I fear the Germans!

[NorthHammer]

I've been playing as Juli and have been pretty successful fighting against the Gauls. I've lost only one battle to them. I reached a point where I had to stop and reinforce my troops, when Gaul was at its weakest.

Well, the pleasant old Germans decided to come to the aid of their comrades. I see them right outside a castle of mine, and I say, "Screw them, I'm not going to wait for them to siege my castle, I'm going on the attack. I'm going to send those damn Germans across the Rhine so I can finish off the Gauls."

I took a look at the German rescue squad. It was being led by a captain, not a general. There were about 4 units of chosen axeman with 2-3 silver chevrons each. It was a full size army of about 3000 units, and they had about 300 units of reinforcements.

I looked at this group and thought "who are these little bastards think they are toying with? I've taken on 9 star Gaullic generals with no challenge. These leaderless wimps are going to be slaughtered."

I was attacking them with my Faction leader. My faction leader was either a 9 or 10 star (whatever is the highest). I had 6 units of Hastati, 4 units of Principes, 4 units of Triari, 3 Velites, and 2 units of Equites. All units were maxed out in numbers and 1-3 orange chevrons.

Well, I set my battle formation as I typically do. Hastati up front with shield wall and hold formation, fire at will. I had my two lines of backup of Principes and Triari to back them up. The Germans charged at me and my Hastati held the line. I reinforced them with principes, and later the triari. I was confused because the Germans weren't running. They were not dying either. I broke through in my middle left line and began to swoop around to the right. My left flank was heavily engaged and on the border of triumph until the enemy reinforcements arrived. The line enemy line that I had broken through earlier, gained inspiration when their backups arrived. All of a sudden my left flank looked like it was going to fall. Most of the heavy combat was occurring on my middle right side, but it was a meat grinding festival. I knew that if I lost my left flank, i'd be doomed.

I took my two cavalry units and taunted the enemies coming after my left flank to keep them away. Fortunately they took the bait. My left flank finally took over, but my middle right line was looking really bad. I had already committed my velites to the front, and they were being slaughtered. I sent my left flank to encircle the middle right line, in addition to the equites that were running around. I figured out why my right side was struggling, they were engaged against 3 units of those damn chosen axeman.

I finally got the rest of the Germans encircled, and they finally broke and ran. I mopped them up accordingly, but everyone minus my general was so exhausted that they were running like lard-asses. I ended up winning the battle, killed over 95% of the enemy, but lost 65% of MY MEN!

The reason I write this is, I never expected a challenge from a CAPTAIN. If this is what the Germans are capable of with a captain against my 10 star general, i'm terrified what they can do with their own 10 star general.

Maybe I blitzed the Gauls too fast? Maybe the Gauls would've been this much of a challenge if I had gone slower? It's 240bc and I've taken abot 8-10 provinces from the Gauls. Am I moving too fast, or are teh Germans just that tough?

If this is what is to be expected in the future, I'm so excited. This game just got so much more entertaining after the Germans reminded me that I'm not the master of the world.

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