Legion Arena #6

Index.

Gauls and Latins. At the start of the 4th century BC, the Gauls were an increasing menace to Rome. Incursions were becoming more frequent and penetrating deeper into Italy. As the Gallic threat increases, so does dissent in Latium, and Rome may again be forced to send troops to pacify the region.

: While easy enough on Normal or Hard, this is very hard on Very Hard-

: Well, duh!

: -since enemies can take for more punishment. There’s a patch of rough terrain, but it would be bad news for the Scouts and the Hastati, so let’s fight them right on. Oh yes, I recruited an extra squad of Scouts just for this one battle.

: Our problem appears to be that the Hastati routs fighting that über-Militia, leaving us with little with which to beat those Spearmen with. We may have to use our noodle a little.

: Mmm, noodles.

: We’re going to switch positions around a little… Scouts go first for the trample, while the Hastati at the rightmost flank will cause some trouble by themselves.

: I love when a plan comes together like that.

: Purple! How cute!

: Yes, the light infantry is getting some backup. It’s a shame the Auxilia look so alike even though there are different colour schemes.

: This battle is rather special in that we face an all-cavalry, and we only have a limited amount of time to beat them. My spontaneous strategy is to try to strike as widely as possible, despite our rather limited amount of squads.

: What are those red boxes?

: Oh yes, by holding shift and clicking you can make an order for the unit to move to certain location when the battle starts. It’s quite useful since it doesn’t use up and order points. In this case, we want to make sure the Auxilia don’t stray from the rough ground.

: Mano e mano!

: Both the Hastati and the Scouts seemed to bite more than they could chew alone, so perhaps it is better to go together instead.

: Our lighties are done with those on the right flank, perhaps they are able to win this for us.

: Yes indeed… the kill/death ratio might look a bit bad, but keep in mind that cavalry squadrons have 24 men rather than 48.

: That’s a very large army!

: Indeed. Luckily, we don’t have to beat them all. Surviving long enough is rather trivial, but we also have to kill a large enough amount to certify that we actually did something. The most troubling element are those cavalry on the right flank, but our Auxilia should be able to deal with them. Meanwhile, we’ll slaughter us some of those tender Militia.

: XP, here we come!

: Barely a scratch on our forces, and already halfway to the target. Excellent.

: The flanking is unfortunate, but doesn’t break our plan.

: While the enemy is occupied elsewhere, we dig into those delicious Skirmishers. Our Auxilia fought long and well, but couldn’t handle the pressure.

: Wait, shouldn’t you have lost since your Hastati routed?

: Objection!

: …You’re evil.

: That looting sounds like some nasty business…

: I thought you didn’t like Rome?

: …

: Anyway, those Skirmishers are rather annoying so we’re targeting them first.

: It starts out good… I think.

: It’s getting worse…

: And ends with disaster…

: We’re trying a more collected effort this time. Hopefully those Skirmishers on the left won’t sting too much.

: Taking them out one by one is definitely more effective. Our Scouts are free to do some flanking.

: Another mission well done. Note that the “kill 150” objective isn’t of that much help, since the enemy is more or less down for the count by the time you achieve it. That’s all the battles for this update, let’s lastly take a look at promotions.

Let’s Play Legion Arena #5

Index.

The early republic. The Roman republic was established when Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last Etruscan king of Rome, was overthrown after his son raped Lucrecia.

: …!

The fledgling republic would have hard times ahead, with dissent internally, and many powerful enemies including the Etruscans.

: We continue where we left off, with another skirmish between early Rome’s neighbours. Those Skirmishers present juicy targets as they stand there all by themselves, and the Legate will direct fire off of our Scouts as they charge the Skirmishers.

: I had no idea Roman military strategy was like this!

: Meanwhile, the Auxilia and Militia hides in the forest to deal with that enemy cavalry.

: The battle begins auspiciously.

: The enemy Scouts go after our Scouts, not in our calculations. I wonder how this will affect the battle.

: Er… that was just an exercise.

: (*sighs* We were able to beat the Scouts, but apparently one Auxilia and one Militia can’t beat two Militia. Fucking difficulty level. Let’s try that again.)

