Amazing Battle, True Heroism, Please Read

Hey all and thanks for reading :2thumbsup:

I would have put this in the strat section but I still don't have my member status yet...apologies and feel free to move.

I'll try to keep this relatively short but I had to write something.

I have been playing TW for 3.5 years now (started with MTW and eventually VI when it came out and then Rome/BI for the past what...2 years almost?) and I have to say that I'm very lucky this series exists. I don't know what on earth I would do without it. It's the only strat game that lets me build the kind of faction that I want, the kind of army that I want, and the kind of economy that I want...and then actually have total control over what almost every man in my army does? Not only that but the 3D campaign map as well as the turn based/RTS hybrid nature of the game makes it epic in my mind. Can't wait for MTW2....can only imagine how amazing this is going to be.

Now let me crawl to the point :laugh4:

Look...I've always liked big battles. I used to set up MTW to have 6 armies 3v3 on a custom battle with the largest unit sizes with my old pc which had a geforce2 and 256mb of ram. Yes...I'd actually sift through all of that lag (it was beyond what you could imagine). With Rome, my pc is so much better and I am able to play almost any battle with a viable performance. That said...I have been able to be involved in some truly unbelievable battles...just like the rest of you...however, the one I'm about to tell you about is not a tale of 2 epic armies. It's not a tale of a giant siege battle. It's a tale of 300 Britons hiding in the woods being attacked by 2000+ hardened Gallic forces. It's the tale of a 20 year old and 17 year old British General...being attacked by 2000+ men and a 42 year old 7 star general. It's a tale of true heroism and bravery.

Let me say this: I've always liked barb factions. Always. You can keep level 4 and 5 on the tech tree, just give me warcry and and dedicated fanatical warriors. I've played many campaigns lately...Scipii, Egypt, Carthage...but again, feel most at home playing a barb faction, beginning my empire up in the thick wooded lands of western Europe. So I started a Brittania Campaign because a) I never have before b) I spent almost 2 days researching what faction would be the best fit for me (yes, even after playing for 2 years). After playing them to 264bc last night (and continuing after I write this) I will say with certainty that I don't think there's a better faction for me than Brittania :balloon2:

