Battle of Asculum

[Stilgar CG]

Well, I guess watching those naked fanatics and this sort of guys gave other soldiers ideas ...

I think this sort animations can be found in mods cause (i) the choice of animations isn't that wide and it's time consuming to make new; (ii) many people still like them. In XGM, Greek Hoplites charge the same way and it looks pretty cool . It is sort of trade mark of decent infantry. Btw, this animations allows you to be sure your guys charged when they were supposed to charge.

[rogergargantua]

Pfff....just played Epirus yesterday. This battle of Escalum is pretty hard.
Still havent figured out how you rotated the battlefield to your own benefit.
Did you move your troops towards left side of field? Or did you move em more towards the road ( right side )?
Cuz your screenshots show that you fight pretty much in the middle area ( the open field ). How did you draw those Romans towards that?

When I fight them, they always retreat back to that watchtower on top of the hill.

Those Roman guys are really tough! Especially principes, they are menacing. I will give this battle a shot again today....cuz I chose Epirus to start out with XGMD. And I definately dont want to lose this battle.

I play on H/H btw.

[Stilgar CG]

Gargantua, during the deployment move your army to the left of your starting position as much as you can. Prepare your army to march (phalanx should be off, do not waste time with formations, just arrange them in a compact group). Then, start battle and immediately march your army uphill. You can make them run, even with fatigue "on" they will not get tired (in XGMD most units have a higher stamina).
They will be marching up. So, by turning 90 deg I meant that when they climbed high enough you turn them 90 deg clockwise, arrange them in a battle line and march towards Romans in good order.

You can even try to go higher and turn your battle line even more than 90 deg clockwise and walk down on Romans at an angle. Usually, defending AI armies try to keep their battle line parallel with yours. So, Romans could turn their line as well. Keep turning your line clockwise very slowly . Romans will likely accept your "invitation" to dance. So, you could even find yourself attacking Romans downhill. But, you have to keep distance and watch Romans. Importantly place your archers and slingers on the left (uphill), this will give them good range.

Look at the screenshot. You could place your battle line somewhat higher and do the clockwise turning, right?

Make it a heroic victory, Gargantua.

[rogergargantua]

Thanks for the strategy tip, Magister.

However, I tried it three times today...but I failed every time. Those Romans cut through my Phalanx like they are little children. And once they get too close, the Phalanx switches over to swords and makes em totally useless.
I thought the Phalanx would hold them off...being the main core of my army, but I find them to be very very disappointing in battle so far.

Also, if I rotate in angles, the Romans never leave that watchtower at all. And if I get to close in the end, I must march my troops through the uphills with forest ( which lies on the left side of watchtower ). After that, the Romans always start to attack my army because I get to close.
I truly dont understand how you get them so far away of that watchtower. I keep sending my units to the left side....but like i said, the romans NEVER leave that watchtower. Smart b@stardz!!

Heroic victory? Hah! What a joke
I think im just a terrible general. Or maybe I am not used to the gameplay of this mod yet since I played a lot of Medieval 2 : Total War ( mod Stainless Steel ) lately.

Then again, I'm no quitter either....so I will try some more today. But its getting to be frustrated. I make sure I make a screenshot ONCE I get a heroic victory.

[Stilgar CG]

I guess you need a "pigs head" of teutonic knights to charge through Roman ranks .
Btw, I tried my luck in this battle 2 times, lost both times . But I felt this is a very nice battle to polish your RTW fighting technique and kept trying. (Then, reading RedFox's excuses about elephants and cavalry being too powerful was very rewarding )

Gargantua, watch your phalangists: keep them in line, protect flanks. They die pretty fast when flanked. If they are charged when they move, casualties are high as well. And they pretty vulnarable to those AP pila. When close to enemy I switch phalanx and guard mod on. After receiving charge I switch the guard mod off (phalangists seem to kill more efficiently in guard mod off).

Btw, Gargantua, how did you elephants and missile troops do?

[rogergargantua]

LOL @ Teutonic Knights comment. Yes, they would be extremely useful ( great charge they got ). But they show up in a much later period of history...unfortunately

I just tried again, I came pretty close actually. My elephants did actually great this time. Running and smashing thru Roman units. When this happened, they were bit distracted so I ordered my Phalanx to attack. But in the end, it fell and I lost again.
Those Principes are really tough people! Great elites! I usually order my elephant unit to charge into them. And from there, I usually let them race to other units which are nearby.


So I just realize I am really a bad commander....trying this over and over again. what a shame !
I will try that "guard" switch next time.

- GARGANTUA

P.S. Once I won this battle, I will make a new SIG from Epirus. So bye-bye Teutonic Dorks

[Stilgar CG]

That's cool, Gargantua. It's very Teutonic of you to keep fighting.

Do not let your missile troops to waste their ammo on samnites: keep ammo for principi and triarii (slingers firing in flank/rear kill in no time). Fire in flank/rear whenever possible. Perhaps you could hunt general down early in the game (elephants?! or a lucky cavalry charge). On elephants: do not fight for too long one unit, order elephants to switch from one unit to another (triarii and principi is elephant's favorit "snack" ) and stay in the mass of Romans for maximum damage. All "little" things count. Looking forward to seeing pics with your victory.

[rogergargantua]

Well, it seems I'm a classic example of falling down but getting up again and again.......but then to be much stronger and wiser each time I rise up.

Because, I finally WON this hard battle.

Its very surprising that my Phalanx actually didnt do much work. I managed to get most out of the elephants. And my cavalry did a good job too at flanking the Romans. I didnt take pictures during battle ( cuz I lost like 6 times and I expected to lose this battle aswell ). But I managed to get pictures from the battle results + statistics.


Not a HEROIC victory......but I sure whooped their Roman asses big time! Boooyakaaaa !!


This is whats left over of my army. Not too shabby, I actually got a good core of Phalanx left even with some Missile units to aid it. Too bad my Hoplite infantry got killed in battle...they were usefull at protecting the Phalanx.



The Elephant unit did the trick! Rampaging from unit to another, they managed to get a lot of kills --> 324 Roman souls. And by using my cavalry to outflank the romans, they also got some good kills aswell.


Phfew, I must say, I never hard such a hard time winning a battle. I usually dont reload this much ( lost and reloaded this battle like 6 times ). Onto the next battle I guess.....which already troubles me cuz lots of romans survived the Battle of Escalum.

- GARGANTUA

ps. changed my sig too, as I promised!

[Stilgar CG]

Well done, Gargantua. 2/3 of the army left. You can definitely live with that further in the campaign. Do not forget to save the game.

[RedFox]

Well, I personally find the Phalangites a rather fearsome weapon to have - they really rip a new one if you know how to use them. It is very important to maintain a solid line of pikes against the enemy, or the phalanx will fail miserably with their short daggers.

Again though, elephants shouldn't really do all the killing here - in my battle it was usually the general and the cavalry that did most of the killing.
Besides, even if you loose this battle by a close margin, you can still win the campaign, though it will take much much longer.

After we finish the new Romans with Maraxus, I will release the next patch which will hopefully boast some less rampaging elephants (not as lethal, but die as much).

[rogergargantua]

Thanks, Magister! I tried to +rep you for helping me out on several occasions. But the forum doesnt allow me to +rep you until I spread it out to other people first. Grrr.....restrictions.

*game's saved* : So I will soon play the game some more, maybe make an AAR out of it. The battle of Asculum is a great start for an AAR.

[RedFox]

If you want a better gameplay experience, I recommend using bigger unit size. xgmD has been balanced for the "Large" unit size (80-120 men per unit). Other unit sizes maybe often seem unbalanced.