Anibal Campaign, scenario 2 vs gauls, strategy?

[Kaede11]

Today I lost my third battle and it was very frustrating.

Basically I started Anibal's Campaign and fought the second battle against the Gauls. They basically have lots of warbands and this means tons of shock infantry. The whole battle seemed to go well but then they started to get "lucky" with their charges. My infantry was getting disrupted every time they charged and I had nothing to do. Yes, if I resisted the charge, the odds were in my favor, but then they disengaged and charged again. I thought I should charge myself to prevent them from doing that, but it was no use. All my units but scutarri are useless when charging their troops and every time I tried I ended up with disrupted units.

I managed to flank their troops every now and then and I thought I would win in the end, but a flanking force appeared and that was the end for me. I could not fight against 2 rounds of that infamous punishment. It was simply too much for my troops. And it was even worse when their troops started rallying. A lot. I mean, their routing troops were rallying from "routing" to "all is fine" in three rounds. That is not fair.

And here I am, basically asking how to beat shock infantry with non-shock infantry armies. My questions are

- What strategy should I follow? (Keep in mind I house rule that my troops are provided and never pick them manually. I always use "auto" for campaigns... and I have no elephants)
- Do the gauls or the warbands have a better chance of rallying or it was luck?
- I played lots of shock infantry armies until now and always had success. It seems that shock infantry based armies are much better than the others and have the edge. Is this intended / realistic?
- I understand that impact phase basically represents charges. Wouldn't it make sense if, whenever a unit is engaged, uses their melee skill against the impact skill of the charging unit? I mean, they are engaged already, how are they countercharging? This would make shock infantry more balanced, I think.

Let me know what you think and what did I do wrong.

[Cumandante]

- I understand that impact phase basically represents charges. Wouldn't it make sense if, whenever a unit is engaged, uses their melee skill against the impact skill of the charging unit? I mean, they are engaged already, how are they countercharging? This would make shock infantry more balanced, I think.

This bothers me as well. I think units already engaged should be weaker in impact than they currently are.

[hjc]

- Do the gauls or the warbands have a better chance of rallying or it was luck?
- I played lots of shock infantry armies until now and always had success. It seems that shock infantry based armies are much better than the others and have the edge. Is this intended / realistic?

I had a battle where five routing warbands rallied. This swung the game, and I lost. Now, I own plenty of wargames where I always beat the AI, but FOG2 hands me the occasional humiliation which, strange as it sounds, makes me happy. However: like you, I wondered if warbands have some inherent rally bonus. I'm told that's not the case, I just got unlucky. So, in your case too, it's just luck.

Not sure about "shock infantry", but as far as warbands go: there's been a different thread about warbands. You'll find it easily. Try to ignore some of the heated stuff in it But, a general observation is that warbands are very resilient. To the point that you can have a unit fighting them that is "better" and constantly wins the melee. And yet, the warbands have such large numbers that (a) a huge loss in a melee doesn't necessarily bother them, and (b) they can outlast a smaller unit. So a supposedly superior unit may well auto-break before they can dispose of the warband. Even with the best cutlery, we wouldn't be able to finish eating an elephant. An exaggeration, but you get the idea.

Warbands have some disadvantages - they're unmaneuverable - but, head to head, once a melee starts, they're formidable. I can't offer any tips because I've had no reliable success against, for example, German Foot Tribes, who field 90% warband armies. On the other hand, I can defeat the Gauls - but, they don't bring 17 warbands to the party. You'll find some tips for defeating them in the thread about warbands.

[Kaede11]

I'll try again to play this battle today, but I'm not sure about what to think.

Also, what about this:

I understand that impact phase basically represents charges. Wouldn't it make sense if, whenever a unit is engaged, uses their melee skill against the impact skill of the charging unit? I mean, they are engaged already, how are they countercharging? This would make shock infantry more balanced, I think.

Wouldn't it make sense and solve the issue?