Numidia

[Dromikaites]

The real triarii were not exactly used like in this game. Their main task was to intervene when the situation was really bad and then, most of the time to protect the withdrawal. The lack of javelines was due to their mainly defensive role. However there were instances when the triarii had to be employed in an offensive role. In any case, if the triarii were fighting, the situation was dire. Therefore "fighting to the triarii" came to mean a very desperate situation.

As you can find on this board dedicated to Numidia, almost everybody, including myself, recommend an army of javelin cavalry and foot missile troops (archers, javeline skirmishers and slingers). However due to some circumstances one of my generals was fighting the Gauls in Spain, south of the city of Numantia, with an army made out of 3 barbarian mercs (B), 3 desert infantry (D), 2 javeline skirmishers (J), 2 balearic slingers (S) and 9 archers (A) (the 20th unit being the 8 star general (G)).

The Gauls brought their 6 stars faction leader with 3 family members, 8 warbands and 6 swordsmen. They were attacking while the Numidians were on defence. The difficulty setting was M because I want the troops to behave like in reality, with no cavalry frontal charges against properly deployed phananxes , etc.

The terrain was mostly flatland with some trees towards the back of my starting position. I thought initially that trees might offer some protection against the Gaulish heavy cavalry, but I then realised that I was badly outnumbered also in terms of heavy infantry. On the other hand I was affraid that trees would only hinder the fire of the archers and slingers. Firepower being my only strenght I decided to deploy outside the sparse tree area.

The main problem was that there were simply not enough troops to protect the archers _and_ prevent an outflanking move with the cavalry or swordsmen (or both). Therefore I've decided to prevent outflanking by having two very deadly missile mobile flanks who would execute a pincer movement (outflank the outflankers) and to lure, if possible, the Gaulish heavy cavalry (king & family members) to charge straight into the spears of the barbarian mercenaries and desert infantry.

The Numidian starting formation was:

G-S-S-J-B-B-B-D-D-D-J-A-A-A
---------A-A-A-A-A-A--------

The second row of 6 archers would either move all of them in front of the barbarian mercs and desert infantry as a bait for cavalry, or some would move on either flank, depending on how the Gauls decide to go.

The Gauls started with 2 lines, their right flank and center being the 8 warbands and left flank comprised of 4 swordesmen. 2 swordsmen and the 4 cavalry were held in reserve. As expected, since they were attacking, they started to move towards my lines.

The archers from the second line moved forward. The 3 archers on the right flank ran forward and to the right and then turned at angle of 45 degrees, in order to shoot in the back whoever was engaging my barbs and desert inf or was trying to outflank them. On the other hand, they were to lure away either cavalry or swordsmen and give my center a better chance to defeat their center. Of course, the hope was the 6 archers in the center would do as much damage as possible to the advancing enemy and force the cavalry to chase them directly into the spears of my infantry. The javeline units on both flanks were to repeat the flanking maneuvre when the enemy would be closer.

In the same time the 2 slingers and the general did a similar move on the left flank. The general was on the Balearic side because their fire was more devastating than the archers'. This meant that whatever unit the general would charge into would be in worse shape on the left flank than on the right flank. Since the general was my only cavalry, I needed him to be able to rout as many units as possible without losing too many of his bodyguards (they where 14 men in total). And remember that a charge from our left flank hits either the back of the enemy (best situation) or their right flank, unprotected by shields.

Note: "in the same time" means I used the "Pause" button to issue orders. I use "Pause" frequently. It's like lending a brain to the comander of each unit.

Things went sort of as expected but not quite so. That is, the Gaulish king and a family member went straight for the archers and impaled themselves into the spears of the barbarians. As it is recommended elswhere in the guides, for best results a spears unit (not phalanx, though) should countercharge the charging cavalry. But the 2 other family members went one for the archers on the right flank and one for the slingers on the left flank, respectively. Also, the warband closest to my general went chasing him, a swordsmen unit from the reserve went after the slingers too and a swordsmen unit from the first line ran to support the family member chasing my archers.

