Heart of the Republic - A Rome: Total War AAR

Good advice, and I shall certainly use it.

Problem is, Sarmatia has some pretty impressive foot archers (medium range+good melee), whereas the best Rome is getting are short-range spear throwers. Years of developing a heavily armoured, powerful force against Gaul/Carthage/Iberia has meant our ranged units are sadly lacking.

The bright side is that it's difficult for them to attack Iuvavum, simply becuase their units aren't good at settlement assaults. It's been a fairly interesting standoff up north, that I've been neglecting to mention a lot.

fight like the Soviets.... not one step backwards, massive losses are acceptable!

Heart of the Republic - A Rome: Total War AAR


Part Thirty-Seven
209-206BC

To the ordinary Roman citizen, the Battle of Noricum was an inconclusive skirmish on the frontiers of the Republic. To the Senate, it was the most serious setback in the history of Rome. Unlike the Second Battle of Tarentum 60 years ago, Rome had no ability to launch an immediate counterattack. Reinforcements would take years to train, the army from Iberia unable to arrive until long after that. Iuvavum, and Tillus III, would be forced to handle the Sarmatians on their own.

The general had managed to retain his command despite the massive defeat, not through his own reputation but through necessity. The reign of StevieJey and Yurey’s rise to power had seen the loss of several generals, and as such many were able to act more freely without fear of retribution. Some generals, previously forgotten, were suddenly recalled from retirement. Generals such as Nodikus, who had been governor of northern Gaul for many years, was called back to finish the war, to take command of the army from Iberia and crush the last remnants of the Gallic forces in their homelands.


The last village of Gaul

Elsewhere, the people of the Republic continued to be under the impression that the wars were a distant problem. The lack of information regarding the plans against Carthage - so prevalent in the age of StevieJey - made citizens remarkably docile, as if they had accepted it was the calm before the storm. Troops were now a regular sight in central Italy, and there was no secret to the new navy being constructed in the Sicilian Shipyards. But as long as the Consular and the Senators continued to throw money into new city projects across the Republic, then the common citizen didn’t mind. And as such, Rome was allowed to take care of her enemies one at a time with little opposition.

Not that, despite years of developing specific doctrines and tactics, it ever went quite right every time.

The Battle of Gwenea - the last native settlement for the Gauls and the last fight of Nodikus - was one such occurrence. Roman spies had long infiltrated the village, and were easily able to hold open its gates. They were also able to report that there was just one cavalry division defending the village - the main force was outside practicing manoeuvres. Taking advantage, Nodikus attacked. His intention was to enter the city with the entirety of his army, slaughter the defenders then simply let his ranged units fire beyond the walls as the reinforcement Gallic army came to assist.

As it turned out, the Roman spies hadn’t just opened the gates, they had destroyed them. And they hadn’t informed the general until he had entered the village itself. There was little he could do but order his army to turn around and defend the enemy gates. In the strangest situation in the history of the Roman military, one of their armies was defending a village that they were intending to seize!


The defence of Gaul by Rome

The other tactics and doctrines of the Roman army did not fail however, and the soldiers fought beyond what was expected. Over a thousand Gallic troops were killed trying to enter their own city, and just a dozen Roman soldiers fell in defending it. The reinforcements destroyed, it was not hard to finish the Gallic warlord in the village, though he fought bravely. The last remnant of Gallic power in their native lands fell in 207 BC.

Nodikus’ army was now to head east towards Sarmatia to reinforce the front there, but the general would not be joining them. Having spent years controlling the region and dealing with small-bandit raids from the last Gallic province, he could finally retire happily, and allow his heirs to continue his work in northern Gaul. And the Senate was no longer looking west towards the conquests of Iberia and Gaul, but overseas at Carthage, and north to the Sarmatian lands. The armies were almost ready for a new offensive, but they needed generals to lead them…

I'll lead them against Carthage!

Finally that village is out of our hair.
So my family has become the hereditary governors of Gaul?

I'll take the Gaullic army north to Britain. Celts up there are sure to collabarate and invade, as the Britons are Celts themselves!

I'll take the Gaullic army north to Britain. Celts up there are sure to collabarate and invade, as the Britons are Celts themselves!

i'd be happy to go from senator to general if need be.

nodikus said:

Finally that village is out of our hair.
So my family has become the hereditary governors of Gaul?

Click to expand...

Possibly, I do normally have the heirs go to the same place, though that can change. Till used to be in charge of the southern regions and Carthage.

e350tb said:

I'll take the Gaullic army north to Britain. Celts up there are sure to collabarate and invade, as the Britons are Celts themselves!

Click to expand...

Invading Britain isn't on the table yet, nor in the near future. I am remembering you want to be in charge of that though.

IronMan2055 said:

i'd be happy to go from senator to general if need be.

Click to expand...

