Rome Total War German Chronicles 50 Conquering Greece

This battle is the first battle of a series of battles on the west coast of Greece. The main purpose of this army, on the strategic level of Rome Total War, is to keep Romans busy to the west. During that time another strong German army captured all cities to the east, rarely defended by more then by 2 units per city.

In this battle, what is interesting is my use of the box formation. The box formation is really effective against most enemies. I would recommend having a very good general to successfully maintain that formation, because it might have an impact on morale if your soldier are surrounded by enemies. Also, note that the corners of the box are your weak point, and are certainly the points the enemies will concentrate on.

One of my innovations in that battle was to deploy my light infantry and cavalry in the back of my box. I must say that I didn't really know how I would use it, but tried anyway. It proved to be a good move. Some enemy's infantry were sent to engage my light force. I reacted by opening my box formation into an "Û" formation. So I charged the enemies on my left flank. This charge combined with the fact that the enemies now had phalanxes on the flank made them panic before even engaging the fight. Knowingly the chain reaction of the panic, I kept pursuing the enemies, breaking enemies one after the other. However it cost me some troops and when I felt that my general was becoming too weak I retired him back into my secure "U" formation and ordered the entire army forward to finish the fight.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 49 Decoy Army

Here is one of my rare defeats. I don't consider it as a defeat at all however. This battle served a strategic purpose. It was a distraction against Julii armies. It allowed me to destroy 2 armies before this battle and once those 2 armies were destroyed Julii was forced to lift the siege of my badly protected city, gaining me some time.

On the tactical level this battle was lost exclusively because of the powerful general the Romans had. He broke the formation of my spearman, and my night raiders were probably not the best troops to repel them. I should have used my cavalry sooner. But the enemy general was probably too boosted for that anyway. After retreating, other units of general's bodyguards exploited the breach, and another unit of general's bodyguards charged my general, routing him.

I lost many troops in this battle, but ultimately the army was back to full strength the turn after like it never happened. The time it gained me, by stabilizing my Italian front, allowed me to keep my 2 best armies on the Greek front, instead of bringing them back to Italy to take back a city. I gained 5 cities in Greece instead of losing a city in Italy.

So I lost the battle but won the war.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 48 Destroying Gauls and 1 Roman Army

This siege was a really important victory on the campaign level of the game. It allowed me to destroy Gauls, but also destroy a full Brutii army during the same siege. The main problem of this major victory is that now Brutii will consider this region as a path to attack me in north Italy, so on the long term it might backfire. But from the following episode I can say that this region will keep the Brutii busy while another army captures all of the Greek cities on the East coming from Dacian's territory.

So on the tactical level, my plan was clear:enter the city as fast as possible and use my cavalry to capture all gates. This way I could prevent the Brutii army from entering the city and reinforce the defending Gauls. Once that was done, it also gained me a lot of time to concentrate on the Gauls.

After defeating the Gauls, I pulled back to defend against the spread Brutii army that could only enter the city by where I breached the walls earlier.

Since they were divided and tired, they offered very little opposition. Even better was the fact that they panic toward the center of the Town, leading them to a certain death.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 47 Keeping Romans Busy

Here is the first battle of a series of 3 battles where Julii ultimately repelled my army after losing 2 armies.

On the strategic level of the game this battle was very important. I sent my army on Roman territory to lift a siege in East Italy from the army you will see in episode 49. So in this first battle I had to win against the regional army of Julii.

What was interesting was the move I made early in the battle. The enemy had 3 unit of catapult. I could not stay on the defence without having some casualties and moral effect from those catapults. So I had to move fast on the flank to evade catapult fire. And then engage the enemy army as fast as possible to route them. The main opposition was the 3 units of general’s bodyguards and they caused me lot of casualties.

But overall enemies panicked fast due the the large number of town militia that were not very effective to stand ground against German hordes.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 46 Scipii weakening themself

Here is the third siege Scipii made on Rome. After that siege they stopped the siege because they were out of troops. So not much comment on that Rome Total War battle.

Next!

Rome Total War German Chronicles 45 Assaulting Dacian city

In this siege, the interesting aspect was my defensive formation against the cavalry while my troops were fighting to capture the gates. It wasn't so useful in that particular context but could prove to be really useful in a situation where you are siegeing a city and enemy reinforcements come to stop you.

The other interesting moment is when I let my berserkers lead the way. They totally decimated the enemies cavalry preventing me from haveing heavy losses against the enemies elite troops. So I think this proves that the use of elite troop as point man is a wise move no matter what those elites are. The rest of the army serves as support.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 44 Rome Under Siege

This is the first of 3 sieges Scipii made on Rome (I just recorded 2 since it was repetitive). I think the video mostly speaks for himself. I deployed my troops in the center where they can't panic and where I can concentrate all of my phalanxes’ power against a divided enemy.

