Any tips for Brennus/Senones? (Rise of the Republic)

[Welsh Dragon]

(Rise of the Republic Vanilla Hard/Hard) Anyone have any tips for playing Brennus/Senones in this please?

I play Barbarians a fair bit, but just don't seem to be able to make much progress with Brennus. I can take the closest settlement to the west belonging to the faction you start at war with, but then they counter attack and I tend to get slaughtered. And on the rare occasions I have taken out that entire faction, I then have a long thin land that's open to invasion and hard to defend, and usually get attacked on multiple fronts.

Retaking settlements I lose is also a pain, as I have to Raze them because of the Senones Faction Trait, and then start from scratch.

So any tips or advice on early campaign strategies, army composition or battle tactics very much appreciated, thank you.

All the Best,

Welsh Dragon.

[Demokritos]

Yeah, the Senones in ROTR is a tough nut to crack on H/H. Tried perhaps half a dozen times without success, but mostly due to civil war erupting so easily in that challenging situation. And it often becomes worse if you use one of the strongest units at your disposal, the one which includes Brennus, as he gets killed quite easily, leaving you without important historical character with which to relive the historical conquests for that faction.

My current theory about how to manage the early campaign is to let Brennus stay behind protecting the home country or in reserve for reinforcements (of lesser quality) while using other generals to spearhead the first conquests, which I think should be directed against the first settlement to the west and the larger city further to the west. In both these cases I believe one has to rely mostly on better-quality mercenary units to break the opposition in battle. For economical reasons, these should not be recruited until you're ready to attack. So, unless you're in position to push on towards the larger, walled city directly after taking the first settlement, you may have to disband the mercenaries until your forces are strong enough to move on that larger city. Without mercenaries, getting the Boii to help in this endevour is probably critical. Once that walled city is in your hands, you have a good defence position in this direction and then I think you had better try making peace with the remaining portion of that enemy, so as not to stretch your realm too thin. Not sure if it's best to try making a client state of that enemy in this situation, if it means you're obligated to come to its aid if it is attacked by as third party (which you probably cannot honor for many turns henceforth, because you need to shift your attention elsewhere). In any case, while you're engaged towards the first couple of settlements to the west, it's important to keep the neighbours in the south and southwest placated by diplomatic means somehow, so that they focus their aggression elsewhere until you have that walled city to the west in your hands and can divert all available forces to deal with these neighbours in the south and southwest. The first move against them depends on how the power situation has evolved here, but Sestinum is a good candidate as a foothold here protects your empire from being attacked by enemies sneaking up behind your newly acquired walled and defensible city to the west. And so on.
But that's only a theory of mine. Have yet to test it out in all details. Last time I got so far as to move on the Picentes and won a great battle against them (as recorded by a witness below) before darned secessionists ruined it all.


Senones cavalry moving up behind Picentes army

[Welsh Dragon]

Thanks Demokritos. I think you've made some really good points and rather hit the nail on the head when it comes to overextending myself. I've also been neglecting diplomacy as a weapon of war, so now thinking maybe I should be putting some of my money into getting the Boii and others on side (or at least not against me anyway.) Hadn't really thought about using Mercs, but maybe using some of the pop-up army tactics I've used for Syracuse in RotR and the Balkans tribes in GC would be worth a try. I'm also thinking of perhaps using that first settlement as a bit of a trap, sacking it or razing it and not repairing it, then putting my army in an ambush position to catch the enemy forces when they try to retake it... Might be able to defeat his forces in detail that way and then hit their capital while they're weakened.

I probably won't be starting my next attempt till sometime in January (kind of hooked on Phantom Doctrine at the moment ) but you've given me some things to be thinking about, thank you!

Also if anyone else has any idea please add them, as I'd love to hear them. Thank you.

All the Best,

Welsh Dragon.

P.S. Is it wrong I'm a little happy to hear I'm not the only one finding this campaign tricky!

[Demokritos]

I have found ROTR unusually challenging regardless of what faction you play and if I remember correctly I think read some official statement somewhere about that campaign being made intentionally so. The only faction that I've managed to grow really big so far is the Iolei and that's because their island position limits the number of potential threats early on.


The Iolei army beseiging a Carthaginian city

[Skotos of Sinope]

I think the Senones and Rome are both seriously underpowered in RotR. Which is as ironic as when the Huns were the weakest faction in Attila when it came to cavalry.

Sacking a city and then waiting in ambush for those trying to retake it is a great idea, and was actually done once to me. Now the faction you're talking about, I believe is Viesul, since you said you start out at war with them. Viesul is an Etruscan faction and what you want to do is get them to fight one another instead of trying to take them all on yourself. The only time the Senones were a real threat for me as Tarchuna was when they captured and liberated cities that I had confederated into the Etruscan League. So I was too busy fighting them to take on Brennus. Make as many client states as you can with Etruscan cities. They aren't aggressive and won't obligate you with other wars. The city of Viesul itself is strategically a great location for ambushing. Has anyone declared war on you yet? If Viesul has allied with Felathri or Aritim, those are both within sprinting distance. Lure armies there with the strategy you mentioned, and after ambushing those armies, those cities will be undefended.

And YES, pay the Boii to join the war on Viesul. I just got them to do so on the first turn on normal, though on harder settings it may take a while and a few treaties to build up to. Once Viesul is having to split their forces, make war on Aritim and advance through there where you have more options for expansion, and a defensible central core that can't be easily taken. Sestium is another great option, though I think it's more worth it to keep Umbria on the sidelines at least at first.

