To Germany!

[Brennus]

Hi all!

I was wondering if people can offer some advice for defeating the Sweboz (as the Aedui)?

My main problems are:

1. The sheer quantity of Sweboz armies. As many people have pointed out they are poor quality and usually composed of levies, but even then there are still alot of them.
2. Forests. Now as the Aedui i like to use the wonderful Celtic slingers to wittle down the enemy before my infantry clash with them. On an open battlefield the lack of armour on Sweboz units makes this an effective tactic, however Germania has alot of forests and slingstones tend to be ineffective in forest.
3. Spears. My second tactic is to use Gallic heavy cavalry to overwhelm the enemy, either using hammer and anvil tactics or simply attacking skirmisher and light infantry from the flank. However the number of German units which wield spears makes this a dangerous tactic.

Any specific answers to these questions and all round advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[Burebista]

Location.location.Location. ...make sure you leave your army away from patches of forest on the campaign map. defend bridges , go for the towns .Don't chase on campaign map.

if you must fight in forest , do so defending , not attacking.

[Arjos]

I always tought that slinger are ineffective against unarmoured units...
In fact if you use Sotaroas (hoping you got the time of bondsmen), you'll see all the levies going down like flies...
I'll suggest an army of Bataroas, Gaelaiche, Sotaroas and Leuce Epos... If you can afford it get one or two Gaesatae/Uirodusios/Pictone Nietos ^^
Besiege or let your army being attacked, hold the line and leave fire at will for all units, as soon as the Sweboz will charge they flee and you can cut them down to pieces with your cavalry...

If you don't like it, create an army of swordsmen, naked fanatics and charge!!! XD

[Ca Putt]

Bataroas and generally most high lethality units can do some damage to the most sweboz armies. they mostly consist of unarmored spearmen and psiloi with spears so you're best of with anything unmounted that has high lethality. for the rare occasions of open plain battles some imported archers or your very own slingers can prove usefull, not to mention sieges etc where even soatroas rule supreme^^... well until their warlord comes over for a piece of your levies ;)
personally I've only fought Celts-vs-Germanics battles on sides of the sweboz but from that experience I can tell you that apart from their superior sword percentage(and , forgive me Dugunthiz, their more varied roster) only more armor(which can be countered easily) and superior numbers could really bother me, as suebic troops normally have more staying power than gaulish.

ps I'd rather not take Germania(or the steppes for that matter): little to no gains coupled with high casualties by VERY adapted natives.

[NoHelmet]

Use hammer and anvil, only use a really thin anvil. I mean really thin, three men deep units of lugoae in the center. Use slingers only for their family members. ALWAYS bring uirodusios or, if possible, gaesatae, because often AI sends a fullstack without FM, so they rout pretty easily. My battle line usually looks like this: Bataroas, Botroas and rest of your heavies take the far flanks, in the center static shallow line of spearmen with uirodusios behind, and operating as hammer family and leuce epos. I destroyed sweboz before reaching MICs for brihentin or neitos, nor did i need them. Also, i didn't really use slingers much, at least not against the sweboz... Btw, casse do an even easier job against sweboz. And, it is usually much easier when dealing with AI that spams fullstacks to be on the defence. For example, go into their province, and stand on a bridge/river crossing, and wait for the slaughter.

[Geticus]

The key troops for crushing the Sweboz are leuke epos and slingers. Stone temples of Teutatis are helpful for levying the Leuke Epos at 2 chevrons from the start, and in general you should have at least 2 Leuke epos in addition to your FM in any army and try to ensure cavalry superiority at all times as this is the Sweboz weakness, especially for the AI which often builds up huge infantry hordes with no cavalry whatsoever. Also be sure your FM has a druidic surgeon, accept no substitute.

Mainly the way to kill them is to just march through and beseige their cities, your battles should for the most part be siege battles which you should always win with slinger/swordsmen, or defensive battles when the Sweboz attack you in march, or counterattack you when you besiege their cities. Generally I have very good success just stationing my line on an upslope, preferable near a clearing in the forest so that the slingers can skirmish effectively. Put the infantry on autofire (don't use any lugoae they die too easily) and let the slingers skirmish in front as the Sweboz approach. The trick is to harrass the enemy flank/rear as they approach with your light cavalry, especially on their unshielded right flank. This distracts them and often draws them into turning around and charging your cavalry to no effect, buying the slingers more time to rack up the kills. Any single Swebian infantry cohorts which stray too far from the herd should be simultaneously charged from three directions by three cavalry units, for an instant route. As long as you drive off the enemy cavalry with your own and harrass the Sweboz flank well as they advance, the slingers should do serious damage and the enemy will often route when they get close to your line and take javelin volleys from Bataroas, Gaelaiche, and Virodusios. Virodusios are especially good at this, put them in the front line since they carry 3 javelins instead of the standard 2, and all the javelin volley damage plus the fear effect maximizes the likelihood of the enemy routing. Run routers down with light cavalry, and when the firmer enemy cohorts begin to tire, hammer the Sweboz general's bodyguard with your Brihentin over and over till their general eats a lance. Once their general, if any, goes down, the rest tend to route pretty easily. As long as you have a druidic surgeon accompanying your FM, your kill ratios should range between 10 to 1 on up to 100 to 1 depending on your cavalry micro skills and army selection, and the presence or absence of enemy generals, since Sweboz infantry hordes without any generals are very easy to route.

[Brennus]

The general concensus appears to be use heavy and shock infantry for the best chance of defeating the Sweboz.

@Ca Putt I would rather stay out of Germany as well but I need to crush them now before the Roman juggernaut starts up. My original plans were to expand into Iberia and take advantage of the lucrative mines there (in my current Carthaginian campaign I am funding 3 Punic and 4 allied Aedui armies from the mine revenues alone) however a Sweboz attack caused me to abandon those plans.

@Geticus, I did not know the temples of Teutatis provided such benefits,, interesting.

With regards to people's advice of simply march through Germania I have a problem with that which I will post as soon as I get a screenshot to show the current strategic situation.

[Olaf The Great]

Mass longswords of any type+charge
defeats anything

[Rahl]

Welcome to Germania with it's swamps, moors and endless misty forests where mighty legions just vanish...
Since you already got good advice I have only one more idea. Build some ships and attack from the sea. The pirates of the baltic are dangerous but at least Kimbriolándám (modern day denmark), Hábukolándám (Netherlands) and if you are lucky the Gáwjám-Rugoz (on an island between Swebolandam and Skandinavia) can be attackt without battles in forests.

[Arjos]

Also if you want to expand in Iberia, than buy some time with your armies and build stone walls in your "german" border, than simply garrison them with 2-4 swordsmen and 2 spearmen (just to be safe) and you'll destroy all their warriors as they climb up the ladders ^^
At this point conquer Iberia, but as you said keep an eye on the romans...