druids

[DeadRunner]

I dont remenber reading that druids go to war.

they where more guide to the warlords and put the morale of the army up stay with they, but never heard of a battle group of Druids

[Basileus]

Theres a few units that are not historical, druids being one of those

[DeadRunner]

Theres a few units that are not historical, druids being one of those

I notice that my worry is a lot of people coul belif that was druids warriors

[Dorkus]

druids are pretty nice units.

tested chosen vs. chosen on very hard head on. AI was dominating (win w/ 20-25 men left) w/o the druids. Repeated test w/ druid chant nearby, and the reverse happened. CA has posted that on VH the AI is granted around +6 atk. By inference the druid bonus is more valuable than +6, which is already a pretty massive bonus.

[Spetulhu]

So call them religious fanatics instead.

[The_Emperor]

Caesar wrote that the Druids were above Military service... They were the learned scholars, judges and priests of their time and were not bound to any tribal warlord.

In fact they often resolved disputes and were very highly respected by all the tribes.

I think CA decided to include them as a unit based on the writings of Tacitus about the Roman efforts to attack the island of Mona the Druids came from. He specifically states that the Druids chanted and cursed the enemy and that this made the Romans nervous at the sight... After a rousing speech by their leader telling them that they only faced a band of priests and women, the Romans went on to massacre them.

But that was a one-off incident, Mona was the last refuge for those fleeing the Romans, and they needed to destroy the Druids to remove their culture and to help pacify the Celts.

While the Romans were getting on with this though Boudicca was stirring up trouble...

[DeadRunner]

I think CA decided to include them as a unit based on the writings of Tacitus about the Roman efforts to attack the island of Mona the Druids came from. He specifically states that the Druids chanted and cursed the enemy and that this made the Romans nervous at the sight... After a rousing speech by their leader telling them that they only faced a band of priests and women, the Romans went on to massacre them.

But that was a one-off incident, Mona was the last refuge for those fleeing the Romans, and they needed to destroy the Druids to remove their culture and to help pacify the Celts.

While the Romans were getting on with this though Boudicca was stirring up trouble...

you mean the slaughter of mona,its amazing that Rome army only forgot is honor code and discipline in few momnets and mona was one of them.

I dont remenber others eg of the fall of rome discipline )cartaghe was a slaughter in name of the Senate was order)

Rome army was one of the most discipline army of that time, it was one of is advantage in battle too when the barbarian charge without orders the rome only charge and the received them.
but sometimes the dont listen the orders given by the generals.

anibal was one of the few out of rome army that had a discipline army

[Jugurtha]

you mean the slaughter of mona,its amazing that Rome army only forgot is honor code and discipline in few momnets and mona was one of them.

I dont remenber others eg of the fall of rome discipline )cartaghe was a slaughter in name of the Senate was order)

Rome army was one of the most discipline army of that time, it was one of is advantage in battle too when the barbarian charge without orders the rome only charge and the received them.
but sometimes the dont listen the orders given by the generals.

anibal was one of the few out of rome army that had a discipline army

In what way did they lose their discipline? It was official Roman policy to dismantle their organisation. Also, the Roman soldiers involved had just campaigned hard in North Wales, and waded across the Menai Strait in the face of desperate resistance. They were after people (druids) who had proved themselves to be dangerous religious fanatic (oyu didn't want to be a Roman prisoner) trouble makers. The politics of the time called for the slaughter. I can't remember if Paulinus was aware of the revolt at his back at this point.

[The_Emperor]

I think we can all agree that Mona was a slaughter and not a battle, the Druids were not warriors but the Romans had to kill them anyway. They hated the Druids and their religion and needed to wipe them out before the Druids inspired someone to take an army and go attack the Romans.

My point is they were not warriors, yet CA decided to include them because of this one account of them chanting and cursing the Romans...

They are a pure fantasy unit that should be removed.

[DeadRunner]

I agree Emperor druids should be a retinue to up moral our other tingh like that.


In what way did they lose their discipline?

They charge against druids and Pristess kill them,rape the pristess things like that,rome army discipline where make to control that barbarie acts, i think the entire was punish by that act in Mona

[Jugurtha]

The problem is that if you take the druids out what have the barbarians got on the battlefield? Take all the a-historical units out and all the barbarian fans out there are left with seriously underpowered units. This may be more historically accurate but it wont satisfy all those (revisionist) politically correct supporters of barbarian rights

The problem with the barbarians IMO is that they were such a diverse group, it is nigh on impossible for a game to emulate. That's probably the way they would've liked it too.

i'm pretty sure that at Anglesey there were more than just a group of druids present. Pretty sure they defended themselves as well. Not a loss of discipline but official policy.

[Ken]

About druids who were warriors, all we have about "pacifist" druids is the writtings of Ceaser, not excactlly the most reliable source. Many historical figures were describbed in other sources as both warriors and druids. Heck, read the Irish myths some time and any druid worth the name was quite handy with spear and sword.

[Bob the Insane]

Remind me, but do the druid units actually have decent stats? Or are they more like peasants with some decent kit and a special ability???

I mean you can bring mobs of peasants to the battlefield and chicks with clevers too, so why not religious dudes as well???

Although I do agree that their special ability is verging a little on the mystical/magical side of things (they do only affect morale, do they not???)....

Roll on Fantasy Total War...

[Dorkus]

yea, druids have good stats. 13/5/14 (a/c/d)

Usually, not worth fighting with them, though, since they can't chant and fight simultaneously.

they definitely do not only affect morale. I thought that at first too, and thus thought they'd be a waste in the campaign (poor man's screeching women -- if your men are routing, you've probably already lost). But I tested a bit with the unit of druids the gauls get at the start of the campaign, and they seem to give a pretty massive combat bonus.

I did something like 10 runs with chos sw vs. chos sw, and the druid aided chosens dominated -- and that's despite the fact that I was playing on very hard!

be nice to know the exact bonus. I imagine it's similar to the war cry bonus (and it DOES stack with that bonus)

[BlackFireStorm]

I think CA decided to include them as a unit based on the writings of Tacitus about the Roman efforts to attack the island of Mona the Druids came from.

You can find the quotes from Tacitus that The_Emperor mentions at a Roman Britain site

It's a site maintained by a guy full of enthusiasm for the Romans in Britain and stacked with top-quality information. A real labour of love. Plenty of quotes and excerpts from Roman writers who at the very least you will be familiar with from the quotes thrown up by the game's loading screens. Pay it a visit.

If you care to browse it about Druids, it becomes apparent that they were a little more prevalent that just on Anglesey (Mona), They were probably noted by the writers of the time (Tacitus in particular), because of the involvement of Paulinus, and of course Boudicca. They weren't a great problem or vast force, just as they aren't in the game.

In terms of the game, I think it's perfectly valid CA include them. They were about, Romans fought them, they add variety and a bit of spice. I like 'em.

BFS

[Regulus]

If the druids aren't in that would one less unit in a fairly small selection compared to the Romans

[LordKhaine]

In ancient times, hundreds of years before the dawn of history. Lived a strange race of people, the druids.....

But seriously I think people do get too worked up about "unrealistic" units. The total war series has never been afraid to bend history a little to make the games more fun and diverse. And I'm glad they have added the "unrealistic" units personally. Those who don't want them can always use the realism mod (which seems to be progressing at an impressive rate)