Tell me your opinions on these formations/battles

[SonOfAlexander]

This 1st battle was on my Saxons campaign earlier today when I attacked Vicus Sarmatae on RTW : BI. I had an army of:
. 15 Saxon Keel, with 2-4 exp. mostly
. 1 Saxon Hearth Troops, with 4 exp.
. 1 Warlord with 1 command star - Adaluuih
. 1 Mercenary Vandal Raiders (Archers)
. 1 Merc. Vandal Lancers
. 1 Merc. Alan Nobles
1509 Saxons vs 1699 Sarmatians 'Odds' : 1-1
BS bar: (((())))))
I rammed down the gate while the archers (they are really good - like the Cretan Archers of BI but even longer range for those who don't play on BI) used flaming arrows to pepper the units inside running around like headless chickens.

The Sarmatians had a whopper of an army, containing sarmatian virgin foot archers / horse archers / light cavalry etc. - they were quite good.

I sent the saxon hearth troops (SHT) in and with 8 saxon keel (SK) to make up the numbers and provide sheer pushing force they rammed the Sarm's back to the right of the gate. This allowed the other 7 to form 2 defensive lines facing to the left on the other side.

In the resulting gap , the cavalry moved in through the gate and pursued the now routing slave spearmen. After a few seconds, they took another road round to outflank the enemy on another part of the hill - they waited there for now.

In the meantime, the infantry was in 4 lines of 3/5 units each. These waited for their turn like the Roman Manipular Style (except these troop types are all the same).



You can see one of the protecting lines still on the left, and 2 lines in the center being attacked by many sarmatians. The units in the middle are exhausted and unhappy after a lot of hard fighting and could only advance v slowly - you know how they rout then return, rout then return etc . The men at the front are fresh and eager/impetuous. The cavalry, although a little obscured is still visible on the right - it attacked the enemy from the rear to make them rout quicker and to give my men more time/ to let them move up further.

After a while this process had got me here:



The cavalry has swiftly advanced round to the rear of the square and is waiting there until the infantry are ready. Just after this picture was taken, the front line was retired behind the rest and the next one stepped up - again, fresh and eager, not exhausted and unhappy.

The men pushed on and crushed the enemy between them.


After....


Battle Stats - the general died so he didnt get his extra traits/exp. ... some lucky slave spearmen got him. The SHT and Vandal Lancers' kills are impressive.

Thanks for reading it and please tell me what you think .

[Lord Thesaurian]

Looks great man! Great use of reserves and solid tactical maneuvering!