Lewted's Dank Faction Review - Attila Edition

I've been thinking about doing this guide for a while but delayed it because I saw some nice guides for a few factions, both for multiplayer and the campaign. However, I need to feed my kids and because my Rome 2 weed/mead filled guide was a smashing succ (I got over 100 views and 10 favs), I felt compelled to bless you peasants with my knowledge.

I played Attila for free when CA had it on sale then finally bought it last December. There were a fair amount of differences but the importance of the barbarians was still there, and I liked that. This game is fairly different from Rome 2 when it comes to the atmosphere and strategies. Like Rome 2, I became good at this game because of prior Total War and database knowledge.

Like before, there are better guides out there, but some of the ones I've seen, especially around the Romans and Huns, revolve around pointless meta armies instead of a general idea where you, the viewer, can come up with your own strategies based on the information you see on this guide.

On a side note, huge shoutout to Walrus Jones who knows more about the database than I do. He put up a guide expanding on some of the things that I'll be talking about here (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=570444181).

Thanks to CA for the pictures which can be found on the Total War site (www.totalwar.com)

Introduction

Before reading anything, just bear in mind that I'm going to make a number of changes to some of the descriptions because they are somewhat outdated and even some of the factions won't have guides because I'm still trying to master them.



“They made ready for war.”

Ah yes, Attila, king of the Huns, the main contributor to the downfall of the Western Roman Empire and the Scourge of Christ. The Dark Ages was a very interesting part of history and it was obviously coming; the downfall of Rome, and the end of the world.

This dank guide will be different from my Rome 2 one; I started on May 1. Bear in mind that there will be mistakes and this is just my point of view.

Unlike my Rome 2 guide, Attila’s factions, campaigns, and gameplay seem to be broken down to 3 stages: the early, middle, and late games. Do not make the assumption that no matter what a faction is locked into one stage; it all depends on what you do when you’re making your units, taking or defending settlements, or your strategies and tactics. Units are also broken down into three groups: offensive, defensive, or balanced. A balanced unit might not have a good charge bonus but has either good melee attack or defence or missile rate and damage.

In Attila, mass is a huge component in battle mechanics on land battles; on sea, numbers and skill usually win you the day. Unlike Rome 2 benefitting very heavy units, light and medium cavalry dominate the battlefield. You’ll notice this if you use these types of units in battle. Also, mass has increased impact damage, making charges into non braced opponents very dangerous. Infantry units can boost their mass as well, making them survive the charges from these cavalry units quite well. Watch out for units (cav and infantry alike) that have rapid advance; although the charge speed for cavalry is set at 12 no matter what, rapid advance increases the charge speed, too, and increases impact damage. Javelin cav should not be underestimated because they tend to have shields and it some cases spears, making their melee defence good.

Update - Started Sassanid Empire Unit Spotlight + Nomads Unit Spotlight word count maxed - July 29, 2016.
Update - Added campaign notes for the Nomadic Tribes and Roman Empire - August 6, 2016.
Update - Added Nomadic Tribes pictures (God help us) + ERE miltary victory - August 9, 2016.
Update - Added Great Migrators Unit Spotlight + Gothic Warband - August 11, 2016.
Update - Added WRE military victory, 3/5 Barbarian Kingdoms Unit Spotlight, and 2/5 Desert Kingdoms sources - August 29, 2016.
Update - Added final descriptions for the Barbarian Kingdoms + campaign victories [Garamantians, Alans, Sclavs, Anteans, Roman Seperatists (Belisarius), Vandalic Kingdom, Caledonians] - September 22, 2016.
Update - Added Sassanid Empire Unit Spotlight descriptions + Danes minor victory - December 6, 2016.
Update - Added final descriptions + minor/major victories (excluding Jutes, Himyar) - December 2, 2017

Game Stages - Summary

The early game doesn’t start until the first missile has been let loose or two units collide. The early game is very important for aggressive players; the momentum gained here can be deadly if proper tactics are executed flawlessly. It is important to know what you want in this stage; clicking on your unit and clicking on another unit just to get them to fight isn’t a proper strategy. Shock units are key to your early game. They are the most effective in this stage and can allow other units to be more effective than normal. The Huns excel in the early game because they can move quickly and do prior damage to units before the mid game. If they are allowed to do so, cavalry fights tend to tip in their favour.

“In the first twenty”
The early game in a campaign is usually from the start of the campaign right up until the 3rd chapter (unless you’re playing as the Huns). Survival is your top priority; either you live or you don’t. As the Huns, your priority should be to sack and raze as much settlements as possible without overextending yourself to destruction. As the barbarians, depending on your culture, you will either try to migrate into Roman territory or take over the unprotected or razed settlements. As the Romans, you have to decide what is worth protecting and what isn’t. It is possible as the Eastern Romans to protect your frontier against the hordes, but you only need Thracia, Aegyptus, and Syria as well as 53 other settlements to win; as the Western Romans you will lose a lot of territory right off the bat. In both cases, razing settlements is not recommended. If you raze multiple settlements, you will deal with unending public order problems and that is dangerous when you have to survive the hordes.

The mid game is when little things such as micro and having a backup plan are crucial. In the mid game you have to keep focused on the bigger picture; your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses vs your from the early game and the ones in the mid game. For example, bringing multiple missiles is good offensively and defensively, but in Attila it can amount to a lot of friendly fire in the mid game, therefore losing their effectiveness. Also, fatigue does set in around this time, making units less effective and making units that are fresh or active more effective. Then there is mass. Infantry units with a bigger mass can knockdown other units with smaller masses easily, making them less effective in combat. However, units with less mass can move faster (with the exception of camels) making them able to get out of combat and flank more. Usually, very heavy infantry tend to like to stick in one spot whereas medium infantry like to hit where they can and flee where they can’t and light units benefit from flanking and rear hitting. Morale debuffs are quite important and killing the general can force the game to enter the late game almost instantly depending on circumstances. Sometimes taking risks here is worth it, too.

The mid game in a campaign usually in between the 2nd and 3rd chapters. This is usually when the barbarians are starting to solidify their new territory or are constantly looking for more and when the eastern factions grow stronger (or weaker). The Huns stay the same and the Western Romans will lose more and more territory, but depending on where the barbarians migrate to, the Eastern Romans can still prosper. The Celts in the campaign tend to benefit the most because Britain can’t be defended effectively and the Celts can easily invade Gaul.

The late game is where patience and perseverance pay off. Keeping units well rested and their spirits high can lead to comebacks. If you did well in the early and mid game, you should be fine in the late game. If you didn’t do well in one but did well in the other (which does happen) you may or may not win. If you did poorly in both, chances are you won’t win. Reckless players tend to suffer at this stage because they won’t have what is necessary to rout units, such as cavalry or missiles. Crossbows are perhaps the only missile infantry that almost never run out of ammo in a battle, so having them may be a wise investment if you’re looking toward the late game.

“In the last twenty”
In the campaign, the late game isn’t chapter 3. When Attila becomes king, it goes back to the early game where they have a huge advantage over you and anyone else (unless you’re playing as the Romans). During this time being defensive may be prudent, although an offensive approach might be a good idea in some circumstances (see the Eastern Roman Empire guide, late game). The mid game is chapter 4 and the real late game is chapter 5, where chances are you will have your elite units and the Huns will start to suffer in battles because you will have numerical superiority. When you get rid of the Huns, focus on your victory objectives. If you struggled to expand in the early and mid games (my Venedian campaign) you will struggle here, too. If you’re playing as the Huns, the late game is when all your early decisions of where to sack and raze come to effect (my Huns campaign).

Nomadic Tribes - Summary

Nomadic Tribes
Effectiveness: early game
Death and destruction; these two words describe the nomads the best around this time period. Fast, skilled cavalry sweep through ranks of infantry, wreaking havoc behind the lines while more cavalry follow up. Their horse archers are second to none in skirmishes and their shock cav boast a fair amount of speed and killing power. But there is one thing that the nomads are truly known for; their infantry. Oh yes. During this period the nomads decided to practice fighting without the use of their noble steeds to find a better way to conduct combat and the outcome was fearsome units that did not rely on the horse to hit hard but their large swords and larger than life spirits. Did I mention that they were quite healthy, too? So why isn’t this recorded in any Roman or Greek history books? Because it’s not true. The nomads would never rely on infantry. Never. Nomadic lifestyle consisted of constantly moving and resettling; they didn’t stay in one place too long. Staying in one place for decades would mean their enemies could catch up to them and slaughter them. Instead, the nomads relied on their quick steeds. True, they could have had infantry, but to have the best infantry at that time period was out of the question. Why do they have the best infantry in the game, you may be wondering. Simple; they’re still barbaric and of course the game does revolve around them. They are very strong in the early game and excellent on land battles, but are bad in the late game and in sieges or naval battles. These two factions are fun albeit hard to use unless you use meta armies.

Nomadic Tribes - Unit Spotlight

Unit Spotlight

Uar Warriors

You know the song, so just sing along!

Khanda
Yanda
Khanda Khanda Khanda Khanda Khanda
I got rods in India
Twistin’ curry, chutney, and Ronda
Fake spice and the scammers
Hittin’ off licks in my condo
Black X6, Spatha
Elite Spatha? No, it's a Khanda.

No? Perhaps this sentence will jog your memory

My ana-Khanda don’t, my ana-Khanda don’t
My ana-Khanda don’t want none unless you one of the Huns (or Aksum apparently).

The Khanda is my favourite weapon in Attila. Although 4 infantry units and one general have it, it's a weapon that must be feared on the battlefield. It and the heavy Spatha have the same weapon damage, yet the heavy spatha has 4 more armour piercing. The Khanda, however, has a hidden bonus to attack of 10 against infantry, which makes almost every unit that wields it invaluable and cost effective on the offence. I have a theory that weapons or missiles with a bonus to attack do not suffer from fatigue debuffs. If this is so, that would explain why the Huns are hard to play as; a lot of their cav have the heavy spear but have low attack.

Uar Warriors make the Huns extremely deadly offensively in the early game. They don’t like being charged at by cavalry but when they’re going in for a clean charge, expect them to come out on top against similarly priced units. The only exception may be double handed axes and the Bucellarii Guard Axemen. They can rack up a lot of kills quickly and will get rid of armoured spearmen quickly enough to allow your cavalry to come in and smash their way into flanks and rears.

Apparently Chosen Uar Warriors do lose to Bucellarii Guard Axemen which is interesting. Uar warriors aren’t durable enough to fight back against most melee cavalry and when outnumbered will die quicker than defensive units.

I use Uar Warriors on the frontlines but keep them well protected like all offensive infantry. They do excel initially against defensive units but when they get fatigued they suffer somewhat, especially against hard hitting units and melee cavalry. They synergize well with cavalry and spearmen because they do not have shieldwall and although they can take a hit when they get winded, their weapon does mitigate their hit chance a bit which is good for prolonged fights. Keep them as far away from cavalry as possible and only use them as support infantry against cav if you don’t have spears. Don’t chase skirmishers unless it is really necessary or you are confident they can be caught. Other than that, they are a good anti-infantry unit so try anything from flanking to having them as second line infantry in battles.

Steppe Raiders

Like the Khanda, the heavy spear is a weapon that doesn’t get a lot of respect when you’re talking about the Huns because their cavalry are surprisingly weaker than others with the exception of horse archers which are their true strength. Steppe raiders cost 575 talents and their stats make them look weak against other similarly priced units, but they aren’t. Although their price is higher than other due to the fact that they have the ‘raider’ trait, they have precursors and rapid advance. Thanks to how impact damage works in Attila, almost always these guys will max out on non-spear infantry unless they’re braced. Nevertheless, they do have the heavy spear, bringing their melee attack against cav to 54. They have a charge bonus of 38, giving them an attack against cavalry of 92. This means that any cav unit with 47 melee defence or less will be hit 85% of the time, which is pretty good in my opinion.

The raiders are still weak if you compare them to high tier melee cavalry, so try your best not to engage them unless you can support them or they get stuck on a unit. Since they do not have the diamond formation, don’t use them against shock cav. In fact, try to bait shock cav to a spear unit instead. These guys are really bad frontally against infantry like all raiders.

When I’m trying to be edgy and want to give myself a challenge, I bring four of them or 2 Acatziri raiders. They do wonders against the right cav unit but more often than not will lose to shock cav or in prolonged fights against infantry. If you’re playing as the White Huns, you do have access to Hephthalite Charges, so keep them in mind. Use rapid advance, not against cavalry, but to run away from them or to hit the rear of infantry. Remember that infantry do get impact damage but cavalry don’t, so it is possible for a very heavy unit to lose to a light one.

Hunnic Mounted Warband

The nomads have the strongest early game in the campaign and the Hunnic Mounted Warband is one of the reasons. This unit is a sword cav unit and therefore is more likely than not to have a better charge bonus than units its price. In the campaign they cost less than Arabic Horsemen and are fairly similar to them. This unit is best used in conjunction with the dismounted warband or other infantry in a hammer and anvil approach when you’re tackling factions with good spearmen like the Alamans.

This unit doesn’t really excel against cavalry so keeping them away from cav may be a good idea. However, if you have a spear unit nearby, don’t hesitate to charge with the warband then tie the cav unit down with that unit.

When I did my Hunnic campaign, I used them frontally against non-spear units because of how bracing works. They do really well in the rear of multiple units but you still have to be careful of them being swarmed by Germanic levy and such units.

Khingilas Khandas

The Khingilas Khandas (Khingila being the king of the White Huns and Khanda being the weapon) are the only Khanda-wielding infantry that are fairly balanced between offence and defence. Even their charge bonus is solid. This unit also has 62 armour and 55 melee defence, allowing them to survive against multiple units longer all the while being able to withstand fatigue better than the other Khanda-wielding units. These guys don’t kill infantry as fast as Uar Warriors but their armour and melee defence does become effective when dealing with other sword units who do not have great armour piercing.

They do have problems when it comes to dealing with axe units because of their lower attack. In particular, certain single handed axe units like the Axe Heerbann can bring the pain to them because of their armour piercing qualities and the fact that they have shieldwall whereas the Khingilas Khandas don’t.

Khingilas Khandas are usually in the centre of my armour and are my core unit if I’m trying to micro cavalry more. They don’t require as much focus as Uar Warriors but shock cavalry will still decimate them. They are vital to the White Huns because you can use your Dank Kush double handed axe units behind them and still expect them to survive shock units.

Spet Xyon Archers

I really wish this unit belonged to the Huns under a different name, but they don’t. These guys are versatile on the offence, at range thanks to their good ROF (rate of fire) and in melee with their heavy spear. The shield they wield is the same one as the Desert Spears (att_tower), meaning that they do not get a melee defence buff but they do get the 70 missile block chance which is vital when you’re going up against foot skirmishers, especially Armenian Slingers. Because they have that shield, their armour is 75, making them somewhat resilient to sword infantry and cavalry alike.

These guys, unlike other Hunnic horse archers, are mostly effective when they are facing their enemy frontally. They tend to suffer against other offensive cavalry and at times will even lose to high charge melee cav, like the Royal Saiones of Kindred of the Sun.

Hunnic Horsemen

Hunnic Horse Archers

Huns - "The Horsemen of the Apocalypse"

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Huns
Minor victory: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/62049
Military victory: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/69705
“I will watch your world burn.” Attila says, as the screen shows the game’s name. Like Rome in Rome 2, Attila is based on the Huns; this means that they are slightly stronger than every other faction in the game. However, Attila is cavalry-based; cavalry charges do more damage due to the fact that mass has been increased for cavalry, as well as the charge bonus in general. Furthermore, cavalry tire less quickly than infantry, something that is not implemented in Shogun 2. The Huns, like the Nomads in Rome 2, have the best horse archers in the game, with the most missile damage they can do being 56 with normal arrows. Horse archers serve the same purpose in Attila as they do in Rome 2: constant attrition on the enemy until casualties mount up, Your core unit is usually the deadly Uar warriors, men who have a whopping 50 weapon damage, good melee attack, and decent health, but lack melee defence and mass. They also have a bonus of 10 vs infantry (although the game is unclear whether or not this boosts both weapon damage and attack or just attack).
Where to begin with the Huns when it comes to their disadvantages. Horse archers, their strongpoint, lack use in multiplayer. Their lancers are good, but might lose to other shock cavalry. Their melee cavalry are terrible frontally against braced opponents because they are lighter than average. A lot of people resort to using meta armies and tactics with the Huns. They either use an all cavalry army (which doesn’t work well) or an army consisting of mainly Uar Warriors and shock cavalry. Honestly these armies take little or no skill to get used to and I shun them because they don’t represent the Huns; they are nomadic but that doesn’t mean they didn’t have infantry, and relying a lot on shock cavalry is a bad idea if you don’t get a good charge.
To summarize, don’t use the Huns if you’re not good at microing. They’re still nomadic and rely on patience and micro to master. They are really hard to get good with if you don’t use their meta setups. Who knows, I might be over exaggerating things. Still, most of their units do really bad frontally against infantry so try to do flanking and rear maneuvers for maximum impact.

