Carthaginian army template anyone?

[Marku]

What do your armies usually consist of? do you have different variations if your rich or poor? etc
i havent got a very solid template for them, i wanted a template true to history but its difficult.


usually i have 1-2 generals, 4 african infantry, 4-6 numidian skirmishers, 4 numidian cavalry, 4 libyan heavy spearmen & the rest are mercenaries or whatever is locally recruitable.


currently i own spain, north africa and sicily(only just got it back off romans)

EDIT : Heres piccie

[Owen the Mighty]

Well, the thing about the Carthaginians is you can pretty much play whatever battle style you want, as their unit roster is so deverse.

I usually use, for a full stack, 6 Liby-Phoenicians, 2 Elite Africans/Sacred Band, 2 African Pikemen, 4 Skirmishers, 2 Light Infantry and 4 Cavalry. I like to call this the "Jack of all Trades" army setup, as it includes a variety of different troop types.

There's also the "Successor" army setup (mainly Pikemen and Heavy Cavalry), the "Guerilla" army setup (mainly Iberian/Balearic troops) and the "Roman Legion" army setup (excessive amounts of Heavy Infantry, such as Liby-Phoencians and Elite Africans)

It all depends on how you like to play, and which unit type you are proficient at commanding in battle.

[CaesarAugustus]

Using EB units, what would Hannibal's army that he brought into Italy be composed of? Is there any guid that gives historical compositions of famous generals' armies (I'm pretty sure I saw something like that a month or two ago, but I can't find anything now...)

[LordCurlyton]

I must be the only real fan of the Libyan/Heavy Libyan Spearmen. Far more vaersatile and deadlier IMO than the Liby-Phoenician line of spearmen. I generally mass-produce Libyans and anchor them with either Elite Afircan or Sacred Band pikemen. I prefer Numidian Skirmishers of both cavalry and infantry stripes and you can't go wrong with the Carthaginian Citizen Cavalry. Damn solid cav they is. If you can spare the cash, a Sacred Band Cav or two works wonders.
Of course, if you are in Iberia, use the locals. Solid infantry and cavalry, and the Iberi Lancaeri may just be the best heavy cav in the game (no offence, Hetairoi and eastern cats).
My exact makeup depends on what section of the world I'm in and how rich I am at the moment. The numbers I give below are just ranges and do add up to more than 20 (since it can vary over time)
In Africa proper:
1-2 General
8-10 Libyans
2-4 Heavy Libyans
2-4 Numidians (Cav or Inf)
2-3 Carthy Citizen Cav
1-2 Sacred Band Cav
1-2 Sacred Band Inf or Elite African Pikes
1-2 Elephants if you desire 1-turn sieging or cav killers
In Iberia:
1-2 General
8-10 Libyans or Scutarii
2-3 Iberi Velites
2-4 Iberian Assaults
2-4 Iberi Lancaeri
2-3 Gaesatae (if N Iberia/S Gaul)
In Sicily/S Italy:
1-2 General
3-4 Lucanian Light Inf
2-4 Carthy Citizen Cav
4-6 Elite African Pikes or Sacred Band Inf (Libyans or Heavy Libyan if no MIC high enough)
2-4 Liby-Phoenician/Heavy Liby-Phoenician (or local Hoplites)
2-4 Samnite Spears
2-4 Samnite Milites or Iberian Assaults

[Fondor_Yards]

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=79234

[Marku]

thank you guys, good templates posted so far!

[Meothar]

In my campaign I used
2 units of elite phalanx in the center of the line (Sacred Band or Elite African)
4 units of Liby-Phoenician Spearmen left and right of the pikes, because they can hold the line against nakeds or Triari
4 units of (armored) Libyan Spearmen. Their javelins are useful and they can stand against most light and medium infantry.
2 units of African Swordsmen as reserve and for flanking.
2 units of Numidian or Iberian Skirmisher Cavalry.

Additional units on different campaigns in Gaul, Iberia and Italy were Iberian Assault Infantry (but they didn't seem effective), Naked men, Balearic or Celtic Slingers, Iberian heavy cavalry, Gallic Swordsmen and sometimes Hastati or other light infantry I had with me to leave them for garrisoning.

[Dyabedes of Aphrodisias]

My campaign has yet to get very far, so I haven't gotten any of the pikemen or elite Africans yet (one more MIC).

But, my army has no real set-up. I keep a unit of Libyan Spearman, 2 units of the Liby-Phoenecians (the better ones), 2 units of Iberian Assault, a unit of all-purpose Caetratii, 2 Numidian skirmishers, 3 units of Samnitici Milites and 2 mercenary hoplite phalanxes.

But I probably won't use the phalanxes anyway, because I hate phalanxes and their limitations always end up greater than their benefits for me.

[Owen the Mighty]

Well, the good thing about Cathaginian phalanxes is that their flanks can be guarded by just about any troop type.....Elite, Spear, Assault and Heavy Infantry, and Cavalry. I tend to use them as a reserve force, as the Liby-Phoenicians have proved their worth many times over, and are always my line infantry.

[Thaatu]

I usually have Xanthippos go once in a while across the sea to Gaul to recruit celtic mercenaries. I tend to build my armies something like this, with great variety:

Setting after the First Punic War.
1 General
1 Heavy/medium cavalry (Carthaginian, Iberian, Greek)
2 Light cavalry (Numidian, Iberian, Celtic)
2 Early Liby-Phoenician infantry
1 Late Liby-Phoenician infantry (support unit)
2 Early Libyan Spearmen
1 Late Libyan Spearmen (support unit)
2 Skirmishers (Numidian, Iberian, Greek)
1 Slinger (Celtic, Balearic)
? Undefined number of mercenaries

Flank are usually covered by a mercenaries from the same region, ie. Celts cover the right flank while Iberians cover the left.

[Alexander777]

I just started a Carthaginian campaign, so my armies really don't have any elite units in them yet. They mostly consist of Liby-Phonecian Infantry in the center and Libyan Spearmen or Caertari on the flanks ( I agree with Lord Curlyton that Libyans rock). Citizen calvary aren't half bad either. And has anyone noticed that the forest elephants in EB really suck? I used the unit that I started out with to attack Syracuse, but half of them were taken out by a half unit of Theruphoroi and the rest got sacred by Akontastai!!!!!!!!!

[mAIOR]

I liked the ambushing army idea :) It involves mostly light troops (Caetari and the sorts) with some heavy infantry to cover them in cases of need.

You can hide this army everywhere abd your troops are well able to stand agaisnt most of the other elite troops...
I started using this army after my Lusotanan campaign (where I realised the value of a light troop army. It makes flanking maneuvers easier and those Lusotanan light spearmen are extremelly good and versatile. they can kick Lybian heavy spearmen where it hurts the most and are very hard to rout.


Cheers...

[anubis88]

Hi! I'm a hardcore Carthage player and my preferable army ist like this:
-1 General
-1 Sacred Band cavalry
-1 iberi lanciarii
-1 forest elephants(they can do wonders if you know how and when to unleash them)
-2 elite african pikeman
-2 elite african infantry
-1 lybian spearman army
-2 Lybian Infantry
-2 balearic slingers
-2 balearic infantry
-1 emm... the armoured scutarii:D
- the rest i make of mercenarys...

The roster is just so huge that you can make practicaly any army you want and they all have they're advantages and disatvantages.
That's why Carthage had one of the most succesfull army's of the ancient world. Who knows what they could have conquered if the plagues woudn't pest them so much