SAB'YN CAMPAIGN

[PelicanMan]

Hey everybody,

After much deliberation, I decided to not finish my Casse campaign because I felt about 90% sure that I would have breezed through the rest of it. I didn't want to get bored.

So, I played Saka for a bit, decided that I will go all out on that campaign on a later date. That leads me to this campaign.

I have selected Saba, M/M and have played 5 years so far.
Below you will see my current status and a legend in the bottom right hand corner of what is going on.



I have a Diplomat in the AS & HAYA border establishing trade rights, alliances, and so on.
I have another diplomat on his way to AXUM to bribe the town and build an allied state. What I really want to do there is setup a small faction and basically with the remaining funds for my Faction will be used on that smaller faction. I need a name for that mini Faction, so if anybody has any ideas, post them.

I have two small armies, the First army which contains my Faction Heir, is taking over all of the cities around the desert. small force, but very stingy and he is currently a 2 star with 6 influence and a few cool traits (pic to be uploaded on a later date).

My second general has been brought up through the ranks, and he is basically cleaning up any rebel forces on my lands. I plan on using him in future campaigns, but first I want to establish a good economy.

I have only 1 spy, and a few in Queue for training so my security isn't the greatest at the moment (being upgraded of coarse)

I do have a few issues though. I cannot build fleets. I have 5 ports, but I cannot upgrade them to build fleets. Could I get some advice here please?

Also, take a look at the map and let me know what you guys think I should do. I currently know my first goal, which is to secure the coastal regions and setup my mini faction; but I cannot decide on where to go after.

Thanks!

THE P-MAN

[Arjos]

Saba are pretty tough, later on when the Ptolemaioi and the Seleukoi expand in Sinai, Nabataia, Tadmor or Gerrhaia, locals will most likely rebel in your favour, but making you declare war on the two super-powers...
That happens everytime in VH for me, maybe with M less often; anyway be prepared for such a situation...

As for goals you'll need one hellenic province at least in order to build Pantodapoi Phalangitai, their pikes are going to be very useful, since except for your bodyguards, your infantry is pretty weak in melee...
Best solution once you have secured the coast is to build an army with lots of archers and skirmishers: throwing all you've got at the enemy, isolating some units and routing them or retreat and use the refilled ammo...
Dorkei HaYam Ha'Adom together with Hoplitai Troglodutikes are going to be your best units in Arabia, but iirc you won't be able to afford too many of them at the beginning...

I'd say go for the Red Sea and Nubia, avoid building roads in Gerrha and hope that no enemy gets there or at least gets delayed...

[Brave Brave Sir Robin]

I played a Saba campaign on Hard difficulty and somehow managed to avoid war with either Ptolemies or Arche Seleukia. Bostra rebelled to me but I offered it back to the AS in return for peace and they accepted. I played until 230, took all the provinces you currently own plus Meroe and Axum and had lasting peace which made for an interesting campaign.

Also you can build a port in the city directly south of your starting town. Two levels of ports are available. Perhaps the lvl 3 government is preventing you from building it or you havn't built the mercentile port yet.

[Titus Marcellus Scato]

If you can arrange matters so that you are only fighting one superpower at a time and are allied to the other one, that might help. Preferably fighting the Ptolemies and allied to the Seleucids. Perhaps it might be worth allowing the Seleucids to take Gerrha without retaliation for a while, just to keep them happy while you're fighting the Ptolemies.

Maybe you could help defeat both the Ptolemies and Seleucids by using numerous spies and assassins to help forment rebellion in their towns, rather than relying on sheer brute force to fight them off? Keep them busy fighting rebels, as far as possible.

For strategic objectives, how about liberating the native Egyptians from their Macedonian overlords as the first priority, and only going after the Seleucids later? Let the Ptolemies attack the rebel towns, and then take them from the Ptolemies.

[Blxz]

Brave Brave Sir Robin is right, I think the town is called Tamane or something. It should be able to build ships. Maybe you need to upgrade the town level first though? I've done a good many saba campaigns and it can be worthwhile to expand into nubia. Since that region is actually your homeland region maybe in the future you can turn that 'mini faction' into an incorporated part of your tribe.

From there, once you have power either northwards into egypt is easy enough of you can fortify and the go eastwards to India. Can be very fun to set up a nice coastal Indian ocean empire.

