Numidia

[Roy1991]

I first captured Carthage & Thapsus, and then I took the best units out of that army, combined them with the best units from the starting army in Siwa, and used that 'new' army to attack Egypt.

I think I captured Memphis first, but it might also have been Alexandria, I'm not sure.

[Roman_Man#3]

ok, cool, thanks.

[Roman_Man#3]

hello, continuing my campaign that i posted here earlier. brutii has become quite the superpower at this early stage. scippi invaded the most southern parth of the greek peninsula. i own all of west north africa, and lilybaeum. letting carthage hold lepcis magna as a buffer between us and egypt.

ill show you a screenie of the brutii holdings in europe thingy thing. but ook at the map, i need advice on where to attack next.

[IMG]

[Empirate]

You should definitely take on the Spanish. With a little preparation, they can be gone in five, six turns. Their armies stand no chance against your light cav and spearmen if you use them wisely. The Tingi-Corduba trade alone can be worth five grand a turn with proper upgrading! The Gauls are another faction whose military isn't suited to fighting yours. This should keep you occupied and win you a huge power base while not crossing any Romans or Egyptians.

[Roman_Man#3]

ok, thank you

[BalkanTourist]

Numidia is not a very popular faction to play with.
What makes it difficult is the long distances and the poor cities you start with.
I like to blitz in the begining and turtle once I've established a good-sized empire.
Strategy
Your major enemy at first is Carthage. They will attack you no matter what, so be prepared and strike first. Conquer their two main cities and be ready for the Scippii to arrive. Once Carthage city is conquered just build it up and defend the city from the Romans. They will send stack after stack until they are exhausted and have no more money to fund armies. Meanwhile build a decent navy and start sinking whatever remaining small armies they send. Also do recruit a full stack army to invade Sicily.
The second main front will be Egypt. Make sure you leave the first turn with all your army but a peasant unit to guard the city. Egypt will not attack right away so there is time to conquer Cyrenica and come back to defend Siwa from the Egyptians. Make sure you set the building patern to Military for Siwa. The rest of the cities I left on Financial.
I should also talk about the building I built. Speed is essential, so the first thing I built was roads and paved roads. Money is the second thing you need and you will find out that they are short for the Numidians. Build the trade temple in every coastal province and the growth temple in the two landlocked provinces - Nepte and D..... I would suggest Carthage for your main troop producing center and Siwa as a secondary one.
I have some rules when I play to make the game more interesting for me.
1. No attacking army can be led by a captain.
2. Only cities with governors can recruit troops.
These rules make the obvious need for generals. When you conquer that much land really quick, you will have option to adopt generals into your family.
The more generals I had the more armies I raised and then spread into more directions.
By the time you beat off the Egyptian 2-3 stacks, you will have a son at Siwa, who should be at least 3-4 stars from the start, because his dad should have won 2-3 Heroic Victories and should be a very skillful general.
I send the dad straight to Memphis and the son with a decent army to Cyprus and then to Antioch, which by that time should be Egyptian. That will create a pincer move with 2 armies coming from the south and and the north. That should take care of the Egyptians.
Carthage is easy, the only challange is the elephant unit army which in my game came to relieve a siege I had laid on Thapsus. I beat them by isolating each unit and leaving the slow moving elephants for last, by which time they were tired of chasing me up and down the map.
Send one army to Sicily, one to Corsica and then to the Julii city directly north from it and attack Rome from the north while the Sicilian general should be moving into Bruttii territory and moving northwards to Rome. Second pinzer.
The last pinzer will be in Spain. One general attacks the Carthagian city in Spain. Second army attacks Palma and then Narbo ... Then they meet.
Units
Numidians have good Jinnete type unit and I also love the dessert camels. I have 5-8 units of cavalry in my armies. The rest are desssert infantry and archers.
For later the further away you conquer from Carthage, which I made my capital, start building temples of Baal for loyalty.
Good luck and have fun. Let me know how you did.

P.S. It is very important that you don't loose your family members the first 10-15 years. That will allow you to have plenty of generals later on. Use the younger, less skillful ones for local administrators. I devide conquered land into geographical provinces with 3-4 provinces assigned on one general with 4 Numidian Javelinmen for quick task force to mop up rebelions and bandits. That way they gain experience and the locals are in check. It helps me manage the empire better.

