Cypsela advice needed

[gremlin]

Forgive me if this has already been asked

I have reached the part in the roman campaign ambush at Cypsela

According to the mission description I must hold on against an overwhelming force till the main force can join the fight.

However in fact once it starts I am expected to attack and win within a time limit and with limited casualties.

First time I set up I lost because I was expecting to defend

Tried it a dozen times and have been close to winning quite often, in fact the last time I was certain that all the enemy forces had routed.
The clock ticked down the last 16 seconds and I got a failure message.

Any tips for this battle ?

I have updated to the latest version

Thanks
David

[tora_tora_tora]

Hi, gremlin.


I guess there is still enemy general, I mean somekind of tribe chief, or chieftan still survives.
In most of cases, opposing force's commanders are really aggressive and throw himself into melee-combat, though
this Tracian?(I guess) chieftan is shy away from romans.

SO why not check where he is at the unit deployment screen, and once battle starts, send some fleet-footed units against him?

[honvedseg]

I don't know if that's the one I'm thinking of, but one of the missions has enemy generals parked near both upper corners of the map. If so, there should be enough time to draw in the first enemy wave by hitting a few isolated units with your skirmishers or archers, then engage the rest piecemeal with several units against one. Send a beat-up unit or some light troops to take out the generals while you finish off the remnants.

[quintusvarus]

I cannot recall this one either, but a missing general is likeliest. One scenario has him placed well back behind some forests with clear ground to the right as you look at the battlefield. as the Celts attack the general is left at the rear and doesn't move. I found the way to deal with this was defeat the enemy cavalry on your right flank with heavy infantry and then immediately send one unit to the enemy general to kill him whilst your light troops fought out the rest of the battle in the forest.

[gremlin]

Thanks everyone that was good advice.

The general is center top at start and barely advances at all.
I guess I didnt spot him after things got messy because he was hidden amongst his retreating troops.

Solution was to use my right flank Auxiliary cavalry which is only used to block and take out an opposing heavy cavalry unit.

I spared a couple of seconds to send them after the general once their main task was over, this time by the time the light troops had cleared my left flank and my heavy units had broken the center the general was dead.

Had a couple more fights in greece and now its the Gallic tribes to break before heading into Germany I would guess.

Thanks again
David

[kongming]

The timing was very tricky on that one. I sent my cavalry against their right flank were they position archers and several warriors. I had to be careful to draw the warriors into open ground, then rode them down with 3 heavy cav, after which 2 units went after the archers, and #3 was freed up to chase after the chieftain. If you can get the warriors into open ground, then this strategy should work well. It seems to be a good use for cavalry since otherwise the fighting is mostly in dense forest.