The Celts are a minor non-playable barbarian faction in Rome: Total War: Barbarian Invasion. They were made playable in Total War: Rome Remastered along with several other factions, including fellow island dwellers the Romano-British.
Description[]
The pre-Roman inhabitants of Britannia were a collection of warlike Celtic tribes. In the early 2nd century AD, Hadrian ordered a wall separating Britannia from the Picts to the far north, and no Roman emperor ever felt the need to establish dominance over the Scotii in Hibernia (modern Ireland). As a result, the Celtic way of life remained untouched in these remote areas.
Now, with Roman power on the wane, the frequency of Celtic raids upon the rich province of Britannia is increasing. Their style of warfare has barely changed since the days of Julius Caesar, but with the Roman legions withdrawing Britannia is ever more vulnerable to their incursions.
Overview[]
The Celts are a minor faction, with just two, poor settlements and not much of an army. Culturally they're barbarian, as the Romans ceased attempts to pacify Caledonia after the loss of the 9th Legion, opting to build a wall which came to be known as Hadrian's Wall while an invasion of Hibernia never happened. As a barbarian faction, they lack a lot of the higher end buildings that the Romans can build and they're also Pagan, which suits the Roman province which starts out Pagan. Technologically, they're a backwater and still backwards when it comes to modern army composition and tactics. With a lack of solid melee infantry, no regular bowmen and the only faction to still use chariots, the Celts are hard pressed when it comes to the battlefield, no matter how brave their warriors may be.
Tactics[]
When not playing as the Celts, they're not too much of a threat if the faction you're playing as survives past the early game. The two settlements the Celts start out with are poor in terms of population growth which stifles their technology as getting the buildings they need to build the few good units at their disposal will happen slowly. Any army they make will consist of poor native units and mercenaries to bolster their composition. If playing as the Western Roman Empire, the Celts may be on your hitlist to secure the northern border of Britannia, if you are determined to hold it. This will come at a far later date, usually, as it will take a while to stabilise the Empire and deal with the numerous more potent barbarian threats. If playing as the Saxons, the Celts will also likely be on your hitlist as after taking Britannia, the Celts are easy pickings to a more well trained Saxon army. As the Romano-British, if playing them in the remaster, the Celts are likely the first to fall, as taking out their starting regions with your well trained Romano-British army is child's play, and if you take out the Romans in Britannia first, the Celts will still be on your hitlist to not only secure your northern border but to also unify Britannia, Caledonia and Hibernia.
They were made playable in the remaster of Rome: Total War with a faction difficulty of 'hard' for several reasons. Starting out, the Celts have two settlements, their capital of Tara in Hibernia and a settlement up in Caledonia with a victory condition of holding 16 settlements including Londinium, Eburacum and Avaricum, the latter of which is located in Gaul. Both of the starting settlements are poor in terms of both population growth and income. The Celts also start at war with the Western Roman Empire who will not accept peace unless both Roman settlements in Britannia are taken from them. Their starting army is not great, requiring a few turns to build up, but luckily the capital of Tara has good buildings that can build some decent units to take on the Romans, as well as having access to Roman technology mercenary units in Caledonia and Britannia when moving into Roman lands, such as the excellent Mercenary Veteranii.