[Ezephkiel]

Ive been having fun as numidia lately, quite challenging (H/H)

In my game carthage attacked straight away with a big army, i just managed to get a victory and from there on it was all good.

Once you have all of carthages cities nere you its quite straight foward, after a bit of hastle with egypt i decided to take sicily which fell like a sack of sh*t in a few turns.

Most of my army consists of desert infantry archers and a mix of camels nudmidian cav and long shields.

I've just got the armenian legionaires so i don't know what their like, but the desert infantry have proven themselves. I deploy a first like 5 units wide and 4 ranks deep, placing them on guard mode. They can hold vs alot i've found, then on the gaps which are naturally there behind them i place more desert inf on fight at will (guard mode off) then surge them through the gaps when the enemy are engaged. Of course they would work better in the desert (the scipii landed there with one army, after that they never came back). I might try it with legionaires in the second row aswell.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Your DI has better morale in the fight than do your legionaries. The Legionaries have much better armor and pila. So I'd recommend putting your DI all in the front rank and using the legionaries for gap attacks and lobbing javelins over the line.

Have you fought the post-marian romans?

What did you use as heavy cavalry, as Numidia lacks this?

[Ezephkiel]

I found you didn't need a super heavy cavalry really, combining camels with long shields has worked well.

Long Shields have got an all right charge, so can do that role ok and camels are good for anti cavalry.

The only trouble i've had in battle is the egyptian chariots, but i just help my infantry firm and let it charge in, putting the 1st and 2nd rank units close together, so the chariots go straight through and get bogged down, also managed to sandwich one between two units of camels.

Not sure if the camels give the demoralizing effect to chariots though.

[Poulp']

type east scythed chariot
(...)
mount_effect elephant -8, camel -4

On the paper, chariots seem to suffer penalties from fighting camels, yet on the battlefield, routing scythed chariots still can rip the camels pursuing them...

[Good Ship Chuckle]

I have played many of the notorious factions on the H/VH level and have found the most recent ones to be a walk in the park. My next campaign is definately going to Numidia. As a person seeking a challenge, am I wrong in choosing this faction? Hardly. Forging an empire by planting the starting seeds in the desert wasteland will be no easy task.
Economically, they are poor.
Geographically, they are poor.
Militarily, they are poor.
Diplomatically, they are poor.

Did I miss anything? Please alert me to any other facts of how much the Numidians suck. I will be ever so eager to hear, and anticipate my goliath of a task.

[mrdun]

So.. you don't like numidia then.

[Good Ship Chuckle]

So.. you don't like numidia then.

Precisely! They suck in every catagory, hands down. Which is why I'm going to play them. I thirst for a challenge.

[mrdun]

I see a small flaw in your reasoning but i'll keep it shut lol

[Good Ship Chuckle]

The Numidian Empire
So my campaign has thus begun with the dreaded Numidians on Hard/Very Hard.
On my first try, I tried a blitz strategy, straight to Carthage. I made it there fast alright, but my army was far to puny to face the armies of Carthage (yes, they brought the ellies over from Sicily). I did manage to capture Carthage, but I just felt like I needed a better start on the hardest campaign...The Julii also landed at Carthage. How bizarre.

Take two:
This time I took my time. Brought my faction heir all the way over from Tingi, to help assault Carthage, and all the while I built Jav Cav in Cirta. I also immediately disbanded all Numidian Javelinmen, except in Cirta, and created peasants in all settlements to act as a cheap garrison. Another pivotal thing I did was abandon Siwa. Not only that, I cranked up taxes and forced a civil revolt. You may think, "that was a stupid thing to do, you're dirt broke, and need every denarius you can find." But no my brother, I did this to preserve the diplomatic stance between me and egypt. If I went to war with them, they would surely pursue me until they knocked upon Carthage's gates. Where would I be down the road, fighting Egypt and Rome? I wouldn't exist. Therefore the Egyptians ended up taking Siwa, but from the hands of the rebels, and so far has not found the will to pursue further west. They have yet to take Cyrene. I have no doubt that tactic has been a great help to my success thus far.

