Quote Originally Posted by Greyblades View Post
Hrm, you start out with about 7 small 6-10 unit stacks, have any of you tried emulating the diocletian methods of keeping them seperate and using the garrisons to compensate while defending the borders? I could see the skilled use of a garrison being able to deplete a horde enough for the small legions to destroy.

If you are lucky with the african tribe's disposition it might be possible to deal with the suebi with the iberian and african legions and leave the border legions in place.

If only there was a way to gift lands, say give the suebi pannonia in exchange for a pledge not to let the barbarians through.
There might be something worthwhile in that approach. I can't speak specifically for playing WRE, haven't done so yet. But in general, settlement garrisons seem a little stronger than in R2; I'm not seeing the "pleb" or "farmers" fodder units. Plus the minor settlements are much better fortified and defensible.

A couple of days ago as Saxons, got surprise-attacked in a Level II minor settlement by a 20-unit Burgundian horde stack. AR prediction was quite low; 20% or so. Decided to play it out just to wear down their army as much as I could for a next-turn counterattack. Pleasantly surprised that the garrison alone managed to beat them off and keep the town...and were still viable at the end, wasn't a Pyrrhic.