***MY GAUL GUIDE for DM 8.0***
MY GAUL GUIDE
Hello Dark Lord Darth Vader and all his followers! Dark force be with you!
I’m honoured to play DM 8.0. Thank you Darth Vader for your amazing effort of improving AI and gameplay, truly magnificent work of yours!May this guide be a thanks from me for your DM 8.0! Having campaigned as barbarians only once in DM (that were fierce and ferocious germans), I decided to try out barbarian culture once again in order to revive my inner barbarian bloody rage and go berserk once again muhahaha!
representing factions (imperial campaign, played on h/h, large unit size). Here are some interesting sources about Gaul, just before I start:
great Gaul guide by Vercingetorix
totalwar.org guide section – Gaul
barbarian fear tactic
Gaul opening moves
Gauls in wikipedia
“Arghhhhh!!! Brave Celts and Conans
:tooth:
RTW Gaul-Barbarian Intro
Before my grandfather’s grandfather was born, this was our land. These are good places. Our Gods live here, in the trees and rivers. They watch over us. We are happy. We hunt. We love. We have families. Homes. A good life. But sometimes, we must fight. The Romans disturb the Gods. They burn the forests. They take what is ours: wives, children, land. And the Romans talk of how they will help us, and protect us. They put us to sleep with golden promises. When we wake, all we had is gone – stolen! They take our sons and turn them into little Romans! Gahhh!
So we fight to keep what is ours, what must STAY ours! There can be no peace. NO PEACE with Romans - men of stone and iron and lies. There can be only WAR!
Vanilla RTW Gaul flag – wild boar symbolizing strength, stout resistance and stubbornness
DM 7.5 Gaul flag – Kaweh’s piece of art; more polished flag
DM 8.0 Gaul flag – unique flag for Gaul
Gaulish story link
Gaul was made up roughly of the areas encompassed by today’s France. Gaul, during the time that Rome: Total War takes place, was home to a variety of Gallic tribes, some more advanced than others. Cities were not uncommon, but most Gallic tribes had not achieved the same level of political and technological achievement that the Romans had by the 1st century BC. By that time, the Romans had conquered much of Gaul in response to the actions of just a few Gallic tribes, who terrorized other weaker tribes and pushed thousands of Gallic refugees into Roman territory. Julius Caesar had led an expedition into Gaul to not only stop the Gallic incursions into Roman territory, but to make Gaul part of Roman territory.
The chief clan leader against the Roman invasion was Vercingetorix, leader of both the Averni tribe and a loosely, temporarily united group of weaker Gallic tribes. By 52 BC, Vercingetorix’s army was the largest ever fielded by Gaul, comprised of close to 80,000 soldiers. ‘Army’ may actually be too kind a label for this group, as they were a motley collection of all types, with loose organization, basic weapons, and rudimentary training that paled in comparison to the Roman legions. They did, however, have a respectable cavalry force
, in addition to fighting on their own territory and were skilled in defensive tactics. Against Roman siege engines, Gauls would use tallow and fire, and burn almost all of their own towns to the ground in a scorched-earth campaign that would leave little, if anything, for the conquering Romans (and surviving Gauls) to use. Towns and farms were burned by the hundreds, leaving the Roman army to scavenge in a desolate countryside.
This desperate situation, for Roman and Gaul alike, came to a head in the spring of 52 BC. Caesar pursued the Gallic force to the town of Alesia (near present-day Dijon), where the Roman army began to lay siege. The Romans used a variety of siege artillery, in addition to tunnels and towers. The Gauls put up a hearty defense, using their own towers and counter-tunnel systems. The siege went on for weeks, as the Gauls continued to fortify Alesia and improve their defense with ditches, moats, and spikes, and the last townspeople emptied out of the town walls.
A Gallic relief force, allegedly 5 times the size of the Roman besieging army
I hope DM player that you can save Gaul from such a fate! Teutatis be with you!
RTW Gaul description
The Gauls are a confederation of many tribes which you united and successfully expanded their territorial range over centuries of migration. Their culture is vibrant, aggressive and proud, valuing courage in both their warlords, warchiefs and warriors.