In the first Huns campaign I did, I lost around turn 40 because I overextended myself. To be fair at the time I only had 50 hours so I didn’t know too much. I did the campaign again when I had around 200, this time having completed the Franks campaign.The Huns have the option to chase the growing but still weak barbarians or undermine the slowly growing ERE; the WRE will almost always fall no matter what campaign you play. In the first twenty I recommend going after the barbarians, razing, sacking, and even subjugating when it is necessary. Do not go too far with your hordes because when they’re depleted, all of a sudden you’ll have factions declaring war on you quicker than you can handle them. If too many factions are at war with you, the factions that you cannot fight will grow in the late game and that is when major victories become a problem. I strongly suggest taking out the non-playable Barbarian Kingdoms before going to the Longbeard DLC factions because they are easy targets and if you raze their territories, you get additional growth which is useful for maintaining your hordes. Always focus on cav superiority; even if you don’t use horse archers, their cavalry is great overall, although they do lose to the Alans and Sassanids. In the last twenty make sure you keep your hordes fairly close to each other. They can be in different cities but should be separated by boundaries. Now if you want to get a major victory, there is one major problem: the Barbarian Kingdoms. Although I had to deal with the Norsemen and the WRE separatists a lot in my campaign, the barbarians kept on preventing me from destroying their armies because they would pop up when I didn’t want them and none of them were Christian so the -10 to morale didn’t affect them. The biggest way to counter this is to rush them before they get too strong, which shouldn’t be a big problem unless you run into the aforementioned problem of all of them ganging up on you. If they do, let them come to you but make sure they’re not together. Speed is your best friend, but endurance is your nickname. Your hordes are constantly on the move and in some cases you’re going to be in a position not of your liking but perhaps one that is necessary. For example, when a horde is trapped and can’t move around too much or when there aren’t enough territories to sack and your economy is poor. You have to push forward while being aware; if you were to settle to just focus on money-producing buildings or food, that gives the barbarians, who are invading Roman territory and growing, more time to tech up and create armies that are very dangerously. If you push too far without knowing how strong your opponent is (which happens a lot with the ERE), all of a sudden you’re going to fight 3-4 armies and even if you retreat they’ll just chase after you. Scout the area you want to devastate before you do it. Walking in blindly is a huge noob mistake and I’ve suffered the consequences in numerous campaigns. Being defensive with an aggressive faction or vice versa is also a noob mistake; the Huns are a faction that strike fear into the hearts of their enemy by moving quickly and striking so fast that there isn’t enough time to come up with a counter. Letting your enemy make moves that you have to answer to is very risky with the Huns, as they’re the ones that should be making the moves. Defeating these barbarians can take numerous turns, but it's possible, even if every barbarian faction was at war with you. Just endure, and you will devastate.

White Huns - "Racial superiority has benefits"

White Huns
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/83429
The White Huns are superior from the Huns for one reason; they’re white. That’s it; there is no different mechanics or weapons that they use. They just have racial superiority over the Huns and therefore are better. In reality, the White Huns do offer better killing power but rely less on infantry than the Huns. The White Huns are shrouded in mystery; the originated around the Hindu Kush region. They have access to Sogdian Warriors and elephants like the Sassanids, which is pretty cool. They are useful in the White Hunnic army because Sogdian Warriors are mace infantry, meaning that they have good armour piercing and great melee attack which is useful against armoured units and elephants are good for wrecking havoc to a battle line. Elephants also have a bonus of 70 vs cavalry. They have a double handed axe unit called Guardians of the Hindu Kush, and yes the unit is in fact guarding weed. Unlike other double handed axes, these guys have superb defence (which is most likely an error) and can throw regular precursors. Spet Xyon Archers are versatile; they are good horse archers with 75 armour (50 of it coming from the shield itself), 70 missile block chance, and 30 bonus vs cav.
Like the regular, inferior black Huns, the White Huns suffer setbacks when it comes to missile cav. Spet Xyon Archers won’t stand up well to other melee cavalry and they have 25 base armour, so don’t expect them to endure a lot of missiles in the rear. With no Bosphorian units, the White Huns do not have a reliable melee holding unit. Their spear roster is more offensive than anything, so against multiple units they will falter. Elephants can still run amok. In my opinion, their cavalry seem to do worse on the charge against infantry.
To summarize, don’t use the White Huns if you’re bad at microing. Again, it isn’t worth it. They have a lot of momentum early on but if you’re not paying attention, it will be lost for the remainder of the battle.

In the first twenty of your campaign and even a number of turns after that, you’ll be riding the struggle bus against the Sassanids because of their cataphracts, although they can be checked by baiting them onto spears (which does work) or getting them trapped on another unit then support with spears. The second option usually results in that unit being hit hard but if it's an expendable unit like Steppe Bows, it shouldn’t matter. Hephthalite chargers are superbly useful for taking down their general, but the also have diamond formation which makes it fairly good for hitting the backs of their early game core unit, the Persian Levy. I used them as a core cav unit because you can get them in the main horde chain instead of having to build a meeting ground or w/e its called. Another unit you can get from it is the Khingilas Khandas. Although you have to build a tier three building, it was fairly easy for me since I sacked a bunch of territories beforehand. Against the Sassanids, these guys are superbly valuable since you not only can get them way before Uar Warriors but their staying power tends to allow them to beat cataphracts that charge behind their infantry or even survive a charge and still have enough men to be effective. I strongly recommend, if you don’t want to use horse archers, to make these two units your core if you’re trying to win a campaign in 120 turns because it worked for me. In the last twenty you may or may not have beaten the Sassanids, but if you have most or all of the victory conditions, chances are you will have dealt significant damage to them and they are too weak to fight the ERE. Like the Huns, try to keep your hordes somewhat close to each other. All it takes is to lose one separated horde to halt your victory. Right now, only 0.27% of players have won as the White Huns and with an all time high of 26k players (http://steamcharts.com/app/325610), around 709 people have beaten the campaign.

Roman Empire - Summary

The Roman Empire
Effectiveness: late game
“Ah Rome, the eternal city…
...I have seen the end of days...
… and years from now men will say…
…’Here began the fall of Rome.’”

Rome has come a long way. In the predecessor, they were men to fear on the battlefield, often being able to defeat their enemies as long as they stayed together. They gained glory and prestige around the world, conquered, endured civil wars, came out stronger, and ruled the majority of Europe. Now, the former days of Roman hegemony are over. The Romans are weak and crumbling. Their allies no longer support them, their manpower is waning, their economy is crippling, and hordes of barbarians are lurking at their door. On top of that is the Huns, a faction that is more barbaric than the barbarians and has better horsemanship than the easterners. Rome has never fought an enemy of this calibre. Because this is happening all at once, it seems that the end of the Romans is near. Pax Romana will never return, the world will descend into darkness, and history will be decimated. Rome is dying… or is it? Perhaps this is the moment that Rome has waited for; it has not faced all of these problems at once, but individually Rome has beaten the odds before. Out of hardships, leaders are born, a man’s armour is tested, and a nation must answer. Will Rome return to its glory days and retake the world, or will it fade into darkness? Will they conquer or be conquered? Will they be the victor or the victim? Find out on the next episode of Dragon Ball Z!

Roman Empire - Unit Spotlight

Unit Spotlight

Catafractarii

The predecessors to Clibanarii, Catafractarii look statistically weak for their price. The reason I feel they are more valuable than Clibanarii, however, is because of the options you have with this unit. Catafractarii is a medium mass shock cav unit unlike the Clibanarii which is a heavy shock cav unit. This means that Catafractarii move faster than their successors, and when you keep in mind the fact that combined arms is key to Roman gameplay, speed becomes a huge asset. Catafractarii excel at rear hitting but can also tackle low armour cavalry which is great

Catafractarii can be checked by some mid/high tier spears and arrows because of their decent armour. They do not have shields, unlike other shock cavalry. Clibanarii is not available to the WRE, so you truly are limited to this unit unless you want to pay for the Scholae Gentiles who aren’t too different.

Although I rarely use shock cav in multiplayer due to their overpowered nature, Catafractarii can find their moment of glory in the middle of battle. All you have to do is wait and not overextend them because losing them when you’re playing as the Romans results in a serious disadvantage when it comes to routing units and defeating infantry.

Elite Ballistarii

Crossbows are extremely useful in the late game because they rarely run out of ammo in a pitched land battle. Elite Ballistarii are believed to be the best crossbow unit available to the Romans. They do more damage than the Germans and in sieges are excellent against the Huns who will more likely than not be charging you horde after horde. Although crossbows don’t have the same range as bows, they do have the same trajectory. Of course, crossbows are superb at taking down armoured units, whether they be infantry or cavalry.

You do have to take into consideration their longer than usual reload time, resulting in below average DPS (damage per second) against other skirmishers in some cases. If you only bring these guys to a fight and no other skirmishing unit, losing them early on is detrimental to your success even if they wasted a good cavalry unit doing so because Elite Ballistarii can kite from most core units and even support infantry engagements by flanking a unit. Remember to turn off fire at will if your crossbows are behind your lines so that they don’t cause a lot of friendly fire.

Sometimes I bring Elite Ballistarii to a fight because I want to be able to hurt infantry heavily before they get into my lines so that my core can have an easier time dealing with them. Flanking with them is only good if there is no enemy cavalry nearby or archers to whittle you down. Using heavy shot, precision shot and barrage altogether initially is only useful against infantry, not skirmishers. Against cavalry, it may be a good idea but remember that your DPS is going to be low after the abilities are done since you’ll be exhausted.

Eastern Armoured Legio

The Eastern Armoured Legio, at 500 talents, is your late game core unit. Although the unit’s melee attack and defence are low, do not be fooled because their armour and health are high, allowing them to stay stationary and tank engagements and make their enemies tire themselves out through extended combat. They also can last long enough to allow for hammer and anvil strikes or other combined arms approaches. Defensive Testudo is fairly useful for fighting melee cavalry and in some cases even shock cavalry. This unit also has precursors that can tackle lightly armoured units or even cavalry.

They are not invincible; if you wait too long to use combined arms to defeat enemy units, the Legio will break in most circumstances. If you’re general dies while these guys are in combat, you are in a lot of trouble because they aren’t disciplined. Shock units are fairly good at tackling these guys since most likely than not their charge and weapon damage combined will be able to surpass the armour just enough to do high damage.

Like I said before, this unit is your late game core. In multiplayer, always strive to bring this unit with you because the Legio Comitatenses, although a nice unit, lacks the health and armour and is better suited as a unit that stays behind the lines to fill in the gaps left by frontline infantry. You can have the Legio stand side by side or put some space between them to cover more ground. At the end of the day, try your best not to charge with them because that is when your lines will be broken and the benefit of not being fatigued will be lost.

Armigeri Defensores

The WRE stays true to its roots with its faction specific units and the Armigeri Defensores is the mid game core unit. These guys cost 100 talents less than the ERE’s core but remain cost effective thanks to the addition of shieldwall, their melee attack, and their melee defence. Unlike the Legio, these guys are balanced; they work fairly well stationary but can push up where they are needed, in shieldwall or out of it. Armigeri Defensores are notorious as momentum stoppers and can be second line infantry where the first line deals with shock infantry and these guys push them back. They are upgraded from Protectores Domestici and can be upgraded to the stronger and still cost effective Elite Palatina, although you are sacrificing more armour for an offensive unit.

Armigeri Defensores have less health than the Legio and less armour than most Roman units. This is exactly why you want to keep them away from offensive units initially, instead trying to match them up with other balanced or defensive units. These guys are heavy and although it does make them slightly more flexible, they do suffer when bracing frontally against cavalry.

I trust these guys to be able to get a lot of kills on their own, allowing me to focus my cavalry on units that cannot. I like to use Legio Comitatenses as frontline infantry and then have them behind so that the Legio can throw their plumbatas and retreat or stay to hold down cavalry. Shieldwall is essential for these guys as unlike the Elite Palatina they don’t have the best charge bonus, although it is solid when you want to get rid of heavily damaged units.

Equites Promoti

Besides having great voice actors, the Equites Promoti are offensive spear cavalry that allow the Romans to sometimes gain an edge in hand-to-hand melee fights. Their name literally means “advanced riders” and they act as such. As medium cavalry, they are flexible enough to do frontal charges against non braced opponents or rear charges against those that are tied down. They are also good for chasing down skirmishers and their precursors is useful against everyone.

These guys cost 600 talents yet can be beaten by some barbaric cavalry. Although they have diamond formation, its main use is to take less damage from shock cavalry, which sometimes doesn’t work. Be careful when you’re not microing them because a number of arrow volleys can massacre them in under a minute.

I like to bring a maximum of 4 if I’m playing as the WRE. Rear hitting is fairly easy if you can make your enemy use their shock cav to charge into your melee infantry, but your melee infantry must hold or else it doesn’t matter. These guys can chase down shock cavalry so don’t be afraid to charge before they withdraw.

Western Roman Empire - "Terminus Invictus"

Western Roman Empire
Minor victory: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/83428
Military victory: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/90215
“I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.”
I’ve never seen a faction like the WRE and I hope in future Total War games CA adds more like them in campaigns. The Western Roman Empire is my 2nd favourite faction to play as because I’m forced to fight in a different style than I like; the late game. Yes, both Roman factions are late game factions, as opposed to the Huns who rely on killing cavalry as early as possible. Their early game is garbage both in multiplayer and the campaign; often you will be relying on your spears to hold off low tier barbarian units, which sometimes works because of their high charge. You won’t be able to win against single handed axes unless you use combined arms. Your best friend at this time is staying in settlements and fighting siege battles; the Huns’ maneuverability is useless in sieges and the Romans excel at them because they can’t get flanked and, like Rome 2, can tank engagements. Around the mid game campaign wise you will have access to some mid-tier sword units like the Legio Comitatenses, a unit that does reasonably well when its flanks are secure, but again will not stand up to similarly priced barbaric units or Uar Warriors. Armigeri Defensores is a key core unit around this time and is a recommended core unit in multiplayer. This unit has 40 attack but no precursors yet is a fairly good infantry killer if they stay stationary. They are cost effective if they do not fatigue. Chances are in the campaign they will be your core early on, too because killing infantry will become a problem if you don’t have them in the mid game. In the late game, you have units such as the Elite Palatina, a unit that has 62 attack and 50 damage but 25 armour and the Herculiani Seniores, a unit that has 35 attack and 50 damage. Both of these units are useful for killing infantry but the Palatina are offensive and the Seniores are defensive. Overall, the WRE stays true to its roots and excel with heavy sword infantry, but they also have good crossbows.
Do not charge with the WRE (Elite Palatina and cavalry are an exception). Its a horrible idea especially in Attila because chances are you will lose. In Rome 2, a unit with formation attack on would fatigue less if they were idle and the charging unit didn’t make contact with the entire unit, and the same thing applies here. The only way a Roman unit can beat a barbarian or eastern unit is if they fatigue slower than them. Because of their above average armour and high health, they can do this. From winded to exhausted, a unit will suffer stat penalties. The only exception is against pikemen, but in Attila armoured units can get past most pike units with ease. If you absolutely must charge, make sure its to support other units and not to break up your lines. Remember that your swords are better than your eastern counterpart, but combined arms is still necessary.
To summarize, you have to weather the storm to win with this faction most of the time. The WRE is a good comeback faction if you can keep your units fresh and keep your supporting units (especially Ballistarii) alive. Of course, other units have high health and armour themselves, but the Romans tend to be able to beat these units head on. Veteran Total War players should tackle this faction in multiplayer and the campaign.


People who say that this is the first time such a campaign has been in a Total War game have short memories. Let’s go back to Napoleon. When the Peninsular campaign game out, you were given three campaigns: the British, the Spanish, and the French. The British are kind of like the Great Migrators; they’re in new territory trying to take land, yet they’re also liberating land, too. The Spanish are like the Barbarian Kingdoms; they’re simply taking land that isn’t properly defended. The French are like the Romans; not enough money early on to field a lot of armies, but if they weather the storm, they can make an easy comeback. I did the all of the campaigns twice because they were fun. Back to the WRE. This is the campaign that tests your ability to defend ground even when you can’t; as the Defence in Depth technology quote says “In order to take ground, you must first give it”. You really have to know the faction’s strengths and weaknesses to succeed in battle but you also have to know what you’re up against; hordes and hordes of barbarians, ending with the horde boss, the Huns. You have to accompany the immigrants that come to your cities looking for refuge and the public order problems they bring. In the first twenty, sacrifice Britain, Illyria, and parts of Gaul and Africa, but do not lose Spain or Italy. Spain has a lot of food and public order is fairly stable whereas Italy is where you will hold the Huns off from destroying your capital and, most importantly, Rome. When you get Armigeri Defensores, the tide of the campaign should start to shift in your favour, even in land battles. They can hold down your centre for some time while spears can be aggressive against cavalry and even flank or hit the rear of your opponent’s centre. Elite Palatina and Herculani Seniores aren’t really necessary from turns 1-120 but I got them because of the Huns. You don’t need Scholae Gentiles for the majority of the campaign but Catafractarii can be very useful if you have a core of Protectores Domestici or even Armigeri Defensores. What helped me when I was fighting the Huns was the use of Ballistarii and my auxiliary palatina to fend off numerous cav; it's a cost effective combo, it includes combined arms, and you’re saving money that you can use on cultural and religious buildings, as well as aqueducts. The Huns bunch up in sieges and at time won’t use their full force; this is why they suffer in sieges and the Romans, if you’ve teched up, will succeed against them. The Romans stand the best chance against the Huns but they suffer so much early on that chances are they won’t be able to fight back. All I had to do was surrender enough territory to allow them to grow but not too much. When they start fighting each other, that is when you want to regain your territory (divide and conquer). The Celts almost never fight amongst themselves but if you hold them off long enough like I did, they suffer so much that when you decide to reclaim Britain, they put up little to no resistance. The Alamans are the faction you will want to destroy early on. Thanks to their +15 attack against Romans, their spears become a pain to deal with and their axes are impossible to beat without cavalry. Besides that, remember that you will get hit hard and you won’t be able to fight back for some time, but when you do, make sure that it crumples them.