Anyway, and I'll try to cut to the chase (promise)...I was just starting a war with Gaul. Couple good economic chokes by me early and a good establishment of hidden guerillas all through the woods and choke points with a large (2200) early army hidden in the woods less than movement turn away from the first gallic province I was attacking (west of the capital...aligned with the shore). Through my intell I had discovered what was an obvious backstabbing in progress by the Gauls (i had them pay me 2000 d. for alliance/trade rights and was stabbing them in a few turns anyway...figured they were just as full of it as I was lol). they had a large army held by a 7 star general with several retinue bonuses and a very well deveoped army under his command. They also had 3 smaller divisions moving up through the woods to attack the first brit province on the map that isn't a part of the british Isles. Again, I had barbs hidden all through the woods, knew their troop positions, and knew everything about the layout of the map where I needed to. Their invasion had absolutely no chance of succeeding. After another turn, I wound up taking that first province (top left most gallic province) with ease and better positioning my troops to repel an invasion through the woods as well as added 2 watchtowers. Hit end turn. Boom...problem occurrs, but not really: The Gauls took the bait. They attacked a force of mine which was a diversionary ambush in place (wanted them to attack it...takes them out of the way, over towards Germanic lands). I had two armies in play to serve this same purpose...however, they attacked the army that was more valuable to me...it had 2 young but promising generals in it...20 and 17 years old. Either way, I hit retreat...moved farther into the woods only to realize that they had one more movement than me and sure enough...they travelled even farther out of their way to attack this army. So there you have it...2000+ Galls (1/4 cavalry, the rest experienced infantry/forresters) attacking 2 British Generals and a stack of slingers. I had at most 350 troops. When the battle started I saw the huge gallic army way off in the distance making their way through the thick heavy woods. They had quite a trip ahead of them to reach my forces. As they kept progressing I noticed a large unit of heavy cavalry break off the rear of the formation and start racing out towards my right flank...wide. Obviously trying to get behind me and flank my men. (keep in mind, all they really had to worry about was 2 Heavy Chariot units with no exp). I took my younger general and had him charge out as if he was attacking this group of Cav. The Gallic Cav did not attack but instead began to ride to the east...fast. Almost like Alexander...riding parrallel to my and his lines while not making any forward progress...just taking my chariots farther and farther away from the battle. I noticed the obvious and then realized that I also had about a good 100 steps on this unit if I was to immediately turn my chariots back against the center of their lines...they had nothing between me and their and this cav unit would be chasing me from the rear. So I kept paralleling the cav for a few more seconds...timing is everything. Bam...They make a major mistake and confirm that waiting to spring my trap was the right thing to do. THEY instead turned their own cav back towards the lines...I timed it perfectly, got the inside positiong on them and PLOWED them with my chariots that were riding east with them. Within about 8 seconds all that you could see was a giant pile of dead Gallic Cav and my Chariots cheering in victory. I looked back over and saw that the Galls had one unit of infantry moving up ahead of the main army, as if it was going to be in support of the flanking cavalry I had just destroyed. I sounded the War Horn with my main general and Charged that unit...while also charging the main formation of the Galls with the chariots/general that I just used to kill the flanking cav. The results were legendary. My main general CRUSHED about 200 infantry in a matter of seconds while my younger general literally ripped through about 4 infantry units that were leading the edge on the assualt from the Galls. At this point they were totally divided and afraid. Still about 1600+ of them though, along with a 17 star general. Maybe I'm down to 320 men. I noticed that the Gallic infantry rows were still progressing towards my army though. I immediately did the following: Took all 3 of my units and had them RACE to the rear...as if they were retreating. Sure enough..I hear the barbarian horn of the enemy general followed by a SCREAMING gallic charge. 1500 infantry all coming at me in bloodlust. Perfect :idea2: I stopped my slingers immediately and had them focus their fire on the leading edges of infantry, which were so close now that they could smell us. They kept coming, obviously attempting to just overrun us with their much superior numbers, and typical gallic strength/stamina. "NOW!"...all of a sudden my Generals horn sounds...my younger general winds up on the left flank of the enemy army (quickly) CRASHING through 3 lines of infantry while my General says "oh well" and makes a galliant (truly galliant, most I've ever seen in any total war battle, it was better than a movie and this is no exaggeration) charge right towards the middle of the 1500 gaul. Their charge stops short at the last second (Gauls) and I realize that I have just outmanuevered and positioned the entire army. C-R-R-R-A-A-A-S-S-S-H-H X 50!!! both lines of chariots just SWARM the enemy front lines. I'd say immediately on impact 150-200 Gauls were thrown into the air and killed. Now my Chariots are running wild, zigging and zagging all through the Gallic army, killing hundreds of men. The routs begin...the warcrys and screams of the gallic army turn into pitiful cries for help and bloody sounds of death. Metal against metal. Now i hear another LOUD horn...too close to be the enemy right? No...Gallic Mr. 7 Star is leading his own heroic charge right down the middle towards my main general. They lock up...and it's a nasty, nasty battle. In the meantime...the Gallic army is taking heavy slinger fire at random hotspots and my 17 year old general is killing hundreds upon hundreds of men behind the big general battle in the middle. All of a sudden I notice a RAIN of rocks coming into the enemy generals unit...followed by the "THE ENEMY GENERAL HAS BEEN SLAIN!"...my own general just CREAMED him and drove him sliding along the ground off his horse about 300 feet ( i was watching up close...it was MY general who personally killed their's). I wait for the chain routs...which never happen. The gallic army lets out a huge and courageous cry and stops routing as they hurl themselves toward my chariots...under slinger fire. Still at about 1200 troops vs maybe 290 of my own. "ohhhhWHAAAAA!!" my general sounds his horn again and charges head long into 3 infantry units...crippling them immediately. He starts to sparkle and gain experience...I look over and notice my other general is just finishing up with their own skirmish (in which they are slaughtering hundreds of very experienced infantry) so I send him crashing down parallel to the enemy lines...just cutting through them. Meanwhile I have my main general charge farther up the gut...cutting through absolutey anything in his way. At this point now there are over a thousand dead Gaul as well as their 7 star general piled up all throughout the woods. The final horn sounds...both of my generals give a final hard push...and drive through another 2 or 3 units of infantry QUICKLY. Mass slaughter. The chain routs begin and hundreds of remaing gaul flee the field in panic (but they're now about 2 miles away from the exit point :laugh4:). I witness both of my generals charging through hundreds of gaul. Just slicing through their lines pushing them ALL the way back into Gallic lands...Far. At this point now they only have about 600 or so units left which are all in complete rout except for 2 more infantry units which are left up in the woods (they reformed). they're marching towards the back of my chariots who are chasing everyone down. I simply split my gens...had one continue to slice through the sea of Gallic forces and had the other outmanuever those 2 infantry units still back in the woods and get along side of them. CRASSSHHH!!!! I have them charge into those lines...but the Gauls hold. A major skirmish develops and both sides are taking casualties. I was so impressed at how the gauls continued to fight like this...they had been decimated and lost their general but are still fighting to the death. I pull my chariots out of enemy contact and have them build up a second charge...which does the trick...CRAAASSHHH...and the 2 units start to rout...but within seconds are just a huge pile of dead bodies. Now both generals had one goal: Let not one Gual get off the battlefield. And not one did. The end result? 2134 Gual Killed in Action...along with their general. Me? lost 22 men.

