Saxons (BI faction)

[stabularasa]

Just one small remark: The spearmen are, allthough your most basic unit, also your best.
Let me explain.

Also, they get experience bonus if trained in a city with better barracks. If you have top-level-barracks, they come with silver chevrons.
Also, their weapons count as ranged, so they benefit from Ull-temples.
If you build your city right, you can train troops that come vith silver chevrons and golden weaopons right out the barrack.
That makes them very tough in close combat, but their pila-volleys are just devasting.
I´ve seen two of these units wipe units of spears in sieges before they could even reach the walls, or break enemy units with two salvoes befor they could even reach the line.

It's not possible to train any troops with silver chevrons and gold weapons at the same city. You'll have to have a training programme whereby you cycle your troops to allow them to benefit from the pagan temples. A triad of big cities would make a powerful source of soldiers if you have the patience to go to that level of training management.
Secondly, levies aren't tough in close combat. They have weak morale when fighting a cavalry unit and if you put a levy against a unit of comitatenses the levy will lose every time because of their low stamina and weakness against armoured units.
I admit that their missile spears are enough to send opposing units routing on their own, but they are very limited for ammo.

The best use for levies is front line cannon fodder while you send your hearth troops flanking.

[stabularasa]

Saxon Tips:
-Keep a large navy in the North Sea at all times-trained at a Woden shrine city for experience.

A large navy is a waste of valuable resources for nothing. You cannot profit from having a navy in the North Sea in any way. Throughout my whole campaign I only ever had 1 unit of low grade boats which I left in the harbour at Samarobriva and occasionally used them as a bridge across to Londinium.

[Andy Shadows]

Well I didn't have much problems playing saxons, since they are kickass infantrymen. The only bad idea is to go straight to britain. I did it first time but it became too painful. So the best idea is to grab those rebel cities, advance to the west, and when you have enough power, land to the britain.

[Mithras]

A large navy is a waste of valuable resources for nothing. You cannot profit from having a navy in the North Sea in any way. Throughout my whole campaign I only ever had 1 unit of low grade boats which I left in the harbour at Samarobriva and occasionally used them as a bridge across to Londinium.

I found it very useful, the first time I attempted to invade britain I was turned back by a pirate fleet. Said pirate fleets tended to pop up every few turns and attempt to blockade my harbours, hence the need for a fleet to chase them off. I also found it useful in blockading any roman cities I was about to siege weakening roman infrastructure prior to a attack.

The fleet was about 6-8 ships and proved quite useful, but i suppose it could vary in usfullness game to game depending on how often pirates show up.

[Romulas]

I find that as soon as you get the two rebel towns (SW and SE) and establish some sort of security taking the English Isle is a must. Taking the shortest route to ferry the army over to avoid losing them then start exterminating. Save the northern WRE town for last to prepare for the Romano-British. Once that is done a minimal force will be needed for garrison leaving income producing towns with your main forces on the mainland.

As far as the levy spearman, as they gain experience and weapon upgrades they do become somewhat servicable or least they don't die instantly on contact with the enemy.

[Monarch]

I have just set out on a Saxon campaign. Unfortunately, the Burgundii have already taken the rebel town SE, and they are my allies so I do not wish to take it from them.

The Plan

To stabalise borders and then terrorize the Western Roman Empire, due to their military might this may turn into a war of attrition, I am prepared for this as Saxon units are not too expensive.

Allies

I have allied myself with the Franks, Lombardi, Burgundi and the Alemanni. I also have trade relations with these nations. As my plan is to go west I do not want any invasions from the Germanic tribes, alliances should hopefully protect me from this.

Enemies

Bringing about the fall of the Western Roman Empire should take all of my attention, and thus I'll try to be Mr. Nice Guy with hordes and tribes.

