The Romano British are one of the non-playable emergent factions in the PC version of Rome: Total War: Barbarian Invasion. However, it was made playable later with the mobile version. In Total War: Rome Remastered, the Romano-British are a full playable faction from the start of the expansion's campaign, where they appear in Britannia while the Romans still control all their cities there, which is normally not possible.
Description[]
The Roman conquest of Britannia gave rise to Romano-British culture, a fusion of Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons. Despite constant raids from northern Celtic tribes and the growing Saxon threat along the south and east coasts, the might of the Roman legions was enough to protect Britannia and allow its developing Romano-British culture to flourish. However, as Rome itself came under threat from barbarian tribes, the legions were withdrawn to defend the Imperial heartlands in Europe and the Romano-Britons were left to fend for themselves. In 410 AD, Emperor Honorious even refused a formal request to help defend the vulnerable Saxon shore.
In place of Roman rule, a scattering of warlords and competing fiefdoms emerged. However, the Romano-Britons will not relinquish their way of life without a fight, and though they may lack organisation many still subscribe to the idea of a single leader at the head of a united Britannia.
Overview[]
The Romano-British are an emergent faction, only appearing when the Western Roman Empire loses one of its territories in Britiannia, usually to the Saxons who invade as a part of the victory condition. When this happens, the Romano-British rise up as a single, rather large and highly trained army. This army can be difficult to take down without a force of similar size and veterancy, and if you have that lying around in Britannia it's a mystery as to how it fell in in the first place. While not a horde army per-se, as they don't receive the horde modifier or get free horde armies, until they take their first settlement the army is free with no upkeep. The faction is not playable in the original version of Barbarian Invasion, rather being an AI emergent faction to put another nail in the coffin of the Western Empire.
Culturally speaking, the Romano-British are a Roman faction, using Roman buildings and Roman general speeches. They use a hybrid mixture of barbarian and rebranded Roman units such as British Legionaries or Coastal Levies which are just reskinned Limitanei. They also get access to barbarian units such as Warlord heavy cavalry which generally acts as a general bodyguard unit as well as Foederati Infantry. They do get access to an incredibly powerful mounted unit, however, called the Graal Knights which is one of the best, if not the best, cavalry unit in the game, making it a powerful tool at the disposal of the Romano-British.
Tactics[]
If playing as a faction that's not the Romano-British, they will only rise up when a barbarian faction has taken Londinium, or at least both Britannic Roman settlements. They will spawn as a large army comprised of Romano-British troops, which is random each time. However, this army is a full 20 units, the maximum size of an army, and will have level 3 (gold) bonuses to either their attack or defence, with the other one being level 2 (silver). This can be daunting to go up against, especially as both Britannic Roman settlements just have wooden walls and there's no way you can hope to hold them with whatever you happen to have at the time. Fighting them in open conflict is not advised, since without at least 2 armies, you'll not beat them in open battle. A siege is the best idea, as you can attempt to hold them back at the walls and cause more casualties before your units break. There's only one way to easily beat them, and that is to kill their general, be it in battle or with a spy. The faction spawns in with just one army and one general, their faction leader. If this general dies in the opening battle or is assassinated, the faction will be disbanded and all units in the army either disband or turn into local rebel units that have no veterancy or bonuses. This is easier to accomplish in a siege battle, as even if they win the siege (which is highly likely) their general will be dead, thus disbanding the faction and leaving the city to regular rebels, a far easier task to deal with.
The faction was made playable in Total War: Rome Remastered and has a faction difficulty of 'very hard' for a good reason. When playing as them, they spawn at the very beginning of the campaign date, 363 AD, with the task of holding 14 settlements including Londinium, Eburacum and Avaricum, the latter of which is located in Gaul. They start with a single army, consisting of their faction leader, a few British Legionaries, likely a Graal knight or some similar cavalry units (such as Sarmatian Auxilia) as well as some Coastal Levies and Foederati. This army has no upkeep and they have 15,000 gold in the bank. The biggest problem here is that the Western Empire still has Britannia under their control.
