IB2 VANDALS CAMPAIGN SCREENSHOTS

[PSEUDO ROMANUS]

Looking forward to reading that AAR, SBH
Hey Rio, beautiful pics, man .

[Anakin Skywalker]

beautiful they are

[Antonius]

Those pics make me reinstall M.II.TW

F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C!!!!!!!!

[Riothamus]

Romans assaulting a Vandals superior position in N Africa


Final stand

[SeniorBatavianHorse]

That last shot is almost painterly in its quality and composition . . .

[Riothamus]

That last shot is almost painterly in its quality and composition . . .

Thanks SBH.. I really love the blood in the mod..It brings out the grim, graphic, poetic realism in the pics

[SeniorBatavianHorse]

Absolutely. And fitting with the period - as it is conventionally perceived anyway!

[PSEUDO ROMANUS]

You guys are so pure of heart!

[Seleukos Megas]

Impressive

[Olavi]

I love the Beta and I thought that I could share some of my IBII screenshots. Nothing special

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[caratacus]

An Iberian Roman legion marches on a Vandal position on the brow of a hill. The commander has been given strictest instructions to rid this region of Vandal raiders. The legionaries feel vulnerable as swarms of flaming arrows clear large swathes amongst their ranks, but feel confident that Roman superiority will clear the enemy from their position on the brow of the hill and give ultimate victory against these Germanic barbarians.





The initial engagement is successful as the Vandal archers and skirmishers retreat further up the hill and a Vandal cavalry charge attempting to guard this retreat, are met by sturdy lines of veteran Roman spear men well versed in coping with such cavalry charges.



However the Roman commander anxious for a quick success, attempts to extol his men to chase after the fleeing remnants of the Vandal cavalry, only to be met by a broad line of warriors who quickly surround his entourage and slay him in full view of the front Roman ranks.



This action is quickly followed by a Vandal counter attack using the vast body of their cavalry which they have kept in reserve, and the Roman lines begin to weaken





The Roman morale drops in the absence of their commander and the counter charge of barbarian cavalry catches them ill prepared. Gradually some of their numbers start to break off back down the hill, beginning with the archers at the rear and this subsequently becomes a torrent of fleeing legionaries. The rout of the Roman army on the flanks of this Iberian hillside had begun.




As the Vandal horde pour down the hillside in great multitudes, it only then becomes apparent to the Roman officers as they gaze back, that their task in winning this hill would have been virtually impossible, a fact not readily apparent when first seeing their foe on the brow of the hill. Alas Iberia may be lost to the Empire... Or is it..... Perhaps you know different??

[PSEUDO ROMANUS]

Great! First AAR for IBII

[SeniorBatavianHorse]

Wonderful work!

[midnite]

An Iberian Roman legion marches on a Vandal position on the brow of a hill. The commander has been given strictest instructions to rid this region of Vandal raiders. The legionaries feel vulnerable as swarms of flaming arrows clear large swathes amongst their ranks, but feel confident that Roman superiority will clear the enemy from their position on the brow of the hill and give ultimate victory against these Germanic barbarians.

A new AAR writer has joined the ranks!! Hurray! I am going to start mine soon. Need to finish the IB2 contest first. I miss not having the AARs in the IB forum.

[SeniorBatavianHorse]

Yeah, same here. It's not the same having them all lumped together in another forum!

[caratacus]

Thanks guys, I will do another when I have time. At the moment I'm also playing a lot of Mount and Blade, Hundred Years War" mod

The next installment will be with the Vandal king Geseric, having consolidated his grip on Iberia, looking for a conquest of North Africa and only a handful of legions who can stop the retreat of the empire from Rome's Mauretanian province.

[SeniorBatavianHorse]

Excellent! Look forward to the update.

[Dea Paladin]

Very nice but would it be possible to give the romans their legionary armour and their original square shield? You know like in Rome Total war. The round shields dont look as good, but its still great. Keep up the good work

[PSEUDO ROMANUS]

Very nice but would it be possible to give the romans their legionary armour and their original square shield? You know like in Rome Total war. The round shields dont look as good, but its still great. Keep up the good work

Even though that could be nice, it wouldn't be historically accurate. The traditional gladius, scutum and lorica segmentata (I assume that's what you mean when you say 'legionary armour') were replaced by "lighter" equipment and more suitable to the new reality during the Late period. Changes initiated by Diocletian and continued by Constantine .

