Looks good so far.

I'm kinda annoyed by this one because Narbo Martius wasn't in my immediate thoughts. I will try and fulfill their wishes while I expand west.

Yeah, I was a little surprised by that too. I've never been told to go that far west right away. Are you going to fulfill the mission at all? If you want to make it on time, you'd better take boats.

Patavium is enslaved because it grows so fast and the slave trade will bring in extra money for the short term.

I actually find that exterminating makes the town grow even slower than enslaving since there is less people in the settlement making babies. As for extra money short term, I don't think (I'm not sure) that the slave trade does anything for your income, I think it only affects your population growth.

Keep up the good work!

11/1 Edited pics from first post to this one.

General Zavier, I am planning to take Narbo Martius, I usually try to do as the Senate asks to a certain point. Garnering favor with them has it's uses as holding senate offices typically gives influence to generals and whatnot. I just figured they'd ask me to take Caralis next like they usually do, but no two games are the same in RTW. It's just going to be hard to make it there. Also I believe for 10 turns after enslavement slaves do become a tradeable resource, I'll have to double check my trade summary.

As always the Senate has a task for us.


Vibius Julius moves in to fulfill the Senate's wishes.


After a quick battle on the town square we are victorious.


The Senate reward is a nice one.


During the Gaul's turn they offer trade rights which we decline.


The Senate has a new task for us.


I'm kinda annoyed by this one because Narbo Martius wasn't in my immediate thoughts. I will try and fulfill their wishes while I expand west.

My faction leader sieges Patavium. The Gauls and Rome are at war.


I tell Fadia she can do better.


My faction leader assaults Patavium.


Two rams batter holes in the wall while my archers fire on a warband.


Romans stream through the breaches and the warband my archers had whittled down evaporates before I could take a screenshot.


Hastati are marched to the town square where they kill the remaining Gaul defenders.



Patavium is enslaved because it grows so fast and the slave trade will bring in extra money for the short term.


My faction heir attacks some rebels near Patavium.


The only thing interesting about this battle was the giant rock formation smack dab in the center of the battlefield.


I guess I didn't take a screen of a "clear victory", here are the stats.


The Gauls send their troops west rather than defending Mediolanium so my faction leader moves in to take it. A spy has snuck into the settlement as well...


Fadia brings one home that's fairly decent, so I let the poor girl get married. This one has some administration skill so he'll govern Arminum for now.


My spy does his job and the gates are open when Flavius assaults Mediolanium.


I split my forces to enter two gates at once. Here my triarii and hastati crash the gates and do battle with Gallic swordsmen while Flavius and the other hastati have already wiped out a warband.


All forces converge on the town square where the Gallic general meets his end.


Victory. Mediolanium is occupied by Roman forces. Flavius is now a vanquisher.



Amulius comes of age. I think I'll send him to build watchtowers and collect pinecones.


A couple of turns go by to let my new towns settle and complete some building projects. As Flavius crosses into Gallic territory again I see they're waiting for me.


I get the feeling they're trying to delay my advance as they march some troops right up to Flavius but don't attack. So I oblige them.


We deploy on the side of the hill at the outset, which flanks their initial deployment. They would of course turn and face us as I order my men to take the high ground.


The AI seems to know how deadly a pila barrage is and charge my line as I'm getting set up.


My line engages the Gauls while Flavius cuts a swath through the Gallic left flank sending them running for their lives. The reinforcements would withdraw.


Another victory for Flavius, he would add a military tribune retinue after this fight.



After the victory Flavius would then siege Massilia. I have another army on it's way to Narbo Martius by boat, I just hope they have some movement left after disembarking because the Senate mission deadline is approaching.

Looking good so far. I have never played the Julii, so it will be interesting to see them in action. What kind of temples do they have? I think there was a farming one and a fun one right? I forget the third. I found that building farming temples is an excellent way to get the tiny settlements barbarians have up and off the ground population wise. Not to mention farming usually makes more money in barbarian cities than trade. So if you have them, I suggest you make good use of them.

SubRosa I can't believe you've never played the Julii! They have some decent temples. Ceres grants a population growth increase and happiness, though imo it should grant improved farms but what do I know. They also have Bacchus which grants a large happiness bonus, but tends to produce governors who are drunken louts so I stay away from that one. The last is Jupiter which will be my temple of choice in 99% of my cities because of the law bonus and arcani. Priests of Jupiter are always nice too, 1 command, 1 management, 1 influence. The cities I want an imperial palace in I'll build the Ceres temples in until they reach 24k, then I'll replace them with Jupiter.

Back to the action...

The Gauls attempt to break the siege of Massilia. I don't like what I see here as they have a decided cavalry advantage.


I decide to deploy on the top of this hill rather than risk being sandwiched by two armies at a river crossing.


