Turn 1
This message pops up as soon as the game starts


I know the Huns aren't far from me, I need to find them.
And find them I do


I upgrade my archery range for Virgin Horse Archers (which only take 1 turn to train compared to 2 for the Sarmatian Armored Archer), retrain all my units to give them the exp upgrade from the Temple. So ends turn 1.

That has got to be the shortest turn ever

good start could use a little more detail such as telling what unit u used to find the huns, but im expecting it to be promising.

@alman155:
Thanks for you suggestion, I will take note in the future.
I used the almighty spy of course

Turn 2
This is what I've been dreading since the start, but this is a bit too fast


And my spy finds the rest of the Hun horde


Here it is, the first battle of the campaign. Faction heir Rumo hires 2 unit of mercenaries and attack a rebel army. Odds in my favor.


The rebel army turned out to be... 2 units of steppe raiders. I charge my general right in


And the results. No surprise here




I train a unit of Sarmatian Armored Archers, move all but the Herdsmen from the capital south. So ends turn 2.

Another short turn

[This message has been edited by xingjianma (edited 08-30-2007 @ 09:42 AM).]

This is ok but u realy need more detail to ur description. If u can say what the odds are, what units u used, and how the battle was fought it would make ur descriptiton much better.

Umm no offence, but if you look at this image:

You will see the Army Strength Ratio at 5:2 and the units I used at the bottom which are Warlord, Runaway Slave Spearman, Herdsmen, Mercenary Alan Horse Archer, and Mercenary Sarmatian Archer.

[This message has been edited by xingjianma (edited 08-30-2007 @ 10:51 AM).]

i know i could look but it takes forever for pictures to load so i rely on the description.

Looking good Xingjianma. You said you were hoping to do this campaign without hording. Do you have any specific strategy in mind for that? Or for dealing the Huns?

What I did my previous Sarmatian campaign was take everything I had except one spearman to garrison my capital, and I attacked the Roxoloni. I took their city just before the Huns came and sacked mine! That way I stayed in the game without hording. Of course I went and horded soon after anyhow, but doing something similar something you might look at.

Yes, I think that's something I'd try as well. The Hun hordes have already gone past the Roxalani capital, so it ought to be safe enough.

From how things are now and the position of the Hun hordes, I'm pretty sure I won't be as lucky as last time

Turn 3

Nothing worth mentioning this turn, except this


Caught in between the 2 hordes is definitely no fun. If I want to avoid hording, I will have to take my forces from my capital and relocate, most likely east to the Roxoloni capital.

The action continues.

I am attacked by a Goths force after I ended my last turn


Horse Archers shoot arrows into the unshielded side of Goth Lancers


Warlord chasing down Steppe Raiders


And they rout


My Walord leading enemy Warlord on a wild goose chase.


While my Horse Archers obliterates the rest of his army


Something I didn't notice... until it's too late


My Warlord continueously leading the enemy Warlord in a clockwise circle around my horse archers, so they keep firing into the unshielded side






My units converge on the depleted enemy Warlord unit, and he routs.


The Warlord almost got away


The results


Literally a bloodless victory. All units lost were from the Warlord unit, which will be replenished once it's my turn.


I guess shooting down peasants really gives you experience


More later.

[This message has been edited by xingjianma (edited 08-31-2007 @ 11:35 AM).]

Some good micro tactics going on.

In that final picture I see your infantry scored no kills. Thats so often the case in my battles also. Once I have mobility and missiles I concentrate on making them better and better. Poor infantry plays a minor role in my games.

Re your town. Build walls and try to defend it? Or abandon it? Depends how many HA you can get and if you can afford it.

Doesnt look an easy campaign those Sarmatians.

Excellent horse archer tactics. I also find little use for infantry when playing horse factions. Typically I only use them to protect my foot archers, or in storming cities. All the heavy lifting is done by the horsemen.

I also found that I often take more casualties from friendly fire than enemy action when playing a horse archer faction. Lately I have been able to abate that somewhat by ordering my units to stop and taking them out of fire at will mode when the enemy routs, then waiting a bit before sending my light cavalry in to run them down.

