Which Barbarian faction should I play?

Here I am writing a jurisprudence essay and very bored. Try as I might, I can't stop RTW intruding on my mind. I've decided to start a new campaign as a barbarian nation as soon as I finish, so what should it be? I want something that'll provide a good strategic and tactical challenge, but more importantly one with "character" or a distinctive feel.

So what's your advice?

Just for the record, as far as I'm concerned the following are barbarians:

Britannia
Gaul
Spain
Germany
Dacia
Scythia
Thrace (borderline)

Spain should prove a good challenge, at least initially.
Gaul should also be a tough nut, but with its extensive lands you aer safer than most others.
Scythians might not be much of a tactical challenge but their strategic position is not easy.

Haven't played with barbarians myself, but Spain I hear is pretty challenging and it's at an interesting location, with Romans, Numidians, Carthage, Gauls and Britons being their likely allies/enemies. That should bring plenty of variation to battles and tactics.

I wouldn't say Thrace are borderline, I would say Numidia is almost barbarian but just about not.. But I don't know much about them..

I recommend Dacia, economy is reallly poor so you have to keep taking cities to keep your piggy bank from being empty.

As a Barbarian player i reccomend Germania, they are financially poor at the start of the game but can be a powerhouse once you get established, also they have the most varied army of all the barbarian factions

I cant do barbs. Unless easterns count as barbarians. They sort of are as they have low income and are mainly horse archer factions. If you are going to do a barbarian faction you better be one of those people that dsnt wait around.

Not always, Britannia has good trade so you can sit back and get some wealth for a few turns but Dacia loses money fastr than it gains so you have to rush to get provinces..

I love playing Gaul because of the Archer Warband (and gold weapon upgrade from the archer temple).
Germania is great too because of the phalanx warband unit, as well as the Chosen Archers and Gothic Cavalry (complete with black lipstick and vampire LARP book)

I never did like Britannia. The Chariots are only good for autocalc, and never really useful in battle. The generals die FAR too often.

Originally Posted by Barbarossa82

Here I am writing a jurisprudence essay and very bored. Try as I might, I can't stop RTW intruding on my mind. I've decided to start a new campaign as a barbarian nation as soon as I finish, so what should it be? I want something that'll provide a good strategic and tactical challenge, but more importantly one with "character" or a distinctive feel.

So what's your advice?

Just for the record, as far as I'm concerned the following are barbarians:

Britannia
Gaul
Spain
Germany
Dacia
Scythia
Thrace (borderline)

Gaul for a nice challenge all the way until Rome is down and half of Spain, Germania and Britannia are down. Dacia for a very tough challenge until Greece and Italian peninsula is yours.

Dacia was really fun - I had to wage war on Scythia at the same time I went for southern Greece and started my move on Rome. A good eastern border is the river east of campus sarmatae - putting two armies to guard the river crossings there, then you can concentrate on the western border mostly. And falxmen are AWESOME!

Gauls have a shitty situation and will probably end up at war with Germania, Britannia AND Spain at the same time they are at war with Rome. My strategy as Gauls was to rush Rome with most of the units I had from start, while trying to hold my land to the north. My mistake was to not go offensive against Britannia from start. I think the best strategy is to go for Rome immediately, probably without even bothering to take any of the rebel territories that are up for grabs, then let some of your reinforcements to the Rome front take those settlements and at the same time you do all this try to take Samarobriva from the Britannians quickly to prevent them from growing too strong.

Britannia is fun if you know how to command those chariot beasts.

Take Germania. You get everything you expect from Barbarians. You start with an economy that doesn't even feed your existing population; you have cities that grow increadible slow. You have easy picups all around; You have immidiatelly two enemies (Gaul and Brittany) to start with and a long term enemy in Rome.

You have cool unit s even at the start. Spearbands beat everything, screaming women are an early flanking element, you get barb cav soon: Later you can upgrade to Gothic cav, which is really good. You have some special units like naked fanatics and berserker.

So enjoy it.

If you are more cavary focused take Scythia. They are poor as well and you have nothing but horses.

My only barb campaign has (is) with the Brits (H/H).
They dont have a great variety of units.
The missile chariots are very powerful in the open, but all chariot types are a pain to set up in a walled city of any type (prior to an assault or to sally).The worst are captured cities with stone walls since the narrow streets inside the walls means that you are often forced to setup chariots at a significant distance from the gate (which slows their entrance into combat).
Money can be very tight early in the game, especially when you are war with 3 neighbors! The trick seems to be to expand south toward the med rather than east.

brits. i've posted my tips and stuff in the newbie guide forum.

I've tweaked the unit stats to the point where noone can build wardogs/pigs and a whole bunch of other stuff in order to make playing the game fun again...Once you get serious about wanting a challenging game you'll notice what units are overpowered or just plain silly.


(dogs were no problem. ever see chariots ordered back and forth across the dogs path? yipe yipe)

Well, you guys all make good cases. I've decided to go for the Germans for their varied unit roster and the possibility of a later conflict with Rome. But doubtless I'll give the other barbarians a test drive too at some point. Thanks for your advice!

Originally Posted by Barbarossa82

Well, you guys all make good cases. I've decided to go for the Germans for their varied unit roster and the possibility of a later conflict with Rome. But doubtless I'll give the other barbarians a test drive too at some point. Thanks for your advice!

Nooooo.... Spain Spain Spain! I'm let down... I have lost my confidence buhuhuhu.
But I must say that personally I think they are the 'worst' in departments of challenge, they have by far the strongest early unit, the mighty Spear Warband. It will go a long towards giving you victory even before you have fought a battle.

Originally Posted by Kraxis

Nooooo.... Spain Spain Spain! I'm let down... I have lost my confidence buhuhuhu.

Hahahaha! Sorry Kraxis, but I promise to try Spain later (once I mod in the long shield cav and onagers they're supposed to have, that is)

Did Spain historically have onagers? I didn't know they did.

Originally Posted by Craterus

Did Spain historically have onagers? I didn't know they did.

Nobody at the time have any onagers, but if you talk about siege weapons in general, the tribes of Iberia were visited often enough by other "civilized" people ranging from Greeks, Phoenicians (and the later Carthaginian heirs of Phoenician civilization), to Romans and Celts. Certainly they must learn something from all that.

Ok, I know what you mean. I know they were visited by the Phoenecians and Carthaginians.

I like barbarian factions such as the Scythians for the challenge, but I prefer Hellenic (Greek) factions, because I admire them as a people, and because I like the traits they start with. I LOVE Academies.

My favourite barbarian factions are Spain, Scythia and Britannia. I think Germania has a nice array of units though. I like Gaul and Dacia too. I like the Barbarian parts of the game. Well, I don't particularly dislike any faction but I haven't played with everyone yet. My least favourite factions has to be Numidia and Parthia.

Germania are great but Gaul are the BEST! Wait till you try forester warbands... *drools*

Calm down, I've tried Forester Warbands, can't say they're that great, imo.

It's the temples that make em godly. Sacred circle to Epona gives +3 to all stats. Weaponsmith adds to all stats. Sacred circle of Abnoda adds +3 to missile attack.

I believe you can get something like 23 missile attack out of the gates. These kill everything.

Originally Posted by katank

It's the temples that make em godly. Sacred circle to Epona gives +3 to all stats. Weaponsmith adds to all stats. Sacred circle of Abnoda adds +3 to missile attack.

I believe you can get something like 23 missile attack out of the gates. These kill everything.

Not my cataphracts...