Campaign Updates

19/01/06 - I have taken the rebel town directly SW of the starting position. I am now building a stack to head into the WRE. I have taken three Roman provinces now, the only name I can remember is Samabrovia. Avicum is also about to be taken. Interestingly, I decide I needed Campus Chatti, so I risked all my alliances on an attack against Burgundi (who had alliances with all my allies). The other tribes had a decision, take my side or the Burgs side, thankfully they chose me. Burgundi now has no allies and weak armies.

20/01/06 - Made good use of the WRE's lack of garrisons. I rampaged all the way to Massilia before coming into a decent garrison. The WRE now consists of very little, and is crumbling quickly. I shipped a stack out to take the British Isles. It kicked to WRE out very easily, but then the Romano British took Londinium. So from Eberacum I set off a counter offensive party, the RB dispatched an army to meet me, in open field I took out the RB army and then taking London back was quite easy. Fresh troops from mainland europe then reinforced by presence in Britain and I destroyed the Celts, taking Tara and Gal Raida. The Hordes are now very much here, Vandals and Huns are hovering around northern Italy with the Sarmaritans not close behind. Taking the Italian penisnula will in fact win the game (giving me the sufficient number of provinces).

Okay, actually finished this late last night. I simply took the Burgundian region to the west and then more Iberian provinces. I finished just in time, the Vandals and Huns where just about to enter my terretory.

Current Map

[Random Dude]

I just tried playing the Saxons. I first took the Rebel town to the SE, and when I went to the SW town, the Romans had already taken it. However, they rebelled soon after, and I allied with the WRE Rebels in order to have that boarder somewhat protected from the Romans (which worked, as the Romans unsuccessfully seiged that town many times through the campaign, ignoring Vicus Saxones completely). So, then i built a strong army, strengthened my navy, and sent my faction heir over into Britain. I conquered Londinium with ease, and had a pretty good economy after that. I also allied with the Celts to gain support against the Romans. So, I retrained my army in Londinium, and started to build some levies to defend while I was to go to Eburacum. However, my economy started to go way downhill, and I was actually losing money every turn. So that pretty much forced me to go to Eburacum with a smaller army than I would've hoped. I got crushed by the Romans there, and now Londinium is on the brink of rebelling.

I think that if I had gone for Eburacum first, I could've had an easier time in Britain. Or perhaps I should've gone west in Europe first. Thoughts?

[Deus ret.]

forget eburacum, take londinium and exterminate it. once it is a large city, it'll be your main asset since vicus saxones is under permanent threat from some horde or another most of the time and can't produce too many units for the war in the west...in addition, eburacum would make you, not the romans the prime target for the celts. in my game, I took londinium and waited for the celts and romans to battle it out. both of them had more than a full stack while my somewhat crappy army consisted of some keels, hunters and spearmen with very limited cav support, and no funds for more troops were available.... the romans and celts even were allied for some time but just be patient and wait it out. they'll go to war sooner or later.
so the celts took eburacum, annihilated the respectable roman army and lost the greatest part of theirs. so far so good, but then the romano-brits appeared and headed straight for me instead of going after the celts. they got crushed when they assaulted londinium though (don't meet them in a field battle, their heavy cavalry will likely chew you) and afterwards it was no big deal to wipe the weakened celts off britain.
londinium is not really a problem to hold unto; besides the usual strategic (anti-CP) build policy, simply spam a horde of peasants as garrison units and you should be fine.

as for the spearmen, I definitely agree with Zorn. they come with 4exp (wodan) and basic upgrades and they simply ROCK.120 men, low upkeep...perfect garrison troops with an edge! with shield wall turned on, those nice little buggers are guaranteed to repay for their cost, and they're also excellent troops for emergency missions due to their rather high attack rate. not to mention their pila which hurt like hell! and if they die, well, they're more than easily replaced. when defending londinium against the romano-brits they were my winners since I didn't have any hearths or axes with me, and on the walls they distinctly outclassed the keels.

