Battle of Carrhae (Massive Battles)

Hey what's up guys this is Oakley and we're going to be playing a cool battle that someone hosted online. It's going to be 4 AI players as Parthia and we're going to be playing as 3 Romans. The idea is to recreate the battle of Karai. Now it's not necessarily going to be totally accurate because the AI is unpredictable but what it is is us spawning over here on this deployment side against a bunch of these armies fielding tons of horse archers, infantry and all sorts of other units so it's kind of like a survival scenario. I thought that was really cool. So I'm going to be moving up through here with some of my cavalry and I'm going to decide to land the first strike against the enemy cav getting the drop on them and now I'm going to see exactly what is waiting on the other side and look how scary that is. So my first scouts report that we have definitely run into some sort of ambush. I'm going to try and maraud right through here and get some more kills. You can see on the other side of this little lip we can see oh my god here's what we're dealing with. So we're chasing away these scouting archers. My column is still in deployment so yeah we're going to be getting underway here soon. Let's put this on pause just so you can absorb kind of what's going on here and yeah we're definitely going to be facing some swarm tactics from the AI. Anyways they're going to be charging out through here with a huge number of forces. We're going to break this down just real quick and look over what the Roman armies are deploying. So on our right flank it's going to be four of these levies, a bunch of Hastati. So six of the Hastati. In the back he has some gladiators and veteran legionaries. It's an interesting mix of troops. I am kind of surprised that they went with the Hastati. Oh sorry no he brought mostly legionaries and then a pair of Hastati on either side. So that's a better choice. I was going to say the Hastati can get bowled over super easily. The levies are definitely there just to be anti-cav. It looks like he got a little bit too ahead of himself with the legionary cav. We'll follow their fate here in a little bit. On our left flank my ally here has brought a huge line of Hastati and a core of legionaries. Some Vigiles, Balearic Slingers, Gladiatrices, Vigiles and some Sochi Equites. So he is mostly going to watch this entire battle which is unfortunate because my column here deploying in the center is going to be almost bowled over. But anyways my deployment is going to be a little bit more historical. What I decided to bring was some Auxiliary Infantry and Auxiliary Cavalry. So those guys are going to be in the front ranks doing the scouting duties unfit for the main Roman Heavy Infantry blob. Have Auxiliary Syrian Archers also pushing in the front. And then I decided to bring a Roman Scorpion just for shits and giggles. But the legions would have been armed with these and I guess I had it ready to be deployed. The first cohort actually here is going to be leading the legions position on the honorary right flank at the head of the column. And then within my column are going to be these veteran legionaries and legionary cohorts. So I brought some very elite units. And now we can go ahead and press play. So my column is now advancing forward. I decided to play the part of this engagement and just pretend we were being ambushed by being in column formation from which I'm then going to deploy. So my Auxiliary Infantry is going to be here to screen, force back the enemy cav, allow my Syrians to start picking off some forces. And now the enemy is going to just swarm up over the hill. I got my units in the front to try and do some preliminary damage against them. So the enemy is kind of being held at bay. Over here they're going to get super swarmed. This cavalry unit in particular just got mobbed. Looks like the Roman Levees over there in the distance are going to get some early javelins. However it's mostly being absorbed against some of the horse archers. The game here is not having the best of performance. It looks like the elephants are headed that way. Let's look back at what's happening over on this side. Massive swarm coming down on my men. I'm going to absorb this with my first cohort force and then also with some Auxiliary Infantry. I'm going to kind of deploy piecemeal just as the cohorts would have. Being flexible enough to deploy on all different sides of the battlefield. I'm lining up here to get some nice supporting javelin shots. Take out those guys. Slinger shots are going to be bouncing off of me. The Axemen here are going to deploy against me but I should be able to take these guys out pretty handily. My next cohort is going to try and form up here and get some early javelins against these cataphracts. Looks like my game has slowed to a crawl in this instance just because of the sheer numbers and what's going on over here. But like I said my ally is just going to be doing a supporting role over here. Mostly cheering on and not doing very much besides allowing my guys to get chewed up. I'm now going to start to deploy some of my cav. So the enemy is going to start to retreat. Looks like my legionaries have pretty effectively tanked out this fight. They got some charges done to them by the enemy cataphracts so it's going to be taking its