Eastern Roman Empire - "Hellenic Excellence"

Eastern Roman Empire
Minor victory: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/83426
Military victory: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/89176
“Offence is the best defence”
The Greeks were incorporated into the Roman Republic during the time of the Second Triumvirate. In Attila’s time period (the Dark Ages) the Eastern Roman Empire emerged, opening the way for an economical powerhouse and a place to evolve battle tactics and culture. There was just one problem; they were still Greek. The solution to this was to just call themselves Romans. In game, they are Roman-like in survivability and late game effectiveness but they use hammer and anvil tactics and have superior melee cavalry and a double handed axe unit. Their strongest and arguably most cost effective unit is the Tagmata Cavalry, so strong in fact that they recently had to get nerfed. Unfortunately in the campaign you will have to wait a long time to get these guys but they are worth it. Your early and mid game is the same as the WRE; you have access to units such as Cohors, Legio, and Legio Comitatenses, as well as the spears. If you’re lucky, you might be able to get Numeroi early on. Numeroi is the tankiest melee unit the ERE has to offer and is stronger than their late game core unit, but they don’t have precursors and bad against high tier shock units, especially double handed axes. In the late game, you will have access to the Eastern Armoured Legio, your core unit. Like the Armigeri Defensores, these guys are cost effective, but because the ERE doesn’t rely so much on infantry as opposed to cavalry, these guys are good as fixing forces. This unit has precursors and 2 less health than the Numeroi, but cost 50 talents less in custom and multiplayer battles and are more flexible but slower than their high tier pike unit, Menulatoi.
Unlike the WRE, most of the times you might have to charge with your units because two units has shieldwall compared to the WRE’s 4. Protectores Domestici are shared between both factions and are useful in the mid game especially for the ERE because it allows them to have a unit that can beat mid tier spears and hold out better against shock infantry. However, your main goal as the ERE is to hold a unit in place and hit it in the rear using something else like shock cavalry. Hetaira Guards, your double handed axe unit, is only good against infantry and can take a beating on the charge from mid tier melee cavalry. Also, your core unit costs 100 talents more than the WRE’s, although the Legio has better survivability.
To summarize, these guys are more Hellenic than their western counterpart. Also, remember that as a Roman faction you have access to Ballistarii. Good Total War player should tackle this faction

People like this faction more than their western counterpart similar to how people like the White Huns over the Huns. The ERE have a bunch of units that make them look appealing, but being the dank patrician I am, the WRE is better. Still, the ERE brings back what I liked about the Greeks but in Roman form; tanky units that might not kill as many units as the Romans but can hold out against multiple units and allow for hammer and anvil tactics. In the first twenty of your campaign, you don’t have to surrender territory, but if you do keep in mind that you might need it for sanitation and food. I didn’t so I was fine. I had to fight some of the barbarians coming from the north and the desert factions in south. The fighting and desperation is pretty similar to what would happen if you were playing as the WRE except its not as severe. The barbarians will mainly go westward with a few here and there trying to invade you, but you should be able to fight it. Its the Sassanids that worry me. They didn’t declare war on me until I had access to my late game core. Had they declared war on me before that, I would have struggled immensely to defend my territories in the east because of my financial situation. If they declare war on you, don’t panic but at the same time stay in your cities. The cataphracts they can get early on have a good amount of armour and great charge and that's more than enough to deal with Cohors or even the upgraded Legio. Their infantry, however, isn’t good enough to support them in prolonged engagements in sieges. However, they might be dealing with problems caused by the White Huns, so they might have to wait a while until they can wage a proper war with you. In the last twenty you should have a bunch of armies and enough money to sustain them thanks to their faction trait. If you don’t, try to save your money so you can get more interest on it. I didn’t get Hetaira Guards until after my minor victory but I did kill Attila on turn 113 and defeated the Huns around turn 140, so it's possible. The ERE has an easier campaign than the WRE but most of their melee infantry are good for fixing your opponent into place, not killing them. Leave that to your cavalry.

The Sassanids - "Glistening Cataphracts"

Sassanid Empire
Minor victory: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/100344
Military victory: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/112535
Effectiveness: mid game
The Sassanids (affectionately called Sissynids by their Parthian predecessors) are an eastern faction and the latest Persian Empire descendant. The Sassanids rely on their cataphracts and they have pretty solid infantry, including the Immortals. As is the Eastern custom, they have excellent foot skirmishers. Armenian slingers have 175 range and a good rate of fire; Kurdish archers have shields and can handle themselves in a fight. They also have crossbow cav. The Sissies also have access to elephants, although they are a risk and reward unit for them. They boast strong, heavy shock cavalry that are notorious for winning them battles. Their shock cavalry is probably the only reason people play them to be honest.
Their melee cavalry is garbage in cav fights, meaning that you literally rely on shock cavalry to win them instead, which sucks. Parthia is probably laughing at them at this very moment. Their infantry core is below average to say the least; Immortals aren’t invincible and can take a beating from multiple units. Armenian slingers are only useful at range; when it comes to CQC they don’t have the arch of fire to support other units or damage mass blobs like archers.
To summarize, shock cavalry is key to this faction, and because I don’t use shock cavalry a lot, I don’t like them that much. The Sassanids are still an interesting faction to play as, so give them a try if you want to.

The Sassanids - Unit Spotlight

Unit Spotlight

Grivpanvar Cataphracts

The Sassanids’ choice of shock cavalry is good when you consider their purpose in battle. Cataphracts are supposed to charge frontally, not the rear. Grivanpar Cataphracts can do that; although they don’t have a shield, most shock cav don’t. Pushtighban have a shield but for the cost they aren’t as effective as this unit. This unit allows a Sassanid player to do the traditional heavy charge and then follow up with decent infantry and hope that is enough to break the enemy.

Not having shields does make them more vulnerable to missiles than the Pushtighban. I don’t recommend charging frontally into massed missiles for obvious reasons. Remember that as a shock cav unit, they are mostly effective for the first 30 seconds, after which their survivability depends on supporting units.

Although I don’t use shock cavalry a lot, their use on the flanks combined with a good holding unit (Dailamites or Immortals) is noteworthy. On one hand you can do a hammer and anvil tactic and on the other hand you can use them to rip through moving or non-braced units while the holding unit cleans up the mess.


Armenian Slingers

I think Armenian Slingers are one of the biggest reasons why the Sassanids have such an easy time in their campaign. They are the only slinger unit that has 175 range, outranging all bows except the longbow, therefore making them exceptionally deadly to most units. This helps the Sassanids and Lakhmids out a lot; they can win much needed skirmishing fights and can bombard other units before you start engaging in melee.

Remember that slingers are mainly useful before and after melee combat. They can’t support fights effectively unless they’re flanking. Therefore, if someone closes the distance quickly, don’t expect these guys to shine.
A min of 2 and a max of 4 of these guys is usually the way to go; the Sassanids value their shock cavalry more than anything and more money should be invested in those. These guys can tackle foot archers and crossbows with ease, but may struggle initially against the cavalry variants and javelinmen.


Sogdian Warriors


The Sogdian Warriors are mace-wielding offensive infantry. Maces aren’t my favourite weapon of choice, but they get the job done against armoured units thanks to their 20 AP. This unit isn’t as good in White Hun armies as it is in offensive Sassanid armies because the White Huns have Uar Warriors who do 10 less AP but 35 more damage overall. For the Sassanids, however, they are the only mid-tier offensive infantry unit you have. These guys excel at tackling armoured infantry and synergize with shock cavalry really well, whether they do frontal or rear charges.

As they are offensive infantry, they suffer when outnumbered. It’s worse if they are tackling cavalry at the same time since their overall damage is low. Mace infantry in general suffer against lightly armoured but high melee attack/defence units, especially if they have high health. With this in mind, be careful fighting units that can go into shieldwall or most shock infantry. Keep in mind that Sogdian Warriors are not ideal frontline infantry because of their low armour and their flanking capabilities are worse than axes because of the fact that they might end up fighting cavalry.

Usually I only bring these guys if I know that armoured units are going to be a problem overall, as shock cavalry can tackle almost anything in the first 30 seconds of combat (unless they don’t charge, of course). Having them charge in first is important since it makes up for their low weapon damage. With that in mind, I recommend charging either cataphracts in first then the Sogdian Warriors or have a spear unit follow behind to act as a holding unit.


Royal Persian Archers

I think it’s safe to say that the eastern factions are known to have the best foot archers in Rome 2. This trait hasn’t really changed in Attila. I’ve never been a big fan of highlighting expensive units, but these guys are an exception. These archers have a reload rate of 60 (Hunnic Horse Archers have 75).They can shoot up to 9 times per minute, have a shield, and wield a mace; a deadly combination indeed. What this means is although they excel at ranged combat, they can handle themselves fairly well against low-tier infantry. They can go through their ammunition very quickly if you allow them to.

Of course, the biggest drawback to this unit is that they’re expensive. Obviously you’ll want to use most of your money on shock cav which makes the Sassanids stand out from the Desert Kingdoms. You also have to consider situations in which Armenian Slingers would be a better choice; you can get two of them for about one archer unit, slingers can tackle archers and crossbows fairly easily, have a better ROF (12 compared to 9), and they have better missile block. On the other hand, the archers can support infantry engagements because of their arch of fire (expect friendly fire, though), can deal more damage to armoured units, and can handle themselves against low-tier units. You also have to consider Persian Bowmen and Kurdish Archers who are almost as good but cost much less.


I usually don’t use these guys unless I know I’m going up against double-handed shock units like Huscarls or Thracian Warriors. They’re not the best unit to take on shock cav unless they’re fighting another unit. I’ve brought 3 to a battle and I have to admit it was overkill because it reduced the amount infantry I could bring and now I don’t recommend bringing more than two.


Sogdian Camel Raiders


I completely forgot that the Sassanids had mounted Sogdian units because I’ve never used each and every unit at their disposal. A camel unit with Rapid Advance is one of the most scariest things you could go up against in Attila; high mass units that can increase their speed and to a bigger extent impact damage. Sogdian Camel Raiders also have precursors and diamond formation, both of which help fairly well against enemy cavalry should you decide to fight them.

These guys wield axes, not spears. Be careful when you’re fighting good melee cav because even though they have good health, chances are they’ll lose. There are instances where you’ll want to fight melee cav but try to stick to infantry; if anything, you can use shock cav and spears to tackle other cav.

I like this unit because of Rapid Advance. You don’t have to keep these guys in a fight against unbraced infantry if you get a clean charge. These guys are technically better than the mounted warband, but again they don’t have spears.

Great Migrators - Summary

Great Migrators
Effectiveness: early-mid game
Unlike Rome 2, the majority of barbaric factions are Germanic. The main barbarians are split into two groups: the Great Migrators and the Barbarian Kingdoms. The Great Migrators are barbaric tribes that are moving through Roman territory to get away from the Huns and start a new life while the Barbarian Kingdoms are trying to make something out of the undefended territories left behind.

With that out of the way, lets start with the Great Migrators. Overall, they do really well in the early-mid game because they have nice shock troops for the early game and good holding units for the mid game. Their cavalry also pose a threat initially because they are more offensive than balanced. However, when facing the Huns, their main disadvantage comes from being tempted to fight their cavalry head on which can be problematic thanks to the Huns’ horse archers and even their melee cavalry have bows. Besides the Ostrogoths, using the Great Migrators as defensive, non-micro intensive factions is a bad idea. They don’t require as much attention as the Huns but its still important to remember than your best friend is your offensive infantry to gain the momentum needed to win further engagements. Your shock cavalry can be an asset, too, but your melee cavalry tend to be good enough, although most people use shock cavalry because a lot of people think that they are overpowered and therefore meta and useful to people that like OHK (One-hit kills).

Great Migrators - Unit Spotlight

Unit Spotlight

Germanic Horsemen

The Germanic roster is overall great, but their horsemen really stand out. Although they cost 500 talents and only have 25 weapon damage, you get a unit with 48 melee attack and charge as well as 38 armour. In the campaign, these guys are essential for fighting other Germanic tribes, especially if you have to fight armies that rely on Germanic Levy or bands. This unit is versatile enough to fight most cavalry units as well. Did I mention that they’re good for stopping shock units and double handed axes?

In prolonged fights, these guys suffer immensely, especially against other cavalry. They will lose to Equites Promoti and try not to overextend them or have them too far away from your infantry because unlike elite cavalry they’ll die quickly. Like most mid-tier cavalry, they drop quickly to jav cav, although they have to get fairly close.

Try to get these guys as early as possible in the campaign because they are a wise investment. In battle, using them as counter chargers is a good idea.

Germanic Archers

Another great Germanic unit is the Germanic Archers. They and their elite version are the only units that wield the longbow. The longbow has 200 range, outranging every other archer unit in the game, including horse archers. The only exception is Slavic/Poison Hunters who have the Stealth of the Hunt ability, giving them 210 range. This allows you to get the first and most important shot off and support engagements at longer ranges.

Their reload rate is below average which makes sense. They will more likely than not lose to slingers and it's a good idea to stay away from javelinmen. Once horse archers are able to close the distance, they tend to pose a threat to these archers, although most players won’t take the risk unless there are no supporting units nearby.

Germanic archers are useful in every Germanic army, including the Great Migrators aggressive builds. I use them to deal hitpoint damage to lightly armour or high priority targets but I don’t focus fire a lot. They’re also good for supporting cav engagements and tackling crossbows.

Noble Germanic Swordsmen

There are a lot of defensive units in this game, but this unit is perhaps my favourite when it comes to options with other units. Although more suited for the Barbarian Kingdoms, the Noble Germanic Swordsmen are a defensive unit that is really important when you need holding power, something that the Vandals need. This unit, being a noble, has more health than other Germanic units, good armour, and great melee defence, making this unit superbly cost effective in shieldwall. The best thing about this unit is its survivability and how long it takes to take down this unit if you’re not using a shock or double handed axe unit. It can last a long time and I’d even recommend putting chevrons on it to boost your defence.

This unit does rely on shieldwall more than the Suebi Swordsmen, making it an ability-dependant unit which could be bad should it be caught out of shieldwall. You do lose some mobility with this unit and it will not stand up to shock cav or infantry really well.

These guys are usually behind my first line, but they can be good frontline infantry if your opponent doesn’t decide to charge your frontline with cav. When I’m playing as the Vandals, I use these guys behind the berserkers only if they’re the frontline infantry. When they aren’t, I use them to hold units down so I can flank or hit their rear if possible. Of course this unit doesn’t last forever. If you don’t like this unit, upgrade to the Suebi Swordsmen who can tank and deal more damage. With other factions such as the Burgundians, they serve the same purpose, although this unit would be more suited for defensive roles instead of pushing up.

Mounted Alani Veterans

The Alans have a great melee cav roster, so great in fact I believe that they have the best melee cav overall in the game (the Lakhmids; Al-Dawser is the best sole unit). The Mounted Alani Veterans are upgraded from the Mounted Alani Tribesmen and man are you going to love this unit. They still have the OP charge of 0 but more attack and much more armour. Why is 0 charge OP you ask? Although useless against cavalry, it has one major use: charging spears frontally. Any spear unit that is heavy or very heavy and braced probably will still beat this unit, but not anything lighter. This cav unit, however, is not meant for attacking infantry; it is much better suited for fighting cavalry. With 53 attack and a heavy spear, it can tackle a wide range of other melee cavalry, but they also have the Flying Wedge ability. This ability gives them 40 more attack against cavalry, making them go up to 123 attack. Although I don’t know whether or not bonuses to attack also apply to damage, that is more than enough attack to counter almost every melee cav unit, allowing this unit to hit 85% of the time and still have good enough melee defence to deal with units that don’t have the heavy spear.

This unit doesn’t see much action in multiplayer because they don’t have a charge bonus. Instead, people would rather use the other Alani cavalry since it does guarantee a bonus to weapon damage. Like Rome 2, Expert Charge Defence doesn’t work on cavalry. This unit will still lose to most shock cav units, but that doesn’t mean you can’t support shock cav engagements with this unit. If bonuses to attack do not boost weapon damage, Flying Wedge is virtually useless against almost all shock cavalry.

My experience using these guys has been relatively good, although most of the time I do use them against spears if I have little to no choice. Remember that cavalry have a bonus of 5 against infantry that may apply to weapon damage, too.

Gothic Warband - The 'Playmakers'

This description was so big that I had to make another section for it.

Gothic Warband

425 talents, light, 57 charge/attack, low tier. The Gothic Warband is by far my favourite unit in Attila. I’ve nicknamed them the ‘Playmakers’ because many of my strategies rely on them. Here is what you get with this shock unit besides those stats; because this is a light unit, it is maneuverable enough to go on the flanks of your opponent and rout all but high tier or tanky units, because it is a shock unit it can open or soften up a weak point, and because it has precursors it can do damage before it even closes the distance or damage cavalry. All of this is possible because they have 25 armour, but they also have 105 health, making them much healthier than the Germanic Warband. This unit is very important in rush builds and is a good idea in offensive armies.

The lack of armour does present a problem when you’re up against slingers; remember that they slow down units and slow down their charge. They do get decimated on the charge by most cav units and surprisingly are better initially against sword and axe infantry than some spears.