Do not mistake the Gallic people for simple barbarians.They are far from a simple people. Their culture is ancient. They have kings, coinage and developed trade. Their metal working skills are superb, easily the equal of their so-called civilized neighbors. Their towns are well organized and prosperous. Their culture is rich and they have Gods aplenty to keep them from harm. They have warriors aplenty to do harm unto others. They may lack the writing of the Greeks or Romans, but this does not make them savages.
They are from the same robust Celtic stock as the Britons and indeed many of the same tribes can be found in both Northern Gaul and Britannia. The sea has been no barrier to their expansion. Like the Britons, the Gauls have a proud warrior tradition and are not people to lightly accept conquest or setbacks. They will fight, and fight hard, to preserve what is rightfully theirs, and to take new lands that could be rightfully theirs. A certain degree of bloody-mindedness also colours their druidic religion and warfare which many outsiders find deeply intimidating - headhunting does that to other people!
The Gauls are a people with a great future, if they can find the space to expand successfully. They face many threats, from both ‘civilized’ people namely Romans and other ‘barbarians’ such as Germans, Britons and maybe Iberians but these threats can equally be seen as opportunities for greatness and glory
So the Gauls are a barbarian faction, who became notorious for almost conquering Rome in 4th century b.c. and later for their stout resistance (parallel between brits vs scots and romans julii vs gaul) to the invading romans. Historically Gaul was conquered and finally subdued by Gaius Julius Caesar in 49-46 b.c.
Can you change the course of history, stop the roman invasion and defeat them at their own backyard as it was done couple of centuries ago? This DM player is up to you!
“Woe to the vanquished muhahahahaaa! Kill ‘em all!!!”
CAMPAIGN – the strategic part
:hmmm:
I. The starting campaign location and objectives
Geographical position: pros and cons
As you can see Gaul’s controlled territory in the beginning of campaign is split into 2 parts: the vast Gaul itself and the northern Italy or Cisalpine Gaul. What separates these two major parts is the high Alps Mountains and rebel settlement Massila. This situation has both its advantages and drawbacks:
Advantages: Your starting area is vast, quite rich and potential. Do you know that Gaul is one of the strongest factions in ratings scale at the start? Since you already get a descent income your big territory allows you to focus not only on economy, but on early military development as well, so you can plan to blitzkrieg those pesky romans once and for all.
Gauls also have great diplomacy standing – many allies and their only enemy are the romans, but as we know life is full of surprises, so this situation is due to change.
Disadvantages: Your barbarian empire can be overstretched if you’re not careful and you have hard geopolitical situation - many borders: north (Britons and Germans), east (Dacia), south (******* romans) and west (spanish). Try to concentrate on fighting with 1 faction at a time and defend from the rest.
Your 2 northern Italy settlements are isolated from the rest and it can be hard to defend and reinforce them. You can only build simple roads (no paved ones), so your armies move slower. Also barbarian navy is weaker than civilized nations’.
Still I think Gaul’s geographic starting position has more pros than cons.
Note: don’t forget to move your capital to more central position later in campaign, cuz this can really help you to rule your Gaulish empire, haha! :tooth:
Campaign objectives. Hold 25 regions including your own lands.
You can mainly achieve this, if you unite your lands by capturing rebel Massila; then destroy romans, thus conquer Italy; also I suggest the conquest of Spain, cuz it’s better to let Britons be your allies and leave them battling with germans for a while. Besides Iberia is also very filthy rich. The important thing for Gaul also is time: time is your enemy as neighbors around you will continuously grow stronger, esp romans. Try to achieve domination of western Mediterranean before the marian reforms if possible. But if you prefer more challenge then you can hold onto more defensive slow build-up and allow the AI to grow into monster lol. It’s up to you to decide but I prefer blitzkrieg as Gauls!
Note: you can change/edit victory conditions in descr_win_conditions file if you want.
II. The economy
Gaul has quite good economy compared to other nations and don’t need to focus matters entirely on finances, but can also develop good early military machine, since you already get a descent profit at the start.
Basic tips for a start:
1)connect your lands by roads as soon as possible
2)build next level government buildings where needed
3)establish order in your lands by building watchtowers and forts so you can spot the annoying rebels, see your whole kingdom and what enemies are up to.