This wasn't looking good at all because:
1. The slingers and archers were running away before having the time to do enough damage.
2. The 6 archers from the center were now behind my infantry line, ready to unleash a lot of friendly fire as the 7 warbands and 3 swordsmen + 1 in reserve were about to engage my 3 barbarians and 3 desert infantry.
3. My general had to outmaneuvre the warband chasing him, which kept him away from where he was really needed.

The emergency measures taken were:
1. Disable fire at will for the 6 archers and send them 3 to the left and 3 to the right, to replace the slingers and their colleagues who were running with screaming Gauls behind them.
2. Send the javeline units to lure some of the attackers away from the center.

For some reason the swordsmen running after the slingers decided abandon the chase and tried to hit my barbarian mercenaries from behind. Bad idea: one unit of archers was ordered to shoot at them while the balearic slingers were machinegunning them in the back. Panic followed and the decimated swordsmen unit ran away. I don't know how it happened, but the other balearics managed to defeat in hand-to-hand combat the family member's bodyguards and sent them fleeing. I think it was because horsemen really suck in the woods. Anyway, both units of balearic slingers, with 'fire at will' disabled, were rushed back to their initial positions.

On the right flank, the other swordsmen tried the same trick but were caught in the crossfire, between the archers unit they were chasing and the archers who realised the cavalry was chasing their colleagues and not them.

Meanwhile things were really going bad for the Numidian center. None of the Gauls took the javeliners bait, instead they ganged on the poor barbarians and desert infantry. The situation was now "to the triarii", but with no triarii to throw in. So the javeliners were sent to hit the flanks of the Gauls in hand-to-hand combat, the 3 archers (from the 2nd line) on the left flank went round and hit the Gauls in the back and so did the 3 archers (from the 2nd line) on the right flank. Also, on the right flank, the archers who were the first to stopp running were sent charging the Gaulish swordsmen in the back while the others were sent to shoot at the family member who had caught the 3rd unit of archers (from the initial right flank). The idea of sending this unit of archers to shoot at the family member was to keep those heavy cavalrymen busy elswhere, away from the main battle.

Remember the general was avoiding contact with the warband chasing him? Well, as heroic as the attack of the archers and javelineers was, they were making little progress against the tougher Gauls. So it was the time for a desperate cavalry charge. The 2 units of balearic slingers were pointed at the warband chasing the general, while he was running to the relief of the Numidian left flank.

The cavalry charge proved to be too much for the Gaulish warbands fighting the barbarian mercs, javelineers and archers. What had remained of the archers and javelineers were sent chasing the running Gauls while the barbarian mercenaries were odered to turn and hit the swordsmen who were shredding to pieces the right flank. And the general's bodyguards disengaged, regrouped and charged again. The swordsmen morale collapsed and they started running for their lives.

The last family member (the one fighting the archers) panicked and ran away. The same happened with the warband crippled by the fire of 2 balearic slinger units (no surprise here). Heroic victory!

The key learning points here are:
1. It pays to stick to the spirit of the plan even if it can't be executed to the letter. The slingers and archers on flanks didn't do as much damage with their missiles as expected but they drove away enough enemy units. This way they prevented the Numidian center to be overwhelmed.
2. Weak hand-to-hand combat units like archers or skirmishers can and should be used to protect the flanks of the stronger units or for last-chance counterattacks. If it's too dangerous for our own troops to have the missile units fire into the flanks or back of the enemy, then we should have them charge into the flank or back of that foe.

[Franconicus]

Excellent arcticle, Dromikraites. Thanx a lot!!!

[macguba]

Not having had the wisdom of this thread, I took what I thought was the only viable approach. It seemed to me that you simply HAD to take Carthage and Thapsus as quickly as possible. All armies and generals were devoted to this at first, except those in Siwa who took Cyrene and then Lepcis Magna and Nepte. Not only are they good provinces, but you need to remove the thread of the Carthaginians.

Siwa is not defensible if the Egyptians decide to gobble it up, so I left it to its own devices and of course they did. I put a fortress on the road at the narrow point east of Lepcis Magna to provide early warning and hopefully slow the Egyptians down as they came west.

I was just about settled and ready to send a proper army east, when of course the Scipii arrived in force. Beat them off and sent a defensive army east while I built a navy. The defensive army preserved Cyrene, to my surprise, but was eventually trashed by an Egyptian force of two generals and six heavy chariots. My home defence army met up with this force and destroyed it, while the navy gained control of the central mediterranean.