Here is the part that you probably skipped to because you want to know how I use them in battle. There are a lot of opening tactics that can be done with this unit but I use 2 main and one conditional opening. The first and perhaps most important considering you’re a Great Migrator is the ‘centre break, divide’ opening. Your Gothic Warband should be in your centre and behind it should be a unit that can go into shieldwall; following up with Thracians can be anti-climatic and can lead to you using a unit that has better use later on, while Ostrogothic pikemen are better at stopping units that can go berserk or cavalry that want to stop your warband. If this unit can break the first line, retreat them unless you can flank the next unit if their supporting units are out of reach. If they soften them up significantly but look like they’re going to hold, keep them in there but use your unit that has shieldwall to provide melee support; if possible, retreat them, but don’t bother if they’ve taken too many casualties. If you got a bad charge, get support up there as quickly as possible and retreat them unless you risk losing your support, too. The main goal of this opening is to create a hole in the centre using this unit and missiles (if you have them) so that the flanks are divided and therefore unable to support each other. These guys can win against offensive infantry but may lose to higher tier shock infantry and will definitely lose to double handed axes, which leads us to the second opening, the ‘flank break, envelop’. The Gothic Warband goes on the flanks, supported by either Noble Germanic Swordsmen (The defectors usually don’t have the health to stay long enough) or spears, and cavalry. The Gothic Warband’s main purpose is to defeat flanking infantry which most of the time is weaker than the centre, allowing cavalry to flank and rear hit easier, but their secondary purpose is to support cavalry engagements which they do relatively well, too. If you can break one unit but you’re fighting multiple units, try your best to rear hit your opponent with cav, which usually relies on you beating their cav. You can also use your supporting infantry but if you don’t have to, don’t bother. The only time I’d recommend supporting engagements is if the Gothic Warband could be used somewhere else and turn the tide there. The main goal of this opening is to allow your core to hold the centre but have other units flank and make the battle end quicker or defeat and hold down cavalry so that if they try to retreat, they will take significant losses. Finally, there's the ‘withhold, sustain’ opening, one that I don’t use often but is common sense. What happens when you’re fighting a Jutish Huscarl spam? Obviously you don’t want to waste good infantry such as these by charging them. What do you do, then? You wait for an opening. Shock infantry operate best for the first 30 seconds and then pray that they’ve done enough, or else they’re doomed. Axes, especially double handed axes however, don’t. They’re generally good against infantry for as long as they’re in melee with them. However in my experience fighting Viking armies, in prolonged fights against mid-tier units in shieldwall, they tend to suffer if said unit is supporting because double handed axes don’t have the melee defence to stand up against multiple units past their charge. The same applies to most shock units. What you want to do, then, is wait for them to get into your units, find a good spot to charge them, then charge. It can really shut down double handed axes and shock units. With this unit, you have a bunch of options, so play with the Goths and find new openings.

Suebians - "Germanic ferocity 2.0"

Suebians
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/71240
The ferocity of the Suebi was something to behold in Rome 2. Quick, light, hard hitting, fearful units were what made the Suebi dangerous. That and the fact that they relied on clubs to bludgeon their enemies to death and good shields to protect themselves. During the Dark Ages, however, they migrated along with the Vandals and Alans southwestward from the nomadic Huns in search for a new home. Fortunately, they migrated to Spain, unfortunately they left their clubs in Germania so the Langobards picked them up and decided to give them a try. The Suebi in Attila are still dangerous and hard hitting, but they have lost their speed. Amazingly offensive and hardy, they boast some of the best barbaric swords and they have armour, too. As with all the Germanic factions, their spear roster is quite sturdy and can beat Roman spears with each tier and they have access to the strong melee cavalry roster and 200 ranged archers and elite archers. The Suebi also share two units with the Vandals (besides the Germanic roster); Noble Suebi Swordsmen and Suebi cavalry, both of which are high tier units. Low tier units such as Suebi Warriors are fairly useful against even mid tier spears except ones with a fair amount of melee attack and defence. Suebi Champions, your core offensive early-mid game unit, has 100 morale meaning they will not break until the very last man. They tend to do well against alot of units but try to protect them from missiles and make sure they don’t get charged by cavalry.
Because the Suebi no longer have fast units, flanking with infantry is an issue. Unlike the Goths, you have to rely on very heavy units throughout your campaign and battles for your main source of infantry killing unless you use lancers. Noble Suebi Swordsmen rely on shield wall and like all units that rely on shield wall, they are as vulnerable to flanking as a pike unit. Unlike pikes, they are very vulnerable to frontal shock cav charges, although that may not happen thanks to their throwing axes. If your champions don’t do enough killing in the mid game, you may have a hard time in the late game against other barbaric factions or even the Romans. Although their shock cavalry is great, I tend to not use them unless the battle is on ultra funds because shock cav is too meta and overused.
To summarize, as a rule of thumb, the Suebi are similar but different than in Rome 2. They still are ferocious; perhaps they are still the most ferocious out of all the Germans. Yet at the same time cycle charging with them seems to not be useful or worth it. The Champions’ charge bonus is solid yet their melee defence is below average. This faction is a fan favourite and although they lack precursors, once they get into a fight they are fairly hard to beat.

In the early part of your campaign, migrate to Spain; that is where your victory conditions are and it is far away from the Huns. Spain has a lot of territories to sack and capture and as the Suebi early on sacking is very important because their faction trait reduces upkeep costs every time a settlement is sacked. As a Germanic faction, Germanic spearmen tend to get the job done, especially against other barbaric factions, but just in case get a 3-4 Suebi Warriors when you settle. Staying as a horde for too long makes you lose momentum and the other barbarians, especially the Celts, will take Roman territory right from under you and threaten your survival when the Huns come.
Around chapter 2, start focusing on getting the Champions. The Celts will suffer immensily to them but not your spears. Also, get Germanic archers because 200 range is useful around this point; that goes for all Germanic factions. If the Huns do come knocking on your door this early on, try to repel them. When Attila becomes king (10-20 turns before chapter 3), the Huns will swell in number and you will struggle against their cavalry. However, should they bring Uar Warriors, you have the edge because although they do get a bonus to attack against infantry, they are medium, not heavy, and therefore their combat effectiveness head on will be diminished slightly thanks to how mass works.
If you last the waves of Huns and defeat them (because only you can kill Attila and eradicate the Huns) Noble Suebi Swordsmen will be able to take on almost anything the AI throws at you, unless you let them gain too much territory. Nevertheless, it may be a good idea to stick to champions if you’re an offensive player. That is what the Great Migrators are good at, after all.

Vandals - "Absolute Vandalism"

Vandals
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/83717
Have you ever heard of the Vandals? Have you ever heard of the term vandalism? Vandalism means to deface property to a horrible extent. That term came from these guys. The Vandals are arguably the most dangerous of the Great Migrators. Originally from Poland, the Vandals became foederati (auxillaries) to the Romans when they had to deal with barbaric uprisings. However, when the Huns came, the Romans retreated, leaving the Vandals to themselves. Obviously the Vandals had to migrate through Roman territory to get away from the Huns but unlike the other migrators, their best chance at survival was to migrate to Africa, meaning that they would have to somehow move through Spain. They decided to migrate with the Suebians and Alans through Spanish territory to get to Africa, but before they did that they sacked Rome horribly (which gave rise to the term vandalism). The Vandals in game have the early game of the Alans and the mid game of the Suebians, all the while having a Germanic roster. In the campaign, you have to somehow find a way to get to Africa from Germania which is very hard because of the limitations of a horde early on. Their gameplay is somewhat interesting as they have good cavalry besides the Alani units, Suebian units, and a berserker unit.
The Vandals don’t have a reliable mid-tier sword unit, as berserkers are always fragile. This hurts them a lot as a Great Migrator because they will rely on axes and cavalry for early game aggression and Noble Germanic Swordsmen for holding power. Also, Noble Suebi Swordsmen don’t synergize well offensively because they rely heavily on their francisca precursors and shieldwall. The Vandals also lack the anti-cavalry units the Alans have.
To summarize, the Vandals are a dangerous faction in the right hands. Although they don’t have the shock value of the Goths and Alans or the prolonged killing power of the Suebians, they have a mix of all of those. Essentially, an aggressive army composition may look weird, but can work if you know what you’re doing.

Alans - "A Pain in the Rear"

Alans
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/91219
The Alans were once a Nomadic tribe but they decided to flee from the Huns. If you’ve played Rome 2, they’re basically like the Roxolani; they’re Sarmatians with exceptional melee cav and great shock cav. They don’t have missile infantry or spears (warhounds don’t count), so you have to micro your infantry units a bit more than you’d like, but at least you’re not the Huns. Unlike the Huns, their low tier melee cav is surprisingly strong against infantry as well as cavalry alike. They don’t have the heavy spear on their cavalry like the Huns. The Alans’ elite cavalry are tough to counter if you don’t have elite spears (even Skutatoi spears struggle against them). Their heavy cataphracts boast a whopping charge bonus of 8 and are classified as an ‘infantry destroyer’.
The problem with using the Alans is you have to keep your infantry close to each other because if they’re not supporting each other, it becomes really easy to pick them off one by one and it also becomes very easy to forget to micro one or the other. The Huns don’t suffer that problem because they have access to spears and their Uar warriors are almost always near the frontlines; being frontline infantry would be a disaster for them because of their mass. Not having missile infantry isn’t a big deal, but this is not a defensive faction; constant micro and constant focus on your gameplan is necessary to win.
To summarize, constant synergy is usually required to excel with the Alans. They don’t have the staying power of the Barbarian Kingdoms or the other migrators, but they do have great shock infantry and a good meat shield. If you’re not good at paying attention on multiple fronts, perhaps this faction isn’t for you. If you like good cavalry, this faction has it and more.

Visigoths - "V for Vendetta"

Visigoths
The Goths, historically and in game, are different from the Germans. They came from Scandinavia (East Prussia) and migrated into Roman territory. As time passed on, they were allowed to settle in Eastern Roman territory. Eventually, they revolted, battled the Romans, and won, killing the emperor in the process. The Visigoths and Ostrogoths operate very similarly and there is almost no point of mastering one over the other. The biggest differences are in the general, pike, slinger, and skirmisher cav categories. The Goths are very good at doing a lot of initial damage with their low-tier infantry. The Visigoths have slingers that wield the same shield that the Gothic warband use. Thracian warriors are much better in this game and, unlike double handed axes, they do really well when supporting cavalry engagements just like Rome 2. However, they don’t have a bonus vs cavalry. Thracian Oathsworn are virtually unbreakable and on the charge will beat all infantry except the Jutes’ Royal Huscarls. Gardingi cavalry are beefy skirmisher cav that are good on the charge against infantry but can be caught by lighter cavalry.
The Goths can suffer if their low tier infantry don’t do enough damage initially because their mid-tier and possibly core unit is offensive and works exceptionally well in and out of shieldwall but have low health and defence. Your shock cav is similar to the other barbarians. The Visigoths might struggle to deal with shock cavalry themselves because Gothic infantry aren’t heavy.
To summarize, the use of low tier shock infantry is extremely important for these guys. They open up a number of opportunities in battle; they can be cost effective against units that rely on shieldwall and can create a gap in battle lines, or they can flank immobile infantry and decimate them. This faction is also used in the prologue so chances are they are the first faction people will come into contact with.

Ostrogoths - "The Roman Successors"

Ostrogoths
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/109930
Like the Visigoths, the Ostrogoths rely on low tier units. The Ostrogoths, however, have access to a formidable pike unit that is more sturdy than Germanic pikes and can possibly beat the ERE’s pike unit. Said pike unit is mostly useful defensively and can be cost effective in the campaign, but it can also be useful to deter berserkers or other shock infantry from charging frontally (which is one of the reasons why Godan’s chosen isn’t considered the best infantry in the game). The pike unit can be decent as second line infantry where they can block an enemy unit from pushing too deep into your battle line. The Ostrogoths also have a strong sword cavalry general.
The Ostrogoths have the same problems as the Visigoths overall. Their cav general will be beaten by other cav generals if they don’t get a charge. Like all pikes, the Ostrogoths’ pike unit isn’t as flexible as sword infantry and in some cases will lose to heavily armoured cavalry.
To summarize, the use of pikes gives the Ostrogoths a slight edge over the Visigoths, but not by much. You can use them to push away unwanted Hunny boys or prevent berserkers from being effective. Using them in the campaign is pretty fun; they can have access to Roman units which is definitely welcome when you fight the Huns.

Barbarian Kingdoms - Summary

Barbarian Kingdoms
Effectiveness: mid-late game
With the glory of Rome fading, the barbarians have decided to take it upon themselves to carve out their own kingdoms, perhaps to obtain the glory that the Romans once had. However, some factions also want to adopt the Roman thinking, tactics, and way of life into their own realm; if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The Barbarian Kingdoms are more effective mid-late game and their cores are usually balanced compared to the offensive Great Migrators. However, this doesn’t mean that they are a culture that factions should just come to them. Some units do have a good charge bonus (excluding axes) and can be used for a charge. One of them has great offensive spears and a tanky sword unit. All are fun to play as and I’d recommend investing time into learning each of the following factions.

The base game contains two factions: the Franks and the Saxons. With the release of the Longbeards DLC, however, we were blessed with 3 new factions. Each faction has one special unit that can be super useful against the Romans, but the factions themselves follow a similar principle; focusing on the mid-late game.

Barbarian Kingdoms - Unit Spotlight

Unit Spotlight

Sword Heerbann

The offensive core of the Franks, the Sword Heerbann are very important in Frankish gameplay, especially in the mid-game. Their precursors are the “francisca” throwing axe and most of their initial success depends on them. Their objective is simple: throw as many precursors as possible, charge/shieldwall, and hope that both are enough to rout an individual unit. They synergize well with the Germanic roster, especially the spearmen who they rely on to protect them from cavalry. They also are notorious for tackling armoured units with ease, although I’d recommend you be in shieldwall to do this.

With only 25 armour, expect these guys to get hit hard often. Because the francisca has a range of 50 and is very inaccurate, it is possible for a lot of them to miss cavalry that are charging frontally and because they are a medium unit, they will take a lot of impact damage.

This unit can be compared to the Milites Comitatenses of the Ostrogothic Kingdom; the Sword Heerbann cost 25 talents more and have more defence but have less armour and health. They have the same attack and charge bonus. Until you get them in The Last Roman, you will be struggling against the Ostrogoths because they can upgrade to them instead of having to build a barrack. The key difference is precursors; the Milites are better at dealing with cavalry while the Heerbann are better at dealing with infantry, which means in most cases in a straightforward fight they should come out on top. What about mass, you say? Well that is why the Milites are better at dealing with cavalry; they’re very heavy. Although they do have low defence, if you go into shieldwall you are boosting your mass and melee defence.

Having these guys as frontline infantry really depends on who you’re up against. Shock cav can rip through them fairly easily but slow infantry can get hit hard by the francisca. Staying stationary is your best friend but you don’t have to.

Godansmen

Godansmen are a very interesting unit in Attila. They can go berserk but aren’t shock infantry, a general, or an elephant. Instead, they’re offensive sword infantry with the elite spatha. This makes them effective around the mid game if you have units that can hold down your centre or the late game if you can preserve them. Godansmen have better survivability than berserkers and synergize well with cavalry, but they also synergize well with clubmen. One of the great things about going berserk is that unlike other units, when they pull out they don’t take damage because they’re still considered in combat. Essentially that means that these guys could literally rip through a unit to get to another one, tying down more than one unit in the process.

Godansmen aren’t heavily armoured, so expect them to take a number of casualties when they get charged at by cav. Like berserkers, they become cost effective when they’re berserk, but they become uncontrollable, too. When a unit becomes uncontrollable, anything can happen, good or bad. So on one side you could have a unit that has 300+ kills and preserves your other units allowing you to excel in the late game and on the other side you could have a unit with 5-80 kills that got decimated by shock cav or missiles.

I never recommend putting Godansmen behind your missiles or as frontline infantry in a rush build. There are too many instances where they will be wasted. Instead, use a more expendable unit like the Germanic Spearmen and then follow up with these guys. Clean charges are the way to go with most berserkers, but these guys don’t have to; getting them in blobs can be good enough sometimes. If you can manage to get a mass rout and these guys are chasing them down, not only do you not have to worry about those units coming back for a while but in most cases it means you’ve won the battle.

Bejewelled Nobles

The Alamans have an interesting roster because their spears are more offensive than their swords. However, their sword roster can hold down the centre long enough for their spears to dominate the flanks. Bejewelled Nobles cost 600 talents and have 27 attack but 47 defence. This unit is notable because it has 67 armour and, as their name suggests, are covered in jewels. This unit is so useful and you can get it early on in their campaign, although it does strain your income a bit. Although Protectores Defectors have 3 more attack, Bejewelled Nobles have Unbreakable and encourage, providing nearby units a morale boost of 3. Morale, if you didn’t know already, is extremely important not only in Attila but in every Total War game, so keeping it high is necessary to win battles.

Bejewelled Nobles do rely on shieldwall and are very heavy so you should put them in your centre if you don’t want them to get flanked. Putting them on your flanks isn’t a good idea simply because they’re easy to flank and if you’re not in shieldwall they can be beaten fairly easily by other units.

I put these guys directly behind my missiles since the Alamans don’t have precursors. Although not the best unit to tackle shock cavalry on, you could always follow up with spears; these guys should survive long enough.