The reinforcing army enters right behind where I had set up so my men are ordered to wheel about and face them.


My men get into position just in time before the right side of our line is charged by Gallic infantry.


Flavius manouvered and charged into the left flank of the Gallic line, routing one of their warbands and inciting the Gallic general to commit his cavalry. Here Flavius leads the barbarian cavalry into the Roman line. After Flavius made it through he would charge right back into the fray and rout the barbarian cavalry.


Then he would charge the Gallic general and kill him personally. (I just missed the screenshot!)


Seeing their warlord fall causes a mass rout, and Flavius would do his best to mop up the routers while my infantry again took a defensive position at the top of the hill.


All of this had taken place before the other Gallic army could even completely cross the river. A unit of warband walks up the hill and are torn to pieces by my archers. They would rout and get mopped up by a nearly exhausted Flavius.


I move my archers into a position where I was hoping they'd cause a bunch more casualties, but from where the Gallic army is now they charge directly up the hill.


A furious melee ensues and I am so caught up in the battle I forget to take some screenshots of what was really going on. This one shows my men fighting for their lives as Flavius charges downhill into a skirmisher warband. The melee here is so touch and go I even commit my archers into melee combat.


Flavius routs the skirmishers, and several of the remaining Gallic infantry do as well. The only one who hasn't broken and ran at this point is the remaining Gallic general.


He would lose his nerve a few seconds later and flee the field, I pulled back to review the scene and bodies are everywhere. Roman Virtus was tested this day.


We come away victorious, but badly in need of retraining.


This is why people (and I) say triarii stink. They are clearly outperformed by hastati.


Massilia is captured!


When it's my turn again I find out that Flavius has gained in trait and retinue.


Quintus Julis arrives with reinforcements and will attempt to take Narbo Martius. At this point my spy has to open the gates next turn or the Senate mission will fail.


During the Gaul's turn they attack this new army near Narbo Martius.


I hide my infantry in the woods with a little cavalry support while deploying my general to their left. As the battle ensues they march toward my general but start to become seperated while walking by the farm. This is precisely what I wanted.


My cavalry begins to isolate their warbands. As one charges after an equites unit...


Quintus charges into the rear.


More warbands just a little too far apart from each other. Note a member of one of my equites units dies here for no apparent reason here.


More warband isolation, this unit chasing my general while equites prepare to annihilate them.


Meanwhile their reinforcements stumble across my troops in the woods.


My line charges out of the woods to meet the slightly tired reinforcements. My fresh troops rout the enemies quickly, my cavalry barely has enough time to circle and pick off a few non routers.


Soon the Gauls decide to call it a day and run away. My cavalry will mop up all the routers they can.


Rome victorious!



Hopefully the Gauls are now on their heels, as I'm concerned about not being able to train troops in these small towns. If I could set "no taxes" instead of low taxes in Massilia to encourage it to grow I would!

IMO get lots of these barbarian mercenaries in the surrounding regions and disband them in massilia^^

Btw imo the early Julii campaign is incredibly easy since hastati slaughter warbands so badly and just a few generals/archers and maybe a unit of equites or two can do whatever else is needed...

Later on with the brits its getting a tad harder, but still not that much

Looks good. Good luck! Julii was the first faction I ever played with. You definitely want to try to get into Greece ahead of the Brutii, you don't make much from north Europe.

Killa, barbarian roasting is fun, but they're not the only ones I'll be at war with.

Xingjianma, Greece is on my mind and I will be sending troops that way, but just for a select few cities if I can grab them. I'm actually much more interested in taking Rhodes and Halicarnassus for their bonuses. Playing the Julii I pretty much count on the Brutii and Egypt to be my chief problem late game.

Yet for all that I will start phase two of my expansion plans, Rome and Carthage are at war!


Yet more rebels to be dealt with, I pull together what's available and attack.


Everything went as planned except...

Vibius Julius has died. I'm stunned honestly, freak occurence, ugh.




We sign a couple trade agreements...



Next turn the Senate yells at me for not taking Narbo Martius in time.

The irony.


Quintus assaults Narbo Martius, this won't be a fair fight.


They deploy their captain alone near a gate. Cavalry overwhelms him.


The warband fares no better. They were taunting my hastati as my cavalry charged in from behind. Narbo Martius is occupied.


We are now the largest faction.


Manius Julius comes of age. Ho hum, these kids are nothing like my faction leader & heir, methinks the Julii women need to stop sleeping with everyone but their husbands.


Caralis is assaulted.


Caralis' defense was pathetic as they had town watch and peasants.


The Gallic faction leader comes out and sieges Narbo Martius, Quintus will sally.


The fighting is most intense moments before the Gallic king joins his ancestors.


Another victory for Quintus.



The Senate has a new task for us as well. On this one they can bite my bireme cause I only have two ships, neither of which will go get sunk by Carthage's large navy.


