Casse

[jebes]

Do the Casse get Cavalry on the islands? Can they get Leuce Epos in Gaul?

[Dooz]

They have an awesome (and extremely expensive) cavalry unit in hometown provinces on the island, Brinhentin (sp?). Yes, they can train Leuce Epos in Gaul.

[Ranika]

They should not have Brihentin; their presence in Britain is a recruitment system error. There will be different cavalry in Britain, which will be pretty poor quality, meant for skirmishing, but they're not ready yet.

[Dooz]

Oh damn. Where will we be able to recruit Brihentin then? Haven't seen much more of them outside of the island, only in rebel forces along the north-west of the mainland.

[the_handsome_viking]

Hey Ranika, I was wondering if you could give me a bit of information on British Celtic military tactics, especially concerning their javalin throwing.

http://www.odysseyadventures.ca/articles/hadrian-wall/article_hadrianswall.htm


…the Britons are unprotected by armour. There are very many cavalry. The cavalry do not use swords nor do the wretched Britons (Brittunculi) take up fixed positions in order to throw their javelins.

This is from the Vindolanda tablets.

[Ranika]

The idea here is the common way by which Britons would attack a campaigning enemy. It's similar to Caesar's experience with them. They would harass him with cavalry and ambushers, fight briefly, and run off. Such tactics were very common in the middle ages; this was 'harrying'. The idea of wearing down one's opponent slowly, acting as a kind of human attrition.

If they fought as Gauls did, not taking a fixed position to throw their javelins, in a battle, most probably refers to the youths who took up places ahead of the actual body of the army and tried to wear down the enemy with javelins (they were screeners, essentially). So poorly armored (some may even have fought nude), they likely had to spread themselves out pretty widely to avoid the javelins thrown back at them, and probably kept on the move till they were out of javelins and fled. The Britons will have a skirmish unit for this, by the way, they aren't finished yet though. Very light, fast, and cheap.

Most Britons were unarmored. Not all, not by a longshot, we know of plenty of examples of armor in Britain. Armor was a possession of the nobility and the aristocracy. This is represented for the Casse by inflated costs for armored units, but their good units do raise allied morale (since that's more their purpose; they're too few in number to make a singular big impact, but they can make a big impact by the way they keep the weaker units fighting). The Britons have to be played in a realistic manner; there's reliance on mobility, and reliance on keeping your men from fleeing (I don't know if it's tweaked yet, but most British units have lower than normal morale). Since so many of their units are lighter, keeping them static is a bit dangerous unless you have the units to raise their morale to keep them fighting. Harassing and encirclement are a good aim; get around the enemy as best you can. Some armies don't have to rely on flanking so much, but it's near necessity with the Britons.

That said, using them all properly is difficult right now; they don't have their cavalry (cheap light harassing cavalry), or their ultra cheap skirmishers. When they do, you should be able to get a better idea of how to use them. It's actually a bit of combined arms thing going on. Skirmishers harass the enemy, and cavalry does likewise, but can be used to flank with early, chariots hit to disrupt and open gaps in heavy infantry, which you flood with light infantry, and use whatever you have left to try and begin encircling them. If you can pull off the battle properly, you should manage a decent slaughter of the enemy.


As for Brihentin; they will be recruitable in Gaul, I believe, yes, along with the LE. Britons will also be able to get some cool Belgae cavalry that aren't finished yet, so if you really want to augment the army with some cavalry, you'll have some fair options depending on where you control.

[Ludens]

They should not have Brihentin; their presence in Britain is a recruitment system error. There will be different cavalry in Britain, which will be pretty poor quality, meant for skirmishing, but they're not ready yet.
I seem to recall reading somewhere that the British Celts were actually quite good horsemen. Is this just plain wrong or did they in fact have decent skirmishing cavalry?

[PSYCHO V]

Britons will also be able to get some cool Belgae cavalry that aren't finished yet, so if you really want to augment the army with some cavalry, you'll have some fair options depending on where you control.

Should have those for you tomorrow Ran. ~:)

[Divie]

What is required to be able to train Calawre and the Kluddargos I have all buildings except one of the schools and hero cult buildings in my capitol :help:

[Dooz]

I believe the year 107 B.C. is required to train Kluddargos. As for Calawre, you can only build them in type 2 gov's I think, and in the available provinces... If this info is wrong, it will be corrected shortly I'm sure : )

What is this hero cult building you speak of?