[Deus ret.]

oh, and take samarobriva ASAP, this will solve your financial problems if you already occupy londinium. another issue is to keep the Romans out, but with the additional funds this should be no problem

[Shabbaman]

I just finished my first successful BI campaign. After a failed attempt with the Lombardi (no gold...) I tried the Saxons. My main objective for the game was to capture Frisia, since I'm Frisian. To my dismay the WRE got there first... When they sent an army towards Tribus Chatti (which I conquered instead), I decided to attack them. They were weaker than I thought. The main problem was that they had already allied with the Burgundii and the Frankii, so I had to keep a large garrison in my heartland.
I had a hard time to keep up financially. Because the Romans weren't pushing, and they didn't want to sign peace, I went for some Roman cities: Colonia Agrippina and Augusta Treverorum. I thought Cologne would make a decent income, but it didn't. Trier was a little bit better, but it made up for it: the barracks there allowed me to build Saxon hearth troops (and chosen axe, but I'm ashamed to say I didn't even try them). After that, it was a walk in the park.

Later on I noticed that Samarobriva was the cash cow I should've gone for first.

[el-frei]

Mercenary units:

Top of you shopping list should be siege machines grab any you can find! Try to hold regions where theirs an ample supply of them. You should also look out fro graal knights: a super heavy cavalry unit, which can chew through enemies like a fat man through cake. 2-3 units can change the dynamics of your army allowing for heavy cavalry tactics combined with heavy infantry tactics (until the losses build up).

I tried a different approach. After grabbing the rebel towns, I went about 3 provinces East, to capture that huge province that closes the Northern Sea. I left a general there with the sole purpose of hiring mercenaries. Horse Archers are easy to find there, although expensive. They make a good complement for the Saxons armies. I did create a Horde by accident in the process, but was able to terminate most of them with my mercenary CAs, sea raiders, and a bunch of generals, when they came for one of my towns, after a long series of bridge battles. My veteran cavalry army will be very useful on my assault to the romans.

[Praetorian101]

VH/VH. I had a lot of fun playing this faction and defeating the romans.

One of the main problem's with this faction is money as mentioned before. U start out with a lot ofcourse but that won't last... I thought the Burgundii Capital was the best target to solve this problem (mines, harbor, weak, no walls and easy to defend). First I took the rebel city to the SE though (only SE).

I sailed to the Burgundiian capital with a ship filled with about 8 saxon keel and a general I believe (2e attack). Yes 'sailed', because it's faster. However before I arrived Burgundii send a diplomat, because they knew they wouldn't stand a chance this time... Result: 10.000d for a ceasefire treaty. Which was a good deal because it solved the money problem a bit and enabled me to sail directly to Londium which was ofcourse my main target, because it's the economical heart of NW-Europe.

I conquered Londium and the city to the North (exterminate). Note: it's very important to do this asap by the way. Note2: don't spend any rescources on fighting the Celts, they are tough.

By the way I don't think it's important to fend off the Romano British, because you can get trade rights with them later on. The main goal is to weaken the Romans and getting money. I did fend them off however


At the same time when I was invading Britain, the romans were invading my homeland. BIG PROBLEM! They launch a big attack on your capital after like 12 turns or so and it's not easy to counter (both because of money problems and because they really send some big armies). I remember once I succesfully fended off the last attack one my capital I only had 2 generals left... No bodyguards!!!! .

One piece off advice: Counter attack the Romans in the field before they reach your capital. Try to take out as many infantry with your generals (especially Comitatenses) as you can before you attack with your main army. note: It's not important to win the fight, once things get hopeless retreat to your capital and save some troops. This way you can retrain and fight them at least twice (first in the field, second when they attack your capital). I didn't employ this tactic however, I only discovered it when I played the Allemani faction later on.


In sort: Early on in the game I managed to:

1: defend my capital
2: conquer the Romans in Britain.

Once I accomplished this, it wasn't hard to win. My main target remained the WRE cities, which were easy pickings. From the start I was allied with the Franks (who I gave a lot of money on regular basis to help me fight the Romans). I remained allied with them for about 40 turns.

