Funny battle in private tournament.

[mesor]

I did one with my friend and groups of other players being 3v3 matches involving 90 people.

In the semi finals my team being romans fought a teal of gauls on a custom map that had a canyon right down the middle.

Our armies consisted of 2 triari each then 1/3 equites the rest was hastati principle mix the gauls had about 1/3 foresters then mostly chosen swordsman and a few units of noble cavalry.
Right from the start we hid our cavalry in trees either side of the canyon and in 1 glance it was clear that the gauls had men hidden in the forest to so we decided on a nice little trick i got from a book to draw them out.
We massed our men into a big blob so they were hopelessly mixed up and charged str8 into the canyon but kept our triari at the back.
Once we were in they launched 10 chosen swords at our backs and just as they were charging in our triari formed a solid wall in the canyon he lost some 400 men in the opening moments we lost about 40.
Our principles had hit the enemy line at the other end but were fairly badly under bombardment from the foresters but they were dieing with there swords in hand rather then run.
At this point we decided it was time rofl stomp the pore gaul noobs both my mates hit the enemy's ambush force in the back with there equites while mine swept up both flanks and rammed into the enemy cavalry breaking them in about 15 seconds at which point my allys men cavalry came up and so did our triari our cavalry having driven off there ambush force.
So all because they got over confident we were able to trap there entire army in the canyon triari carving them up from the back and a mix of bloodied and very pissed off hastati and principles to the front there men quickly got scared and in no time we carved them to ruins.
They had 7 survivers more then 9000 dead.
We had about 900 dead mostly principles because they took the brunt of the forester fire.

We then proceeded to trash our final 3 enemys another roman a carthage and a parthian.
The only 1 who put up a fight was parthia those guys were bloody good at hitting weak links in our lines with there heavy cavalry but eventually we managed to encircle them and slaughter them once that was done it was just a matter of forming lines and herding there horse archers into corners or ravines to trap them so our infantry could close.
Our cavalry was decimated in the opening fight where we pushed half there horse archers out of the fight but were run down by heavy cavalry.
Luckily the 3 of us have played together for years so we dont even need to talk anymore we always know exactly whats going on simply by following the movements of whoever we decided would lead the battle so there wasnt much chance we'd lose.

Carthage tried to play defencive.
Not the best idea having an army of elephants light infantry and light cavalry play defence vs romans lol we ploughed through the infantry and cavalry then massed pila into the elephants and it was over.

The romans meh they just launched a head on attack hoping to smash us but the triari held there ground along with principles and hastati swept into both flanks while cavalry hit the rear so we had the entire roman army trapped in the middle of a box with no way out and butchered them.
0 survivors out of 9321 men and we lost less then 200 men most to the pila as they charged but they killed about 400 of there own men when men arrived piecemeal and tossed pila into the backs of there own men.

Any1 else got any funny stories of how they stomped people into the ground?

[Vindictus]

This is just the sound of you bragging and being cocky... I admit I was kinda annoyed by the fact that your writing had an "egotistic" edge to it. Don't call people noobs, because that only sparks rage inside other people. We were all once noobs once. Don't put others down because you have more tactical experience. I don't really see what is "funny" about stomping people to the ground.

Other than that, well played! I enjoyed reading the tactics you guys put up, great job .

[dude21862004]

If that's all the semi-finals and Final match had to offer it doesn't seem that impressive. I wouldn't brag about punching a 5 year old in the face....

[mesor]

Meh normally i dont but after a 15 minute long rant from them about how the pathetic little romans are about to die because they cant be beaten i decided to make an exception .
Although going from what i saw i think that was total crap anyway that or were a lot better then i thought.
Some of the matches in the early stages where pretty good but it looks as if the best 9-10 teams got pitted against each other early on so most were eliminated before we reached the semi's and it was just the better of the average teams against 1-2 of the better teams really.

