Roman: Julii

[Sethik]

When fighting against Gauls War Dogs are your best friends. They tear un armored warbands to pieces. They are especially useful in seiges. Just send them in as soon as the walls come down and let them make enough space to let your other troops file in. Another great thing is that it doesnt matter if your dogs die so long as the handlers remain alive. The only problem with this is the handlers are the ones who gain experience, not the dogs. Don't let them go up against Druids or Armored Cavalry because they'll be turned into mince meat.


In one city seige early on im my Julli campaign they proved irreplacable. It was 1500(me) vs 3000(Gauls). After breaking down both walls (I attacked from two points) ONE unit of war dogs held FOUR units of warbands. I won the battle with 300 loses. No enemy was left alive. My war dogs alone (I had two untis) kill around 900 some-odd men.

[sapi]

I don't find war dogs to be that effective, just hastali, principles and maybe some triarii!

[Bhruic]

I don't find wardogs to be particularily effective at killing units. But I find they are exceptionally good distractions. The fact that losing them doesn't matter in the slightest (because they seem to have endless supplies of dogs) means that I can unleash them even on cav/heavy inf. They do the initial charge, and take the brunt of the losses, but they hold the unit(s) so that my real troops can do the damage. Also, I can continue to fire on the conflict with missiles, because I really don't care about friendly fire.

Poor doggies, but I'm just cruel that way.

I found as the Julii that because the Gauls are so easy to wipe out, it's easy to overextend, and try and take on too much at once. That's not a problem with the Gauls, but if you get into any other wars at the same time, you can become quite vulnerable. Once the Gauls are down, I like to pause and build up my cities before moving on. It gives me a chance to figure out how the rest of the wars are shaping up, and see who is vulnerable to attack.

Bh

[TinCow]

Wardogs are exceedingly good at killing unarmored units such as warbands. They are also highly effective at holding up enemy units and giving you room to maneauver. One final use for them is as a cavalry sponge. If you have a unit or two of wardogs that have not been released and you find yourself being charged by enemy cavalry, loose the dogs straight into the charge. Even heavy cavalry such as the Noble Cavalry of the Gauls will come to a screeching hault moments after the dogs reach them. For some reason, dogs simply do not seem to take the huge charge hit that other units do. Then you just have to charge in your infantry and cut down the vulnerable riders.

[TN[ KrAzY!]

dogs also make exceptional ambush troops, wherever you have armies hiding in woods waiting to ambush any enemies make sure you got at least 2 units of dogs, as soon as you start the ambush send em straight in. esp against gauls and britons etc.

[Quietus]

Julii Campaign Part 3 – New Fronts.

If you have decided to take the North African route too (see Part I), your trade networks by now would be bustling. Up north you’d be trading with the Britons. You’d be trading trading with your own settlements from North to South and of course you’d be trading with other factions in the Mediterranean.

With North Africa taken cared of (from Lepcis Magna to Tingi), you are now free to open new fronts! In this example, Dacia decided it should be against them, by attacking me. It makes sense because they are close to the Julii capital.

Regions in question: Luvavum, Aquincum Segesta, Campus Lyzages, Porrolissum etc. Again, the order of attacks is up to you; just take into account buffer zones that prevent you from being flanked in the future. At the same time you should be deciding who should be next to fall in the North: Britons or Germans? I’ve decided that the Germanic tribes should be eliminated because attacking Britain would spread me too far with Germania sandwiched too deep, which will cause horrible logistics problem in the future.

Part 3 units selections: By this time, you would have access to the penultimately powerful Roman Units. There may be units that aren’t here but this are the units I have used so far. The strongest units I will touch upon in the next episode. Here’s a short breakdown:

Triaarii(80)(500d)(210d) – These are tough spearmen. They should always be your center line (pre-marius). You can also put one in your extreme sides to stabilize a swinging flank. Always charge with this unit for the best effect. Against the great dacian melee units, they are the ideal pinners as you flank with Cavalry, Principes, Hastati or other Triaarii units.

Archer Auxillia(81)(430d/170d) – Put them in front of your middle line. As with the earlier archers, use Guard Mode and turn off Fire-at-will. When the AI is baited, move them quickly to the back. With a Chirugeon retinue (or similar types), they heal superbly, thus bring at least 2 units.

Auxillia(81)(430d/170d) – After the Marius event, the Triaarii cannot be trained anymore. However, these are very capable replacements. Because they are cheaper, they can be your replacement frontline fodder. You can do the similar moves as with Triaarii when confronted with melee units.

Light Auxillia(80)(290d)(170d) – They the are the replacement for the Velites. Therefore, they are similarly a special unit (see Velites).

Roman Cavalry (54)(500d)(110d) – For their upkeep cost, these are very fine cavalry. They are mightily effective flankers and especially useful against Phalanx/Pikemen units later (against Thrace). Make sure the enemy phalanx units has their Sarissa(?) lowered against your frontal units BEFORE you charge from the back. If not, your desired effect wont be complete and you will lose much units.

Legionary Cohort(81)(740d)(210) – They are your current elite units and should be conserved in the back. With a 20% discount on unit training, you should build a lot of these units. Let your cheap fodder units such as the Auxillia handle the heavy casualties while you use these conservatively. You just size up your enemy before battle. If you face a significantly tough opponent, it makes sense to put a number of them in the middle and upfront . In normal battles, you can put one of these in your flank for overpowering pincer movement with the help of the Roman Cavalry.

Early Legionary Cohort(81)(610d)(210) – A tad cheaper but also more vulnerable than the Legionary Cohort. In my opinion, their weaker defense isn’t worth saving the denari. However, if needed, they are more useful than a plain Auxillia.

After defeating much of Dacia, it is ideal to take on Thrace too. Why? The Brutii will try to expand there as well. It is better to cut them off before they get too large in the region. The general idea is to have an empire that is defensible in the future, especially in a impending or foreseeable civil war amongst Roman factions.

Once, you’ve consolidate the North by erasing the Germanic tribes, you only have to worry about the Britons. In an event of a civil war, you are free to confront the other rivals, without the consequence of being hit from your backside. Your economy also won’t suffer as much with that conglomeration coastal sea trades and land routes.

Keep in mind of presence of Rebels and Bandits inhabiting your trade routes. I can’t emphasize it enough to root them out by military force or bribery. They do much damage to your trades. Use watchtowers as well as diplomats and spies to discover or spot their location.

Lastly, I planned on posting a bridge battle scheme; however, I am not able to getting around to this yet. I’ll post as soon as I am able to. Also, I won’t be posting anymore strategic map bits and tips since I’ve resolved to put that in my Quick Strategic Map Guide & Primer (already posted!!).

This is the end of third section for now. Part 4 may be fittingly last portion and it will involve the ultimate Roman units and the civil war. Hope you enjoyed reading and found some use for it.

[sapi]

Civil war is much easier if you attack the senate when your allies troops are out of the Italian Penisula. You can decimate their capitols and main production cities and their unit production power will be halved. The only thing to watch out for is trade - you will lose most of your trade once the other roman factions declare war. I forgot to have a big navy and now the brutii and senate (rebel - 1300 men) navies are chasing me around!

[Dib]

Suprisely I have used the wardogs against falangas. Walls of greeks shields and lances became weaker and thereafter very vulnerable standing not as strongly in the formation.