Rome: Total War was my first positive experience with a Total War game. I was too young to have known about Shogun: Total War. I had attempted to play Medieval: Total War with some limited success. Unfortunately, the software wasn't very stable, and I crashed it more often than I played it. Rome: Total War came out in my early college years, and it looked stunning. I had to give it a chance, and I was glad I did.One of my favorite things about the Total War games was how much they resemble the days when we would play with toy soldiers. Moving all those units around like so many action figures, looking down on them like some God as they fight to the death for your amusement. Its the ultimate power trip. Additionally, there are all the little, but important command decisions you can make.
I have absolutely no interest in sports, and I'm awed by the encyclopedic knowledge that fans have for their favorite teams an athletes. Whereas they relish in pouring over statistics and sports careers, I can obsess over which Generals to send to their doo-, I mean missions. Should I send my drunkard prince-general? Or should I use the newly adopted Captain and raise him to a higher rank? It was satisfying to play with these unique units, just as much as it was to put soldiers through hell and watch them come out that much stronger. A unit of archer auxilia was one such group, and their famous exploits leads to my 2nd most memorable gaming moment.
This was a long time ago, and I wish I could remember more details. What I do remember, was that I was engaged in a major battle. It was one of those heated engagements where you're constantly checking on each unit, racing to coordinate everyone so that you can turn the tide and ensure victory. Every warrior is in the fight, its man to man, blow for blow. One dead soldier could tip the balance. You watch helplessly, your fate in the hands of your men as they struggle to stay alive. I was so caught up in the action, that I didn't notice a group of enemy infantry was closing in on my prized archers, with the highest attainable experience level.
I loved these guys, I had watched them survive a dozen battles unscathed. Archers are just great for pelting your enemy nonstop. Unfortunately (or not) depending on how you look at it, the AI could be pretty lame brained. Much to my amusement, I'd watch as the enemy soldiers stood rigid, simply allowing themselves to be downed by volleys of arrows, until the archers ran out. Anyway, when I went back to check on my bowmen, I noticed they had been rushed by melee soldiers. I was horrified. Noooooo!
If you're familiar with strategy games, archers are horrible in close combat, and it stands to reason. They have virtually no armor, little in the way of non-ranged weapons, maybe a knife if they're lucky. Well that's just what they had, and they were going up against armored, sword bearing (I think) warriors. I feared I had lost them. But I watched on, and noticed how relentlessly they fought back. And much to my surprise and astonishment, they actually overpowered the soldiers!
I couldn't believe it! Cloth wearing, knife wielding archers, who on principle, should be slaughtered if stupid enough to go head to head with a man-at-arms, beat the close combat unit. That was awesome. Nothing like that had ever happened to be in a strategy game before. It just went to show what badasses they were. They weren't going to let themselves be beat by sword wielding grunts.
Unfortunately, most of the archers did die in the fighting. But they still routed the enemy, and the unit was still in play after the battle was over. I don't know if I used them much after that, and I don't think they ever got back up to full strength. But in that game's particular universe, they were heroes of legendary proportions.
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