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.