: By comparison, the “clump everyone together” strategy, while crude, is far more effective.

: I can tell it’s still the early game, because they simply haven’t stopped using Peasants yet. They suck. We’ll slice through them like a knife through hot butter.

: I know a good simile too. Like an Auxilia through a hot Peasant!

: As I was saying, the plan is to strike the only actual thing resembling a threat, the Militia. Then we’re home-free. I don’t understand the option of rocky ground, all their units are light infantry.

: The Scouts chicken out at one point. Even when they flee they have a chance of trampling a unit.

: Victory was never in doubt.

: C’mon, you were a bit scared of their sheer mass.

: …

: Coriolanus has a respectable army, that would be a bit of a hassle to defeat, but thankfully all we have to do is offing him. Which is rather easy when you know what you’re doing.

: Heh, it could scarcely have gone better…

: This feels like cheating!

: I didn’t expect them to kill him, but merely wound him… and more importantly, make him recklessly charge the rest of our forces, lying in ambush in the forest.

: They seem to be attacking some Skirmishers, though.

: What?

: Well, damn… looks like I forgot to give them the order to Hold. I think we could still win this, though.

: Yes, we did it. I’d say breaking even in the kill/death ratio is a fairly good outcome considering the circumstances.

: I saved up some money to be able to afford these fellows. With some proper heavy infantry on our side, our fledgling army should have more of a chance of survival. They’re decent later on, right now they’re flat-out superb.

: Cool!

: This is the first of the “take less than X casualties” battles where you’re forced to step out of the role of the absent-minded general for once. It’s not that difficult, though. The battle plan is to avoid the forest and take out one of the Scouts first, then try to flank the Skirmishers.

: Our Scout goes in first to avoid trample. The plan is holding up so far.

: I did not manage to get the squads in the right position before the other Scout force came, but it shouldn’t matter that much since we don’t have ranged units yet.

: My Scouts were only able to force one Skirmisher into melee, but the other one only has a limited set of javelins after all. They stand no chance of winning as the Hastati mow down our enemies.

: Nice of you to care for your men for once, Squirtle.

: Oh, er… sure.

: Wolfman!

: Yeah, I ditched the Militia in order to afford them. Only five more denarii were needed, but still. I want Velites to start earning XP early in order to reach level 6, to buy those extra javelins.

: The Etruscans actually have some decent quality units this time around, but conveniently there’s some mud we can use to negate that quality. The Militia are a bit annoying, though, so I want some units on the flanks to deal with most of them.

: The Auxilia fire some javelins to entice the Scouts to attack them.

: Oh dear… our Hastati managed to fall into the trap, though. Let’s retreat and start over again.

: I noticed the enemy cavalry didn’t take the bait, so with nothing better to do, we’re letting the Hastati get some of dirt under the fingernails, and see how much it can take.

: The enemy Spearmen are on boggy ground, so let’s strike with our light infantry while we have the chance. The Velites manage to score one hit on them before they rout.

: The Hastati finally buckle after heavy causalties and become routed just before we win – while they didn’t last the whole battle, I’m very pleased they could make it this far.

: They’re our heroes!

As the republic became more established, its military policies became more aggressive, though even 300 years after its founding, Rome had not secured its own region of Latium, and faced serious challenges ahead.

: Sounds like a cliffhanger!

: Yeah… maybe if you squint.

: Our army is finally gaining some substance. Let’s look at the current promotions before the end of the update.

Let’s Play Legion Arena #4

Index

NOTE: The list will be added as promotions become available in the game.

: Today we’ll be talking about promotions. But first a little bit about how they are gained. You might have noticed that the Auxilia gained no XP at all by fighting Peasants, but the Militia did. The XP earned for every kill is dependent on the relative strength between different types of units. Weaker units also have a smaller amount of XP needed to earn a promotion. In return, stronger units are much better at killing units, and a Milita might have problem earning even one kill when battling the heavies.

: So what do promotions do, exactly?

: Good question. They are what truly makes the game an RPG, in that it enables stat growth, and specializing units in different areas. The other way to do so is to buy equipment, which we’ll talk about in another post. Since advanced versions of promotions become available only after a certain level, your units will have a varied pool of promotions.