I initially began the seige of Carthage with two units of Jav Cav and built some ladders. Burrhus sallied forth three times on his turn, but each time I would elude him with my speed until the time ran out. Finally he gave up, and let the siege continue. It was a cheapshot, but it was the only one I could afford. Next turn I took Carthage with my main force. Turn after that I obliterated the army from Sicily with ellies in it. I don't really have to say, but I took thapsus.

The capture of Sicily was simply beautiful. I took my main force from Carthage onto a ship, and landed at Messana, where I attacked some velites outside the city, and thus forced the garrison to reinforce. (You know what's coming.) I mopped the floor with the velites, and turned around in time to face the reinforcements, which was the faction leader no less. Pestered him a little with Javalins, and then slammed him in the flank. No one survived.
(The moment you've been waiting for!)
I emerged back to the campaign screen to find Messana like a virgin with out her clothes. Needless to say I had my way with her right then and there, and took Messana with out a fight. (But wait, there's more!) Next turn I split up my main force and simulaneously besieged Lilybeum and Syracuse, from the still unprepared Scipii. In the blink of an eye, Sicily was mine.

No rest for the weary, though!
Even before the scipii's bodies lay cold, I set my sights on Croton and Tarentum. By this time I had two armies: One that was primarily Jav Cav (to fight battles in the field and be deployed quickly), and the other that was primarily Desert Infantry (to do the hard core sieges). I then landed my Jav Cav army on the toe of Italy, hired some mercs, and took an unprepared Croton the next turn. I took Tarentum in a similar fashion. Then I discovered that the Brutii had infected Apollonia and Salona. They only prolong the enevitable. I then confidently besieged Capua only to have the might of SPQR bear down upon me. I'm good on the battlefield, but there are only a certain number of tricks that desert infantry can play on three-chevron Triarii, if you know what I mean. I then withdrew from the siege.
But luckily SPQR was a threat I had been thinking about extensively, and thus decided to use my campaign map advantages this time.

Carthage is the fastest growing city RTW, topping off around 40,000 pop. I knew that I could quickly build a catapult range, and thus build onagers, which gives me the distinct advantage of taking a city the first turn of seige. Now, while the massive army of SPQR was off guarding Capua, I dropped off a force of desert infantry, general, and two onagers on the Latium shores. A fateful army indeed. And whilst the Roman army was elsewhere, I attacked and sacked Rome when it had only one general in it! Completely unchallenging, I know! I may be a coward, but I'm a coward that possesses Rome! But it gets better. Now the huge army that SPQR had, has turned rebel, which seriously diminishes the strength of the army. In fact, the Principes and Triarii were completely REMOVED!! Gone! VAmoose! And better yet, now that army that once protected Capua, is charring up the countryside and acting like a prison that is keeping the Scipii on lock-down! Suck on that, Romans! You just got outsmarted by desert nomads!
Needless to say, I found the capture of Rome to be particularly helpful.

Simultaneously, while I took Rome, I had a secondary army take Appollonia and Salona from the Brutii, and to my dismay found that they possessed Segestica and Aquincum. Arrggg! They are like cockroaches, they simply won't die! At least they are hardly a threat now.

Just when I thought I thought I could rest on my laurels, the Macedons made war with me. I put up a simple fort in the Epirian countryside, which seemed to piss off the Macedons royally. Now I have single army strung out, protecting Tarentum and Appollonia from the Scipii, Julii (they brought down an army for whatever reason), Brutii, and Macedon. This is a challenge as you can see, but I am making great headway elsewhere.

The Carthaginians seemed weak so I rummaged together an army and took Caralis and Palma, thus removing Carthage from the game. Since I didn't want that army loafing around on their newly conquered island paradise, I sent them to go take Carthago Nova from Spain. After a decisive bridge battle I am now securely on the Iberian peninsula. I am now proceding to Corduba and receiving reinforcements from Tingi, and I have an alliance with the Gauls, so maybe we can coordinate together (probably not). Oh well, its the thought that counts.