From a campaign point of view, those 3 sieges made Scipii really weak allowing me to gain some time to conquer the Brutii city in Greece. My strategy at this point is to make Brutii weak, because in the post Marius reform Romans become very powerful and I cannot let Brutii consolidate an empire in Greece. So all my Italian front is a defensive one and every move I make in that region has a purely defensive purpose.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 43 Small battle against Dacians

Here is a battle that I really wasn't interested in fighting. Basically it's a Dacian General that attacked me to allow the enemies army to fight out of the city wall. So instead of engaging the general in front of me I deployed my units right on the border of the map to make the siege army flee as fast a possible. Worked great as you can see and the enemies general didn't last long after.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 42 The end of the Senat. Part 3

Here is the Siege of Rome.

I think what is interesting to learn from the video is my strategy to use siege towers. I first sent a tower to my Left, giving it the time to deploy on the wall, and attract the enemies away from the gates. By doing so my second tower I sent near the gate can capture the gate without any fighting. But in the current battle. eliminating the defender on the wall was the priority. After that the cavalry can take care of the rest.

Small note. Many people asked, how the hell did the enemy general Died? Well it might be a little fast to notice but I captured an enemy tower while fighting on the wall. And enemies tower, once captured, shoots at the enemies. So the general was just under that tower and got kill.

I know many people like to destroy the walls and towers, but based on my experience the best way to siege is to do the least amount of damage. The first Reason for that is that, everything you damage, you will pay to repair them.That's money that doesn’t go into the army. Also, when you capture enemy towers, they shoot back at the enemies. Walls can also allow you to deploy your archer very effectively against the defenders. Etc.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 41 The end of the Senat. Part 2

Here was a really great Battle. Its great both on the the campaign and the battle level.

In this battle I attack the Roman army outside the walls of Rome. I did so because I knew the army in Rome would come to reinforce them, allowing me to largely reduce the size of the defender of Rome.

As for the battle you might have noticed that it was a really close fight. In fact when you take a close look, the main battle force of the enemy was praetorian cavalry and they were the unit that killed most of my troops. So while I won, it cost me a lot but payed off in the following battle.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 40 The end of the Senat. Part 1

Here is the first of 3 Battles that lead me to destroy the Senate.

What is a little funny about the situation is that it started by accident. I wanted to send my army north. But there was something on the path, so my army went south right in to the Senate territory. So the Senate attacked me when I wasn't really planning a fight. But of course I modified my plans a little. And Captured the Senate capital, Rome.

This battle wasn't really hard. I deployed my troops using relief to secure my Left flank. But key to the battle was mostly the use of my cavalry and flexible infantry to make the enemies panic on all the battle line.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 39 Some People can't follow the plan

After a small breakI took,here we go again again!

Here is a funny battle. I wanted to enter the city as fast as possible to gain time. So I sent my Berserkers to capture the gates. But what I didn't know was, that when berserkers are out of control, they don't capture stuff!
So I had to breach the door, but since it took time, all the enemies were dead when I finally could enter the city...

Rome Total War German Chronicles 38 Hunting Dacians

In this battle you see me on the offence on Dacian Territory. Tired of being harassed by Dacia, the best solution is to eliminate them.

One small tactic that I used in this battle was pointed out to me by my fans. When the enemies cavalry tried to engage my cavalry I turned my general unit back and ran away.During that time my other units engaged the pursuing enemies’ cavalry. Once the enemies charge was flanked, I stopped my general from running and charged back into the melee. This small tactic revealed itself to be really effective.

But I would say it was a "reflex" strategy on my part, based on my experience. At the last moment I told myself, my general might get killed in this, so I changed my mind and quickly made him retreat. Not so much because of the flanking move it would create, but simply to protect my general. Then I saw that the enemies charge was stoped and feeling safe for my general engaged him back into the fight. That small reflex move proved to be a wise choice, but the interesting aspect of that move was that it wasn't planned, it was a pure reflex. I didn't have to think about it. I guess that proves that I played a lot of the video game Rome Total War.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 37 Killing field

Here is a battle that was simply a massacre. I basically deposited my units into an “n” formation waiting for Dacians to come and get annihilated on my formation. So it was really easy to win since most enemies were mercenaries.

The Dacians had no chance to win, and my goal was to win it fast, so my cavalry was the most useful tool by pursuing the routing enemies.

So while that battle was easy it was also important. I secured my position in North Italy by capturing this village, and by doing so prevented any future attack from Dacian in Italy.

Mini Guide About How extracting Audio from Rome Total War

Lately many people have asked me for the music I put in some of my videos. So all of that music actually came from Rome Total War itself.