1 fight in particular was difficult for my team we won with a total of less then 300 survivors in the end against damned macedonians.
All i can say there is trying to counter companion cavalry with equites does not work.
We based most of our offence on infantry since fighting macedonia meant we had to overwhelm phalanxes.
We had 8 triari each 4 equites each 6 principles each plus general and 1 hastati ( was best unit we could afford with the left over money for that match )
We held 1 triari each in reserve plus 2 principles and the hastati and built our line with the rest each of us placing triari in the centre of our portion of the line principles on the wings.
Equites were massed on our far left flank because the enemies total 5 companion cavalry were on there far right ( our left ).
We closed in and used up all our pila then charged in behind them straight away which worked well enough there ranks were badly disordered so we didnt suffer many losses in the initial charge and were able to complete pin them in place so they couldnt manouvere and they'd slipped up with no infantry reserve but then we discovered to our cost that there thicker lines due to putting all there men into the line meant that although we cut up the first couple of ranks behind that was solid lines and our charge stopped in its tracks and our casulties started to mount up quickly we threw all put 1 triari each up the enemy flanks to try and drive them in and relieve the pressure on our line just to find that there royal's took our flank charge and cut it to shreds while fighting on 2 sides they were able to drive back all the flank units they paid for it heavily but they destroyed them totally since they didnt brake.
At this point we decided we should try to destroy the companions so we could use our cavalry to drive in the weak links in the flank so we moved out wide they mirrored our moves so we spread our cavalry to 2 ranks thick and charged them then watched in horror as they charge through our 5 central units and destroyed them in a matter of seconds the remaining units hit there flanks and managed to drive off the 2 flank units before the central 3 shattered them aswell.
They tried to move in to flank us but we spread our triari ranks thinly along the flank and were able to keep a wall of spears in the way so they refused to charge us because the odds were very pore that there cavalry would get through.
Eventually the infantry slug fest ended when one of my central triari units broke an enemy unit the moment they fell out of position my triari slipped into the gap and forced the left phalanx unit to the gap out of place then it turned and moved right and a second triari moved in and pushed left.
All our men were exhausted so the flank push was enough to brake what was left and i just forced both lines back slowly the moment i pushed into my ally's lines i fell back and reformed what was left of my men out of the 1900 men in my main line and the flank units i lost i had less then 400 men standing plus 1 fresh unit of triari that had been in a staring contest with the companions my general was dead having been in with the equites he was cut to shreds when the companions hit.
Once my allys had finished driving off the phalanx's we formed a wide line and herded the companions back towards a corner until seeing that they couldnt slip out they charged the weakest area of our line trying to make a hole luckily we'd predicted that move so the moment they did our trari slipped infront of them and absorbed the charge almost 1/3 of our fresh men were killed absorbing it but the moment they did we threw everything left standing up the flanks and rear and trapped them in place.
But facing mostly exhausted infantry and them being fairly fresh our men were cut to pieces in droves but my mates general ( mine dead plus one of my mates was dead to ) being the only one left managed to make our men hold firm long enough to finish the enemy off but we had less then 300 men left standing at the end of the battle out of more then 9000 men.
Much as i dislike admitting it we won that by sheer dum luck that my friends general survived the companion charge and managed to get safely behind our triari reserve again without it our final battle against the companions would probably have ended in a glorious disaster for us .
Im glad we got rid of them then lol if they'd made it to the finals i have a really bad feeling we'd have lost the terrain was perfectly designed for a phalanx defense we'd never have been able to brake there line fighting up hill against a phalanx.

Next time were gonna have to be more careful wat teams we invite though to make it a bit more challenging .

Also when does a tournament ever end with the best teams in the finals?
They always eliminate each other and 2 teams nobody expected to win get to the finals.

[Vindictus]

Great job on the battle. Something I spot out during the description of the battle is that you made a mistake in "overwhelming" the phalanxes. Triarii are spearmen, so they have -5 (?) attack against regular infantry. No exactly the path you want to go. In honest opinion, I'd say get less Triarii and more Principes. Then get more Equites as well. Since you have more cavalry, split them into halves and flank the companions. Two units of equites can beat one group of Companions if used properly.

Essentially, overwhelming the Phalanx is quite a hectic process. Most likely, you're just swarming the Phalanx, which means you will be hitting from the front mostly. Unless you can get good flanks, you should be taken down quite easily.

After that, the Phalanxes should be open to your cavalry.

As for facing the companion charges, I'd recommend just having the Triarii hold them in place. Triarii are for fighting cavalry anyways.


And you still sound quite headstrong. Is there a reason why? When you win a battle don't boast to the world how wonderful you are and how your enemy sucked. It's quite stupid actually... you make yourself sound like the greatest RTW player in history. And I can't help but feel there are a majority of those out there that are better.

Besides my slight annoyance at the commentary, here's an amusing or rather, interesting battle I played in Single Player, because multiplayer tends to have more ragers. AI don't rage at all, they send a diplomat and beg for cease fire XP.

My Battle!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I'll try to make this as organized as I can. My army consisted of ...

• 2 Levy Pikemen
• 1 Militia Hoplite
• 1 Militia Cavalry
• 1 Peltast

The enemy consisted of approximately ...

• 10-12 Numidian Spearmen
• 2-3 Bowmen
• 2-3 Slingers
• 2 Javelinmen
• 1 General's Cavalry General

It was approximately a 750 unit battle vs ~ 3500 unit battle if I remember correctly.

My Strategy:

It was quite a simple strategy in fact. I knew that if I tried to play offensive, I would be swarmed from all sides, so I went defensive. I placed my troops on a slight hill near the edge of the battle border. I made myself a semi-box, locking myself in to the battlefield border. I placed all my pikemen out of phalanx mode, and waited for the Egyptian army to arrive.

His general went first, going for my levy pikemen. Just as he reached me, I lowered the phalanx and instantly half the bodyguard went flying. In a few seconds, the General died and his unit routed. Around this time, the rest of the Egyptian army had arrived to supplement their loss, but my Militia Cav and Peltasts routed one group of Numidian Spearmen.

I noted that the rest of the Egyptian army was exhausted and "steady-shaken". I used this advantage and charged my Militia Cavalry straight through the middle, where a mass of troops awaited. At the same time, I moved my Phalanxes forward to apply pressure on morale.