@Severous:
I actually got the idea from your campaigns, where you often use your own HA to lead enemies in a clockwise circle around the city walls. And yes, I queued Wooden Palisades and 4 unit of Virgin Horse Archers before I ended Turn 3.

@SubRosa:
I used to have quite a bit of problems with friendly fire. But I tend to use HA more heavily in chasing down routers. As long as you keep Fire at Will off and pay a little extra attention, it will be fine.

Bah, for some reason I lost the AutoSave, so I have to start from the turn before. So essentially, the battle will have to be refought. Hope I can do as well. Will post the results once I finish.

EDIT: Here it is

[This message has been edited by xingjianma (edited 08-31-2007 @ 10:13 PM).]

Turn 4
Not much I can do this turn, since I'm bankrupt. I move my faction heir's army from the fort to right next to my capital, and my faction leader's army as close to Colonia Dacia as possible, and ends the turn.

Boom!
After moving around my capital for 2 turns, the Huns finally lay siege. 2 stacks right outside my capital and another one just behind it. Ouch.

Turn 5
I sally. Biggest battle of the campaign. Not going to be easy. The good news is I have HA superioity, and the enemy reinforcements are not likely to join the battle.


I keep my Herdsmen and Virgin Foot Archers facing the enemy while my HA and general go out a side gate.

Virgin Foot Archers shooting down enemy HA


HA continuously shooting into unshielded side of those Hun Horde Chosen Warriors.


HA shootout. Good thing I have Cantabarin Circle, or I'd lose a lot more


Hunnic HA caught by Herdsmen


And they rout


Another unit of HA taken care of




Finally, the long-awaited reinforcements.


What!! They're under AI control? I must have checked and unchecked the AI Reinforcements box 10 times, but it still bugs up!! This is going to put a serious dent in my plans, especially if the enemy reinforcement stack shows up...

Warlord leads a unit of HA and a unit of Hun Horde Chosen Warrior right into the midst of my HA, where they are routed by a few barrage of arrows


The AI general charges headfirst into a unit of Hun Horde Spearman, and... routs it upon contact...


Then they get caught by the enemy warlord


And rout. Ouch


My HA and warlord surround another unit of spearman


And they rout upon contact. Again


Divide and conqueror, what a brilliant strategy. Another unit of Chosen Warriors go down




What a battle！ Truly Countless Bodies!



Here goes another unit of spearman


Ouch. My Warlord got caught by the enemy warlord. That's minus 1 general for me


I promptly converge on the offending enemy Warlord with all I've got, but unfortunately, I didn't manage to kill him. Rest assured, Palacus, you will be avenged!


The results：Quite a costly battle




If I can't retrain my troops this turn, I'm dead meat. Good thing Colonia Dacia doesn't have walls, and doesn't have too big a garrison. If I can take it this turn and exterminate, I should get enough money to cover my 3000 denari deficit and have enough money leftover to retrain all my troops and upgrade to Wooden Walls.

Here it is. I've already tried it twice, but the Goths always withdraw all troops to the Plaza. Unfortunately I'm starting school tomorrow, I doubt I will be able to play as often or make progress as fast. But rest assured, I will definitely keep on it!

[This message has been edited by xingjianma (edited 09-07-2007 @ 09:40 AM).]

That was a painful fight. Very tight spot you are in, with the Hun horde breathing down your neck like that. I hope you can get enough money out of Colonia Dacia to stay afloat. Otherwise Vicus Sarmatae will probably fall soon. If that happens Colonia Dacia will be your capital and new base of operations. Desperate situations like this are what makes RTW exciting!

Take a look over your last post, you said this part twice:

If I can't retrain my troops this turn, I'm dead meat. Good thing Colonia Dacia doesn't have walls, and doesn't have too big a garrison. If I can take it this turn and exterminate, I should get enough money to cover my 3000 denari deficit and have enough money leftover to retrain all my troops and upgrade to Wooden Walls.

I think you only meant it at the end.

[This message has been edited by SubRosa (edited 09-02-2007 @ 06:38 PM).]

