"Horns of the Bull" Out Of Character thread

[Braden]

The Carthage campaign - Horns of the Bull - has officially started.

I am taking the first reign but we are still open to members adding their names to the player list and I'm open to questions anyone has.

[Braden]

Just posting to advise that I'm still active.

[Braden]

I'm currently unwell so may not be able to post over the Easter weekend.

[econ21]

Sorry to hear you are under the weather, Braden. Nothing serious I hope. Have some rest and get well soon.

[YAKOBU]

Hi Braden

I hope you get well soon

Do you want me to pop down the hill with a card and some fruit/cholocolate?

[Braden]

Hey, getting better but haven't sat in front of a PC monitor for a week! ("What's up with that!")

Bad cough now but fit(ish) so will resume play.

Thanks for the sentiments guys.....I love you all.

[Glaucus]

I would like to join this PBeM. I have a few quick questions though:

1) What difficulty will we be playing at?

2)Why is it called play by e-mail, since, as far as I can make out, there is no emailing involved.

I hope to be in all of the PBeM from now on, looks like great fun!
Thank You, Glaucus

[YAKOBU]

Hi Glaucus

Braden is overseeing this PBEM but is a little off-colour and not on-line at the moment. In his absence I will answer your questions:

1) The rules and difficulty for the PBEM can be found in this thread:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=62568

It will be Very Hard Campaign and Medium Battle difficulties.

2) The PBEM's used to be played by e-mail but are now uploaded/downloaded to and from the net. The name PBEM remains and the principal is still the same.

Hope this helps.

[Glaucus]

thank you come again

[Braden]

hi Apu.....

....You're welcome to join this campaign if you wish. Just let me know.

[Glaucus]

Ok I'm in, and hope to be in more, though my write ups may take some time to mature fully. Yea I'd love to be a part of this, seems really cool, and you guys are like a nice sub-section of the forum. Thank you for welcoming me into this area so warmly!

[Braden]

I'll add you to the player list, initially last on that list but as experience tells us people drop out or have to pass when it comes to their tenure often.

Keep poping in for updates. And on that note........I need to post and update.

[Braden]

- First Update OOC -

Booo…..ha! I’ve not played Carthage in a campaign on VH before (only short play tests). So, excuses out of the way….

We have alliances with Numidia, the Iberians, Gauls (by default as they are now allied with the Iberians) and the Greek city states.

We’ve taken Messana.

The economy is generally healthy.

Carthage can produce Libyan Infantry so we can finally match Hastati toe-to-toe(ish).

We’ve killed a very large number of Romano faction members and heirs…..I’ve lost count really but three went down in Messana, four have died trying to retake her and two were killed in the desert of Byzacium….these are the ones I remember!

Good news out of the way….now the bad news :

The Brutii sank our navy which has just now been rebuilt to its former level.

The Brutii landed a large invasion force and took Thepsus (we have retaken it but the delay has meant the Numidians beat us to Lepcis Magna).

The Julii took Caralis

The Julii have just landed a full stack on Palma…..there isn’t anything to hold the island.


All sounds quite desperate but….at 72 the faction leader still rides into battle and has beaten several combined Romano invasions against Messana. (I really ought to get another faction member over there to lead his army before he croaks)

Libyan Infantry are being kicked out of Carthage as fast as we can produce them AND as Lepcis Magna is not a target yet we have a spare army which can be divided up so we can retake Caralis using our rebuilt navy.

So, my next phase is to retake Caralis, let Palma fall for now, re-enforce Messana and then kick the Greeks out of Sicily, before mounting an invasion force to retake Palma.

The time to turn on the Numidians will be for someone else to decide I’m pretty sure.

[Braden]

Right. As of last nights close of play we have recaptured Caralis, repelled several more invasions from Scipii, Brutii and Julii against Messana killing at least 6 more family members plus a Brutii faction heir!

I’ve not know one general to ever be the cause of so many faction member deaths. Our starting King must be responsible for about 15 roman family deaths now near Messana. They land, get beaten but can’t get back to their ships so are trapped and die.

The Navy has been rebuilt (obviously) so we can now cover the Northern coast of Sicily to try and stem the influx of Romans landing (they’re down to landing single units of Hastati at the moment though).

Corduba has been under attack from the Gauls and Iberians. The garrison has wonderfully repelled each attack though but needs re-enforcements of cavalry now.

Faction leader….hmmmm, now then I’m seriously thinking of passing the game on as he just won’t die! He’s 78 years young and seems not to tire.

Suggestions?

[econ21]

Faction leader….hmmmm, now then I’m seriously thinking of passing the game on as he just won’t die! He’s 78 years young and seems not to tire.

Suggestions?

Nah, keep going - you're doing great. For a king who was supposed to die after 3 turns, the leader is doing pretty well. You should be able to make a good story out of someone who is supposed to pass away quietly, but just keeps battling on. Sort of like Blucher or even Mugabe.

Playing out the full life of a King makes for a more characterful experience, but in RTW, it can be a burden on the player. It reminds me of what the late Pope John Paul II said when people said he should retire: "Should Christ have stepped down from the cross?"

[Braden]

Of course he'll die suddenly just as I'm about to embark upon some momentous venture....as is the way of things.

...and I think he'd rather be compared to Blucher. His greatest triumphs have been defending what is his rather than striking out against anyone.

[Braden]

Ahhhh... ....of course old Hanno has now died just as I did my first "end turn" tonight

Typical huh...

Anyway, I was not as prepared for the campaign as I wanted and only have info screen shots to put up.

Have uploaded the .sav file HornsoftheBull - I'll check its available tomorrow as I did experience a problem with the site.

Cannot contact Dutch_Guy as his PM inbox is full! If he hasn't either emptied or started in the agreed 5 days then its onto the next player in sequence.