I routed around 5 groups of Numidian Spearmen on the initial charge, then a mass route occurred. Every single unit started routing except for a select few of slingers and bowmen. I nicely racked up ~ 3358 kills and lost around 385 men to missiles. I found it extremely fun to chase down a huge Egyptian horde.

Well that's my story!

[mesor]

Normally i do use principles but i didnt expect them to play the way they did so it threw my plans into ruins so i had to go with the only option left to me which was just a straight charge then flank but my flank attack failed miserably and hes damned companions ripped my equites to pieces.
But i aint really played against macedonia very much so i guess i need some practice .

My initial plan was to draw him into attacking me use triari to pin him in place and mass flank with principles focus the pila on 2-3 units to brake them early and use the morale shock from that with a flank charge to drive there phalanx off the field fast before it could deploy properly but when they took a defensive position i had no option but to fix them in place and trys to just brake one point of there line and then push the rest back.
Not much of an option but with a cliff blocking the right flank and companions on the left i couldnt flank properly with cavalry without leaving myself open to a counter charge and them dam royals do not brake they die here there standing and kill a lot of your men with them.

The companions id never fought before at all i didnt think they were that strong and my ignorance almost killed me .
If i have to fight that kind of battle again next time im not going anywere near them buggers im just gonna try to make him follow me and make them exhaust themself chasing me then lure them onto a hill so i can charge down and remove there charge bonus .
But first i need a lot of practice .

Also yes i do have an ego but i will admit when im wrong or when other people are better then me which they clearly were i won by sheer luck and they clearly knew how to play that kind of battle better then i do.
If you can think of anything else i could of done better in that battle let me know as big as my ego problems are im happy to learn from other people.

As for my ego meh thats just a bad habit i havnt quite got rid of yet i certainly aint the best player in the world i know how to use romans fairly well although i need some practice against macedonians and im good with greece and parthia but playing solo im terrible i work far better as part of a team and i prefer to play defensively and let the enemy kill themself as the gauls did im good at weird tactics and i can normally predict my enemies moves once the match starts and ive seen there first few moves most people dont hide there tactics at all so its fairly simple to figure out there plan from there opening move but if im forced into the kind of battle i had against macedonia where i have no room to use any real tactics im hopeless i dont like a straight fight so ive avoided them at all cost's which was a mistake im going to need to work on.

[Vindictus]

Ah, then this is just a matter of experience. You need to familiarize yourself with every faction. The one I have most trouble fighting against is the Scythians. They have great HAs and their maneuverability astounds me. When playing Roman, they are my pet-peeve. But my favorite faction would have to be Seleucid Empire, or Scipii. Scipii has a flexible fighting force, but Seleucids are just fun with their pikemen.

Here's a tip - Run your triarii around the main fight, escorting your Equite stack. Use your equite to do cycle-charges on the armies and have the triarii keep the Companions at bay. Keep a few triarii down behind your main army to prevent any counter-attacks from the mass companions. If they still try to flank you, pull some troops from the battle, because you have so many, and fend them off.

[mesor]

Scythians as rome i can handle .
They are fast but there fairly simple to beat i played parthia a lot so i found most of the weak points in cavalry heavy armies .

The simplest way as rome is just to find high ground or a forest in forest there going to waste there arrows for little effect or on high ground form a defensive square place lighter men inside and wait sooner or later ur enemy will run out of arrows and on high ground with roman heavy infantry there arrows wont have much impact and once they run out of arrows it's just time consuming to corner them and mop up they wont last long in a melee fight against roman infantry.
Or my normal tactic for them is just avoid battle at all cost's unless i can force them to fight me on a bridge that way there speed is totally useless and there only choice is to fight you head on.

Other then that fighting scythians on flat open ground is virtually suicide if your enemy knows how to use hes men.

I generally love parthians the most because there tailored to my normal style of kiting the enemy army around to exhaust it then i generally make it look like my archers are out of ammo so the enemy will rush them blindly to smash the irritant and wont stop to think about why im having light cavalry hold position until its to late and my heavy cavalry are already on top of them and its to late for them to do anything about it.

Ill have to remember that next time i was kinda making it up as i went along so i threw the triari into the line simply because i tend to have good luck with them not routing in a fight if id realised how strong companions were i would of had my reserve force them back from the start but ahh well to late to do anything about it now but im not going to make that mistake a second time .

If theres anybody you have problems fighting let me know i might be able to help you out with it now im gonna practice against macedonia a bit and test out your idea's and see how they work out thanks for the tips .

[Vindictus]

I don't have any problems fighting my own battles, lol. That's exactly what I meant to say. Scythians kill on open ground. And in fair matches, you'd pick "grassy flatland" or something that is of equal between two armies to determine the micro-management. Rome has problems with harassing fast-moving units. So GG with Scythians unless you can get them . Which I doubt!

[mesor]

Ahhh well u never know you might find one you do in future .

[Vindictus]

Well playing against Scythians, I usually auto-resolve unless I'm feeling lucky. They'd do much more damage to me since my Seleucid Empire is a lumbering menace.