Jupiter, Mars, Any Gods out there...Hear my plea!

[Antiochos VII Sidetes]

Gods of my Fathers, I come to you with a humble plea: Grant me the knowledge of how to defeat the horrible force known as the Spartan!

Though the Republican Legions of Rome that are currently at my control are undoubtedly robust in the manner of True Romans, I have recently suffered a painful defeat at the hands of a Spartan army outside Messana.

(Though an Pyrrhic victory for them it was; Three entire Greek armies versus the Second Legion and assorted auxiliaries. I routed the first, smashed the second, and successfully disengaged without fighting the third)

It is not honorable for a Roman to retreat; the Senate and People of Rome cannot accept a blow to our prestige like this.

So, Gods known and Unknown, Greater Jupiter and Lesser lt1956 and Valerius Tiberius, answer my call: How may I defeat the Spartans in combat?

[Echo26]

Engage them head on...

[Antiochos VII Sidetes]

I humbly submit that that is a horrible idea, as their shield wall/phalanx tears me to shreds.

Only effective strategy I've found is to engage them and hit them with slingers from the sides or behind, but that's not practical.

[Templar Knight]

use pila and arrows to soften them up and then hit them with infantry from every direct

well thats what i do

[SirGejor]

General, use Triarii in the first line, and Velites behind. Also use if you has reservation, 02 lines of Principes. Never use any cavalry, because it goes lose her.
If possible it doesn't combat them directly. Try to isolate them before for a trap.
You will only get to destroy with arrow or pilow for the rearguard.
Good Luck General!


VT ....P
VT S
VT S
VT.... P

[Echo26]

Let them attack you. Have your men hold their ground and the spartans will soon tire. Rout their auxileries and then attack the spartans from all sides. Without support spartans are nothing.

[Valerius Tiberius]

put your men on "fire at will" throw all you have at them -> this weakens them

next, engage them on the front with some troops, not the most and not the best i'd say, and then send all your strong forces into their rear, sides and everything that is NOT in front of those men-killing spears

you can also charge several times with cav in their back (sides is good too, but a little more risky) but be sure to pull the back IMMEDIATELY, cause when your cav stays, and those spartans turn, you've got one dead horse!

and ow yeah, when your infantry charges in their rear, as mentioned, don't forget too throw some javelins in their backs too

also, at the start, try to lure the spartans away, so you can defeat whole the army, and then return with whole your legion to kill those spartans
this is harder though

have fun killing them!

Valerius Tiberius

[Hesus de bodemloze]

shoot as much arrows and other projectiles at the spartans and attack them at the flanks and rear. thy will breake eventualy.

[Marcus Porcius Cato Uticencis]

Well, Spartans are tough guys, my record is defeating eight (!!!!!!) units of those damned **** in one battle. How to do that? Well, not an easy task. Those who read my posts are probably used to longer strategic descriptions or "howto´s". But concerning Spartans, I can give you only one advice, one that works the best:

ENGAGE THOSE BEASTS WITH ALL THAT YOU HAVE, SPARE NO MAN, KEEP NO RESERVES!!!

Perhaps a few words more - I found them quite vulnerable to pila/arrows/stones, so be sure to bombard them heavily with everything you have...And one thing more - Greeks have a nasty habit to send their skirmishers first and if you have autofire on, your soldiers will waste all their pila on those - be sure to switch it off and turn it on when Spartans approach, they are usually the most eager enemy unit to hit your line, so it shouldnt be that difficult to pick the right moment...I hope it helps...If not, tell us and well sit down together around the campfire, sing some naughty songs about them and cry about our fallen comrades...And perhaps well find a different (working) strategy

[Hesus de bodemloze]

yeah thy have the nasty habit of sending skirmishers ore units that only contain out of 5 men in the line of fire to deplet your pila fire frim your lengineirs. always a good idea to put on fire at will at the last moment.

one thing first try to take out all other greek units destroy routing troops with your cav units and send in the rest to kill the spartans.

[Marcus Porcius Cato Uticencis]

Yep, Hesus´advice is also very good, try to rout all others first and you will have it much easier destroying Spartans then. The problem is they cant be routed and they are spearmen, so BE VERY CAREFUL with your cavalry when attacking their rear trying to rout non-Spartans, especially with your general...

[SirGejor]

AVE!

Spartan is very hard.The morals doesn't lower. Try to corner and then, as I spoke previously, use of all the possible missiles.

[feroXXXed35]

couldn't u just get like scorpions and archers to kill them?

[Hochmeister01]

if you can't beat them, buy them. use spartan mercenaries.

[hammy the hamster]

pin them with hoplite mercs and then get javelins behind from velites etc

[Hesus de bodemloze]

it is possible to defeat them with a standart legion except when your legion had to many losses before the spartans came.

[Ozy]

Yeah I also think the bes way to beat them is to rout the rest of the army, and then attack them from all sides, with everything you've got. Actually it's not so much that I use that strategy, it just happens almost naturally...

[Antiochos VII Sidetes]

Thanks for all the answers, guys. I guess victory lies in the pila...

[czePowerslave]

Lol. I fought Spartans once, when a single Greek army invaded my young Italian empire. I had just a garrison, and a single legion against a full greek stack with 7!! Spartans in it. TOwn watch proved to be extremely effective meatshield against those. I killed all eventually, although I had terrible losses. They are not immortal nor invincible, you just need to soften them. Missile fire of all kinds work.

[Hesus de bodemloze]

especially slingers.