For reference, the names of promotions are in this format:

1: [name]
2: Advanced [name]
3: Expert [name]
4: Master [name]
5: Grand Master [name] I
6: Grand Master [name] II
etc.

***DEFENSIVE***

If your units start with very little armour, like Scouts, Block is a priority. If units start out with decent armour, it might not be as pressing. The first promotion is a mere +2, but is +10 at Master.

: Dodge is nice because agility rises so rapidly, but the damage penalty is less nice. At Advanced, it’s a solid +10 with no damage penalty, though. Expert gives -1 and +15, and is far less of a concern because you’ve likely gained a few Feint by that point, and again loses that penalty at Master. If you’re really concerned about that initial penalty, you can wait until a few levels are gained. If you gain two promotions at the same time and you’re at a level where Advanced is available, you can even avoid that altogether.

: Endurance is technically one of the “star” promotions, but is functionally a defensive one. Foot soldiers start with 25, cavalry 30 and elephants… a large number. For units which have good protection from the start (most heavy infantry) this is a good promotion, especially since it’s a first choice. It also has impressive gain.

: Enemy skirmishers should preferably be flanked rather than allowed to shoot with impunity. Sometimes this is hard, though, and ranged armour is very handy in such a case, especially if your units start out with little ranged armour.

: Specialized protection works like agility. Cavalry Protection doesn’t help against trample as far as I’m aware.

***OFFENSIVE***

: Possibly the worst type of promotion since 1) it develops linearly and 2) there is a perfectly good substitute in the formation Disciplined & Offensive, which provides an impressive melee attack bonus of 30. I never use it.

: Since there’s not much problem in having units hit the enemy, you want that attack to hurt. That’s why Feint is nice, and it upgrades somewhat exponentially too, so it is definitely a good choice, especially if units don’t start out with a lot of it.

: All units start with give or take roughly the same amount of concuss, so it is like Endurance in that units which start out with good stats should look into it. I’m not entirely sure of the mechanics of concuss, but it seems to have to do with the amount of armour the enemy unit has.

: Trample is most useful for units which move around and hit different enemies in one battle a lot. Trample is also incredibly useful in killing routed enemies, making cavalry go up in level easier. If it’s a dedicated anti-cavalry unit, though, it’s far less useful. Elephants have less use for trample since their squads have less units, and already have a lot of trample in the first place. Obviously, this promotion is only available to cavalry and elephants.

: Ranged units don’t have a lot of choice in promotions, so just pick these as they come available.

: Skirmish, however, gives far more pause for thought… if you expect the unit to actually fight hand-to-hand, the morale penalty is a great handicap. If you don’t, it’s a nice boost in marksmanship. Auxiliary Archers have more use for this than Skirmishers and Velites, but choose according to what you’d expect your units to do in battle.

: Infantry are ubiquitous, so Anti-Infantry is fairly useful. Anti-Cavalry less so, but if you’ve designated a dedicated anti-cavalry unit, it should obviously have it.

: This must be super useful, right?

: Well… no.

***FORMATIONS***

: Quite a few units start out disciplined, but for those who don’t, this promotion is extremely useful, in that it is the most stat-raising promotion ever. You should get it as soon as it becomes available.

***MISCELLANEOUS***

: Battles are all about making the other side rout and yours not, so added morale is obviously useful. Keep in mind, though, that the morale most units start with isn’t that far from the maximum, and morale is the stat rises the most “innately”

: There is nothing more annoying than running out of order points when you really need a squad for something. Drill rectifies this somewhat, and should be used if you expect to move the unit around a lot. Keep in mind that the units that are expected to do so (Cavalry, Ranged Support) generally have less of an order point cost. Level this promotion up enough and you even gain an order point growth bonus, which helps the whole army.

: These are exclusively for the Legate. I prefer to extend the leadership radius first, then Strategist, then Quick Thinker.

Let’s Play Legion Arena #3

Index

: Today we’ll be starting the main campaign for the first time. The Roman campaign has the largest amount of maps. We have 350 denarii at our disposal at the start – I think it’s best to have an Auxilia available from the start. Naturally, we carry the glorious name of the Legion of Procrastination.