The best way to go about this is either head north to take out the Celts in Caledonia and Hibernia or take out the Roman presence in Britannia while you still have a free, large and powerful army. The Romano-British are on a time limit, however, as as soon as they take their first settlement, they'll plummet in gold from army upkeep and buildings. In a few turns, they'll be in the red and will loose most of the army from either desertion due to lack of pay or combat losses due to lack of funds to retrain them. Looting settlements rather than peacefully occupying them will be the entirety of the early game economy of the Romano-British until they loose enough units, make enough trade deals or build enough income buildings to make a profit again. Trading with the Romans will yield a lot of cash until ports and markets can be established to fund a small army or further development.
The Romano-British can start as either Pagan or Christian, though Christian is much more common.
The unit pool for the Romano-British is the smallest of any playable faction (in the remaster) and has several large flaws that makes the late game of the Romano-British rather more difficult than one of the other factions. The Romano-British have just one heavy infantry unit, the British Legionary, which is a good unit no doubt but is outclassed stat wise by Roman Comitatenses and even barbarian elite infantry such as Steppe Horde Chosen Warriors or Frankish Francesca Heerbann. This means that toe-to-toe, the British Legionary will come off worse in a straight fight with some of the late game units unless said Legionary unit was of a higher veterancy or has buffs from blacksmith buildings. They also have only one usable spearman unit (Coastal Levies are the equivalent of Limitani so not great), the Foederati Infantry which is not as good as later game spear infantry such as Auxilia Palatina, again from the Western Empire, since they will be the main enemy of the Romano-British due to owning all the settlements needed to satisfy the Romano-British win condition. As a result, a late game Romano-British legion will rely on heavier mercenary infantry, namely the Mercenary Veteranii who are plentiful in Roman territories and are as good as Comitatenses, giving the Romano-British the heavy infantry they need. The stand out unit of this faction is the Graal Knight, a heavily armoured heavy cavalry unit that is almost unmatched in the field, though very expensive and VERY late game with just 32 men in the cohort.
The two main enemies of the Romano-British will the the Western Roman Empire and the Franks. The Western Empire is the obvious enemy, since all the territories the Romano-British need are in Roman lands and the only way to expand from Britannia is into Roman Gaul. Short bouts of peace with Rome will give the Romano-British a trade partner for a small while before war is once again declared between the two factions. The Franks border Gaul through several settlements, meaning as soon as the Romano-British move in and replace the Romans, the Franks will constantly declare war to move in, as now instead of the Romans holding the settlements they need for their win condition, the Romano-British will hold them instead, making them their new enemy. If the Saxons are not killed off by the Franks, they will become a secondary enemy to the Romano-British, as Londinium is a victory condition for them to take and hold, prompting raids onto the shores of Britannia.
Units[]
- Peasants
- Monks
- Coastal Levies
- British Legionaries
- Foederati Infantry
- Archers
- Bucellarii
- Sarmatian Auxilia
- Warlord
- Graal Knights
- Ballistae
- Repeating Ballistas
- Onagers
- Heavy Onagers
Trivia[]
- They are unique in the game as the only faction able to survive without owning a settlement, whilst not also being a horde capable faction.
- Normally, their emergence is triggered by the invasion of the Saxons as the Saxons are required to conquer British regions so as to win the game.
- Rarely, if playing as the Romano-British in Rome Remastered, they can sometimes spawn not in Britannia. They can even spawn as far away as Alexandria in Egypt or Carthago in north Africa.
- Despite often being Catholic, thus believing in only one god, the general speeches for the Romano-British use the pagan Roman speech pool, talking about signs from pagan rituals such as chicken guts as well as 'our Roman gods', meaning multiple pagan gods rather than just God and Jesus.
Gallery[]