You will notice that winning battles is very easy once you get the right mindset. Avoid melee in most cases until you can get your red sea axemen involved. Get them on the flank to attack and their AP weapons can chop through phalanx easily. Also I HIGHLY recommend as many archer spearmen as you can get. They are a phenomenal unit. Mildly capable in melee and decent at range but so cheap and with great retraining radius (anything that borders arabia, even babylon and seleukia). Very handy to soak damage while your better units flank. Plus your units are so fast, even when on foot. Get local battle superiority and use your advantages.

[athanaric]

You should build the highest available government type in all Arabic regions. Also, you should level up your regional MIC in your starting province up to tier 3 (yes that works with Type I govt., but only with Semitic factions and Pahlava). This will cost a little bit but will provide you with levy phalanxes, an excellent addition to your army. Also they have a pretty skin for Saba. Don't do this in Ma'in or the more eastern Arabic provinces though, those particular provinces don't have any foreign troops for you.
Archer-Spearmen, Red Sea Axemen+Hoplites, and Arabian Skirmishers have IIRC all be mentioned, but don't forget Sabaean Nobles. They are a good unit regardless of what some people say.

[PelicanMan]

Saba are pretty tough, later on when the Ptolemaioi and the Seleukoi expand in Sinai, Nabataia, Tadmor or Gerrhaia, locals will most likely rebel in your favour, but making you declare war on the two super-powers...

I plan on taking Gerrhaia and Charax and setting up shop @ Charax. There seems to be great defensible terrain there.
As for Petra, I will let the Phtoemaioi keep it until I can make it rebel; then I think I will concentrate on Ptolemaioi. Yeah. I think that is the direction I should go.

As for goals you'll need one hellenic province at least in order to build Pantodapoi Phalangitai

Do you happen to know which one that could be? I went through the EB Recruitment program for Regional & Native and the only unit I could find is the Red Sea Hoplites. Maybe that program is a bit old... I am not to sure.

If you can arrange matters so that you are only fighting one superpower at a time and are allied to the other one, that might help. Preferably fighting the Ptolemies and allied to the Seleucids. Perhaps it might be worth allowing the Seleucids to take Gerrha without retaliation for a while, just to keep them happy while you're fighting the Ptolemies.

I will definitely try attacking one and staying allied to another. I will though have to fork out a tribute to AS so that they do not attack Gerrha and Charax. I want those towns whether they like it or not. Will see if that works out.

Maybe you could help defeat both the Ptolemies and Seleucids by using numerous spies and assassins to help forment rebellion in their towns, rather than relying on sheer brute force to fight them off? Keep them busy fighting rebels, as far as possible.

I will definitely use that strategy to some extent; I wont go all out with spies and assassins, but I will have a small group known throughout the Saba community

Also you can build a port in the city directly south of your starting town. Two levels of ports are available. Perhaps the lvl 3 government is preventing you from building it or you havn't built the mercentile port yet.

Brave Brave Sir Robin is right, I think the town is called Tamane or something. It should be able to build ships. Maybe you need to upgrade the town level first though? I've done a good many saba campaigns and it can be worthwhile to expand into nubia. Since that region is actually your homeland region maybe in the future you can turn that 'mini faction' into an incorporated part of your tribe.

From there, once you have power either northwards into egypt is easy enough of you can fortify and the go eastwards to India. Can be very fun to set up a nice coastal Indian ocean empire.

Well then, I wish I knew that!!! But I think I will continue with my plan of bribing Axum; Kinda want to role play it. Also, I think I do have to build the town upgrade for the port.
But first, I want to invest on building those mines first; yes, they are ridiculously expensive, but it definitely will fuel the machine for establishing Charax as a start point for invasion (after I turtle there for a while) of AS and also setting up my Mini Faction across the Red Sea.
Also I wanted to point out, when looking at the EB Recruitment and Charax has a few good choices for Regional Units. That could get interesting.

You will notice that winning battles is very easy once you get the right mindset. Avoid melee in most cases until you can get your red sea axemen involved. Get them on the flank to attack and their AP weapons can chop through phalanx easily. Also I HIGHLY recommend as many archer spearmen as you can get. They are a phenomenal unit. Mildly capable in melee and decent at range but so cheap and with great retraining radius (anything that borders arabia, even babylon and seleukia). Very handy to soak damage while your better units flank. Plus your units are so fast, even when on foot. Get local battle superiority and use your advantages.