: You’re such a meanie… the Romans captured us and did bad stuff to us!

: Did they? Let’s see what they did after they sent us to Rome.

Neighbourly quarrels. Since your capture, the Romans have treated you well. They have attempted to teach you their ways, to make a Roman of you. You have been attached to their army, to teach you to fight and command, and one day be a valuable servant of Rome. I must leave you now, I am not welcome in Rome.

: Well OK, so they didn’t… but they treated, um, Scottish person badly.

(Audio book-quality voice suddenly appears)

Greetings, friend. I’m Centurius Maximus, and I will be your guide. Rome was founded in the year 753 BC. Initially it was only a village, with little to distinguish it from other settlements in the area, and was ruled by a succession of Etruscan kings. Its problems were simple and its ambitions small. Rome needed to expand its influence and teach her neighbours to fear her.

: You’re going to beat up a couple of defenseless farmers? What is this game? You’re a big bully for playing this, Squirtle!

: The very first battle is naturally very easy. Peasants are so shitty, our Auxilia can’t even gain any experience from them. Therefore, I’m sending our Militia to gain as much XP as possible, and our Legate to hinder them from running away at first best opportunity. Our Auxilia waits behind. We don’t even have to beat all the squadrons, just kill enough.

: The battle goes just as planned. I send the Legate in first to draw damage from our Militia, and thanks to that and the ring of morale our Militia just barely makes the second Peasant squad rout just before the necessary kill count is reached – it was almost ready to rout itself.

: Naturally, it was so incredibly easy we did not get any loot out of this gig. The red spiral thing shows kills, the skull deaths, and the laurel XP gain. The spinning cross indicates the unit earned a promotion.

: What’s this fame thing?

: Oh, that? You get some every battle, the amount varies with the difficulty level. You lose some if you heal your squads between battles – the spinning hearts indicate if they’re hurt. It’s a high score of sorts, a nice feature if you’re into that sort of thing. Let’s go to the next battle.

: A few more worthy adversaries, but not by much. This ought to be a piece of cake.

: Why are we trapped on a peninsula?

: I don’t know.

: A simple but effective battle plan is arranged. Nobody should be able to screw this up.

: Was that really supposed to happen, Squirtle? I think it would be smarter if they fought together.

: …Let’s pretend that never happened.

: My superior strategical acumen has executed this battle flawlessly.

: We should be able to win this battle easily even without a timer, kill count or anything. The most strategical would be to hide in a corner and just wait. But that’s boring and missing out on some XP, so we just charge.

: The Etruscans stupidly lead their Militia nowhere while we beat up their Peasants. Maybe the Etruscans wouldn’t suck so much if they stopped using Peasants to fight.

: And they flee as our reinforcements come closer…

: Meanie…

: After the battle, we’ve gained enough denarii to recruit the newest member of the Legion of Procrastination; a Scout squadron.

: The first remotely challenging battle. Those skirmishers can be tough going if you fail to beat them before the Militia starts moving. That rocky ground is bad new for cavalry and heavy infantry, as is the river. Our battle plan is to defeat the skirmishers and have the Scouts move to open ground. If the Legate dies, it’s lights out.

: The battle begins auspiciously. The Scouts manage to fight the Skirmishers on open ground rather than rocky.

: We move the Scouts away from the bad ground, rather than wait for the Militia to kick our asses.

: Isn’t the ring of morale supposed to be with friendly troops?

: *sighs*

: Our Scouts chose to run away like spineless curs, as did our Militia.

: In the end though, they couldn’t hack our great military juggernaut.

As Rome defeated its neighbours, one after the other, they bowed to her will. To this point, Rome had been dominated by Etruscan kings, and was merely an extension of Etruria. But soon, Rome would be truly independent.

: We won an odd number of denarii, and quite a few promotions. Here’s the rundown of promotions so far:

: We’ll be talking a little more about promotion next time. Until then, bye!

Let’s Play Legion Arena #2

Index

: I still can’t believe I was captured by the Romans like that…

: If it would make your mind more at ease, we’re going to go through the different unit types rather than battling today…

: Well, so long as it isn’t about Romans.