My spy informs me that the Gauls will be quiet for a few turns. This is precisely what I need right now because Narbo and Massilia are close to growth and meanwhile I'm going to war in the south...

[This message has been edited by Krymzon74 (edited 11-03-2007 @ 04:50 AM).]

Watch for Gauls- it's not an easily defended town, Narbo.

Looks good. Good luck! Julii was the first faction I ever played with. You definitely want to try to get into Greece ahead of the Brutii, you don't make much from north Europe.

I agree. On my first campaign ever I landed at Sparta and stole most of Greece. It also made the civil war interesting.

And if you let Brutii take and hold Greece (especially from early on), you're going to have tons of trouble taking them out in the Civil War.

Ouch, that was a hard break losing Vibius like that. Well, I guess your other generals will have to breed some more to make up for it...

That was good work in that river battle. I liked how you used the hill to maximize your archer's range.

I never played the Julii before because as much as I like the color red, I like green better. So in my first and only Roman campaign (not counting the swap), I played the Brutti. Maybe some day I will get around to doing a Julii campaign, but there are so many other interesting factions in both RTW and BI that it will probably be a while.

I am surprised that Ceres does not give a farming bonus as well, being that she is an agricultural deity. Maybe one of the other Roman factions has a farming temple, so they could not give the Julii one as well? Though still, it would seem like calling it a Temple of Juno would have been a better pick for the population and happiness bonus than one of Ceres.

EoJ, Narbo will see much action in the future, the Gauls seem hellbent on taking it back.

SubRosa, the Ceres thing has me a bit miffed as well. I dunno that they really did their research on that one. The Julii kinda get the shaft in temples compared to the other families, and this is a weakness that'll become apparent as events unfold. We have no temples to boost our trade income or give extra exp to our troops, so thoughtfull planning is required before the civil war.

Ok, back to the Empire...

Checking the trade summary at Patavium slaves are indeed a tradeable resource.


Narbo Martius grows, hopefully I can complete the governors villa and build a stables before the Gauls can reform again.


Another trade agreement is signed.


My faction leader goes back into action against some rebels.


An easy victory.


Next turn Massilia expands, this bodes well for the western front.


Yet another trade agreement.


Watchtower boy Amulius attacks some Gallic infantry...


and a heroic victory is the result. If only he wasn't crazy, and this won't be the last time I say this.


Remember that Senate mission I scoffed at? Well the Roman Senate has sent their navy into the midst of the Carthaginian navy, thinning their numbers considerably. My two little biremes shoot through the gap and deliver a surprise.


Yet more fighting with rebels, I lead the attack with a captain hoping to get a man of the hour.


At the outset we deploy in the center of the field, as do they.


After dispensing their pila hastati engage the rebel line. Equites are ordered to gallop slightly beyond the rebel flank.


As soon as my equites pass the rebel line they charge the rebel general from both sides.


He is slain moments later.


Two rebel units rout immediately after their general falls, the remaining two would rout as soon as cavalry was ordered to charge into their backs.


I wouldn't get a man of the hour for this...


However I do get my first famous battle marker.


The Senate expresses it's displeasure as I've failed another Senate mission. I honestly do try and complete as many of these as I can but so far they've been asking me to do things I don't want to or just won't.


Decius Julius comes of age. Again, ho hum.


Roman generals play with some rebels near Patavium.


Carthage is assaulted, the count of our warriors will show you who is truly favored by the gods, it is not our foe. This will be an all cavalry affair except for the hastati taking the walls to open a gate.


The Carthaginian faction leader drinks with his ancestors.


He was a tough old man though, Carthage gave as good as she got.


Rebellious easterners are put to the sword, 18k is added to my treasury.


The Senate asks for trade rights with Germania.


So we get them. (I had a diplomat right there)


Another 1000 denarii ends up in my coffers.


The next level of growth in Carthage is an imperial palace. It's at this point Egypt and the Julii begin to flip flop as the most advanced factions.


More rebel bashing close to home.



And yet another trading partner.


The Senate wants me to start another war. I will, but Thapsus has to fall first.


Yet more rebel bashing close to home. It seems a new rebel army pops up every turn.


A shot of the action...


The outcome was never in doubt.


That's it for now, don't want this post to be too big, will update again tonight if I have time.

Good work by watchtower maker. Not to mention taking Carthage so early in the game. That should be a big money-maker for you, and will probably stop the Scipii from ever getting off Sicily.

I did a little digging on Ceres, and I found out that while originally a grain goddess, somewhere around 500 BCE she came to also be associated with human fertility as well. Yet her primary emphasis remained with crops. In fact the protection of the urban grain supply was her domain as late as the Imperial era.

