I Hate Macedonia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pyhhricvictory]

I can't stand those brass helmet wearing b@$*@#!! I am playing as Brutii and every time that I get what seems to be a strong alliance with them, they attack me. The game I started recently saw me take Apollonia from the rebels and Therom from Greece. I make an alliance with the Macedonians to let my men catch their breath before having to fight, and replenish my treasury. I send an army out to help them in their war against Greece and actually help them win a couple of battles. While my army is tied down helping them, they (Macedon) sends an army through the mountain passes and attacks Apollonia and takes it since all I have there is a general and two town guards. I HATE THOSE GOUYS. Does anyone have an idea as to how to beat them as Brutii?

[MiniKiller]

dunno as brutii they continue to attack me to, make ammends and attack again. just when i think i have the upper hand here comes a hugh army almost full to the brim with new soilders what in the blue hell are these guys...

[Colt374]

Yep, they are damn hard to handle. My first war as the Brutii was against both the Greek City States and Macedonia at the same time, and that wasn't easy but eventually I defeated them both. However I've found a few strategies that help deal with them when playing as the Brutii :

• Build as big a fleet as you can and use it to wipe out all the Greek/Macedon fleets. Once you have naval superiority, blockade their ports. No trade = no money = no armies.
• For your preliminary invasion, try and aim for the Greek Peninsula first... If you can take Sparta, Corinth and Athens you've got three pretty powerful cities in your hands, thus reducing Greek and Macedon power while increasing yours.
• If you can't take those three cities first, (say due to Senate demands), aim to cut them off from their northern cities, say by taking Thermon first and pushing east towards Athens. With your naval superiority you should be able to completely isolate Sparta, Corinth and Athens both by land and sea... then you can hold that northern line and push some armies south to take those cities.
• With Southern Greece in your hands, and naval superiority controlling the surrounding seas, you are then free to push north into the Balkans to finish off Macedon, then cross the Aegean to invade Asia Minor and finish off the Greek cities there.

And on a tactical note, watch those hoplites during the battles. Weaken them as much as possible with your Velites, then tie them down with your infantry just long enough to hit them from behind with your cavalry. They'll break every time. Pretty standard tactics, I know, but you HAVE to use them with hoplites so you can make them rout fast, otherwise they can really hurt you.
And always leave them a route to escape, or they'll fight to the death and really inflict a lot of casualties on you.


Well, this strategy works pretty well for me. Hope it helps.

Colt.

[Tamur]

What Colt said, great suggestions.

The trick is to hit Sparta and Athens as early as possible. I had better success ignoring the Senate's first two requests (take Apollonia and blockade Syracuse, in my case), and instead focusing all my energy on getting Athens and Sparta. The Senate thought I stank.

But after I had taken Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Larissa, and Thermon, and negotiated a Scipii attack on the Greeks by giving them Athens, the Senate were very happy with me.

And yes, the trick to phalanxes is to keep them trying to chase your velites and then nail them in the back with Equites. Macedonian and Greek "Levy Pikemen" will melt under a full rear cavalry charge even before it hits. The stronger hoplites won't fall over that quickly, but flanking cavalry charges will really do some damage. Combine that with pila volleys and you're sure to take them down quickly.

[Colt374]

What Colt said, great suggestions.

Thank you Tamur.

The trick is to hit Sparta and Athens as early as possible. I had better success ignoring the Senate's first two requests (take Apollonia and blockade Syracuse, in my case), and instead focusing all my energy on getting Athens and Sparta. The Senate thought I stank.

Yep, I had the same thing when i started my Brutii campaign (it does seem the senate requests are almost always the same for each campaign), but I went with the Senate and took Apollona first. I quickly realised this was not the best strategy... You smack bang in the middle of both the Greek and Macedonian empires, so are open to attack from all sides. Thus I came up with the above strategy.

But after I had taken Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Larissa, and Thermon, and negotiated a Scipii attack on the Greeks by giving them Athens, the Senate were very happy with me.

You gave away ATHENS?? Hmm, no wonder they accepted your offer. Athens is worth a fortune in income... I was getting over 5000 a turn at one stage. I'd never give that one away, but hey, I'm greedy.

Colt.

[Basileus]

The Macedonians are tough if you let them built up, they will come with alot of cavalary so that strat Colt374 is talking about wont work on them, it works on the greek city states though.

[Kagetora]

Macedonia's base unit, levy pikemen, are easy takes, my Hastati KILL them, Macedonia is not that hard to beat, the light lancers of theirs or OK but can be beaten, I'm playing as the Scipii, and a war just broke out netween Rome and Macedon, and I have just finished off the Greeks. To beat them, you just have to keep after them and keep attcking them, I have all their startig territitories right now, and I'm fighting a war with them, Egypt and Numidia at the same time (already have carthage territory and lost some Greek areas to Egpytion expansion into west Turkey, but now I have Alexandria and there is almost no resistance down there, so there getting kicked in there own back yard.

macedonia has better units when they get teched up and get their better Pikemen but they are still very beatable.

[Dorkus]

not either or.

in my very hard very hard game, I took apollonia (which has dismal defenses, and really only requires a general and one unit of infantry), syracuse, corinth, and sparta (in that order) in the first few rounds. just keep pumping out hastati and cav, sell map info, ceasefires (right before you attack again) with your diplomats, and concentrate your forces.

I think I also had carthage by turn 7 or so.

[Doug-Thompson]

DESTROY the Macedonians. Don't destroy or enslave the cities, but destroy the army. There is no peace between the Brutii and the Macedonians. Get that notion right out of your head.

I'm inordinately proud to be the author of the very first strategy guide posted in the RTW Guide section: The "Brutii Blitz."

The guide gives step-by-step instructions on how to destroy those "brass helmet wearing b@$*@#!!" There's a specific reference to building a fort to block that back-door northern pass to Apollonia while blitzing the rest of Greece.

[pyhhricvictory]

Thanks Everyone. I will have to try them again.