So as soon as I found out which region contains the phalanxes, I will create an army something along these lines:

2-3 Red Sea Axemen
2-3 Archer Spearmen
3-5 Light Spearmen
3-4 Pantodapoi Phalangitai (as soon as I could find them)
1 General
1 Noble Infantry
1-2 Skirmisher Cavalry

That will most likely make up my Main Army.

I do not want to go too unrealistic, so I definitely will only allow my next army to be no more then 1/2 that size; same goes with the Third army.

Let me know what you guys think of all that.

= )

THE P-MAN

[Arjos]

Do you happen to know which one that could be?

Checked and you can actually recruit them even in Saba, Qataban and Hadramaut, will need the lvl 3 local barrack (7500 mnai one I think)...

[PelicanMan]

You should build the highest available government type in all Arabic regions. Also, you should level up your regional MIC in your starting province up to tier 3 (yes that works with Type I govt., but only with Semitic factions). This will cost a little bit but will provide you with levy phalanxes, an excellent addition to your army. Also they have a pretty skin for Saba.

Checked and you can actually recruit them even in Saba, Qataban and Hadramaut, will need the lvl 3 local barrack (7500 mnai one I think)...

Do you happen to know the name of the unit? Also, I recall there being a program in which you can check out all the info on each unit. Does anybody have a link to that?

Thanks!
THE P-MAN

[athanaric]

Pantodapoi Phalangitai.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

And this:

http://europabarbarorum.heimstatt.net/

[Arjos]

There's the Recruitment Viewer installed with EB...
Unit is Pantodapoi Phalangitai (Hellenic Native Phalanx)...

[PelicanMan]

Pantodapoi Phalangitai.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

And this:

http://europabarbarorum.heimstatt.net/

There's the Recruitment Viewer installed with EB...
Unit is Pantodapoi Phalangitai (Hellenic Native Phalanx)...

Sweet...
Thanks guys. I guess my wife will have a frown tonight. Ah well. Can't wait to continue the campaign!!!
Hopefully I should have an update Monday

Let me know what else you guys think I should do... feedback is always appreciated!!
THE P-MAN

[Kull]

Yep, Saba campaign was one of my all-time favorites:

1) Could never maintain peace with the Seleukids, so the strategy was to keep fighting defensive battles in the Persian Gulf provinces of North Arabia. Destroy incoming stacks, rinse/repeat. That's because the real goal was...

2) Destroy the Ptolemaics. Come up and around the Red Sea coast and ALSO launch an invasion up through Nubia. The only rule here was to make sure I never had a border with The Carthies or Seleukids (i.e. a second border in Syria).

3) Some serious, cataclysmic battles are de-rigeur, and you are facing best-in-game-class elites. Lots of fun, and once you have cut the heart out of the Ptolies you can then focus all your efforts on the Seleukids (it's even worth it to leave the Ptolies alive in the poor western provinces as the border block to the Carthies).

4) Battles are crazy fun when your army is basically all skirmishers - this will test your EB skils to the max. It gets easier once you have the Pantodapoi Phalangitai, as then you can use the standard "hold em from the front and hammer the flanks and rear". It's almost too easy, once you've got the tactics down. By contrast, the almost-all-skirmishers vs. Ptolemaic elites battles are never-to-be forgotten and require a different approach almost every time. Terrain differences and enemy force composition really matter, and they force you to alter your tactics from battle to battle - even more than normal.

You'll have fun with this one.

[Shadowwalker]

Finished a Sab'Yn campaign about 1 month ago and while there was a lot of luck involved (like ptolemaic halfstacks with elite units sitting right next to a town I besiege but then wander away instead of joining the sally the same turn) I found out a few more or less useful things.

(1) Ethiopian heavy cavalry is surprisingly useful. Looking at the stats I didn't expect much from them, but having two of them in my king's army saved his ass more than once, even the elite phalanxes can be broken with a rear charge.

