Casse - My experience & your ideas

Hello.
I 've started a campaign as Briton (Casse) since I like the fact they start on an island and after conquering it you have a lot of options.Settings are VH/VH.

Start is not easy you have to make certain moves in order to get things going - otherwise you are easily destroyed :-P
Conquered England and Ireland, playing slowly since I was developing tech and economy simultaneously.The next move was that little town in Belgium, Bratosporios.This is our homeland's part so it was imperative to get there first before the power-hungry german king.

I was allied with both the Gaul nations and the Romans.Things were quite for some time, when war came between Aedui and Arverni.Now I had to choose who to support.Aedui were the aggressors and this was a reason to go with Arverni.But it seems I didnt know the whole story and I was soon about to find out.

Sweboz were not happy of our presence near their borders.Numerous times, german spies and assasins were cought and hanged as traitors.Still they were allied to Arverni and Romani so in a sense we were "friends".But when the german king got access to the top tech barracks he immediately launched an attack.At that very moment both Arverni and Romani broke their alliances with us!

It was quite a war.I brought my experienced army from Britain and crushed german "mostly Jugundai" armies some times.They lost Begacos, Cawjam Habukoz and Cawjam Heruskoz.I was about to push them even more when a half stack of Romani with two generals, one 9 stars and 3 gold chevrons (lol), besieged Bratosporios.It was mostly local mercenaries so I thought that fresh some recruits and a small force from Camulosadae would suffice.I was proved wrong :-)

I knew Romani isnt a force to ignore.I had to be extra careful because my whole european small expendition was at stake.I immediately send my best diplomat to the carthagenians and grabbed an alliance.The same thing I did with Aedui - a bitter moment when I went against them.Now they were pretty exhausted as Romani had systematicallly pushed them north, capturing their towns and eliminating their armies.

On the east front Sweboz was building NUMBERS! And attack, besieged, got repelled and attacked again.He just couldnt stop.Plus he was expanding towards Scandinavia.Somehow his economy was running pretty strong.I had to block the bridges and in two moments of glory I destroyed two FULL german stacks with spearmen and heavy swordsmen, about one third of their army in total.This has bring some peace for the time being.

Being lucky Aedui was now hassling the Romani so they couldnt reach my towns, or did with difficulty.Then a half stack with a general comes again.But this time it was mostly Romani, like Principes, Samnicati and those dreaded Triarii.I had to fight them so I did.Near there was a freshly retrained full stack with a family member in charge.Attacked having the feeling of a glorious win.I was proven WRONG! Those triarii held the third of my army while his general was smashing my units one by one.They just wouldn't break.It was a disaster :-)

Anyway I had my lessons learned so now I need heavier infantry to hold the line, enough slingers and of course to always keep numbers superiority so that the odds are balanced.

Learned so far:
- Britons are morale dependent so general and "inspiring eagle" units are essential
- They have high mobility and when combined with their "spear throwing" ability you have some tactical advantages to exploit
- Slingers can turn the odds in your favor.They are deadly shooting at the back of the enemy and excellent "generals" shooters
- Chariots scare most of the enemies.ONLY enemy that wasn't scared was Triarii...! So they must remain alive at all cost.Despite having a nice charge bonus in my game is not proved.So I always having them as "fear-generators" running around the battlefield.
- Britons are not so good town defenders, as most Barbarian nations I guess.So is better to fight outside the town.

Remains to be seen how they will fare against high-tech romani and what tactics necessary should be deployed.Just got access to Calawre (Champions from reformed level 4 MIC) and looking forward to deploy them against Samnitici :-)

Problem would come against cavalry armies.Maybe I need to spam more Gaeroas but are recruited ONLY in Britain.

What are your experience with Casse either playing with or against them?