: Actually, it is.

***LIGHT INFANTRY***

: The very cheapest units, they’re still vital to your success even in the late-game, as they are effective on rough terrain. Terrain bonuses and maluses are considerably large in Legion Arena, so your light infantry will be kicking heavy infantry ass on rough terrain, and vice versa if you’re foolish enough to lead your heavies into the same situation. They’re restricted on open ground though, and outmatched in stats by the heavies.

: For 25 denarii you can buy the indisputably worst unit in the game. The game says to only use when desperate, but… don’t use it even if you’re desperate.

: The pitchfork is cute, though.

: For 50 denarii you can buy the slightly less useless Militia. Some players apparently swear that it’s awesome because of its experience gain, but because they can barely handle their spear, are barelegged and become routed by a particularly loud fart, these players are clearly playing on Normal.

: Plus, he looks far less cooler than the Gaul/Latin militia.

Wikipedia article on Auxilia.

: Now for something actually useful. The Auxilia can throw a spear and has pretty decent stats of their own. It’s like a low-price heavy infantry, but it isn’t, and that’s what makes it one of the best units in the game. Any Roman army will need a few of these.

: Um, Squirtle… these units are turquoise. Isn’t the default colour red?

: I just like turquoise, OK?

***RANGED SUPPORT***

: Dedicated ranged units are a nice complement to your army, softening up and harassing the enemy from behind a meat wall. Keep in mind though that it adds another layer of complexity to your army, because of the dangers of the enemy flanking you. Generally though, it’s worth the hassle, as exemplified by just how annoying enemy skirmishers are. They have only 36 men in a squad, rather than 48.

Wikipedia article on Velites.

: Skirmishers… these are the most basic of ranged support. They have fairly limited range and ammo. The latter means you’re going to want the Velites, because it has two more ammo. Note that it is better in combat than the Militia. These guys are the only ones who are plain disadvantaged on open ground, but are good on rough terrain in return. One or two Velites are a good complement to an army. Skirmishers are 100 denari per squad and Velites 200. Note that once they reach level 6, you can buy four more javelins for only 15 denarii.

: Velites, huh… more like Wolfman.

: You know that it’s Latin and isn’t pronounced like “elite”, yes? Also, I can’t believe the wolf head thing is historically accurate.

: The Auxiliary Archers are in a league of their own. They start firing very soon because of their great range, but they might not run out of ammo before the battle is over, since they fire fairly slowly and has a lot in the quivers. They have some strategic value since they can entice the enemy army to move forward if fired at. They are useful, but at 500 denarii you should consider whether you need a unit of heavy infantry or cavalry first – the dangers of flanking are as always present. A not at all obvious quirk is that they are effective in all terrain except dense forest, where they are restricted.

***HEAVY INFANTRY***

: These units have some of the best stats of the game, and are effective on open ground. Most of them can also fire a javelin or two before contact. This combined with that they are effective on open ground, the most common terrain, and have a full 48 man means they don’t have an obvious counter, and some newbs are inclined to make an army almost fully composed of heavy infantry.

: Don’t judge me!

: Anyway… it’s important to have a balanced army with many diverse unit types. But heavy infantry will probably make up the majority of your units mid to late-game.

: The most basic of heavy infantry are Spearmen. They are arguably worse in combat than Auxilia even though they both cost 300 denarii, but since the early battles feature predominantly light infantry the Spearmen obviously has an edge. They could be useful after the early-game due to their excellent trample avoid, which could make them decent dedicated death of cavalry units.

: Boar!

Wikipedia article on Hastati.

: The Hastati is more in line with what you’d expect from heavy infantry, with one javelin and stats more powerful than any light infantry. They’re pretty decent all around for their price of 450 denarii. But don’t expect miracles.

Wikipedia article on Principe.

: You might notice that the seemingly only difference between Principe and Legionary is the Legionary has a tidbit more armour, and is more expensive: 800 denarii versus 600. For this 200 difference one can equip the Principe with both level 1 and 2 armour, and still have 50 over. Unless the Legionary has access to some sort of late-game equipment, or has cool hidden stats, I don’t understand why Legionary would be preferred over Principe. Anyway, Principe is a solid unit and is well worth the investment.

