my melee units barely see combat.

I had a Mundus Magnus campaign as Gaul a few months ago and I got into all sorts of difficulty trying to take on the light chariots in the early game. And even worse because I'd modded those chariots to add two archers to each as they seemed a bit underpowered to me - not when you're fighting them! My idea had been the same as yours, avoid open battle and take them on in the towns, but it was when I was laying siege to one of these that I got attacked by them. I had some skirmishers with me, but they were no use as I couldn't put them on ground high enough that they could reach the chariots before they fled. So sad to say the only thing I could do was to rout their friends to damage their morale, and then I had to march them towards the edge of the map until they had nowhere to go. I lost many people, but Britannia was mine for the taking.

If you have a strong cavalry force (I didn't) of a few units you can flank them and charge into them from behind, and despite your losses they should rout quickly enough. But failing that anything you can do to get hold of an archer unit will help. Foresters take a long time to recruit of course and it's difficult to get hold of Cretans as Gaul. When I played Germania I used to wait until I could recruit some horse archers in the East of the county, but they too are a bit out of range for Gaul unless you can send a general and some boats off to fetch them. In the early game I can only say recruit a load of skirmishers and hope you can put them on a big hill.

As to heavy chariots or generals, again you'll take some losses, but with your warlord blowing his horn and a couple of warbands in reserve to counter-attack them on a war cry, they'll start dying quickly enough.

I usually just swarm them with infantry. Not exactly tactically refined, but it denies the chariots freedom of movement, and when they can't move they're pretty easy to kill.

But yeah, archers are good too.

I never use cavalry against chariots. The cavalry just die in droves against them. Infantry has a better chance.

I'm surprised by the person above who says they have difficulty fighting chariots as the Germans. The basic German infantry unit is a phalanx, against which chariots are utterly helpless. Phalanxes are the best possible thing against chariots. The slightest touch of one of those long spears kills them.

German spearbands are slow while chariots are swift. Also, a chariot in the flank or rear of a spearband is deadlier to the spearband than it is to the chariot.

Although once the chariot gets bogged down, it is dead.

Stopped chariot=dead chariot.

Pincushioned chariot also = dead chariot.

It depends on what you have more of to spend on it- arrows or the lives of your soldiers.