But you can actually extract it from Rome yourself.

So first thing you need to own Rome Total War.

Second go download Audacity. It's an open source audio editing software.Y ou can recorder, montage, and extract audio from most things.

So with Audacity you open the File: Music.dat
In the folder: C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\Data\sounds

That file contains all the music from Rome Total War.

So you find the song you want in the doc. and extract it

To do so: copy and past it in a new audacity window. Then save it as a .wav or an .mp3 (that need a .dll for audacity)

So after that you can enjoy the song as any other of your music, and use it for great

If you want the song "what await us" (if that's the real title), Well It start at 40:59 in the document.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 36 Fight to the Death

I really like this battle. The Dacians were trying to lift the siege, but as expected, they retreated into the walls very quickly. By doing so they were quickly follow by my force that then captured the gates. Allowing me to enter very fast into the city. But it took to long and the enemies’ reinforcement had time to enter the city. That's where it became interesting. I had to advance toward the enemies town center, but on the way, deploy troop in defensive positions in the streets. The way I advanced was really tactical in my opinion. Advancing and taking defensive positions is the best way to advance in a city.

Near the center I made a minor error. When the enemies general charged my phalanxes and the started to panic I sent my berserker. It was indeed a powerfully counter attack but it had a cost after. Once the berserker engage the enemies in battle they cannot be controlled. So they engaged and became crazy. So when it came to take the town center they fought in a small group, reducing the punch they could have given to the enemies.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 35 Outnumber 4 to 1

Here is a very simple battle that proves how powerful phalanxes can be. I placed my 2 phalanxes on both sides of the town center so they could hold the street against overwhelming enemies forces.

As you might notice, in that battle the critical moment came when the enemy king engaged my left side. I engaged my Berserker unit and my general. The enemy king was killed and the battle was won, because the morale got low and the combine effect of Berserker and cavalry was to big for the morale of the enemies. In the video game Rome Total War as it is in reality, morale is the most important factor to win a battle. Most deaths actually happen after the enemy panics.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 34 Germans advancing in the South East

Here is an important battle from a strategic stand point. It allowed me to advance into Italy.

On the tactical level you might notice that my cavalry did a flanking manuever and charged the dogs. I always try to kill the dogs first because once they are released they fight to the death. So always try to kill them before they are released. Then I charged the enemies general and killed him. That took care of the first army.

For the second army I redeployed on the hill. Hills give you an advantage on many aspects. Your archers fire at a longer range and, tallows your soldier to have a more powerful charge against the enemies. I also deployed my cavalry on my right flank once again. This allowed me to charge the enemy faction leader from the back and kill him.

So this battle was a big victory and allowed me to capture a well fortified roman city.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 33 Hell Gate

Here is one of my popular episodes. I guess the title attracted a lot of people =)

It might not appear to be this way at first, but I am the one attacking.

My strategy was to first enter the city. Then send my general to capture all other gates and by doing so forcing the Romans reinforcement to come through the gate I wanted. During that time my troops captured the center. The Roman reinforcements came to get killed by the "hell gate"

Seizing a city with a lot of reinforcements is actually a great strategy to destroy those armies. You enter the city as fast as possible, and then force the reinforcements to siege you back to take back the center of the town. The most interesting part of this strategy is that the enemies panic and go into the town center. Also there is no escape for them if you fortify all streets that reach the center of the town. So in theory you could destroy as many armies as there is reinforcements.

It might be risky but it really worth the try because as soon as the enemies panic they are killed by your troops and none survive.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 32 Campaign Report

Here is the campaign report I did at the request of fans that like the strategy aspect of the game. I'm also a fan of the campaign level even more then the battle process itself.

What you need to know is that this report is actually the situation after episode 37, but production cycle lead me to release it before that episode.

The interesting thing you may notice is the small size of my garrisons. By keeping only 1 or 2 units per city, it allows me to concentrate all my production of units on the front line and keep pushing my territory forward.

Also see that I actually don't have many armies. 1 army per front is most of the time all you need. It's important to always invade your enemies. This forces them to keep armies on the defence. When they defend, they can't invade you.

As note that I'm not the strongest faction from the statistic they give. But that doesn't really mean much since the enemies factions produce a lot of bad troops.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 31 Poor milician...

Here was a pointless battle. Romans for some reason created a huge army of town militia. I tend to call that a population control battle. Those kinds of battles simply allow you to keep your enemies population and armies small. But it's not really interesting.

