Spain

[pezhetairoi]

ah... i see what you mean. I did that in my opening Scythian turns, too. I don't believe I built a single new unit until turn 10+...

[Craterus]

Ok, the (mine and Littlegannon's) Spanish was resumed last weekend. Sorry, updates were put on hold due to schoolwork.

Right, we own all of Iberia, Narbo Martius, Massilia, all of Sicily and Sardinia.

We have a full stack waiting outside Rome, about to be attacked by their "wandering" full-stack. And we have just pounced upon Julii. Unfortunately Julii have 3 full stacks. Now I know why they haven't been expanding, too busy building up army upon army.

We are about to attack Brutii, and Scipii are already severely crippled. Their main forces are wiping out Numidia.

What I really want to know is: How do you take on Romans in battlefield? We played once vs. Julii and it was a phyyric victory, to say the least. They just broke through our main line.The flanks held well, but the centre collapsed.

Our strategy was Scutarii in front line. Bull Warriors second line. And 2 cav on each flank. General behind Bull Warriors.

[pezhetairoi]

If your strategy against Romans is to wait for them to attack you, then perhaps this will help in your defensive battles.

I've found that fighting defensive, it always pays to minimise the distance between your troops and the general, since no unit ever routs when the general is behind them. Take Germania, for example--I combine barb mercs and spear warbands into a semicircle (or a full circle if I have enough of them) of spears, with all cavalry and ranged units in the centre of the circle. Thus general is equidistant to all the troops and you get maximum morale boost for your troops.

Bull Warriors ought to be superior in holding power, so the part of the semicircle etc directly facing the line of enemy advance should be made up of them. Then protect your flanks with Scutarii, curving backwards as much as you have units, and then dump cavalry in the middle. Keep a spare unit or two of Bulls or something to use as a stopgap reserve should any disasters happen. Then just sit and wait.

When the enemy comes close, they will tend to charge obliquely at your flanks (since your Scutarii aren't facing them headon), so you actually outflank them a little. This will offset to some extent the fact that your Scutarii are inferior to your Bulls. With melee infantry such as yours they will be sure to flow around the flanks and take maximum advantage of that. As the Romans charge, you charge as well, so your Bulls' charge is used to the max and so you get the chance to break through -their- line, taking care to make sure your formation is still vaguely circular (or square, whichever you choose) and that your general is at the centre of it. Use your cavalry to counter any enemy cavalry charge into your circle.

It's the strategy of interior lines that Frederick the Great used on a grander scale--your cavalry and Bull reserve will be available to shore up any point on the circle in the same span of time as compared to the enemy who essentially can't march around your circle once he's engaged. Also, if you had 2 Bull reserves and 4 cav you could hurl 6 units into a line breach as compared to a full line where all you might have on hand of your 6 units' reserve was 2 units in immediate vicinity of the crisis point.

If you were feeling confident, you could leave your infantry to sink or swim and take your cavalry out the rear of the circle (there would be a gap at the rear that the AI never exploits unless it's a reinforcement coming from that direction), around the edge, and you can nicely flank and rear any unit you meet on the way, routing the enemy along the circumference of the circle. This is especially useful against enemy ranged units as soon as their melee are all engaged. They will be defenceless--especially Roman Archers. And all this while, your units at any point on the circle are much more accessible by your cav than in a full straight line.

Endgame: Assuming your cav has not been committed outside the circle, the endgame is simply when the first unit breaks after all enemy units have been committed--simply do a concentrated charge at the unit next to that sector and bingo, you'll be seeing blinking white flags everywhere you turn in no time at all. Your cavalry will be fresh and unharmed and ready for the pursuit. If you do it right, you can pursue those that hit the bulls (the frontline), cut them down and turn back to hit those that ran from the flanks, since they'd necessarily be further behind. If you do it right, you can end up with none escaping, and none even coming close to the edge of the map. Enemy routing cavalry not included, however.

Note though that this strategy is pure theory, I have never played the Spanish, nor have I ever faced them in field battle, so I don't know how well this works. But in short, the advantages: 1) Morale. Your general's morale bonus benefits all units instead of just the segment of line infront of the general. Your circle will never break as long as your general is there. 2) Interior lines. Reserves take less time to arrive, and the circle will grow stronger as it shrinks, like the British square. 3) Maximum utility of reserves. Reserves can reinforce any segment of the line in an equally short time, and they can all be concentrated instead of dispersed at either flank where they are not mutually supporting. 4) Mutual support. Especially for melee troops, if one unit is broken through, the enemy will be sufficiently close to other melee infantry in the circle (or alternatively, reserves) that they will take up the slack and contain the breach until you have time to respond.

Weaknesses: 1) This tactic only works on defensive when your troops are standing their ground and waiting for the enemy to come to you, and reminds me a lot of the Gothic laager at Adrianople... the cavalry were sheltered amidst the wagons until the time came to charge out from the gaps in between. It can win some massive victories, but can also become catastrophic defeats if all the enemy does is potter around shooting your shock troops to bits. 2) As mentioned before, if the enemy is range-heavy. For practical reasons (friendly fire) it is almost impossible to fit ranged units into the cramped conditions within the circle without shooting the heads off other nearby units unless you have a full stack, and the circle/square/polygon is very large, or you have very little reserves as a tradeoff for the usage of flaming arrows. 3) If you're using hoplites, it can get annoying since the phalanx rightward shift may open your circle up. Germanic phalanxes have a nasty habit of moving forward, also opening gaps in the circle. But using melee infantry you should have no problem.

Okayokay that's really enough. I shall stop now to avoid rambling on further. I should reckon this takes the record for the longest post--hope you had the patience to read it, Craterus and littlegannon, and sorry for the length :) Hope it's useful.

[Craterus]

No problem about the length - full of tips. Thanks!

Circle, Bulls centre, Scutarii flanks.

Got it! Hope it works against those Romans. Marian Reforms will be along in 25 turns or so.. A big defeat in the North will halt my advance terribly.

[katank]

Their republican units should not be able to stand up to bull warriors.

I frankly think that you should employ weak center strategy of Hannibal. Let the scutarii slowly cave and the bulls can autoflank. Your long shield horde can smash any point on the line you want. You general should be behind the scutarii always rallying and joining the fray if it looks ugly.

Always add some baeleric slingers and put them on the flanks. Run them forward to bypass enemy shields. A single unit of these boys esp. from Palma, can cut up a unit from no time.

If the enemy has little cav, you can use the slingers to rear attack with their shots and really drop enemy troops like flies.

[Craterus]

I don't think Spain gets Long Shields in campaign mode.

Warlord's Stables gives Warhounds and Round Shields. This is the same as the stable before it though.

[katank]

They have ownership of longshields and onagers. They are supposed to get them just like how the spanish generals shouldn't look like british ones.

Just mod in longshield and onagers. There is otherwise no point to giving Spain warlord stables.