Taifali Cavalry

Most people mock Taifali Cavalry, but they aren’t as bad as everyone says they are. They’re one of the only melee cav units that have wedge instead of diamond formation; wedge boosts melee attack by 10 and their charge bonus by 15%. They do have a shield and solid melee defence so wedge works out well for them. They also have Rapid Advance and we already know how multipurpose that is. There is one thing that makes them stand out from every other barbaric cav in the game; the composite bow. Although their stats are technically lackluster, the fact that they have a bow unlike the other cav units makes them unique. Just like the Huns, it allows them to do damage before charging in, making them excel at supporting other cavalry.

Unfortunately, Taifali cav, like the Huns, only have two arrows. This severely limits their usability. Also, they’re defensive. They lack the strength to tackle most infantry units and tend to be more of a burden to players who use them as traditional melee cav instead of specialists.

Taifali cav can fire at melee/shock cav at a safe distance and retreat if needed. They can smash into the flanks and rear of most infantry (heavily armoured spears are always dangerous). I use them when I’m playing as a barbarian kingdom, but their use applies to all factions they’re associated with, including the Alans. Bringing them as your main source of killing power is a huge mistake, but bringing one or two isn’t as bad as people say it is.

Germanic Warband

The Germanic Warband is a low tier, early-mid game single handed axe unit and one of the more scarier units. They’re essentially great second line infantry and potent offensively. They sacrifice a good amount of defence for great offence. While other factions don’t really need them, they are the only Germanic unit that has fear and is immune to fear. This is really useful in offensive armies because more likely than not you will be able to deal a lot of damage initially, regardless of whether it’s the first charge or not.

The warband is really weird in the campaign. Besides the fact that they have low health, the armour difference between the regular and mercenary versions is ridiculous. Try to avoid double handed axes if you can because these guys will never beat them frontally and sometimes when they try to counter charge.

The Germans’ use of warbands (Gothic, heerbann, mounted versions) is what makes them stand out from the other cultures. Germanic Warbands are great second line infantry, but in some offensive armies they can really excel on the flanks. The Vandals are a good example. They lack offensive swords but their elite sword unit can hold down a centre which allows you to micro your flanks more.

Franks - "Frenchmen Love Axes"

Franks
Minor victory: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/61098
Military victory: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/63004
Where do I begin with the Franks? The predecessors to modern day France, the Franks are hands down my favourite faction in Attila. This faction is truly a masterpiece both in battle and in the campaign and I could write page after page honouring this faction but I won’t. The Franks love their throwing axes; their only precursors (besides the Spear Masters’ precursors) are throwing axes. Unlike most factions, their throwing axes do 100 armour piercing damage and have a bonus of 25 against infantry, meaning that on a successful hit it can kill most non-Roman units. However, it is quite inaccurate and has half the range of regular precursors or plumbatas, but makes up for this by having the fastest reload rate. It is possible for a unit to throw their axes in 4 seconds while stationary. The Franks are just like the Arverni in Rome 2; offensive with good defensive stats. Your core unit should be the Sword Heerbann, a unit that relies on shieldwall to win engagements but has the charge bonus to make them beat a multitude of units with 0-30 base armour and average health and they have throwing axes. As mentioned earlier, it would be wise to let an enemy come to you to throw your axes because even on the charge axes are inaccurate. Here is where things get interesting. Axe Heerbann cost 150 more talents than their sword counterpart but are statistically the same in everything except weapon damage and bonus vs infantry. The reason why they cost that much more isn’t really explained; they cost the same in the campaign. My theory is that it is either the bonus vs infantry or a mistake. You could upgrade to the Elite Sword Heerbann as a core, too, but this depends a lot on your playstyle. The elite version is strictly defensive but is fairly tanky and does reasonably well in shieldwall. Yet Royal Anstrutiones may be a bit better because they have better stats overall. Freemen, like most low tier melee units, are offensive and are good cavalry stoppers and supporters. Frankish lancers are fairly good and have nice armour while the Sacra Francisca, your high tier shock cav unit, has 57 armour (although 27 of it is base).
The biggest downfall of the Franks is the fact that you have to close the distance with your core and of course the inaccuracy of your precursors. Of course as a Germanic faction you have access to the longbow units, but this isn’t a big deal when you’re going up against another Germanic faction. Thanks to the fact that a single unit can have a missile block chance of 70 without using abilities, throwing axes can be useless against some factions such as the desert factions or even the Sassanids who have Desert Spears. You have access to a uselses mob unit, Bagaudae. Don’t bother bringing these guys in multiplayer because no matter what they won’t live up to your expectations. Although Francisca Heerbann have better morale than the Axe Heerbann, the fact that they cost 100 more talents than them is a good reason not to bring them unless you feel that Axe Heerbann will rout too quickly to be effective.
To summarize, close the distance. You do have access to good shock cavalry for good initial damage and then a low tier offensive unit to hold and maybe even rout units and a balanced core unit that does reasonably well offensively and defensively. Be stationary with the units with throwing axes because that tends to be the best way to use them.

Saxons - "The Raiders of Britannia"

Saxons
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/109397
“Great hunters, they tempered their blades in Roman blood…”
While the other Barbarian Kingdoms are seeking to claim Roman territory for their own, the Saxons have been a pain in the rear to the Romans for a long time, so long in fact that the Romans had to come up with the ‘Saxon Shore’ to prevent or limit further raids on their territory in Britannia. The Saxons, like the Alans, don’t have the regular Germanic roster but instead have the Nordic roster. Unlike the Norsemen however, they have lancers and better javelinmen. Their gameplay is similar to the Norsemen but they do have Gesithas, a unit that costs the same as Chosen Warriors but is very heavy, making them able frontline or centre infantry.
I struggle to see the difference between these guys and the other vikings when it comes to mid game effectiveness because the Saxons rely on almost the same units. The Saxons do have good heavy cavalry but they have low defence, meaning that against spears they might falter if they do not get a decisive charge. As always, double handed axes can tackle a lot of defensive infantry on the charge but in 2v1 situations in a prolonged fight they usually suffer. They also do not like being charged at, especially the Nordic Axe Warriors who are light.
To summarize, use your viking traits to your advantage. Create an opening for the double handed axes to decimate infantry. Use javelins to take down shock cavalry effectively. The Saxons are fairly nice to use in multiplayer and new people should give them a try if they don’t have the Viking Forefathers culture pack.

Langobards - "Godan's Favourites"

Langobards
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/83431
“Let’s have a beard!”
When the Suebians were migrating towards Spain, they left their clubs in Germania. The Winnili tribe were the first to obtain them, at least in my canon of course. The Langobards are the main faction from the Long Beards culture pack. Just like the Suebi in Rome 2, the Langobards have anti-infantry specialists that wield clubs. All of the Long Beard factions boast at least one strong, mid-tier offensive unit. What makes the Langobards stand out from the other two factions from this pack is the fact that they have two units that can go berserk but aren’t shock troops. Rather, like Vandal Berserkers, they do well offensively. Scaled Clubmen and Godansmen are both effective cores. Scaled Clubmen, your defensive core, are very resilient to mid-tier swords but because they wield the heavy club, they have a bonus to attack (not damage) of 20, and if you add the shieldwall’s 10 bonus to attack vs infantry, you have a unit that is superbly effective at taking down lightly armoured units. Of course because they wield the club, they have 1 armour piercing and 10 base damage, meaning they are very weak against melee cavalry and will not be effective against shock cav. Godansmen on the other hand are offensive and boast 50 weapon damage, 14 of which is armour piercing. These guys are very effective around the mid game because of the fact that they can go berserk and have the same strength as any other offensive unit. Be careful with them because if they go berserk and your opponent has missiles, Godansmen will become no-more men.
It's a good thing that the Langobards have a Germanic roster to back them up because their faction specific defensive core stands no chance against shock cavalry and suffers immensely against melee cavalry. That is a problem when you’re dealing with the Alans since they have good options in both categories and have a nice selection of offensive and shock infantry.
To summarize, this faction is the only one in their culture to boast berserker units and clubs, although I don’t recommend using both in the same army. They have a fairly easy campaign if you play your cards right.

Burgundians - "Burgundy is the new Barbarian"

Burgundians
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/112119
Whereas the other Germanic tribes would see the “red mist” before going mad or berserk, the Burgundians would see a pinkish brown one instead. If that were true then we all must be descendants of the Burgundians because their wine is pinkish brown which is where the color got its name from. The Burgundians are a bit more simplistic than the other kingdoms but they don’t expand on much when it comes to melee infantry. I sometimes struggle to come up with new strategies for them. The Burgundians boast a stronger double handed axe unit than the Saxons but do not have the same melee infantry capabilities. Their melee infantry is limited to the Noble Germanic Swordsmen. The Burgundians do stand out from the other Germans for one notable reason; skirmishers. Besides the great Germanic archers, the Burgundians have slingers that fire 3 shots and barbed javelins. The slingers have a bonus of 5 vs infantry per shot, and the barbed javelins have a bonus of 15 vs all. Their lancers are very tough for their price as well.
If you’re the type of person that likes the hand-to-hand aspect of land battles, this faction might not be the best for you. The Burgundians are pretty good at whittling down melee units before an engagement but without the use of the slingers and javelinmen, you can be outdone by other factions in melee. This isn’t really a surprise when you see their roster. In multiplayer, you can be riding the struggle bus whenever you’re up against the Vandals because of their notorious offence.
To summarize, your best friend is skirmishers, but you do have a double handed axe unit which is very useful in the mid game. Just remember to keep them protected; when they’re on the flanks, they are vulnerable to cavalry and they can be hit pretty nasty by archers. In the campaign this faction can do campaigns relatively quickly because their replenishment is higher than average. In multiplayer, they can be a hard faction to get used to. Give them a try if you want to.

Alamans - "Spiritual Successors of the Suebi"

Alamans
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/127256
The Alemanni are considered to be the “spiritual successors” to the Suebi, although in battle it doesn’t really feel like it. They do have great offensive units, but they’re spears. Also, like the DLC pack itself, it's just a Germanic roster with a few touches here and a few new options there. The Alamans do have access to spears that can fight better in melee against infantry but may not do the same amount of damage that a Germanic spear unit can do besides the levy. What this means is that unlike other factions that would have to rely on using spears as cavalry stoppers and frontline infantry, you have spears that do well as second line infantry in fights and are dangerous should they be able to get to the rear of infantry. They have access to a tanky defensive sword unit that is pretty good for its price. Said unit is Roman-like when it comes to armour and health. Another thing that you don’t need to know is that their description and other German units’ descriptions are taken straight from Rome 2 which isn’t such a big deal to most people but to me it seems like they’re cutting corners. Anyway, speaking of Roman-like units, they actually have one: Protectores Defectores. As their name suggests, they’re essentially Protectores Domestici but they defected to the Alamans’ cause. They cost 25 more talents than the Domestici but they have 10 more charge and health, 2 more defence, and 1 more attack.
The Alamans, if they’re played at all in multiplayer, are often squandered in battle. Most people try to use Bejewelled Nobles as frontline infantry against shock infantry or double handed axes which usually doesn’t work. The best way to stop low tier infantry is to have a decent spear unit to brace or use melee cavalry to counter charge then follow up with spears, which is much better. Because spearmen do have 8 less weapon damage than swords, most of the time you will struggle against units in shieldwall, whether they’re Roman or not. Their swords are not flexible, meaning that your flexibility is left to your spears.
To summarize, the Alamans’ scavengers (I don’t know the historical background around that) are dangerous against similarly priced spears but might not do the same damage against cavalry. They do have a tanky sword unit which can be helpful to preserve any second line infantry or simply exhaust shock units and double handed axes. They do get 15 bonus to attack against the Romans in the campaign which is very useful for a faction that doesn’t have flexible sword infantry.

The Norsemen - Summary

Norsemen
Effectiveness: mid game
Because the Romans never crossed the Rhine (Teutoburg Forest), they never made contact with the Scandinavians. The Norsemen (the closest I can get to north in Latin is nord, which is French for north) were slightly different than the Germans when it came to movement and migration but similar when it came to religious beliefs. Their overall main god was Thor (and Loki), the god of lightning and other things. They are the predecessors to the Vikings and in game the operate just like them, boasting insane strength when it comes to double handed axes and the durable and useful longships. One of the biggest differences between history and this game however is the fact that the Norsemen used cavalry in warfare. They didn’t, at least to the extent that it is portrayed in the game; their means of transportation was by sea, and so was their means of trading and warfare. The Normans did, however, but that was in the Medieval ages. But of course this game does revolve around cavalry so every faction should have at least one unit, and when has one historical inaccuracy hurt a faction?

Every DLC culture pack except the Slavs bring new tactics and new problems for the Romans. For the Norsemen, it's their double handed axes. They boast the strongest double handed axes in the game and are fairly good at naval combat, although not as good when it comes to boarding versus the Vandals. Of course, the Romans do suffer when it comes to axe units and double handed axes just do more damage at the cost of no shield and less melee defence.

The Norsemen - Unit Spotlight

Unit Spotlight

Hirdmen

I can’t remember if defensive units with the fear and immune to fear trait is common in the game. Regardless, Hirdmen (hired-men) are special because of this. They have good armour, great health, and overall are a great filler unit for people that do not want their centre to break easily. Believe me when I saw they’re really good for most Norse armies. When I started playing Attila, I had this belief that the Norsemen mainly relied on double handed axes. This is only partially true in game; most of their strategies in real life revolve around raiding, not actual land battles. However, they are organised and good in hand-to-hand combat, which is respectable.

When people play as a Norse faction, they want to be as offensive as possible, and sometimes Hirdmen limit your aggressiveness. For example, suppose you are being kited; Hirdmen are no use if they can’t get into melee. That’s why you have to be careful when you’re deciding whether or not to bring them,

Like any defensive infantry unit, Hirdmen are in the centre of my armies, although they might not be the core. They provide much needed support to the vulnerable double handed axe units and its possible to even retreat them in most cases.

Nordic Axe Warriors

The key unit to every Norse faction, the Nordic Axe Warriors are second to none in their tier when it comes to initial and constant killing power (Huscarls should be considered tier 3). Everyone knows what they’re capable of and that is exactly why you don’t want to have expensive units deal with them on the charge (with the exception of cavalry). Nordic Axe Warriors can rip through armoured melee infantry fairly well but they excel at tackling defensive lines. They are light and have rapid advance, allowing them to close the distance quicker and even catch units that are trying to run away from them (which in most cases will be any unit).

I know that people might expect me to glorify this unit more but they do have some key disadvantages. Their melee defence means that most decent sword units will be able to have a good hit chance against them and they don’t have a lot of armour, either. Although they can do a lot of damage, they suffer immensely in 2v1 situations, like other shock units. Finally, their health
Is low, so in the unfortunate instance where you are charged by cavalry, don’t expect to have a lot of these men left.

These guys are very straightforward; get a very clean charge, and the unit pays for itself. However, I’ve found that because they are light, they can do really well on the flanks and are capable of rear charges. Always make sure that there is another unit nearby because by themselves they are extremely vulnerable.

Norse Berserkers

Throwing axes are definitely something you want on your side and not against you. The same can be said with berserkers. That is why you’ll almost always want to use these guys; in the right circumstances, they can get a bunch of kills. Because they have throwing axes, tackling most units without precursors shouldn’t be difficult, but you might want to proceed with caution when throwing them against units that can go into Testudo. They wield axes (like the Celtic Berserkers) so you can expect additional attack against infantry. Most important, however, is the fact that its available to all Norse factions but not the Saxons, giving them a slight advantage when duking it out in the heat of battle.

Remember to use Berserkers aggressively, not recklessly. Obviously these guys don’t have a lot of armour and can be checked very easily in 2v1 situations or ineffective in prolonged fights. Remember that the goal of the Norse factions is to get dug in and not overwhelmed early on or outrun by skirmishers later on.

I’ve found that using them early on might work out well due to the fact that they have throwing axes and in the heat of battle friendly fire with precursors become detrimental. My advice is simple; avoid missile infantry and all cav as well as high morale infantry (remember that the key is to rout multiple units at once, not tackle expensive ones). Norse Berserkers shine against most spears, including the armoured ones. If you can match these guys up with those units, they’ll be very cost effective.

Huscarls

Freaking Huscarls. This unit is the sole reason why I don’t play as the Jutes often in multiplayer. Historically, Huscarls (or housecarls, it literally means house-man) were the “free” servants of a landowner and later on the royal bodyguard of the king. The first time I heard about these guys was when I was reading an article talking about the Battle of Hastings. For the most part, Huscarls are historically accurate in the base game and AoC. They wield a double axe, but they have atrocious offensive power altogether. With 62 attack and the bonus attack of 20 against infantry, Huscarls have an easy time destroying infantry in prolonged fights, especially in 1v1 situations. Huscarls also have a fair amount of armour on them and because they have Rapid Advance, they can close the distance quickly. These guys should never be your core, but they should always get the most kills.

Contrary to popular belief, unlike shock cavalry, Huscarls do have a noticeable drawback, as well as a few soft counters. Their biggest drawback is the fact that they don’t have a missile block chance, making them extremely vulnerable to crossbows. Huscarls can initially beat about two units at once but if they don’t get enough kills, in a prolonged fight they will encounter problems. Huscarls can beat defensive and missile cav in melee, but be very careful when axe or sword cav are nearby because these guys are expensive and shouldn’t be wasted on such units.