So Next! =)

Rome Total War German Chronicles 30 Back on the Romans Front

Here was an important battle where I lift a siege in North Italy. This battle could have been risky, but my cavalry superiority and flanking the enemies allowed me to win very fast. The main strength of the enemies ,in my opinion, was actually dogs.... But they still had lot of cavalry and could have done a lot of damage to my army.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 29 Introducing the Blog

This battle is not so important except for the fact that it's lifting a siege from Dacians. Dacians are continually attacking my badly defended cities in Germany. Mainly because I rarely if ever have armies around or huge garrisons. The reason why I don't have huge armies is that I don't have money. I won't raise taxes because it would create disorder in my cities. So I concentrate all my forces elsewhere.

Now, as you might note by the title, this video was used to introduce the blog, so I might as well tell you some interesting stuff about it. So far I have had alot of positive feedback. Many people like to read my text and learn some tips and tricks about the game, and understanding the Strategic aspect of every battle and impact they have.

So far a little over 400 different people have taken a look at it, coming from many countries. That's very interesting to see, and I'm really happy so many people from so many places care to read what I say. So thanks for encouraging me. =)

So keep commenting. (you don't need to register to comment)

If you want by buying medieval 2 (or other games) from my Amazon store (on your right), will help me finance the Chronicles. 5 hours a days is a lot of work, to keep you guys entertained! But I enjoy it ;)

With medieval 2 it will be even better, I guess ;)

By the way I Would like to Thanks, CTU Keyes for correcting my English after I publish my post, when he can.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 28 Gaining ground from Romans

Here is a battle I did as soon as I could on the strategic level. By engaging Romans as soon as possible in Gaul I was making sure they would not get stronger. So it was a kind of preventive strike.

On the Tactical level, you might notice the fact that I charge the dogs right at the start with my cavalry. Cavalry is the best weapon against dogs. Dogs have a strong attack but 0 defences that mean that as soon as something attacks a dog, ths dog dies. So when you engage dogs make sure you are the one attacking them. Because if you stay on the defence you might win but with heavy loss.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 27 Gauls Trying to lift a siege

Here is an important battle for my conquest of Gaul. While the number of soldiers were not huge, losing would have basically destroyed my army that was conquering west Gaul.

Also the fact that I won made the city garrison weaker and the city was then far easier to take after this battle.

Trespasser: Episode 4

Here is an other episode of Vauban's Trespasser chronicles. In this episode he explains how he established himself in Spain, sieged a city and points out a coming counter attack from Romans. The future seems interesting =)

Rome Total War German Chronicles 26 More Dacians....

Here is a battle that can speak for itself. Hold the line and cut the enemies into pieces.

But what was most important about that battle is the fact that if I had lost, my position in north Italy would have been annoying. Mainly for the fact that, the war against Romans requires lot of troops and this city was my most populated city in the north Italy and serves me as my main production outpost for the Roman front.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 25 Free Kill!

Here is a kind of battle I don't really enjoy. You could call that a "population control" battle. By decimating the enemies you make sure they become weak. So the strategy here is the fight against those weak enemies, make them panic, pursue them with fast moving cavalry, and kill as many as you can so they can't come back. But seriously that's not the video game Rome Total War at its best. But still nearly funny to watch. ;-)

Rome Total War German Chronicles 24 No more coward in my army

Here is a battle where I was under attack by 2 Roman armies. I advanced against the Senate to route them as fast as possible, because the Julii army was better so it would not have been a good idea to let the 2 armies fight me at the same time.

As you can see the Julii army had a far better General then my army. This is the main reason why they won so easily and also why my army fled. The Equites were also very experienced and proved to be too strong for my noble cavalry.

So it was a defeat, but it wasn't a huge one. I quickly recovered after 1 or 2 turns.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 23 War against Romans Goes on

Here was an easy battle. Not much to say about it, except that I prioritized routing the dog. That prioritization come from the fact that once the dogs are "launched" they don't panic and fight to the death causing some damages. Once that was done I could then charge the enemies general in the back to kill him. After that the victory was clear.

Introducing a new look and a Question

When I will get the video game Medieval 2 Total War, What faction should I take for my first Medieval Total War Chronicles?

Rome Total War German Chronicles 22 Under Siege by Dacian

This is the battle that started the war against Dacians. Dacia invaded my regions because I do not keep any troops in my territory except those in the cities. I rarely leave more then 2 to 4 units per city. This very small defence only serve the purpose to keep the enemies busy until I can bring reinforcements to save them.

It's a risky strategy but the benefits are huge. You can concentrate all you forces on expending without investing a lot on defence. Also the fact that you don't need to sustain a huge garrison allows you to keep the taxes low and your population happy. Note that sometimes cities dislike having too many troops in the city. So its also healthy for every one to keep them outside the city making war.

On the tactical level, I deployed my spearman in that position to make sure the archers would not decimate them from the outside of the walls. Also the way I deployed is an effective way to basically stop all the enemies with a very limited force.