(2) Taking Gerrha and trying to defend it can sometimes lead to very frustrating moments. Two reasons for that. First - you can't own Gerrha and have peace with the Arche Seleukeia. Even without building a road they attack within the blink of an eye. Second - The Seleucids attack (of course) from the north, which leads to a sally battleground that heavily favours them. After losing the town three times I gave up and defended the next province to the south by field battles (using hit-and-run-armies, later in the campaign I hired some scythian riders .... yes, I sailed all the way up to Kallatis for them and made it back safely. Did I mention that I had a lot of luck in this campaign? )

(3) It proved very smart to build up Maryab, Tamane, Sabata and Carna as far as possible before doing anything else. For the first about 40-50 years I did absolutely nothing (except building some watchtowers north of Carna and occasionally fighting back rebels of course) but to have minimized garrisons and to focus on population growth and income. I only started to expand further after having build all possible mines, ports, markets, farms etc there. And of course the MIC's....

(4) Starting the invasion of Egypt from Nubia was not that bad a decision, a combined attack on the Nile delta and Nubia probably would have been even better though.

(5) Don't extinct the Ptolemaic Empire, leave them with Kyrene (unless you feel like fighting a grey and a white death at the same time ...). But make sure to raid and burn it beforehand. Kyrene is one of the very few places where they can recruit elite phalanxes....

(6) Sab'Yn bodyguard infantry is - especially in the early game, but also when facing Thureophoroi for example - pretty good. Makes for very fearsome flankers too...

My king's army for the invasion in Nubia (and on until I reached Alexandreia/Memphis) consisted of:

2 generals (one of them the FL)
4 levy phalanxes
2 arabian slingers
2 archer-spearmen
2 ethiopian archers
2 sabaean archers
2 sabaean spearmen
2 red sea light infantry
2 ethiopian cavalry

Later on I heavily used mercenaries and of course the Kretan archers...

Was a very fun campaign but much, much harder than Hayasdan for example.

[Brave Brave Sir Robin]

I don't know how I managed to maintain peace with both superpowers in my game. One of the great mysteries of life I suppose. Shared a border with both for over 30 years and no attack. I did enjoy just roleplaying my regional empire though.

[PelicanMan]

Hey Guys,

Well, I plated about 14 turns since the last update and I have managed to come up with this update:



My 2nd general army won a battle in Ma'in against a force about 900 men strong, and I had very little casualties. I decided to disband the army at my capitol and bam, a second rebel army popped up in the province of Hadramaut. So right now I built a small force to deal with that rebel army (400 men should be enough to beat 800 men)

I took the advice of building archer-spearmen and wow, they are pretty sweet for such a cheap unit. Should have thought of that at the beginning of the campaign. You live and you learn.

Anyways, I took the city of Homna and I am making my way to Gerrhau at the moment. But I first will have to deal with the Rebel General in that province before I take the city.

I have lost Bostra twice; once to the AS which I destroyed every building I could and gave it back to them for peace and trade rights; they did not want to fork up any money, but instead asked for tribute (2400 mnai for three turns!!!!) I settled with a cease fire and trade rights. Then Ptolemaoioi lost the city to me through rebellions and they wouldn't take it back through negotiations so I had to attack their army and deplete it as much as I could before they took over it. So now, I have peace with the AS and I am at war with the Pyramid worshipers.

I have build the first mine in Tamane, started building the second level mine in Maryab (20 turns!!! wow.) and I have build the naval port in Sabata. The extra cash from the mine in Tamane has definitely helped out.

As for the bribing mission, well, it failed. I offered 10,000 mnai and it wasn't enough. I did look up what type of troops I could recruit there, but I didn't have much interest in what they had t offer, so now I have decided to build up a force and land an army to take Erythraia (which currently has about 1700 Ptoleis) so that will be an exciting battle. They also have their faction leader there so I cannot wait to fight him.

In conclusion, not everything has went the way I wanted it, but there is progress and I feel that I have met the goals that I thought I could meet. Too bad I could not bribe Axum, would have made for an exciting mini faction. I think though once I take Erythraia, I will still try to setup the mini faction in Axum after I take it and let it build up to take the western towns (Meroe, Pselkis).

BTW, my faction heir got the trait Dessert Warrior, and wow has his movement increased!!! it may be only 15%, but that does a lot in the desert regions.

He also has one unit of light horsemen that I have now up to 8 exp and they definitely help turn the tide in a lot of battles.

The one thing that I do not like is the fact that Watch towers are extremely expensive compared to other factions; 1500 Mnai!!!!! damn. I think that I should build them only by the roads since the span is sooo far between cities I do not want to invest in seeing every spot on the map.

Sorry for the long post; wanted to give all the details.

Also, I will post the army compositions for the next update. Maybe Wednesday or Thursday (have personal stuff to take care of)

Feedback is appreciated and if you have any tips, let me know.

