I think ambushes work like this:

[Red Harvest]

Hundreds of battles here without ever experiencing an ambush from either side. Looks like they could increase the probability a bit.

[Colovion]

Hundreds of battles here without ever experiencing an ambush from either side. .

same

[Noong]

Maybe I just got lucky but the first and only time I tried to ambush, I got it to work.

I was playing as the Julii, at war with the Egyptians. We both had a town in neighbouring provinces and as I was marching my army towards their town, I pretty much walked into 2 of their armies. Greatly outnumbered I backed off and put my units in some woodland next to the road. During that turn one of those armies marched along the road towards my town and I had the option to ambush them.

From there I got to set up my units all around the enemy as they stood in single file. I could have placed my units anywhere on the battlemap but could put them really close to the enemy (within archer range) so I did that. The enemy units routed really easy, I don't know whether they get a morale penalty going into the ambush, or if it was because I was hitting them from the side.

Haven't tried it since though because it doesn't really suit my playstyle. More of a defensive tactic and I like just building up huge armies and sending them out to conquer.


So just to clarify, I was in woodland beside a road. The enemy was marching along the road, and did not march into my tile but was standing on the road next to my woodland, even on the battlemap they were arrange in single file on the road. I would not have been facing them on the campaign map since I was retreating the other way but your armies turn to face whatever gets in their range anyway. And my army had a general.



Never been ambushed though. I had one instance where maybe the AI had the option but decided not to because his 2 units would have been slaughtered by my 20. What happened was I was moving around the forests in Germany, moving through some woodland, when suddenly my unit was blocked and an enemy popped up where there was definately not one before, right in front of me. Maybe the ambush option was there for the AI but he chose to withdraw. Probably have to walk around in smaller armies if you want to be ambushed.

[The_Emperor]

Indeed, armies do tend to travel along roads (given the increased movement allowance they grant), so I would say woodland that is right beside a road is perfect for ambushing, especially if its in the same tile.

But woodland near a mountain pass is perfect. (plenty of it in northern Italy where the Gauls are)