toll against my forces. I'm going to get a fair amount of killing done though. And then I'm going to pull back and try and kill these guys who are at my rear. I'm not too worried about these light hoplites engaging with my guys. Again this is going to be veteran legionnaire or first cohort in particular. Holding out over here I've got two units against this force and some more positioned on the flank just to get some early javelins. It's all about the javelins in this engagement to be most cost effective. So I put my elite troops in the front to absorb the enemy charge, pin them down and then get some reinforcing shots in on those guys. My roman scorpion is going to be targeting heavy cataphracts. They're going to be pouring into this engagement but I'm holding strong. I've only really lost my auxiliary force. Over here the roman is not doing as well getting absolutely mobbed. Like I said the hastati are going to be crumbling so there they go. The main roman line is going to be charged on all fronts by a ton of these guys. We can follow up and down the line. Looks like abilities are being popped to try and rally these. This unit here is a little bit weak. It's kind of chock full of vigiles who are going to be taking a beating. If these guys start to route it could cause mass morale shock. Over on the hill huge amounts of skirmishers. This is exactly how the battle of Carai was won on the part of the Parthians. They had way more skirmishers. Not way more infantry but way more skirmishers and just tore apart the romans from a distance. Looks like over here they're targeting the general. So Crassus will have lost his life at the battle and it's aftermath. So there you go. Kind of representative of that. The roman infantry is going to get completely swarmed. The gladiators I guess told that if they joined the legions for this one mission would earn their freedom. Looks like they're going to have to collect that freedom in the afterlife though because they're going to be going down in a hail of javelins. And just ominously the cataphracts there. That's probably the general watching over all of his troops. Swarm the romans. Keeping an eye on his forces. So at this point I think they've sealed the fate of this roman force here. We missed a bit of the elephant charge. Looks like it was done against the vigile. So they definitely ate it. So the roman force here is going to be surrounded. On the other side of this hill I've been mostly tanking it out against these guys. Looks like my first cohort is where is he? I think he's over here. Still alive. Yeah he's still holding strong. So doing pretty well with my guys. Trying to do everything I can to relieve my forces. And now we're finally going to be able to I think start pushing these guys back. Looks like some of them are deciding to pull back. They may be trying to re-engage for another charge. Especially with this downhill bonus this is going to get brutal against my guys. So here comes more charges. And infantry coming around the sides. This could spell doom for my forces. That's why I'm trying to gang up on these units here. Trying to free up my men to then come back and rally against those units. These guys that get behind my back are going to get re-charged by my own roman cavalry. So I'm doing everything I can to relieve my legions. Save their numbers. Save their strong veterancy for later parts of the engagement. Some of my slingers are going to get caught up. Not after having done 57 kills and 70 kills right there. My general being extremely active. This legatus will definitely get the grass crown or something like that. The grass crown actually is, it was a roman tradition, a very rare medal, not a medal, but it was a crown that you could win. The purpose of the grass crown was to commemorate a single man, a man who basically single handedly saved a legion. In order to win that the entire legion basically had to vote and say in agreement that yes, this man in fact saved us. So that was very very improbable because legionaries have a very high esteem of themselves and all that. And so to freely admit that one man saved you in battle was definitely a blow to your own honor. So I think my guy is definitely earning that achievement. Just doing work on the opponents here. He's going to save another one of my ally's Astadi forces. I'd be curious to see how many kills he has. Yeah, 99 kills. Over 100 kills. The cataphracts are going to get in and amongst my syrian archers. So I can't be everywhere at the same time and save everyone. So yeah, my ranged supremacy is going to be dwindling. However it is tying down some of his cataphracts. So I'm happy to get those guys caught up, waste their charge and then counter charge with my own veteran legionaries into these units. My ally is going to be pouring in with his own Astadi and like I said his main line is going unmolested. These Balearic Slingers though, kind of being the saving grace of our force. The reinforcements here getting a lot of kills. These ones in particular with 150 kills on them. So nice supporting fire I guess. I would have wished these infantry lines over here would have collided more quickly with the flank of the force before allowing the flower of the roman legion, my guys, the legionary cohort from going down so easily. They definitely could have sandwiched this much