[Divie]

The celtic hero tomb srry in the description it mentions the celtic hero culture guess i got my eyes crossed :)

[the_handsome_viking]

Thanks a bunch Ranika =).

[Ranika]

I seem to recall reading somewhere that the British Celts were actually quite good horsemen. Is this just plain wrong or did they in fact have decent skirmishing cavalry?

Well, they were very good at caring for their horses, and were likely quite capable riding them, but there's still a difference to be made between being able to ride a horse well, and fighting well as cavalry. There are exceptions. The Dumnones and Dobunni sometimes are said to have had good cavalry, but you may also account that most Britons rode ponies in Britain, as it was more viable, and at times they also had Gallic horsemen, presumably mercenaries or allies, in Britain, and they were efficient cavalry themselves.

[Ludens]

Well, they were very good at caring for their horses, and were likely quite capable riding them, but there's still a difference to be made between being able to ride a horse well, and fighting well as cavalry. There are exceptions. The Dumnones and Dobunni sometimes are said to have had good cavalry, but you may also account that most Britons rode ponies in Britain, as it was more viable, and at times they also had Gallic horsemen, presumably mercenaries or allies, in Britain, and they were efficient cavalry themselves.
I see. Thank you for answering.

[Wandarah]

I'm having the most insane campaign as Casse at the moment.

I control all the Isles. While I was waiting for a naval yard to be built, I hit about 300,000 loot. A message popped up soon after telling me the Romans were the richest.

I sorta forget, then launched an attack on the mainland - a Roman controlled province that splits the Sweboz and the Adeui (forget it's name). Anyway, after I landed, and took it. I checked the diplomatic screen to see if I could weasle some barbarian buddies.

The Romans have both the Sweboz and the Adeui as protectorates!

Needless to say, without having to worry about either of the 2 flanks - 3 Stacks came at me, and beat the living crap out of my kickass British army.

I got no idea what to do right now - I'm considering sending an army around to Italy itself. Sacking all the big cities and clearing out. I cant break the Romans on the mainland, thats for sure.

[the_handsome_viking]

I'm having the most insane campaign as Casse at the moment.

I control all the Isles. While I was waiting for a naval yard to be built, I hit about 300,000 loot. A message popped up soon after telling me the Romans were the richest.

I sorta forget, then launched an attack on the mainland - a Roman controlled province that splits the Sweboz and the Adeui (forget it's name). Anyway, after I landed, and took it. I checked the diplomatic screen to see if I could weasle some barbarian buddies.

The Romans have both the Sweboz and the Adeui as protectorates!

Needless to say, without having to worry about either of the 2 flanks - 3 Stacks came at me, and beat the living crap out of my kickass British army.

I got no idea what to do right now - I'm considering sending an army around to Italy itself. Sacking all the big cities and clearing out. I cant break the Romans on the mainland, thats for sure.

I'm currently just sitting back waiting for the Romans to conquer Gaul, though I have skirmished with several Sweboz armies.

The British Isles are magical.

[Ludens]

Wandarah, I think you should either eliminate or else break the protectorate status of Aedui and Sweboz, because the Romans get a huge injection of cash each turn from them. This makes it impossible for you to win a battle of attrition.

Rampaging to Italy is a very risky strategy, though if it works you will have crippled their military capacity for a long time. Off course, succesfully following the footsteps of Hannibal may be its own reward.

[Dooz]

Wandarah, I think you should either eliminate or else break the protectorate status of Aedui and Sweboz, because the Romans get a huge injection of cash each turn from them. This makes it impossible for you to win a battle of attrition.

Rampaging to Italy is a very risky strategy, though if it works you will have crippled their military capacity for a long time. Off course, succesfully following the footsteps of Hannibal may be its own reward.

My proudest moment in RTW history. As the Casse, I took my King, Lugad the Killer, Grandson of Barae the Conqueror, and set my course towards Roma. His great army destroyed half a dozen cities along the way, slaughtering tens of thousands of Romans, both in the fields and in their homes. Finally, sacked the city of Roma itself. *tear* A proud decade in Casse history.

Rome was but a shadow of its former expanding self. Casse, rivaling the greatest empires in the world.

[LorDBulA]

Huh. Hopefully in futer version this will not be so easy. Romans will fight and defend homeland to the last breath.

[Dooz]

Noone said it was easy.

(The main reason it was even possible was that... well... I'm an ass and I made the Sweboz my protectorate... otherwise I hardly think I could have diverted any attention away from my northern front and well........ phooey)