4)Population growth: you wanna reach 3rd level (6000 population) asap so try lowering taxes a bit when you gain additional money later on
5)When you’re concentrating on military, build troop training building and only then temples and blacksmith, so that you can train best of your factions troops asap while upgrading them later.
6)specialize your cities: make ones military (near borders, esp in northern Italy - Patavium; northern Gaul - Alesia and south - Narbo Martius), others – economic powerhouses (the ones near coast and deep in your lands, e.g. Lemonum). Of course build the basic stuff such as roads, muster field (for garrison) and ports in all your towns.
7)Economic buildings order imo: dirt roads; port or farm (see in town details which gives you more benefit); trader; 2nd level port or farm; mines; market. With barbarian culture economy is rather simple. One word: specialize.
8)specialize your military cities on what units you produce according to temples. Since Gaul main strength is fanatical barbarian light and heavy infantry with best archers in RTW, foresters + little cavalry support, decide which settlement you dedicate for continuously churning out loads of that chosen unit and reinforcing your operating field armies.
The important Gaul religious temples
Gaul had a warlike religion historically so it’s no surprise their temples are oriented for exp and weapon upgrades plus temples themselves allow training of powerful units (like fanatics, raider cav, druids). Imo Gaul has some of the best temples of all the factions in the game. Imo it does make sense cuz Gauls have fewer troops than most other factions and are in tough geopolitical situation. Darth, good balance well done!
TEUTATIS – probably the best of Gaul’s temples this one is dedicated for battleforge, which means it’s an exp and weapon upgrades temple + it allows the training of crazy and powerful Naked Fanatics. Also it adds many good courage and bravery traits to the governors. Very valuable indeed. It’s the most popular “infantry temple”. Build it where you train the core of your light and heavy infantry. Certainly Gaul is one of the best exp and weapon upgrades gaining factions.
ABNOBA – the temple of every archer’s dreams. That’s right, it upgrades your missile troop weapons, which is great cuz by the time you build Abnoba sacred groove, you can upgrade your foot missiles (esp foresters yay) to golden weapon type (think about when they are also upgraded in weaponsmith for armour lol), which is awesome as they can kick (hmmm shoot lol) the butt of enemy really hard lol. Plus Abnoba gives ambushing traits for governors. So build it where you specialize your military town in foot missiles.
EPONA – the goddess of horses. This sacred place grants you exp and allows the training of very freaking scary and powerfully looking axe armed Raider Cavalry (yay). Build it in cavalry producing town. Since cav is not the biggest strength (infantry is; cav – secondary but also very important role) of Gaul faction build this temple covering wide areas. E.g. in my campaign I built 1 in Gaul region to supply it with cav; 1 in northern Italy and so on to supply a vast region.
ESUS – my least favourite temple of Gaul. It’s dedicated for justice and so improves public order and law. Don’t underestimate it by not building it at all though cuz still this temple can be very useful as it allows the training of Druids, a great inspirational unit, which can turn the tide in battle many times with their taunting. Plus Esus gives good ancillaries and justice traits for the guy ruling the town. Build it in similar fashion as epona to cover a specific large region and then trade ancillaries between governors of other temples – choose 1 family member for this duty link to breeding family members.
Your starting Gaul settlements:
Gaul (modern France) territory
CONDATE REDONUM (in northwest Gaul) – interesting name huh? This town is near border with Britannia and Germania, but lies in rather relative safety, cuz Britons or germans would go for your capital Alesia in the first place. Make sure you have enough garrison in this town to battle small bands of bandits though. I dedicated this town to Esus and specialized it for economy in order to sea trade with Britons and it seems I made a rational decision, cuz this town gives my treasury additional boost. Also I advice to start building a navy in this region to secure your trade from hungry pirates and possibly naval conflict with Britons, you never know. Also this is a good place to train spies and assassins. Support this town with military units from Alesia.
