[RTW AAR] Barbarian Battles: Gaul vs. Germania (my AAR tourney entry)
Barbarian Battles: Gaul vs. Germania
I once thought Spain was the worst faction to use online, but now that I’ve had more experience with the “lesser” factions, I’ve decided that Gaul was even worse. At the denarii level I play at, Gaul ultimately lacks an archer force since Forester Warbands are too pricey to use in a conventional manner. And so for the moment, I’ve concluded that Gaul (at 10,000 denarii) is best used as a melee army. Basically, this means YOU SEE ENEMY?! YOU CHARGE IT!! That was my basic Gallic mentality logging into Gamespy.
By the way, I'm using an alias screenname, vLr}Faster, for this battle.
So, I created a game on the Grassy Flatland at 10,00 denarii (with No Rules). A player named Alexius joined my game. Probably after seeing my faction selection of Gaul, Alexius decided to use the Germans. Gaul vs. Germania? Definitely, an exciting matchup even if it favors the Germans heavily. Gaul is outclassed by Germania in every department (cavalry, archers, infantry). But perhaps I could employ some Gallic trickery to defeat my Germanic opponent. Since Gauls are good at hiding, I decided beforehand that I would hide a portion of my army to confuse my opponent. Confusion good!
This is what our armies looked like:
vLr}Faster (Gaul: 457 troops)
- 1 Barbarian Warlord (+ general unit)
- 8 Barbarian Noble Cavalry
Alexius (Germania: 717 troops)
- 1 Barbarian Chosen Warlord (+ general unit)
- 1 Chosen Archer Warband
- 2 Berserkers
- 3 Chosen Axemen
- 1 Screeching Women
- 2 Barbarian Peasants
I was slightly outnumbered, but in retrospect, Alexius’ army wasn’t well-equipped to deal with mine. Still, my opponent had a chance to win if he could support his Berserker units well.
I decided to split my army in half during the Deployment phase. In plain view of the enemy, I deployed my Barbarian Warlord unit along with 3 Barbarian Noble Cavalry units. I kept my remaining 5 Barbarian Noble Cavalry hidden in the deep rear.
Obviously, my opponent would know I was hiding something, but at least he wouldn’t know for sure what was back there. Creating uncertainty in the enemy is always a good thing.
After we both clicked on “Start,” I finally saw my opponent’s army, and that‘s when my pre-battle plans took more shape.
Since my opponent only had 1 cavalry unit and 1 archer unit, I’d be free to run circles around him. My plan was now simple: harass his army and lure his cavalry and berserkers out of formation. If I could kill either his cavalry or his berserkers (or both), I would have no trouble swarming the rest of his army with a mass cavalry rush.
So, first things first: probe the enemy and test out his reaction system. For this task, I would use my Barbarian Warlord like a Chinese spear (probing and distracting).
The idea here was to lunge at my enemy with quick pokes to his face (not literally) to frustrate & confuse him, and possibly lure his dangerous units into a position where I could gang up on them one at a time with overwhelming force.
First, my Barbarian Warlord made a feint towards his right-side Barbarian Peasants. Before impact, I veered my general unit further to the left. My feint sucked one of his Barbarian Peasants out of formation along with 1 unit of Berserkers. Also, his very own Barbarian Chosen Warlord (his general unit) gave chase.
My general unit eventually looped back towards my own army after taking minor damage from his missile fire.
His pursuing units quickly cancelled the pursuit, and moved back into formation.
At this point, I swung my Barbarian Warlord back towards his Barbarian Peasants for another scare charge. He probably expected me to feint again which might explain why he stood still the second time I charged. When my general unit hit his peasantry, many limp bodies scattered into the air.
I inflicted some good damage to his Barbarian Peasants before he realized that I was actually attacking him. Once his Barbarian Chosen Warlord came racing out (belatedly), I withdrew my unit again.
At this point, I brought up 2 of my visible Barbarian Noble Cavalry units and formed them up with my returning general unit. I then moved this heroic trio forward rather quickly. My Barbarian Warlord charged towards the right, and continued racing towards Alexius’ flank. My 2 Barbarian Noble Cavalry units also lunged forward in a feint towards his 2 Barbarian Peasant units.
When Alexius had chased after my general unit with his Barbarian Chosen Warlord, I sensed that his attention was focused squarely on my Warlord.
Thus, I brought my 2 cavalry units back and immediately sent them charging into his Barbarian Peasant units (while his only cavalry unit was gone).
It took him a few seconds to react, but when he did, he sent all of his Chosen Axemen forward against my 2 Barbarian Noble Cavalry.
To increase the power of his counter-attack, he let his Beserkers work themselves into an uncontrollable rage. But that was a mistake. He should have kept his Beserkers back in reserve. In any case, I simply raced my Gallic horses away from his foot soldiers. I could outpace his troops easily.
Meanwhile his Barbarian Chosen Warlord was in hot pursuit of my Barbarian Warlord.
My opponent was playing into my hands: I’ve separated his general unit from his army, and he’s lost control of his Beserkers for the moment.
Alexius probably thought he had me on the run, and at that time, I was indeed running away. But I wasn’t actually retreating: I was leading his men into a death trap.
After a minute of chasing my Barbarian Warlord towards my rear, my opponent finally caught a glimpse of my hidden cavalry. But it was too late for his general to reverse course. I moved my fresh group of 5 Barbarian Noble Cavalry quickly in position to swamp his general.
In the span of a second, my onrush of heavy horses unseated his general.
Whenever a Barbarian army loses its general, it’s a very bad thing (but a good thing for me)!
On the other side of the battlefield, his Chosen Axemen had stopped their pursuit of my smaller force of Barbarian Noble Cavalry. Unfortunately for Alexius, his Berserkers were still in a rage: seeing my chance to encircle his pair of Berserkers, I acted quickly for a pounce.
When my 3 units of Barbarian Cavalry hit these Berserkers from all sides, they disintegrated.
Without his general and without his Berserkers, my opponent‘s army was effectively castrated. But instead of surrendering, Alexius decided upon a last stand. And to be perfectly honest, I wouldn’t have it any other way: Barbarians might lack discipline, but they should never go down without a fight!
I reformed my entire force of cavalry (1 Barbarian Warlord and 8 Barbarian Noble Cavalry) quickly into a line.
While I was doing that, Alexius ordered his Chosen Axemen, Screeching Women, and Chosen Archer Warband to charge my horses. I will respond to his attack with my own attack. Starting from my left, I ordered each unit (individually) to charge the enemy unit opposite them. The result was an oblique charge from my cavalry.
One by one, my Gallic cavalrymen knocked down the Germanic warrior opposite them.
The climactic clash between the Germanic foot soldiers and my Gallic cavalry didn’t last very long. The Germanic army was sent packing.
It was a relatively short battle. And thank the Gallic deities: Gaul suffered only few casualties. My men would live to fight many more battles to come...
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Originally Posted by Barbarian_Prince
