Strategy for Briton campaign?

[Sextus Molestus]

First off, let me apologize if this kind of question is not welcome here...it's my second post, lol. It's just that I don't see many questions about what to do in campaigns; maybe you all are just think-for-yourselfers. Not I...

So anyway, I am currently waging a campaign (Medium/Medium) as the Britons on vanilla and fear I have stretched my borders much too far for this difficulty (at least too far too quickly). I wouldn't know; this is my first Medium difficulty campaign. Anyway, I have four full stack armies, and very little others except for garrisons which tend to be small.

One army is stationed in Iberia, where the Gauls hold Numantia and Asturica and the Spanish (extremely weakened by yours truly) merely hold Scallabis. This army appears to be doing well, and when it's finished with Iberia I plan to make a small garrison in Corduba and send the full army to Italy.

One army is stationed in Northern Italy. After taking Mediolanum and Patavium I went south across the bridge, and upon clicking "End Turn" was reduced to half strength by one full stack SPQR army and two 3/4 stack Julii armies (but I defeated all of them). Upon retraining the army in Patavium to continue the conquest, both Patavium and Mediolanum obtained the plague. Yay. This isn't my main problem, though; it actually lies to the east...

Two armies are in Thrace/Dacia (one outside of Campus Scythii, the other south of Porolissum), but we've run into a little problem. The Brutii have taken most of Thrace and Macedon, it seems (these two factions have been wiped out), and they have over six 3/4 stack armies that I can see, probably more further south, as well as impressive garrisons.

All armies are comprised of 1-2 generals, 2 light chariots (archers), 2-4 mercenary units (type depends on region), and the rest infantry (warbands/swordsmen, plus 4-6 chosen swordsmen). There are no slingers or head hurlers, nor heavy chariots other than generals.

Financial situation: 50000-70000 denarii.


I'm sorry that was so long (again, second post) but I was wondering if you guys have any suggestions for me, being so much more experienced than I.

[Entropy Judge]

it's my second post

Welcome to the Forums!

First off, let me apologize if this kind of question is not welcome here

Not that it's unwelcome, just that it'll probably be moved to Battle Planning, where most Strategic/Tactical threads are. No problem, though.

First question: Is it possible to get a pic of the minimap or something? If you're saying what I think you're saying, you've expanded *around* the Gauls, letting them keep their continental holdings, and have also ignored the Germans, and worked your way around the coast ....

Second: Italy. Patavium and Mediolanum have the plague? That's not very good - not horrible, but you can't do anything about it, and unless you want an army of plague-bearers spreading disease wherever they go, all you can do is wait it out. Good job on wacking the Senate and the Julii armies! After it's clear, you're going to take the rest of Italy, right? Right? You do *not* want the Romans to go Post-Marian on you - some of the Briton units are good, but you just don't have the power to stand up to Legion troops, as you lack Foresters (Gaul's answer) and Berserkers/Chosen Axemen/Gothic Cavalry (Germania's answer). You could probably still beat reformed troops, but it'd get really nasty really quick.

Third: The Balkans. Here's where you said your main problem was. Aside from the relatively obvious (avoid the armies, take the cities), my advice would be to get at least one more army down there (so you have three), take a city, and use it exclusively for training/retraining units until you've whittled down the Brutii stacks.

As for how to do that: Find a bridge, and get them to attack you. Your standard army looks pretty good - since you're in the right area, I'd get some Merc. Hoplites as your freelance troops, since they're godly on bridges. I would, however, rework your army slightly, at least until you've taken care of the stack problems. Keep your chariots - especially the archers, as they're always good, and the fear effect on infantry is useful. Two to four Hoplites and/or Peltast mercs would also be useful (Peltasts are listed as skirmishers, but can fight reasonably well in melee, especially the Illyrians). I also like the Chosen Swords - they're the best line troops you can recruit and retrain, so they should be your mainstay, especially if you can't get Hoplites. The biggest change I would advise, though, is the addition of at least two units of Head Hurlers, and put them on your left flank while waiting for the Brutii to cross the bridge.

The Romans' biggest advantages over Barbarians are discipline and armor. Discipline can be evened out by the Britons with Chariot Generals - they increase friendly morale and lower enemy infantry morale - and even moreso with a unit or two of Druids, if you want them, as their chanting is a similar morale effect. Armor, however, is a bit of a problem. The Gallic answer is the Forester - a long-range archer with enough Attack to deal decent damage even to the heavily armored Romans; the Germanic is the Chosen Axemen, an Armor-Piercing unit with a beefy attack, and the Berserker, a fear-inducing unit with powerful attacks, 2 hitpoints, and the ability to disrupt the Romans' tight formations, allowing other, lighter units to swarm them under.