Trust me when I tell you that the charge of my general...cutting through 2000 Gauls and a 7 star general like a hot knife through butter was the best thing I've ever seen in a TW game. His banner waving, his horn sounding...he defeated one of the best early game Gallic armies that the enemy could throw at me, as well as one of, if not their best general. 3 experience given to my general, 2 experience to my younger general, and 1 experience given to my slinger unit (of which I lost not one man).

I won't be using ANY army but the Brits from now on...let's see how the rest of this campaign goes :juggle2:

It sounds epic, the way you describe it.

Though I wonder, how experienced where the chariots you used? In my experience they are great for disrupting formations but don't do much actual killing. Or was it the slingers that made the most kills?

What size were you playing on?

1) My chariots were of NO experience. :2thumbsup:

2) Was playing on Huge settings (as always) and H/H difficulty.

You did that on Hard?

:jawdrop:

Excellent post! ~:cheers:

Look forward to seeing more such write ups.

if you like very, fun and challenging try RTG. its 1.0 now. the best experience you will have (espiacially if your playing Greeks)

btw very nice write up!

Excellent write up of the battle, brings the blood lust up and the wish to hear the cries of Glory.

Great job !

Thanks for taking the time to read my novel guys...appreciated. Thank you for the praise as well :2thumbsup:

I am still trying to figure out how to effectively post screenshots so that I could detail this battle for you...I'll figure it out eventually here heh.

I have another true story for you, although I won't go into any depth (out of consideration for the viewing audience) I will say this: I did it again.

Yup. This time I had my best general (not one of the ones from the other battle) hiding in the woods, slowly building an army turn by turn for the MAJOR offensive that I am in the progress of building (have been for several years...things with Gaul have quited down for now...they're actually on a full scale retreat from southwestern Europe/Northwestern Spain border and over by Alesia ...full scale retreat. They're actually just in the situation where a) they are unable to achieve any objective against me other than wandering aimlessly through the woods getting attacked at random times with hit and run tactics, losing two thousand soldiers a turn on average to the dark, dense british forrests). Anyway, I had this general building an army in the woods east of Lemonum when again, an enemy army walked right through the woods in front of this army. 1643 Gallic Infantry with 55 Cavalry, no General to speak of this time. I had 525 men. 1 Unit of Heavy Chariots, 1 Unit of British Light Chariots, 1 unit of Woad Warriors, and 1 unit of Skirmishers. I used one of my typical guerilla warfare plans. Took the whole army during the formation setup and moved them as far to the back of the map as I could to still give myself at least a few feet of space so that routers had a chance to rejoin the battle after my General sounded the horn (just in case). Next, I took my Woad Warriors and had them hide in the woods, in a formation that was equally 4 rows deep. Behind them, hiding, were the skirmishers in the same formation, with the General's Heavy Cav Unit behind them. Both infantry units (woad, skirm) were hiding. You could just see my general's chariots sitting in the back of the woods, through all the trees. I took my remaining Light Chariot unit and moved it parallel to the rest of my forces, but not in the woods. Just on the outside edge of the woods (with my army only about 100 feet to the right).

Long Story Short? When the battle began the enemy started to advance...and then when maybe 1100 feet away or so (estimate) had their main line hault and organize a nice solid wall to progress with, while they're right side infantry and cavalry decided to try and envelope my left flank and encircle my light chariots. This is the problem with that: The AI needs to realize that you cannot outflank a unit of light chariots with 2 infantry units. Obviously, I wound up BEHIND this flanking manuever and had my light chariots use melee mode and just decimate the enemies flanking maneuver. Maybe 300 dead infantry just like that again. As this is happening, the main battle line of the Gauls is advancing through the woods. Classic setup and I'm sure you saw where I was going with it a long time ago (it's my signature move). Enemy keeps advancing. My General Holds. Still. Still Holding. (meanwhile my light chariots are FLYING towards the woodline and this same group of gaul as we speak). Can now hear the screams of the enemy...chants, a loud horn...screams get louder, metal and shields smacking, formation breaking apart...BARBARIAN CHARGE!!!! ARRRGGGG!!!! The Gallic main battle line begins to break off and charge at my general in segments, typical barbarian style. "AHHHHHHRRRRGGG!!!!!" The gauls smell a clear victory here. A General's head on a stick. ...But, just when you thought the fun part was over: ooooWHAAAAAAAA!!!! My Generals Battle Horn sounds and...then....NOW!!! a good 320 Infantry jump up from the ground out of hiding, maybe only 150 feet from the 6 units of charging infantry. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" The crazy, insane, incoherent bloodlusting warcry of my new sprung army cries out. The enemy charge stops dead in it's tracks (literally). They "shite" themselves BAD. Their screams, chants, charge is...over. Now it's my turn to make some noise.

