Fighting Against Romans

[Amaranth]

Allright, I felt necessary to open this thread to keep "Phalanx Superiority" thread clean and stay focused on Phalanx discussion only.

I was trying to find ways to beat Romans, with different factions using similar techniques I usually perform with Greek City States. Phalanx or Spearmen on front, heavy infantary in the middle, shock troops at the wings and Cavalary to attack from behind or weaker flank of the enemy, while raining down arrows from both sides.

I tried once with Gauls using XGM mod, it worked just fine. You can see it here.

I'm gonna post my other screenshots in here from now on. Please feel free to share your own battles, so that we can share our experiences.

I'm gonna use Extended Greek Mod (XGM) or Vanilla. Depends on the faction I'll play.


My second Battle continiues with Germans.


Germans vs S.P.Q.R

537 AD, Grassy Flatland (Vanilla RTW)

German Forces;

Barbarian Chosen Warlord(1)
Barbarian Noble Cavalary(3)
Night Raider(2)
Chosen Axemen(2)
Screeching Women(2)
Choosen Archer(2)
Berserker(3)
Spear Warband(5)

Roman (S.P.Q.R) Forces;

Roman General(1)
Legionnary Cavalary(3)
Legionary Cohort(3)
Hastati(5)
Triarii(3)
Principles(2)
Velites(3)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

1. Formations & Deployment: Spear Warband are on the front in a single line, behind them in the middle there are Berserkers, supported by 1 Night Raiders and 1 Choosen Axemen from two wings. Archers are behind the wings with their Fiery Arrows enabled. Screeching Women in between the wings and Berserkers. Cavalary and General are at the Back.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

2. Battle Starts: Romans marching with confidence, they're slowly parting their forces as main (front), and left and right wings to attack my flanks. Their cavalary also charges from the left side.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

3-4. Flanks: You can see their cavalary charges from the left flank, and from the right they come with Principles and Legionnaries. In 3rd. picture you can also see that my Archers already start raining down their arrows upon them.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

5-6. Counter Attack: I send my own Cavalary to attack theirs immediately, to avoid getting my flanks distrupted. They send 3 Cav. unit. But after I attack they suddenly break in two, their 3rd unit stops and fall back and thus falling prey to my cavalary, outnumbered, Roman cav. routs.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

7-8. Clash: They throw themselves on my Phalanxes, while throwing javelins with their Velites, And you can see they also approach from the flanks too. And that's where my secret weapon comes in; Warcry. I order my Warriors to use their Special Ability, Warcries and Screeches, And on that time, Berserkers go in a Bloodlust, I lose control of them, however it was just about time.. Intimidated Romans, charges without throwing their Pillas. Most of them routs seconds after they charge.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

9. I send my Night Raiders and Choosen Axemen to support the flanks, and Screeching Women after the broken enemy.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

10-11. Their General falls, causing his troops to lose heart immediately. Victory is certain now. They all rout, running away, terrorized by German army. I follow them until they escape the battle field.

And that's it. Victory smiles upon Germans. Which I didn't like here, was that Vanilla is too easy. Enemy routs too easily in battles. In XGM this battle would last longer and more challenging. But especially used Vanilla to be able to use Spear Warband (German Phalanx) which doesn't exist in XGM. Anyway, Enjoy.


(*) Battle Results are attached to the post.

[NobleNick]

...My second Battle continiues with Germans...

Germans vs Gauls
...

I believe you meant Germans vs. S.P.Q.R.

I assume you mean tactics good against the Romans in Single Player campaign. I offer to you a faction you have already tried; but with a very different mix of arms and tactics: Gaul.

STACK:
1 General (G) 8-star. As Gaul, you should have at least 5 who are 7 star or higher, by mid game.
2 Heavy Cav (HC)
2 Druids (D)
9 Chosen Swords (CS)
6 Forester Warbands (F), upgraded to gold sword at temple + one or two experience chevrons at another temple.

I forget if Foresters can get an experience chevrons at the temples. I think they can; but it hardly matters: they will likely get one or two in their first battle.