I would not recommend taking all of the province of Etruria. It's not required for the military victory objective, it's honestly a poor region and as you say, its frontier is too long to be defensible. Let the Boii take it and get some of the richer cities further south and west. Unless you need the timber for some buildings, it's not worth a whole lot.

[Alwyn]

Is it wrong I'm a little happy to hear I'm not the only one finding this campaign tricky!

I don't think it's wrong! Your thread inspired me to try a Senones campaign for the first time. I was only playing on Normal and finding it tricky even on this level. Being restricted to looting or razing a captured settlement is challenging. I noticed that the rival party isn't loyal, so we're likely to have to fight a secession unless we manage politics carefully. Also, the restriction to looting and razing means that we're likely to have a lot of slaves - good for the economy but likely to lead to slave revolts.

I formed a northern army led by Brennus, with the strong units which you receive at the start (Naked Swordsmen and Gallic Axemen), a few Young Swords and some tribeless units. To maintain public order and defend my colony, I formed a southern army with a few Young Swords and some tribeless units, reinforced by 'pop-up' mercenaries when needed (I remembered Welsh Dragon's previous advice about using these.)

My nothern army razed the first settlement to the west (against the Viesul) and it took a long time to rebuild. Skotos, I should have tried your idea of paying the Boii to go to war on the Viesul!

Then a nation to the south and a nation to the west declared war (if I remember correctly, a fourth nation declared war on my shortly afterwards). My four-city nation was fighting several nations which controlled eight cities between them. Of course, being restricted to razing or looting is a problem when you lose a settlement, too. My southern city fell. My southern army recaptured and razed it, destroying my expensive improvements. Two armies attacked and destroyed my southern army, and a third army approached from the south to join the first two. Brennus' army northern was alone, defending against the Viesul while three armies invaded the Senones' colony from the south.

The Senones seem to have strong naval units (I didn't recruit any in this campaign). This advantage combined with their 100% bonus to movement for fleets and the restriction to looting and sacking makes it sound like they'd do well using Viking-style raids. I wonder if the Senones would be more successful if their colony was on one of the islands. I'm tempted to try re-starting a Senones campaign and trying to migrate them somewhere else. (I know that the edges of the map aren't safe, because migrating tribes appear from time to time, but perhaps an island or the southern tip of Italy would be a better place to expand from?)

[Noble Lancer]

best thing would be to stay small and compact at the beginning, while building up your cash reserve, infrastructure and army. Slightly exploitative way to cheese the system would be to expand to a new province and then wait for secessionist and then crush them in one turn while they have only one settlement. Meanwhile focus on liberating tribes that are conquered nearby, both building up your cash flow through looting while creating a small alliance to keep the AI busy. Use your agent! - agents are very good now with a variety of skills (some of which are OP, really). Really enjoyed RotR, completed 3 complete campaigns (Syracuse, Tarchuna and Iolei) and half way through a few others, quite impressed with the campaign mechanics. Senones is indeed a tough start since there isn't any wonders around the starting location to aid with things but once you manage past the early hurdle (into Etruscan lands) things will be a lot easier

[Welsh Dragon]

Senones Hard/Hard. New attempt. Turn 1.

Me: Hey Boii, would you like to join my war with the Viesul.
Boii: No. But how about this Military Access Treaty for 100.
Me: Okay. Now would you like to go to war with the Viesul for 500.
Boii: No, no my friend. But we'd like to offer this Trade Agreement with you for a mere 400.
Me: Well, that wasn't quite what I was asking for, but okay. Now how about joining my war with the Viesul for 750.
Boii: Ah, we'd love to, but we can't. But what would you say to a shiny new Defensive Alliance... for 500.
Me: O...kay. But now, as we're such good friends and allies, surely you must be willing to join my war with the Viesul for 1000G!
Boii: No. Have a nice day.

It was at this point I realised the Boii Ambassador had swindled me!

Thank you everyone for your advice. A lot of good suggestions and I'll try putting them into effect and let you know how I get on.

All the Best,

Welsh Dragon.

[Demokritos]

You don't need to rush it with the Boii. With a little patience, they'll come around and join forces without much financial prodding (they usually want you to help them in their wars, too). At least they've done so in every campaign I've had with the Senones, I think. You just have to have a little history of friendship, that's all, I reckon.

[Skotos of Sinope]

Senones Hard/Hard. New attempt. Turn 1.

Me: Hey Boii, would you like to join my war with the Viesul.
Boii: No. But how about this Military Access Treaty for 100.
Me: Okay. Now would you like to go to war with the Viesul for 500.
Boii: No, no my friend. But we'd like to offer this Trade Agreement with you for a mere 400.
Me: Well, that wasn't quite what I was asking for, but okay. Now how about joining my war with the Viesul for 750.
Boii: Ah, we'd love to, but we can't. But what would you say to a shiny new Defensive Alliance... for 500.
Me: O...kay. But now, as we're such good friends and allies, surely you must be willing to join my war with the Viesul for 1000G!
Boii: No. Have a nice day.

It was at this point I realised the Boii Ambassador had swindled me!

Thank you everyone for your advice. A lot of good suggestions and I'll try putting them into effect and let you know how I get on.

All the Best,

Welsh Dragon.

First offer has to be accompanied by a payment. I basically gave him my entire treasury on turn one to go to war with Viesul. Accepted immediately. But that was on normal. I haven't tried it on hard.