Best Barbarian Faction?

[jolly]

Hello people!

Just curious as to which barbarian factions people like the best, and reasons why. I'm wanting to play as one of them but can't choose

[Drowsy]

Hello people!

Just curious as to which barbarian factions people like the best, and reasons why. I'm wanting to play as one of them but can't choose

The Carthaginians

This will no doubt be an endless debate, but i think it's a close tie being the Averni and the Dacians, who had pretty evolved metal working. Dacians being more 'badass' i'd go for them

[Striker]

Some people might like Belgae as well because of their safe position in Britain in case they lose in the mainland

[Timefool]

Cimbri. Lots of units, the leader gets +4 command, and FREAKING BEAR WARRIORS. Also an amazing starting position.

[The Noble Lord]

Cimbri, Belgae and Gallaeci.

[Marcus Publius]

I would say that Cimbri takes the cake.

[Visarion]

are Dacians considered barbarians?

[Brusilov]

Surely, it's the Romans? The strict definition of a barbarian is someone who is not Greek.

[Caius Antonius]

Man, you people surely know how to derail a conversation. We're talking about factions that have the barbarian culture in game. Happy now? Cimbri, Arverni and Gaellici are all mighty and powerful, but the Dacians have proven to be a really tricky enemy. Not so many in numbers, but their combined foot-horse archer + elite falxmen armies are really difficult to defeat.

[DarthLazy]

Gallaeci and Cimbri. Gauls are more of a head on sledgehammer and dacia requires great skill with skirmish and archers

[mastaace]

cimbri are very strong. they have many warriors which frighten the enemy which can be a huge advantage.

[HunterKYA]

My vote would go to the Dacians, with the Cimbri and Averni heading up the pack. With my experiences with the Dacians, both in fighting them and using them in a campaign, they're some pretty rugged guys. In the campaign I started up sometime last week, I fought a battle with the Macedonians. My army was 40% falx units, including a few elite units, plus some peltasts, elite spearman, general, and some skirmisher and archer cavalry. The battle was an absolute massacre... for the Macedonians that is, because my army of 3.750 was outnumbered by 4,400-4,600 Macedonians, and of those, roughly 4,300 or so were killed, while I only lost between 350-500. I also massacred a couple of 3,000+ strong Roman armies, while only losing about 400-500 of my own men. If you get those elite falx units upgraded weapons and loaded up on experience, those boys can be crazy good.

[MarcusTullius]

Agreed, the Cimbri are awesome!

[chris150150]

I'm also looking to start a barbarian campaign since my Spartan campaign seems it is about to end (Greeks are owning me). How would you control the horse calvary, make them flank the enemy on skirmish and just shoot arrows from behind? I'm not too experienced at fighting so I need a barbarian faction which is tough.

[Striker]

I'm also looking to start a barbarian campaign since my Spartan campaign seems it is about to end (Greeks are owning me). How would you control the horse calvary, make them flank the enemy on skirmish and just shoot arrows from behind? I'm not too experienced at fighting so I need a barbarian faction which is tough.

If you don't know how to use skirmish tactics very well I would advise some custom battles before trying Dacians and Gallaeci, if you like infantry then Arverni and Cimbri were made for you

[Kaplony]

How would you control the horse calvary, make them flank the enemy on skirmish and just shoot arrows from behind? I'm not too experienced at fighting so I need a barbarian faction which is tough.

There is a short yet useful guide for horse archer tactics (by Lazy O) if you decide to choose the Dacian, Scythian or Sarmatian faction.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=390751

[coldfusion21]

I think is between belgae and boii, i prefer belgae because they have the best heavy infantry.
When i have a good economy this is my standard army : 8 heavy swordsmen, 6 champions, 5 archers and i use flaming missiles to rout the roman legions.

At first look dacia seems to have the strongest units but after you start to expand you will see that you can no longer recruit horse archers and those daoi flaxmen. Who likes to send armies back and forth half way across the continent to retrain. The best 1'st line infantry they will have then is elite falxmen but those lack stamina . But dacia is the only barbarian nation that has a decent heavy cavalry unit.

Cimbri have a great position but they only have 1 heavy armored unit: those swordsmen, but those are weaker than the ones that celtic nations have because they have low defense. They do get some good nobles with medium armor and those bears are indeed strong but only 3 armor and no shield you need to be careful with them.

The celtic nations belgae arveni and boii (are they celtic?) : they all have the same heavy spearmen. Heavy swordsmen are different because of defense, belgae ones have the best defense, the arveni then boii.
Their champions are very different : belgae have axes with effective against armor bonus , arveni have spearmen with frighten bonus and boii have swordsmen with frighten bonus, clearly arveni ones are worse and also they can only recruit 1 champion/turn while belgae and boii can recruit 9.

The good thing about cimbri and celtic nations is that they can recruit all their best troops everywhere.

Don't know who has the best archers but all of them better than greek peasant archers.

Galaeci has a big problem with archers : bows have not been invented in spain.

[chris150150]

Nvm, I just found a stack in one of my boats. When I'm done with my Spartan campaign I think I'm going to choose Cimbri.

[+MementoMori+]

I think they are the Arverni with Vercingetorix against Julius Caesar.

[DarthLazy]

Galeci dont need archers.