Any comment or your story are welcome :-)

As i´ve stated several times elsewhere, the first thing i do with Casse is to secure Bratosporus, and Bagacos afterwards, or at least, after it becomes a large town. As Geticus allready has said, that trade "triangle" between your initial Capital and those two Belgian towns is a great money maker. It also gives you an excellent opportunity to develop those towns after your gusto, beeing able to recruit Belgian troops for the mainland expeditons.
Concerning the units, i rather look at Casse as Belgians then "Britons". Therefore i rely on Belgian core troops, using the rest as support.
- I never build extra chariots, those of the FM are more then enough, imo
- If you need "heavy" line troops, use Milnaht - that´s all you need to kick those Roman a****
- The only mid tier "British" unit that might deserve attention are the "midland spearmen"; the reason is quite simple - 55 javelin range ( 47.5 for Batacori, but amo advantage instead: 3 volleys for the Belgian spearmen )
- Always let your FM finish the "Ynis Mon" training, this will keep your casualities acceptable
- Use the "trick" with the "immortal" units - the first one suffering casualities will regenerate almost completly, the second quit well too; send you best/important troops to engage first
- I use BI.exe, that´s why i "abuse" the shieldwall of the Belgian troops a lot ( mostly in the town fights ); a Milaht unit put in a shieldwall formation is almost impossible to rout without heavy charges and/or massive missile attack from behind ( Batacori will, though )
- I´ve found the "Irish" missile/light cavalry to be quite usefull and cost effective
- Since you have no ability to build paved roads etc. you might want your celtic brothers to get the job done before you invade Gaul.
- German settlements are not on your win condition list, actually, so why bothering with them at all? Let them come, decimate them from the distance, tire them out and then finish the job with couple of nice "charges" with your chariots ( btw: once charge, keep them moving, simply riding through the enemy unit; especially those with high armour and dencer formation are vulnerable )
- allways kill a German warlord - use slingers for that purpose ( soften them up, then maybe charge with a fresh "high lethality" unit - Recalve are goood - elite vs. elite )
- To fight Romans efficiently, you need to keep your core units away from their deadly pila, plus you allways need a couple of fresh "high lethality" units combined with a good timed cavalry charge, to make them rout ( agains Recalve are quite nice for this, Druids too, especially since you mostly need them to "chant", instead of doing any real fighting till the end; and as Casse you got access to the best Celtic cavalry - Remis - that´s when the early grabbing of Bratosporus makes itself pay )
- Casse got a unit with "ap" javelines from Irland - you can use them in your armies to shredder the pesky Triari who mostly simply refuse to break, but a couple of those volleys in their backs will do the job for sure!
- The Celtic reforms seems not so important to me, so build up a couple of troops mass production settlements ( you Capital, Bratosporus ), and develop the rest focused on economy.
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Hey Vollorix :-)

Yes I was thinking of expanding in Belgium but thought that this could bring problems with fellow Gauls and Germans (it did).But very early game you are right that this is a more ,economically speaking, beneficial approach, accelerating other strategic moves as well.

You speak of some tricks I didn't know (like immortal units) and others I dont understand yet like Ynis mon training - Ynis Mon is a town in Wales.

For spearmen I didnt know the exact details (I dont look at game files) but Belgica spearmen have great charge bonus too ;-)
Overall my armies are based on Minhat which are a very reliable unit, becoming even more reliable when having a command unit nearby.
Casse are heroic people and are based on charges.That is their biggest advantage in battle, in contrast with other nations for example, pikemen
armies where you are waiting to be attacked.

You are right about roads (too bad I grabbed some averni towns too early) but for german towns and especially the Baltic ones, I was going for the nice trade routes, being town-ports.It serves two purposes, weakening sweboz financially while boosting your economy.And it is worth the effort.Sweboz must have the Belgium in their script, that means an eternal enemy.So IMO it is good to get them out of the game asap.

For AP I use Isoltae who seldom fail me.Advantages are many:

- extreme mobility to the point of having a similar use to missile cavalry
- AoR
- BIG stock of ammo
- decent AP damage
- good defensive units too (aka bridges)
- cooperate well with chariots in skirmishing together

At the moment I have neutralized Sweboz since they are forced to keep big garrisons in towns due to low public order(spies do miracles :-P) even though we talk of core provinces which is strange.Another strange thing is I have almost 20 (or more) rounds this sweboz full stack in my territory (Swebotraustastamnoz) led by a FM of theirs and he doesnt get rationing traits! Is that normal?