I made an error by sending my axeman too soon. That cost me pointless deaths. But in the turn after those axeman were retrained and back to full strength.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 21 My Favorite Battle

Here was my favorite battle. It's a 16 min long battle and I must admit I could have won, if I had played better. But it's a great battle anyway.

In this Battle the Senate counter attack my German army and ultimately won.

As you may have noticed, very early in the battle I engaged the enemy general unit with all my cavalry and some infantry. His body guard unit resisted very long considering he was totally outnumbered. I retired my cavalry but didn't expected the enemies cavalry to from my "blind" spot. Fortunately they didn't do much damage.They probably could have routed my cavalry.

On my Right Flank you can see that I engaged my axeman in a fight against another general body guard unit. It was a little error, but was needed to prevent this enemy unit from attacking my back. I should have been a little more cheap and deploy my spearman to the border of the map. But I decided to be fairplay.

I redeployed my cavalry on my Right flank to take care of the enemy generals units. And during that time my "light" infantry was engaged in a bloody fight on the Left flank where they ultimately panicked under the bigger number of Romans.

So around 4 or 5 min into the battle the situation looked very bad. But the fact that the enemies are now a little tired and concentrated allow some of my spearman to hold the line against them for short amount of time allowing my cavalry to route the skirmishers and some infantry on the rear of the main Senate battle force.

At 6 min into the battle, the reinforcement army flees. Reducing the pressure a little, but the Senate battle forces are still many and now surrounding my remaining spearman units. As my cavalry force ,getting smaller, delivers a small charge against the enemies.

At 6:46 the remaining spearman are totally surrounded and it is clear to me that the Senate army won that battle. But knowing that the Senate keeps sending troops to lift sieges I try to use some rallied troops to fight in a skirmish war against the Senate army. So I tried to isolate the Senate units and keep them busy with my infantry while charging the rear. As you can see that strategy worked very well. But when I lost my infantry, it become clear that the battle was lost. (But I could have won by running around with my general and get the battle to run out of time, but that's cheap.)

Question: How would you improve the blog?

Feel free to leave idea, I will consider them =)

Rome Total War German Chronicles 20 German Counter Attack the Romans

Here is an example of a very quick and well coordinated battle. My cavalry engaged the enemy cavalry and routed them.During that time my phalanxes engaged their infantry in the center, keeping them busy. The second lines of infantry engage and route the enemies while my axeman and cavalry engaged the enemy general on the Left flank.

That was a really well realized battle.

Hunnic Chronicles Ep 1

Here is an other new Chronicle this time by War64. This Campaign show the Huns of the video game Rome Total War Barbarian Invasion. So take a Look and Enjoy!
Also note the campaign already contain 3 episode.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 19 Unfair Siege

(small note here, the number of troop at the beginning are wrong, the were inversed.)

I really had fun finding this title for the episode. Because I knew people would be thinking "he will lose that's impossible!" And by thinking so making the victory even more enjoyable.

What is interesting in that episode is that at first I deployed my phalanxes at the door they fought well, but got decimated overtime... so I did a tactical retreat to the center and deployed my phalanxes as much wide as I could. Since the Gauls came disorganize this allowed my unit to hold them.

My cavalry on the flank, I watched carefully the state of mind of the enemy army. As soon as I saw they were wavering I sent my cavalry a first time. But the enemies stood. So I pulled back and then attacked again. That time the enemies panicked and the victory was at hand.

It important to continue the battle at very hard to kill all enemies so they don't come back. And Siege is probably the best situation for pursuing the enemies in the Street.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 18 Lifting a Siege from Gauls

This battle doesn’t seem really important when you first look at it. But it's a really important one on the strategic level of the game. The importance of that battle is that I lift a siege of 2 Gauls armies. And the Impact of that it forced me to bring my main army against Romans to counter attack the Gauls and by doing so missing an opportunity advance against weaken Romans troops.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 17 Taking a City From Romans

Here was a siege were the enemies were only having some cavalry. So I used my infantry to attack the enemy general on them and keep him busy while my Cavalry came from both flank. Once the enemies general and bodyguard the remaining cavalry unit wasn't hard to destroy and the city was mine.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 16 Senat Retaliation

Here is the battle that followed the victory that I consider a defeat. In this battle I could not retreat. So it was a fight to the Dead. I could maybe have made a better use of my infantry. But they were more like a decoy keeping busy the main army while my cavalry did as much damage as I could on the flank. I tried to Kill the enemy faction leader but his body guard prove to be too many for my weaken cavalry

Trespasser: Episode 3

Here is an other interesting episode by Vauban, Enjoy!

Rome Total War German Chronicles 15 Under Attack by 3 Roman armies

Here is a battle that cost me a lot of troops. So while it's a victory, it's a long term defeat.

