Roman tactics against Germans

[rpg48]

Folks, only my second post, but need help in a looming online match. I'll be Romans facing a German enemy -- presumably spearbands, screaming women, chosen archers, berserkers.

Can anyone offer me some Roman tactical counsel or point me to where I can find it in the forum? I've done a couple searches with little result. TIA.

[Ludens]

I am not exactly an MP player, but from my limited experience Germanies best units are chosen archers and noble/gothic cavalry. Their infantry is unarmoured but powerful so your best bet is not getting in a slogging match but attack them from multiple sides. To do that you need to destroy their cavalry. Chosen archers will do a lot of damage if left alone so you need to take them out as well. I recommend archer auxila and cavalry at the flanks (many cavalry: numbers and fast reaction are more important than shear strenght) and a decent holding force in the center.

[Mooks]

Be sure to storm them with pilu's before they attack, that will devastate any unarmoured enemy.

[Monarch]

Are we talking BI or plain RTW?

In standard I just had a very interesting battle against Germans, my archers fighting hand to hand (they were out of arrows) snuck behind a unit of German spearman and managed to take almost all of them out. Very fun to watch :)

But yeah standard rules should apply, if he's got spearman, go round them for instance. Standard stuff like that ;)

Oh but I I dop suggest taking out screaming women first, even if its just to rid your speaksers of their awful sound!

[rpg48]

Thanks, fellas. I've run a couple tests on the "German woodland" map of RTW, using a Scipii Roman configuration -- heavy cavalry and heavy infantry, a few archers and auxilia foot -- against a German mix of Screeching Women, warbands, Gothic cavalry, chosen archers, berserkers and chosen axemen.

I had a close win the first time. The second time, it was ugly; a crushing defeat. I let my flanks get turned one unit after another and everyone panicked.

Question: As a principle, should I set my units to "loose formation" when facing the Germans? I did that in the second match to minimize arrow damage, but you already know how that worked out. ;-(

[The Stranger]

are you defending...if soo check the tactics thread...thats stickied in the entrance hall and scroll down to the bottom of my first post and use the normal line tactic the one that looks like this /--\ that will fend them off...use the archers versus berserkers and use yur heavy cav wisely to defend yur flank...

use the the bait tactic to do that...use one cav to lure them and engage but not to soon and the other will flank them...but be careful yur opponent will likely do that too

[Craterus]

Let him attack you. Especially if it's on a forest map. Being ambushed by some crazy Germanians isn't good for your army's morale.

You'll want to take their archers out as soon as possible because they're superior to your own. If/when there's no missile support for the Germans, let your archers rip his unarmoured units apart.

[Mattisius Carsonius]

Definitely defend. Get the high ground, all of that standard tactical advice. Make sure your heavy infantry is able to get off at least one pila throw before they charge you, and if they don't charge you, bait them as best you can with archers and skirmishers. it's not a bad idea to sacrifice a unit or two of velites by allowing them to absorb an infantry charge if it means your own hvy infantry can launch all their pila and slog in on a flank, or even right through your routing velites. make sure you have one or two throwaway units of spearmen too, (triarii or auxilia) to run around your flanks and counter/tie-up enemy cavalry while your cav moves in for the kill/takes out their chosen archers.

Don't go into the forest. Ever.

The strength of the roman army lies in discipline and order. The weakness of the barbarians lies in the ease with which their discipline and order can be disrupted. play a few custom battles and learn exactly how well your chosen army can skirmish and avoid battle against a really good germanian army, and figure out how to use your skirmishers and hvy infantry in concert to really open up holes in the enemy ranks before you finally charge...do this and your opponent will panic and likely send in reserves or cavalry that were guarding a flank or holding off your archers in order to shore up the main line....if he doesn't, you break through, if he does, you have one or possibly several lanes of attack through his flanks and around to his support units and general...

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS have reserves! at least have a single unit of hvy infantry in the back middle to shore up the center, and two units of light cav on either side to rush to defend your flanks if necessary. DON'T give in to the urge to throw them carelessly into battle when you see the tide turning, in your favour or the enemy's. treat them as another army, and decide very carefully where you really need support. Don't throw your reserve cav into the thick of the center for support if you are losing the center due to chosen archer fire on the flanks. Figure out where your major problems are going to stem from based on your opponent's formation, and plan ahead for your reserve action.

I personally think germania is the "best" barbarian faction.

[Watchman]

German Spear Warbands are phalanxes. Phalanxes are Not Nice frontally. Especially to cavalry. Throwing lots of pilums at them and then attacking while they're still redressing their ranks and suffering from the morale impact would probably be a good idea - or at least that's my experience from briefly fighting the Romans in a rather unsuccesful Greek campaign.

Just about all other German melee infantry has Warcry. Odds are they'll be using it, which usually amounts to stopping some ways off, letting out the noise for a while, and then charging. At least the AI helpfully tends to trigger it withing pila range, which rather helps dealing with the beardy buggers once they get close. I understand the effects of the ability don't last very long, which is why it tends to get used rather close by.

Shooting any Berserkers and Screaming Women (both of whom are helpfully lacking in armour) full of arrows is heartily recommended, possibly even before engaging in any counter-battery fire against Chosen Archers and similar nasties (both of the former die rather faster than any of the latter, anyway). The former because they tend to make nasty holes in units Which You Do Not Want To Happen particularly if there's a bunch of Chosen Axes coming right behind them (and both Berserkers and Chosen Axes halve armour, which is why you probably don't want either wandering around any Urban Cohorts or the like if it can be helped), the latter because among the main Roman advantages over the assorted barbarian rabble factions is higher base morale of units, and the presence of noisy Screamers (or for that matter Druids, although those buggers *do* wear armour and are hence more problematic to dispose of) goes a long way of negating that advantage.

A reserve of spearmen hanging around the flanks is probably useful. Actually, it's probably *always* useful, even when there's no enemy cavalry to help keep off (adding some spearmen to a cavalry fight is definitely going to help your guys out a fair bit) - having friendlies at flanks and rear helps unit morale, and if there's nothing left trying to flank your line you might as well bring the stick-boys around and start rolling up the enemy flanks with them... Even otherwise worthless Eastern Infantry can probably make themselves almost useful in this fashion.