Huscarls are not ideal frontline infantry. Rather, tie down units by other means and then follow up with the Huscarls. Remember that 1v1 fights are ideal, but Huscarls are good in prolonged fights as well. A very overpowered unit, they are easy to use so don’t try to come up with complex maneuvers.

Danes - "I love Danishes"

Danes
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/93492
For a faction that is the epitome of the Vikings, I expected them to be stronger than the Jutes and even the Geats. Simply put, the Danes have less unit selection than the Saxons. That fact alone makes my blood boil; essentially two of the three factions from the Norsemen pack are worth playing. Regardless, the Danes are a Norse faction and therefore benefit from a defensive unit that has fear as well as a bunch of units that induce fear. The Danes also have the ability to have a strong mid game and powerful early game options at the same time. Although the Danes lack diversity, this may be their hidden strength because you’re not tempted to bring too many units and you can still work with their units (i.e they complement each other).
Because the Danes technically have the same roster as the Saxons (with the exception of Viking Raiders and Wolf Coats) just do what you’d do with the Saxons. A big drawback is the lack of shock cavalry. Although the Saxons only have one unit, it allows them to have a strong holding force and a powerful and fast hammer. None of the Norse factions can do that effectively. Technically they don’t have to, since they have double handed axes which allows them to be strong frontally.
To summarize, since every DLC pack has 3 factions, CA just put in the default Norse roster and called the Danes a faction. In reality, the Danes should’ve been replaced by the Angles (although even I’d argue whether or not they were Norse or Germanic). The Danes do not offer anything new, and therefore are not recommended as a multiplayer faction. In the campaign, they have very useful campaign abilities which make raids easier.

Jutes - "Warriors from Jutland"

Jutes

I’ve read about Jutland about 5 years ago. I didn’t know as much about the Jutes as I do now, but I’m surprised as to how important and strong they really were. The Jutes are the strongest and most played Norse faction and it's all thanks to two units. Besides those two units, they are practically the same as the others. Again, it’s such a shame because they do lack diversity. Nevertheless, because of these two units, racking up infantry kills is very easy and making them cost effective depends on whether or not you can get them into melee with an infantry unit (shock cav hard counter them).
These units are hard countered by shock cav and crossbows, and like the rest of the Norse factions, they don’t have great skirmishers of their own. In fact, they don’t have crossbows, meaning you’ll have to use axes to tackle armoured units effectively. Even though the double handed axes are considered OP, keep in mind that they’re infantry in a cavalry-based game that favours shock cavalry.
To summarize, this faction beats the other two Norse factions because of their faction-specific units. In reality, they specialize in killing infantry only, so keep them as far away from all cav as possible and you should be fine.

Geats - "Beowulf's Successors"

Geats

The Geats (not the Swedes) are the northernmost viking predecessor in the game. Their speciality is, get this, a low and mid tier spear unit. Their low tier spear unit, Thrall Spears, is relatively weak but stronger than the Nordic levy, while the Thrall Spearmen are the only Nordic spear unit with precursors. Technically, this is underwhelming for a Norse faction because their strength lies in double handed axes and guys with axes that throw axes. If the Thrall Spearmen threw axes, they would be a unit worth using in multiplayer and would make the Geats really interesting.
Their weaknesses are the same as the other two factions; bad skirmishers, double handed axe units suffer in 2v1 situations, etc. Thrall Spears aren’t a big deal, either; I’d compare them to the Saxon Spears because they are statistically identical but the Saxons have more morale. Yes, precursors on a spear unit is useful for taking down infantry, but the Norsemen already have good spear units so it doesn’t make a huge difference.
To summarize, two faction-specific spears make this faction stand out, but it's not revolutionary. Like the Danes, I don’t play as this faction in multiplayer often, but they’re worth a try. In the campaign, they are immune to the cold.

The Celts - Summary

Celts
Effectiveness: early game
If you thought the Iceni were mysterious outsiders, think again. Because the Romans conquered Gaul in the Gallic wars and it became a Roman province, the Celts were restricted to Britannia. The Celts must have known that the Romans were notorious for defeating their enemies frontally but if they get ambushed they would suffer immensely. This is probably why the Spanish 6th Legion mysteriously disappeared in Caledonia (Scotland). Overall, the Celts are weaker than the Great Migrators or Barbarian Kingdoms but make up for this with the fact that the entire culture has guerilla deployment. Guerilla deployment means that a unit can deploy anywhere except in close proximity to the enemy’s general and in some cases the enemy themselves (sometimes in campaign battles you can get right up close and personal). This is very useful for the early game because they can blitz an enemy quickly and if you can catch your opponent off guard it allows the Celts to negate their overall weakness and be stronger than the faction they go up against. Of course they are only strong in the early game if you use the guerrilla deployment. Not using it does weaken you a lot and since guerilla deployment is very useful in forest battles but virtually useless in open fields, you have to consider the consequences of picking one of the three factions.

The problem that the Celts bring to the Romans is their ambush tactics and ability to close the distance fairly quickly and not allow a lot of time to react. They can do this by deploying close to the Romans but also by luring them into a trap.

The Celts - Unit Spotlight

Unit Spotlight

Scatha’s Teachers

Women aren’t featured a lot in Rome 2 or Attila, but in Rome they had weak defensive stats. In Attila, they are slightly more prominent. Scatha’s Teachers basically imitate Scatha (Scathach, in Irish) who was a Scottish warrior. She is known for training other Celts in various martial arts. The unit itself is something else; a berserker unit with 80 charge but has the elite spatha as well. These two stats allow this unit to go berserk within seconds of impact which is why I feel they are the bane of the WRE.

Like berserkers in Rome 2, Scatha’s Teachers have half the amount of people that a regular unit would have. This isn’t a big deal in some situations but it is when you’re under heavy missile fire. This is why I don’t recommend you have them as frontline infantry.

I like to use these girls instead of the berserkers most of the time because axe infantry aren’t always necessary but a weapon with 14 AP and 36 base damage is versatile enough to deal with infantry and cavalry alike. I usually bring two, but you’ll want to be extremely careful against the Slavs who will more likely than not try to poison them. As a berserker unit, once they go berserk it doesn’t matter, but before and after it does. As the Picts you do have access to Black Blades but they cost more and have similar stats, although they do have an entire unit.

Celtic Berserkers

I find it quite dangerous that the Celts, a faction that has the option to deploy their units anywhere, has berserkers. Nevertheless, they do and although they are weaker than others, their purpose is vital to a good rush. Celtic Berserkers, like the others, rely on going berserk as soon as possible and routing units as quickly as possible. Because they are Celtic, however, they serve another purpose; a quick victory. These guys support the main line, but their main goal is to rout units, and rout units they can because they have axes.

The problem with these berserkers is although they have axes, they are in fact weaker than other berserkers. In fact, I think they lose to Celtic Axe Warriors even though they cost the same. With little to no armour and low attack, if you don’t blitz correctly and use these guys like regular offensive units, they’ll be beaten very easily.

The key is to be smart but to be quick and decisive. I use these guys on the flanks, protected by spears. That way they are flexible enough to counter infantry that may otherwise try to tackle Celtic cavalry. Be careful though because if the berserkers get isolated, they don’t stand a chance against cavalry. Note that the Celts don’t have effective melee cav that can tackle other cav.

Ebdanians - "Strength of the Irish"

Ebdanians
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/108503
The Irish haven't had a lot of love in Total War. That is until Attila of course. In Empire: Total War, the Scots had a faction specific unit and in Napoleon they got highland infantry while the Irish had nothing special. Now, the Irish finally got the recognition they deserve. The Ebdani are pretty interesting. Two high tier sword infantry, a high tier sword cav, and a couple of javelins put theme somewhere in between the other two factions when it comes to offensive power. What this faction gives you is somewhat passive aggressive; they don't have stronger spears like the Caledonians or ferocious swords like the Picts, but having a superior selection of javelin men who also happen to have guerrilla deployment means you can shoot where needed and retreat if possible. Of course, their faction specific swords are good because they are stronger than Fianna and therefore the strongest defensive sword unit in the Celtic world.
Needless to say, the Celts don't have an amazing skirmishing roster, as it can be likened to the Norse’s own (although they have crossbows). The only way you could skirmish with javelins is in forests since they can't be kited if they can't be seen. Unfortunately, the Ebdanians don't have their own axe unit. This doesn't mean much, but it would've been interesting if they had their own.
To summarize, this faction is fairly balanced in offence and defence. The use of javelin men and defensive infantry is key, although their melee cab is also important in killing shock infantry or infantry generals. Having defensive infantry with fear helps your offence quite a bit. In the campaign, you might get your faction specific units past 60 turns or so.

Caledonians - "The Mystery of the North"

Caledonians
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/92994
Unlike the Irish, the Scots were one of the few minor factions that are actually interesting to play in Empire and Napoleon. The Caledoni are slightly less aggressive in the melee department but focus more on archery and spears. They are the only faction that has an archer general. Their archers are arguably the best in the culture and perhaps the best out of all the barbarians. The combination of good spears and archers who have guerrilla development creates a dangerous counter to melee cavalry. As they are Celts, having missile superiority helps indirect warfare.
If the Caledonians are forced to fight a pitched battle (essentially a regular frontal engagement) they barely stand a chance against rush builds or other early game factions. Their faction specific roster also struggles against offensive infantry in the mid game. Although their axes are great, they don't have high tier swords like the other Celts. What this means is in melee, they might struggle against shield wall and pikes.
To summarize, sniping in forests or places where your units can stay hidden is your best friend. Your archers are unmatched only if they are hidden, and your spears should be used to screen away cav. I usually use the archer general because the faction focuses on ranged combat (historically, they disliked it).

Picts - "Raiders of the Night"

Picts
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/110976
In Northern Scotland, the Picti (painted ones) are very offensive and stick to the Celtic tradition of favouring swords over bows and javelins. The Picts specialize in melee and outdo the other two factions with their mid and high tier swords, another axe berserker, and their own axe unit. They have access to a better version of the Celtic Warriors and a full unit of Scatha’s teachers with a few improvements, although they do lose access to the Fianna. Like the Langobards, they have a berserker general and their high tier sword unit (Black Blades) aren’t shock infantry but offensive berserkers. This works out really well for them because unlike the Langobards, the Picts stick to indirect warfare like the other Celts and would rather fight in forests and conduct ambushes; if the Black Blades were shock infantry, they’d lose much of their armour to get a better charge bonus and in a prolonged fight could possibly be beaten.
Although ambushes are easier to do in Attila, there are certain units that have better spotting than others. As far as I'm concerned, the Huns’ Unnigarde has the best spotting range of ~1.6 Km. Now I can't remember the spotting penalty for forests or bushes, but that's still a lot. You have to be careful strategically with factions such as the Huns who have raiders and other units with good spotting because all it takes is for a good player to spot you at 100 metres or more for them to successfully counter an ambush. Unit wise, the Picts lack any sort of late game infantry, so recklessness will cost you dearly.
To summarize, this Celtic fashion excels in melee infantry; their ambush tactics revolve around being as close as possible for maximum confusion and initial damage. With more berserkers, this can be their key to victory, or their path to destruction.

Desert Kingdoms - Summary

Desert Kingdoms
Effectiveness: varies, overall mid game
The desert factions overall are really hard to master and I’d argue that they are the hardest to play as both in the campaign and in multiplayer. The Lakhmids do boast the strongest cavalry every since they were released as free-LC, but they are fairly similar to the Sassanids besides a few mace units and they don’t have Gyan Avspar. The Tanukhids boast the lancers with the best charge but can crumble under prolonged pressure. The Garamantians have nice low tier shock cavalry and a nice elite spear unit but have a similar melee roster to the Tanukhids and are overall weaker than the other desert factions. Aksum has access to the Khanda on one of their units but they cannot stand well against decent, heavy infantry. Himyar has OP low tier shock infantry but are surprisingly anti-climactic in battle. All of them have access to camels which are good for scaring cavalry but some of them don't really rely on them.

Unlike the Sassanids, the desert factions rely on lighter shock cavalry or camels. In reality, the culture itself doesn’t have one common strength or weakness besides the fact that they all have camels. Camels do present a problem to the Romans because on average they do have more mass than horses, meaning that even the Romans, who have a lot of heavy infantry, will have trouble bracing against them at times. Some factions also have great shock infantry, allowing them to tip the early game in their favour.

Desert Kingdoms - Unit Spotlight

Unit Spotlight

Spice Warriors

Sugar, spice, and everything nice…..
These were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect flavour unit.
But the Creative Assembly accidentally added an extra bonus to the unit… The Khanda
Thus the Spice Warriors were born!

Spice Warriors are a key unit to Aksum. Like most units with low armor, these guys are cost effective in melee and it really shows when you’ve used the faction over and over because you like one unit from their roster more than the others. So good are these guys that they can beat Uar Warriors on the charge. Because Aksum has a unit with the Khanda, they’ve obtained a few new tactics, such as a way to tackle infantry regardless of their armour amount.

If my memory serves me right, although their shield gives them good melee defence, it doesn’t protect them from missiles too well. Also, they’re fragile, so keep them away from cavalry unless you want to support an engagement. Even then, Aksum has spears that are much more effective than these guys.

I tend to use these guys as frontline infantry because as long as they’re in melee, they have the opportunity to be cost effective. Like Uar Warriors, Spice Warriors are effective at taking down a multitude of units, most notable high tier spears.

Kushite Shotelai

The Shotel is a curved blade which does 20 AP and base damage. This unit is offensive and is available to all factions except the Garamantians. Essentially, this unit makes maces obsolete because it has the same AP and 15 more damage, while the unit has a good amount of attack and armour. When it comes to working with other units, you’ll find that this unit can support cavalry engagements and deal a lot of damage after your cavalry have charged in.

This unit does encounter problems when they're re fighting multiple offensive units. They don't have the armour or defence to be a late game unit. Therefore, it might be a good idea to keep your numbers equal or almost equal.

The Lakhmids have this unit and a mace unit that cost the same. The Noble Al-Rahrain has less attack and defence, as well as 15 less base damage. The difference lies in armour; this makes them more useful than the Shotelai when fighting armoured swords but less useful against pikes or other infantry. They also have a unit called the Sana’i who wield the elite Spatha. Between this unit and the Shotelai, it comes down strictly to armour; without a doubt the Sana’i are better against units with around 0-47 armour while Kushite Shotelai are better against 47+ armour.
Kushite Shotelai are ideal frontline infantry, but they can also be great second line infantry in shield wall. However, try to pair them up against high armoured units, not multiple units.

Armoured Camel Warriors

Camels have the highest health in the game and they do the most impact damage. Armoured camels, however, add on to that. They have the potential to beat shock cavalry if used correctly. They wield the tower shield and have 10 base armour (even though it looks like the mail the Romans use), making them useful for blocking missiles. Their mass is second to none, making them effective frontally against non-spear units.

Camels have a hard time chasing horses, so using them to counterattack charging cavalry usually won't end well. Their use against javelin cav is questionable; on one hand, they’re tankier than horses, but on the other hand, it seems like a waste of a good unit, as low tier javelin cav can easily bait them away from engagements. Remember that mass impact does not affect cavalry, so be careful when engaging exceptional cav as they'll have a high hitting chance against you.

Because these camels have low defence, I try to have infantry support nearby to help them if something goes wrong. Remember, camels are good on the charge and have a lot of health, but can be checked if they don't get a solid charge. Try to line them up with the unit you want to charge for max efficiency. Again, this unit only has 10 base armour.

Arabic Horsemen

Sword cavalry were somewhat frowned upon in Rome 2 because it was an infantry-based game and keeping almost any cav unit in prolonged melee with an infantry unit would result in the infantry unit winning (mainly because of numbers). Arabic Horsemen were mercenaries in Rome 2 but are now available to all of the desert factions besides the Garamantians. They’re a good unit to bring because unlike camels, their potential to kill infantry beyond the charge bonus is better. Also, they’re a mid-tier, cost effective unit and who doesn’t like a cost effective unit? If you like the Huns, think of them as an upgraded Hunnic Mounted Warband available to the Arabs.

Its good to note that this unit suffers against light and medium bow cavalry because of their low missile block chance, which makes sense since it is a unit that is designed to fight melee infantry (as opposed to infantry in general). This unit should never be your only cavalry unit, as the Arabs (except Aksum) have a poor choice of spear units and would rely more on cavalry to fight other cavalry.

You’d be better off matching this unit with a melee infantry unit that has a medium mass or lower. If you want to tackle spears, aiming for the rear or a charging unit would be your bess bet unless they are very heavy.

Shawia Guard

A close up look on these guys makes you wonder whether they are African or barbarian, but knowing CA it's probably a mistake that will never get fixed. The Shawia Guard are on this list because in a sense they are very similar to the Immortals but only available to the Garamantians. The Garamantians rely on holding units and this unit delivers in most cases. With this unit, factions you are going up against must be more careful with high tier cavalry that may excel well against the other desert factions. Low armour piercing units will also have a tough time getting through this unit. They have the tower shield like the Desert Spears but are obviously much better.

The problem with this unit is obvious; as they are neither strong nor do they have a lot of defence, you'll want to make sure they aren't outnumbered as they can be taken out very quickly. It's also good to note that like the Immortals, they are very heavy.

The Shawia Guard is a potent late game unit because of their tanky nature. They work well with missile units because they have a 70% missile block chance and a solid amount of base armour; alternatively, using them with their melee units is great defensively, the reason being their total armour.