ALESIA (northern Gaul) – your starting capital (although you may want to move it later to a more central position like Massila) the legendary battle site between G.J. Caesar and Vercingetorix. This city borders with Germania so always stay on alert here, have a good big border defending army (1 stack of balanced troops should be enough imo at least on h/h). This will be your military center. I built Teutatis temples here and specialized it in infantry. Try to build hall of heroes and forges here to get best of your infantry and make your units rock. From this settlement you can also raid german towns if at war capture them destroy what you can, massacre population, then give the crappy town back to them - kind of Viking style. This way border will be safer.
LEMONUM (western Gaul) – economic, naval and cavalry supplying settlement. Epona temple here is great. The rebels like to spawn around here so make sure you teach those scum with your Night Raider Cavalry ahahaahahaha muhahaha!!!
NARBO MARTIUS (southern Gaul) – this will be kinda generic settlement for both economy (esp naval trade) and military. It borders Spain so don’t fall asleep, place watchtowers to see what Iberians are up to. Speaking about military, I found it good to train infantry here, hence built Teutatis temple. Try to build a naval fleet here too, to secure your luxurious naval trade in this region. Also think about building blacksmiths.
LUGDUNUM (central/eastern Gaul) – this town was dedicated for foot missiles in my campaign. It supports entire Gaul territory (esp Alesia) with skirmishers and later foresters. Abnoba temple is a must here giving huge upgrade bonus for your foot missiles. When you’re already churning foresters here, you can develop economy more.
Try to conquer Massila asap to unite your lands.
Northern Italy (Cisalpine Gaul) lands
These lands are the biggest problem in the beginning since they are separated from the ‘mainland’ of your kingdom. Forget about economy here (well at least build roads) concentrate entirely on military, train troops every turn, defend and counterattack against the romans, cuz you’ll be fighting for the survival of these towns. Still try to reinforce them ‘hanibalishly’ through Alps if available.
MEDIOLANIUM – build forts across the river side to use it to your advantage. I specialized in missile production here and thus built Abnoba temple.
PATAVIUM – great city for economy but not in the early campaign. Romans need to be dealt with so concentrate this town on infantry and cav production. Personally I built Teutatis temple. Blacksmith and later Weaponsmith are a must here – they turn your troops into true hairy gaulish monsters believe me. Try to build Hall of heroes asap to get your faction’s best pre-marian infantry. Beware about Dacians or Brutii on the eastern border though. They may get greedy. In my campaign Brutii have caught me off-guard, I’ve almost lost Patavium, so always try to keep good defending force.
III. Diplomacy and expansion
1. Initial neighbors/rivals and strategies against them
Romans (SPQR, Scipii, Brutii, Julii) – well of course they are your #1 and biggest threat/enemy esp Julii since you have land border with them and as the intro movie tells – “there can be no bloody peace with romans, only WAR” – this is definite truth. Don’t even think about asking for ceasefirelol. They’ll attack you no matter. This is total war, right?; ok then. Your diplomatical objective against puny romans is to make sure they are at war with as many factions as they can be. In the beginning this is done, but you have to try maintaining that big coalition (Carthage, Spain, Macedon, Greeks) against romans. This way they’ll be in serious ****. Time is against Gaul so try to blitz Julii asap, cuz they will relentlessly grow stronger and stronger.
Germans – imo your possible enemy #2. Even if they are at the strange war ( with Britons, they may assemble an army to capture Alesia. Make sure you defend that border well. Block the german ports in North Sea. Sometimes it’s possible to ask for them to be protectorate if you beat the crap outta their armies in a couple of straight battles. So far I didn’t manage to make germans my protectorate.
Raid german towns if you’re at war, but try to make ceasefire with them to concentrate on the roman front. In my campaign after I crushed germans in 1 battle, they even asked for ceasefire and I made those cowards pay tribute wuhahaha! Ally and trade with Britons and let them tire themselves against the Germans instead, so you could later crush them both. Try allying with Scythia to keep germans more spread defending their woodlands.
Britons – a possible enemy, but until they’ve captured some german lands you can be sure they won’t attack you, well relatively lol. They are a good coalition against germans and great sea trading partner. Make sure you use that alliance to benefit yourself.
