Carthage

[GamblerTuba]

Here's the final summary that should sum up my Carthage campaign so far. I will post more as I finish the campaign.

Italy:

I was hesitant to try the Blitz as Carthage because I wanted somewhat of a challenge and I am still playing on M/M anyway. My first attempt definitely made me think twice. I landed all the forces i could muster from Sicily and Sardinia and landed them next to Capua in order to finish the Scipii. Unfortunately, my army ran smack into a nearly full stack of Romans presumably on their way to Sicily.

The Romans consisted of about 8 units of Hastati, a couple principes and triarii, 3 equites and 3 generals. I had 3 RS cav, about 6 units of Iberian and Libyan inf, remaining elephants from Sicily and a general. What a slaughter. None of my units actually fought for more than 5 seconds before routing. Well, i reloaded and did not attack for a while until I had a better army.

In the meantime, my navy began to assert itself and a few Roman armies went down with the ship. The Brutii also committed themselves to the Greek frontier. When I landed on Italy the second time, Capua was nearly undefended as were Croton and Tarentum. The senate armies hung out around Rome and I was able to destroy the Scipii and cripple the Brutii very easily. From there i waited to consolidate my holdings planning on leaving the senate and the Julii alone in order to make sure the late-game had a few epic battles.

Unfortunately, by taking Corinth I turned the Greeks against me and started a very expensive war. In order to finance that war, I turned North against the Julii. At this point, I was conducting a campaign in Greece, Italy, and Iberia simultaneously and was kept very busy indeed.

I hit the Julii on two fronts by marching up the East coast to Arinium and landing a small force from Spain (including my new faction leader) to take lightly defended Segesta. Both cities fell easily although the force that took Arinium fought a number of large stacks on the way. A large enough cavalry force simply decimates anything except triarii. A few Iberians with cavalry support take care of them.

This is where things became very interesting. When i laid siege to Arretium, the senate army finally left Rome and moved on Capua. I immediately left Arretium and moved on Rome and the massive Senate Stack moved to meet my Faction Leader's army. I tried being clever (read cheap) by sending my small Capua garrison in behind to take Rome while their main army moved North. I attacked a small stack standing next to Rome and brought the Rome garrison out. I destroyed the garrison to a man with my small group of RS cav. Unfortunately, Rome did not fall and next turn was garrisoned by a single unit of war dogs!

Next up: The battle for Rome

[GamblerTuba]

I really hope someone reads/enjoys this. It is fun to write though.

The climactic battle with the senate occurred when I sent a 3/4 stack of cav and a few barbarian mercs led by my faction leader and a small stack of cav led by a useless family member under AI control against the full senate stack. Units were pre-marian but lots of triarii. The senate stack was standing next to Rome but did not have enough movement points to make it into the city. My armies also did not have enough movement points to attack their army. Instead i placed my armies adjacent to theirs and used a single unit of LS cav from Capua to initiate the battle. I did NOT want the senate army to reach Rome, I did not relish street to street fighting with all those triarii and principes. Complicated set-up but led to a very entertaining battle. The set-up looked like this on campaign map:

FL FM
RA Ro
LS

FL faction leader and 3/4 stack (human controlled)
FM family member and small stack (AI controlled)
Ro city of Rome
RA Senate Army (full stack of pre-marian units)
LS single unit of long shield cavalry used to initiate combat

Battle map looked very odd because my single LS cavalry is the only one i was able to deploy. I sent that LS after the single unit of wardogs that sallied from Rome destroyed all the handlers that was about all they accomplished. The Romans deployed near the northern edge of the map which means my faction leaders army entered the map nearly on top of the roman lines. Absolute Chaos ensues. My faction leader’s army was all spread out and outnumbered with no room to maneuver and half of my cavalry came out in the woods.

Many of my RS units were routed before doing much damage. I was actually saved by my barbarian mercs and bal slingers. The 3 units barb mercs were able to stretch out enough to delay flanking and held up the roman lines while the slingers did some damage. My faction leader moved off a ways into a clearing and gathered together the remnants of my cavalry.

I began to use my depleted cav units to rout the left flank of the Roman army and the battle was just starting turn when my AI controlled units finally started to find their way to the battle field. My faction leader’s bodyguards killed 3 different Roman generals and the rout was on.

Unfortunately, one roman general made it out of the confusion along with enough stragglers to field 2 partial units of velites and about 20 principes. The next turn I assaulted Rome as my spy managed to open the gates. The senate had added a unit of triarii to the defense. Rome is a royal pain to assault even with a full army against a skeleton defense. I overwhelmed the triarii at the open gates with my remaining barb mercs and a unit of Iberian inf. The velites on the wall proved to be a formidable opponent. They routed the first couple units I sent up after them but finally fell. By then I only had single unit of Iberians and a couple units of bal slingers and the rest cavalry. I had to run the length of the wall taking each tower in turn. Many of the towers provide support fire and I nearly ran out of infantry before I could clear a path for my cavalry to run all the way to the opposite side of Rome to reach the ONLY entrance to the town square and kill the 8 men in the general’s bodyguard. Lost nearly 300 men to kill about 140 Romans. Most of the losses were barb infantry but still…

Next up: My favorite TW battle of all time… so far.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Carthage is always a tough one in siege assaults. The same things that make them so fun in field battles, cavalry, cavalry, elephants and, oh, cavalry, give them fits when trying to get through a breach or gate. I almost always end up waiting for towers too, just so that I can get more of my infantry onto the walls faster. Most of my infantry is crap, but if I can hit them from both wall directions at once....