Garamantians - "Survivors of the Sahara"

Garamantians
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/90763

*If you're trying to see the Desert Kingdoms victory cinematic, this faction doesn't have it.
When the Garamantians were initially released, I was very skeptical. A first glance of their roster made me realize that this would be the hardest out of all of the Desert factions. After playing with them for awhile, I realized they could tank efficiently with the proper use of abilities, positioning, and camels. This faction is rugged but venerable thanks to their armoured infantry and light shock cavalry. They are a late game faction because of this, but be careful when going up against them because their early game may consist of camels while their mid game may see their faction specific units become potent. Thought they lack a diverse skirmish roster, their own archers are fairly reliable and provide a vital role. Amazigh spearmen are a crossroad between Desert Spears and their high tier spear unit and do well on the offence or defence.
This faction lacks Arabic Horsemen (Garamantia and Ethiopia are in Africa, yet the Aksumites get them). This is actually a serious disadvantage when you need infantry killers because camels excel on the charge or for tackling most shock cav. This could make it exceptionally difficult to defeat the Alans since a they lack spears but have good cavalry.

Aksum - "Spicy Traders and Warriors"

Aksum
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/89814
This faction is interesting. They boast strong cavalry like the Alani, a light Khanda-wielding unit, strong archers, and excellent high tier spears. One of the general’s bodyguards is a spear unit, too (which shouldn't be underestimated, as this is a cavalry-based game). Aksum is an early-mid game faction with solid offensive infantry and reliable holding units (a trait shared by all Desert Kingdoms). However, they are the only faction that can utilize bow-equipped dog handlers. As you may know, dogs are mainly useful against low tier skirmishers (foot or on horse) or other low armoured infantry. Bows, on the other hand, are the preferred skirmishing choice in Attila, and the unit doesn't disappoint. Aksum relies mainly on the skill of their faction-specific units and the synergy from cultural units (camels, desert spears, etc.) to excel on the battlefield. This is evident by their faction specific cavalry who just so happen to be high tier. The Spice Guardians are a hybrid unit, being able to shoot from a distance and charge home with their double handed axes.
The Aksumites’ melee roster lacks mass; Kushite Sholetai are medium mass while Desert Spears are heavy. You'll run into problems if you're forced to go defensive because of this. It's also important to note that there is a slightly higher focus on spears than with swords (the T’or Warriors have counter cavalry tactics while the Spice Girls have Frenzy).
To summarize, this faction has a solid edge over most factions when it comes to hitting hard early on, but when put in a corner might find it difficult to perform. Synergy is key between units, as a lot of their faction-specific units specialize in certain roles (tackling cavalry, shutting down shock infantry, fighting defensive units, so on).

Lakhmids - "Heaven on Earth"

Lakhmids
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/112963
Remember how the Tokugawa were vassals to the Oda in Shogun 2? Well this time around the Lakhmids are in their position. The Lakhmids have a roster similar to the Sassanids but also have the cultural roster and their own unique units. The s favour maces and they will most likely make up your core, although the Sana’i is a viable option when fighting lighter armoured units and the Kushite Sholetai are somewhere in the middle. They have access to the Kurdish archers and Armenian slingers, so their skirmishing power is fairly strong. This is a hard yet dangerous faction to play as; they will excel against some and flunk against most due to their units being good in similar situations, that being against high-armoured, slow moving units.
The Lakhmids only have culture specific spears which means most of your cavalry killing power will come from your own cavalry. Although their cavalry is strong, this ties them down which leaves your infantry to deal with theirs. The problem with this is if you're at a numerical disadvantage when it comes to cavalry. Remember that for the most part their infantry are good against armour. Any faction that doesn’t heavily rely on armoured units (the Goths) or rely on cav superiority (the Nomads) will put you in an unfavourable situation.
To summarize, they have a cav unit that dominates other cavalry (except for Mounted Alani Veterans), favour maces (yet they don’t have Sogdian Warriors), and have a poor spear roster. Aim for a mid-late game approach, as losing your cavalry early on is detrimental.

Himyar - "Athar the Great"

Himyar

The Desert Kingdoms are already difficult to understand as a whole, so why would Himyar add to that? Well it’s because if they didn’t, they wouldn’t be interesting. Successors to the Sabean Kingdom, Himyar is a weird but strategically-inclined faction. Defensive axes are an interesting concept; the ability to deal effectively with armoured swordsmen while not worrying about them being overwhelmed by sheer numbers. They even have an axe general which is unique to them only (until the Slavs were released). As for cavalry, they have a sholetai-wielding camel unit which should not be overlooked because it isn’t meta and another jav camel unit. Like the Desert Kingdoms DLC, this faction has religious-based infantry which is not important in multiplayer but I’ll quickly talk about these ones. Athar’s Chosen (who we already know were OP before they got nerfed) are arguably the strongest shock infantry in the game, with a bigger charge bonus than Scatha’s Teachers while having the same amount of men. The Khahyahlim and Sahnegohrim both cost the same but have different roles; the former excels against single units with low armour piercing while the former can do really well against multiple low attack units.
Like the Lakhmids, your spear roster is poor. Therefore most of your cavalry killing power will again come from your own cavalry. With this faction, it isn’t the killing potential of your infantry you should be worried about. Rather, their maneuverability will become a problem. Athar’s Chosen can easily become decimated if charged by a heavy cav unit, while the Jewish units suffer without support. In prolonged fights, it is possible for a sword-wielding cav unit to beat Baltha Warriors/Defenders unless they’re in shieldwall. That alone means they need some support from either cavalry or spears.
To summarize, focusing on the mid-game with your tanky axes is a solid idea. Athar’s chosen can devastate infantry that would otherwise defeat them while your Jewish units will push you into the late game if you play the game right. Alternatively, the Zealot Sicarus can be used if you need numbers instead of sheer skill. Cavalry wise, it is important to keep your shock cav alive into the mid game (late game can help if you’re not dealing with spears).

Tanukhids - "Mavia's Sandstorm"

Tanukhids
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/99325
The Tanukhs helped Emperor Aurelian in defeating Queen Zenobia and her Palmyrene Empire. Around the time of their queen Mavia, they revolted twice and had converted to Christianity and later (like the other Arab tribes), Islam. The Tanukhids are the storm/blitzkrieg desert faction. They boast the highest charge bonus shock cav unit in the game, Roman defectors, and pikes with shields. Now the last two aren’t your ideal rushing units, but their strength lies in their shock cavalry. The Tanukhids have access to Clibanarii, your favourite ERE shock cav unit necessary for exceptional hammer and anvil tactics and shock and awe. Although unrecruitable in multiplayer, they also have access to Hetaireia Guads, an ERE mid-game favourite. Rebellion Militia serve the same purpose as Bagaudae; oppression. Tanukhid Ambushers, as their name suggests, have guerrilla deployment but also have a lot of charge, making them ideal battle openers and early game shock infantry. Besides the Clibanarii, their other shock cav are light and nimble; charge in, get out, profit. Mavia’s Chosen is extremely good at this, as they can decimate unsupported units and get away from trouble.
Like the others aforementioned factions, their spear roster is bad. Now the Tanukhids have pikes, but pikes are predictable as they’re only useful from the front whereas spears can support or have a static line.`The other factions have armoured shock cav while the Tanukhids have Clibanarii. Their skirmishing power is solid, but you should focus on eliminating enemy missiles with your cavalry and use the archers as infantry support and javelins as anti-cavalry.
To summarize, this early game faction relies on shock cavalry instead of shock infantry. You want to be extremely careful with your light shock cav as they are your means of winning. Clibanarii are effective frontline shock cavalry but the rest are not. The ambushers are good in an ambushing role, but you can use them as frontline infantry only if there are no missiles, cavalry, or other shock infantry that can support.

The Slavs - Summary

Slavs
Effectiveness; late game
If you go to Serbia and meet a cheeky Slav, he might tell you that “God is a Serb” or something cheesy. Coming from the same area as the Huns, the predecessors of the “Serbia Strong, remove kebab” inhabit the waste that was left behind by the nomads. The Slavs are an interesting but game-breaking culture.

Unlike the other Attila DLCs (excluding Age of Charlemagne and the Roman Expedition), the Slavs present a threat to the Huns and the White Huns: poisoned arrows. Poisoned arrows basically make a target exhausted immediately. Poisoned arrows are also special because they ignore armour and all they have to do is hit a single model for the entire unit to be affected. However, CA had to implement one more characteristic to make this projectile perfect: permanent exhaustion. I wonder if they and Relic have competitions outside of MWNL to see who can break their games the longest. When poisoned, a unit never regains their stamina. Also, as it ignores armour, it slowly kills off a unit, making it more effective than any type of ammunition. However, it has a ROF of about 2 shots per minute, making it similar to crossbows. Still, they are effective in the campaign against the Huns as they cannot run around you that much and it allows your javelin cav to catch up to their horse archers. I think that they could have made poison work a bit differently however. Poison should not instantly exhaust a unit for sure. If they cannot figure out a way to manipulate the data so that it affects fatigue the same way that running or fighting does, abandon poison arrows completely. I think that the Slavs killed the game entirely because almost no one plays multiplayer even before the release of Warhammer.

The Slavs - Unit Spotlight

Unit Spotlight

Slavic Axemen

With high health and a high charge, the Slavic Axemen is a dangerous early game unit that can last right up until the late game. It synergizes well with every faction, as they all have poison archers to make battles go quicker and offensive swords that rely on shieldwall. Essentially, Slavic Axemen are the embodiment of Slavic culture; hardy, healthy, and happy to mow down units in succession. Offensive armies rely on these men to tackle most infantry, regardless of their armour value. This is because their melee roster caters to defensive roles (even though Slavic Warriors lack defence).

Of course, pajamas don’t really count as armour. As such, their low armour is problematic against swords. Make sure these guys fulfil a supportive role if you’re aiming for a prolonged fight because they’re mostly good on the charge and nothing else.

I personally use 2-3 axes. With the Sclavenians, I’ll usually use 2 since they cater to anti-cavalry axes. Essentially, their potential mirrors that of the Gothic and Germanic Warbands, but the culture they’re with can limit this due to their lack of melee cav. Be careful with flanking maneuvers and stick to non-shock infantry and even non-offensive swords if you can.

Poison Hunters

This description will be short because we already know why these guys are good. Poison Hunters have access to Stealth of the Hunt which gives them +90m on their range, allowing them to get the first shots off on Germanic Hunters and other units before they can come into their “danger zone” (approx. 70 meters, at 40 meters most units start their charging animation). Once poisoned, the unit becomes easy pickings for the Slavs’ offensive units and forces you into the late game.

Any unit can become exhausted, which is why you want to micro these units very carefully when a battle starts. Numerous times I’ve seen people exhaust their own units and this is extremely dangerous against the Celts as they have numerous berserker units who will ignore exhaustion. The Celts are the bane of the Slavs and should be kept at range and carefully picked off. Remember that these guys have the same RoF as crossbows (2 shots per minute) and once you fire, you have to wait a while. Between this and a fast, hard hitting faction can be the difference between an easy victory or a crushing loss.

I use two in multiplayer and 4 in the campaign when I dealt with the Huns. Ammo efficiency is key in the campaign but not so much in multiplayer as it’s rare to see someone use their whole ammo in battle.

Perun’s Champions

I’ve had a hard time understanding this unit’s purpose and a harder time using it in the late game. Yet at the same time I’ve realized that sometimes a good unit is the one that requires research and testing. Perun’s Champions are one of the few units I’ve done this with. Although the Slavs focus on the late game, Perun’s Champions are balanced; although their defence is below-average and their offence is above-average, their charge bonus is lower than the Elite Sword Heerbann, meaning their potential can neither be strictly offensive or defensive. Therefore, I’ve placed them slightly between offensive and balanced because make no mistake they will kill a bunch of units if given the chance (similar to Legionaries in Rome 2) but at the same time can be used as second line infantry to avoid shock units.

Any unit without precursors will have a hard time dealing with shock and axe-wielding cavalry. Of course with the Slavs you do have access to poison, but remember that these guys rely not on armour but on attack, and a unit that is exhausted has their attack cut down by 45% and their defence in half.

In some cases these guys will do most of the killing and dying, so it would be a good idea to bring them as a core unit. Most likely than not they will have to be your core as the other units have very little late game power.

Warlord’s Guard

This general’s bodyguard unit is very weird but very good at protecting the general. The Warlord’s Guard is a heavy axe unit that has access to spear wall. Spear wall and axe don’t mix together unless it is a general’s unit. The reason is simply because, as I have said many times before, this is a cavalry-based game. This unit doesn’t require a lot of attention or micro and can support the fight (assuming you’re not fighting another Slav army) and provide much needed morale. Their high health makes them push straight into the late game as long as they’re not swarmed by offensive units.

As good as this unit is, they can be tackled by many missiles. In all of my Slav campaigns, I’ve run into problems with the Huns because of this. Be very careful when dealing with a lot of javelins because even though they have to close the distance, unlike melee infantry, exhaustion doesn’t affect them horrendously as most of them have one job to do which is to throw their javelins. A proper real charge by shock cav will also do quite a bit of damage to them, so be careful of light cavalry.

As a general’s unit, they should be where you feel most of the action will be or where their presence will be decisive. I prefer putting mine in the middle because a centre connects both flanks and if it is lost, most of the time so is the battle. As long as they’re not by themselves you should be fine.

Anteans - "Up the Ante"

Anteans
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/92153
The Anteans are notable because unlike the other Slavs, they have access to a different variation of poison arrows. What’s even worse is that they stack, meaning you can do about 2 ½ poison damage instead of the regular shot (the number isn’t accurate). In multiplayer sometimes the poison arrows find little use besides causing additional attrition but in multiplayer can destroy the Huns, assuming you have an advantage over them in the first place.
The Anteans are arguably the weakest faction in the culture pack because poison archers don’t do a significant amount of damage compared to the regular poison arrows. Also, in the campaign, you have a hard starting position and faction trait. Using these guys really emphasises on the importance of picking your battles in the right place. The Huns do poorly in siege battles but so do the Anteans in the campaign. They do well, however, in river battles and forest battles.
To summarize, if you want to do more poison damage, this faction will do it for you. All of the Slavs are practically the same except 2 units from each faction, so the tactics will not be that much different either.

Sclavenians - "The Huns are on the Runs"

Sclavenians
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/91963
If you go offensive: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/91961
The Sclavenians basically present a nightmare for the Huns; single handed axes that are actually good against cavalry. Their two special units both wield the bearded axe, an axe that allows the wielder to pull shields or weapons from the hands of someone else by using the hook. The bearded axe is the only special axe in the game. This finally makes axes useful in supporting cav engagements while being effective as second line infantry. They are both light, meaning that they are quick enough to support and disengage from cavalry and infantry fights.
These axes still don't like being charged at by cavalry, so keep them behind a heavier unit. Keep in mind that they do have a bonus to attack against cavalry but not elephants; using them against elephants is suicide. When it comes to infantry killing, they don’t expand on much. Cavalry counter tactics is useful, but it has a long cooldown period.
To summarize, bearded axes are cool but they’re not OP. Like regular single handed axes, they excel as second line infantry, but they can be useful to support cav engagements. In the campaign, they have bonuses against the nomads and can further these bonuses depending on their actions. Give them a try if you like axes with benefits.

Venedians - "The Vistula Veneti"

Venedians
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/68507
Like all Slavs, the Venedians love axes. However, unlike the other Slavs, they have two superior axes that give them a cutting edge over the others and are fairly useful against the other barbarians. The best thing about both of them is that they have Rapid Advance meaning you can close the distance quicker than the other axes. Rapid Advance also increases impact damage. Veles’ Chosen does encourage nearby units which is always welcome.
Because the only difference between the Venedians and the other Slavs is the two quicker axe units, there isn’t much to expand on gameplay wise (unless you struggle to close the distance). Their armour is solid, with the Veles’ Chosen having 45 and the Followers of Veles having 25. The Followers of Veles are slower because they are very heavy, meaning that Veles’ Chosen benefit more from Rapid Advance.
To summarize, the only difference between this faction and the others are quicker axe units. In the campaign that can be useful against the barbarians when it comes to flanking but against the Huns it doesn’t really matter. This faction was pretty fun to play as in the campaign but it took me over 300 turns to get a minor victory because the Huns kept on demanding a tribute and it slowed me down terribly. Thanks to poison arrows, defeating the other factions isn’t a problem and neither is outrunning them.

The Last Roman - Summary *

The Last Roman - Unit Spotlight

Unit Spotlight

Skutatoi

Antesignani

Bucellarii Guard Axemen

Milites Comitatenses

Domestici

The Roman Expedition - "The Roman Empire's Last Hope"

Roman Expedition
Loyalist victory: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/57456
Seperatist victory: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/92604
Effectiveness: mid-late game
Although the Western Roman Empire survived past Attila (he died in 453), the barbarians eventually overran them. Now, 100 years later, the Eastern Roman Empire, known during this time as the Byzantines, decided to reclaim the empire from the barbarians. The emperor at the time entrusted one of his best generals to help him do it. Belisarius, a man who had a lot of experience fighting the Sissynids, was told to return the Romans back to Rome. The Roman Expedition is similar to the Roman Empire when it comes to late game effectiveness, but this faction is different. Although the expedition is closer to the ERE, they have single handed axes, finally giving the Romans what they need to be effective in the mid game. Their single handed axes are fairly resilient and are good as second line infantry, but they can be used as front line infantry if you’re desperate. Their spears will suffer to heavy melee cavalry but they are still useful for deterring cavalry in general. Their low tier sword unit is offensive which can be useful if you need units on the flanks. Their slingers cost less than the Roman Empire but their specialists cost more because they are statistically better.
As is the custom with the Romans in Attila, the Roman Expedition doesn’t really have what is necessary to do a lot of damage in the early game unless they can get their enemy to come to them recklessly. Their Clibanarii does not have bows like the ERE but their other shock cavalry does, although that unit has less armour. Skutatoi are somewhere between Armigeri Defensores and Eastern Armoured Legio, but they don’t have shieldwall or the armour to stand up to shock infantry or even cavalry. Antesignani do have the armour and health, however.
To summarize, the Roman Expedition is basically a military revolution compared to the Roman Empire. The tactics are slightly different because of your unit choices but your late game approach is the same.