[Good Ship Chuckle]

If your looking for a Mediocre Campaign, the Saxons are just what the doctor ordered.( I played on M/M)

Mediocre Beginning:
Seize the surrounding rebel provinces before anyone else gets to them. Best to preserve your diplomatic integrity as long as possible. Devote resources to building up your cities.

Mediocre Middle:
Build up your military prowess. Fend off your other barbarian counterparts, and slam the romans when they least expect it. (of course in BI, they are never prepared for anything) Make Britain a priority.

Mediocre End:
Once you consolidate Samorabriva and Londinium, the sky is the limit. If your looking for a challenge, don't attack the romans. Their city's garrisons are so poor that I autoresolved most of my sieges, just because there was no sport in it. I continued all the way to Rome in this fasion, and still found no competition. Look to the East for a challenge, and maybe the hordes might not disappoint you.

Summary:
If you eat mediocre cereal in the morning, have a mediocre dog, and live a mediocre life; then the Saxons are just what you need. For those us who live a little bit more on the edge, I reccomend a different faction. Already I feel that banging my head against a wall for the duration I played the Saxons would have been a better use of my time.

But don't take my word for it, get out there and play them Saxons and see for yourself.

[Paradox]

Never played as them, but I think you forgot to mention the Romano-British, are they challenging?

[Good Ship Chuckle]

Never played as them, but I think you forgot to mention the Romano-British, are they challenging?

Hardly.
Once you take Londinium and Eburacum from the Romans, they get triggered into existance. They start out as a single army in the British countryside. They basically have one throw of the dice, to take either of the british cities. Once beaten back from your cities, they never return as a threat.
Just be prepared for them, and they shouldn't be a problem.

[Celtic_Punk]

if i learned but one thing from my celt campaign against the saxons. NEVER UNDERESTIMATE A SHEILD WALL!!!!!!

and as the saxons, dont go for numbers, your shieldwall will function superiorly with smaller more elite units, and for defending in seiges, use 2 or 3 units in shield wall to guard your gates

--- = walls/gates the slashes are your units in shield wall

|--|----------
\ /


for a stronger more containing effect place a 3rd unit at the vertex of the triangle in a column formation. this will contain the enemy nothing but boiling oil and arrows to the rear and 3 shield walls with pointy sticks sticking out of them surrounding them.

any cavalry they use to push through will be slaughtered by your 3rd unit in column formation, as the farther they break through the deeper they will become trapped inside your men.

this strategy is made twice as effective with a phalanx formation... (see pict spearmen)

[Stephen B.R. Keller]

I have just fininshed two successful campaigns as the Saxons, one at H/H and the other at VH/H. I chose the Saxons because, nestled at the base of the Juteland peninsula along the North sea, they have direct access to the lucrative North Sea trade and are pretty much out of the flow of the hoards from the east.

Saxon units are manageable, if not awesome. For awesome, think Germania in RTW - 7 spear warbands, 4 chosen axemen, 4 chosen archers, 4 Gothic cavs, and a general, all trained at a level 3 Wodan city with a weaponsmith.

Management of Saxon units begins with the humble levy spearman. Virgin levies rate 7,9,3,11,5 (attack, missile, charge, defense and morale). Notice that levies are missile units which means that you can upgrade them at Ull temples (up to 3 levels across the board). But, you can also upgrade them at Wodan temples (up to 3 levels of experience) and at Donor temples (up to 2 levels of morale). Also, they get an extra level of experience if you train them at better than a muster field and further upgrades at a weaponsmith. So, train them at all three cities, with the Donor city first, and these heavy levies will rate at least 14,18,3,14,7. They will stand up to almost anyone, can be retrained anywhere, and are cheep.

