Historical Strategy Guide for Armenia - Rome Total War

A strategy guide for the Armenia campaign, including battle tactics and a bit of history to inform your role play. Let me know what you think of this guide. It is slightly different to the Rebel Guide but this is the current format for future strategy videos. Next faction is planned for 2 week's time.
History of Armenia:
• The history of Armenia...
History of Rome Podcast by Mike Duncan - episode 37 (Go East young man) describes Pompey The Great's campaign in Pontus and Armenia.
thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/...
How to unlock the unplayable faction (eg. Armenia)
• ROME TOTAL WAR : UNLOC...
Correction: Mithridates VI was the Great, not the fifth. Mithridates V was actually a close ally with the Roman Republic, assisting them in the third Punic War and were then gifted Phrygia. It was his son Mithridates VI who opposed Rome and allied with Armenia.
Intro & Early History 0:00
Campaign Strategy and Family Members 4:43
Early Army Mock Battle 12:59
Late Army Mock Battle 19:44
Building Browser 25:40
End History: 31:11

[@ToNerdistoHumanTNH]

Intro & Early History 0:00 Campaign Strategy and Family Members 4:43 Early Army Mock Battle 12:59 Late Army Mock Battle 19:44 Building Browser 25:40 End History: 31:11

[@youseffsalib4459]

Useful. Cheers!

[@hannahneal1601]

I enjoy that you show the troops in battle rather than just on the menu screen, gives a much better idea of how to use the forces! Plus the historical content is a nice touch! 😊

[@ToNerdistoHumanTNH]

Thank you! Yes I wanted to make sure it was as full a guide as possible... plus, it's a good excuse to play as Armenia again.

[@Robbi_]

Nice, I like how you linked the game with real history :)

[@ToNerdistoHumanTNH]

Thank you! I wanted to take a slightly different angle on the faction guide style video, so I'm glad for the approval.

[@richardtaylor215]

Loving the live action battle explanation! Much better than just talking about how to use a unit. Though it's a shame that the eastern infantry are so bad that the axemen never got to smash them. 🤣

[@ToNerdistoHumanTNH]

haha. Typical Eastern infantry...

[@iainhansen1047]

Nice guide! Love the use of the in battle explanation

[@Owlr4ider]

Fun fact, one of the quarters of the ancient city of Jerusalem is called the Armenian quarter, which today represents Orthodox Christianity within the city, alongside the Christian(Catholic), Muslim and of course Jewish quarters. Just goes to show that Armenia was actually an important player during that time period, which most people are completely unaware of. It also shows the close ties Armenia has had with the Greeks, with the Greeks themselves eventually becoming Christian and than splitting away from their Latin brothers and formed the Orthodox church in the Eastern Roman Empire.

[@youseffsalib4459]

How did I miss this? I love the historical role-play context!

[@ToNerdistoHumanTNH]

It wouldn't be TNH without some historic nonsense.

[@hughgpauwels]

Going after Pontus is the best strategy. Parthia's territories are dirt poor early game and until you can find a decent port city your not going to be making any income. The two best cities that fit that description are Sinope and Antioch. But rushing the Seleucids is more risky because if you take Antioch you will be dealing with Egypt right away. If you can micro Horse Archers well you can deal with this, but its risky. By the time you take Antioch (~ 10 turns with the rush strat), they will have a cav stable there so you can train Cat Archers. If you went after Pontus, the wait for those is a little longer and safer. The Pontus Strat is better but if you want to spice it up go for the Seleucids from turn one. The quicker you can train Cat Archers, the better off you are. The case for taking Pontus is that you can knock them completely out with some good micro in the first 10 turns. Then that opens you up to some small settlements on the sea that you can grow into a trade power. I did a lot of occupying and enslaving on this one to increase income early and then invested in farming upgrades early on, at least up to a level 3 settlement. Yes, the Seleucids own a small settlement there, and yes, the Greeks own another. They are dealing with their own problems and won't commit any resources to Anatolia early on. You can pincushion even Hoplites with experienced Horse Archers. You can scoop up Pergamum and Rhodes (which gives increased naval trade, a huge boost to you early on) before advancing into the Seleucid heartland, which might have been mostly gobbled up at that point, but that's ok. You have a secure corner of the world (for now) where you can start slowly building up to conquer the world. Once you start massing Cat Archers, it's game over to most other armies. Get 10 or more in one army, even the best Roman armies will melt. I rely on merc infantry early on (they are trash but at least you can overwhelm enemy cav with sheer numbers and not strength.

[@ToNerdistoHumanTNH]

That is all eminently sensible! Certainly Pontus are an easy target with good micro. My suggestion was perhaps more because I get a bit frustrated with ending up at war on all sides on Rome Total war. By going east and south you can play a slower game (an unusual treat) and secure a small but stable empire on the Euphrates border. Though money is horrendous until you take the hanging gardens. Going west will certainly end up with a stronger empire but you may get drawn into more wars sooner. For a more speedy campaign that's a good plan. A matter of what mood you're in I suppose. Thank you for the long commentary, I appreciate the Armenia love! May her armies defeat all.

[@angelamagnus6615]

I went after Parthia first and then attacked Pontus. Eventually I went after Egypt and Seleucid. The last opponent I faced as Rome which sent stacks after stacks against me in Asia Minor.

[@hughgpauwels]

@@angelamagnus6615 Yeah if the Romans get over to Asia Minor (which I like to call Anatolia) it becomes a big problem because they have stack after stack and whilst you can field a superior army initially, once they can get experienced Cohorts and Legions and Cretans/Roman Archers they become tough for any army to beat. Plus you will always be outnumbered in terms of manpower for some time. You have to unleash your inner Genghis Khan to win as Armenia here. My famous (to me) Armenia Campaign that I did took me weeks to beat the Romans because it took hours to chunk through stacks and manage the empire- and I'm talking just one turn, mind you.