My main error in that battle was to believe that the noble cavalry would be able to take care of javeline units that were spread on both flank of the first Roman Army.

The other error I made was not making sure to put my troops in a good formation against the enemy’s troops. The fact that I didn't take a good Formation lead my Phalanxes to become isolated and surrounded. So I had a lot of dead in my ranks that could have been prevented by a better formation.

The solution to those leadership problems would have been to organize my infantry in a more static formation to keep the enemy busy while my cavalry eliminates enemies by flanking them. Or use pause to have more time to use the army to his full effectiveness.

Now I consider this victory as a defeat since I had too many dead to keep my position against the Senate army that came to save the Julii faction.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 32 Campaign Report

Ok here is the episode 32 Campaign Report. It's basically my campaign situation in Rome Total War after the episode 37 (not published at this point (there is just 24h in a day).

The year is 234 BC so it's still very early in the game. The interesting thing is that I'm currently a protectorate from Britain and the Brutii Roman Faction. This situation allows me to concentrate my attention on destroying Dacians to the East and produce troops to invade Spain. The main Reason why i concentrate on Dacians is that they annoy me by raiding my cities over and over again. So I will expand to the East a lot in future episodes.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 14 Romans!

Here is an interesting first contact with the Roman army in the video game Rome Total War.

As you can see I deployed my phalanxes on my Left flank. I must say that it was an experimental way to fight the battle. I deployed this way to allow my javelines to have a good position to kill many Romans from the back. This formation worked very effectively. But I got a little over confident and mixed with the fact that sometimes the enemy army gets stuck on the bridge I decided to redeploy my phalanxes near the bridge.

That was a bad decision, since the enemy sent his entire troop charging at my unit. This more or less surprising attack forced me to send my not really trusted mercenary into the bloody fight. That kind of fight can only be won by Romans. So as soon as my Troops Started to panic I retreated my troops from around the zone the Romans were taking and getting Ready to attack on all front and with a charge of cavalry. That combined charge concentrated on the Roman army created a panic and gave me a close victory.

The lesson of the battle is probably, just be patient.

Small guide about how to record and put videos on Youtube like i do, Based on videos games

This guide is now available on Dateyourgame.com in the guide How To Record Gameplay

Trespasser: Episode 2

Here is an other really interesting episode of Vauban Trespasser Episodes base on the video game Rome Total War.
In this episode he explains how he engaged Romans armies. He explains how to distract the enemy armies. He also point out a small but very effective trick to stop enemies in a "peaceful" way. Finally he also explains how to siege a city.

So take a look it worth it!

Here is an other interesting complement of information by Vauban

I would like to say here that the trick with ALL archers is concentration and distance.

Archers are useful really in only one circumstance; when the enemy is going to be in a predictable location. They are not useful in field battles very much at all; with the prominent exceptions of extreme height differences (where they can rain death from a huge distance) and river crossings (where they can rain death on a concentrated enemy).

If you are on city defense, you can put archers on the walls and hit the enemy for a long time as he approaches and tries to breach. This is great in theory, but if the enemy is assaulting your cities you should consider changing your strategic methods more than your tactical ones.

In a sally, however, archers shine. You will notice in the video that I put my horse archers so that their range would be right up to the gate. That is so the Roman forces that come out will get pounded. And the archers are concentrated. This is extremely important. By concentrating them, the enemy is much more likely to take MORALE BREAKING VOLLEYS, which makes them turn and run away. This breaks up the enemy advance into pieces that you can isolate and destroy.

However, when you have archers concentrated to the degree that I do in this video, DONT SEND YOUR GENERAL INTO BATTLE UNLESS YOU TELL THE ARCHERS TO STOP FIRING.

That is, unless you like to kill your own people.

Russian Chronicles Episode 4: Showdown with the Golden Horde

Here is an interesting video from Matt. It does show a good use of a V formation at the bridge and a W formation on the open ground against Golden Horde in the video game Medieval Total War. It worth take a look.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 13 Taking a settlement from gauls

This siege is not really big but has a small interesting aspect. At first you will notice that I engaged the Gaul’s reinforcements. I was lucky they were not to many.
During that time I broke the gate and the wall of the city. It's important to have a minimum of 2 open ways in the city. This allows you to enter by 1 opening, and attract your enemies on the first attack. Once the enemies are busy against your troops, you can use the second opening to enter the city and attack the enemies on the flank or rear like I did here.

When you enter the city, it's always important to stay secure and advance slowly, like I did in this video of Rome Total War. You never really know if the enemies will make a charge on an unprepared column.

When it comes to taking the center, I would only recommend using cavalry, like I did, when the enemies have cavalry. The Cavalry would not be a good thing to use against infantry in the Town center. Cavalry need the charge bonus to be very effective so it's always better to use infantry for taking the center against other infantry.

