Tactics of Rex Pelasgorum

[Rex_Pelasgorum]

Lesson nr 1 : How to figh effectively against the Roman Armyes:

Roman armies are the strongest armies in the game, regarding the quality of infantry. A rain of pilla can quikly decimate the mightiest of phalanx, and in hand to hand combat, the legionaries rule.

So, put in the situation to fight against the romans, what tactic will you use ?

First, it must be considered the fact that the roman armies lack cavalry. They have very nice cavalrymen, it is true, but they are very expensive, and you will see them rarely in large numbers across the battlefields.

So, the first thing you need, is to have a numerically superior cavalry, stronger than the cavalry of the opponent.

Another thing which Romans lack, is a good missile unit. The pillum throwers are good, but not the best. Velites are also good, but they do not excel. Same for the roman archers.

I reccomand using merchenary peltast. Not even archers (innefective against romans), nor slinger (they tend to kill your own troops also). Merchenary peltasts can be found all across the map, but i think that the best in the business here are the Libyans - maye they have more ammunition. Illyrians are also very good. Spanish are maybe not that good as peltast, but they have , as farr as i have seen, better melee attack , you can use them also.

Now, you have an army composed of peltast and good cavalrymen. You need just some good infantry. And i strongly recommand spearmen (but not crap..). Good spearmen, capable of making phalanx formation. In the worst case, if you dont have phalanx, get strong melee infantry... thracians, bastarnae , swordsmen would be just good.

Dispose all you army like in the image below.Dont put the general together whith the cavalry. Keep him behind the peltast line.... he will raise the moral of your infantrymen , and remember, THE LINE MOST HOLD FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE !

All your cavalry must be on a single flank.The other flank, must be left free. it is a bait for the enemy, but if you like , you can reinforce it anyway whith a cavalry unit.

https://img182.imageshack.us/img182/1390/antiromanru3.png (https://imageshack.us)

If you are attackin, move slowly your infantry+peltast+general line towards the enemy, moving the cavalry in the same time. Even if you are in a defensive position, still move to attack the enemy, otherwise he will start maneuvering in order to outflank you. Dont charge.

When the enemy starts charging (the first javelins/arrows start to rain upon your infantry) send you cavalry in an all-out charge to sweep the enemy cavalry from the left flank (in this image), continue your charge until you reach the rear of the enemy. In this moments, theyr line probably collided whith your infantry.Turn the cavalry on the enemy and attack them from behind. Dont attack the entire enemy line, CONCENTRATE ALL THE CAVALRY ATTACK ON A SINGLE ENEMY UNIT, IN A SINGLE POINT... that enemy unit, either elite or no, charged many times, and from behind, will surely rout ! Look for theyr general also.

Panic will start in the enemy army, and they will rout. The units which will not rout , will be mopped up and obliterated using local numerical superiority.

WHen i had the right units (not elites, even mercenaryes, Sarmatians make for excelent cavalrymen in these situations), i managed to defeat post-marius Roman Armyes easily... and whith low casualties. The tactic never failed me on medium and hard difficuly level (vh howewer gives an unfair morale and attack advantage to enemy).

[Rex_Pelasgorum]

Lesson nr 2: Defending and attacking cityes

Defending:

If you have very bad units, dont put them on the walls, or on the streets.They will loose anyway. Put them in the town center, because overthere, the units will fight to the death, and you have a chance of defeating strong oponents even whith bad units !

When you have better troops, and affort putting archers on the walls, in the first place, use flaming arrows against the towers. The towers are your worst enemyes. Then, use flaming arrows against rams. Howewer, when it cames to target the ladderman, use normal arrows. They are much more effective ! You dont need to destroy the ladder, but the unit who carries it.

Attacking:

In a wooden walled city, rams are the best units to break in. Howewer, in the case of walled cityes, there are siege towers, rams, ladders, sap points.

Siege towers are good, but slow. If the enemy has enough archers, they will destroy the tower, and the unit which pushes it. SO, even if it offers you a quick way of getting large number of men to the wall, it may be ineffective against a well organised defence.

Against large cityes, rams are usseles. Even the arrows shot from towers will eventually destroy them, even before reaching the gate.

Ladders are good, howewer you will loose using them ALOT of man.They are quite slow, and arrows can slaughter them even before reaching the walls. Once the man start climbing, they will have to fight whith the enemy units. And not once, the enemy units may kill your tired and depleted units.

SO, what is the best way to enter a heavily fortified enemy settlement ? The answer is SAP POINTS.

Most of the time sap points are outside the range of enemy archers. So, the unit which sappes, can finish the work many times whith no casualty.

You might say that you will loose alot of men while rushing in the city trough the hole. It is not like that. If you move fast, you can get inside quikly.

Very important thing: if you attempt climbing the walls, after you have taken so many casualties while you move the ladders/towers into possiton, then the troops standing and waiting in the queue for climbing will also take casualties, and even worse, on the walls you will face some of the best units the enemy can muster...

Howewer, if you make a hole trough the wall, the enemy will send its best melle units down, to defend the breach. If you quickly rush 90% (except your general - dont send it inside only if the walls are cleared, otherwise there is a high risck of him getting killed, and in a siege you need GOOD MORALE!) of your army inside , those enemy "elite" units defending the breach will rout sooner or later and regroup somewhere in the interior of the town. Send as quickly as possible some quick unit to clear the walls of enemy missile units (which ussualy have low mellee attack, so you can kill them easily whith no problems).

