Aster's way of controlling the Germans

[Kátz]

Hello! This is the second guide I'm making after the success of the first one, This time, I'm controlling these (sorry) 'savages' of Germania. These guys are very powerful to rip through lots of my Bosporan guys.

Now, let's get started with:
The Germans are powerful tribes that are a very great threat to Caesar's campaigns, some of his guys are defeated, like the one in Teutoberg Wald. I'm basically trying to utilise them to the greatest extend. Now for starters, this is a tough great army for the early times.

The raiders are always an early threat for their fierce attack can be dangerous to the safety of any enemy lines. The axemen and spear infantry are good to hold lines despite impetuousness. As always, cavalry are threat to the weak backs of any lines and slingers are bone breakers if used properly.
For the late era, I would make use of this army:

Beware! Berserkers are in this army! These troops can be the deciding factor of a battle. Just keep them out of archers until the time is right. The chosen axemen are guaranteed to wreak havoc to any non phalanx line. The Cherusci are always as the most armoured troops take the frontal damage. The people of the Forest Hunters now join with the army! The archers are always handy to shoot people at their backs! The noble cavalry are only suited for cavalry fights, chasing ranged troops, and flanking and no more.
Now it's the turn for the main Germanian army to break some bones:

Much more expendable than your main army, these people are always a threat on gangbanging fight! Guess who, the great armies of the forest are in the fray! Fanatics are good in the attack factor, but defenseless against archers, so beware of enemy archers! The Armoured Warriors are always more expendable than your prized Cherusci.

Now go get some bones for your bonfire, more certainly in places like this:


Good luck, may you have fun with them.

Best regards,
wr1ght

[Phalanx300]

Nice guide, though Germanians weren't that unorganised rabble.

Even in warfare they had a shieldwall formation(like Hoplites), pike formation(like Phalangites), wedge formation(like the Romans). And its all invented on their own.

I remember the Romans being amazed that these "barbarians" used the Phalanx formation.

(All the things you can learn from EB lol )

[ISA Gunner]

The Helvetii (Switzerland area) used the phalanx formation but lost to Caesar during the mass migration into Southern Gaul. A large Germanic army organized by the leading tribe, the Sweboz, failed to make it to the battle on time but they had fought with the Helvetii a bit before and that is when they adopted the phalanx.

EDIT: The phalanx however was no where near as complicated and advanced as say Alexander the great's. Pretty much a solid block of men, not in rows and ranks but just bunched together with long spears sticking out the front...it did ok.

[Phalanx300]

I see. And yeah, it was more of a shieldwall with long spears sticking out of it.

[rory o'kane]

I see. And yeah, it was more of a shieldwall with long spears sticking out of it.

which rendered the Helvetii all the more vulnerable to volleys of pila from Caesar's legionnaires...

[Phalanx300]

I think that alot of people are overestimating the pila, why only cary 2 if it could mow down entire armies?

[Praetorian_Mossop]

I think that alot of people are overestimating the pila, why only cary 2 if it could mow down entire armies?

Because back then people were too stupid to raise their sheild and stop the pila from killing them

[rory o'kane]

Because back then people were too stupid to raise their sheild and stop the pila from killing them

actually, the fact that people took the impact of pila on their shields was what the romans were counting on - a pilum's head is at the end of a long, thin, soft-iron shank, meaning that when it hits the shield, it can continue moving forward for about a foot and a half before stopping, so it still has a decent chance on wounding you, and even if it doesn't, the fact that it bends easily means it'll probably become lodged in the shield, making it unwieldy. you are then confronted with a choice - you can either fight with your shield but find it difficult to manoeuvre given the fact that there's a bloody great javelin sticking out of the front, or you can drop your shield and keep on fighting, which renders you vulnerable to the thrust of a gladius.

the role of pila in breaking up enemy charges or their formations cannot be understated, because they were heavy - in other words, they hit HARD. this self same fact limits the number of pila a man can carry - and two seemed optimal to the romans, so it worked.

[Gerald The Herald]

+Rep for the guide.

I do have a question though: my basic "levy" armies that I have (around 15+ of them) usually consist of about 4+ normal Spear warbands,maybe 4-5 Axemen,perhaps 2 units of archers, around 3 units of Skirmishers and maybe 3+ Units of Noble calvary whereas my "proffesional" armies that I use solely for the worst of campaigns usually consist of an insane amount of Cherusci and Armored Warriors with 3+ of my usual skirmishers, 3+ of the usual spearmen (must be upgraded to the 3rd degree) ,2 archer elites and definately 5+ units of my droolable nobles on their ponies. As for my.."Waffen -SS" type army, my assault legions ,I usually stack them with Fanatics, Chosen Axemen and with a core elite of the Beserkers, with Archer elites and 3 units of Hvy Calv.