That's entirely your choice

Heart of the Republic - A Rome: Total War AAR


Part Thirty-Eight
The Barbarian Wars
206-205 BC

The ordinary people of Rome may have been unaware of the true implications of the Battle of Noricum, but the Generals were not. For now, all commanders assigned to any of the Sarmatian fronts were ordered to exploit any advantage they could find in the enemy armies.


The Sarmatian weapons continue to strike fear into the Roman armies

The Sarmatian forces - massive in number - now threatened a large front on Rome’s northern border. The fields around Iuvavum continued to see the hordes rampage, threatening but never assaulting the settlement. Tillus III may have been in command of a random army composed of Roman soldiers and mercenaries from across the Republic, but it was still large enough to terrify the Sarmatians from pushing further south. Even if they had, they would have come up against Rome’s newest army - the reinforcements to replace Tillus’ lost forces. Under the command of Killyouallus II, it fielded the largest Roman cavalry force since Captainus II, who also brought his cavalry to bear on the Sarmatians. It was hoped this new army would protect Italy for several more years.

Not completely unexpectedly however, the Sarmatians opened a new front in northern Gaul. Their armies had been spotted across the border for some time, and it was no surprise when, in late 206BC, an army of theirs crossed and begin raiding towns and settlements in the region. They met their match however, when they attacked the army of Tbus II - the same army that had conquered Gaul under Nodikus. It was a well-trained veteran army, but they were up against an opposing force similar to that which had defeated Tillus III. Knowing full well the danger he faced (not to mention the anger of Yurey should he be defeated), Tbus focused his counter-attack on the one weak point of the entire enemy army, its general.

The Sarmatians had proven time and again that they were excellent fighters, but only when united under one commander. His death brought mass panic to their ranks, allowing the Roman troops to quickly break their morale across the lines. They received one final blow as they fled - the Roman doctrine of allowing a defeated enemy to flee had been cancelled in the case of the Sarmatians, allowing the Roman forces to chase down the enemy as retribution for Noricum. The enemy were not to be allowed to recover their losses.


The death of the enemy general forces their retreat

Tbus’ victory was quickly lauded around the Republic, though it was not the only one. Nearer Iuvavum Civvergus achieved success using a new strategy against the Sarmatians. Rather than directly confronting the main enemy force, he conducted hit-and-run attacks on the smaller armies that were to become reinforcements. He still suffered heavy losses - particularly to his cavalry units - but the victories kept the Sarmatians from threatening the region seriously. It was hoped that for now the Sarmatian front could be held while Rome turned its attention southwards. PrinceScampey III had been assigned General of the Carthaginian Invasion Force, which in a few years would be sent overseas to begin a Second Punic War…

haha... nice victory

however in my opinion turning south is simply a Roman operation Barbarossa, unneeded and likely to eat up our armies

Well, we can hit the heart of carthaginian territory immediatly as opposed to fighting our way through to samarian armies to reach thier core which would be the real Barbarossa in my opinion. With luck Carthage should fall pretty quickly.
But then PrinceScampey III might prove to be a complete incompetent and lose the army in the first battle. Just have to see.

Kan, I request that you infiltrate Carthage with spies.

Attacking the city shouldn't be a problem, unless they have time to actualy garrison it.

Gah, once I had a carthaginian city revolt and went back to carthage, and somehow it had TWO elephant units defending it (which aren't even recruitable from there). (In DarthsMod)

Nodikus is mostly right - don't forget the great attack on Carthage 30 years ago or so, they've only just recovered from that, and most of their troops are out fighting the Egyptians. I have no idea how to handle Sarmatia, as we don't really want to expand in that direction. I may grab a few cities and gift them to the Germans (to create a buffer zone) or start sending in an assassin army.

PrinceScamp - good call on the spies, and we do have several there already. From what we know most Carthaginian cities are poorly garrisoned

Does anyone ever garrison their cities correctly?

Usualy they only do when they have enough turns to send troops into it or retreated armies.

Then again, I garrison mine lightly too. 4 units usualy, more if it's going to be a contested region.

I'd vote for a German buffer...

however I'd pity the Germans if Samarta decided to attack them, since we're letting our Macedonian allies fall we don't exactly prove to be the best people to be associated with

To be associated with Rome should be enough for those mere civilizations

Macedonia is actually doing fairly well however, the Greek Cities took most of Illyria on the eastern Adriatic and signed a cease fire. Macedonia waited a while, then signed an alliance with Thrace against the Greek Cities. Another glorious battle in the Greek Civil War.

I say we take the 2 sarmation terriroties on our borders, and then that 3rd one and gift the 3rd one to Germania. Maybe also take that rogue territory and give it to the germans or Dacians.

I think you should put some armies along the German border just in case if they attack you. How big is their army and how much money do they have?

I doubt Germany will attack, as they've been our allies for some time, and are probably more worried about the large Sarmatian forces than ourselves. If we do take any Sarmatian territories (thereby pushing into Southern Germany), then we may have to worry about the threat of a German attack.