The Britons' best answer to the armor problem is the Head Hurler unit, as its ranged attack is not only powerful, but Armor-Piercing. Although most Briton units lack armor, and Woad Warriors and Head Hurlers continue this, they have massive attack power, allowing them to clear out units relatively quickly.

So your best be to take out the Brutii stacks is to get three armies in the area, pick a bridge, and defend it, reinforcing/replacing units as necessary, until they've been depleted, while one of your three armies captures cities - because taking out the stacks is only slowing the Brutii down.

At least, that's what I think. You might have better luck in field battles, particularly if you can't get any Hoplites to strengthen your lines.

Good luck!

[Saint_jimmyz]

Entropy Judge has answered most of your questions, but there are a few things I would add:

Hire any regional ranged mercs. Baleric slingers and cretan archers are good examples, although you are unlikely to get many of those. Use chosen swordsmen as your stable infantrymen, and use woad warriros as your shock troops. Use head hurlers a fraction behind your main line to pour fear-causing fire upon the brutii, and use the to bolter the line if things turn bad. A combination of merc hoplites, merc slingers/archers, head hurlers and a bridge allowed me to defeat one of the main post-marian SPQR armies with minimal losses

[Sextus Molestus]

Thanks for the great responses! I'll try to get a pic up of the map as soon as possible, but I leave for the school bus in 5 minutes. I understand this can be done by taking a screenshot and then cropping it, saving, adding picture to post?

I never really knew the potential of Head Hurlers; I always thought them to be slightly upgraded Slingers, the latter of which I didn't use well early on in the campaign and ended up ditching from my armies. I think I made a Shrine to Andrasta in Porolissum or Campus Scythii, so getting them up there shouldn't be a problem.

My first step, then, (in that area) would be to take Campus somethingii, just south of Scythii, as that is Brutii held and would strengthen my borders (right now it justs into my territory like a green ulcer).

More to come from me later, but it's about time to go, so I'll get back to you as soon as possible! Once again, thanks!

[Prince_of_Macedon]

Moving to Battle Planning.

[Sextus Molestus]

I've decided to ditch this campaign, for now at least. I'll keep the save file, but I'm going to go back to easy and start with an Armenian campaign. Medium just doesn't seem to be for me (lul wut a n00bz), I prefer to just glide through and stuff. Perhaps I'll do Medium campaign difficulty, but Easy battle difficulty, so I can easily rout enemy forces.

What has happened, you may ask? Well, my general in Spain died, but as I am/was currently sending a replacement down by ship, this is of no concern. Just a little tidbit of a fact.

In Italy, however, as I moved in and beseiged Arretium, I was attacked by a full stack SPQR army again. I was overconfident, and ended up losing the battle. My forces were nearly annihilated completely.

And in the Balkans, the army south of Porolissum continues to take casualties while all the same destroying stack after stack of Brutii armies. The army of Campus Scythii began to move out to take Campus Getae, but decided to go north and take another bridge because a rebel general inhabited the close one. Next turn, the Brutii have pushed the general away, and put a stack besieging the city, a stack on the bridge, and a stack by Campus Getae. I am overwhelmed at their might, and though I'm confident that I could always win this campaign, even if it meant losing Campus Scythii this time around, I don't have any interest in it anymore. I'm simply not a fan of Barbarian factions, it seems.

Oh well, onto Armenians!

[Saint_jimmyz]

High five for Easy and Medium campaigns! I normally play easy campaign with medium battle for factions that I am relatively unfamiliar with, and then move on to medium campaign and hard battle difficulty.

[Amaranth]

Starting with medium/medium can be good as well. Only in Vanilla though. I don't know the other mods much but in XGM med/med is even close to Hard difficulty.

[Saint_jimmyz]

In my experience, RTR is half a level up from vanilla.

[Lord Thesaurian]

you probably don't need this, but I can't resist! I despise Britannia. When you play against them, your troops rout through sheer terror. When you play as them, they are a undisciplined rabble that routs at the first sign of difficulty If your not too far into the campaign, I advise you to quit and pick a different faction. Britannia is the most infuriating faction in RTW! In fact, I'm going to start a thread about Britannia if you ever need to vent!