Wikipedia article on Triarii.

: Old, battle-hardened men, they have excellent stats, but a hefty price tag of 900 denarii. They don’t throw a javelin, but instead have excellent trample avoidance, suggesting they would be good against cavalry.

: Finally, the very best of the best: the Praetorian. They are in the same style as Hastati, Principe and Legionary, but far superior at everything. It comes at a price, though: 1200 denarii. When you’re loaded with money, you may want to invest in one of these. They will serve superbly in anything you have them do, except fight in rough terrain of course.

***CAVALRY***

: Technically, there are two classes: Light and heavy cavalry. But since both have the same terrain bonuses and penalties, and anti-cavalry promotions strike both equally, I don’t see any practical difference between them.

: Horses!

: Cavalry squads are composed of 24 men rather than the regular 48. They love open ground and hate rough terrain. Their greatest use lies in their speed (not to be confused with agility, though they have high agility as well) – they can flank the enemy, utilize cracks in the line-up, support other squads quickly. They also have trample, killing a few units initially, hopefully making weaker units like Skirmishers rout quickly. Trample can also kill a few routed units, which has no effect on the actual battle, but will give cavalry more experience. They also have less order point cost. Any army should definitely learn to use cavalry.

: The Scout is the most basic cavalry unit, having shoddy protection and not that considerably large trample. They have the highest natural agility, though. They have a very nice price as well, of a mere 150 denarii. This is a good unit for when your army is just getting started.

: A better cavalry unit at double the price – 300 denarii. It has some actual armour, and better trample, allowing it to go toe-to-toe with some slightly more advanced units. Also note the morale – it is the cheapest unit to have a morale that high.

: Last but not least is the Auxiliary Cavalry, the closest thing to a knight in this historical setting. At 500 denarii, I’d say you get what you pay for. They have the most trample, and is the most reliable cavalry unit, which is good when your plan for a battle depends on your cavalry not routing, and dispatching an enemy squad quickly. Curiously, they start with more melee concuss than most units.

***OH YEAH, AND THESE GUYS***

: Elephant! Oh boy!

: These beasts are in a category of their own. They have magnificent stats, as well as trample, but they only have 8 units in the squad, compared to 24, 36 and 48. They also have surprisingly small pool of promotions to choose Might veer into Awesome But Impractical. They are best used in conjunction with other units, easily routed when used on their own. Considering that and the price tag of 1000 denarii, you should consider getting one only when your army has some hull on the bones.

Wikipedia article on Legate.

: Then there is the Legate, which is a one-man squad. I mean that in the fullest effect, as he really counts as one squad, and since you can’t remove him from the field it is rather irritating on max eight squads maps. The Legate really can be useful – skirmishers will stop firing even if it’s only one crazy guy charging the enemy on his lonesome. If he dies your order point cost goes through the roof, though, so be careful. The “ring of morale” he has ensures that your armies fight better in battle, and could mean the difference between victory and defeat.

: Next: We actually play the game!

Let’s Play Legion Arena #1

Index

: We will actually be playing a game today, Meowth…

: Ooh, what sort of game?

: In the good old days of 2005, the game Legion Arena was released. Its graphics might not have been much to sneeze at, but it had something more important: Gameplay. Fun. Strategy. Tactics.

: There’s a difference?

: Yes. Anyway, the slogan of “ROLE-PLAYING STRATEGY ON AN EPIC SCALE” was not entirely pompous bullshit.

: Enough about that. Let’s play the game already!

: Cool, there’s one of those puzzles where you have to slid pieces around! And there are musical notes when I slid over the options! You know, what let’s play the game later.

: No. Anyway, here are the options I will be using. I will attempt Very Hard on as many maps as possible, but some of them… well, you’ll see. The game can shift from laughably easy to sadistically hard in a heartbeat. Also, I’d like to have larger screen resolution, but the game steadfastly refuses all such attempts.

: I’d like to begin with the main campaign right away, but let’s play the tutorial for completeness sake, and to explain some things.