Ave SubRosa, the Ceres temples should be just like the Milqart(sp?) ones Carthage and Numidia have imo. I use Ceres temples in cities that don't have enough farming output to push them over 24k population. After an imperial palace is built in these cities I destroy the Ceres temples and replace them with the Jupiter series for the law bonus.

I trained a spy in Carthage to gather information on the rest of Carthage's forces in the area. He informed me that the garrison of Thapsus was very beatable, so I sent cavalry from Carhtage to siege Thapsus. They couldn't quite make it there that turn so the next turn my spy enters Thapsus, the infantry joins the cavalry, and my spy opens the gates. I love it when a plan comes together.


Where the last fight with Carthage was an all cavalry affair this one will be all infantry. Counting on the defenders to try and cover all the open gates I concentrate my forces at one gate. My assumption is correct as the battle begins.


As the first column of hastati begin to stream through the open gates the second column is ordered to march to the town square. This gives the first column time to clear the way and ensure that nearly fresh hastati will be available for the fight at the town square.


The first column of hastati is fighting and routing most of these Iberian infantry units one by one.


This shot gives a clear indication at just how hopeless Carthage's position is. The first column of hastati still leads the way while the second plods along behind.


The new Carthaginia faction leader joins the former.


The Roman military machine is rolling along now.


Quarellsome easterners are again put to the sword.


The Gauls are massing near Narbo Martius again, not wanting them to get their army together the newly retrained cavalry of Narbo Martius rides out to meet them.


You may have noticed there's another small Gallic army with generals nearby so watchtower boy is here as an extra unit of heavy cavalry. I want to take these two armies out individually this turn. So naturally in this fight I don't want a lot of casualties. I deploy the crazy one in the middle of the field, with equites on the far flanks, and Quintus sitting back with a barbarian cavalry bodyguard. Should I lose Amulius in this fight I'd be ok with it, so I send him out by himself to stand in front of the Gallic line. They don't move so Amulius gallops from where the "x" is around the Gallic line, this causes them to start shifting their line but horses are faster than men. (Pardon the poor drawing, but it's enough to get the idea) Around the other side of the Gallic line Amulius finds a clear shot at the back of the captain's unit and takes it. He didn't rout them but he severely impacts their morale, it's at this point I have Amulius dart away again behind the Gallic line.


The Gauls give chase with two warbands. Amulius tries to seperate them but they stay together. So Amulius circles the entire Gallic line and on this time around finds a unit of warband with their backs turned. He charges into their backs and routs them with mass casualties.


He runs down the routers while dodging pursuit, here he's killing the last router before charging into the other warband giving chase.


An exhausted Amulius charges into that last warband, but his fatigue is very evident so I pull him back out and gallop the remaining cavalry foreward.


After equites hit the Gallic flanks the Gauls turn and run, their fear of the Roman cavalry is evident by this warband routing after taking a single casualty.


Losses are light just as I had hoped.



Again, if only he wasn't nuts...


Time to deal with this other Gallic army.


The Gallic general had hidden his troops in the woods but as we move to encircle his position he comes out of hiding.


Gallic cavalry charges my mercs and runs right in between my generals and equites. They are charged from both sides and crushed.


With such impressive tacticts the Gauls are soon running for their lives again, and both generals escape. Grrr.


Back to back heroic victories.



As the dust settles I notice something new on the campaign map. My second famous battle marker.


It's at this point that I'll pause and say that the cavalry tactics I've just used against the Gauls I learned from reading Sev's and SubRosa's AARs. Playing as Scythia has helped my cavalry use tremendously as well. Until recently I would not have fought these two battles as I used to insist on having infantry in front of me.

More rebel bashing is done by my faction heir, I just love these shots...


He has been gaining some good traits from this, our faction is in good hands for the future.


Carthage begs for mercy, I say no.


Faction leader in action against yet more rebels...


He has become a mighty man with a fearsome reputation. He has a large retinue that I'll have to pass along soon because he's getting old.


That's probly going to be my last update tonight as I'm pretty busy here at work. Here's a preview of coming attractions...


The Germans and Gauls have signed an alliance. This means Massilia and Narbo Martius will be seeing all kinds of fighting. I'm not expanding any further north right now though because I'm giving these little barbarian towns some time to grow. It's at this point I will be cutting back on the screenshots of fights as well. There's a ton of rebels around and there will be lots and lots of Numidian armies with 3-4 units. I will still document anything important that happens and city sieges, just not the little fish.

Nice one

More rebel bashing is done by my faction heir, I just love these shots...

I don't know if you can in RTW, but in M2TW at least you can make the UI go into minimal mode and get even better ones

Judging from your pics, I'd say most had come round from the west. Thus, I'm betting the next Gallic wave will come from just N of Massila, although blocking that little fjord north of narbo might be a good move.