Here is an additionnal comment from Vauban, It is a good complement of information on how to make a good use of cavalry on the town center:

Heavy cavalry can be moved behind the town center. Then an infantry unit can be inched forward onto the center square to force an attack. Once the enemy has charged your infantry units, the cavalry can charge from the rear.

Obviously this wont cause morale failure since they are fighting in the town center, but it does result in a bloodbath with minimal casualties. The only infantry that resists this much is the short spear infantry (non-phalynx spearmen). Long spear infantry (phalynx-type) cant fight worth a damn on their rear. Short spear still can, so watch out.

(might be advise for reader of this blog to check comment, some people post interesting stuff)

Trespasser: Episode 1

Here is a very good and interesting new series of videos started by Vauban. He explains his plan and strategies on the campaign level of the video game Rome Total War. An other really promising series!

Special: The Russian Chronicles

Here is a video from Matt. He was inspired by my chronicles and he started a Russian Chronicles using Medieval Total War. So take a look, it might remind you of some great moment you had in that game, or make you discover how fun that game was. He is still early in the campaign but it might get interesting over time with big battle.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 12 Bridge fight against Gauls

This battle is a good example of the effectiveness of defending a bridge. The interesting aspect of my tactic is that I used a V formation. This formation is especially effective when you use a phalanx. Since the enemies engage 1 unit at a time, the other unit you have can kill enemies from the rear. It also allows you to increase the morale of the 2 units forming the V formation. Completed with screaming women you can only see the destructive effect of that formation during the video. So if you combine the devastating effect of the V formation with a well planned cavalry charge you can actualy kill 50% of the enemies right on the bridge.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 11 The Dacian Front

In this episode, I get engaged by Dacians trying to lift a siege. As you may have noticed I engaged the first army as fast as I could. When you fight multiple armies it is important to route the first one fast so that you can engage the second with a good battle order. Dacians are not a strong faction so that battle was easy to win but still it could have been dangerous. The Forest also created a new challenge when it comes to battle. It forces you to view the battlefield from a low point of view, reducing your perception of the situation. So it might be cleaver to concentrate your force in a compact formation that can be easier to control and defend against flanking enemies.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 10: Advancing Toward Italy

This battle is important because I was very early in the Campaign. The more Gaul my army could kill, the less would defend the cities in North Italy. That's why I took a chance to engage the enemies while outnumber.

On the Tactical level this battle shows the effectiveness of concentrating your army like a hammer head against the center of the enemy army. When their center Broke the tricky part came. You need to hold one flank while you concentrate half the infantry and all of your cavalry on a flank, leading to a total panic. Note that Screaming Women allows your troops to have a morale boost allowing them the better hold the line against more enemies without panicking.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 9: Fighting Greek Culture Rebel

This Battle was, on a strategic level, important because it's an early outpost for the future invasion of Italy. It's also a Rebel City. That means it doesn't lead you to enter in a war. You always need to consider a Rebel City as an easy way to expend.

On the tactical level there is not much to say, except that it's an early reminder that Greek phalanx are very good at holding ground. That's why you need to constantly try to flank phalanx with your cavalry if you can, or you will have many dead soldiers on your hands.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 8: Skirmish against Gauls

This battle, while still a small one, is really interesting. I rushed right into the enemies line before they could get organized. The Gauls panicked and they replied by launching an attack on my right flank. This could have been a critical moment, that's why I engaged my skirmisher in melee combat. This ended up as a victory against the enemies general, and the global panic of the enemies. My cavalry was the key of the battle.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 7: Sieging Gauls again

This siege is not a huge battle, but it shows some strategies to capture a city. In the very beginning you notice that I rush into the city and take a defensive stand against the incoming Warband. When you consider it, you could call my strategies of siege as "the best offence is a good defence". What I mean by that is that by advancing, then defending, then advancing, you end up winning far easier then by rushing.

At the end you noticed that I engage the enemies from 2 fronts, that's really important when you use a barbarian faction. Your troops will get tired and might very well panic. Also Always try to engage with your phalanx first, the axe man while good, take far more casualties then a phalanx in general. So they are best fit when it comes to attacking in the back of the enemy army.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 6: Sieging Gauls

Here is actually a weird siege; the Gauls basically lost all cavalry at the gate against my phalanx. I killed their most powerful unit but it cost me many men. At the same time the enemy Warband engaged in combat against my troops. So I did the same wall of spears against them. But once the cavalry was destroy I could then enter the city without enemies menacing my troop and engaged the Warband from the rear while trying to block any retreat for them. It's always important to block the retreat because this prevents the enemies from reaching the center were they cannot panic. As the Germans the panic is my main weapon.