And, you can do the same with hunter archers - except I don't train them at the Donor city, because I don't use them for hand to hand fighting. They start out at 6,7,5,8 (attack, missile, charge, defense) and end up at 13,14,5,13, which is really great. Remember to include an archery range and a weaponsmith in the production line. So, my initial armies consist of enhanced levies and humters and generals. Later, I add chosen axemen and mounted nobles - I train these at a Donar city for the extra morale and retain them at a Wodan city with a weaponsmith.

It takes a little time to learn to fight with levies. Turn on "fire at will" at the start and give them time to fire their missiles - if they are charged by cavs, then direct them to attack as soon as you see it coming. Also, against strong opponents, double up the outside levels or back them up with chosen axemen.

I set my campaign agenda with three objective in mind, 1) unit management, 2) financial stability, and 3) take and hold 18 provinces incuding Sararobriva and Londinium. So first, I build a level 3 Ull temple and a weaponsmith in Campus Saxones and take Campups Chatti to the southeast. Use both generals and their forces for CC. There, build two levels of Donor temples and a muster field and start pumping out levies. Then, build anything that will help population growth, like farms and markets and go with low taxes.

Next, go for Campus Frisii, southwest of CS. This means war with the WRE, but so be it. On the way from CC (with your generals and hunters), stop at CS to pick up the levies you are training there, wait a couple of turns (still training levies) until the level 3 Ull temple and the weaponsmith are complete, retrain all and head for CF. (All future levies will be trained at CC.)

When you take CF, maximize income and growth - ports, markets, farms, and a second level sewer system which gives a half percent growth. (I often send my levies back to CC after the seige of CF to retrain at the now complete level 2 Donar - I think it gives them a morale point?) At CF, train peasants and disburse them in CC to build population - remember, we want Donor level 3 in CC for the second moral point.

Next, it's on to Colonia Agrippina and Augusta Treverorum - take at least 6 pumped levies, two hunters, and two generals. These WRE cities are usually not a problem because the WRE has other things on its mind. AT is your Wodan city and completes the training triad, so build to level three Wodan ASAP. Start your levies in CC, retrain them in CS, and finish them at AT. CA is a cash city, so build ports, markets, etc.

Then, move down the North Sea Coast and take Saratobriva and Londinium. This completes a string of five ports and assures financial stability. If you have played Germania in RTW, you won't believe how rich you feel as a Saxon in BI with S & L.

By now you have seven cities, good finances, and a war machine pumping out levies and hunters. The game is pretty much under control, so we move to the thrid objective - the 18 privinces.

First, I take Eburacum and the two Celtic provinces, which brings you to a total of 10.

When you take Eburacum, after Londinium, you will have to deal with the Romano-British. They can be a problem so have a full stack when you take Eburacum. The R-B will attack Londinium a trun or two later, so retrain your forces in E right away and build a couple of units there to keep order when you run off to break the siege at L. Buy the way, the R-B will hit you with a frontal assault and lots of heavy cavalry. So, double up on your outside levies - two extra on each side (or if you now have chosen axemen, bring at leat four - like football linebackers - and order them to attack so that they hit the line about the same time as the R-B. Also, a little flanking with extra generals or mounted nobles will make a difference.

When you complete the British campaign, bring the army back to the continent. One way to go, then, is to work your way south and east through Gaul and Northern Italy and pick off Augusta Vindelicorum from the north. This will give you 6 more provinces, with only two more to go, which should be no problem. In any case, once you have the intiial ten provinces and reliable troops, things will pretty much go your way.

A couple of additional points may be of assistance. The first is on the management of former WRE cities. I destroy or replace all Roman buildings, to keep the coulture prenaly down. I usually set Loninium up and a Donar City and train mounted nobles, chosen axemen and some levies there. I set Samaraobriva up as a Ull city and retrain the levies and train humters there - I fininsh them that AT.

Good luck and levies forever.

SKeller

[Quintus.JC]

Hello Stephen Keller, welcome to the guild.

I had similar experiences with the Saxons, I mostly concentrated on Heavy Infantry (Saxon Hearth Troops) in the expense of cavalry, the Saxon probably has one of the best infantries in BI. Saxon Hearth Troops capable of defeating anyone if used properly.