Alliance with Carthage paid off.They have reached the outskirts of Rome and Romani were desperately seeking for a peace which I agreed for.Aedui are now again fielding a decent army and pushing Arverni, so I have all my resources available to plot against Sweboz ;-)

Just got access to level 5 MIC of Casse and those mighty elite units.I had a fight with one unit of Rycalawre and one Kluddargos against 5 units of eleytheroi in mainland.This served as a test of their efficiecy before deployed in main field.Conclusions:

- Rycalawre with their superb defence took half losses in contrast to Kluddargos
- Kluddargos had approx. a double score in enemy kills
- Kluddargos are extremely sensitive to javelin (pila) damage but can handle melee fights quite good
- Rycalawre are extremely resistive unit - were fighting 3 rebels unit and holding with ease

* both units have great designs (irrelevant :-P)

Overall a very interesting campaign!

Once you own Ynis Mon settlement simply put a FM inside and he´ll start a "druidic" training. After a short period of time ( 2 years max. ) they become, depending on intelligence and other characteristics, very nice traits which will help you with casualities recovering. And since it is the highest level ( druidic ) academy responsible for that training, your FMs will also use the time to gather some usefull ancillaries. The only drawback can be the "scolastic" trait triggered if some of your FMs tend to be way too bookish, but the "vigorous" ones should make up for it through the "hail and hearty" trait anyway ( and the more langurous ones might be better suited for managing your rich trade routes ).

Concerning unit stats: a while ago i was eager to understand how the battle statistics work, and so i actually know the EDU quite by heart... it helps to use the units properly, but the EB unit list should be enough too.

I am on northern Iberia grabbed a city from Lusos and Romani immediately declared war on me.Almost close to end the game around 210BC.
Me being on war has great effect of the other nations'progress.For example Romani (in Polyvian reforms) had repelled Carthage together with Lusos who took all Iberia.When I entered the war against Romani, immediately Carthage attacked on the Peninsula.That's some nice moves from the allied AI.

I am really enjoying the Brits, still I expected a lot more action against the Romani.And it's sad I have to "consume" Aedui who have been good and loyal allies since round 1 :-\

Well that's just how it goes, you don't found an empire by timidly avoiding to step on other peoples' toes ;)

I enjoy playing the Casse a lot, they have a great roster, good starting position and the enemies can be pretty varied, depending on how the map develops, you always fight Celts and Germans, but then the Romani, Lusos, sometimes Carthies and Getai make things more interesting.

I actually pillaged Carthage with them. Casse are in a decent position to seize control of the seas. Many drowned elephants and African elites can attest to that.
If you fight Carthaginians on land, make sure to bring Milnaht, one or two units of Uirodusios for moral support, and several units of anti-armour troops (Teceitos, but also Clona Tekonac if you can get your hands on them). Also, some cavalry preferrably of the Goidelic or Caledonian sort. AI controlled Carthage likes to spam pikemen, which can make fighting them quite a challenge. You'll really need those axemen...

Druidic healers are the best healers barbarian FMs can acquire, approx. 43% or 44% casualty heal rate, and as Vollorix observed you tend to get them by doing the year in Ynys Mons. Druidic FM skills are very nice, level 4 druidry gives +1 command, +1 influence, healing, and +1 hitpoints which, along with hale and hearty +3 hitpoints makes your generals tough enough to fight heroically and get the "brave" and "proud veteran" characteristics which lead to very high army morale, and minimizes the irritating tendency of Briton generals to randomly die when surrounded. To get druidic skills build level 2+ temples of Lug. Temples of Andraste also work. The capitol Camulosadae is especially good for spawning druidic characteristics because it starts with a level 2 temple of Lug as well as Stonehenge which seems to further increase the likelihood of acquiring druidic traits. All told with good druidry, hale and hearty, and druidic healers the Briton charioteer bodyguards can build chevrons and become very good, though no match IMO for the true elites like Sarmatian warlords. Have them lead the army, surround and harrass the enemy flank and create combined arms skirmisher encirclement along with immanae, Caledonian skirmishers, and slingers for immaculate victories. And be sure, if you have any low quality governors, to just send them off to war, it is better to use his bodyguard as elite cavalry than to keep him on a town for little benefit.