Now that my Rome conquering army has gotten some R&R, I decided to attack Arretium and Ariminum. But they both had large stacks of infantry, so I was hesitant to attack. Luckily I was saved by stupid computer AI. He litterally marches out with nothing but infantry and a captain to take on the horde of Jav Cav. Needless to say I picked each one apart and gave no quarter. I then confidently besieged and sacked the two heart cities of the Julii, when they had only a shadow of their former garrison. I also nixed their faction leader in one of the sieges. I then fought a victorious yet significant field battle against the Julii with my Jav Cav horde, and thus secured my right to Arim and Arret. I also capture Segesta, no big deal though.

This post's conclusion:
I feel very confident on all fronts except the eastern against the Macedons, but it's only a matter of time before I build up the army needed to destroy them. I sent spies down to Egypt to find them wandering around in the desert. Since we aren't at war, they don't have the will to pursue me. My next plans are to expand all fronts: Capture the rest of Iberia from Spain; Take Cisalpine Gaul from the Romans; make a spearpoint into the heart of Macedon; and finally crack that nut called Capua. There is a full stack of Scipii in it and the massive husk of the SPQR army standing nearby. *gulp* However, I am looking forward to this troop called 'Numidian Legionarries'. They are built with an Army Barracks, and should be a vast improvement from the lowly desert infantry I'm used to. I'll soon be posting a pic of what I've done so far, to get you a better feel of the campaign.

Until then, wish me the blessings of Baal. And by all means, please leave posts to tell me what you think.


And what you've been waiting for...


Now you can see that massive SPQR Rebel Army. lol.

[The Wandering Scholar]

Agressive. I play exactly the opposite on rtw so numidia are not my thing. Although Numidia always seem to attack the Julii, why would they playing a no expanision unless threatened campaign they always provide you with a way out of Italy pass.

[Good Ship Chuckle]

Agressive.

This is the only way to play Numidia! You must attack, gain as much land as possible, and as fast as possible. If you haven't noticed, Numidia's Military Unit Tree stops growing after you reach a minor city, for most part. You must attack while you still have a level playing field.

Because of my agressive efforts, I only had to fight Roman armies that had Principes at best. Imagine where I would be if the Marian reforms occured. I'd be toast, desert nomad style.

But now I'm fighting the macedon around 247 BC, and the level playing field is turning away from me. They have developed phalanx pikemen, while I'm still stuck flanking with the same old Numidia. Imagine my plight, if I had waited until they developed royal pikemen.

My point: My stategy is aggressive because it's the only strategy that is plausible with the Numidians.

[Good Ship Chuckle]

The Numidian Empire
Part II
I've finally had some time to myself, allowing me to continue my glorious campaign of the Numidians. My campaign has turned itself into three distinct fronts, which I'll refer to as my story progresses: Iberia, Italy, and Greece. But there's no doubt that more fronts will soon emerge.

Italy: There was no longer the option of procrastination. Capua had to be taken! No matter the cost. Immediately after securing Ariminum and Arretium I took my faction leader and his horde of Jav Cav to reckon with the Scipii's full garrison and the rebel SPQR army. I knew I couldn't take them on in the city, so I had to create a way of fighting them outside the city. Luckily cities only hold 20 units, which forced the Scipii to put their overflowing garrison outside the city. It was with them, that my field battle would be able to take place.

The battle started with my horde of Jav Cav against the small force outside the city. I swiftly blotted out the initial force and wheeled my army around to face the main army consisting of Principes and Generals' heavy bodyguard. My strategy was the classic pincer movement. I shot forth two groups of Jav Cav on either flanks and pelted the Romans in the flank, while the bulk of Jav Cav kept them facing forward. Hitler used this same tactic with his Panzer divisions in WWII. I kept this tactic up by constantly disorienting the AI, and yet causing massive damage with only javelins. Once I ran out of javelins I waited for an exposed flank and slammed into them, causing maximum damage. I overwhelmed the heavy cavalry with just shear numbers, despite my inferior stats. When the dust settled, I had lost a third of my men, while only one Scipii general made it back to Capua alive with a few scraggly units.

Returning to the campaign map, I besieged it that turn, and took it in the next turn with out a real fight. That same turn I dealt with the spurned SPQR army with tactics very similar to the battle with the Scipii. With the Numidians, the winning tactic is to skirmish with javelins until you're out. Then flank like crazy.