The Ostrogothic Kingdom - "An Uncivilized Rome"

Ostrogothic Kingdom
Minor victory: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/83427
Military victory: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/85735
Effectiveness: early-mid game
Historically, the Ostrogoths consolidated control of Italy after the fall of Ravenna, marking the end of WRE dominance over the peninsula. 100 years later, having completely adopted the Romans’ way of life, you’d think they would focus on the Roman’s amazing staying power and abandon their old, barbaric ways of being offensive all the time. They didn’t. The Ostrogothic Kingdom expands more on the offensive vigour of the Goths, but this time they have more armour which is obviously a Roman trait. They still have access to their great pikemen, but they find little use with this faction unless you are defending. Their core, the Milities Comitatenses, is a viable unit that has very low defence but high attack even for an offensive unit and a good charge bonus. The Ostrogoths can get them early in the campaign, meaning that they can put the hurt on the Franks early on.
Unlike the Ostrogoths, these guys suffer immensely when they’re fighting multiple units. Shieldwall does help them in prolonged fights but sometimes even that isn’t enough. The best way to counter this faction is just to hold off charging units and have single or double handed axes as second line infantry or even stop any charging infantry with melee cavalry. Because they have adopted the Roman way of living, they don’t have Germanic archers and therefore lose the range and damage benefits.
To summarize, the Ostrogoths tried to be Roman but they only upgraded their armour. The Ostrogothic Kingdom aren’t like the Suebians when it comes to having a high armour and morale unit but they are good on the offence.

Frankish Kingdom - "France's Forefathers" *

Frankish Kingdom
Minor victory: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/65882
Military victory: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/65964

Visigothic Kingdom - "V for Victory" *

Visigothic Kingdom
Minor victory: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/112336
Military victory: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/112344

Vandal Kingdom - "Barbarians in Africa" *

Vandal Kingdom
Minor victory: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/92738
Military victory: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/100470

Age of Charlemagne - Summary

Age of Charlemagne
Anyone remember Fall of the Samurai? Remember how it was a stand-alone instead of a DLC to Shogun 2? Age of Charlemagne should have been like that. AoC is more balanced than the base game; even the shock cavalry aren’t completely overpowered (but they can still bring the pain on sword units). Spear units are much better, shield wall is considered a main tactic for all armies, and health is reasonably balanced for infantry and cavalry. I don’t know how CA does it honestly. I’ve completed every faction in the campaign and got to use them a lot in land battles. AoC is set in the Middle Ages, less than 400 years after the base game. The world needs a saviour and of course that saviour needs to bring back the fire that was extinguished with the fall of the WRE. Said saviour will have to use his or her religion to bring back the light in a dark world.

Age of Charlemagne - Unit Spotlight

Kingdom of Charlemagne - "The Holy Roman Empire"

Kingdom of Charlemagne
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/59370
Being the centre of the DLC, the Franks, AKA Charlemagne, are the most balanced faction. The Franks are the only faction that is playable in both DLCs and the base game (the Langobards aren’t playable in The Last Roman and the Romans aren’t playable in AoC without a mod enabling them). I like this faction because for the first time since Rome 2, I can use a faction and rely on straightforward tactics instead of complex maneuvers to win battles. The Franks do have the best cavalry since they have access to the heavy spear on their core cavalry but they do not have slingers. The main tactic for every AoC faction is shieldwall and thanks to their core/upgraded core’s defence, these guys will do very well in it. Their core is Armoured Swordsmen, a unit they share with Asturias. If you have more money, however, you can upgrade to the mounted swordsmen. The difference between them is just armour; mounted swordsmen have about 7 more armour. Unlike the base game, armour is considered only base armour, something that I stated should’ve been implemented in the base game too since shield armour doesn’t block missiles.
Since the Franks are balanced, it’s hard to point out serious drawbacks or disadvantages, but there are a few. Besides slingers, the Franks don’t have single handed axes. Single handed axes in AoC don’t have a bonus to attack of 10 nor do double handed axes have a bonus to attack of 20 against infantry, but axes are useful for hitting armoured units constantly and killing them quicker than swords or even cavalry (infantry mass has been increased). The Franks don’t have lancers either. Lancers in AoC aren’t overpowered but should they catch a unit moving or not properly braced, they will still bring the pain. They don’t have access to dogs meaning that they cannot kill skirmishers quickly unless they use cavalry and sometimes cavalry would be better somewhere else.
To summarize, balanced does not mean versatile, but it does mean your weaknesses are balanced, too. This faction is a good starting faction in multiplayer but maybe not so much in the campaign because new Total War players might have a hard time managing multiple fronts at once. Then of course there is the War Weariness mechanic that you have to be careful of. My campaign has a lot of flaws but at the end of it all I was able to reclaim territory I lost early on and even got more.

Kingdom of the Lombards - "Clubs are Fairly Blunt"

Kingdom of the Lombards
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/65080
The Langobards secretly envied the Franks and have been watching them ever since the migration period. They decided to invade the recently reclaimed Italian peninsula and routed the ERE (Byzantines) from northern Italy. Now the Langobards control most of the Italian peninsula excluding Rome itself because the Pope resides there. The Lombards haven’t changed a lot. Besides having access to decent lancers, they have kept one thing since the Migration period: their clubs. Although not extremely important in Lombard armies, they do serve a purpose, although it is limited. The Lombard levy and clubmen both have a bonus of 12 to attack against infantry, giving the clubmen 58 attack. They also have 1 AP and 19 base damage. What this means is you should use these guys against lightly armoured spears where they will be cost effective; using them against lightly armoured swords can be detrimental, but depending on whether or not you’re in shieldwall (you’d have 68 attack against infantry but it limits mobility) it is possible to beat them. Unlike the Franks, they have axes and lancers, opening up new windows of offence for them. Their core unit, Gastald Swordsmen, is a very heavy unit that has good melee attack and a high charge bonus for an armoured sword unit but has poor defence, meaning that in shieldwall they do underperform against some units, but it isn’t a big deal on average. Their charge bonus is 37 and this is dangerous because it can allow them to beat units in shieldwall should they be thinly spread out, but it does depend on the unit because on the charge they get 73 attack and Armoured Swordsmen in shieldwall get 77 defence, giving you a hit chance of 35 (40 being the base hit chance and -5 difference in attack and defence).
As I mentioned earlier, the Lombards can be outdone in shieldwall. They do struggle to hold the line against other axes and they aren’t the best comeback faction. Their clubmen see little to no use in multiplayer since most people rely on armoured infantry. Their lancers aren’t the best for frontal charges.
To summarize, there is a number of things you can do with this faction but some of it is unit specific. Shieldwall is still the main tactic and your goal should be to make your armoured swords win in a shieldwall fight because most of the time that is how a battle is decided. Give this faction a try in the campaign and in multiplayer.

Kingdom of Asturias - "The Spirit of the Visigoths"

Kingdom of Asturias
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/64875
The Visigothic Kingdom fell to invading Muslims around the beginning of the 8th century, yet their spirit continues to be felt in Iberia. A nobleman decided to create a kingdom to defy the Muslims and drive them back to Morocco. The Kingdom of Asturias is really weird. They have great sword cavalry and javelinmen but they don’t have archers or spear cavalry. They have access to light javelin cav which is really useful against the Avars. They have the same core sword unit that the Franks have, meaning that they do exceptionally well in shieldwall. They also have a high tier sword unit unlike the Franks who have a high tier spear unit.
Asturias is notable however because they seem to have a hard time killing infantry initially. The lack of archers really hurts them because they have to close the distance and without any axes their offence capabilities is reduced to swords and shieldwall. Their sword cav are decent when it comes to killing infantry but a frontal charge into shieldwall is always a bad idea because their mass most likely won’t penetrate it. Jinetes aren’t good in melee, so use their missiles against cavalry preferably and use them to charge into skirmishers or block other units.
To summarize, you have to close the distance quickly but still be a bit defensive. Asturias is still a strong contender in the campaign and they are the only faction that can raze and abandon settlements.

Kingdom of the Danes - "The Great Danish"

Kingdom of the Danes
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/61109
The Vikings were historically inaccurate in the base game, but not so much in AoC. The Kingdom of the Danes is a unique faction. They still have double handed axes but they no longer have a bonus to attack against infantry. Their infantry can move as quickly as a navy on the seas. They still have berserkers who are useful for defeating shieldwall head on. The biggest and most notorious difference is the fact that they do not have cavalry, a big but realistic disadvantage. This means that they can struggle to turn the tide of battle against their enemy, but in reality they are quite dangerous with their infantry anyway and so in infantry fights you shouldn’t lose. Their spears do have rapid advance just in case you catch a cavalry unit in one of your units.
Without cavalry, the Avars can run circles around the Danes. You have to sprint towards the Avars and hope that you don’t exhaust yourself completely in order to put pressure on their infantry. Berserkers can be checked by sword cavalry easy but even spear cavalry can stop them in their tracks. Keep them behind your lines until the time comes to charge them into your opponent.
To summarize, the Danes are historically accurate for the most part and even without cavalry are dangerous. You just have to put a lot of pressure onto your opponent and hope that you can deal with their cavalry at the same time. This faction might not be the best for new people if they’re used to using cavalry to win them battles.

Kingdom of Mercia - "Mercy is for the Weak"

Kingdom of Mercia
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/65699
This faction will have them at your mercy with the units. The Kingdom of Mercia is the dominant Anglo-Saxon faction in Britain. They have a lot of units at their disposal; archers, slingers, axes, etc. The only thing they don’t have that would make them stand out from everyone are crossbows (the Picts have them). This faction tends to be favoured in multiplayer because of their choices and their high tier melee unit, Royal Thegns. They boast the same melee defence as armoured swordsmen but have higher armour and weapon damage. This is fairly useful against the Franks and Lombards alike. Their axes are as good as any other faction and so are their spears, but they also have access to high tier melee cavalry.
Unfortunately, they are too similar to the other faction to note out a lot of differences. The price difference between their only mid tier cavalry unit and high tier cavalry unit is substantial, so you may end up relying mid tier cavalry that can lose to other factions. Your infantry does relatively well for themselves but may crack against the Danes should they mount a strong offence. If you bring elite infantry, keep them in reserve because archers are notorious for doing a lot of prior damage on high tier units.
To summarize, this faction has a lot of options but loses a few options in the process. Tactics and strategy wise, they are the same as any other kingdom but they have slingers which are good for taking down archers if they can get close enough. Use this faction in the campaign and multiplayer and you will enjoy them.

Emirate of Cordoba - "The Muslim Conquerers of Spain"

Emirate of Cordoba
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/65482
The Muslims invaded Spain and defeated the Visigoths once and for all. Now that they are in Spanish territory, they can learn a thing or two from them to make them powerful not only in hit and run tactics but in infantry battles. The Emirate of Cordoba is another strong faction, but they are slightly different from the Christian kingdoms. Their infantry on average is strong and their strongest melee unit boasts the most defence in the game, meaning that they do even better than armoured swordsmen and have the same armour as mounted swordsmen. This means that an eastern faction finally has strong infantry. Cordoba doesn’t stop there, though. Unlike the Sassanids of the past, they have good cavalry.
Their infantry cost more than the other factions so bringing more of them does drain you a bit. Cordoba’s cavalry is somewhat below average overall if you compare them to Frankish cavalry and like Asturias, their Jinetes are useless after they’ve thrown their javelins. They don’t have lancers which isn’t a big deal but it would go a long way for them.
To summarize, this faction is slightly stronger but slightly more expensive than the other factions. They are fun to play as and slightly flexible and diverse when it comes to approaches, but sometimes you will be outnumbered. Give them a try in the campaign.

Avars - "Hunnic Successors"

Avars
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/65273
Eventually, even the nomads decided it would be wise to settle down, which they did in Pannonia (Austria and Hungary). The Avars were just one of the nomads that migrated with the Huns that survived their destruction and made a name for themselves in the Middle Ages. They are basically like the Huns; their strongest category is horse archers. However, they do not have melee cavalry, instead relying solely on shock cavalry for melee engagements. This does work well for them because they only have one sword unit and their spears don’t have armour. Their foot archers have less range but more damage than the other factions. Their best spear unit doesn’t wield a shield but has a bow instead, allowing them to support missile infantry as well as hit cavalry from a distance.
Their horse archers are slower than the Huns and because lancers aren’t OP their damage on the charge sometimes isn’t enough to defeat cavalry or even infantry frontally. Their archers don’t wield spears but rather swords so their attack against cavalry is rather low. The Avars are also notorious for crumbling under pressure because their only sword unit is a high tier one that is heavy. Their spears can be routed quickly by axe units thanks to their charge.
To summarize, using them like the Huns when it comes to horse archery may be a good idea, but overextending them usually leads to your downfall. Your infantry is somewhat weak, but you do have a good sword unit, although it costs 900 talents. If you’re good with the Huns, this faction shouldn’t be too hard to learn.

Westphalia - "The Saxon Thorn"

Westphalia
Source: https://chronicles.totalwar.com/Lewted%20HoseTW/chapter/63822
The Saxons have been a thorn in the side of the Romans for centuries, and that didn’t stop when the Franks tried to make the Westphalians Christian. Westphalia is a Saxon faction that is unique in AoC. They have axes, swords, and spears, but unlike other factions they have a weapon that they got their name from: the seax. The seax dagger (it doesn’t look like one in game) was fairly sharp and in game it has 12 AP and has the same overall damage as an axe or spear. It also has a bonus to attack of 5 against infantry, meaning that they can be cost effective in some situations. Although the lack armour, they are more flexible than the Christian kingdoms who rely on the partially immobile shieldwall to defeat their enemies. Seax units are notorious for being good on the flanks but like axes they do well as second line infantry where they too can go into shieldwall and get a bonus to attack of 15 against infantry. They also are the only faction that has warhounds.
The seax units, like a lot of good units in the Westphalian roster, lack armour. In a lot of cases frontally against sword units and cavalry, they will drop quickly. Sword Veterans, your core sword unit, does have more melee attack than the average sword unit but only has 57 melee defence, which is 5 less than armoured swordsmen. They only have one unit of melee cavalry and it is a high tier one. Instead they rely on javelin cav (surprise surprise) to win battles against other cavalry. They will lose unless they can throw their javelins off.
To summarize, the Saxons have a weapon that finally make them different from the Vikings. Westphalia has fairly flexible infantry that can tackle armoured units on the flanks but not so much frontally. It can be a struggle to be really good with this faction but I did it through the use of database knowledge and just putting other faction’s tactics and their strengths and weaknesses into consideration.

Epilogue

If you've read any part of this incredibly long guide, thanks. If you've read my other guide(s), thank you for your continued support. Hopefully I can make this guide and other ones better as I learn new things.

Xoxo

LewtedHoseTW.

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[Hotshot]

I've not yet read everything here, but FUCKING GREAT WORK mate!!

[Lewted HoseTW]

Hi guys,

Sorry it took me a whole year to actually put up the rest of the stuff. I wanted to get minor victories with everyone but it took me so long because of school, work, and other games. For now, I'm working on finishing the other campaigns.

I'm also pleased to announce that I'm working on an Empire Divided guide for Rome II. Stay tuned; I'll try to finish it before the year ends.

[Muammar al-Gaddafi]

can you please finish the desrt factions? at least himyar and/or Aksum

[Lord_Doomhammer]

So I tried my theory out in custom battles (against AI) with several iterations to make sure I didn't get lucky. I was actually pretty stunned. Gardingi head to head against Hunnic Devil Archers, the latter get utterly torched each time. Devil Archers flee to edge of map, but their arrows do minimal damage against the armor (I only lost one man in a unit where it was purely ranged volley... Devil Archers posted a few more casualties to the other groups where melee was engaged).

[Lewted HoseTW]

In theory, the only way any jav cav could counter horse archers is if the horse archers are:

A. slower than them, or
B. more fatigued.

Of course, positioning and timing matters, too. Other than that, horse archers will almost always come out on top.

[Lord_Doomhammer]

Good, helpful post. Question though, you don't seem too high on the Gardingi Cavalry for the Visigoths. With their strong Shield rating and 17 ammo, wouldn't they be a good counter to Hun horse archers? Or am I thinking wrong on that?

[Boss Baby]

why did i say please thats so weird usually i just shitpost

[Lewted HoseTW]

I forgot to upload the rest of the info! Thanks for reminding me.

[Boss Baby]

finish this guide please

[Lewted HoseTW]

Hey guys.
I'm going to upload the Shogun 2 guide today but I'd like some input. You can leave a comment on the document [docs.google.com] and I'll review it.