Spotlight on:   Aquilonia

Every few weeks or so HWE will feature a review of a different kingdom of Hyboria by players who think that they have what it takes to win!  These contain strategy tips, ideas, and a general direction to go for those interested in making the most of their bid for Hyborian dominance.  Crom is very interested in gathering in as many reviews as possible from different players, so don't be shy about sending them in!  

Brent Ross is putting the rest of the HWE audience to shame with all his reviews. Does no one else have any opinions on how to run a kingdom right?

Oh dear, how does one get all of this Pictish blood out of the carpets?

    Aquilonia is a kingdom unrivalled by any other in the game. This is the true powerhouse of Hyboria and is capable of true dominance of the world, if led by capable hands. This land of nobles and frontiersmen, farmer and warrior is seen by many as the epitome of the western world and provides a multitude of opportunities and dangers.

    The great thing about this nation is that your options are almost boundless. You can make of the kingdom what you will and that is its greatest strength. There are no major obstacles to forging your own path. Your court is talented and diverse, you have ample forces at your command and there are so many nations bordering you that you can really make your own path. I played Aquilonia in HW 428 and, although I had to drop in mid game due to financial problems, I had made good headway and was sitting second when I dropped.

The Persona

    There are a few ways you can role-play this kingdom and all of them are fun. First, you can play off your relationship with Nemedia and act like the progressive son moving back into the house as master. This works well and can lead to some great rhetoric.

    Second, you can play the noble forces of light standing fast against the barbarian hordes. The Picts and Cimmerians on your doorstep make this especially easy and playing the crusader type can win you more than a few smiles. Spreading civilization to the uncouth barbarians in an inexorable tide of light and culture. Much like the Romans did in with the Gauls and Britons in ancient times. If you happen to look closely, you can see that the shape of the kingdom corresponds to the shape of the head of Athena on Roman coins.

    Third, you can play the ever-expanding imperial empire. You are the penultimate power in Hyboria and you know it. And you make very sure that nobody else forgets it either. You treat the nations surrounding you with condescension for you are the true master of the world. Just act like the United States would nowadays, throwing its weight around with little regard except for its own agenda. (Sorry, that's the Canadian in me. Anti-Americanism is kind of our second national sport after hockey.) Basically, you act like a big corporation with its own private military force.

    But in the end, no matter what persona you take on, and there are always more depending on the inventiveness of the player, the final idea is to have fun. It is, after all, a game.

The Military

    Aquilonia's military is very strong. All of your units are heavies, with the exception of your Bossonain Archers (Medium Infantry Archers) and MIA's are nice to have once you break out of your local area. Your Poitainian Knights and Aquilonian Knights are the envy of many nations, as are your Gunderland Pikemen. Even your Aquilonian Foot, which make up the bulk of your provincial forces are solid and can be included in the Imperial Armies as needed. You can also flesh out the forces with up to 20% mercenaries.

    There are a few weaknesses but these are easily overcome with good planning. You begin the game with a solid troop base and have a good enough treasury to take care of it. You have three imperial armies. Two are on defensive status and are in the Central Provinces and Southern Bossonia. The one active army is in Tarantia.

    There are really no great weaknesses with the army and you are well suited to defense with your easy access to fortified terrain. Just stack your heavies up in fort and go set piece and you will win almost every time. Don't rely too much on the mercs though because they'll disappear once your treasury gets low enough.

The Geography

    This is where things get dicey. No less than seven kingdoms-most of which want some piece of you--surround you. The exceptions are Argos and the Border Kingdom, which are among the weaker land forces in the area. Luckily, most of your major opponents are to your north and east. Nemedia, your age-old enemy, and Cimmeria and Pictland are your most likely foes early on in the game. Ophir is out of the picture due to a peace treaty and cannot interfere directly with you. Zingara wants a piece of you but is likely to be embroiled with Argos from the outset, making him an unlikely threat.

    This gives you a bit of an advantage. First, it allows you to concentrate your forces on the most likely avenues of attack and second, it limits the direct attack option of the various kingdoms. The only one who can really throw you a curve is Nemedia, which can attack four of your provinces. Pictland can go after two and Cimmeria one. The long provinces on your western and northern borders are ideal for defense and allow you to stack your armies. Just set them for set piece and fort and you should be fine.

