Opening Strategy in Fall of Rome

The First Three Turns from the Thuringian Perspective

By: Ry Vor

 

Overview.  The Thuringians!  Historically, these were considered the greatest heavy cavalrymen of the era, situated in Raetia in central Germania, in what is now the German state that bears their name.  However, they are not among the well known tribes of the Dark Ages.  This is due in part to the constant struggles they encountered from many sides in that central location.  A major part of my strategy then as King Childeric of the Thuringians is to discourage intrusion by my many neighbors into Raetia. 

 

My kingdom’s unique starting advantage is an additional experienced leader: a Commander.  He is capable of executing nearly any tactic and with his first important success will advance to the important level of Marshal.  Additionally, I expect my initial treasury is a bit larger than the others, a nod toward the difficulty of the starting geography.  I am inclined to select The Conquering Hero as my secret victory choice, which would dictate a more aggressive campaign.  I can delay my choice on the secret victory choice until turn three, however, and will. 

 

 The Plan for Turn 1.  The Alamanni to my immediate west share my main concern – too many covetous neighbors.  I will make an overture for non-aggression treaty and hope for something firm in response – the message is off to him through the game’s message board.  I also send messages to the Huns to my east and the Visigoths to the southwest, just a little introduction and a hint of the possibility of future cooperation.  In the middle game they are each positioned in likely spots for us to jointly work together in expansion.  

 

Next, as nearly all kings will do, I turn my attention as to how to most rapidly conquer “my” region i.e., the region where their capital is located.  In my case, this is Raetia.   The first decision here is whether to target the region’s city, Trier, as the centerpiece of the conquest, or alternately, to gain the city through its own proclamation by virtue of gaining control of Raetia through political coercion and conquest of a majority of its towns and villages.  Gaining the city would best be done by likely the combined efforts of three high ranking nobles, perhaps the three highest – Prince, Duke, and Count.  Two normally might suffice, but since all kings know the location of all cities, another king may send a Baron or other noble to Trier to attempt to have the city maintain status quo and so possibly tip the balance against my politics.  Trier being centrally located and so accessible to more kings, this risk is increased in the case of the Thuringians.  Meanwhile cities are too well defended for a military conquest this early, or at least in my view I would not send my splendid cavalry against city walls - leave such marauding to the likes of the  Teutons, Saxons and Norse, whose heavy infantry is better suited for such pillage.  I opt for the less direct route in my situation: trying to gain what I estimate might be two more towns in addition to the two I begin in control of in Raetia, as well as another three villages, and surmise this may be enough to gain control of the region and so have Trier come to me.  Now, how to make this happen by the end of turn 3?  I deploy my count to the neutral town of which I am already aware.  With my King Childeric enamoring Raetia, the people should be receptive enough to accept the counsel of the count and join us, and this will also allow my Provincial Governor to gain the nearby village without spilling blood. 

 

I must discover early where the remaining towns and villages of Raetia are located, so this becomes the main objective of the first turn.  I plan the movements of my legions, the area of focus for the High Priestess Vala to divine population centers, and have my available agents fill in the difficult nooks and craneys for exploration, all designed to reveal the greatest possible amount of the territory of Raetia to me.  With luck, my legions or agents may also discover an unusual sighting where a lost and powerful artifact might be recovered through battle with its guardian.

 

I do not recruit mercenary brigades, or even hire additional characters, as I am already torn on how to prioritize the thirteen commands available to me, and because I know my economy cannot at this point bear the strain of supplying a larger military.  King Childeric remains in the capital rather than joining a legion and campaigning himself.  The beginning plan is now set.

 

Turn 1 Results. 

 

The Alamanni King gave me assurances of alliance – this is a very important development, for if the Alamanni and Thuringians battle early, likely neither will emerge into the middle game in good shape.  All the commands for Turn 1 were executed flawlessly.  We have no encounters with other kingdoms reported, although intelligence gathering was not as thorough as I would have liked due to the constraint on orders dictated by our Rulership of 13 – meaning only 13 orders beyond “free” orders like transfers can be issued.  In Fall of Rome there are really three resources to be concerned with: gold, supplies, and available orders.  Our baron in Köln will delay any Teuton King plan to take that region on turn two by issuing a status quo order.   Unfortunately we could not afford the order and gold to do the same to the south against the Lombards in Milan.  Vala, our high priestess did well, uncovering both other towns in Raetia we had not previously discovered, as well as another village.  Otherwise, everything and everyone is in good position. Time to plan T2.

 

Turn 2 Plan. While the first turn involves planning much of the early game strategy and planting the seeds of diplomacy, turn two is important for nailing down the first conquests within the home region.  With King Childeric having enamored Raetia last turn, my count should be able to move the people of the town of Duroco to see the wisdom of joining the Thuringians, as should my lower ranking noble in the village of Giant Head.  My prince and duke will see their first action, each moving to one of the two towns Vala discovered last turn.   The duke will move to the slightly more hazardous duty of the town on the regional border – more likely to be discovered by enemies.  My Baron in the Germania city of Köln will maintain status quo to delay the Teutons, who may be a target for our anticipated expansion outside of Raetia.  Vala will rest this turn, and freshly trained to level 4 agent Leopard will perform his first advanced reconnaissance in the mountains in southeast Raetia.  A difficult but not uncommon decision regards my largest legion, a division, which is outside a neutral village.  The choice is whether to attack the village, the successful outcome of which is assured, but will damage the production of the village and could result in an unlucky death for one of its two leaders.  On the other hand, one or more leaders could advance their rank and the brigades may gain experience, though these are less likely with lopsided battles as this will be.  The village would surely submit merely by threatening it, therefore spilling no blood.  In the end I decide to order an Assault in hopes of promotion and brigade experience.  Regrettably, my resources are too few to allow for a costly king order, such as increasing our Rulership.  Nonetheless, these moves should clear the way for the Thuringians to gain Raetia at the end of turn 3. 