I used to, once resources built, set up a siege assault army. I recruited many mercs for that army, leaving only the onagers, some peonis, and some long shields from integral forces. Loved spanish, saminite, numidians, barbarians, and thracians for the rest of the assault team.

[Vitellus]

Aye, with Carthage, in sieges, I tended to rely on mercs. Many weren't as valuable as my main army troops in any case, so I often used them as storm troopers to take walls and breaches. Interesting campaign so far, I look forward to seein' the rest of it (my Carthage campaign stopped after I took Spain and Italy. Mebbe I finish it someday...).

[GamblerTuba]

My favorite battle in TW:

Arretium has nearly fallen twice now. One siege was broken at the last moment by the Senate. The second siege was broken by a full stack Julii army from Patavium. I decided to break the siege because the battle would have taken place in a forest and my cavalry would have gotten shredded. When I moved my army to siege Arretium again from a different direction, I was surprised to find the Julii had actually set up an ambush. My faction leaders army was taken completely by surprise by a full stack of Roman units (still pre-marian)

The Julii began the battle with 1500men and not a single Roman survived. I began the battle with 960men and lost 79men. Beginning as an ambush I cannot even begin to explain the mass confusion that ensued but my faction leader and a few units of RS were at the head of the army and 3 units of RS were at the tail. Eventually they met in the middle and the Roman army was simply torn to pieces. Both groups of cavalry simply carried out what I like to call the Pac-Man maneuver. The Roman army never formed a solid battle line as they scattered to engage. Using three cavalry I was able to encircle and rout each unit in turn before disengaging and moving on to the next. There was not enough time to get many kills but my Iberian inf kept the Romans on the run until my cav had the chance to come back and finish the job.

There was a single unit of Triarii that I avoided like the plague until my single unit of SB inf made it across the field and engaged them. Of course their general made a bee-line for my faction leader. My faction leader (who had 45-man bodyguard, 2 silver chevrons and 9+ command stars) made short work of the enemy cavalry and ended with over 250 kills in the battle. It was very, very fun.

Now Arretium should (finally) fall as I have the men to hold the bridge to the North while besieging the city.

My Iberian army has grown to two full stacks and has begun a push into gaulish territory, leaving many half-clothed and completely dead barbarians in their wake. I have taken Narbo Martius and Massilia. Unfortunately this opens up a border with the Britons so there is the possibility of war breaking out there. Other than the wide area to cover, the biggest problem with fighting through Europe is the abundant forests. It is very difficult to command any army in the woods but especially hard for the cav dependant factions.

I have taken Kydonia, Rhodes and Thessalonica. I now have an army on its way from Greece to take Salona from the Julii. The assault on Thessalonica was another bloody affair where my losses were greater than the enemy. I did find some comic relief near the end. As I finally approached the city square with a unit of SB Inf in phalanx mode, the enemy general charged, lost half his number and routed… about 10 steps to the city square where his men regained their morale and promptly charged again. This happened three times before the unit was completely destroyed. Looked like a bunch of indecisive lemmings. Too funny.

I aim to cripple but not destroy Gaul and hopefully avoid war with the Britons for now. Waging war in Europe is messy with very few strategic boundaries to defend. My next major opponent will be either Pontus or Egypt. Thankfully money is no longer a real concern. Rhodes and Corinth have to be two of the most desirable cities on the map. Corinth basically counts as a 1-step increase in taxes everywhere and Rhodes can make a massive increase in available cash if your empire is large enough.

[rvg]

I have to say a few words about the Sacred Band infantry...

These guys are nothing short of awesome. They are armored like turtles, they are almost completely immune to missiles (including pila), and, provided that their flanks are guarded, they will advance across the battlefield in one indestructible wall of desolation, mowing down any unit unfortunate enough to stand in their way.
They are great vs Romans (pre- or post-marian) and Egyptians. Conveniently enough, those are usually the only factions able to reach the superpower status, and Sacred Band is able to smash them. Carthaginian cavalry is of course still important (specifically, the Longshields), but its role is mostly to protect the SB flanks and finish off routers and waverers, while SB does most of the heavy lifting.
Sacred Band Cavalry on the other hand, is rather underwhelming: top level stables and 2-turn production cycle for something that is only marginally better than Longshields. Nah, might as well make an Armoured Phant to put the fear of Baal into the hearts of Romans.

[GamblerTuba]

The sacred band infantry are certainly wonderful. Phalanxes are at a bit of disadvantage for Carthage because of the lack of archers. Can always buys some mercs but then you have an army where both missile units and your main infantry line cannot be retrained in newly conquered territory. Luckily the SB do not take many casualties at all so it is seldom a problem. One or two units as spares is plenty.

I am not sold on the long shield cavalry though. The improvement from RS to LS does not seem to be very pronounced. Only 2 more attack? The defense is nice but my cavalry should never rely on defense stats. The enemy had better rout within a few seconds of the cavalry hitting anyway. Right now, (and my opinion may change as i go later in the campaign) I like RS for the grunt work because i can retrain them almost anywhere and LS do not seem to be too big of an upgrade. Just beginning to produce sacred band cavalry but their stats seem to imply a pretty big jump. SB cavalry have basically the same stats as your generals but should die more quickly. I plan on making a few units and treating them somewhat like elephants. Use them where necessary but try to minimize casualties because retraining will be a pain.