The turn after that, I returned right back to where I was; to take on the Julii, who were looking too eager to take back the poorly defended Ariminum. In a matter of three turns I had accomplished the major task of taking Capua.

Greece: With things going well elsewhere, I decided it was time to reckon with the pugnacious Macedons. But this was to be no easy task. The Macedons have around five stacks roving through the countryside (as far as I could see). To break the Macedons I would need a second army that would travel up from the bottom of Greece from Sparta, while another traveled down through Larissa. Luckily, such an army existed.

Taken from the bosom of Carthage herself, I had forged an army that that incorporated onagers and a few never-before-seen superunits called the Numidian Legionaries. (Insert dramatic music here)

Maybe not a legionnaire in the truest Roman sense, but it is still a unit that strikes pride into a Numidian, and fear into your enemy. This picture here shows their high discipline and battlefield preparation.

Iberia: I was feeling pretty confident in Iberia with the easy capture of Carthago Nova, and thus didn't allocate many troops to the region. That was a presumption I would pay the price for.

I then waltz on over to Spanish controlled Corduba and took the city with out too much fuss. There was a medium sized garrison, but nothing I couldn't handle. The filthy barbarians didn't deserve it anyways! I was then making plans to take Scallabis when I saw two full stacks of Spaniards on the horizon. One heading for Corduba, the other to Carthago Nova. I then cut off the army approaching the ill defended Carthago Nova with series of forts. With the other, I had to fight. I quickly brought some troops from Tingi and hired mercs to make a mixed army of Infantry and Jav Cav, but even still the odds were against me. We battled in the foot hills near Corduba. I did manage to sneak by with an average victory, but the battle crippled me. With the second army dissolving my chain of forts, things were turning dark very fast for me in Iberia.

Italy: For once I can say that Italy is no longer a huge problem. I soon took Mediolanium and Patavium from the castrated Julii, and headed towards Iuvavum to finally snuff out the Julii as a faction. One tip I must concede is that the Jav Cav are very useful in sieges. As long as it is a wooden wall, the Jav Cav can throw over javelins and cut the defensive forces by a quarter at least. I soon took Iuvavum and made plans to take Aquincum, that I might finally end the Brutii as a faction. Looks likes it's the Romans that are finally getting the thumbs down!

Greece: [Note to the reader: It's turning points in the campaign like this when the term "blitz" realizes its full meaning.]
With my Jav Cav from Appollonia, I attacked the first of many Macedonian armies. Led by a captain, they made a fatal mistake. In attempt to obtain higher ground, the totally broke formation and ran. With my speedy Jav Cav's I bulldozed over the Greek Cav that made it there, and then unloaded volleys of Javelins into the disorganized pikemen. I think I lost only 20 men, most to friendly fire . With one stunning victory to my name, I blitzed a vulnernable Larissa and set my sites on Thermon.

Between me and Thermon lay a stack of phalanx pikemen and other hefty Macedonian troops. Using the terrain to my advantage I used a series of pincer movements to disorganize the AI while getting maximum damage with javelins. But the time had to come when I had to fight hand to hand. Again, looking for only the perfect opportunities I flanked the pikemen and overwhelmed his cavalry. However, don't think that I wasn't losing men myself. It seems that no matter how perfectly you flank the phalanx pikemen, you'll always lose cav on the initial charge! Despite this inherent setback, I managed to emerge from the battle with victory in my clutches.

An unprepared Thermon was then taken by me, having been besieged on the previous turn. The next turn I retrained my mauled Jav Cav and to my dismay found that Larissa was underseige. Nevertheless, I advanced to Athens and attacked a half stack outside the city. The garrison was forced to reinforce. I took both armies out with my pincer/flanking tactics but was unable to prevent some of the garrison returning to Athens. I would have to wait for the next turn to take Athens. But then...

Hark! Then from the south, a naval invasion!
Having landed on the Laconian shores, the Onager/Legionnaire/Merc army besieged the Macedonian held Sparta and sacked it that same turn. The Macedons suddenly became a candle burning at both ends!!!

Then in an act of desperation, the Macedons break off the seige of Larissa and attack the army besieging Athens. But once more I strike down the Macedons, and take Athens as my prize.

