Which Barbarian Faction has the best roster?

[removeduser_052420]

Which Barbarian Factions (Aedui, Arveni, Casse, Sweboz, Lusotanan) has the best unit roster? I'm wishing to know this as I just finished my makedon campaign, and now I wish to start a campaign as a barbarian faction

[mamik_yev_konak]

Which Barbarian Factions (Aedui, Arveni, Casse, Sweboz, Lusotanan*) has the best unit roster? I'm wishing to know this as I just finished my makedon campaign, and now I wish to start a campaign as a barbarian faction

Group these into three sections:

Celtic
Aedui
Arverni
Casse

Germanic
Sweboz

Iberian
Lusotannan

Aedui/Arverni and Casse differ slightly in unit composition. Casse has a bunch of morale boosters and enemy morale killers.

Sweboz have some pikes, and a bunch of AP units instead of simply spear/sword units, though the Getai in the east have a bunch of AP as well.

The Lusos are mobile light troops and do well to skirmish and ambush.

All have varied rosters, but you'll want to play as the Aedui/Arverni if you liked playing as SPQR. Playing as Luso will give you skirmishing skills you might find handy if you ever play online.

[A_Dane]

The lusotannan get access to iberian infantry/cavalry (especially the heavy ones stand out, the lighter versions dosn't differ much from your units), the heavy iberian units have served me well in my Carthagenian campaign. (although this might not directly correspond with your question, as they get them from regional barracks)

[athanaric]

Getai.





Roster strength is difficult to assess, however it can be said that Getai and Swêboz have superior morale on average, while the Gauls have the best and most diverse elite troops.
Lusotannan are the best ambushers in the game, with cavalry that can hide in long grass. The other Barbarians are almost as good though, what with improved ambushing skills and terrain boni. Lusotannan are also the best javelin faction, by a narrow margin. They are the only ones who can recruit siege engines and (quasi-)cataphracts in their regional barracks.
Getai have the best archers, being the only Barbarians with factional HAs (both light and elite ones). Their foot archers are also better than other Barbarian ones. Additionally, they have at least one good unit in every category (except artillery, of course). This makes them the most diverse Barbarian faction - a smaller version of the AS, if you will.

Bodyguard wise, the Gauls and Getai have strong cavalry BGs (very useful, though hardly original). The Swêboz have strong infantry BGs, which are vital in early campaign. The Lusotannan and Casse BGs take quite some skill to operate, and most people don't like them because of that. They can be very effective though.

All have varied rosters, but you'll want to play as the Aedui/Arverni if you liked playing as SPQR.

I beg to differ. The Gauls are very different from the SPQR, with superior shock infantry but inferior line holders. At least in a realistic army setup.
Swêboz are actually much more like Romans, with better morale and better line holders than Gauls, and only a few elites.

Playing as Luso will give you skirmishing skills you might find handy if you ever play online.

And you'll probably lose to a Celtic or German player when it comes to melee. Lusotannan are too much orientated towards AP, while having the worst average lethality.



There are other factors to Barbarian gameplay though, notably economy. Economy/infrastructure strength goes like this:

Gauls > Casse > Lusotannan > Getai > Swêboz

Aedui and Arverni have quite an advantage with their paved roads, hospitals, bath houses, universities, hero cult mausoleums, and festival installations. Fully teched up, they're actually civilized factions. Casse are almost as good, however they lack paved roads.


As an example, here's the Swêboz factional roster, taken from my gameplay guide, which covers most issues with this faction.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

As you can see, they're heavily biased towards spears. This is actually a good thing because armies in the EB time frame (or any other) tended to field more spearmen than other infantry, which means that good spear units as a base for a balanced army are an advantage which the Gauls lack (you could use Bataroas as your main force - and hell they are efficient - but I doubt that would be realistic).


By contrast, this is the Casse factional roster, from Britain/Ireland and parts of Gaul/Belgium (two of the units are actually regional units; some Gallic/Belgian units are missing). They have a weaker spear compartment but more variety in their swordsmen and elite forces. The cavalry is highly dependant upon a few certain provinces, as their better cavalry units have a bad AoR (or are only available in Gaul).

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[mamik_yev_konak]

Don't forget the geographic perspective. Geographically you'll wish to play as the Aedui/Arverni if you enjoyed the SPQR and wish to face them yourself. There's a reason for all those fullstack rebels between Rome and Sweboz.

