EB 1.0 Casse Armies

[Rutilus Barbatus Carnifex]

I have a couple of quick questions for those who've tried Casse in 1.0:

1. What has been your most effective army composition (including late units)? And

2. Can anyone tell me what an a real/historic Casse or Celtic army might have consisted of?

I've tried a few different types of army composition, mostly with fairly varied unit types - the end result is pretty much always total chaos - which I suppose is just about right really...

Thanks

[different_13]

I could be wrong, but doesn't Casse only refer to the southern tribes?
I mean, half the units on their roster are Goidilic (sp?)
Some are midlander, there's one or two Gaulish/Belgae units, and then some general Celtic units.

But to answer your question, I'd guess a mass of typical Celtic tribesmen. Shield, javelins/spear, sword if they're rich, etc.
Chariots, for the quintessential old-school feeling.

I'd imagine nobles (and 'heroes' - the higher class tribesmen) could afford better gear, like swords and chainmail..
The unit cards can tell you quite a lot about it, and there are several references to "this is the typical Carthaginian line unit" etc..

[Sir-S-Of-TURBO]

They'd most likely use massive armies of cheap infantry and then very very few elites to fight amongst them to inspire courage, as of my understanding.

This is also what I've gained most success with so far (1 druid, 2 casse champions and 1 midlander champions, then perhaps some axemen and then shortsword men for the rest of the meele, then maybe 1 or 2 archers, slingers and skirmishers)

Of course, you have to be somewhat calm about how you advance, since you need to keep the economy going aswell as your conquests in early casse, so conquer, buildup, conquer, buildup and then rampage across the tin isles with a massive unstoppable force until everything is under your control.

Then buildup here and then move on to the divided tribes of Gaul. As long as you pick your fights wisely they have no hope of survival.

Oh and whatever the fuck you do, DO NOT use the celtic chairots, they are more 'fragile' than very expensive glass on a bad day.

As for late units you should keep the zerglings mixed with the professional units I think.

[skuzzy]

There is somewhere on this board army compositions for each of the factions represented in the mod. However these were made for EB 0.8x and do not really reflect the new units although you could use your imagination as there is some flexibility. I would however mostly agree with TURBO. Finding actually historical accounts, I can't be of great assistance, especially since I haven't slept all night writing a paper and it is now 9AM EST.

[Dooz]

Check it out, I put together a massively varied army from all over the islands once I had control of them in preparation for the mainland invasions years ago. I'm not really using it as the main army however, I mostly used it as a deterrent against the expanding Sweboz, stationed in a fort along my eastern border. That worked for a few decades but they eventually attacked so it's seen some action now. My main armies, which there are two of, are basically half stacks with equally varied troop types. After several years of tough wars in Europe however, I've upgraded to about 12 unit stacks now, which is still tough as nails and fun as hell. I just try to keep it as varied as possible, with as many different units as I can get in there to fill up 10-12 slots, while keeping elite units and champions to a maximum of 2.

[QwertyMIDX]

Should be mostly Gaeroas and Botroas with some slingers, champions, chariots and maybe a pony cav unit to round it out.

[Lovejoy]

If my general who is going to war is a "midlander", I build him a "midlander army" etc. This way I get all kinds of different lockin armies depending on my generals ethic. I find this really fun and it mix things up a little.

Here is a reconstruction of a army I used in a 0.8x camp.



The general was obviously a "midlander".

[Parkev]

As I am in the middle of a 0.8 Casse Campaign and AFAIK there haven't been that many unit changes, I'll run my army comp by you.

I have a core Casse army of 4 units and put in regional army of 4 to complement it. I use this in the mess of Gaul at the moment (trying to keep Romans behind the Alps by defending cities of the Gauls who are also trying to kill me)

Core Army
Time of Freemen
1 Iasotae (slings)
2 Gaeros (spears)
1 Botroas (swords)

Time of Bondsmen
1 Iasotae (slings)
2 Milnaht (Belgic Swords)
1 Calawre (champions)

Regional Army
Midlanders
1 Sotoroas (bowmen)
2 Midlander Spearmen
1 ML Champions

Goidils
1 Calendonian Swordsmen (don't worry, there's a good reason for that)
2 Goidilic Light Infantry
1 Goidilic Heavy Infantry (hammer guys)

Belgae
1 Sotoroas (bows)
2 Belgic Spears
1 Belgic Light Cav

As you can see I have a general ratio of missile:infantry:heroes/cav of 1:3/4:1. I also try to limit slingers to one units per 1200 men (ie 10%)

That gives me 4+4+a few generals to make 10.
It's a little Roman-esque, I know

[Rutilus Barbatus Carnifex]

Thanks for your input, this gives me plenty to think about - I particularly like your core + regional model Iberius.

Having taken all of the British Isles and Ireland, I decided to maintain my allegiances with the Gauls and instead swing north east for some Scandinavian Eleutheroi conquests - using a single expeditionary force of 2 FMs, 1 light cav unit, several units of Rycalawre and British Midlander Champions and an assortment of spearmen and slingers. So far so good. My army is being slowly whittled down by garrison requirements, so I'm setting up client tribes and building regional MICs to take care of that. I plan on resting on my laurels and consolidating for a few years, getting my economy back on track, before securing the Baltic region - and the core / regional mix sounds a good way forward. I'm going to attempt to plough through central and eastern Europe before breaking my alliances with the Sweboz and Gauls and mopping up the territories to the west needed for VICTORY!

[Juvenal]

I am playing Casse at present, but I am not particularly trying to make historical armies.

I like to have an army of 4 Gaeroas and 4 Botroas with 1 or 2 elite sword units to back them up (Calawre or Milnaht).

I always have at least 3 Iasotae and round the army out with a family member and a couple of Kluddoden (for garrison duty).

In battle, I am getting good results by engaging the enemy battle line with my Gaeroas and Botroas (with guard mode and fire-at-will) and flanking to the left with my Iasotae (with a Gaeroas escort) and my family member.

In siege assaults, Iasotae are very good chucking stones over the palisade while the rams advance. Against Oppidea I stock up on mercenaries - fighting on walls gets very bloody.

Almost all Casse troops seem to have javelins. I try hard to use them all.