Right when I see the victory of Greece glimmering up ahead, the AI throws me a curve ball. Ah yes, RTW never gets old. The Egyptians blockade Athens! The nerve of them!!

I vow this day, that when I am finished with these hell bound Macedons, I will make the Egyptians regret this day for all of eternity.
Shortly there after, I brushed aside the ignorant little Egyptian fleet with my armada (as you can see).

It was at this point that I realized that I needed to take a break from the campaign a post the happenings so far. Here is a picture to you give you a broad sense of things. The soon to fall Corinth, the lack of progress in Iberia, and the last province that the Brutii still cling to.

Please post any comments of what you think.


And don't worry, I will soon post Part III.

[Quintus.JC]

Looking good.

[Good Ship Chuckle]

Thanks.
However, I wonder how good things are gonna be looking when I face the might of Egypt. Jav Cav vs. Chariots is not a type of battle I'm looking forward to.

[Quirinus]

Well, you can always spam those cheap Numidian Javelinmen, since they have a bonus against chariots. Stiffen them up with some infantry and a general, though.

[Good Ship Chuckle]

Good Point! I never thought about that Quirinus. To be honest, I completely forget that Numidian Javelinmen existed. They're not exactly a memorable unit.

But NJ are going to need more than a mere bonus vs. chariots to take on the might of Egypt, if you know what I mean.

[Xipe Totec]

I remember from my last Numidia campaign that I badly understimated the threat of the Spanish after taking Corduba. My glorious Faction Leader's army was moving north in the trees when he died suddenly of natural causes. An unseen Spanish army then started war by attacking the leaderless stack on an entirely thick forest battlefield. My deployment zone was steep uphill everywhere towards the enemy. My army was largely desert infantry WHICH SUCKS BIG TIME IN FOREST believe me. The Spanish came at me like a whirlwind from the front with mainly Iberian infantry and naked fanatics and then suddenly about 8 units of round shields slammed into my right flank wiping out my cavalry and then annihilating the entire stack so quickly I was stunned. I had ended my turn with a great general leading an experienced veteran army of conquerors on to glory, and lost the lot by the start of the next turn.

The Spanish armies are usually too stuffed with skirmishers to be too challenging but they can build good temples and upgrade their otherwise weak units to more dangerous ones. Early Numidian units are not good in trees against Barbarians that's for sure.

[Good Ship Chuckle]

I feel your pain brother. :feelpain:

If you've read my postings above, you notice that Iberia was a trouble spot for me as well.

Iberia: I was feeling pretty confident in Iberia with the easy capture of Carthago Nova, and thus didn't allocate many troops to the region. That was a presumption I would pay the price for.

I then waltz on over to Spanish controlled Corduba and took the city with out too much fuss. There was a medium sized garrison, but nothing I couldn't handle. The filthy barbarians didn't deserve it anyways! I was then making plans to take Scallabis when I saw two full stacks of Spaniards on the horizon. One heading for Corduba, the other to Carthago Nova. I then cut off the army approaching the ill defended Carthago Nova with series of forts. With the other, I had to fight. I quickly brought some troops from Tingi and hired mercs to make a mixed army of Infantry and Jav Cav, but even still the odds were against me. We battled in the foot hills near Corduba. I did manage to sneak by with an average victory, but the battle crippled me. With the second army dissolving my chain of forts, things were turning dark very fast for me in Iberia.

Then again, after reading your fiasco, my campaign seems like a walk in the park. :walkinpark:

[The Wandering Scholar]

haha making your own smileys I see

[Good Ship Chuckle]

Oh yeah. The smiley collection is pretty comprehensive, but sometimes they don't have what I need. In this case, :walkinpark:.

I think they should make that one. It would have some smiley walking down a brick road with trees and benches.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Thanks.
However, I wonder how good things are gonna be looking when I face the might of Egypt. Jav Cav vs. Chariots is not a type of battle I'm looking forward to.

If you're using fatigue, be very careful not to let your jav-cav be more tired than the chariots. If you're less tired than they are, you are just a hint faster, thus allowing you to javelin them while they can't hit you. Do NOT melee with them as they'll slice up your horses quickly. Your jav throwing should work well though.