Thanks!!!

[Sylon]

Watch towers seem to be 1500 mnai for most factions; certainly, it costs as much in my current Epeiros campaign. I believe steppe factions get them cheaper, however.

Don't bother attempting to bribe settlements. Most Eleutheroi settlements are garrisoned with FMs with ridiculously high stats, making them extremely expensive to bribe.

Build up your settlements on the Red Sea coast; you want those axemen as soon as possible now that you're facing the Ptolemaioi. They're one of the few troops you get that can actually put a dent in their heavy forces; especially once they start spamming Klerouchoi Phalangitai and those dreaded Klerouchon Agema. If you build up further, you can get access to Red Sea Hoplites, which are one of the heaviest units you'll be getting in this campaign. Also, in Egyptian regions, you can recruit Machimoi with a level 2 or 3 regional MIC; these have AP weapons, making them a good replacement for axemen.

Also, Arabian light cavalry have AP lances, so feel free to use them against phalangitai.

[Brave Brave Sir Robin]

In Egyptian regions you can recruit Galatians. If you can get to this point, feel free to dominate the entire Mediterranean.

[PelicanMan]

Watch towers seem to be 1500 mnai for most factions; certainly, it costs as much in my current Epeiros campaign. I believe steppe factions get them cheaper, however.

I guess I should not have used Casse as my only example. I think Saka also has them @ 1000. Anyways, so if most of them do have that, then I won't complain about that again.

Don't bother attempting to bribe settlements. Most Eleutheroi settlements are garrisoned with FMs with ridiculously high stats, making them extremely expensive to bribe.

Build up your settlements on the Red Sea coast; you want those axemen as soon as possible now that you're facing the Ptolemaioi. They're one of the few troops you get that can actually put a dent in their heavy forces; especially once they start spamming Klerouchoi Phalangitai and those dreaded Klerouchon Agema. If you build up further, you can get access to Red Sea Hoplites, which are one of the heaviest units you'll be getting in this campaign. Also, in Egyptian regions, you can recruit Machimoi with a level 2 or 3 regional MIC; these have AP weapons, making them a good replacement for axemen.

Also, Arabian light cavalry have AP lances, so feel free to use them against phalangitai.

Well, I think the best way to penetrate Ptolemaioi is to have a decent bankroll behind it; so in saying that, I will wait for the 20 turns of my big mine to be completed and then I will go for an all out war with the Ptoleis. Right now, I think I should continue investing in infrastructure and economy instead of war mongering. = )

In Egyptian regions you can recruit Galatians. If you can get to this point, feel free to dominate the entire Mediterranean.

Sweet... tanks with swords. I need those and Red Sea Infantry to take on those pesky phalanxes. Will definitely get interesting as I make my way up there. I guess in 25 years I will have access to those units.

Feedback is appreciated.

Thanks!
THE P-MAN

[Sylon]

Well, it's up to you how you wish to conduct the campaign, but I will give a word of caution here: During those 5 years while you wait for that mine to finish, the Ptolemaioi will be spamming troops from several of their cities with their infinite bankroll. I made the mistake of over-roleplaying a Saby'n campaign once, only expanding outward in the 250's and 240's. I had to face an endless torrent of stacks, containing the aforementioned Kelrouchoi units, Galatian Heavy Infantry, Thorakitai, and eventually even stacks containing hetairoi. Having to grind down every single one of those stacks with nothing but skirmishers and the occasional axeman is still a source of trauma for me today.

[Brave Brave Sir Robin]

Teching up to elephants in Axum is another good idea. The weaker Forest ones take a lvl 3 local MIC I believe. A line of Sabaen levy infantry with Red Sea Axes and Arabian Infantry in reserve and a unit of elephants to run down the oppositions line is effective.

[Jive]

You will notice that winning battles is very easy once you get the right mindset. Avoid melee in most cases until you can get your red sea axemen involved. Get them on the flank to attack and their AP weapons can chop through phalanx easily. Also I HIGHLY recommend as many archer spearmen as you can get. They are a phenomenal unit. Mildly capable in melee and decent at range but so cheap and with great retraining radius (anything that borders arabia, even babylon and seleukia). Very handy to soak damage while your better units flank. Plus your units are so fast, even when on foot. Get local battle superiority and use your advantages.[/QUOTE]

Interesting comment Blxz. What difficulty level do you fight your battles on? Seems to me that playing most any campaign on VH/H would be quite challenging. Or no?