I guess I don't need to say much more now do I :laugh4:

if you want plese show pics, to enchance your story!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The Spartan

if you want plese show pics, to enchance your story!

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I'm trying to figure out how to take and upload pics onto here. I know there's several threads about it etc...so I'll figure it out sooner or later.

I hit the print screen button a few times during those battles but didn't see anything in the rome folder that would indicate a picture was taken.

Who knows...at one point I had screenshots figured out, just forgot over time.

Other than that, I'm continuing my campaign tonight. Balancing the work day as well as the constant grand strategy in my head is getting a bit difficult today :wall:

the pictures are in the tga folder.

sometimes the picture you took might not be there, so when taking a pic, press the prt scrn button hard, or two times.

I remember dealing with this in the past...I know it's in the TGA folder but it requires a conversion...of which I have no software for.

Brings up the other point: Why in creation does it need a conversion? Why would the devs have the screens saved to a non mainstream format?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WarMachine420

I remember dealing with this in the past...I know it's in the TGA folder but it requires a conversion...of which I have no software for.

Brings up the other point: Why in creation does it need a conversion? Why would the devs have the screens saved to a non mainstream format?

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Because it is easier to save, probably. They have been using tga since S:TW, but I cannot get it to work properly in R:TW. There is a useful freeware program called FRAPS that allows you to take screenshots and movies as well as displaying the frame-rate. However, it only creates BMP pictures (unless you pay for the full version). An alternative is Howie's Quick Screencapture which is free also and allows various file formats.

Thank you very much. Exploring them as soon as I post this.

:book:

Another easy way of taking screenshots (though you can only take one at a time with this method) is hitting prt scr and pasting in paint.

hopefully this works...if not, wasted space.

This is a pic of the historical battle marker of the first chariot slaughter I described.

apologies...still working on getting ImageShack to work. Thus far, and no offense to anyone, it's the biggest pile of non-working garbage I've come across on the internet. Just flat out doesn't work. Looks like a low budget middle school put it together.

still trying...if it doesn't show up this time, that's the end of my attempt on imageshack.

Having people log in ALWAYS using the registration sent to their email account? No formal log on process?

I guess it's just a prank website...designed to give us all a good laugh. Now to figure out why the .org is voluntarily using this website that's stuck in 1990

1) now it's insisting that .bmp is not supported on ImageShack...2 lines above where it says BMP, JPEG supported. Great site.

2) edit button?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ludens

It sounds epic, the way you describe it.

Though I wonder, how experienced where the chariots you used? In my experience they are great for disrupting formations but don't do much actual killing. Or was it the slingers that made the most kills?

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I take it you're kidding?

One chariot unit can kill like 20 units 1 by 1.. (Of anything except Phalanx)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by x-dANGEr

I take it you're kidding?

One chariot unit can kill like 20 units 1 by 1.. (Of anything except Phalanx)

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Go look at the faction strategy section. There's multiple other people who think that these chariots are just for "breaking up enemy formations". How...baffles me.

I have yet to see any unit kill as quickly and effectively. Where people got the idea that they were used the same way as screening cavalry, again, baffles me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by x-dANGEr

I take it you're kidding?

One chariot unit can kill like 20 units 1 by 1.. (Of anything except Phalanx)

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I once lost a Briton general and half his bodyguard to a unit of peasants. Okay, so I attacked head on, but they still where peasants. In another battle my chariots where unable to break the Germanic phalanxes with rear attacks. I won that battle, but only because some of my units rallied and I lost two family members, three quarters of my army and practically all my chariots, while most of the German army got away.