Chariot archers are actually not as dangerous to you as they sound. They range you pretty badly, but their formations are a bit unwieldy (too large) and they do not pack lots of firepower as there are only a few chariots. Go to just outside of arrow range slowly then bolt in and shoot quickly. You'll be exchanging 80-odd javelins versus their 70-odd arrows given normal firing rates and you'll end up with more kills than they do. Bit more attrition than you're used to, I'm afraid, but jav-cav is cheaper to replace.

You're real concern will be the overlarge regular archer blocs and heavily armored pharoah bow groups. They either have more firepower or better range -- and the pharoah boys don't skeer easy. You'll probably need your legionaires for this. On the other hand, you'll have all the cool mercs available near the Aegean, so you'll have the best firepower you've fielded and easily your best infantry combo armies of the game.

[Good Ship Chuckle]

Thanx for the hints Seamus. However, I recently finished the Numidian Campaign, and did manage to tackle the might of egypt head on. Now it's just a matter of finding a large chunk of time in my schedule to write it all up .

[Good Ship Chuckle]

The Numidian Empire
Part III
I'm sure many of you having been biting your nails in anticipation of the third and final part of The Numidian Empire, so rest easy now. I have come to tell everything. And perhaps you would like to refresh your memory by rereading the previous two entries.

Italy: It's time to finally snuff out the Brutii. Taking my aging faction leader and his loyal army out of blood-soaked Iuvavum, I trekked to Aquincum and stormed it, killing anyone foolish enough to call themselves Roman. Finally the sordid Romans were exterminated. This is a good day indeed for all Numidians.

Iberia: Once I had licked my wounds in Corduba I hunted down the second spanish army. Now that I was more prepared this time, I dealt them a crippling blow, and felt strong enough to proceed to Scallabis. It seemed that the spanish had put all its bets on the table, and lost them all. Unable to recover from its previous wounds, I took Scallabis and Asturica from them. Just when I was feeling comfortable, the Gauls take it upon themselves to attack one of my forts. This wouldn't be a big deal except for the fact that we were allies. Treacherous backstabbers!! However, at this point money was flowing into my coffers due to my victories in the East. As a result, I had built a secondary army in Iberia for such a surprise. Taking that army, I crushed his ignorant army, and blitz Numantia. Next turn it fell into my hands. Turn after that I used my primary army to take Osca, thus destroying the Spanish faction. I had finally secured all of Iberia. I decided to hunker down and go on the defensive...for now...

Greece: Ah yess...I love the smell of victory. I had taken much damage from the capture of Greece so far, but I owned Larissa, Athens, and Sparta--Excellent cities in which to retrain. With morale high and health renewed, I stormed Corinth and then set my sights on Thessilonica--The bosom of Macedon herself. My progress was expedited by the AI's poor management of troops on the campaign map. He placed his troops in numerous half stacks, which I could easily surround with my one full stack of Jav Cav and crush with few casualties.

With the Macedonians having lost too much blood, I plucked Thessilonica from their hands like a ripened fruit with facile. Now that I had broken their back, they could no longer put up a fight. I then marched to Bylazora and next to Byzantium where they put up their last fight...if that's what you'd call it. I had ravaged Macedon beyond repair, such that their military was in shambles. Byzantium fell with little remorse, and thus confined them forever to the pages of history books.

Italy: Now that the Romans were gone, I really don't have the initiative to continue this front. I could attack the Dacians or the Germans, but they seem too engrossed in themselves to attack me. This front is DONE! However, I did leave that huge army in Aquincum and sent my aging faction leader to chill in Mediolanium where they remained until the end of the game.

Greece: Now it is time to prepare for the assault on Egypt. Luckily I have acquired a secret weapon. When I captured Athens, the Macedons had built an Awesome Temple of Artemis. This translates to +3 attack for all my Jav Cav !!! Over night Greece was turned into a Jav Cav factory that produced them en masse for the sole purpose of crushing Egypt, where they all eventually ended up in Athens to receive the excellent bonus. Actually, when you add bonus with a Numidian Cav that has one experience, its attack is the same as a Cretan Archer!!! Imagine 17 Jav Cav each with the attack power of a Cretan Archer, plus two long shields and a general, all of which are well seasoned. This is exactly the type of army I'll need to crush the Egyptians!