Quoted from Enemy of Jupitor:

I don't know if you can in RTW, but in M2TW at least you can make the UI go into minimal mode and get even better ones

Yes you can do that in RTW as well. Just go to the RTW\Preferences\Preferences.txt file. Find MINIMAL_UI: and change it from FALSE to TRUE. I have never tried it myself, so I am not sure how it looks.

Can't you do it by pressing ESC then onto UI options?

Nope.

My version of RTW doesn't support the minimal ui feature. I play this wonderful game on an old pc, and my screens show it. I've put this out here because AAR's are a good learning tool. I've learned a lot from reading them, and I'm learning more by putting this out here for everyone to see. I still make big tactical errors from time to time, and I may even get to one in my update tonight. It's just part of the process of getting better at this game. This is only my second very hard campaign, and up until about a month ago I was still playing on easy and medium difficulty levels. This is more fun for sure, the higher difficulties means lots more fighting and a more agressive AI.

Ok, tons of fighting today. A roller coaster ride like I've never had playing RTW before. Here we go...

As you saw from my last update we go to war with Numidia, this little fight starts things off.



Then another sally with Gaul


Cavalry goes out a side gate while infantry stands and waits. As my cavalry rounds the corner of the city infantry are ordered to take positions like so.


The Gauls can't resist and charge the infantry.



Even though I made a mistake and sent the hastati too early my cavalry hits the Gauls from behind in time.


Two of the three Gallic generals die in this fight.


Victory



The Senate has a new task, but with the ridiculousness of their requests becoming more and more apparent I'm pretty much going to ignore them.


Another Numidian army is attacked yet when they see us on the field they withdraw. Cirta is then besieged.


Another son of Rome comes of age.


Cirta is assaulted


Disposable troops man the rams and batter some holes in the wall. Their troops are massed to the left and right of the screen here but mostly to the right side.


Infantry storms through the breach, mercs first, you don't have to pay dead men.


Their general is killed


The fight over the breach continues, they are sending eastern infantry to hit my hastati from behind. Equites will wait until they pass...


The remainder of them are mopped up after this.


Settlement captured and exterminated. Public order is a big problem in these eastern cities.




I also take Kydonia this turn. The archers in the city were charged by equites, the reinforcements plodded along so slow that the timer ran out. I just ended it, no point in taking casualties when I'll need every soldier for the garrison. The population was 1940 when I showed up and I wasn't going to exterminate it back to 400.



Manius has become "the mighty" now as well.


A conquest of Iberia is in the works so I cancel trade with the Spanish.


My faction leader dies


It's at this point all hell breaks loose. I had a general who was going to pick up Flavius' amazing retinue this turn...


He was right there! He with another army I had staged north of Osca were going to hit the Iberians in two places at once. I should have stuck to this plan. I also fail a Senate mission to blockade Sparta. Next turn I get a new general.


The Senate asks me to blockade the port at Sparta again. I do this to spite them.


Macedon has allied itself with Dacia, Thrace, AND Scythia, I've never seen this happen before. Perhaps they didn't appreciate me signing a trade agreement with the Greeks? What's with the huge army that shows up outta nowhere at Kydonia? Whatever, Rome and Macedon are now at war.


Before this fight I checked to see if this Gallic general was insane as well. His unit card says he isn't.



But he may as well be.



Remember my expansion plans? Well they're cut short when the Germans come to dinner at Massilia. I recall my forces north of Osca to come relieve Massilia, my general with the fleet will take Palma.


Reinforcements arrive at Massilia, I take note that a couple of their units have silver chevrons, one of them a spear warband.


Reinforcements are delayed, there's no reason for it other than bad luck because together my armies make 19 units. I take a defensive position at the bridge in case Germania decides to rush over to my side of the river.


After standing there a while the reinforcements finally show.


A view of the scene. Reinforcements march toward the stalemate at the bridge.


Here's my first mistake in this battle, reinforcements move to flank the German line, I should have approached from directly behind them, surrounded them, and well, Shoulda woulda coulda.


At this point I think things will go my way quite handily as the German warlord charges away from his troops to meet the reinforcements.


He's dead moments later.


The equites with the reinforcements refuse to follow my orders when I tell them to stop chasing some routers and dive straight into some german spears so they rout. My hastati crossing the bridge seemed to wish to be polite to eachother and kept saying to eachother "after you", "no after you", "nono I instist after you." Bottom line is they're way late crossing the bridge as is my cavalry.


The reinforcements are getting shredded along the riverbank. I get control of my routing cavalry again, but my hastati are mass routing in this pic.


Cavalry is way too late to do anything about the hastati mass rout. These warbands by the bridge are attacked from behind and destroyed. After which I pull all remaining forces together.


Seeing us reform the Germans take the high ground. Time is an enemy now too so I make one last desperate charge to win this thing. Hastati will hit the German left while equites run around the right and take out a unit of skirmishers.