The Romans in Britannia don't have many units and most of them are Limitanei, poor spear infantry at best and are likely ferrying any good units away from Britannia to defend the homeland. The main problems for the Celtic early game are the Saxons and Romano-British, the latter of which are the bigger and more immediate threat. Kicking out the Romans from Britannia allows you to make peace with them if a Celtic diplomat is in Gaul to negotiate with one of their settlements and is the easy task for the Celtic early game. The Saxons will constantly declare war, sinking Celtic fleets and blockading Celtic ports while occasionally sending armies to Britannia, as a part of their win condition is to hold Londinium. The bigger threat to the Celtic early game is the Romano-British, as they rise up after taking both Roman settlements. While they spawn as just a single army, this army is very highly trained with excellent units that are further buffed with level 3 (gold) defence and/or attack bonuses, as well as being a full stack (20 unit) army. The only way to get rid of them is to kill their general in the opening battle or with a highly trained spy. Because the Romano-British are an emergent faction, they start without a settlement and the general is the faction leader without an heir. If the faction leader dies in battle, if the battle is subsequently lost, it matters little as the faction will disband due to lacking a leader, regardless of whether they take a settlement or not since said settlement will flip to regular rebels and all Romano-British units in it will change to regional rebels that have no veterancy or buffs and are far easier for an early game Celtic player to deal with. If the Celts fail to kill the Romano-British general in battle and they take the settlement, rooting them out will be a hard task unless an army can be quickly assembled and sent to the settlement while the Romano-British army is slowly disbanding due to lack of funds.
The unit pool for the Celts is one of the smallest in the game, which is not its only problem. The Celts, thanks to being a relative technological backwater, lack any good melee units. The Pictish Spearmen are superior to Roman Limitanei and equal to Foederati Infantry but pale in comparison to better units like the Comitatenses of Rome or even the British Legionaries of the Romano-British. Most mid to late game barbarian infantry from other factions will also outclass the spearmen, making them not too reliable. Gallowglasses are the standout unit of the Celts in terms of effectiveness, as their large, two handed sword can do some good damage, but they have the drawback of no shield and poor defence against missiles. Celtic cavalry is the best thing the faction has to offer, with strong cavalry such as the Noble Clansmen and Warlord which are good for flanking and shocking the enemy into a route while the Celtic infantry hold the line. Another point against the Celts is a lack of long range missile units and a complete lack of siege equipment. Again, thanks to their backwards army composition, the Celts still use slingers and spear throwers. Even their chariots have spear throwers on them rather than bowmen. As such, fighting at long range is completely unheard of to the Celts who will be outranged by nearly every other faction they meet. A Celtic army will rely heavily on mercenaries such as Veteranii to make a solid front line for attack or defence as well as to give them some longer range missile units.
After securing Britannia, building up an economy is the next priority, while changing over the Roman Pagan buildings to Celtic shrines is simple enough. Once an economy has been developed and a large army has been amassed, heading into Gaul to take over the victory settlements as well as all of the rest of Gaul, taking over Roman settlements. The best way to achieve victory as the Celts is to take over all of Gaul and Hispania, since taking over the entirety of the provinces will leave you on 15 settlements overall, including the 4 in Britannia and all the victory settlements. The main enemies to a Celtic campaign will be the Western Roman Empire and the Franks, with the Saxons being a minor threat if they're not taken over by one of the horde factions or the Franks themselves. The Romans are enemies for the obvious reason that they hold victory settlements needed for the Celtic win condition and are the only real place that the Celts can expand to. The Franks will constantly be at war with any Celtic holdings in Gaul as a part of their win condition is to hold Avaricum, which is a settlement needed for the Celts, not to mention they will now border the Celts in Gaul. Other threats are the Saxons who will attempt to attack Britannia to take Londinium if they are left alive, as well as the horde factions who will pass through Romans land to find a place to call home, which may well be a Celtic settlement if taken from the Roman Empire.
Units[]
- Peasants
- Kerns
- Druids
- Pictish Spearmen
- Gallowglasses
- Hounds of Culann
- Slingers
- Pictish Crossbowmen
- Wolfhounds
- Scotti Chariots
- Noble Clansmen
- Warlord
Trivia[]
- The Celts are the only faction in the expansion to still use chariots.
- They are also the only faction to have druids available to them.
- They share nearly the same victory conditions as the Romano-British, which is to hold 16 settlements as well as Londinium, Avaricum and Eburacum, just the Celts need to take 2 more regular settlements.
- The Celtic general's speech pool is the same as the barbarian factions in the base game, since the Celts are basically the remnants of those factions during this time.
Gallery[]
