Battle of Badon Hill

Arthur Badon Hill — The legendary King Arthur

The Battle of Badon Hill is a semi-historical battle of uncertain location that occurred sometime between 490 and 517 AD. It features in Rome: Total War: Barbarian Invasion as a historical battle. You take the role of the legendary King Arthur as he tries to save his friend, Amalric, from a Saxon army.

Description[]

Battle objectives:

Keep both of your general and the allied general alive. Destroy or rout the enemy.

Although we have no proof of King Arthur's existence his legend is enduring. The following battle is a recreation of a possible battle between a Romano-British warlord called Artorius and the Saxons.

Artorius Castus (Arthur), the leader of the Britons, is at war with the Saxon invaders of his land. If he fails, then the pagan Saxons will plunge the people of Britannia into a new dark age of cruelty and slaughter.

Artorius' ally, Lord Amalric, has chosen to make a stand against the Saxon mob on Badon Hill. Now he is surrounded by warriors baying for his blood. If he goes down, Artorius will have lost a friend, and may also have lost his kingdom.

With covering fire from nearby onagers, you should order Artorius' troops to ford or swim the river and then fight their way through the gathering darkness. Only speed and the courage of your men can save Amalric, rally the people of Britannia, and secure Artorius' throne!

Units[]

Both sides have highly trained armies. They both have buffs to their attack and defence stats as well as bronze veterancy for nearly every unit. However, the Saxon army is both larger and has more buffs to them, with gold and silver attack/defence buffs for nearly all their units. The Romano-British and their allies are also outnumbered by the Saxon troops, with 798 Britons to 1,100 Saxons.

Arthur (Romano-British)[]

Arthur's army is composed of several units of cavalry, with two units each of heavy infantry, archers, crossbowmen, and berserkers, and one unit each of spearmen and monks. The army breakdown is as follows:

Amalric (Alemanni)[]

Amalric's army is split in two: one part contains several units of artillery in support of the Romano-British, and the other has four units of spearmen and Amalric himself on an isolated hill. The army breakdown is as follows:

Chosen Warlord x1
Onagers x5
Spear Warband x4

Saxons[]

There are two Saxon armies: the first one is a large force of heavy infantry and spearmen with several units of archers to block Arthur's path from Amalric, and the other is smaller, composed of two units of spearmen, two of archers, two of cavalry and one of heavy infantry to kill Amalric. The army breakdowns are as follows:

Army 1 (facing Arthur)

Warlord x1
Saxon Hearth Troops x3
Levy Spearmen x6
Hunters x2
Saxon Keel x3

Army 2 (facing Amalric)

Warlord x1
Saxon Hearth Troops x1
Levy Spearmen x2
Mounted Nobles x1
Hunters x2

Tactics[]

This battle is about speed more than anything. Amalric and the Allemanni troops are under the AI control on top of the hill across the river. The Romano-British are on the opposite shore cut off by a Saxon army. The Britons are supported by onagers as well as their own missile units, but they are lacking in melee units, since they make up less than a third of Arthur's army. In comparison, the Saxons are fielding melee troops nearly exclusively and they're on par or better than most of the British troops. Amalric's units start off in their schiltron formation, essentially a pike circle, which will help with their longevity so long as the Britons can get to them in time.

At the start of the battle and the opening cutscene, the onagers and British archers will be firing at the Saxons and during this time they will get some good kills to help whittle down the Saxons on the opposite bank. For the opening moves of the Britons, using the artillery and archers to take down as many of the enemy will be a priority while the Romano-British troops move into a formation to assault across the river. The British Legionaries are the best units the Britons have, so they should be placed first at the front of the crossing, with the Hounds of Culann behind them along with the Coastal Levies and Monks for their chanting support. During this time, make sure to allow the artillery and archers/Bucellarii to get as many kills as possible to soften up the enemy as much as they can. Arthur and most of the cavalry are on top of a hill too, so get them down to the bank to help push the advantage when crossing.

Once the units are ready to assault, the Legionaries should go in first with the Hounds then sent in and let off to go berserk. The Coastal Levies can help push any openings that may happen or defend the flanks should a Saxon unit try to outflank. The Graal Knights and Mercenary Equites Veteranii start off with the main British army, so they should be sent across when a flanking gap has been opened, where they can charge into the back of any melees happening to get some kills and break their morale. This should be done as soon as possible (within reason) as Amalric won't be able to last on the hill forever.

Depending on the Saxon AI level, they may actually attack across the river with some or all of their army, handing the initiative to the Romano-British, who can just form a front line with the Legionaries to weather the assault. The problem with this is that the Saxon attack may set off the berserk of the Hounds of Culann, who have a chance of going berserk without being told to, thereby doing what they want and not listening to any order being given to them. Having the Saxons attack also has the unforeseen danger of the friendly onagers possibly targeting the men crossing the river. Onagers are already not accurate against infantry and should the friendly AI target the men in combat, they could well end up killing more friendly units than enemy ones. Should the Saxon attack be broken and their units rout, the Romano-British can capitalize on this and push the assault, following the routing units across the river to attack any units that did not take part in the assault.

Some Saxon troops are also hiding in the forest and will join the battle when they can, so killing and routing as many Saxon units as possible on the bank is important, otherwise the British units could get overwhelmed. Once the bank has been secured, all focus should go to reaching to hill. Not only will Amalric be making his stand here, but the hill is also a good defensive position, forcing the Saxons to tire themselves out climbing it before attacking the British and Allemanni troops. If the hill can be won, the battle can be too.

The big crutch of this battle is not letting Amalric be killed on the hill. Fighting off the Saxons at the river crossing is all well and good, but there's still that second army that will attack Amalric and his units on the hill. His spearmen can last a while thanks to their formation and their buffs, but Amalric and his bodyguard have no veterancy and no buffs, so the enemy army can easily kill the general and if just one of your generals die (either Amalric or Arthur) the battle will be lost, no matter how few troops the enemy has remaining. As such, don't get bogged down fighting the Saxons on the bank of the river. If a breakaway can be done, do so. Rushing the cavalry to the hill is also a worthwhile idea if it helps save Amalric, since the Allemanni AI will not move from the hill, even if the general is in danger.

Trivia[]

This battle is the only time the Romano-British can use the Hounds of Culann, a unit only available to the Celts under any other circumstances.
The unit sizes are all half their normal size (British Legionaries have 40 men instead of 80, etc), but this is likely due to game engine limitations that they cut the unit sizes in half.