sooner rather than watch. I guess their general wanted to reap the glory of the end of the fight. Here comes my Legatus. Speaking of a glorious general. He's going to be kind of, I think he just broke this force over here. The eastern slingers are going to be pushing on the top of the hill trying to take those guys out. However, there are a lot of these enemy forces still left coming back victorious from killing that roman force. And it is not a good sign to have cavalry like this. Cataphracts in the late game. Fair amount of skirmishers and infantry left as well. So there you go, running down the remainder of the romans, shooting them up. And now they've claimed the high ground. So it's going to be up to us to come to them. That's exactly what this force is slowly going to start to do. Meanwhile, I am kind of left, I guess, to finish up these forces here. Looks like there's still a Parthian swordsman. He's going to be going down. Caught between my legionary cohort and my Legatus. Still in there, probably 163 kills. Legionary cohort. I'm going to disengage my first cohort. I see they're exhausted. I don't want them to lose too many men, especially with royal cataphracts lingering in the background. And here we go. We're going to break this noble cav. But here comes a charge into these weakened Hastati. These are my allies' forces. I'm going to let him take this engagement. I pulled out my weaker Roman scorpion from that position. I didn't want them taking too many hits. At this point, I'm thinking I'm going to get back on the scorpion here in a moment and try and start putting pressure on the top of the hill. Looks like we've got the enemy general surrounded. These royal cataphracts. So this is going to be a nice pickup for us. Slingers may be getting some friendly fire, actually, amongst our guys. They should be careful with that. And the rest of the cataphracts, actually, surprisingly, at the top of the hill are going to withdraw just a little bit. My ally threw in some sucky equities just as a delaying tactic. Didn't really do too much. He's going to get totally overwhelmed. And here comes a nasty charge. And they're going to be coming downhill against our legions. Here comes this charge. Brutal against the Hastati. Had this been a cataphract charge first, they would have just flattened these Hastati. So this is why I wouldn't bring the Hastati in this type of engagement. It's lucky for him that it's not a human player. The human player would have charged all his royal cataphracts against these Hastati and just mauled these guys, bulled them over easily. Oh, still, they are pouring a lot more into it. So this could start to get deadly and looks like, oh, god, here comes some returning archers and skirmishers. If they get the flank on our guys, this is going to be the end of it. There's only just a little bit in the rear there. Supporting fire. Hitting a lot of their own guys in the rear, it looks like. Parthian swordsmen not really holding up against the Romans in this case. Their morale is going to start to break and waver. However, a nice Parthian charge into the back of the Hastati is going to do wonders. Some veteran legionaries from my ally are going to try and reinforce this position. And it's, yeah, the AI, oh, it looks like the AI may try and sneak something around the back, but we have that defended with Saki. Over in this position, I'm trying to rally the remainder of my veterans here. I mean, 234 kills on him, 128, 229, 165. So that is it. That's all that's left of my advance column. I held back this huge time. Almost all of these kills are due to my men. So I think, like I said, the grass crown for my Legatus and definitely a triumph led by these remaining legions, legionaries, I should say. Scorpion still has some shots in him and, you know, even though my guys are bloodied up, they got some arrows ready and they're going to start to fire off. It looks like I'm going to be targeting actually the enemy general over here who thought he would, you know, preside over a noble victory. I'm going to show him that it's not that easy. I was hoping to get some nice shots in and amongst these guys, maybe even clip the general. I'm going to have to get some lucky shots from this distance. You can see my Scorpion down there actually was able to pick out a guy. That is from my Scorpion right there. So definitely getting close. You can see how near that was to hitting that force right there. Take a look at how far away I'm sniping from. Scorpion from down there. So I was hoping, like I said, to land some nice strikes against these guys. It's not necessarily going to happen. Oh, and here comes that rear strike I was talking about. So the AI not being super brain-dead, going to land some great charges against these Romans and there you go. The center line of the Roman force is going to collapse and it's going to... yeah, there. The Hastati has proven its weakness. At least on that front, where they were reinforced by veteran legionaries, it's going to be going a little better. Here comes the stream of reinforcements coming in here. The eastern slingers are going to break free and start to fire upon these guys. Looks like they are determined to hit these Balearic slingers, but at this point with 207 kills, they've more than paid for themselves and he has some reserve forces still not committing everything to the fight. I'm not quite sure why this ally wanted to take everything easy. And here come my remaining forces. Going to decide to push up slowly but surely. Come to the rescue of my ally here. I figured he would probably win this fight, but you never know. They still have a Cataphract unit roaming free. If this were to charge downhill, especially against these retreating Romans, they could do massive amounts of damage. Uh-oh. Looks like the route is going to start to become infectious here soon. Actually charging in with the eastern slinger is so brave. I guess the general so close ordered them to charge headlong into the legionaries. Probably pretty foolhardy of him. Why don't you do it yourself, man? With these heavy Cataphracts. Nope. Looks like he's going to pull out of this fight and send the other units to do his bidding. The ally that got us here is going to go ahead and charge freely into these units. Trying to show off against my own general, but with the paltry 20 kills to his name, that's nothing against my guy with 165. Cataphracts here in the center. Looks like it's going to be the second of the generals. Remember, these were four full AI armies going to be attacking us. So this is going to be the second general actually into the fight. I'm not sure how many have died, but we've definitely seen one go down previously. These units should be going down to these Roman legionaries, but if the Balerics were to just get a couple more volleys into the rear, they would probably knock these guys out. Ah, the gladiators we were talking about earlier. So the other ones died before getting those freedoms. However, these are claiming their own freedom at this instance in time. If they can get the enemy general, then that is certainly going to get you a victory right here and gain you your freedom. So there you go. Even a small Vigile unit can be taking out that heavy cataphract. So there we go, swarming those guys. Here come my heavy infantry. The first cohort actually going to be leading the charge. Now we finally have the downhill advantage. Getting the back of these units where they were going to try and surround these veteran legionaries of my allies. So here I come for support. Always trying to stay fresh in this fight. Looks like we missed a sick kill up on the hilltop, executing one of those guys who was left behind. My units are going to bypass this fight and try and ready up because I knew this strike was incoming. So here they go. They're going to be lining up against my ally. Boom! Even uphill they're still going to bowl those guys over. That's why I kept something in reserve. There we go. Finally going to pin this. Looks like this is the overall commander of the Parthian force. He was at all times watching over the battlefield. So looks like he's not going to be getting away this time. His fellow compatriots are going to be getting away, scurrying back into the desert. And there you go. Looks like if I hadn't been here my ally would have lost. So here comes the entirety of my force, going to be tanking it once more. My Legatus getting in on the fight. And even the Roman Scorpion trying to get the kills that they weren't able to get at a distance. They're going to be coming and getting it up close and personal. Meanwhile my allies force not really doing much. Just sitting around here celebrating, catching it's breath. While my units again, going to be doing the real work. And there you go. The final push, charging through these guys, going to be taking them down. And yeah, looks like the Scorpion units actually got in and amongst the mix. They may actually rank up a couple more kills towards the end there. I hope you guys enjoyed. This was a super interesting battle to fight. Never seen this before for CPU players, but I guess it's more fun to do a survival type fight. You can see the numbers that they brought, pretty heavy. Even this CPU force doing pretty well, basically steamrolling one of our allies. At the end of the day, looks like this force here that stayed back, didn't do too much, actually got most of the kills. A lot of it being due to these Balearic Slingers and the mopping up operations of the Sestadi. Strider here mostly got just swarmed and bowled over, however his legionaries here, 402 kills. Those may be the top scoring units in the entire game actually. That's incredible. My guy is 272, you know, 264. Doing pretty well. This one here, doesn't look like it did too well. He may have been at the front lines during that initial cavalry charge. Auxiliary infantry also took the brunt of the assault, but here comes my Legatus of all the generals. Oh, no, actually looks like him, I'm going to chalk that up to kills against routing skirmishers. My guy was in the thick of it, getting kills against actual warriors. So the grass crown still goes to my Legatus. But yeah, here you can see the mix of the enemy forces. Elephants definitely not doing too well, with just 5 kills to their name. This force here with the Hillmen, 840 kills to be expected with such light troops. Horse archers here not doing too well. The Cataphracts overall were the devastating part of this force for sure. Hope you guys enjoyed, I'll see you in the next one. If you have any suggestions for battles, I'd be happy to hear those. Anyways, see you in the next one, peace out.