Appropriately enough for British Grassland, Geogheganator picked a Briton army. Expecting a lot of chariots. I picked a very small army of five Cretan archers and five royal pikemen. Then I upgraded them to the max. The cretans had +2 exp and one armour and I gave the pikemen as much armour as I could because I was expecting a Light Chariot storm.
It turned out quite different. Geogh had 6 heavy chariots, 5 Heavy Swordsmen and five Head Hurlers. He started on top of the hill so I had to advance towards him hoping to get within range for the Cretans but he moved first.
The Chariots came around my right flank and hit the Cretans. I was ready for this and moved my pikemen in there fast which caused serious losses. Geogh withdrew and then hit my left flank from the rear. Again, I moved my pikemen into position to ward off the chariots but his infantry arrived at the same time and pinned that unit. One by one my pikemen routed and one of my Cretans too. Thankfully they all rallied and I was able to use my archers to kill off his remaining chariots.
My archers went back to skirmish mode while my two remaining pike units attempted to hold the British menace. One of them routed but the other held and the Cretans were doing deadly work. One ran out of arrows so I used that to flank. While the last pikeman unit was on the point of wavering, the Britons routed when the Cretan hit their flanks.
If that pike unit had routed I would almost certainly have lost because my Cretans were running low on ammo so it was a very close run thing.
Brilliant battle and your tactics won beautifully.
Your flanking attempts with your pike men were unfortuantly countered with swordsman charging them. I only thought that you would start to win when your fleeing pikemen came back.
Definitely the turn of battle because i was quite worried when i saw 116 pikemen fleeing for their lives.
Briton could have won you know. If the player pressed on with his swordsmen instead of retreating (when the chariots died out, swordsmen started retreating) they could have taken that battalion of pikes. But alas, the player actualy gave you time to form up your pikes into the phalax position. And for some reason THEN the swordsmen decided to pressure the pikes, which resulted in horrifying casualties.
You countered the chariots really well. But i still wonder how come you didn't form up your pikemen at the rear immediantly as soon as the chariots were heading to the side of your army. It was funny how you pestered the chariots with your archers though. Didnt give Briton much choice but to endure the arrows for if the chariots give charge, your pike would have met them.
Overall----good play mate
Gaius Colinius File Author
Posted on 04/19/08 @ 05:29 PM
Yes. I was especially lucky that the Britons didn't manage to flank my remaining pikeman unit.
I deliberately left my rear "exposed" to the chariots. I wanted him to charge thinking that he could hit my archers and then retreat before the pikemen got there. You might notice that when I formed up the line, I moved the archers a little closer to the pikemen because I fully intended to use them to protect the archers while also offering an inviting looking rear to tempt the chariots.
I knew that if I could keep my Cretans alive that I'd have a chance against the infantry so taking out the chariots was the priority.
I was expecting light chariots so I gave my units armour upgrades which weren't necessary at all.
ViEtNoBoY
Posted on 04/20/08 @ 01:16 PM
Ah i see!! That makes alot of sense! If it isnt too much i also uploaded a battle video of my own just now. I was hoping if you could also review it? Suggestions and stuff. I appreciate it.
Posted on 04/16/08 @ 06:47 PM