Also I generally put a Type 4 government in Caledonia, so that my Caledonian skirmishers come out with +2 chevrons. This makes them approach the power of Sweboz Jugundiz skirmishers. Though they are far more expensive and with smaller shields, yet the Caledonians have other advantages like extreme stamina and high natural morale. In sufficient numbers, and with good druidic healing the Caledonians can develop a very high chevron curve.

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Originally Posted by Geticus

All told with good druidry, hale and hearty, and druidic healers the Briton charioteer bodyguards can build chevrons and become very good, though no match IMO for the true elites like Sarmatian warlords.

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Different units, different purposes. Of course Sarmatian knights are tougher and better suited for rough terrain, but then again, they don't have morale boni and AoE attacks.

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Also I generally put a Type 4 government in Caledonia, so that my Caledonian skirmishers come out with +2 chevrons. This makes them approach the power of Sweboz Jugundiz skirmishers. Though they are far more expensive and with smaller shields, yet the Caledonians have other advantages like extreme stamina and high natural morale.

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Balroae are actually superior to Jugundiz stat-wise (I guess that's because Balroae are not only composed of youths but also more exerienced warriors). It's just their smaller shield and smaller AoR that renders them somewhat more impractical.
And the drawback to Type IV government is that you won't be able to build large festivals (so no Beltane festival at Edinburgh...), extensive ports, and such.

Actually I was eager to think that the campaign was over, yet I was proven wrong.

While the Romani attacked me, they also had a front in south Italy with Carthage.So I thought that would keep them busy and buy me time to finish Aedui (only one town but VERY strong garrison inside, like a small rebellion :-P).But that's where AI plays his dirty games, Carthage though lost Capua and Arpi, didnt fight back.Just pout a full stack near Rhegion and just sat there.I was on the other hand having my whole Alpine border breached by Romani armies :-S

Another strange behaviour was with the Lusos.I had Velika, Pallantia and Tyde as should, the Lusos took Tyde and had me besieged almost every couple of rounds in the other two.That's where those blasted Clona Tekonac proved themselves as killed thousands of Lusos in defending the walls.But...Carthage at some point decided to attack Lusos,I was "wow, nice, it was about time" cause I thought Lusos should now concentrate on defending their lands instead of pushing me.Again I was wrong, they ignored punic full stacks and continued sending armies north and of course getting massacred :-|

I also lost Gergovia to Romani, simply not possible to hold all these waves.I really had to put the pressure back to Romani or else I was in danger.Aedui had found the courage and was outside Bratosporios! Only a fresh retrained army from our homeland, combined with sitting on the bridge near his capital made this full-stack go away, thanks god, lol
So I took a good army and went through the Alps.The passage near Viennos was blocked by a good Roman army, had to do go through it.Won a an average victory but fool AI was empty at the back - I had spies all over the Peninsula.Mediolanum was easy so now he had a problem inside his homealands.

The Romani AI didnt stop though.Continued to advance armies inside GAul.So now I took a FM and some Clonas Tekonac and with a great dose of riks took the bridge in Massalia.He immediately attacked the bridge, lost and I attacked next round the city (had spy inside) and sacked the settlement.Immediately I gifted it to Carthage.So now Romani has to take Massalia back from Carthage and hopefully that would either ignite a full scale war between them or halt Romani advancing in my lands ;-)

It seems this campaing has some more episodes so to be continued....

Lastdays - yes right but I really appreciate faithful friends and hate backstabbing.Still it's sometimes inevitable.

