Never give up (Hibernia - Roman Britain)

[dejvid2]

This is a game I played as Hibernia with the official Roman Britain scenario.

As Hivernia you start with a single city (Eblana aka Dublin) so I quickly build three more cities. Then disaster the Romans invaded and captured my southern most city and then offered peace. I accepted and built up my forces for revenge.
My counter attack succeeded and there was an added bonus. The Romans had built a shipyard that allowed my galleys.

I had the resources to support only two galleys but by choosing my fights and picking off isolated Roman ships I built their experience up to 100% and along with my ally, the Britons, gained command of the sea. But then what?
Every attempt to land in Gaul was quickly squashed and it was impossible to coordinate attacks with the Britons. There didn't seem any way to break the stalemate.

Then earthquakes hit Eblana and my southern city. Two moves later they were again hit by earthquakes and abandoned. Worse, these two cities were my food surplus cities and by the time I got the warning that food stocks were low it was too late to buy in food. I lost both galleys and my remaining troops were barely survived the starvation and in no fit state to defend themselves should the Romans attempt a landing.
But the Romans didn't come. Only later did I find out why. The Romans had been almost as badly hit by earthquakes as me.

I recovered. I regained control of the sea with help from my ally the Britons but the stalemate continued. I did "help" my ally when a Caledonian revolt broke out and gained three cities on the island of Britain.
But the stalemate continued.

Then four cities rebelled in favor of the Britons in Gaul. The Romans quickly moved to crush the revolt but they were still hanging on when I got my troops across the straits of Dover. Resistance was surprisingly weak. City by city we and the Britons gained control of Gaul. The reason for this was both Romans and Britons had built towers on opposite sides of the straits of Dover and had been taking pot shots at each other. As a result the Roman forces had suffered such attrition that this time they had had limited forces to defend Gaul.

So the Romans had been defeated but the scenario allows one way to victory -total conquest. I really didn't feel comfortable stabbing my long term ally but eventually the Britons cancelled all treaties. I took this as a sign they were going to attack next turn so I got my attack in first. The Britons had equal or greater forces in Gaul but a human always has an advantage when concentrating forces so I was confident of winning there provided they didn't start moving forces from Britain. On the island of Britain I concentrated my forces in one hill top town and let the Britons take my other British towns. By the time I had completed the conquest of Gaul that hilltop town was still holding out and I was ready to invade Britain.

With the resources of Gaul behind me, the Britons now stood no chance.

The moral of this tale?
Even when the situation looks hopeless it is still worth fighting on.

[pavelk]

Great post!
I also like this scenario and despite its size, you can have suprisingly nice games!

[dejvid2]

Great post!
I also like this scenario and despite its size, you can have suprisingly nice games!

It is a great scenario *because* it is a manageable size.