My plan is working, the German women and skirmishers have routed and my cavalry is now behind the spears.


The last unit to rout is a spear warband. These must be the silver chevron troops as I hit them from behind with cavalry and surrounded them with infantry. They just refused to break, and even killed off the unit of cavalry that charged em from behind. Lord Terikel doth grin.


Ouch, and ouch again. That was both ugly and painful.



After the battle a spy tells me...


This is the fun of playing the Julii, the barbarians are relentless.

Palma is ours now.


Diplomats bring news of trade agreements.



Next turn that Gallic army sieges Narbo Martius. They are treated to a warm Roman welcome.




So there's a down and an up, I'll save the rest for tomorrow.

[This message has been edited by Krymzon74 (edited 11-05-2007 @ 04:32 AM).]

Ouch, phyrric victory indeed. Are your troops-building centers pumping everything they've got?
Stupid question, really

At some stage you're going to have to go on the offensive against the Gauls, and I really won't like to be in the army that gets that campagin

nice AAR, but i'm not too keen on your conquests in both europe AND africa... opening up more than 2 fronts can be tricky and incredibly exhausting for your forces, especially when the fronts are so far apart, its going to get harder in the long run, because your empire will get bigger, and your forces more thinly spread out.
i reccomend gaining peace one one of your fronts so you can just focus on one, (barbarians + peace = useless)

Rough battle there with the Germans. At least you still won though.

By any chance are you a Farscape fan?

EoJ, I'm heading north pretty soon as you'll see. At this stage of the campaign my army cost is around 14.5k with an income of about 17k. I've slightly over extended myself as you'll see in this update. Construction projects have ground to a halt and I'm having a hard time even retraining troops after battles. Coming up I will massacre ('cause of public order, I'd rather have the tax base) a few cities to fund shipwright projects and whatnot to get my economy going again. I've noticed from the Gallic army composition that Alesia can train principes and archers. This is my main target as I head north, then with some heavy infantry and archers to combine with the cavalry getting all the exp lately I'll finally have a balanced army. Once that occurs these barbarians are in big trouble.

jimUK, I went into Africa to cut off the Scipii advance to make them easy to get rid of during the civil war. The Brutii will be very tough come civil war time so I will also need the great incomes of Thapsus and Carthage. I had planned to cut off the Brutii advance a bit while they fought Macedon but that didn't work out. Macedon landed it's grand army at Kydonia and it took me several turns to get rid of it. Plan backfired. Numidia is going to give me a harder time than I'm used to but the boost to the economy from the ports in northern Africa is worth it to me. Once all of northern Africa is mine I will only have to keep a garisson in Lepcis Magna to repel Egypt and a small army for rebel bashing. That's way down the road yet as I haven't even taken Lepcis yet, but I will.

SubRosa, I can tell you I've watched every episode of the first couple seasons. I'm more of a Star Wars n Babylon 5 fan though. If the technology ever presents itself to have a Star Wars total war game it'll probly be the last game I buy. That'd be a hard game to make though with all the flying units and laser blasting.

Ok, let's continue with the wildest part of the ride.

In the south Dimmidi is assaulted.


I create two entry points for my troops.


As usual the ai heavily defends one and lightly defends the other. This is about as tough as it got in this fight.


Dimmidi is captured and exterminated.



Macedon is being dealt with at Kydonia. Here light lancers had lined up in a column formation. Peasants and two hastati charged the first one in line, two units of equites for the second, one unit of equites for the third. I lost 3 peasants before they all rout.


I try to drive away a Numidian army at Thapsus.


I fail miserably, their cavalry is faster than mine and won the game of local supremacy. I got my head handed to me in this one. Thapsus goes to Numidia.


After I end the turn three things happen.

I get a new general,


I fail a Senate mission,


and I lose Carthage.


...

...

Time to regroup.

I take out my misfortune on some Germans.


My cavalry kills theirs while hastati cause casualties with a pila barrage.


Once the cavalry is dead the spears are surrounded and killed.


Victory



The Senate also asks that I get a trade agreement with Spain again. I will do this because I'm marching north to meet the German/Gaul alliance and don't need Spain knocking at Narbo Martius as well.

Meanwhile the war with Macedon continues.


Hastati will hit a blind spot and start running the walls, eventually meeting their archers and killing them.


Cretans also take to the walls and shoot these guys in the back.


Once the gatehouse is taken mercenary hoplites deal with some lancers.


Here light lancers are baited into chasing my general. He will lead them right into my hoplites.


Corinth is captured and exterminated. The statue will help with my order problems.




I have done as the Senate asked, and when it comes time to elect officials the Senate keeps their word.




Ok, since sci-fi was mentioned earlier in this post I'll just say that this is the part where The Empire Strikes Back. The army that took Palma has sailed to Africa and sieged Carthage. Numidia tried to sally from Carthage, a 1 to 1 battle, and a few escape, but not many.