Athanaric - you certainly have some funky style of campaigning hehe.Pillaged Carthage? I guess you skipped the european part and headed pirating on the african coast? Nice approach and interesting too.

Geticus - Caledonian skirmishers are fantastic unit.I dont understand the hype with Jugundiz, but these guys can certainly do some serious damage and turn the tide in your favor.The problem is they are recruited only in Scotland.On the other hand I dont use cavalry, it's very expensive.I prefer spamming slingers and infantry, preferably minhat.But going south I had to adopt to different infantry units so switched to warbands (dont recall the unit's name) which perform quite well.Near the Alps I recruited those fanatics with long hair, lol - they have 10 charge bonus.Once I had them attack a Triarii unit and counted 10 kills on charge! Of course they later broke and fled :-P
The FM as a unit is NOT reliable in melee.They also attack on their own and that makes me mad as when they fight spearmen or armor pierce units they can get slaughtered into seconds.But it has a nice charge and disrupts enemy formation, something I use from time to time.In general I use them mostly to cause panic and fear and that works good.

Oh I love Balroae... I usually have some fresh units near my campaigning army should it need reinforcements, so the small AOR - Scotland - isn't that big a deal...

Yeah the Part about the AI makes sense... Itll just concentrate on you while others are eating it alive

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Originally Posted by athanaric

Balroae are actually superior to Jugundiz stat-wise (I guess that's because Balroae are not only composed of youths but also more exerienced warriors). It's just their smaller shield and smaller AoR that renders them somewhat more impractical.
And the drawback to Type IV government is that you won't be able to build large festivals (so no Beltane festival at Edinburgh...), extensive ports, and such.

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Yeah I know Jugundiz are lower in basic stats, to me it seems indisputable that the Sweboz are at their most powerful when one uses Temples of Tyr liberally. So when I think Jugundiz I just assume +3 or +4 chevrons. With equal chevrons, the Balroae are definitely better, but also far more costly. Don't get me wrong, I like temples of Thor, and priests of Wotan and Freya are nice, but ultimately the +4 chevron levies take the Sweboz to the top.

Yeah, I don't know what sort of character traits large festivals can bestow. But I really like the Balroae at +2 chevrons. With enough in the army (at least 5 is good IMO), good healing, good tactical micro, and timely reinforcements the balroae can go silver chevrons and become very strong.

Another good option for the level 4 government might be Gawjam Habukoz or especially Heruskoz. I believe the Casse can levy Milnaht there, and Milnaht with +2 chevrons are virtually unbreakable and one of the best heavy infantry in Europe.

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Originally Posted by Ksifos

Geticus - Caledonian skirmishers are fantastic unit.I dont understand the hype with Jugundiz, but these guys can certainly do some serious damage and turn the tide in your favor.The problem is they are recruited only in Scotland.On the other hand I dont use cavalry, it's very expensive.I prefer spamming slingers and infantry, preferably minhat.But going south I had to adopt to different infantry units so switched to warbands (dont recall the unit's name) which perform quite well.Near the Alps I recruited those fanatics with long hair, lol - they have 10 charge bonus.Once I had them attack a Triarii unit and counted 10 kills on charge! Of course they later broke and fled :-P
The FM as a unit is NOT reliable in melee.They also attack on their own and that makes me mad as when they fight spearmen or armor pierce units they can get slaughtered into seconds.But it has a nice charge and disrupts enemy formation, something I use from time to time.In general I use them mostly to cause panic and fear and that works good.

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Jugundiz are only an uber-force if they are levied with +3 or +4 chevrons by using a Level 3 temple of Tyr. Without that, they are good, but not outstanding.

To maximize the value of the Caledonian skirmishers, hire the mercenary balroae, they tend to be plentiful in North Britain, and they hire cheap. So hire them all and train them in Caledonia for the chevron increase. Also levy some regular balraoe (the mercs and regulars are identical, I just like to levy 4 or 5 in two turns and this is how to do it). Then send them south and just station them near the front line in Europe, so that you can draw on them for reinforcements at any time. If you ever want to see a German bodyguard get raped, just surround him on both flanks with Balroae and unleash full javelin volleys.