Don't get me wrong, British chariots are great units if you use them correctly, but they have almost no defense and they get stuck quite easily. This combination is deadly, for the chariots.

i dont like chariots, just give me old fashioned cavalry, a charge in the rear, than either charge through the unit or retreat to the point you came from. Deadly!!! i beat up an entire army of 800 men with a 1 hitpoint (changed that) kingsbodyguard (100 cav) though in BI you have the immortals and with them it is no art anymore

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The Stranger

i dont like chariots, just give me old fashioned cavalry, a charge in the rear, than either charge through the unit or retreat to the point you came from. Deadly!!! i beat up an entire army of 800 men with a 1 hitpoint (changed that) kingsbodyguard (100 cav) though in BI you have the immortals and with them it is no art anymore

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That's what this unit of Cavalry thought when they came out of the woods. Wound up back in 'em really quick :laugh4:

https://i113.photobucket.com/albums/...egInAction.jpg

https://i113.photobucket.com/albums/...inter256BC.jpg

The campaign map of my current campaign. We've outmanuevered the Gaul over the last few turns and now are targeting the mines/wine on the border of Gaul/Spain and Alesia, the Gallic Capital itself. We should be able to win the war in the next few turns.

https://i113.photobucket.com/albums/...estGeneral.jpg

That's my best General. He will be a big part of finishing off Gaul.

https://i113.photobucket.com/albums/...ttleMarker.jpg

That's the battle marker picture I took a few years back. Will stay there forever, etched in time :2thumbsup:

although it works much better than ImageShack (...don't even get me started) I'm still figuring out the specifics of PhotoBucket.

Another try...my current Campaign:

https://i113.photobucket.com/albums/...0/f4a57b61.jpg

:2thumbsup: Ok...I'm anxious to go play but here's where things stand:

The war with Gaul is over. A ceasefire has been arranged (and actually followed through on for more than 1 turn) and at this point an alliance has been made. The war is over.

They lost horribly and control only 3 more provinces...none of which threaten my empire right now nor of any priority to my campaign (right now).

At this point the alliance was made to show my further contempt for the Julii (who Gaul is still at war with...this is the third offensive push by the Julii to dominate them, first two were unsuccessful). I also hold an alliance with Carthage...other political situations thoughout the map also make this sensible at this point in time.

Meanwhile...I have all of my borders secure, the largest Barbarian Army in the game (tied with Germania...dead tie) a capital which I am proud to call my own (my favorite capital so far in a TW game...I'm loving this campaign), and a war-time economy ready to pump production and allow us to sustain a major campaign. Who's it gonna be with? You guessed it...

War with Germania!!

Yeah, it's been building up for several years now. They've been lax on the border policy, did help me block some Gaul movement at one point, but overall have overcome what looked to be like an embarrassing defeat by the Dacia (who they warred with for years upon years...still at war with but they've turned the tide heavily now) and become too powerful to ignore anymore. I've been preparing my opening attack on them for several turns, as well as making sure that my attack was first...not theirs. What's developed is a major war front. My opening move is a "surprise" attack (they knew it was coming...just not to what extent or where...my guerillas move under cover and hiding all the time) against one of their armies which is still in my lands (was going to set up an ambush on me...got discovered and outmanuevered), an attack on the 1500 reinforcements to garrison one of their cities (my #1 target...their faction heir is inside...they moved him to the front for this war like 3 years ago), and an attack on a 6 unit army north of that city. Three move opening attack designed to a) make and keep our borders 100% free of Germania or a direct threat from it b) take strategic land and push Germany back across the river you'll see on the map c) put our armies in a position of direct, unblocked or guarded path to the northern towns I plan on taking d) destroy and then cut off future troop reinforments coming from across that bridge and e) use this same attack to surround and isolate Tier (city name) with the Germanic Faction heir inside and establish a 2 turn effective takeover of the city.

This is going to be a major war. I'll say this though: I'm more prepared for this than probably any other war I've entered in TW. Especially this being on H/H...I've micromanaged almost every single UNIT in my faction every turn. Not everything goes as planned in war obviously, but I'd say 9/10 things have for me so far. Sun Tzu's Art of War has come in handy :2thumbsup:

I'll keep this updated. I have other pics to show also such as my civilians rounding around the Sacred Shrine of Britannia in my capital, the High King's Hall, and the English channel being overlooked from my city walls...with snow/ice all over.

btw...the High King's Hall is my favorite building in the game yet. I love how it stands up with the two huge trees and building on the campaign map.../drool. Makes me get anstry for MTW2 :help:

Anyway...hopefully this picture shows up ok...it's just the one of the current Pre-War campaign map.

Britannia vs Germany. Chariot divisions vs. droves of Spear Warband and Screeching Women. We shall see.

https://i113.photobucket.com/albums/...Germania-1.jpg

https://i113.photobucket.com/albums/...Germania-1.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by x-dANGEr

I take it you're kidding?

One chariot unit can kill like 20 units 1 by 1.. (Of anything except Phalanx)

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If you get ballistas then fire into oncoming chariots, then they go straight down! Then (BI) put on that phalax thing. it finish's them straight off!:2thumbsup: