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RTW: BI - Celtic Campaign

    After a few years of not playing RTW:BI I have decided to fire up this game with a short Celtic campaign. The difficulty is Hard / Hard. To share my experience, I've decided to write the campaign report of sorts. This way the players may use or improve on the strategies and tactics that I've used. So, here it goes...

Part 1: Britannia

    When the game starts in the year 363 AD, the old king Agnus (65  years old) controls a small country consisting of two provinces: Hybernia - with capital Tara, and Caledonia - with main city Dal Raida. Roman presence on the island of Britannia is weak, so Agnus decides to swing his sword one more time before he joins his ancestors. King Agnus calls upon everyone who can bear arms to march on Eburacum right away, he takes the garrison from Tara and boards the ship to Britannia Inferior...
    It is quite amazing how he survived a perilous sea voyage to Britannia, perhaps it was the care of his son and heir -  Drest ? Near Eburacum, both armies, one from Tara and one from Dal Raida, join up and King Agnus lays siege to the city. However, he feels the Black One approach so he calls to his son and tells him to rule fair, to do great deeds of honour in the field, to expel the Romans from the isle and restore the glory of their Celtic ancestors. With these words spoken, Agnus' life force leaves his body and his soul joins his ancestors.

    The Roman garrison, which was significantly stronger than the rag-tagged Celtic army, after having heard about the death of king Agnus, decided to sally. This was, the newly crowned King Drest's first real battle at the head of an army. He crushed the Romans, killed them to a single man - a Heroic victory it was (Sorry, forgot about the screenshots). Mercenary Sarmatian Archers were of big help in this battle, just as were the Gallowglasses. The rams that were built for the siege, acted as additional defences, as the enemy had to charge through them, thus breaking up the unit  formation. So, Eburacum fell without a siege and was then occupied.

    Drest spent a season in Eburacum, retraining his troops, recruiting garrison forces and making further plans. Then, without further delay, he marched on Londinium. The Roman garrison here was much weaker than in Eburacum, so the town fell without major difficulties. Once again the Sarmatians were quite useful.

    However, after taking Londinium in 365 AD and thus unifying Britannia under Celtic rule, Drest, with utter horror, discovered a large Romano-British force a short distance northeast of Londinium. They definitely could not be friendly. This army, led by Cadwaladur Sanctus, has really scared Drest. Even though he was not from the faint hearted, when the spy told him that Cadwaladur had, besides his own bodyguards, 3 Graal Knights, 1 Sarmatian Auxilia, 1 Warlord and 6 Coast Levies, Drest's face became pale. How would he deal with all that heavy cavalry ?! Six units of heavy cavalry !!! The reinforcements from Tara and Dal Raida were still many months away and could not be counted on in battle. Eburacum was garrisoned with peasants - they woldn't help either. King's own forces were battered after two battles and consisted of a two-thirds strength Mercenary Sarmatian Archers, a Scotii Chariot, a unit of Pictish Spearmen, Slingers, half-strength Gallowglasses and one swarm of Wolfhounds. Drest's own bodyguards could not take on that much heavy cavalry and hope to win in a fair fight. So, the fight had to be unfair...

    Thinking real fast, the King fully abandoned Londinium and marched to a little forest just northeast of the city. On the way he hired some Mercenary Veteranii and Gallowglasses to aid in the battle to follow. Now the King hoped that his ambush would work, that Cadwaladur would see a defenceless Londinium and march on it, thus falling into a trap.

    And so, in the winter of the year 365 AD, the Romano-British army marched straight on Londinium, but was waylaid by Drest's forces. Even though the enemy was caught totally off-guard, the King knew not to underestimate them just yet as the element of surprise may not be enough to win this fight. "In order to kill the snake, cut off its head" he thought and charged Cadwaladur's bodyguards at the head of the marching column. Pictish Spearmen were standing in a schiltrom formation near three units of heavy cavalry, hoping to draw them into battle, as a magnet attracts steel. Gallowglasses yelled their warcry and charged the Coast Levies. Veteranii threw their pila and charged in as well. Scotii Chariots were harassing the large unit of Sarmatians, thus keeping them away from the main battle. Sarmatian Horse Archers were luring a unit of Graal Knights away from the main battle. The Wolfhounds attacked a stray unit of Coast Levies hoping to rout them.
    A short while later, the Pictish schiltrom was attacked by two units of Graal Knights and a Warlord. The Picts were barely holding on. Luckily, Drest's charge and subsequent fight with Cadwaladur's bodyguards yielded a result: Cadwaladur was dead. The enemy were demoralised, but not routing yet. On the contrary, the charge from Sarmatian Auxilia has routed King's Wolfhounds. Both units of Gallowglasses and a unit of Slingers were quite shaken with seeing another unit of Graal Knights' charge. Pictish Spearmen were taking losses, but still holding on against massive heavy cavalry onslaught. Drest was running around the battlefield, blowing his horn to try to rally his troops and charging here and there to swing his sword.
    After some tense combat, the King's men began to gain the upper hand. The stoic Picts held off a barrage of cavalry charges from Graal Knights, thus fulfilling their role of a cavalry magnet in this battle. Gallowglasses and Veteranii finally chopped through the Coast Levies and, unit by unit, the enemy began to rout. Finally, Drest's bodyguards began slaughtering and routing the remnants of Romano-British heavy cavalry. The battle was won. A Heroic Victory !
    This astounding victory probably would not be possible, had the old King Agnus not gifted his son with the best retinue. A Master Hunter, a Scout and a Galloper - all these men made Drest into a God of Ambush with the highest battle ranking of 10 stars.

    And so, after 3 years of fighting, three victories (two of which were heroic), Britannia was unified by a Celtic King Drest. Now it is time to consolidate and rebuild.

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Part 2: Gaul

    After the conquest of Britannia, the Celtic people have lived in piece for five years, building, growing and training new units for the King. Even though all economic upgrades were made, the huge army that King Drest ordered to be trained was draining the treasury. All these new weapon and armour upgrades for the army and its upkeep was too expensive. Thus, in the year 372 AD, the King decided that to wait more would mean failure, and so it is time to strike in the soft underbelly of the Western Roman Empire. King Drest  landed his huge army near Samarobriva and laid siege to it.
    The scouts from the coastal watchtower have reported to him that Samarobriva was lightly guarded. It was indeed so, a battered unit of archers was no match for the might of the Celtic army.
    A few years before the invasion, a Celtic spy, Fotla, infiltrated Samarobriva. However, unfortunately, the city was infected with a plague and the spy got infected too. Drest decided to use it to his advantage and sent Fotla on a secret mission - to infect as many nearby cities as possible. Fotla did as was told and finally ended up in Vicus Saxones.

    After taking Samarobriva, Drest spent a year pacifying the populace and training the new garrison. In the winter of 373 AD, Drest split his army into two halves. One half, headed by his brother Gartnait White-Hero, he sent to capture Avaricum. Drest takes the other half and marches on Colonia Agrippina, however, when the King's army approaches Colonia Agrippina, he sees that it is infected with plague. Hmm, Fotla was here...
    The King decides to turn away and assault Augusta Treverorum instead. He also orders the construction of watch towers in the province of Belgica.

    In the summer of 375 AD Drest sieges Augusta Treverorum, however, the garrison gets help from outside and decides to attack the Celts. The Romans, however, are crushed in battle and Augusta Treverorum is taken without being assaulted. How handy. Its populace is sent to slavery.

    In the winter of the same year, Drest's brother, Gartnait White-Hero, lays siege to Avaricum. The siege was difficult and costly, the Romans put up a stiff resistance in the city plaza. Thankfully, the Hounds of Culann, managed to break Roman resistance. For taking such high casualties, Gartnait decides to teach Romans a lesson and allows his army to pillage and burn the city. Many more Romans are killed in the process. Romans should know how to resist the mighty Celtic army !!!

    To secure the borders of the growing kingdom, Drest orders the construction of a network of forts near the crossing points of the river Rhine. However, to fully secure the eastern border of the kingdom, King Drest decided to capture Colonia Agrippina, once the plague has been dealt with that is. He also hired some mercenary Graal Knights and sent them to guard the bridge near the Alemanni city - the Alemanni were actively building up forces nearby.

    After pacifying the populace of Avaricum, Gartnait marches his army to Burdigala where his vanguard is assaulted by small Roman detachments. In the meantime, Drest sieges Colonia Agrippina. The small garrison of Colonia Agrippina, commanded by Nero Flavius, is no match for the powerful Celtic army. And so, in the summer of 376 AD, Colonia Agrippina fell before the might of King's army.

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    In the winter of the same year King's brother, Gartnait White-Hero, lays siege to Burdigala. However, at this time the Alemanni send a probe attack, led by Athanaric, at one of the bridges over the river Rhine. The bridge was defended by a single unit of Graal Knights and a peasant garrison in a fort nearby. Even though the attackers weren't numerous, the outcome of the battle could not be predicted beforehand.
    Athanaric ordered his two units of archers to swim across the river while he, together with his bodyguards, charged across the bridge. Athanaric's charge was stopped by the Graal Knights, who then proceeded to destroy the archers as they ascended the shore. Athanaric recharged and was killed by the Graal Knights. With Athanaric's death, the Alemanni army routed. The battle was won. Well, it seems that the high cost of Graal Knights was duly justified. After this probe attack, the Alemanni did not exhibit any threatening activity at all.

    In the summer of 377 AD, Gartnait feels that his army is ready to assault Burdigala. The Roman garrison there was weak and was easily brushed aside. Gartnait ordered over 9000 citizens of the conquered city to be dispersed as slaves throughout the growing Celtic kingdom. However, after conquering Burdigala, Gartnait noticed the perilous situation that he was in. A few Roman and Brigand armies still kept presence in the province - they had to be destroyed in order to secure the southern frontier.

    Summoning some reinforcements Gartnait set out to destroy these armies piecemeal. He managed to quickly get rid of both brigand detachments and one Roman scout force.

    A year later, the two remaining Roman forces joined up and assaulted Gartnait's army, which now had quite a few mercenaries. Battle was a close fought affair with many of Gartnait's units routed or destroyed. The experienced Romans, however, were led by a mere captain, if they were led by a general - Gartnait would suffer a defeat for sure. Well, the mercenaries did what they were supposed to do - stall and grind down the Romans. Now Gartnait needed time to rebuild his army.
    Two years later, with a somewhat improved force, Gartnait decided to seize Arles, thus decreasing the amount of border needed to be defended. The river would serve as a good defence. So, in 379 AD Gartnait lays siege to Arles, however, the Roman garrison commanded by Oppius Flavius, together with an army outside the city walls, decide to attack the besiegers. They are promptly defeated and Arles, left undefended, is occupied without a costly siege battle. Perhaps Oppius Flavius should have used less opium to be more successful in his last battle.

    In foreign news, a Saxon diplomat approached our family member Ciniod with an offer of Alliance and Map Information. Ciniod chose to accept the Saxon's offer. Whether or not it was a wise choice, we'll find out in due time.

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© 2007 Yaroslav (Slava) Bezverkhnyev, a.k.a. Agarwaen
Last Update:     September 16, 2007