HELP! Latin Revolt

[sum1won]

I am currently playing the Latin Revolt on Hardest. I am also finding it near impossible- the object is to take less than 70 casualties, and at hardest, my lvl 5 light cavalry are routed by lvl 2 light cavalry. If it wasnt for the extreme power of these units, I would be able to win, but there isnt even a forest to lure them into! (well, there is, but its occupied, and I cant get ther fast enough anyways.) Has anybody managed to beat it? Ive finished the gaelic campaign on hardest, but this one battle has me stumped.

[miki]

I have finished the Roman Campaing in hardest only once (I'm playing the second now). There're three or four battles that I needed to play them almost 20 times (or more else, OMG!) in order to win. I won, yeah, but sometimes in the last second, sometimes to the last man.

But the hardest battle, inwinable if you don't have the adecuate core force composition, was Cynoscephalos (well its spelled Cinosc?©falos in spanish, at least). Ugly battle it is. You'll learn to hate-BLOODY HATE-those damned Greek hoplites...

Which take me to the point of asking about depicting sarissas...

[miki]

Oh, sorry, I forgot to answer what you asked.

If this battle is the battle where two enemy cavalry units attack your flanks...

In order to win that battle, you must anchor your army in the middle of your front, and deploy your units in order to defeat the two enemy cavalry units that will charge your flanks in the middle of the map. Once you have defeated those cavalrymen, address your battle line and attack the enemy in the forest. With a bit of luck, you will only have to rectifiy your line to defend the oncoming atackinf infantry from the forest...

[kongming]

I am trying to hold out for one more battle to earn the last few dinarii needed to add a Auxilia Cav unit to my small force, so I went into the Latin Dispute with only a level 4 and level 5 auxilia units. Needless to say, on the first (that is first four) tries on hardest, I got roundly waxed by their light cav before making it into the forest. I eventually settled on a strategy similar to miki's of engaging the light cav head on (and one at a time) before worrying about the main battle line in the forest. I was able to get through the two cav units, but the auxilia that took the first charge was shaky and routed mid way through the remaining conflict, largely due to javelins.

In the end, I was able to rally my shaky auxilia after the light cav were defeated and then send the two auxilia directly towards the skirmisher units. Was able to make contact with one of the skirmishers directly, thereby negating their missile weapon. Ended up with one unit routed, but the second one persevere just long enough to hold the field.

[moj]

I am trying to hold out for one more battle to earn the last few dinarii needed to add a Auxilia Cav unit to my small force, so I went into the Latin Dispute with only a level 4 and level 5 auxilia units.

I always had 2x Aux at this point. I've been retired from LA since Christmas so can't remember the level of my units at the time, but I can't imagine they'd differ from yours in experience levels.

Don't recall this battle being a problem: position both units side-by-side in the centre (perhaps just left of centre), and as far advanced as possible. Charge like buggery into the woods. Throwing your leader at the cavalry on your left flank holds them up long enough for the aux to make the woods; the cavalry on the right will 'miss' you and by the time it's turned and caught up with you you're already in the green stuff.

The key is not to allow your aux to stop and throw sticks - you have to move them to points *behind* the enemy infantry, so they get in there.

Stick throwing is very bad in this scenario. Oh yes.

[kongming]

This forum is so valuable. I've been playing LA off and on for much of two years, and have picked up a trick or two, but MOJ, you have given me a couple great new ideas to try out.

I didn't realize that setting waypoints behind the enemy line would prevent them from throwing their javelins. I figured my only option was to charge/throw sticks or choice "Hold Fire" but under "hold Fire" they only advance at medium speed.

Also, the idea of using my legate as a decoy here had never occurred to me. Great ideas. I'll give them a try! Thanks for the tips.

[moj]

I didn't realize that setting waypoints behind the enemy line would prevent them from throwing their javelins.

Try it at Vadimo Lake. If you put your aux on the centre rough they get mangled pretty quickly by light enemy. If you rush them up the right hand side without stopping to throw (but not the extreme right flank or you'll hit the heavy cavalry head on in the open) they'll *just* make the rough ridge, and if they have a few weaponry/armour upgrades they'll slowly make mincemeat of the opposition's disadvantaged heavy mob.

Advancing without throwing javelins comes in handy at Cisalpine Gaul, too (assuming you take the fight to them; I never got anywhere with that battle by sitting back).

[kongming]

MOJ, I tried your tactics in the Latin Revolt scenario and most of it worked as described. The Legate did an admirable job of tying up the left light cav until all the other units had been eliminated, and as you indicated, the right cav did not make contact until my boys had made it into the cover of the woods.