[Bonapartist]

The Casse are pretty damn awesome. I've played a game as them and was rich as Croesus and twice as powerful. Their militia skirmishers (imananae?) are pretty much downright overpowered given their cost if you really drink in their stats, and their combat in woods bonus is serious. Use 1 naked spearmen for every 3 or 4 conventional troops in order to bolster their morale and lower the enemies. MAKE SURE to build lots of Celtic Lesser Kings, as they are the super heavy infantry you really are lacking and their general capabilities make up for a slightly robust upkeep (500, really not that bad given stats).

General bodyguards as cavalry does take some getting used to and is virtually useless in city fighting.

[Faramir D'Andunie]

Don't forget the Saka Rauka. They start as a barbarian faction with mostly horse archer armies, but end up beeing an interesting mix of eastern heavy cavalry/horse archers, indian units and hellenic heavy infantry.

Though from the ones you posted, Sweboz feel the most deadly. If you seek a playstyle similar to Romani try Aedui/Averni.

[removeduser_052420]

Thanks for the responses everyone, really appreciate it. Which factions would you guys say have the best infantry for holding the line? It seems to me that Sweboz would, since they are heavily biased towards spears. And what is everyone's favorite barbarian faction, and why?

EDIT: oh, and if i was to build type IV governments in Italy, would I be able to recruit hastati, princripes, and triarii?

[Milan Rastislav Štefánik]

The Getai

[Lucius Aemilius Scaurus]

My favourite barbarian faction would also probably be the Getai, just love their AP units and their geographical position ^^
Although I also like the Casse, they have good infantry, and a very good secluded position to fall back to.

[War lord]

As an Irish man I say Casse.

High level AOR barricks in south of ireland?

BAM! Dubosaverlacica!

Angry,drunken,Ginger,spear carrying Darth Vaders.

[athanaric]

Favourite one:

Swêboz

- colour theme
- culture
- units
- I like the way you can play isolationist for a while, and build up a little Baltic/Northern empire.


Second choice would be the Casse for me, for similar reasons.

[dbug]

i think i saw somewhere a pic of an extremely heavily armed unit (similarly armed to Thorakitai Argyraspides, i think) that was said to be an AoR unit somewhere in ireland or britain... was i mistaken?
oh yeah, and i remember the page said it was from EB

[athanaric]

i think i saw somewhere a pic of an extremely heavily armed unit (similarly armed to Thorakitai Argyraspides, i think) that was said to be an AoR unit somewhere in ireland or britain... was i mistaken?
oh yeah, and i remember the page said it was from EB

"Ebherni Shock infantry", armed with two armour-piercing javelins and a spear. Recruitable with level 4 regional MIC for Casse, Aedui, Arverni, and Lusotannan.
Disabled as of patch 1.1 (and 1.2), because of questionable accuracy. You'll have to manually re-enable it, along with its Basque counterpart and the Goidelic crazy hammermen.

[Brapbrapbap]

Well, if you want a faction that gets sent right into the middle of the action, the Getai are the best, you'll fight tons of greeks in the south, possibly scithians in the north and romans\arvenis in the west.


Swezboz stars out way too separated from the rest of the world, and beating up the gauls is just boring.

[mamik_yev_konak]

"Ebherni Shock infantry", armed with two armour-piercing javelins and a spear. Recruitable with level 4 regional MIC for Casse, Aedui, Arverni, and Lusotannan.
Disabled as of patch 1.1 (and 1.2), because of questionable accuracy. You'll have to manually re-enable it, along with its Basque counterpart and the Goidelic crazy hammermen.

Is this information anywhere on the EB site and if not, why not?

[athanaric]

Is this information anywhere on the EB site and if not, why not?

The picture is from the Eleutheroi "roster" on the EB homepage, while the information is from the fora and the EDU/EDB files.

[MisterFred]

My favorite western barbarian faction has to be the Lusotann. I loooooves me some javelins, and the Iberians have some of the best. Good line spearmen too. If you don't think Javelins are the best thing ever, probably not the faction for you.

I also like the Sweboz a lot because the Baltic units are favorites of mine. And in the campaign, its fun trying to kill full-stack Roman armies with little more than a line of <random tribe here> Spearmen and the old standard, Chatti Club. Armies also feel very regional for the Sweboz, which is a good thing.

[Dan Rares]

The Getai .

You are in the midle of actions in south greecs in east you have AS and Ptolemai in west Roma .

I just love their falxmen and the sica blade also the elite thracian infrantery are great ... many elite unites with good cavalary suport and with the best foot archery ...


Sory for posting in an old thread .

[War lord]

Stop bloody necroposting!