As for chariots, they are not a melee troop proper, they require close supervision since they sometimes go the wrong way in skirmish mode and get entangled with infantry. Time your charge well, and when you charge the rear/flank, keep dragging them through or down the edge of the enemy cohorts that you are attacking. Make sure you keep them moving, and try not to trample your own guys so pick your movement points well. If you micro them well the chariot bodyguards can get very high kill totals and promote early routes through exhaustion and fear. Played right the charioteers are like gaesatae- they don't die often due to the bonus hitpoints and armor. Just don't allow any prolonged melee and get good at skirmish micromanagement for best results.

Some update...

First and most important, Aedui is destroyed!After some siege /bridge battles this PROBLEM is solved.Strange but after taking that settlement my economy got sky high -as if that settlement was blocking road trade.

Romani was kicked out of Gaul, almost.Took back Gergovia and now I am preparing for some defensive action since those stubborn Italians keep sending armies non-stop.Never mind because now one more fresh recruited British army is on the move, hence a counter attack.

Lusos are now more relaxed and having a full stack near Tyde (my last city to win the campaign).They also attack outside Velika an FM with a decent army, stationed on a hill still LOST :-o Lusos have fielded Scortamarevas and Scutarii who give Clona Tekonac a hard time! I will keep on the defensive because Romani are a far greater threat.

Carthage was maybe overestimated :-/ They didnt took advantage of Massalia and Mediolanum gifts.Mediolanum they took all army and left it empty! In Massalia I had an FM helping them, while being besieged by Romani, but lost soundly (my FM gone to his Anchestors :-P) Carthage seems to be UNEXPECTADLY weak so I can not rely on them.

I forgot to write about Cwmyr.This unit besides having a great graphical design, if played correctly can be devastating.It is more cost effective than Kluddargos.Only problem minimal AoR.

*Switched to Alexander.exe and before I was having a CTD maybe after 3rd or 4th battle.Now played maybe 10~15 battles and just one CTD.Far better.

remember to wait about 30 seconds before clicking 'ok' to leave the battle! makes a world of difference

i just started my first Keltik campaign as the Aedui. In my first battle i killed the usurper, so called god king and his son the next turn.
After uniting Gaul i took Massalia to gain access to the major port to the mediterannean and can't wait to recruit Massalian Hoplites!

i really like keltik culture so far, i've learned much from the campaign so far such as the use of Soap and that Kelts were seemingly mainly traders and administrators with a basic form of democracy and administration. they just had a warrior culture imbedded in all that! no different than America, a bunch of consumerists but also militarists so the idea is not crazy.

definitely not the barbarians we are socialized to believe they were. Are the Casse essentially the same style? i like conquering Britain but never played as Casse

Well, the Casse are considered "celtic" too, but they only share some units with the two gallic factions. They have a good amount of uniquely british units which are way cool, they are even more infantry oriented than the Gauls and they really are an interesting play.

Casse is definitely an interesting campaign and one I enjoyed a lot.

I can confirm what LastDays says, they have brilliant heroic infantry units, but most are recruited only in Britain (except the Rycalawre).Kluddargos is an impressive unit the type of Romphaiaphoroi (or Guild warriors :-P) which can cut through "Roman heavies", easily.

The special about Britons is their generals who ride their chariots.These units have their pros and cons like they spread fear in enemy units around them (with a large AoE), have awesome charge bonus, BUT are not good to be left to fight in melee especially alone.In fact after a lot of battles, having learned how to play those units I could turn the tide of battles just by having them lifting morale (my army) and spreading fear (enemies).

Against the other gaulo-celtic tribes I felt Casse were superior in terms of units and tactics.Both Aedui and Averni were easy to conquer, only their generals exceled IMO.

Late game you get into a conflict with both Lusos and most probably Romani.That's where the game gets serious ;-)