Awesome. That campaign shot of the hun horde converging on your town. Not much chance even if you do retrain. Good luck.

Oops, don't know what I'm doing with all these typos and mistakes. Here's the image I meant to post at the end of the last post.


@SubRosa:
Well, here's what I think:
If the extermination of Colonia Dacia can bring in 6000+ (which it should, considering it's the Goths' starting capital, which means it should have around a 10000 population), I'm definitely exterminating, and I will try to hold Vicus Sarmatae. If it doesn't bring in that much, then I'm probably just going to occupy, just in case I have to horde. Yes, these decisions are one of the fun things about campaigns. I don't think I've ever been in such a tight spot before.

Oh and BTW, thanks for pointing out the typo


@Severous:I'm not nearly as good as you, but I'm confident I can beat them if they only bring on 1-2 stack at a time. But I don't know where the money for retraining will come from after Colonia Dacia. Maybe I'll try to take Sirinum next.

Going to play right now, will probably post tomorrow.

If you are sieging and want to see how many people are in their city, attack then withdraw, this won't break the siege, but will show their army and some or all of the city info.

Night battle sallies; best way to take on one or two stacks at a time. Otherwise you'll have at least three stacks on you at once, with a possible fourth waiting to join.

Good job so far. Best of luck versus the Huns.

@CaesarVincens:
Yes. a little trick I find quite useful sometimes.
Unfortunately, my faction heir who leads the garrison in Vicus Sarmatae can't lead night battles. Does anyone know how this trait is gained?

Thank you. I'm hoping the Huns will turn away after, say, another defeat.

Five command to gain night fighter. I've seen this, and you don't even need to have it all the time, just when attacking is sufficient.

Ouch... My faction heir is only a 1 star general...

The assault of Colonia Dacia

Spearman pin the Gothic Spearman from the front


Bodies are thrown up off the ground as my cavalry charge


And they rout


Same thing with the Runaway Slave Spearman




A unit of HA try to lure the enemy Warlord away from the plaza


Didn't work. So I try my Warlord... Perfect, they take the bait


Same thing all over again... Warlord leading the enemy Warlord in a clockwise circle around my HA




My Warlord and HA converge on the smaller of the 2


Routs almost immediately upon contact


And the enemy general falls


Here I made a small mistake. I kept my Spearman away from the fighting, but they got charged by the enemy Warlord while my cavalry were still quite a bit of distance away


Fortunately they held out, and the enemy Warlord routs under combined pressure from all sides


So ends the Gothic Faction Leader


HA shooting into unshielded side of Gothic Spearman


I take control of the plaza while the Gothic Spearman chase after my HA


And finally, the results. I'm quite pleased to be honest. Most of what I lost were expendable troops, ie from the Spearman and Warlord unit




Extermination of Colonia Dacia brought in quite a lot, more than enough for retraining depleted troops in Vicus Sarmatae.


So ends turn 5.

Most heroics are satisfying. The ones where you take down lots of enemy generals and gain a city are some of the best. Lots of good battle tactics going on. Well done.

Sev

Excellent work! That general with the 95 bodyguards is a tough nut to crack.

Now even if worse comes to worse and you lose Vicus Sarmatae you will stay alive in Dacia.

@Severous: Thanks for the compliment. The heroics are one of the intriguing aspects of the game, wouldn't you say? Most of the battle tactics... learned from Severous the Cunning

BTW, what have you been up to lately? I haven't seen an AAR from you in quite a long time, which is pretty unusual Are you still playing RTW?


@SubRosa: Well actually, it was 97 bodyguards but I know what you mean. Warlords in BI are a real pain in the ***. But I seem to recall you taking out 4 in an assault, and Severous 6, so ...

The plan is not to lose Vicus Sarmatae.If I do, I lose almost my entire army, my faction heir, and a potential settlement to horde from. Colonia Dacia only has 1000 population now, which equals less than 1 stack if I horde...

Might play some more later today. And imageshack is being stupid again...

[This message has been edited by xingjianma (edited 09-08-2007 @ 09:39 PM).]

Actually that was me who killed the 6 generals. When I took Colonia Dacia from the Goths and horded them.