Change in plans, i just realized how awesome these Legionaries and veteran bowmen really are... Here's what happened, the Camulodian Allies decided to go on the offensive and siege Wickeher, so i went over to the siege to see if i could help out, with another Empire noble behind me a bit. when we reached the castle, we managed to draw one enemy noble away, and slaughtered his 120 or so troops (Me and my ally combined had 240 or so). After our victory, we pressed towards the castle, i went to attack another enemy noble, with my ally following, but at the last moment, the sob ran when the enemy king showed up, and i found myself in a fight, my 124 troops (Not even my veteran army, i currently was training new units to add to my pool of veterans) vs the enemy army of 363 troops.
Facing 3-to-1 odds, and not having my veteran Legionary, i felt that defeat was certain.
My army consisted of:
7 Heroes.
15 Camulodian Bowmen
31 Veteran Camulodian Bowmen
and the Rest of my 71 troops where either Camulodian Legionaries or the trained ones, No Veteran Legionaries.
Now, our first battle took place on a roughly flat plain with a river in between our armies, with the enemy Army closer to the river. I felt that the only chance i had of winning was rushing to that river and then holding one side of it, so my archers could rain arrows on enemy troops as they tried to wade across. However, due to the enemy spawning closer to the river, i would have to beat back their first wave.
With my plan made, me and my troops rushed out as close to the river as we could b4 running into the enemy army. I told my troops to hold position in a straight line when we traveled a good distance towards the river, the reason why i do this instead of separating my archers and Legionaries is because the archers tend to stand between two legionaries, thus the Legionary shields provide excellent cover for my archers from enemy fire. When the enemy infantry are within 20 or so feet, i order my infantry to attack, while keeping my archers back.
The enemies first wave consisted of mostly INF with alot of archers and around 20 cavalry, Cavalry charging towards my lines, with Infantry close behind in a box formation and archers behind the Infantry. The Cavalry was easily dispatched, it lacked enough Heavy Cavalry to make an impact. My Legionaries managed to hold the cavalry away from my Bowmen, while my Bowmen rained down arrows on the advancing enemy Infantry formation and the archers behind them.
Now, this box formation that most Armies seem to use isn't a very good formation to use imho. The shields that most armies have are too small, and only the Scutums used by the Camulodians, or the Shields used by the Western Romans seem to be the only ones good enough for providing protection in a boxed formation.
When Barbarian forces use the Box formation, it pretty much brings about their doom. Due to the small shields they have, and being massed up into one large body, my ranged units usually inflict heavy casualties upon their Infantry before they even reach my own Legionaries.
Personally, i think the Barbarians should use a more spread out charging formation, instead of the Slow Box formation. Due to being spread out, my Archers wouldn't have a massed, slowly moving target.
Anyways, after beating the first wave of enemy units (The enemy archers retreated to their second wave, crossing back over the river), i managed to reach the river and set up my troops in line formation again. Archers where protected from enemy fire, while they rained down arrows upon the enemy second wave while they slowly waded across the river. Upon reaching the slopes of my side of the river, i ordered my Legionaries to charge and make short work of the enemy that reached our forces. This repeated for the enemies 3rd wave as well.
Now, the ending of this battle surprised me, i had 15 KIA, with another 30 WIA, while the enemy army had 221 KIA and 1 WIA (The enemy King i believe).
Now the 2nd part of this battle starts, my remaining 80 or so troops, vs 140 enemy troops. This time the battlefield was on a more hilly area with an open field, my forces spawning on the hill area with the enemy spawning in the open field area. Using the High ground to my advantage, i made short work of the enemy army in no time, losing only 1 soldier and having 10 WIA, compared to the enemies 139 KIA and 1 WIA (The noble who was backing the King).
Now, after having this glorious battle against the Camulodian Allies, my plan is to take my Veterans out of my castle at Therfur, 40 Veteran Camulodian Bowmen and 81 Veteran Camulodian Legionaries, and siege Ravenglass. Due to the Allies having lost 400+ troops, Ravenglass is only defended by a garrison of 230 troops, and a Noble with 67 troops. Now, for sieging this city, i don't plan to scale those walls (That's suicide with only 129 troops). My plan is to hold the siege until the defenders run out of supplies. To make certain that my own forces dont run out of supplies, i have bought food, lots of it (My whole inventory is full of food). I will siege the city until they run out of supplies, forcing the defenders to fight on the outside of the walls, where i should have a better chance of beating them. I'll post back if successful or not.
If successful, I'll be breaking away from the Empire to form my own state at Ravenglass. I just wished my fiefs in the Empire would revolt and break away with me instead of staying with the Empire... i have 300 extra troops stationed in Therfur, 150 of which happen to be trained / improved (Which ever it is) Legionaries. That's a good 300 troops i could use stationed in my city, but alas, they will instead fall into the vile hands of King Arthur and his lackeys.
Update:
Well, my plan to hold the castle in a siege had to be altered, i was going to run out of money before the enemy would run out of food, and i was also going to run out of food in a day or two. So, i thought, "To hell with it, Charge those walls men!!"... Once again, these Camulodians surprised me. We won. Now, if i knew where those damn screen shots went, i'd upload em and post the ending battle result.
Also, i broke away from the Empire, and to my surprise, so did my Castle Therfur in the south. There's 300 crack troops defending that place, so those Camulodians can break their teeth trying to retake that.