STRATEGY: Be the defender (Get attacked Use fear and Forester power to rout enemy BEFORE melee contact. Foresters will do ALL the killing before the rout. Foresters and cav/general clean up routers.

SET-UP: Set-up is very important, to maximize fear effects and to minimize fratricide by the Foresters. If at all possible, set up on top of hill, to tire enemy, give you uphill melee advantage, and give Foresters extra range. (But this tactic has worked for me when I was stuck at bottom of hill, and Romans had advantage of being uphill.)

Line up Chosen Swords (CS) from Unit 1 (your left flank) through Unit 9 (your right flank). Put them on GUARD mode.

Place Druids and General CLOSE BEHIND the CS line; with Druid Unit 1 centered halfway behind CS2/CS3 and Druid Unit 2 halfway between CS7/CS8, and the general directly behind CS5.

Place the Foresters in two lines of three units each. The first line of Forester Units 1-3 behind Druid Unit 1 and strung out as wide as CS1-CS4, and the second line of Forester Units 4-6 behind Druid Unit 2 and strung out as wide as CS6-CS9. Leave a gap between adjacent Forester Lines behind the General (or else they will kill him). Put all Foresters on Fire at will; and DISABLE skirmish mode.

Put Heavy cav in line with the foresters and on their flanks

It should look like this:

                     Enemy
                       |
                       V

     CS1 CS2 CS3 CS4 CS5 CS6 CS7 CS8 CS9
           D1         G         D2       
HC1  F1    F2    F3       F4    F5    F6   HC2

EXECUTION: If you are the defender (best case) and the enemy has no siege equipment:
1.) Put the Druids on CHANT (and do NOT touch them again!)
2.) Ensure Foresters are on FIRE AT WILL, and skirmish mode is OFF.
3.) Watch the carnage.
4.) When the advancing enemy is 50 yards away, PAUSE, disable fire at will on your leftmost Forester (F1); turn on burning arrows; and assign them to target the enemy unit which looks like it will engage CS8. UNPAUSE.
5.) With the enemy 20 yards away, PAUSE, and set all Chosen Swords to WAR CRY. Start charging your flank Heavy Cav down the sides of the enemy. UNPAUSE.
6.) As soon as the first burning arrows hit, or possibly even before, the entire enemy front line should chain-rout, almost instantly. Immediately stop F1's orders, take it OFF of burning arrows, and ENABLE fire at will.
7.) Keep your heavy cav well out to the sides of your foe, and running until they get WELL OUT OF RANGE of the Foresters. THEN swoop in and catch routers.
8.) Executed properly, your Chosen Swords will lose about 2% to 5% casualties to Forester fire, and get NO kills. Foresters, on the other hand should get 150 to 250 kills per unit, depending on the number of enemy available to kill.

Special situations:
1.) If the enemy has siege equipment, use heavy cav and general to destroy it.
2.) If enemy has significant ranged warriors, put your Foresters in loose formation at set-up. Target enemy ranged warriors first. It will be exceedingly easy to neutralize enemy archers before they can even get a first shot in, if you are up a steep hill.
3.) If a brash enemy mounted unit (like the general) tries to make advance contact, target 3 forester units on it.

[Amaranth]

Thanks for the heads up, I corrected my mistake.
I also noticed pictures were slowing the page, so I used Spoiler option to hide them.

Anyway, I see you are much more experienced with Gauls, than me, I didn't know the uses of most units, so I instinctly placed them, calculating their abilities and stats. As gauls, Foresters are really useful, I heard a lot about them, I could've choose more of them and use them better.(I'll certainly do that in my next try)

I was the defender in that (in Gauls vs Rome battle) battle and also this one as Germans, cause I wanted to see how my deployment works, without breaking it.

Your unit selection is much more focused and precise than mine. I just took a bit of everything, wanted to keep my options open (and see the usefulness of each unit). It's certainly better with your way. I'll try to use your tactic and see the results.

[NobleNick]

Spoilers = much easier on bandwidth. Good job!

Have fun with the foresters.

[Kátz]

Great!! but should try against urbans and praetorians though.