Being Rome's Barbarian Bros in Total War: Attila - Part 1

The folks at Creative Assembly have always rather firmly stated their belief that the Total War series is ahistorical. While it may base itself on events in the past and model its troops, civilisations and terrain on real-world counterparts, once the End Turn button is pressed all gloves are off.

It’s this unpredictability that can lead the Roman Empire to be subjugated by the Italian States - a faction that has barely ten unique units altogether. You can see Muratha India invade mainland Europe from Portugal and Attila the Hun veer wildly off course and decide that Britain is a much greater target than Constantinople. In short, it’s what makes Total War such a fun series to play.

As a historian, however, (and I love typing that because I can almost hear you sighing and rolling your eyes) sometimes I like things to play out the way they really did. Granted, Creative Assembly’s crazy history can be exciting to watch and even more exciting to regale to your fellow gamers, but there’s a certain challenge in re-creating real-world scenarios. After all, real history is just as bonkers.

Both sets of Goths (not to be confused with heavy metal-loving Doc Martens types) had an uneasy relationship with the Eastern and Western Roman Empires. But, for a time, the Ostrogoths were paid to sit along the Roman borders and protect Constantinople from Huns and marauding bandits.It’s this idea that lead me to what could be called “Historical Roleplay” in Total War: Attila. The game introduced a number of new mechanics to the series - most notably the Horde system that allows factions to move freely around the map raiding, pillaging and sacking. Among the famous hordes you can choose are the Visigoths - the tribe that would invade and conquer Spain - and the Ostrogoths, who would go on to rule Italy.

It’s that role I will be taking up. Initially the Ostrogoths are antagonistic to the Eastern Roman Empire and its weak Emperor, Arcadius, but I plan on making it a friendly alliance. Like the real-life Ostrogoths who (begrudgingly) protected the Empire’s borders from enemies, I will patrol the Eastern Roman Empire (ERE) in the Balkans, asking for gold in exchange for joining all of its wars.

So, let’s jump straight into it. Despite the historical King Vithericus (my faction leader) disliking the Romans, my Vithericus will do his best to defend it. The Ostrogoths start the game above the ERE’s Balkan provinces, soaking up the sun in what is present-day Bulgaria. My first few moves in this game are to sure up my diplomatic ties to the Empire by offering to get involved in any and all of their wars. My army isn’t exactly up to scratch, but a few turn’s worth of recruitment should sort that out. My Gothic brethren, the Visigoths, are marauding around the middle of the ERE’s lands, at war with them. Unfortunately it seems like they will have to be the first people I deal with.

So in my first turn I’ve already moved from the historical reality - by declaring war on my Gothic allies for the princely sum of 4,000 gold. However, this is the only way of ensuring that the Roman borders remain safe and that the Empire is rich enough to keep paying me protection money. I’m also at war with the Western Roman Empire, so courting good relations with the East will hopefully stop the flood of attacks from their allies that’s sure to happen if they get their house in order.

Within two turns I am already spilling Gothic blood. Alaric, king of the Visigoths, sits outside of a Roman border town, Trimontium, within range of both of my armies. I march my forces into conflict with him for a bitter fight of kinsman against kinsman. I feel a slight pang of guilt in my soul, but then I remember all the shiny gold and forget about it.

The battle is fought on a dreary and rain-swept plain. Both of my armies converge on Alaric, trapped on a hillside. His brave (and probably royally pissed off) warriors claim 900 of my men in the savage battle but in the end numbers tell and the King lies dead on the battlefield. The remnants of his army are captured and pressed into my service. That’s one half of the Visigothic armies dealt with. Now to find the other.

As it turns out revenge is on the mind of Athaulf, the Visigothic general left over from the slaughter. He rushes my forward units in a pass, but leaves me enough time to pull my men back to within touching distance of King Vithericus’ forces. Athaulf wisely doesn’t follow us, but lives to regret his decision when a recovered and combined Ostrogothic army returns through the pass in the following season.

Athaulf isn’t half the general his king was and the last remnants of the Visigothic tribe are wiped from the Earth and from the Empire’s borders. Captives and stragglers are absorbed into my armies again and I settle Vithericus down for the autumn. Hordes in Total War: Attila operate much like mobile cities - they have their own building chains and can be improved over time. Your horde needs to stop and build camp for these improvements to occur, though.

There’s no rest for the wicked (or the kinslayer), though. No sooner has another season passed that through the winter mists a horde of Alans approach the same border town. No, that’s not a big army of blokes who all go by the same name, it’s a tribe of horsemen from the Ukrainian steppes. The poor people of Trimontium are forced to hide in their homes again as barbarians stalk the streets.

But not for long, as over the horizon appears the armies of the Ostrogoths, who are quickly becoming heros to the townspeople. Vithericus and his general Saphrax descend on the Alans, who are disastrously outnumbered. Despite this, they rally to their general and ride into battle. On the plains outside of the town the horsemen of the Alans make charge upon charge into the Ostrogothic line which, short of spearmen, feels the brunt of it. Only after the Ostrogothic archers fill the air with deadly arrows does the slaughter stop. After bodies were counted, 900 of Vithericus’ warriors lay dead just to kill 600 Alans.

Defending the borders from just two factions has already taken its toll on my armies. One is badly crippled and in need of recruitment while the other has run out of spear units altogether - a necessity in a game filled with cavalry. During the winter months more bad news arrives when a remnant of the Alani army defeated on the outskirts of Trimontium conquers the town in a surprise attack.

A Roman army in the vicinity rides to the rescue and, with some reinforcement from Ostrogothic camps nearby, defeats the would-be conquerors. Yet, the ERE doesn’t retake the town, and actually sacks their former province, subjecting the townspeople to yet more misery. Unsure what to do I decide to march into its streets. I can’t occupy it, that would remove my status as a horde and negate my whole strategy, but I also don’t want to pillage the place. There is one option left, however…

Vithericus, magnanimous as he is reviled by all barbarians everywhere, accepts the surrender of the Alani kingdom and grants them Trimontium, as long as the Alans become his client state. Truly now the people of the city are safe from attack. My decision has created a strange dichotomy, however. There is now a Roman province in the ERE controlled by barbarians paying tribute to barbarians who are themselves trying to aid the Empire. Oddly enough, though it may sound ridiculous, it’s actually fairly close to historically accurate. This hasn’t stopped Emperor Arcadius from disliking me. My relations with him had improved but now we’re back on bad terms. It seems messing with citizens is something only his armies can do.

What repercussions my subjugation of the town may have are yet to be known. Will the ERE suffer my presence in their lands and the control over one of their towns? Will the barbarian tribes ever forgive me for my kinslaying? Will Emperor Arcadius ever love me?