Got Merked by Gauls as rome (*Gasp*)

[AlexanderSextus]

Okay I fought the Aedui in Insubramrog yesterday, as Rome, and I lost. I had to, because they were heading for Bononia. It's about 241 BC, and it was my first Polybian legion. I had 2489 men, and they had 2886 men. They had 5 COUNT EM 5 units of gaesatae. i deployed in the Quincunx, as usual.

My hastati made a good account of themselves, at first. There were so many men on the other side that my principes had to march up and fill the gaps in the line. Ergo, the Hastati couldnt rotate. Repeated Charges from my Tribune and Campanian Cavalry on the left flank routed a third of their Army but i eventually lost, ended up going to the triarii, (who i recently made more realistic by halving their size, cost and upkeep) and My Extrordinarii eventually got surrounded, but they went down like Spartans, and cut down enough Gaesatae to make the Aedui respect our skill. I charged with my FM in the hope of saving the battle but he died in the process. Too bad, Because he had previously received a triumph for his battles in Sicily against the Qarthadastim.

What should i do if i get in this situation again where the enemy charges right through the gaps????

[mcantu]

you know, just because the Romans used the Quincunx formation doesnt mean they used it 100% of the time....

[AlexanderSextus]

yeah but when should you not use it, and then, what formation should you use?? Double line? Single line???

[Maeran]

Close your first line up by deploying the hastati in a 4 rank deep line.

Or principes first, since they have better armour.

The entire point of the Roman way of fighting was its adaptability, so be a true Roman and adapt it to meet the tactical needs in front of you.

[General Appo]

The problem is, in reality the enemy wouldn´t just charge trough the gaps in the quincunx. And if they did, they´d get cut down from 3 directions. It doesn´t always work like that in RTW, and it´s not really something EB can change. So you´ll pretty uch have to chose between going for the quincunx and except these things to happen every now and then, or adapt to the situation. I would adapt, after all, that´s what the Romans did. Just changing the normal quincunx a bit can create an entirely different situation.

[Vasiliyi]

Sometimes its better not to fight the battle at all. When outnumbered, and lets face it , outmatched, retreat. Set up on a hill and wait for them, to come to you. And dammit man, 5 units of those naked fanatics? As cocky as you may be, prepare yourself for those occasions, do velites sound familular at all? I hate to sound mean, but preparation for your battles are important. Roman legions weren't invincible. They, as someone mentioned before me adapted. Believe me, I've done the same as you before and I've learned my share of embarrasing defeats. Good luck with getting revenge..

[AlexanderSextus]

Sometimes its better not to fight the battle at all. When outnumbered, and lets face it , outmatched, retreat. Set up on a hill and wait for them, to come to you. And dammit man, 5 units of those naked fanatics? As cocky as you may be, prepare yourself for those occasions, do velites sound familular at all? I hate to sound mean, but preparation for your battles are important. Roman legions weren't invincible. They, as someone mentioned before me adapted. Believe me, I've done the same as you before and I've learned my share of embarrasing defeats. Good luck with getting revenge..

C'mon now, i've been playing EB for long enough to know that javelins in their back helps a lot. That plus a cavalry charge allowed my Extrordinarii to bring two of their Gaesatae units down to about 40 men. Out of 160. Thats pretty damn good. I'd say Extrordianarii are pretty damn good Gaesatae killers.

I'm no N00b, trust me. I just wasnt expecting Medio to send reinforcements, and if they hadn't i woulda crushed them. I had to fight the battle anyway, or there wouldve been a big stack sieging bononia as opposed to the half stack i actually had to deal with

I built another army later and beat them when they sieged bononia, without the reinforcements containing the other 4 units of nudists. they took one look at my full stack Polybian legion along with the AI Reinforcements of my last half-stack of Camillian troops, and hauled ass back to Medio.