Iberians/Spanish – good ally at the beginning, they often try to battle carthage and unite Iberia instead backstabbing you since you trade with them. But after they’ve united Spain be prepared for betrayal and find allies (Carthage or Numidia) against them. Eventually you’ll have to conquer Spain to fulfill your campaign domination, but try to finish the bloody business with romans first before Iberians get too greedy. When you’re preparing for war with Spanish, I found it a good diplomacy strategy to support Carthage with cash (say 1k or 2k if I have spare left) esp if it still has land in Spain and ask to attack Iberians. This way the conquest of Iberia will be easier imo. Divide and conquer.
Dacia – possible enemy on eastern front. They always like to ally with germans against you. Try to get alliance from Scythia and Macedon or Greeks (whoever unite Greece) then and support them with cash so they fight those berserk Dacians instead of you. Try to avoid war with them, you really don’t need additional front it in the beginning.
2. Gaul expansion in my campaign
In the first couple of years I built roads, basic, infrastructure, started to speacialize my military, captured Massila easily (low garrison) and built as much troops as I could in Northern Italy. Then stationed them at the Po river bridge/crossing.
The Julli have captured Segesta, but were afraid to attack me, they too assembled a huge offensive army in the meantime. Then they tried to go around to siege Mediolanium town but their huge army was defeated and so I began a huge counterattack and eventually after many skirmishes and big battles taken their capital Arretium. The Julii where basically doomed. pic That was a good blitz against them.
But suddenly Brutii arrived unexpectedly on eastern front lol. Seems they’ve been quick enough to conquer Segestica. I had to recall my army from near Rome to deal with this threat – I almost lost Patavium. Then I avenged Brutii real hard by sacking Segestica and giving it to Dacians, which soon became my enemies too lol.
Meanwhile on norhthern front Britons were battling germans repeatedly for that mainland town. This situation was good for me, cuz brits were my allies and great trading partners. But germans soon turned more attention on me too. Fortunately I had good defending army with decent general to push them back. In huge counter-offensive I even sacked their town (Trier) then exchanged it for peace.Germans were quiet for a while. My attack seemed to cut off german reinforcements and Brits finally captured that coastline town.
Next thing I did was conquer SPQR in couple of epic/large battles.
Then swept all across Italy. After that strengthened my lands, built large fleet and invaded Spain with 2 elite armies. Spanish soon fell to my superb experienced forces and it was only a matter of time before I reached victory conditions. It was an adventurous and awesome campaign I had in a long time.
BATTLEFIELD – the tactical part
"Warriors! Take up the sword and the axe, the bow and the knife! We come for glory and honour!"
Gaul unit lineup: strong close-combat barbarian light and heavy infantry + some missile and cavalry support
LIGHT/HEAVY INFANTRY – the backbone of gaulish army (10+ units in stack)
Early campaign inf
Warband – spear and shield armed light infantry, your early bread and butter. Great for garrison (because of their number) and holding the front line for a bit. Good vs light cav. Fast moving and have great stamina which is a great advantage of outmaneuvering and flanking the enemy.
Barbarian Mercenaries – roughly the same stats and role as warband, that comes at a higher price, so think long-term whether you need these cool barbarian looking pointy spear guys.
Swordsmen – a bit better stats than warband. Their war gear is sword, shield and bloody mind madness wahahaha! They are good flankers or front line charges, but vulnerable to quick cavalry charges. Also good for garrisons (cheap). Fast moving too compared to romans.
In your early armies and garrisons use a rather equal mix of both warband and swordsmen, cuz they fulfill each other. Also you can use these units in quantity vs quality wise situation, when you want to field huge army in medium/late campaign.
Naked fanatics – your own berserkers. In fact only these 2 types of units can go berserk. They take 2 turns to train, which means you wont have loads of them, but in battle they kick puny hastati ass really hard. They are way better than plain swordsmen and are both good on front offensive and flanking. Also fast moving.
Medium campaign inf (when you reach 3rd level barracks imo)
Heavy spearmen – the ultimate substitute for early spears. These guys are heavy armoured and can leave light as well as heavy cavalry dead in it’s tracks. They also fight quite well against other infantry, which means they are ideal for holding center line or guarding flanks (whatever your strategy is) against cav.
