Ok...I'm anxious to go play but here's where things stand:

The war with Gaul is over. A ceasefire has been arranged (and actually followed through on for more than 1 turn) and at this point an alliance has been made. The war is over.

They lost horribly and control only 3 more provinces...none of which threaten my empire right now nor of any priority to my campaign (right now).

At this point the alliance was made to show my further contempt for the Julii (who Gaul is still at war with...this is the third offensive push by the Julii to dominate them, first two were unsuccessful). I also hold an alliance with Carthage...other political situations thoughout the map also make this sensible at this point in time.

Meanwhile...I have all of my borders secure, the largest Barbarian Army in the game (tied with Germania...dead tie) a capital which I am proud to call my own (my favorite capital so far in a TW game...I'm loving this campaign), and a war-time economy ready to pump production and allow us to sustain a major campaign. Who's it gonna be with? You guessed it...

War with Germania!!

Yeah, it's been building up for several years now. They've been lax on the border policy, did help me block some Gaul movement at one point, but overall have overcome what looked to be like an embarrassing defeat by the Dacia (who they warred with for years upon years...still at war with but they've turned the tide heavily now) and become too powerful to ignore anymore. I've been preparing my opening attack on them for several turns, as well as making sure that my attack was first...not theirs. What's developed is a major war front. My opening move is a "surprise" attack (they knew it was coming...just not to what extent or where...my guerillas move under cover and hiding all the time) against one of their armies which is still in my lands (was going to set up an ambush on me...got discovered and outmanuevered), an attack on the 1500 reinforcements to garrison one of their cities (my #1 target...their faction heir is inside...they moved him to the front for this war like 3 years ago), and an attack on a 6 unit army north of that city. Three move opening attack designed to a) make and keep our borders 100% free of Germania or a direct threat from it b) take strategic land and push Germany back across the river you'll see on the map c) put our armies in a position of direct, unblocked or guarded path to the northern towns I plan on taking d) destroy and then cut off future troop reinforments coming from across that bridge and e) use this same attack to surround and isolate Tier (city name) with the Germanic Faction heir inside and establish a 2 turn effective takeover of the city.

This is going to be a major war. I'll say this though: I'm more prepared for this than probably any other war I've entered in TW. Especially this being on H/H...I've micromanaged almost every single UNIT in my faction every turn. Not everything goes as planned in war obviously, but I'd say 9/10 things have for me so far. Sun Tzu's Art of War has come in handy

I'll keep this updated. I have other pics to show also such as my civilians rounding around the Sacred Shrine of Britannia in my capital, the High King's Hall, and the English channel being overlooked from my city walls...with snow/ice all over.

btw...the High King's Hall is my favorite building in the game yet. I love how it stands up with the two huge trees and building on the campaign map.../drool. Makes me get anstry for MTW2

Anyway...hopefully this picture shows up ok...it's just the one of the current Pre-War campaign map.

Britannia vs Germany. Chariot divisions vs. droves of Spear Warband and Screeching Women. We shall see.



https://i113.photobucket.com/albums/...Germania-1.jpg