: Our task is to defend a random Latin tribe from the Roman juggernaut. I can sort of guess how that’ll end…

: Here’s a screen you’ll be looking at a lot, managing your army in-between battles. Our leader is Gaulish for some reason…

: Those green bars indicate our stats, which are very handy. In this case, for example, a quick glance reveals that this Militia stinks.

(A Scottish accent appears)

Latium. On your father’s orders, you will lead the warriors of your tribe, to meet the Romans on the field. Stop them before they reach the crops and destroy the harvest. Fail, and your people face a harsh winter of starvation and death.

: I wish I could have such an awesome voice!

: Damned lies. I could win this battle blindfolded and eating noodles.

: The game shows us formations, and in this case we’re forced to use Defensive on our Scouts. I mostly use Offensive because of the massive melee attack and order point bonus you get, at relatively little cost.

: The tutorial shows us that utilizing the terrain to the greatest effect is a generally good idea – we’ll become intimately familiar with terrain bonuses and maluses later.

: We’re also acquainted with the concept of pre-battle orders. Most of them are useless or more trouble than they’re worth, and the ones we’ll be using is Charge, Long Wait, and occasionally Advance.

: Less talking, more playing!

: Pretty…

: The talking goes on and on…

: Finally some action! It looks like we’re doing good… the horses are our enemy, right?

: Naturally. You’ll want to see yellow numbers rather than red ones. You also want to have those squares green. “Ordered” means that morale is high. “Shaky”, or yellow, and you have a problem. If you see “Routed”, or red, you’ll notice that the troops are fleeing the field and will be of no more use that battle.

: The red arrow indicates death by missile.

: Weren’t you supposed to show off trampling?

: Er… shut up.

: Then there’s the global orders. They’re useful in that they don’t use up any order points. Signal tells those who stand still or advance slowly to step on the throttle and charge with full force. Halt can be useful in hindering a squad from doing something retarded. Retreat makes you automatically lose the battle, and is an order you’ll be using a lot, as will the pause and fast-forward buttons.

: Sending your leader head first into enemy forces is a surprisingly useful tactic sometimes.

: A medal! And money!

: Some statistics are given after each battle, like how much experience each squad gained, if any promotions became available, and how many were wounded.

: Back in the army manager, we are forced to select Swordsman as a promotion. I usually don’t like it because so much melee attack is given by having an offensive formation. More on promotions later.

: The Latins’ variety of units are a bit weird, not that it matters in the least. Anyway, you’ll use most of your money to recruit units, pimping your units with gear being the other use for money.

: This is one of my favourite features of the game.

: Silly Romans, they couldn’t possibly defeat us! Right?

: …

: You’ll always want to have all your units on the field, but sometimes there are some maps where you only can have a certain amount.

: This is fun!

: I’m awed by the amount of control I have of this battle…

Although you won another victory over Rome, you could not win the war. By fair means and foul, Rome spreads its influence. On your return from the battle, you are met by men loyal to your father. They tell you that your uncle, always jealous of your father’s power, has betrayed the tribe. He has poisoned your father and taken control, then betrayed you to the Romans in return for his safety. Roman troops already occupy your village, and your uncle is now Rome’s puppet.

: We’ll get out of this. Let’s start by liberating the village and-

Disoriented and surrounded, you have no option but surrender. You have been captured, and will be held hostage in Rome.

WHAAAAAAT?!

Introduction

: Hello and welcome to our blog~ We love new visitors! May I hug you?

: Calm down a bit, Meowth, will you?

: Oh, I’m sorry. I just get a bit too excited when I’m around new people. I guess we should introduce ourselves. I’m Meowth, always ready to extend the paw of friendship to anyone.

: I am Squirtle, irrevocably afflicted by the curse of life. Basically what this blog is about it that you watch us play games, in a ritual known as the Let’s Play. I (and my internet connection) hate videos, so this blog will mostly feature screenshots. I (and my computer) also hates resource-heavy games, which means games will tend to be somewhat old.

: We’ll make up for flashy graphics and sound effects with your expertise and my ability to fill people with joy and laughter!

: Yeah, yeah. I guess we’d better get going, then?

: This is going to be so exciting!

: (Why am I friends with him, again?)