Chosen Swordsmen – a better unit in all the cases than your previous swords, fulfills the same role but at increased efficiency. Great for charging head-on or for smooth flanking attacks. Truly a chosen heroes’ unit.
Late campaign inf – after Marius reforms imo
Druids – an awesome inspirational/morale boosting unit, unfortunately comes late in campaign (you need 3rd Esus temple), therefore preserve your starting druids unit in Alesia. Druids boost your units’ morale with their taunting/chanting and often turn the tide of battle. Place them in the center, behind your front line and watch the enemies run on sight ha-ha! Try to defend druids from hand to hand, cuz they are not intended to fight.
Cinget – sword armed young Gaul warriors, they are a good substitute for swordsmen, but weaker than chosen swordsmen imo. Post marian unit.
Celtae – great substitute for chosen warriors, these are veteran Gaulish warriors
Gallic Warriors– the best/elite heavy infantry Gaul has imo. It’s kinda a copy of roman legionnaires, cuz this elite unit throws javelins in roman fashion before closing-up.
FOOT MISSILES – supporting role for infantry (4-6 units of these guys)
Skirmisher warband – the only early campaign foot missile unit. They are good to place:
1) in front skirmishes-ahead of main line (to unnerve enemy cav like in Braveheart movie lol) on offence (make sure you command them yourself – turn skirmish off - cuz they’re always too late to retreat behind);
2) behind your front line on defence peppering the enemy with javelins as they approach; beware of archers though;
3) on flanks so when the front line is engaged run these fast guys behind the enemy and shoot them in the back hahaha! Doing the last better have cav support nearby, you always don’t want them to get involved in any hand to hand. They are skirmishers and their job is to …well (you guessed) skirmish.
Btw they are good and fast enough to chase fleeing enemies.
Gaesate – the improved skirmishers (bigger shield and stats) fulfilling the same role.
Forester warband
MOSTLY LIGHT CAVALRY – scouting, supporting, flanking, harassing, chasing role (4+ units)
Barbarian Cavalry – a very cool light cavalry, spear and shield armed (warband on horse if you imagine). Good for protecting your line from those annoying velites, chasing routers, charging into the back, ambushing. Bad vs spearmen (like triarii) of course (will be cut to pieces within seconds) and in prolonged melee (cuz they’re light cav). Good anti other light cav (like roman equited) and guarding the flanks
Barbarian Cavalry Merc – about the same stats and role as barb cav, but increased cost and unkeep, which mean you should hire them in tough troop lack situation or where you don’t have enough cav support; or when you have plenty of cash. Darth made merc cost and unkeep higher in v8 and that is really good cuz it’s realistic (mercs were always expensive troops). Now you must think twice about hiring mercs.
Raider Cavalry
Barbarian Noble Cavalry – the only heavy armored cav the Gaul has, available in 2nd stable. Great for flank and back charging and good in melee against almost anything but spearmen. Not so great catching skirmishers cuz heavy slow cav (use light cav instead). Good for sneak attacks on enemy generals lol. Comes late in campaign though (you need 6000 pop and 2nd stable asap in cav training town). Best cav the Gaul has, make sure you use it effectively making life for infantry easier.
So to sum this up:
Early balanced Gaul army imo (20 units stack)
1 good general (you need him like air in DM lol or you’re screwed)
4 skirmisher warband
5-6 warband
3-4 swordsmen
2 naked fanatics
2 barbarian cavalry
2 raider cavalry
Medium campaign army
1 good general
2 gaesate
4 forester warband (they really kick ass)
4-5 heavy spearmen
4-5 chosen swordsmen
2 barbarian cavalry
2 raider cavalry
Late campaign uber Gaul army (maybe you’ve already won campaign by then)
1 best general available
1 druids (they are not meant to fight but to keep up morale with their chanting)
0-2 gaesate (you can use more archers or heavy inf if you need)
4 foresters
2 raider cavalry
2 barb noble cavalry
8-10 Heavy Spearmen/Chosen Sworsdmen/Cinget/Celtae/Gallic warriors (use the best available mix)
Basic battle tips that every Conan of Gaul should know… arghhh
1)fight in woods and/or snow. Your troops will turn into monsters believe me;
2)avoid fighting romans on open field and in summers. That’s when romans are at full strength.