[caratacus]

Commander Ascanius Volcius was assigned to patrol the north Mauritanian coast as Vandal ships had been observed in the area the day before. After successive defeats in Iberia by the Vandals, additional Roman forces had been dispatched into the area to deter a possible invasion from Iberia. Vandal ships had kept their armies supplied from ports in Gaul which the Vandals were in control of. The entrance into the Mediterranean was now almost closed off to Roman Trading vessels owing to hostile encounters with Vandal boats in which the Romans came off the worst through lack of naval support owing to the poor state Roman military Fleet. Constant conflict with the Germanic barbarians in the north had drained funding from doing the most basic of repairs to the military fleet, and Rome now found its commercial shipping increasing attacked in the Western Mediterranean. Many of these addition forces sent into western Mauritania came from Italy and Egypt as rebellions by the Garamantes were becoming increasingly prevalent and Garamantes soldiers could not be depended upon to hold off a determined invasion by the Vandals, who would often bribe local leaders with looted gold and slaves.

Scouts reported enemy forces had been seen marching through some dense scrub on the far side of the valley close to the coastline and Ascanius orders is men to advance. Reports of Roman defeats in Iberia have reached the ears of the political establishment in Rome, and Ascanius Volcius had been given orders to engage the enemy only when he is confident of victory and if the forces are sizable, to await reinforcements. However the Garamantes scouts report that local herdsman say that the Vandals only comprise 2 columns of cavalry 3 of infantry and 2 of archers and that they have been moving through the countryside within areas of scrub land to avoid detection. Knowing that such reports are not always to be trusted, Ascanius is cautious but knows that rough weather in the last few days will have likely deterred a full scale invasion force and that this is probably a large Vandal raiding party gathering knowledge of Roman positions and settlements. Not wanting to retreat and with darkness rapidly approaching as the sun set over the horizon, Ascanius decides to order his me to advance upon the Vandal position.






The Roman columns advance slowly at first but the officers bark out commands to quicken pace as they approach the scrub in which the Vandals are stood.





From their position the Vandal warriors observe a sizable Roman army marching towards them quickly and are unsure what to do. No instructions have been given to retreat and they know that leaving the protection of the thorny bushes to the open land behind would render them vulnerable to a cavalry charge. They begin engagement by hurling javelins at the advancing soldiers who sustain many casualties. The pace of the Roman advance slows substantially in the hail of javelins and arrows and some sections come to a complete halt.






Ascanius therefore gives orders along the lines for Rona archers to fire flaming arrows into the scrub, whilst Garamantes militia and Roman cavalry form a pincer movement on the eastern flank of the Vandal's position.





The engagement between the Roman and Vandal cavalry is bloody and fierce but the tenacity of the Roman charge is too much for the barbarians to counter effectively in such few numbers and they turn their horses away from the direction of the Roman advance.




Ascanius quickly gives the order for the infantry to rush upon the warriors left exposed by the fleeing Vandal horsemen and the Vandal commander is overtaken by the remnants of his force, who by this time are oblivious to his instructions to assemble a defensive shield formation.
The Roman infantry surround the Vandal commander and a spear thrust into the side of his Iberian horse, causes it to rear up with a deafening cry and throw him onto the hard dusty ground, whereupon several surrounding spear men stab at his motionless body with their spears already stained with Vandal blood.




Roman cavalry chase after the fleeing band of Vandal warriors cutting them dawn in quick succession across the open ground until only a few straggling wounded and small groups of horsemen are able to ascend the slope of the valley towards the direction of the sea and the prospect of escape within the falling darkness.







Ascanius felt confident that these stragglers would be eventually captured but wondered how long it would be before their fellow barbarians made the crossing of the short stretch of water at Ceuta. He also wondered with some justification, whether his small group of inexperienced Italian and Egyptian/Greek conscripts would be able to stem this tidal wave of migratory Germanic peoples that had already overcome most of mainland Europe.