    Probably the hardest threat to deal with would be from the Zingaran border. Now, while it is likely that the Zingarans are not going to attack you early on, it might well be that the Picts ally with them and try to outflank your western defenses by going straight for the Central Provinces. This is the perennial danger with Aquilonia because it is very likely your allies will try to outmaneuver you through alliances.

The Court

    Aquilonia's court is of a decent size and caliber. You have some decent rulers and many of the characters possess intrigue and diplomacy. Your Chancellor and Adjutant General are both pretty useless though. There are also a few characters whose destiny is fated to be small inconsequential missions where they can't hurt you or themselves. Active rule, avoiding influence or world spying are good things to do with these guys. You have a surprising lack of military command with only one general with any real talent. Magic is fairly widespread throughout the court and while some of it is only personal combat magic, much of it is quite useful in set piece battle, including missile shield. When I played, I also got a guy with firewall, which made my troops almost invincible when defending in set piece and the guy with Black Death was nice too but they came after the second peace years and some players are not likely to get them.

    But in truth, the court matters little in my estimation. Your armies are what win battles and, apart from the diplomats and wizards, I had little use for most of the court.

The Strategy

    There are several ways a person can go, so I am going to try covering them all in a kingdom-by-kingdom format.

Nemedia and the Border Kingdom

    These two nations are locked arm in arm during most HW games by necessity. They are likely to be your most difficult opponents and should be taken out as early as possible. The key in going in this direction is to protect your back. Keep a defensive army in Northern Bossonia and activate your remaining two armies. Move them to Tarantia and Gunderland.

    You have to peace off Cimmeria, Zingara and Pictland and then ally with Argos, who is normally quite happy to do so. Then invade the Lowland Fiefs. Go set piece. BK takes heavy losses in the open field, so you want to avoid that. Chances are you will take the Fiefs but even if you don't you probably forced Nemedia to respond to the invasion. This leaves you with the chance to invade Belverus with your extra army and forcing the issue by hitting the Northern Marches with the army you used in the Fiefs. This cuts his forces in two and lets you come at him from several directions. After you've pushed through (you should be using open field in Nemedia) you can move against Tor and the Heartland, setting yourself up to hit the Nemedian Marches. If you ally with Corinthia, it can be even better because he would hit Numalia for you and you can let him take out Hanumar too. By now, Nemedia will have dropped and BK might well have too, if the Cimmerians or Brythunians managed to get into one of their remaining provinces.

    Any extra armies you gain over time should be put in provinces likely to be invaded by others looking to fulfill goals. Make them defensive and build them up because by the time your Nemedian Campaign is over, the original armies you had might well be a little depleted. Now you can move against the other nations to your west and north.

Cimmeria

    The Cimmerians are a tough nut to crack. They are probably the toughest nation after Nemedia that you will have to face. The problem lies in that it is terribly hard to outflank them. Going at them can be expensive because Pictland and the Border Kingdom are not likely prospects for alliance, making Northern Bossonia the only province you have that borders them. You have to find a way to attack them with at least two armies but you are stuck with the fact that if you attack them directly, it almost by necessity means that you have to put more than one full army in one province. This can get costly, even for a powerhouse like Aquilonia and being caught short of cash in emergency situations is not where you want to be, especially in Aquilonia, where defensive wars are commonplace.

    So, there are a few alternatives. All of them should begin by peacing Nemedia and Pictland. First, you can go at him by invading two separate provinces, probably Western Clans and Cimmerian Heartland. This cuts him in two and allows you access to all of his provinces. Follow up by taking the Eiglophian Mountains. It will force any allies to go through one province to get to his aid. Don't even bother assigning troops to the Eiglophian PA. It is just a buffer and no troops mean an automatic set piece battle. Now Cimmeria is surrounded. Your third army should have moved into Northern Bossonia and invaded Southern Clans by this point, while your army in the Heartland hit the Eastern Clans or Northern Clans. In the end this assault by three armies results in a lot of pain for Cimmeria. You might not win all of the battles, but you should be okay as long as you keep him out of Northern Bossonia. You might consider making the third IA defensive in that province and invading from the Heartland into Southern Clans instead.

    The second choice is to do a more staggered invasion approach to avoid stacking troops in the same provinces. It has its own advantages and disadvantages. First, you save money due to lower troops costs but you also place yourself in a situation where you are invading with only one army per turn, making it easier for Cimmeria to defend itself. The strategy is much the same, except you must keep a defensive army around in case he actually manages to get another invasion off at you.