But I had to use the "hold fire" command to keep them from firing their javelins. Placing waypoints behind the enemy line didn't seem to keep them from launching their javelins. Maybe there wasn't enough room behind the enemy to make it work in this situation. I will try again at Vadimo Lake and Cisalpine Gaul.

Under the hold fire command, my boys were still able to reach cover in the woods before the cav turned the corner.

[moj]

Curse you, you've made me open LA for the first time this year. Can I bring myself to stop playing again?!

Waypoints *don't* prevent your aux from stopping to throw javelins.

As I said before, put legate on left and set to 'seek enemy'. Put both aux to left of centre and set to 'charge'. As soon as the battle starts, command the left hand aux to move to *behind* the enemy's left hand (from your viewpoint) light infantry, then the right hand aux to move to *behind* the central light infantry. There's just enough room to move into space, ie the green icon, between 'engage' and 'out of bounds'.

Usually the junior aux will break but the senior aux will mop up with minimal casualties.

[kongming]

moj I see my earlier misreading of your message. I thought you were talking about setting waypoints on the deployment screen, not issuing orders once the battle begins. This is a great addition to my tactics! Works exactly as advertised. Thanks.

But in practice, I found that it didn't work for me any better than the strategy below, and I think I discovered a little "bully the AI" trick of my own to add to the mix. I found that setting my two aux on "hold fire" got them to the forest in plenty of time before the cav turned. Using waypoints, I was able to aim them more precisely at the two skirmishers, who really weaken the units substantially.

I left my legate over on the left flank to lure one of their cav units away from the main fray as you suggested. But before the legate engaged, I sent him off trotting at an oblique away from the light cav, just close enough to lure them along. I kept angling him slightly back towards the fray and eventually steered the legate and the pursuing cavalry back into the forest. It was a great foot race with the light cav steadily closing the distance and ending up inside my legate's meager leadership circle. My legate landed smack in the middle of one of the units of skirmishers, thus tying them up nicely for the duration of the battle. And the light cav was, by this time, too late to turn the tide of the battle.

[moj]

My legates are very disposable, especially in the early stages. Every time one dies Rome just send along a replacement, with exactly the same experience as the recently deceased...

[kongming]

MOJ, I just re-ran the Vadimo Lake campaign. As you indicated, a perfect opportunity to use your tactic. With my aux on the right hand side of the screen vs 2 opposing heavy cav, by setting them to charge, then once they begin to move to order them to a point behind the heavy cav kept them from stopping to throw their sticks. They caught the heavies in the rough and made things messy for them. I don't see any other way to get them in the rough. Great advice!

[kongming]

Followed immediately by Cisalpine Gaul...

I tried rushing the highlands as you suggested, but found that if I took my time and instead lured out the far most left tribe of Celts, I could decimate that tribe and the others would not respond. Tribal loyalty on full display. I wonder if that is true in other battles with multiple chiefs.

In this case, once I was able to lure the Linguini tribe (or whatever they were called) out on to open ground and wipe them out then my aux could assume the high ground and while the legions and cav stayed in open ground. We shifted the battle line down hill and just moved down one tribe at a time, keeping my aux in scrub whenever possible, thus disadvantaging their cav and heavies. Still a close battle on Very Hard with a small army. I ended up with my legate, one shaken aux, and 2 archers left.

[perry]

First times I played the campaign, I scraped by the Latin Revolt scenario with low-level troops like Scouts, militias and the likes. It worked, but it was a pain..
Then I made sure to purchase a little more expensive units, and that worked out much better.

Army:
1xLegate
1xMilitia
1xSkirms/Velites
2xAuxiliae (preferable with 1 piece of equipment, usually armour upgrade, each)
1xScout

Put up all your units on the right flank. The Auxilia are to screen the Skirms from enemy troops. Put Auxilia & Skirms on Long Hold.
The Scout charges the enemy left flank Scout, and should be able to break it. After that, either try charging a enemy unprotected Skirm unit, or if no such opportunity arise, retreat behind your Auxilias.
The Militia slowly walks towards enemy line. Their sole purpose is to get pounded by enemy skirms, so they deplete their ammo. Halt the militia in front of enemy line, so they get hit with a few more volleys, instead of letting them engage in hand-to-hand combat!
Now you Auxilia should be able to clear the enemy 2nd Scout unit & the Militas/Skirms, without moving an inch!