Head inside the , rushing, use local numericall superiority, use missile to clear enemy chockpoints on narrow streets, and the city will be yours. Dont attack whith multiple columns on multiple streets, attack on a single street whith all your army, to have greater numbers and overwhelm the defenders.

About factions, the best faction to assault whith is the Romans. You can take cityes very easily whith the Romans.

The worst faction for sieges are the Parthians. I dont reccomend ever sieging whith them ! Horse archers and cavalry in the streets mean DISASTER...

The best factions for defending are, by farr, the hellenic ones.Phalanxes are very good when fighting in the streets in defensive possitions, especially if supported by peltast.

[Roy1991]

It's really not that difficult to defeat Romans ;)
Just let your archers attack 1 unit of enemy infantry with fire arrows to drop their morale, and in the meanwhile attack the enemy general with your own general or other heavy cavalry (surround him to make sure he doesn't escape).
As soon as he's dead, the unit targeted with fire arrows will start to rout (well, more than 90% of the time at least).
The other units will follow soon then.


The worst faction for sieges are the Parthians. I dont reccomend ever sieging whith them ! Horse archers and cavalry in the streets mean DISASTER...

Cataphracts are great in streets.

[Puppy]

Rex, you seem to overestemate Roman factions. Cavalry charges work great for me.

[Rex_Pelasgorum]

t's really not that difficult to defeat Romans ;)
Just let your archers attack 1 unit of enemy infantry with fire arrows to drop their morale, and in the meanwhile attack the enemy general with your own general or other heavy cavalry (surround him to make sure he doesn't escape).

Interesting... in my game, the generals always march together whith the main force, is extremely hard to go and get them , only from behind.Archers doesnt seem to be to effective against romans. (version 1.5, medium & hard)


Cataphracts are great in streets.

Yes, they are... Howewer, when they face armored hoplits possitioned in a street (even the hoplit militia), they will get killed very easily... that is why roman infantryman, legions, hastati, principes, are, in my opinion, much better for sieges.


Rex, you seem to overestemate Roman factions. Cavalry charges work great for me.

Isn`t the roman infantry the best in the game ? :juggle2:

[Roy1991]

Interesting... in my game, the generals always march together whith the main force, is extremely hard to go and get them , only from behind.Archers doesnt seem to be to effective against romans. (version 1.5, medium & hard)

That's why I said use cavalry, and not infantry ;)
With heavy cav it's easy to go around the enemy army's flank, or break through a unit.
The archers aren't for killing the Roman unit, but to drop their morale (that's what fire arrows do).


Yes, they are... Howewer, when they face armored hoplits possitioned in a street (even the hoplit militia), they will get killed very easily... that is why roman infantryman, legions, hastati, principes, are, in my opinion, much better for sieges.


Are you using any mods or something?
Cataphracts break through phalanxes pretty easily.


Isn`t the roman infantry the best in the game ?

They are, but they're not so good that you need to use difficult tactics like yours ;)

[Caius]

Rex, your tactics are good, but I have something to say:
Concentrate your fire in the poorest troops of the enemy, when they aproach to your troops, they will rout, but no kill all the troops.It is the wrong tip of Marcus:
"Use your fire to kill the best enemy troops"

[IrishArmenian]

Horse archers take down Rome. I am talking hard/hard. If romans use tesudo, I send in shock cavalry and hit them when they cannot attack. Repeat for victory. And that is why, Armenia sutes me fine.

[Garvanko]

Just surround them and pin them down with missiles units and missile cavalry/horse archers, engage with infantry head on, then hit them from behind with heavy cavalry.

[Ciaran]

Isn`t the roman infantry the best in the game ?

No. At least not the pre-Marius units, barbarian swordsmen can defeat them in a head-on one-on-one fight.


nor slinger (they tend to kill your own troops also).
That´s a matter of deployment. Of course you don´t deploy a unit that doesn´t shoot in an arc in the back of your army. Slingers go into the front and move to the sides when the enemy closes in (Experience with MTWs crossbows and gunpowder units pays off here, the principle is the same). That way they can provide flanking fire when the melee is joined. And whenever missiles shoot into a melee you´ll have friendly fire losses, that´s why you have to order your missile units to shoot into a melee manually, all missile units will stop shooting if they risk hitting their own.

[Rex_Pelasgorum]

Are you using any mods or something?
Cataphracts break through phalanxes pretty easily.

I dont know exactly why, but everytime i charged phalanxes whith Cataphracts in city sieges, i lost... even 2 Cataphratcs vs 1 hoplit unit....

It never worked for me... even whith elephants is unsure whether you will manage to kill the phalanx. I have heard some rumours about lowering the charge bonus and attack of cavalry in version 1.5... not sure...


Horse archers take down Rome. I am talking hard/hard. If romans use tesudo, I send in shock cavalry and hit them when they cannot attack. Repeat for victory. And that is why, Armenia sutes me fine.


Shock cavalry works well, indeed, against non-phalanx units. I think they can take out the Auxilia spearmen quite easily.:bow:



No. At least not the pre-Marius units, barbarian swordsmen can defeat them in a head-on one-on-one fight.

Its interesting... whenever i played a roman faction and fought against barbarians, i managed to win even if outnumbered 3 to 1... and whith quite light losses for me medium/hard... :bounce:

Barbarians where maybe much to discouraged to charge effectively after the "rain of pilleums"....

[The Stranger]

you earned a spot in my Tactics thread. ill link it if you want?