The problem is..my usual tactics are simple :a double pincer assault movement supported by Archer fire and reinforced with the peltastai with my heavy calvary dominating the flanks and swinging in from behind. Does anyone have a better ,less bloody tactic which they can share with me?

[EternalSlayer]

Does anyone have a better ,less bloody tactic which they can share with me?

Nope, that's how I'm doing it. Unless you'd like to spam Armoured Warriors, that is. But I think a challenge is best, especially when fighting the damn Romans.

[Phalanx300]

Mmm, probably Pilums were effective, but not as effective as mostly potrayed.

Also, I say a video on a remade Gladius on youtube. It sliced through things with ease, and I saw a picture of someone who hitted himself with his gladius in his leg, needless to say he has a big wound and dozens of stiches(sp?).

[rory o'kane]

Mmm, probably Pilums were effective, but not as effective as mostly potrayed.

Also, I say a video on a remade Gladius on youtube. It sliced through things with ease, and I saw a picture of someone who hitted himself with his gladius in his leg, needless to say he has a big wound and dozens of stiches(sp?).

stitches. and i'm not suprised - swords are very efficient at killing things, especially the gladius - as swords go, it's pretty badass, because you can rely on it to kill things when you need it to.

[Praetorian_Mossop]

stitches. and i'm not suprised - swords are very efficient at killing things, especially the gladius - as swords go, it's pretty badass, because you can rely on it to kill things when you need it to.

Indeed, I would be suprised if any bladed object doesn't cause a large cut if you hit your own leg with it.

[Kátz]

Hello again, I decided to prove my armies are able to prove themselves in battle. So I decided to update my thread. Today I'm going with this army : Half expendable, half Non-expendable.

Armoured warriors are cannon fodders to enemy missiles, that if the enemy archers decided to hit them. Chosen axemen are used to rip the enemy until they are tired dealing with axemen and raiders. Cavalry are used to tighten the enemy and created panic amongst enemy ranks if the enemy cavalry are dummies and not respond to your threats and last Bear Warriors are used for the final impact.
Now the enemy army is also balanced, commanded by our hated neighbours the Gallic Tribes.

This is pretty complicated to deal with, the enemy spearmen are death to your cavalry, Armoured Warriors and Swordsmen are threat to the front line though I don't know who could be their cannon fodders since the used the lighter spearmen for flanking purposes (Yeah, stupid AI) and lastly the chariots are immediate threat if no one responds to it (so does the cavalry). Battle is done on grassy flatland.
Now we are starting to the battle :

The picture is small, but you can draw something from there, if we draw it from the view of the general it can be :
Frontalmost right : Axemen and Center + Left : Armoured Warriors ( I told you they can soak some arrowheads well )
Center : From left to right : 2 Axemen, 2 Raiders and a Chosen Axemen.
Behind( From Center Behind to the total behind ) :
1 Chosen Axemen as reserves, 2 Forest Huntsmen accompanied by 2 Bear Warriors in their left & right. The rest are cavalry.

Battle details :
The AI loves to put their chariots somewhere in their middle of their army, but some are away to far far places.

And not to mention that the Raiders are actually the one hit by arrows, Might change that place to the Armoured Warriors though.

When the enemies are near, prepare your secret weapon, that is the warcry.

Things got pretty hectic on the frontline, eventually some spearmen manage to almost flank my army, but stopped by the fearsome berserkers and cavalry.

The tactic is : Let the frontline be pressured for a while with your 'cannon fodders' After all enemy reserves are put there, send your chosen axemen and berserkers there. Surrounding all troops along hopes of your enemy. Cavalry if your are obliged to use can also be sent there, but risky.
I had proven this tactic to be useful, Heroic Victory.



That's it for now guys, I'll make more when I have some time.


Best regards,
wr1ght

[Kátz]

Reserved, Comments and feedbacks will be appreciated.

[Gerald The Herald]

Well, I suppose I'll just have to recruit those Armoured warriors into a new kind of "shock army". The one thing I LOVE about Germania is the sooo many types of warriors I can recruit, from plain Axeman to insane Chosen Axemen and Bear warriors to the Cherusci...
So many I'm actually forced to classify my army into categories of 'Levy, Proffesional, Assault and Shock.'

[Gerald The Herald]

Who needs a flimsy roman gladius toothpick when ye can have yer good ol' german zweihander or axe :hmmm:

[Kátz]

Chosen axemen are somehow just too deadly, they can be called the Roman Age's lightsaber.

[EternalSlayer]

Chosen axemen are somehow just too deadly, they can be called the Roman Age's lightsaber.

Wait, they're that good? I've never even used them in my Germania campaigns!

[Kátz]

German troops got stats too high like the chosen axemen with that nice 7 armor brick and zerks that had a whopping 60 men instead the more balanced 24 or 30 men a unit.