    Finally, you can invade the Lowland Fiefs before going after Cimmeria. This lets you have two provinces bordering the Cimmerians and you can invade all at once, while keeping the costs down. Just keep a defensive army in Southern Bossonia, to avoid any surprises.

    Once Cimmeria is finished, you have a strong position to head anywhere in the barbarian kingdoms. If you have a loner set of warseasons, you could even finish off BK, while going after one of the barbarian nations, preferably the Picts.

Pictland

    Pictland is pretty simple. First, peace Nemedia and Cimmeria because you don't need any surprises in the rear. Then just invade with all three armies and just keep on rolling. Force what troops he does have north to serve as a blocking force against the barbarians. You don't need any finesse in this campaign, just brute force. Your troops are far more than a match for him. Just keep your 4th IA in defensive in Westermarck or Northern Bossonia and fill it up as you go along. Any extra IAs should stay defensive and sit on your eastern and southern borders. Don't worry about black death because even a depleted army is still more than a match for the Picts.

Zingara

    Zingara is the wild card of the bunch. At one time, he is interested in owning Poitain but on the other hand, you can never predict whether he'll try to take it. Of all the nations bordering you, Zingara has the best position to invade you, while having the worst army to do it with. The kingdom is also the most likely target for early Aquilonian expansion, as it has a weak army and weak diplomats. However, Aquilonia is often so embroiled with other more significant land powers that it pays no mind to the kingdom. This can be a mistake, depending on how Zingara fares against Argos but it is often a necessary evil.

    In my estimation, Zingara should be handled by taking the Eastern Marches away from him and then peacing him off. Taking this province allows you to reinforce a single province as a defensive barrier against attack from the south, while allowing you to free up much needed troops from the interior provinces, now that they are protected. Just plunk a very large (20 troops +) PA in there and let it sit until you feel like invading the Zingg Valley, or Pictish March. Make friends with Argos and you can really ruin his day. You might even be able to grab a few provinces on the sly.

Argos and Ophir

    There really isn't much to say about these guys. Ophir simply isn't a factor in your part of the world until the second set of warseasons and Argos just isn't a threat. Better to make friends with Argos and then move against Ophir with his help in the second set of warseasons. If you've already taken out Nemedia, this is the natural next target. If not, then you should orchestrate a double prong attack on Ophir with Argos as your ally and if that means moving through Nemedia to get there, then so much the better.

    The whole point of these strategies is to isolate your enemies. Aquilonia is based on Rome and Caesar's tactic of divide and conquer fits better here than anywhere. If you remove one enemy from play early on, it makes your life much easier. Being near the sea allows you to even eliminate one or two without gaining too many extra borders.

Alliances

    The one thing is that you should remain vigilant of alliances. Make certain that you have some friends of your own. Argos, Vanaheim, Asgard and Corinthia make nice choices. Zamora or Brythunia can be good in a pinch too. Brythunia is likely willing to trade the Nemedian Marches for a conquered Nemedian province quite quickly.

    A strong alliance against you, say Zingara, Nemedia, BK and Cimmeria is likely to be the end of you, so keep them off balance. Peace like mad and avoid influence too. Try to be careful not to peace too many people, or you just might end up with no place to go. If worse comes to worse, move through an ally to attack some unsuspecting kingdom. Koth and Shem are nice targets but chances are that you won't have a problem finding enemies to fight.

Conclusion

    Aquilonia is a major power and should be treated as such. However, do not make the mistake of believing that you are invincible. You are not. A bad set of luck with alliances or peace treaties can really put you in a bind and not even the Aquilonia military can save you if too many enemies attack. Remember, if you lose three provinces, you lose an army and that can severely limit your defensive capabilities.

    Just remember, fortified terrain, set piece. Minimize the frontage of your provinces to the enemy. Giving them one place to attack is better than giving them three or four. Don't worry too much about the court. Courts are overrated in this game and you can win most battles with the boring old default commander RSI gives you. The only really important thing is to maintain good rulers and diplomats. A few spies are nice too. Avoid assassinations because your court isn't suited to it. Use your treasury to buy a few friends if you need those services.

    Beyond that, just be an arrogant juggernaut and teach those pesky little pseudo states on your borders what real power is and have fun doing it.