Defeating Warbands

[uneducated]

What tactics do you use succesfully to defeat warband armies with Roman troops?

They are quite tough. They seem to absorb missile attacks all day. Roman cavalry seem hopeless against them...

[devoncop]

Remember warbands have two key weaknesses...they are unmanouverable and have trouble turning and most importantly lose control and pursue after routing a unit.

This can be nicely countered by having weak Roman units such as Italian foot or raw Legions in the front line facing the warband with units of strong morale each side. The warband breaks the unfortunate Italian foot and pursues them through the front line. A second line infantry unit needs to be in place within 2 squares to then hit the warband in the flank. Job done.

The morale of most warbands is not great and they are also very susceptible to chain morale failures leading to multiple disruptions, fractures and routs.

The Roman morale tends to be much more robust so the breaking of weaker units in the front line should not disrupt their neighbours everything being equal.

Give that a go.....other strategies from much better players than me are available

Cheers

Ian

[Jagger2002]

I would recommend playing the Gauls vs Romans a few times. You will learn the Gaulish weaknesses fairly quickly. Then go back to playing the Romans bearing in mind the weaknesses you discovered playing the Gauls.

[rbodleyscott]

Roman cavalry seem hopeless against them...

Light spear cavalry should not be charging any infantry frontally. If you charge warbands in the flank while they are fighting your infantry to the front, then they will work.

[rbodleyscott]

I would recommend playing the Gauls vs Romans a few times. You will learn the Gaulish weaknesses fairly quickly. Then go back to playing the Romans bearing in mind the weaknesses you discovered playing the Gauls.

This is really good advice.

[Geffalrus]

You need 4 or more skirmishers dedicated to a single warband to start disrupting it, so I've found that only really feasible on the flanks with some terrain advantages. However, a lot of warband heavy armies tend to lack skirmish (Galatians/Gallics), so in forest or steep slopes, you'll have free rein.

If you're a Roman who has access to elephants, definitely use them. Elephants can absorb frontal attacks fairly easily, just make sure to have your best cohorts guarding their flanks, as elephants are vulnerable to infantry flank attacks.

[MeerkatRabbit]

I came here looking for a thread just on this topic after getting trounced by the Gauls again and again, so this has been helpful. I was just playing the Seven Hills of Rome campaign as the early hoplite Romans. The first battle (against the Etruscans) was easy. I used an echelon formation with my strongest troops advanced forward on the right, and my weakest ones refused on the left. I had a lot of skirmishers and not a lot of reserves. It turned out to be one of the easiest battles I've fought in this game and I won with 40% enemies routed while losing almost no one.

The second battle put me against the Gauls and I got utterly crushed again and again each time I tried it. It was quite a shock to go from such an easy battle to that! I had a really bad match-up against them. I tried the same tactic I used in the first battle and it would never work. Too many skirmishers and a front line that was too shallow and with not enough reserves. The Gauls would shrug off the skirmisher attacks without even slowing down and my poor citizen hoplites were nothing more than speedbumps against them. Even the veteran armored hoplites had trouble. The terrain was not very favorable either.

So I re-generated the map and picked a different force and FINALLY beat them. I got lucky with the terrain this time. I had two forests on either side of me that I could use to anchor both flanks, and I had a tiny hill that I could use on one part of the line. I also got lucky with the Gauls picking extra chariots this time, no skirmishers and fewer warbands, and the chariots couldn't get around the forests on the flanks. I didn't get any extra skirmishers at all and I got as much of the heaviest infantry I could get instead, and then put them in a deeper formation with lots of reserves to absorb the shock of the impact. My cavalry was even further back, taking up a third line (they ended up being very useful there).

I had a strong position and the battle started with the Gauls refusing to attack. I started with three javelin units, so I rushed them down the field and focused them on one of the superior warbands. They got lucky enough to take it out with the whole Gallic army just sitting there, and soon their whole army started moving. Those superior warbands with generals attached are incredibly strong, and wherever they choose to hit will pretty much be a guaranteed breakthrough no matter who they are facing. Wherever the superior warbands would go, I'd make sure to have extra reserves there ready and waiting to hit them in the flank when they inevitably punch through.

As soon as the initial breakthroughs were contained, I started aggressively counter-charging them along the line while pouring reserves into all of the gaps. I would take heavy losses and some disruptions, but it would prevent them from disengaging and pulling back so they could re-charge again later, and it opened up further flank attacks. It ended up working really well, and after a couple of turns of this their whole army started disintegrating almost all at once. I didn't even need to get to 60% routed.