Hi

I started a Franks campaign recently and it's fun. I took the army my faction heir had to attack the rebel town to the east (marcomanni) - the army is easily enough to take the town and it gave me income without building more units. I then moved north from there, taking chatii - unfortunately the saxons beat me to frisii. In the meanwhile I built up an army in my capital and when the first son came of age I took him to lead it against the Alemannii and destroyed that faction by laying siege to their town and keeping their faction heir (he had the field army) busy until they tried to sally, but couldn't break my siege.

In the meantime I allied with the burgunds, lombards, saxons and the WRE - none of them has turned their backs on me yet... I know the saxons will eventually have to die, but as for now they are busy, trying to invade britannia (I use toggle_fow from time to time to keep an eye on the world situation, which is great fun, watching the sassanids beat up the ERE and stuff like that ^^).

Then the Vandals arrived and started going after the WRE towns... they sacked the town in Pannonia (cant think of the name right now) and carnuntum. I took Pannonia but then they turned around, because they seemed to be discouraged by the larger piles the WRE sent through Raetia and I decided they were too big of a threat and attacked with my faction heir. Due to using him in almost every battle since the start (also for the occasional rebel slapping which I tend to do with the general alone most of the time (if the rebels dont feature nasty spear units in which case I usually take an archer unit with me) he had already night fighter, which made it a little easier. The vandals only had one general with 4 stars. I attacked him first of course and since I had a decent army by that time I managed to kill him and in the following turns reduced the vandal horde to some family members that tried to stay alive. all that fighting took place in pannonia... I actually wanted to destroy them but then their faction leader somehow slipped into italy and thus the fow and was never to be seen until now...

I sent my army to retrain (since the pannonia town wasnt upgraded enough I had to send them all the way back to vicus frankii) and then returned to noricum to capture the rebel carnuntum (the vandals sacked it, remember) - I thought: "Fine, in addition to my poor towns in the north this gives me a nice roman addition without ever loosing my alliance with the WRE" - well... the turn I laid siege on carnuntum the huns arrived... and the goths arrived... and the sarmatians arrived - idk... i think the huns horded the sarmatians and the vandals had already horded the goths before they went into my sight, but the goths tried to go a little ERE first... well but they came... I had allied the sarmatians while they were still stationary (they asked for it, sending a diplomat - they offered trade rights, map info and alliance - i asked for some money do agree and got it!) - well it seemes they didnt like me for that bargain and somehow they declared war, though they never attacked me (the little diplomacy thing came, telling me they were at war with me, but nothing happened - they went into the east again - just threatening me for my rudeness in the beginning I guess ;) ) - well the huns and goths weren't so nice... after they fought among themselves for the right to pillage my lands (they engaged in a multi stack fight in southern pannonia - the goths lost and buggered off into the south.... probably too beaten up to bother the ERE... we'll see) the huns marched north, ready to be met by my field army that had abandoned the siege of carnuntum... there I am right now - my faction heir full of scars, command stars and influence, sporting an Ego that would shame Elvis with a nice stack of troops facing these bad ass horseman... i fear for him... they have more than one general with night fighter it seems - after saving i tried to attack, but wherever I did, when I turned night on there were still enough reinforcements to outnumber me quite clearly... and I hate these nasty horse archers, especially when I have an infantry strong army... the problem is, the huns not only have them but also pretty nice close combat cavalry that could rip my battle line apart if I'm not careful... my tactic is to keep the battle line in place (using cavalry (my general, raiders... thats all I have for now) as support where the enemy concentrates) to keep my archers alive that could be my only hope to kill off the enemy horse archers - furtunately I have a good amount of these hunters in my army

So, some questions:

1. will shield wall reduce or add to the chance my battle line resists the cavalry charge? I heard that there are cases where it does more harm than good...
2. fire or plain arrows? fire should make those horses run faster, right?
3. I agree the spearmen do their job, but will they have any staying power against huns chosen warriors? (heavy cavalry) or will they simply be crushed, making my archers vulnerable? (I tend to turn skirmish off, since I prefer my archers doing their job instead of running around follishly... if they are in danger I can micro them away myself)

any experiences, someone?

oh yes I also wanted to ask, how I could convert the franks to christianity but since there were a lot of suggestions in this thread already I'll try those out :)