3)the importance of warcry. Always don’t forget to use it in battle-just before you charge, your troops will gain additional morale and strength which is a big difference. It’s this unit ability that really turns on the barbarians for berserk and thunderous charge. Sometimes the low morale enemy troops will run on sight when all your army is taunting lol.
4)Use lots of ambushing in campaign as well as in battle. That’s what barbarians were esp famous for, right? Enemy always gets a morale hit when your troops appear out of nowhere suddenly.
5)Many of your troops are fast moving and have great stamina (compared to armoured romans) – abilities that shouldn’t be underestimated – your troops tire less and can flank quicker than the enemy.
6)Raiding: when you’re fighting 1 enemy (lets say Julii) and defending (cuz most of your war effort is concentrated against the romas; you can’t risk fighting on both fronts) against the other faction (say germania) it’s a good strategy to defend and counterattack – penetrate deep into enemy territory and raid/sack their towns (massacre pop, destroy all buildings) and then quickly retreat (or give them back the settlements in exchange for smth) leaving enemy crippled and not dangerous for a while.
Barbarian battle formations
Barbarian flanking onslaught formation
As you can see from the pic, this is an early Gaul army vs Julii manipular formation. This is my customized formation for more flanking, if enemy center doesn’t brake. Barbarians kinda don’t have defensive formations, cuz their best defense … well is attack lol (barbarian unit stats are oriented to attack so you see). Remember to use war cry, just before charge.
Barbarian Onslaught formation - Darth Vader’s TM
Medium campaign more advanced units, Gaul army approaches Julii manipulars in onslaught formation.
You can organize your units into this famous formation by grouping and clicking “barbarian onslaught formation” in the formations section.
Quote from DV: “Barbarian Onslaught Formation: This is perhaps the most straightforward tactic for the AI to use. And that is the reason it is effective. It mostly resembles the heroic and simple way of barbarian fighting. No strategy here, the strongest wins. A powerful central AI attack is created that if human survives it can wipe out the AI army. But in most cases the AI concentrates so much in the center that Human army breaks in 2 and it is uneasy to control it. The human general must support the center with his command radius or else it breaks.
The AI cavalry never really flanks except sometimes from the right. It is always gathered as a mob near the infantry and attacks most times to gaps created in the formation. This formation will trouble human in most cases because AI can control it easily and in 1-2 moves it decides the battle. Its weakness is the increased probability of barbarian commander to die in battle as he controls his army in the heat of the battle. But that is also a benefit because all the morale bonus that he gives creates easy center attack win. Also the formation creates a “barbarian” mob that is a mixed force with no discretion of infantry-cavalry. They will fight together and disorganized. It has one main section, the center”.
It’s a very great formation for barbarians in RTW imo.
Plz suggest your own customized formations for barbarians, I’m eager to know them.
My customized DM v8 music for Gauls (barbarians)
First I wanna tell you that you can mod the music to listen to whatever mp3s you like link
1)awesome CC light music mod. Quote: “Barbarians: We envisioned nobility and grace, but also power and savagery with the barbarians. You will find a unique blend of inspiring songs that will touch your inner barbarian”
2)RTR gold soundtrack – great music for barbarians, esp campaign
3)some Medieval 1 tracks for mobilize and battle (that music is awesome)
4)Lord of the Rings (all 3 parts) soundtrack. Chosen the best I like. Also for campaign and battle music
5)Braveheart movie soundtrack – so fitting for Gauls, fighting for their independence against romans (in comparison to scots vs britons)
6)a track or 2 from Matrix:Revolutions for battle (feels so epic)
That’s the end of my guide for this great barbarian faction Gauls! Hope you've found it interesting
P.S. Plz don’t hesitate to add your suggestions and ideas. Feedback is always welcome
P.S.S Sorry for my English mistakes, it’s not my native language.
“And remember this above all: our forefathers watch from the afterlife! Make sure they are not ashamed! Chaaarge!!!”
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Originally Posted by Sergius Lucius