Once near the center only the main general was left. So I advanced carefully but there is always a risk of panic when you fight a general. So during that time I circled the center of the city with my cavalry to engage the enemies general on as many fronts as possible leading to an easier fight for my main battle force.

The AI of my cavalry decided to walk on the center of the city, this could have actually be a big error, because as soon as you walk on that space, the unit on it reacts. So they could have decimated my cavalry from the rear while I was engaging the general. But fortunately that didn't happen and then I could turn my eyes toward destroying the remaining force.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 5: Under Attack by Rebel

Here is a battle where I had to lift a siege against a Rebel army. Rebels rarely try to siege a city so that is why I tend to totally ignore them. The main effect Rebels have in the video game Rome Total War, is to reduce your income. But I see them this way, they reduce you income but also block invading enemy armies. So sometimes you can simply leave them where they are, or bride them with an ambassador. It isn't always worth it to fight rebels.

On the Tactical aspect, this battle was a battle I could not take the risk to auto resolve by the computer because at Very Hard, the rebel force are considered far to strong. So in that battle I was forced to rush the rebel army. The Naked Fanatic was probably the main power but the enemies general was also a challenge as you might have noticed. The enemies general was stronger then my general and nearly killed my general. But I had to keep him busy while my phalanx took care of the enemy’s infantry. As soon as I could I pulled back my general in my phalanx to bring the enemies general in that phalanx. That move while being quite a risk worked and made me win.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 4: Under Attack by Gauls

This battle started the war against the Gauls. The strange thing is that Gauls attacked me while I was in Rebel territory. The effect of this battle forced me to turn my eyes toward the Gauls territory.

On the tactical Level you will noticed that I deployed my infantry in an L formation. I chose that formation because the Gauls had far more troops than i did. So the formation I took was a measure to prevent the Gauls from flooding my troops and flanking me on the left. On the other side, I deployed my cavalry in a way that hid them from the enemy. As soon as I saw an opportunity, my cavalry charged to my right flank against the enemies while my infantry kept the Gauls army busy on my Left flank. Once part of the Gauls army started to panic victory was at hand.

As you may have noticed after the victory I keep pursuing the enemy with my cavalry. This is important especially at the very beginning of the Campaign. By destroying every unit, you make sure the enemies cannot retrain them to full units. So make sure to kill all soldier of a battalion.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 3: Chassing Briton

Since I now control the British City on the continent, I had to chase the British out of the continent to make sure peace could be maintained. Once those British troops are out of Europe,the British will stay quiet in Briton for the rest of the game and a peace and alliance are far more likely to happen. In the video game Rome Total War, once the faction doesn't have any direct contact with your faction at very hard difficulty, they are not hostile. So since British are were no longer connected to the main continent they offer to become a protectorate. I accepted and since that moment the front against the British is closed for good, unless I want to invade British soil later.

Now on the tactical level. You noticed that my javeliners are going straight against the Woad Warrior. Those warriors are very powerful and can create panic very easily in other barbarian rank. So weakening those units is always a good idea. As you might have noticed they engage my general and I make my general retreat because woad warriors can actually win against that general. My movement lead me to bring them in my back on the right flank that was indeed dangerous but without the busy woad warrior the normal spearman panicked fast and then I could turn my army against the Woad Warrior, securing my position and chasing British out of Europe.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 2: General Assassination

This episode while not the most interesting ever shows you an important moment. It shows you the moment where I killed the enemies general very easily in the center of the city. Cities are probably the best place to actually fight a british general. You put you troops on hold formation and they will absorb the chariot charge. General are important to kill in Rome Total War because they have huge impact on the fighting morale of the enemies. So as soon has you see a vulnerable general, kill him.

Rome Total War German Chronicles 1: First Move

In this First Episode I choose to rush and Attack the British faction. By doing so I was making sure to chase them from Europe and prevent them from gaining strength. While most people believe they are weak at start, I tend to think that since I'm weak, others are also weak. So, the earlier the battles, the bigger the impact the battle will have.

Welcome To Total War Campaign Chronicles

Hello to every one, this is a blog about a project. I have been doing since already a couple of Months. Basically, I'm a really skilled player in the Total War Game series (and other games). So I started posting some video of me playing on the popular website www.youtube.com/attila16. Since people were impress by my talent I got popular over time, and my videos were saw over 100 000 times. Those videos were mainly just game play and many people learned allot from them on how to play the game. So this blog is probably the next step in the right direction. In this blog I will plan to explain my strategy and why I played one way or the other or simply explaining how bad I played.

So I hope you will enjoy my explication and encourage me to continue by commenting.

Also note that English is not my native language so feel free to point some grammatical correction =)