 

Turn 2 Results.  The big surprise was that five kings took their regions on the turn.  Among these were the Lombards to my south, who I did not meddle with, instead giving some of my attention to the Teutons, who remain among those without regional control. My spy revealed the Teuton king did commit his prince and count to trying to take the city and was thwarted by my baron maintaining status quo, in this case neutrality there.  My own orders again were carried out without a hiccup.  My division conquered the village easily, and while my casualties were quite light and no leaders were wounded, neither were any promoted and no centurion emerged as a new leader.  The 1st Thuringian brigade did gain enough experience to advance to Old Guard status.   The exchange rate for resources is now 17 supplies for 10 gold, meaning quite a few kings have been selling supplies for gold.   Agent Leopard’s advance recon found another village in the southeast corner of Raetia, and interestingly there is a Lombard count there, and one of his patrols just south of the village.  My count and provincial governor were each successful in usurping control of the town and village.  My influence in Raetia is now Substantial, which means I control somewhere between 40% and 59% of the population, with 60% needed to gain control.  That will happen next turn, barring major surprises.

 

Plan for Turn 3.   The most nagging aspect as I address updating my strategy is that the Lombards gained their region, and have already begun to meddle a bit in Raetia as evidenced by their count.   Meanwhile the Teutons, who had the same approach to the early turns as the Lombards have been thwarted by my baron, and are now in deep trouble as he has insufficient power to overcome my baron’s actions (an agent of mine recon’d the city so I know he has just his prince and count there).  This could have been the same fate for the Lombards if I had sacrificed a different order on turn 1 rather than deciding against trying to maintain Milan’s independence with a royal noble of mine.  The Teuton player through the message board is desperate for relief realizing his quandary if I merely continue my baron’s actions.   Given that it appears the Lombards have the jump on resources by gaining control of Italia so early and are aggressively postured, I cannot myself turn north to press my advantage against the Teutons.  I offer him a deal wherein I will remove my baron for certain future considerations.  He responds quickly with this message, “Dear Blackmailing Tyrant, We accept your gracious offer.  Seeing how my expansion has already been delayed too long, I agree to your conditions in return for removing your Baron Eamund from Koln.”  It’s fly to be given your due with that hard won street cred, no?  I perhaps too cheaply also agree to mutual non-aggression.  Meanwhile my dealings with the Alamanni to my west are growing warmer and can be cautiously termed alliance.  The Huns too, to my east, have asked for non-aggression.  He apparently has his hands full with the Norse who conquered Scandia on turn two and whose legions are poised to invade his lands.  So my attention is now on completing the conquest of Raetia this turn, and beginning to address how to position my legions and nobles for what seems impending conflict with the Lombards to my south.  I am asking Priestess Vala to now divine the population centers in central Italia to better learn where the Lombard bases of operation are.  Oh, and one of my legions on the march performed a scouting move, thereby uncovering more unknown territory and chanced upon an unusual sighting.  It is within range of my best leaders if I move there this turn.  I also have remembered to set my secret victory condition, choosing The Conquering Hero, as anticipated.

 

Turn 3 Results.   Both Prince Frederic and Duke Rothesteos succeeded in usurping towns, bringing control of Raetia to us and the ancillary benefits that come with this, including all the neutral population centers raising the banner of the Thuringians, notably the city Trier as well as a few more villages.  Two other kings also gained their regions so after three complete turns, eight of the twelve regions are controlled and four uncontrolled.  Unfortunately, three of these uncontrolled are by my neighbors with whom I have spent most of my diplomacy – the Alamanni, the Teutons, and the Huns.  I do not know the troubles of the Alamanni, but I expected the Teutons to have taken Germania as I indeed did remove my baron from the city there.  The Huns have told me that the Norse actually stormed the city in Scandia to conquer that region more through force than coercion.  Vala did well, uncovering three towns including the Lombard capital as well as five villages in Italia.   Various transfers were made within my legions to begin to consolidate in anticipation of some brewing military action; however my best leaders are now occupied, ready to risk all to investigate the unusual sighting and hopefully recover an artifact.  This is quite risky given my leaders are not yet very experienced, but my Conquering Hero victory condition requires artifacts and if successfully recovered it may well help me decisively in battle.  Now that I have control of Raetia, I gain Regional Intelligence which informs me of large legions inside the region, and none have been reported, so to this point, no kingdom has overtly entered my newly claimed lands. 

 

Conclusion.   The strategy has been sound, if not spectacular.   We have our region under control after three turns, as we had hoped.  We could have taken the alternate strategy of trying to take the city directly and gain the region if unopposed at the end of the second turn, but as the Teutons learned, this could also result in not having the region after turn four if one or more players contest it.   With the region controlled and so the economy in better shape, our bigger concern now is that our diplomacy probably has not been extensive enough, and this should have been better addressed by using the message board more frequently.  In conclusion, here are some rules of thumb for the early game that can help new players indoctrinate to Fall of Rome:

1.  Issue all orders you are allowed every turn, even if this means choosing less expensive orders;

2.  Watch your economy carefully in the early turns.  If you overspend in turn one, you may be handicapped on turn two.  Consider how much you produce vs. how much your military consumes.

3.  Do not neglect gathering intelligence through reconnaissance, or use of your noble court to gain new population centers.

4.  Develop a strategy to gain your region and consider the next steps early.  Choose actions that support your secret victory condition requirements when in doubt.

5.  Keep up your diplomacy by using the message board.  It is free and you may be surprised how much information you can gain from the other players.

 

Good luck, see you somewhere in Germania or Gaul.