More good provinces were now essential, to support a simultaneous war against both Rome and Egypt. Sicily is closest and the Roman ships are at the bottom of the sea (including one with a full stack army) and so the invasion proved to be little trouble, not least because Syracuse was rebel. Meanwhile a wandering Scipii diplomat bribed Cyrene away.

To help control the sea I then took the western Med islands and made peace with the Carthaginians, hoping that their one remaining province in Spain would act as a buffer against the Spanish. (It did.) An army remained to defend Sicily but all other efforts were devoted to building units to send against Egypt. Siwa was retaken without trouble but the Pharoahs had four full stackers defending the Nile provinces. My two full stackers defeated them more by manoeuvre than by battle: strategy at its purest and best. At that point I left off: I've played a couple of campaigns already and from this position (strongest faction by some margin, borders secure, strike armies straining the leash, 30k in the bank) final victory is inevitable.

Money was a little tight most of the time but was never really a big deal. In the middle game I was short of generals, as you always are, but towards the end there was a glut.

The big distances make this a much slower campaign than other factions - to get to the point described took till about 220BC, by which time I'd normally expect to have at least twice as many provinces.

Foot javelinmen were disbanded at the first realistic opportunity. (Takes a while since they are pretty much all you have at the start, except generals.)Slingers lasted a little longer but once I had archers available I didn't bother with them. Javelin cavalry do the job but take heavy casualties in doing it: I dispensed with them once the better cavalry was available. Ideal army composition by the end was 1 general, 3 cavalry and 3 camel cavalry, 6 archers, 4 spearmen in the first line and 3 legionaries (although I never really got to use them) in the second line. I found that very satisfactory for dealing with Egyptians. Never used any mercs.

Dealing with Roman armies is easy, as mentioned in one of the posts above. Pepper them with whatever missiles you have and then put whatever cavalry you have into their rear/flank. Carthage I dealt with by having armies consisting mainly of generals, and being smart about which Carthaginian army I fought.

Egypt is much harder. The problem is that their infantry is good, their archers are good and their heavy cavalry is devastating. Their weakness is that they use too many javelin and spearmen units, which have zero combat power. Consequently you are never fighting as big an army as it looks.

1) As always when dealing with a powerful enemy, break up their formation. Shower them with arrows (stick one or two archer units way out front if necessary); make cavalry feints: get them coming at you in disorder.

2) The heavy chariots often charge into your frontal archers which, if you get it right, have retreated behing the spearmen just as the cavalry hit. Order adjacent infantry to attack them in the flank. Alternatively the chariots head out in a wide flanking attack. In this case lure them in by having a cavalry unit turn its back on them. They will charge, at which point the bait turns round and counterattacks. The bait will take casualties, but they fix the enemy so that two or three other cavalry units can charge into the flanks and rear of the chariots, defeating them instantly. Timing is everything, but not that hard to achieve.

3) Isolated missile chariot units lose quickly against your massed battery of archers. Or see 2) above.

4) Since your units are static and theirs are moving, your archers are firing and theirs (and their javelinmen) are not. When they stop to fire, charge your infantry at them: if necessary stop the infantry before they engage, you're not trying to fight them, just keep them moving. Keep some kind of formation to prevent flank attacks.

5) Move your cavalry around and behind the enemy army. His previous disarray will now turn into a complete shambles. (For example his useless spearmen will be running all over the battlefield trying to catch your cavalry.) Keep your archers firing and manouevre infantry and cavalry to pick off loose units around the edges. If you're lucky your archers will have a huge solid mass to aim at. Since their (chariot) general is already dead or fleeing and you have units behind them, they will rout quickly. I trust I can leave the mopping up to you.

6) Obviously its never as clear cut as that. The important things are to break up their formation; suck in and destroy their general; keep them moving under your hail of arrows; win the cavalry battle on the flanks; attack their flanks and rear with your victorious cavalry.


Overall, very enjoyable. I'd recommend this faction to anybody who has played a campaign or two already and is looking for fresh challenge. Certainly one of the harder campaigns.