Rooting Romans from the woods

[Aristarchus]

Playing as Dacia (M/VH), I have been at war with the Romans a long time, but had little real contact until now, when the Julii attacked me in northern Italy with two full armies in succession. The first was disposed of easily with an overwhelming force. The second Roman army, seeing my preponderance of archers, kept hidden in the woods to make me come to them; while I saw their many legionary cohorts and was not about to go in after them. My army was too heavy on archers and low on chosen swordmen to face off against them. I did have three generals and two partial heavy cavalry units, but how was I to use them? I swung the army around to the side of the woods where the Romans were most exposed. While the army marched, two war leaders and a cavalry unit raced to the clearing where the Roman artillery was set up and smashed it along with a small unit of archers, then raced away with flaming pigs chasing them.

The good part here that left me breathless was when the battle began. A long line of heavy cohorts started charging out of the woods, backed by massive missile units, backed up in turn by more heavy cohorts. I saw death flash before me. Immediately I sent out the cavalry again, on both wings this time, flanking the forest with the general and a unit racing forward on the left. Along the way, the right cavalry units flanked and annihilated a heavy Roman cohort on the outside, which had been weakened and shaken by the archers. Then one warlord dashed to the center where the Roman general and heavy cohorts were smashing into my two lone sword units. That helped, but they all kept coming and the Roman missiles were putting everyone under fire. The two remaining cavalry units on the right continued to charge forward, in time with the charge on the left, thinking to attack the vulnerable rear, but once near, they could see the woods filled with (unroasted) flaming pigs and a couple heavy cohorts protecting the archers and others possibly hidden from view. Instead the cavalry charge on each flank abruptly wheeled and charged back to the center, plowing through the woods, through the missile units, and into the heavy cohorts and Roman general attacking my lines. It was all the work of an instant, and it succeeded. I was amazed to see the cohorts break. Desperate work with a beautiful result.

[Barry]

Nice tactics