So now I have the army to take out the Egyptians in the field, but I'll need an infantry based army that can do heavy-duty sieges. Luckily I crafted an army that was easily up for the job, incorporating Numidia's finest infantry unit. Oh yeah, I sprinkled in some onagers for good measure.


Iberia: Still a little ticked off at the Gauls for backstabbing me, I took my bored armies in Iberia to inflict a punch that the Gauls would remember. I strolled over to Lemonum and took it...it really was that simple. I could have easily sacked Narbo Martius and Massilia and... well pretty much all of Gaul, but that would have been too easy. And besides I was saving my province count for Egypt, because at this point I was around 42 provinces. I now deem that this front is DONE! ON TO EGYPT!!!

Egypt: I then let the two armies embark on their maiden voyages to Egypt. The infantry army headed down to take Alexandria, Memphis, etc whilst the Jav Cav army headed towards Syria. My first acquisition from the Egyptians was Salamis. It only had one nubean spearman unit in it...Apparently the Egyptians don't take javelin-chucking desert nomads seriously. Anyways, I immediately disembarked and a turn later landed at Sidon. There I met more resistance, but not what I would have expected from Egypt and thus took Sidon which made for a nice base of operations. Just when I got comfortable, the first full stack appeared from the East, and it look PISSED!! Next turn we went to battle and turns out it mostly consisted of chariots...which could be worse--for instance pharoah's bowmen. Luckily I had the high ground. I skirmished until I ran out of Javelins, at which point I had taken out nearly half of his units. Then I waited for the perfect opportunity (dodging spears) and then slammed him en masse with multiple units of Jav Cav bunched together. Like a pine tree in an avalanche, I overwhelmed him with sheer numbers. Having repeated this tactic, I acquired my first victory. But don't get me wrong--Throwing your cav into chariots is gonna hurt no matter what you do, so I spent the next 2 turns retraining in Sidon.

Alexandria: Like a leviathan from the sea, my monolithic infantry army exploded like a bomb shell on Alexandria and took it that turn (with onagers). Next turn I seized Memphis with the same tactic. Is it just me or does the AI never keep Alexandria and Memphis with any sort of a legitimate garrison? Anyways, here's a snapshot of me fulfilling my prophecy that I had pronounced back when Egypt first blockaded Athens. Another good day to be Numidian.


Sidon: I took on several more stacks of the Egyptians in the same fashion of using Jav Cav to their maximum. I stole Damascus and Jerusalem when I could afford the time, and also landed an Alliance with the Selucids with military access too, because before I showed up the Egyptians were hounding them. But there was to be a final showdown at Antioch. Fortunately, I had brought over another elite Jav Cav army from Greece, but unfortunately Antioch was heavily garrisoned by numerous hoplites. I knew Jav Cav are no match in the alleys of a city...so...I...(out with it)...I auto-resolved the battle with the two stack combined...scandal, I know, but it was the only sure way to get it. This victory effectively crushed the Egyptian resistance, thus securing myself as the true superpower of the entire Mediterranean. The Numidian Empire had finally fulfilled its destiny.

Osca: I could never forget Osca. Moreover, I could never live with the guilt knowing that I finished a game with out one of my original provinces. So I sent over some Legionaries and snatched it from the castrated Egyptians. This was my final victory, by the simple fact that I had reached 50 provinces and controlled Rome.

End: Here's a final screenie to sum it all up. The year is 237 BC, lost only 13 battles, and still have the venerable Gisgo as my faction leader. Not bad, eh? And for those of you that really must see it before you believe it, here is a download of the final save (version 1.5). To use it, simply download it and then put it in your saves folder in your RTW directory which is located under program files. Then start up RTW, and look out for GoodShipNumidia amongst your saves. A final save is worth a thousand words that I could never be able to say in these humble posts. And if you have any comments, please do post them below. Download Good Ship's Numidian Empire Save



I would like to thank the Org for hosting my posts and I would like to thank my father, whose faith in me has been a Pharos of guidance to a troubled ship like me on the sea of life.

[woad&fangs]

Impressive

a balloon for U