I'm forced to exterminate Carthage again, 28,000 have now been murdered there. I will hold onto Carthage now at all costs. This city is the key to getting the Marian reforms to happen. Taxes will be low, games will be held, the garrison will be huge, etc. The next growth level is at 24k, and I want my legions now.


Manius the mighty had left Dimmidi with some equites the moment Carthage was lost. He was going to lead the attack on Carthage but that's been taken care of so he sieges Thapsus. Unit merging takes place in Carthage and the resulting units will reinforce the siege.


More diplomacy, this Seleucid diplomat seems a little different than usual...


The push to Alesia begins with this. Notice I've taken some of my best troops as I will need them. The reason I've waited is because to fight the Britons with any success right now I have to have archers. By the enemy army compositions I can tell that an archery range will be awaiting me.


We stand on the defensive today, let them wear themselves out against our battle line.


As their chosen begin to rain death into my hastati I charge horsemen downhill and hit them from both flanks.


I didn't notice the barbarian warlord charging into the fray and it costs me big here as he annihilates some of my equites.


This guy was the toughest general I've faced yet, he continued to beat up my cavalry and routed several. He finally gets dropped by an archer's knife of all things.


Victory. Lugdunum would be occupied. It didn't have a stables so my horsemen are sent back to Massilia this turn to retrain.



Faction destroyed? With pressure from Romans and an ally that stabs them in the back Macedon is no more.


Thapsus is assaulted. My hoplites were having trouble with the camels so I send in hastati to give them a hand.


The rest was a cavalry bulldozing that ended on the town square. Thapsus is occupied.


Guess who's back at Narbo Martius? A spy spotted these guys a couple turns ago, and it was then that I decided Alesia has to fall. They've got temple upgrades for archers out there, I think I'll relieve them of it.


Amulius is now officially "The Mad". He takes some equites and chases down their cavalry after getting the Gallic line to run around a bit. Another Gallic captain falls.



After that my new faction heir Quintus The Mighty takes the rest of the cavalry on a romp through the Gallic line. I was trying to get my equites some exp because my generals have been glory hounds hogging all the kills. It sorta worked as one equites unit gets 2 exp in the fight.



Well the roller coaster has come to a halt and I am better for it on the other side. My plan from here is to take Tingi next in Africa and Alesia next in the north. After principes and archers are trained in Corinth to better deal with armored hoplites I plan to take Sparta, Rhodes, and Halicarnassus. My next update won't be until friday night as I have a few days off and no internet access at home while they do some work to my apartment building. ttfn

[This message has been edited by Krymzon74 (edited 11-06-2007 @ 04:28 AM).]

Goodness! After Carthage went I was going to post about trying to sue for peace, cutting your losses and selling african stuff. I forgot you had a rather large presence there

On the upshot, bribing Carthage would have cost a lot of money. Hopfully you can capitalise.

Wow, that is some rollercoaster.

"Shoulda woulda coulda" always makes me think of John Chrichton. A good association for me. I have seen every episode thanks to Netflix.

EoJ, I left most of the African army in Dimmidi and left for Carthage with cavalry only. The army that took Carthage was from Palma, which pushed back my Iberian invasion yet again. I half considered just giving it up but I wanted the incomes of the north African cities to fund my war effort.

SubRosa, I got the shoulda coulda woulda phrase from one of my coaches in high school. Basically he drilled it into us that we should leave it all out on the field rather than saying shoulda coulda woulda later.

I got a lot of playtime in this week and uploaded a ton of pictures to photobucket tonight. It'll take me all weekend to finish the update of what's happened but for now back to the Empire...

I marry off another of the Julii daughters.

Another trade agreement is signed.


I fail a Senate mission to blockade Rhodes.
I sally yet again to meet Gallic invaders. Hastati start joining in the fray to get some experience.




At the end of the turn the Senate would ask me to blockade the port at Sparta. I don't plan on doing this.

The Numidian faction leader is found roaming the desert alone so my men bury him there.



A diplomat tells me Egypt is having public order problems worse than mine.


A Julii daughter gets married.


Alesia is assaulted by Caius Laberius. Nothing out of the ordinary in this battle so just stat pics.




Alesia would be exterminated for public order reasons. However, the capture of this city brings with it a prize.

Alesia will begin training archers immediately.

Decimus Sejanus fights two Gallic armies on the way to Lemonum, this is the second.


Romans and Gauls collide as the lines slam into each other. Flanking cavalry would send the Gauls running for their lives shortly after.


Victory.



The kids are turning out ok after all...


The Brutii have picked their next target.


Infantry from Dimmidi and fresh cavalry recruits from Cirta assault Tingi.



Tingi would be put to the sword for public order reasons.