[econ21]

OK, shame he kicked the bucket, but it sounds like you had a good innings.

BTW, I need to contact Dutch_Guy too about the Org gahzette. If he pops by and reads this, hopefully he'll delete some stuff from his PM box so we can both talk to him.

[Braden]

Quick update then:

BTW have done my IC write up already.

Ok, we are allies with the Greeks and this has held firm.

Seems I've stopped the Romans now from attacking us although we still need to reclaim Palma from the large army that took it.

Numidia are now Neutral to us so we can strike against them should we gather sufficient force, however, three very small Numidian "armies" have entered our territory this last turn.

Economy is stable but not yet great.

Happy gaming!

[YAKOBU]

Hi Braden

I think you may be looking at an out-of-date list. In the relevant thread I had been promoted to 2nd and Dutch_Guy was last. If I am correct I will start playing this weekend. I will wait for confirmation before I progress.

[Braden]

Yup, my mistake. For some reason I don't appear to have updated my own list from the latest agreed on the thread.

....feel free to take the baton up now. BTW - whoa are you in for an "interesting" ride (he, he, he, he) and you're going to find yourself using your ships more for troop transporting than fighting whilst you have to keep moving what forces you have about between Africa, Sicilly and Sardinia to fight off...well, just about everyone I think.

However, there is one jewel that will help...if you don't mind breaking a long standing alliance..

Good luck.

[YAKOBU]

Hi Braden

Just a quick question on extermination before I proceed with my reign. Is there any occasion when you can use exterminate in our PBEM? I think later in the game players will just be dealing with revolt after revolt. For example if you have 10 settlements with maxed out populations. Each time 1 revolts enslavement will potentially tip the other settlements into revolt. This could go back and forth between settlements turn after turn. I know having full garrisons will only go so far in relieving the problem.

[Ludens]

Braden, your pictures aren't showing. I had a look at the URLs; which revealed you had linked to them from the upload map. The upload map is only a temporary place for the AM to check the pictures before they are moved to the story map (like I did). The new URL's are:

http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/stor...geposition.bmp
http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/story/carthage257.bmp

[YAKOBU]

Hi everyone

Well my brief and difficult reign is over already. I decided to take Syracuse thus ending our alliance with the Greeks. This got us a little extra money but my ports and settlements were continually sieged. I spent most of my time hunting ships with reinforcements to sink. This then cost me in having to continually repair my fleet. The overpowered pirates incurred my biggest losses!! Corduba had the plague and my weakened garrison was overwhelmed by the Spanish.

On to you now Tricky Lady, I must admit it is a challenge.

A few notes:
We have a single ship off Lilybaum with an army that was going to reclaim Parma. Unfortunately pirates sunk its escort. Get it reinforced straight away.
Carthage is our main troop production settlement. We can now produce Long Shield cavalry and if you upgreade the barracks you can get Poeni infantry. The face on Carthage has just gone red so beware.

I will post my write-up tomorrow.

Enjoy!!



P.S. You can find the file HornsoftheBull2 here:
http://www.totalwar.org/Downloads/Rt...ads/RTWupload/

Sorry but I struggled with Braden's link.

[Tricky Lady]

Huh??? Uh-oh... so it's my turn.... rrrright.

Well I downloaded YAKOBU's link, and have played two turns, but as it's been over five months since I last played RTW, I predict a disaster. I keep on losing my navy and there's a huge Brutii army heading for Messana.

So if you guys really want a challenge and don't mind being reduced to Carthage-Thapsus-Caralis, I'll play.
If you guys want to "win" this game, I better abstain from playing (believe me, I'm bad).

[Glaucus]

I say you just do your best. In reality, I'm sure every civilization had a weak comander as leader(though I'm sure a very nice one ). It will be more realistic and challenging for the rest of us. And I'm pretty bad also, so I don't think its a problem. But thats just my opinion...

[Gaulgath]

Hmm, it seems that the Pbem for newbs is dead. Well, can I join this one? I wouldn't mind being placed at the end of the list, of course.

[YAKOBU]

Hi Tricky Lady

Sorry to leave you in such a difficult position. I haven't played a full campaign on VH/M before or as Carthage and it is an eye-opener. I couldn't believe how relentless the romans were with landing armies on the island. Those pirate navies really don't help our cause either. I was also surprised when I attacked a roman army from 2 sides for it to adopt an L-shape to combat me. The house rules make it more difficult as well especially no extermination. It has been a refreshing change as I've not really got into 1.5 before and my enthusiasm for RTW may be returning .

[Braden]

Right!

Well, I'm sorry that YAKOBU had such a short reign?? What was that about

Anyway, I will say that I will like Tricky_Lady to play her turn....ultimately you will only get better by playing since you've been away so long and none of us will expect you to be uber-leader!

So, please take the mantle. If we loose...we loose, its a game and equal enjoyment is gained from loosing as it is from winning.

Pointers -

Libyan Spearmen are a fair match for the Romans Hastati, couple them with some flanking Iberian Infantry units and you have a winning formation. Add in some Round Shield Cavalry and you'll bet the odds against the Romans.

Use cavalry in wide flanking moves whilst your infantry "hold the line", when you get a chance, charge your Iberians down Roman engaged flanks whilst your Cavalry harass their rear.

Syracuse is a great win. Hold it and recruit from it.

I have to admit that I've continued to play this game and have lost Corduba twice (this last time was final) but have marched on the Numidians as well as taking Syracuse.

Poeni Infantry from Syracuse
Cavalry from Carthage

I still have to keep shipping troops around though to counter invasions on the islands.

Hope these pointers help.

Gaulgath - I can add you to the list at the end if you want to join.

[Gaulgath]

Right!
Gaulgath - I can add you to the list at the end if you want to join.

That would be good!