Saxons (RTW:BI Faction)

Saxons (RTW:BI Faction)
Name:	Saxons
From Game:	Barbarian Invasion
Religion:	Pagan
Culture:	Barbarian
Playable:

The Saxons are one of the playable factions in the Barbarian Invasion for Rome: Total War. They are in the Barbarian culture group.

Game Play

Starting Position

The Saxons start in the Jutland peninsula. They start with a number of rebel provinces nearby and no major power close to them allowing the creation of a strong homeland in Northern Germany.

Win Conditions

The Saxons must have 18 provinces including Tribus Saxones (Vicus Saxones), Britannia Superior (Londinium) and Belgica (Samarobriva)

Units

The Saxons are an infantry focused faction, but are decently well rounded and fairly strong overall. They have a small selection of units, but every single one will be of use at one point or another. They get a couple of Spear units, the Levys are a good early battleline with Javelins while the Keels are tougher and better against cavalry. The Saxons also get Chosen Axemen and Saxon Hearth Troops from a large city. The Chosen Axemen are good on the charge and the attack while the Hearth Troops are excellent in extended melee. Their Hunters are their only archer unit, they are decent missile troops but not as good as some other factions. Their cavalry is competent; their Sea Raiders are above average and their Mounted Nobles are the typical Barbarian elite cavalry, making them a very good unit.

The Saxons are also the only non-Civilized faction that can build a Dockyard, and they get Large Boats.

Infantry:

• Peasants (Light)
• Levy Spearmen (Spearman)
• Saxon Keel (Spearman)
• Chosen Axemen (Heavy)
• Saxon Hearth Troops (Heavy)

Missile:

• Hunters

Cavalry:

• Saxon Sea Raiders (Light)
• Mounted Nobles (Heavy)
• Warlord (Heavy)

Unique Units

Saxon Keel: The main spearmen for your forces. Good against all Cavalry.

Saxon Hearth Troops: These are your Elite infantry. Can form a shield wall. They will beat most Roman Infantry units, and most other factions can't recruit Infantry that can match them.

Saxon Sea Raiders: Good light cavalry for the start of the game. To be replaced by the Mounted Nobles.

Strategy guides

The best strategy for a Saxon warlord is to head West to the WRE and Britain. Although many people disagree with this, they forget to take into account the fact that the WRE is very weak and not too difficult to break down. The main problem is in fact, at first, the Barbarians who surround you. They have good armies and will want a scrap. Anyone in their right mind should wipe out all but the Alemanni as they are a very good buffer when the Huns and Vandals come. For some reason they always come from south of the Alps. The Alemanni are also very useful to trade with as everyone else around you will be against you. So now, after you have dealt with these factions you turn to the WRE. Build up a navy and land in the northernmost point of the British Isles. This will be owned by the Celts and will be no match for your infantry - not much is. Conquer Ireland also, it all gets money. Now this is where it can go wrong. Send an army from North England to the south and from your continental acquisitions send an army West. On the continent you must move swiftly, if you don't then you end up in along and pointless war against the WRE with very little land gain for either side (WW1 type of thing). This will tear your economy to shreds and you will find it very difficult to survive. After the conquest of England deal with the Romano-British, otherwise they will attack Londinium and believe me they don't give up. Their army is reasonably strong, eventually I chased them into Wales and slaughtered them on the coast of the Irish Sea. Taking the remainder of France will be reasonably easy. If you can force the Alemanni into war with them then do it. By now the first signs of a Horde will have appeared they will attack the Alemanni first and you must go to their aid otherwise they will slaughter the Alemanni and you will be next. After beating both hordes conquer the rest of France, Spain and Italy. The WRE has fallen and you have completed your objectives and have completed the campaign. Of course you can still continue but it is not necessary. It also feels incredibly pointless anyway.

Damien123

History

The Saxons were a Germanic tribe invited to work as mercenaries by the Romano-British after the Roman withdrawal in 410AD to help fight back against the invading Picts and Irish. Led by the brothers Hengst and Horsa the Saxons rebelled against and overthrew the Romano-British taking their lands for themselves. Those lands are now called England after the Angles, another tribe who came with the Saxons. The result is that the English are a Germanic people and speak a Germanic language (English) to this day. Many towns and cities in England were founded by the Saxons, the largest of which is Birmingham.

Then soon after missionaries arrived from Gothic Rome to convert the Saxons(who were pagans)to Christianity.

A few hundred years later the Vikings started to raid Britain however in 1066 they were defeated by the last Saxon king Harold Godwinson who a week later was defeated and killed by the Norman duke William the Conquerer who took over Britain under Norman rule.

See Also

• Factions in BI

Barbarian Invasion Factions
Eastern Roman Empire | Western Roman Empire | Huns | Goths | Sarmatians | Vandals | Franks | Saxons | Alemanni | Sassanids | Celts | Burgundii | Lombardi | Roxolani | Berbers | Slavs | Romano British | Ostrogoths | Eastern Roman Rebels | Western Roman Rebels | Rebels