[horee6]

Hi guys!

Finished the first game with the saxons (H/H huge units), and I had very good experiences.
Advantages:
1. Very strong infantry (hearth troops, chosen axeman) + exp bonus of advanced barracks
2. Lucrative North Sea trade
3. Temples of Wotan +3 exp bonus

Disadvantages:
1. Lack of roads
2. Cavalry

At the start I planned the borders of my future empire, and I decided to take th British Isles, Gaul, Northern Italy, and some German territory along the Rhein. I thought my cheif enemy would be the WRE.

1. Phase - Getting strong on the mainland

I've taken Campus Frisii and Campus Chattii and started building alliances with the other barbarians (franks, burgundi, lombardi). Soon the WRE attacked me at Campus Frisii, so I decided to launch an attack and take Colonia Agrippina, Augusta Treverorum and Sambarovriva. Citizens got exterminated, roman buildings razed, so I had perfect loyality and enough money to build a second army. My eastern borders were relatively safe, because of my allies Avaricum belonged to the rebels I only had to worry about an attack from the south across the Alps, so I placed my first army at the bridge south of Augusta Treverorum.

2. Phase - conquering Britain

I built a second army (keels and hunters) and occupied Londinium, and built up a small garrison of peasants to keep loyality. I left the small Eburacum garrison intact to avoid the Romano British, and sailed west to take Tara. Rebuilt my army trained the garrison, and aimed Dal Raida. I was quite archer-heavy with this army so it was easy to kill the unarmored berserkers, and my general and the keels dealt with the rest. During the invasion in Britain the mainland was quite peaceful. The franks lost their capital to the alemanni, but luckily they didn't horde, because they had occupied another easter province (C. Macromanni???) before. The Sarmatian Horde showed up in southern Gaul, and took Burdigala and Avaricum. No sign of the WRE yet. The North Sea trade wasn't too lucrative yet, but I managed to build a 3rd army, mostly heart troops and chosen axeman. Now I was ready to take Eburacum and fight the Romano-British. After this I crossed the Channel and left a small army in Britain.

3. Phase - The Hordes

After bringing back my military on the mainland I decided to go offensive. Alemanni were not my allies so I destroyed them taking Vicus Frankii and Vicus Alemanni. I also destroyed the Sarmatians in Gaul, so I started to think, victory was near at hand. I planned to conquer 4 more territories, Arles and Massila from the western front, and Augusta Vindelicorum and Mediolandium from the north. Everything gone perfect, until the vast Hunnic Horde appeared in northern Italy and southern Gaul, the Slavs emerged and turned my frankish allies into horde and the Roxolani and the Vandals also showed up behind the Huns. The burgundi also betrayed me and started to send forces against Vicus Chattii and Vicus Saxoni. By this time I had a nice trade income on the North Sea, some of my settlments were huge cities with every building so I was the ideal target of those hordes. My military was concentrated around Burdigalia, and I had an army north of the Alps. Thing turned very nasty in few years. I couldn't stop the franks in Germany, but luckily the went west and besieged Avaricum. I quickly produced some troops in my northern provinces and repelled the burgundians, and built forts on the borders. I split my main army and one full stack was defending in southern Gaul against the hordes and the WRE, who were getting strong in Spain, and the other stack went north and defeated the franks.

4. Phase - Finale

After some huge battles against the hordes I succeeded to brake the Huns, Franks and the Vandals, so I started to control the situation. Put forts on the Passes of the Pyrenees stopping the WRE and hunted down the Horde generals. The Sassanids showed up in C. Macromanni and sent some armies against my eastern cities, their heavy cavalry was no match to my chosen axemen and hearth troops. I rebuilt my military and took the two provinces in southern Gaul, and crossed the Alps from the north and took Mediolandium. I had some difficulties here, because the WRE seemed to remain strong in Italy and the lombardi horde also showed up, but my soldiers were veterans of many battles with superior equipment so I finally got my last province here.