[Blxz]

Interesting comment Blxz. What difficulty level do you fight your battles on? Seems to me that playing most any campaign on VH/H would be quite challenging. Or no?

Indeed. Thats why I don't play on VH/H. I play M battles and H campaign with the saba.
The thing is that forming a line and trying to hold while you rush around the back and pepper them is using the Sabyn in their weakest possible role. Even the steppe factions are better at this because they can have large numbers of swift cavalry to run behind quickly. The saba are possibly the worst line holders in the game.

Their strength is generally good stamina, especially in deserts; speed of their infantry units, even when exhausted they can outrun other exhausted troops; and the fact that a majority of their units have a ranged attack of some sort.

By avoiding melee as much as possible and using your speed to your advantage you can pull big ai army lines apart and surround them with superior numbers. By using your missiles into their backs as a single unit runs and the rest fire. Once it is depleted enough any melee unit (I recommended archer spearmen in my first post but anything heavier works wonders too) can engage them to draw their focus while you send a red-sea axemen unit into their back. This should hopefully crush them.
If you can do this simultaneously at about 3 sites across the battlefield then you can rip apart most armies. May not work against a human player with sufficient ranged units.

Also, the main reason I recommend the arabian archer spearmen is their massive retraining zone. This allows them to be used for the fodder they are but to be ready for the next battle. Also note that many of the towns already have a Saba barracks built so you can even attack and then retrain upon conquest. Convenient.

If you want me to go into MORE depth I will, but this should suffice to explain some of my tactics and the different mind-set required to use the saba effectively.

[PelicanMan]

Well, it's up to you how you wish to conduct the campaign, but I will give a word of caution here: During those 5 years while you wait for that mine to finish, the Ptolemaioi will be spamming troops from several of their cities with their infinite bankroll. I made the mistake of over-roleplaying a Saby'n campaign once, only expanding outward in the 250's and 240's. I had to face an endless torrent of stacks, containing the aforementioned Kelrouchoi units, Galatian Heavy Infantry, Thorakitai, and eventually even stacks containing hetairoi. Having to grind down every single one of those stacks with nothing but skirmishers and the occasional axeman is still a source of trauma for me today.

Alright, so I guess your advice would be to hit them hard and sooner the better. Ok, I think I know what I plan to do. I'll create on stack and basically roam it around and destroy their stacks as much as possible. Every so often pick up a City. You know what, I guess I can do something while I am waiting for the Mine to build. By then I should have conquered most of the cities by the Red Sea, and hopefully I can begin my conquest. I just do not want to run into the damn Stack after Stack. That to me starts to get a bit annoying.

Teching up to elephants in Axum is another good idea. The weaker Forest ones take a lvl 3 local MIC I believe. A line of Sabaen levy infantry with Red Sea Axes and Arabian Infantry in reserve and a unit of elephants to run down the oppositions line is effective.

Elephants in Axum??? Hmmm..... Maybe I should get that first and invest in Local MIC's. I'll have to definitely think on that. If I need an advantage, Elephants definitely help.

Indeed. Thats why I don't play on VH/H. I play M battles and H campaign with the saba.
The thing is that forming a line and trying to hold while you rush around the back and pepper them is using the Sabyn in their weakest possible role. Even the steppe factions are better at this because they can have large numbers of swift cavalry to run behind quickly. The saba are possibly the worst line holders in the game.

Well, maybe I should have started the game as M battles and H campaign. I will definitely consider that when I startup another campaign after this adventure.

Their strength is generally good stamina, especially in deserts; speed of their infantry units, even when exhausted they can outrun other exhausted troops; and the fact that a majority of their units have a ranged attack of some sort.

By avoiding melee as much as possible and using your speed to your advantage you can pull big ai army lines apart and surround them with superior numbers. By using your missiles into their backs as a single unit runs and the rest fire. Once it is depleted enough any melee unit (I recommended archer spearmen in my first post but anything heavier works wonders too) can engage them to draw their focus while you send a red-sea axemen unit into their back. This should hopefully crush them.
If you can do this simultaneously at about 3 sites across the battlefield then you can rip apart most armies. May not work against a human player with sufficient ranged units.