An Augustus wishes to marry into the family. Future faction leader? We shall see...


Two more Numidian family members are found wandering the desert.


They are now nothing more than bleached bones under a harsh sun.



With my new aquisitions in the north I send a diplomat to guess the minds of the Britons. We are both at war with Germania and have been trading peacefully for a time now but they do not wish an alliance. Interesting, I think I'll beef up the garisson at Alesia a little.


Decimus Sejanus assaults Lemonum, the Gallic faction heir defends the city.


The Gallic warlord waits for us to arrive at the town square during the battle and we eventually make our way there.


Lemonum is captured and exterminated for public order reasons. In hindsight I begin to wish I had kept better track of all these lives lost to butchery. I don't remember ever using the sword so much.


I fail the Senate mission to blockade Sparta at the end of the turn.

I decide to try out my new archers on this band of Germans who wander too close to Alesia.


A spear warband bravely approaches my infantry line. They would bravely run away after a massive pila barrage.


The rest of the battle archers would ply their trade as I try out a "Y" formation. Archers left, infantry right, cavalry in the gap between the two can respond to attacks on archers or the infantry's flank.


Victory.



My forces in northern Africa have been spending a lot of time tracking down the Numidians. A captain led battle would give me a MotH near Dimmidi. He would hire some mercs and march towards Nepte.


I get a new Senate mission to blockade Pergamum. I don't plan to do this one either.

It doesn't take the Gauls long to try and take Lemonum back. Decimus Sejanus sallys forth.


While doing this AAR I've noticed that I work my cavalry from left to right better than I work them from right to left. In this fight I would get some practice as my generals slam into the Gallic left. My timing still off, the Gallic general would escape the persuit of the equites.


Victory.



Marcus Julius had sieged Lepcis Magna after the victory in the north and during the Numidian's turn they attacked. I forgot to take screens of forces involved and the odds as I was really hoping this would happen and wanted to get straight to the battle. You can see why as it turns out well for Rome.



Lepcis Magna is Roman, all that remains of my African expansion plans is Nepte.

Edit: This one will have to be huge I guess, no double posts...

The Gauls were headed for Lemonum again so I got them before they could siege this time.


The battle was over quickly and a minor one so no screens. Their general would escape however.



But not for long as Amulius tracked him down after the battle.



With Alesia taken and Condate Redonum sieged in the north I am confident that my position there is secure. I now move foreward with my plans for Iberia. The garisson of Narbo Martius will move to siege Osca. The garisson of Lemonum will take the long way through the woods to the Iberian province to siege Numantia. This is done to make sure no Gallic armies make it out of Iberia from this point as I have peasants as garisson troops in Narbo Martius and Lemonum now.


I decline this general, as I suspect he'll turn into a drunkard.


Manius Julius is Pontifex Maximus again.


Titus Julius comes of age, and being infertile I send him to the front straight away.


My enemies are quick to become friends, and my allies follow me to war in Iberia.


Caius Laberius leads the assault on Condate Redonum.


My men put a hole in the wall and bashed down the gate as well. Infantry went through the gate while cavalry came through the breach in the wall. The resulting hammer and anvil sent the Gauls running. This is a tactic I use a lot as it's effective and it gets things over quickly.


Victory is ours.



The people of Condate Redonum would be put to the sword. I would also fail a Senate mission to blockade Pergamum. The next Senate mission? Blockade Pergamum. Again, I don't plan on doing so. Oh, and that bothersome town down south was taken as well.

You can see public order after being massacred back to a population of 400. I would send some more mercs to help with order. I don't want to let this one go yet because it'll probly revert back to Numidian control if abandoned.

In the battle for Osca the Iberian faction heir falls. No pics of this one because it's such a small fight. Osca would be exterminated for public order reasons.



Osca taken, I send reinforcements into Iberia from Tingi to see what the army at Corduba looks like. When they get there I find Corduba under siege.


The peoples of Pontus have an offer for us and I accept. They are at war with the Greek Cities and I plan to join them soon.


Tip to new players: Pass along the retinue of older generals to younger ones. (Drag and drop from one to the other) Here Quintus Julius passes on five retinue members to Titus Julius. I let Quintus keep his tax farmer and biographer because he will now settle down into the quiet life of a governor.


That Iberian army sieging Corduba contained the Iberian faction leader and new faction heir. When they try to run back to Carthago Nova my army from Tingi tracks them down. As my men approached they withdrew, I got the town watch and I would never see the faction leader again.



Romans force another faction to take a knee. The Brutii moved quicker than I expected here.


Next update will have the last stand of the Gaul, and the last stand of Carthage. War with the Greek Cities, and perhaps plans for the dissolution of the Senate...

[This message has been edited by Krymzon74 (edited 11-11-2007 @ 01:51 AM).]