Summary:

Moving peasant from one city to another I managed to build huge cities everywhere except for Dal Raida and Tara.
By the end of the game I had to move my capital to Avaricum, because I couldn't handle the population neither here nor in Burdigalia.
The North Sea trade is awesome. Londonium brought me more than 4K per turn and the other cities of the English Channel were also wealhty.
Saxons can produce exp 4 infantry in cities with Wotan and highest level barracks. Silver chevron chosen axemen and hearth troops kick ass.
Hunters produced in city with Uli AND retrained in city with Wotan also incredible.
In my game I had very little contact with the WRE, and neither of my generals could achieve high value in the eagle trait.
Saxon family members are not for governing, but to lead armies. They have low management and influence, and also tend to start with low command, but they most likely to develop traits like berserker, ambusher and infantry commander, which makes them deadly.

P.S.

Sorry for my bad english!

[omg3969]

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[Sir Conor March]

I remember as the saxons i took the coastal lands and rebel lands until i met the WRE and i sent a army to north britain and wiped out the celts. Next i marched south and took eburacum and then went and took london quite easily(i think they marched their troops out to fight the franks). But the romano british popped up and i lost london to them but as their second army was marching north(i was unaware of this captain led army) I marched a army to london and took it back, destroying the romano british in the process and later having to clean up the last rebel army sitting in northern england. Next i sent large armies across the channel and from germany into gaul(most of the cities had few troops or none at all) and by about 410 i had conquered half of france(i even got a roman town with large stone walls).

But unfortuantly the huns popped up and attacked my largest, most lightly defended city with some archers, keel and sea raiders to defend it(300 men roughly) against 9 hunnic armies with more than 10,000 men. At this moment i though a good idea would be to run and hide in britain but i sallied out and something unexpected happened in the battle. The large stone walls built by the romans shot down 100s then 1000s of the huns, since i was only defending one wall and they had no time to make seige weapons yet they stood idly outside the walls being shot down, Only after so many of them died(about 70 percent of their army) I send my cavalry to charge them and they all routed and i was able to cut down many of them.

This left me with about 10 or so dead but for every saxon that died 1000 huns died. They went to spain after that and much later it said the fellows in north africa wiped them out. After beating the hordes i was free to march into the rest of the western empire and take it without much difficulty.

[kingman]

which the Romano-British faction emerges. When Eburacum fell, a blue stack appeared halfway between that and Londinium. I was expecting a bit more, and probably will see more units at a higher difficult level, but these were enough to cause me a headache. My only general in Britain was in just-conquered Eburacum, which had hardly any troop facilities. The small garrison I'd left in Londinium was led by a captain. Londinium fell when the Romano-British assaulted it 2 turns later. Watch out for these guys: they've got some nice heavy infantry and usually quite a few warlord-type cav that can give your footmen a headache. Fortunately I was able to retake Londinium with my general and wipe out the faction next turn.

At this point you'll be wondering: should I continue pushing north/west and wipe out the Celts, or drive south and finish off the WRE? The Saxons need to hold Vicus Saxones, Londinium, and Samarobriva in order to win; but they also need 18 provinces. Since you're already at war with the WRE, it might be a good time to consolidate the lands in France before other barbarians get greedy.

[LøLç@t]

Hmm... Everyone really seemed to have had fun with the Saxons, but me.

Part of my trouble like people always say about the Saxons is, money, money and more money. There is never enough of it and if I ever get enough its when I have ether disbanded almost all of my troops or I'm day dreaming and I'm going to wake up and second now and start going crazy.

Aaaaaaand.... I tried this both ways, I tried getting land in close to home, then go after Britain, but after a while of not really knowing how to defend my self with no troops yet, still be in dept I had to give up. Well, erm ya... I blame all the Gen. units I had left....



And sometimes right too. Anywho, any need to know tips?