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.