Ruthless Belgai

[Dark_horse_spirit]

The Belgai have to be the most agressive tribe in the 58bc mod. It's like being attacked by sharks. Any ideas on the best tactic to use against them?

DHS

[Octavius Vatco]

Yeah..there the most fun I had when i played during the gallic wars....
I tried flanking one wing and forced it to rout and then when some cohorts are freed because of the retreat i imediately send them to help the center.. but I had to keep repeating it... Belgae inflicts massive casualties if the timing of maneuvers are not right.......

[Empedocles]

kill their leader at the exact time when their whole line is engaged against your soldiers and at the same time attack with your cavalry fromt he rear.
that's always the best tactic.

you didn't thougth this was easy, right?

[Dark_horse_spirit]

the AI is much smarter in this mod. The Belgai will actually retreat and then regroup for another attack. I have had my A** handed to me a few times, it wasn't even close. I'm an experienced player....the Hammer and Anville tactics don't work, very well, My casualties are very high. It literally turns out to be a last man standing battle royal. Anyother ideas.

DHS

[Lou337]

I use this formation and it usually works out very well for me against anyone including the Belgae.

EI=enemy infantry
EC=enemy cavalry
EM=enemy missile





BM=barbarian mercenaries (botroas or the yellow shield spear guys. I prefer the yellow spear guys)
X=cohort
X1= first cohort
A=spear auxilia
G=general
T=tribune
C=cavalry



***NOTE- This formation works best when you weaken or rout the enemy cavalry at the VERY beginning of the battle so it is highly recommended to take your spear auxilia with your cavalry if the enemy cavalry is stronger than you.

I. Setup

A) Place all cohorts on guard mode only except first cohort and the two reserves. Set those to fire at will. Your main cohort line should be no thinner than 4 or 5 men, regardless of the length of the enemy infantry line. Any thinner and they will break. The goal of this formation when facing a longer infantry line or even a regular line is to get the enemy infantry to only attack your barbarian mercenaries. If you find enemy infantry trying to flank you, use your reserves and cavalry to quickly rout them and then put them back in the above formation. Don't set the cavalry on the wings or they will attract flankers. Keep them behind the reserves

B) Place barbarian mercenaries on guard mode, fire at will, and loose formation modes in front of the cohorts. They should protect the entire cohort line in loose formation mode from enemy infantry and missiles. Very important: Keep the barbarian mercenaries line as long as the cohort line. Do not overextend or you will be outflanked when they rout.

II. The Infantry Collision

1) Let the enemy engage the barbarian mercenaries, don't click to engage the enemy with them. Don't chase routing enemies with the barbarian mercenaries hence guard mode. They will absorb the initial shocks and after some tough fighting and pressure WILL break and rout. You want your barbarian mercenaries to rout.

2) (If your barbarian mercenaries are down to half strength and haven't routed yet, retreat them back behind the main cohort line.) Once they break, set your cohorts to fire at will. Wait until the cohort line is fully engaged and then turn guard mode off.

3) Keep your general in place to rally the routing barbarian mercenaries after they break and are running behind your lines. They should stop. Set them back to tight formation and remove guard mode. Use them as flankers but not as reserve gap troopers or they will rout yet again, possibly causing your cohorts to do so. Less likely to happen if they act as flankers.

4) Use your two reserve cohorts plus the 1st cohort to flank. 1st cohort can alternatively be used to plug up gaps in the line or reinforce a unit.

III. The Cavalry

1) If you are free from enemy cavalry as recommended use the spear auxilia to reinforce the line where needed or to flank. If not free from cavalry, keep them close to engage enemy cavalry where needed.

2) Use all cavalry, your general, and tribune to flank rear of enemy. Attack from the flanks until they rout one by one working your way to the center and using the freed cohorts to engage towards the center of the line.

Use good old roman discipline against the Belgae. Don't chase routers with your cohorts. Your barbarian mercenaries will take hideous casualties with this formation. But after all, they're just barbarians and can be easily recruited again. This formation is very useful to help keep your legionaries alive.

Hope this helps.

[Octavius Vatco]

Brilliant Lou337

[Salvor Hardin]

Excellent!

[Dark_horse_spirit]

Thank you for the depth, I will try this formation untill I get it right, I'll let you know how it works out.

DHS

[Lou337]

Thanks, hope it goes well!

[DaVinci]

Good tactic

Wait until the cohort line is fully engaged and then turn guard mode off.

This point is very important ... and this should happen if the attackers are already exhausted/tired to a certain degree ... possibly if you then let your cohorts attack after a few seconds, the most weakened barb line-part will break (latest if you can manage it to position your cavalry and general behind their lines), then the chain-reaction will happen, and the mass slaughter of fleeing enemies starts

[Octavius Vatco]

The Belgae usually concentrate their full strenght at the center..
I played a custom battle and after i noticed that both of my flanks suffered minor casualties, from 102 to 95 but my center suffered greatly, deminish to only 30-40 a cohort...

It was so awesome....

[Jacob Debroedere]

Now what did you expect from the bravest of al Gauls?