Also, the main reason I recommend the arabian archer spearmen is their massive retraining zone. This allows them to be used for the fodder they are but to be ready for the next battle. Also note that many of the towns already have a Saba barracks built so you can even attack and then retrain upon conquest. Convenient.

Well I kinda expected that with the Saba. They kinda remind me of the Numidian Style game play whenever I played them in Darthmod. Hit and run tactics.

Another way of a battle I could do is setup in a Hammer and anvil tactic. Put my most experienced spearmen/phalanx on my left flank so that they hold up long enough until the Elephants arrive. Use my archers as much as possible and then use them as support. Hopefully the Elephants will help break up their formations so that my red sea infantry can wrap around and flank them. As soon as they pin them up from both sides, and I can return my elephants on their return trip home and hopefully break them.

This is what I am thinking:



something along those lines... let me know what you guys think.

[Brennus]

This is a really well documented campaign PelicanMan, really enjoying it (alas I can offer no advice on how best to use the Sabeans).

I wanted to ask what difficultly your Casse campaign was played on?

Also, I do like your battle plan. My only worry is that it could prove a bit too ambitious although if you have no objection to using the pause button you could manage it. Just pay attention to your pachyderms, Diadochi do like their peltasts.

[PelicanMan]

This is a really well documented campaign PelicanMan, really enjoying it (alas I can offer no advice on how best to use the Sabeans).

I wanted to ask what difficultly your Casse campaign was played on?

Also, I do like your battle plan. My only worry is that it could prove a bit too ambitious although if you have no objection to using the pause button you could manage it. Just pay attention to your pachyderms, Diadochi do like their peltasts.

Thanks for the positive feedback!! = )

The Casse campaign was Medium Battles and Hard campaign. It is definitely one that I am going to do again but next time I will start writing Guides because I get to write about it more in depth. I really like explaining what is going on and like hearing advice because it helps me develop as a player. I try to stay away from the pause button because it kinda shows the craziness that could happen as if in real life. If I used the pause button, battles would get pretty boring and repetitive.

As for that formation, my backup plan was that if they have a lot of skirmishers, then my archers will take them out first; those units are dangerous when used correctly and definitely dangerous to my formation. I don't mind the fighting units because I know I can rout them if I run it properly. As you know, if I can get the elephant unit to do is due diligence, I will definitely disrupt their formations to the point where they will have no cohesion and my red sea infantry can come in and clean up. I would put my most battle hardened spearmen/phalanx on the right flank just so they could hold out the longest and the Elephants can make their way there. My Right cavalry unit is basically to take care of the General and lead him off coarse (if he bites of coarse) that way all bonuses from him can be thrown out the window.

BTW, the General unit for Saba is pretty awesome; I know they do not have much in units, but man, I use him all the time. I know it takes a chance on losing him, but those bodyguards look like they want to cut somebody up.

Funny thing is, and my wife thinks I'm crazy for it, I printed the detailed map (with all the trees and mountain ranges) on a Sheet that is 24" Wide by 34" wide (Since I do Process Engineering I have access to a plotter that has color) I actually have taken the units from the board game "Risk" and used it to deploy my army turn by turn. She thinks I am crazy but I only play this game maybe 2 times a week (family life and all). Its pretty neat actually; Instead of moving the arrow around the screen to view the current campaign situation, I can get a better overview on the printed out map. Man, if she read this she would just laugh and call me a loser. ah well.

Anyways, blabbered a bit long there.

Feedback is always appreciated!!!

Thanks,

THE P-MAN

[Brennus]

Fantastic! I think the only other thing you could do to immerse yourself any more would be to play in costume (which I have considered myself). I can't help but feel humbled by your success with the Casse, so many times I have tried and given up.

If your wife is worried about you now, just wait for EB II.

[PelicanMan]

Fantastic! I think the only other thing you could do to immerse yourself any more would be to play in costume (which I have considered myself). I can't help but feel humbled by your success with the Casse, so many times I have tried and given up.

If your wife is worried about you now, just wait for EB II.

lol
I definitely won't wear a costume. But I definitely cannot wait for EB II. That is going to be something else. Numidians will be the first faction I play without a doubt.

THE P-MAN

[Moros]

Just wait till I finally get round finishing the Arabian preview.

[Blxz]

Just wait till I finally get round finishing the Arabian preview.

Ahh, 楽しみ。
I wonder if it is a new faction? Since you said arabian and not saba I am inclined to think that, yes, yes it is!