[@angelamagnus6615]

@@hughgpauwels LOL same experience I was able to beat so many stacks of Roman army that their army strength fell below mine (initially twice of mine). How I did was to max the castle walls of border cities and train lots of good garrison units (by then I already had the cash flow from Egyptian coffers). I found horse archers better than cataphract archers due to better mobility and longer arrow range. They are cheaper and easier to train as well. My two armies eventually became so experienced that they were able to demolish the less experienced roman armies despite having late infantry units (my favorite trick is to use two horse archer units as a group. One will shoot at a unit from the front so as to lure it towards itself and exposing its vulnerable back to another horse archer unit). I also made the important decision of aiming for strategic victory by taking ports and cities in Asia minor where the Romans had solid foothold. This allowed me to prevent new stacks from producing. Edit: I also made it a point to destroy their cavalry first with my horse archer and cataphract combo. Once they lost their horses, their archers became vulnerable to cavalry attack. Lastly the infantry only roman army is vulnerable to attack. I used this trick in Napoleon total war for england legendary and was able to defeat stacks of french).

[@addochandra4745]

Fun fact: In my recent Armenia campaign, I rushed through Pontus and Anatolia to Greece and took Larissa. Lo and behold it has Temple of Artemis (tier 3), so my gen bodyguard got golden weapon upgrade (pre Marian reform bodyguard). After reform, it actually stays golden. In short, right now I got a few catas general with golden weapon running amok in Italy and Dacia. Pretty Neat...

[@hughgpauwels]

I love the Armenians in RTW. My Favorite faction to play because of those damn Cataphract Archers that are beautifully magnificient.

[@ToNerdistoHumanTNH]

My favourite faction for sure. A tough start to a campaign and as you say the most marvellous unique unit in those cataphract archers.

[@addochandra4745]

Cataphract Archers is just like Clibinarii 0.5ve...

[@darkfoxx87]

Using mercenary melee units early on makes taking cities much easier, this allows you to go for cataphract archers before heavy spearman

[@PatriciaRocha-kr7ut]

great video

[@ToNerdistoHumanTNH]

Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@harushukingseear7969]

Feel like the in game music as much as i love it was a bit to loud, more in the intro. But, otherwise was very good and informative about history and good strategy

[@ToNerdistoHumanTNH]

The volume I suppose is a stylistic choice - I hate when it's commentary over white noise... plus the music as you say is just soooo good.

[@Vektordeformacio]

I think I found my faction. I like the horse archer style but I was in need of legionaries and some phalanx. Nice addition is the heavy cav and the cataph archers are the most reliable units as it seems. Can handle pikes with range and can smash everything else.

[@ToNerdistoHumanTNH]

Armenia are my favourite faction. Tough beginnings but mostly solid and a sometimes spectacular army post marian reforms.

[@torgomaghanyan7633]

Oh how I was butthurt when I played my own nation in rtw back in 2005, no roads, no canalization no normal temples and no theatres. But great internet taught me that there is cool thing called modding. I was happy again. For the game-historical references and comparation. In 270 country was a tributari state of seleucids, aka giving gifts but being actually independent. In reality country was broken apart by 4 between same ruling dynasty of Orintids(Ervanduni). As Great Armenia, Lesser Armenia, Sophene and Commagena. Capital of Great Armenia was Armavir. Country stayed in this semi broken state till 201 bce when armenian general Artaxias Artashesid (Artashes 1 Artashesyan) with the help of Antiochus 3 conquered Great Armenia, while his brother Zarius(Zareh) conquered Sophene. Lesser Armenia was annexed by pontus, later becaming core part of it army/economy strength, while Commagena by its own accepted Seleucid governance. Everything changed after 190 battle of Magnesia where Seleucid army was crushed by Romans. After which kings of Commagene, Sophene (Tsopq) and Great Armenia declared their independence. The general you find in Artaxarta (which was founded in 180 bce) is that Artaxias. For the armyes except cat archers, cataphracts and heavy spearmen everything is wrong. The bulk of infantry of Armenia during 331 bce till 428 ad were heavy spearmen, javelin man and ton shit of archers. Although main strenght of army were heavy cavalry, heavy cav archers and javelin cavalry. For the people who are wondering why no one know about our nation despite us being only few nations that exist from 2490 bce till today, the answer is easy. We were like Tottenham, not great but not awful either ) P.s many thanks for the vid and coverage !

[@hulkgermany4077]

very interesting, thank you I love the Brugges reference

[@johnirby8847]

1: Build a port. 2: Move all of your troops except faction leader and take Kydonia and Hallicarnasus, move capital to Halli. 3: Build as many horse archers as you can in your capital. 4: continuously exterminate your original cities for money. 5: Expand into Greece and Seleucids when they start fighting each other.

[@helium-379]

As soon as I took Scelucia every faction around me turned on me and tried to dogpile me.

[@ToNerdistoHumanTNH]

Armenia can be brutal for a dog pile. Still my favourite faction.

[@helium-379]

I gotta say. It didnt turn out great for the other factions. The location Armenia is in is insanely easy to defend especially with a bunch of horse archers.

[@helium-379]

Yeh once I took Scelucia it was enless waves of enemies from every side. My strategy was to keep my economy strong and pick off dangerous enemies and vital settlements.

[@stever4128]

I really enjoyed the video.

[@johnirby8847]

The land Armenia starts is terrible. You must leave immediately, abandon your original cities and take Greece. It makes Armenia unstoppable and can have a large city in Thessalonika before the plague.