I've been toying with the horse archer units and tactics to use against them. I set up a battle with late Roman Cohort infantry, two units of archer auxilia and one unit of light cavalry against masses of 'Sarmatian' horse archers (I'm using the Rome Total Realism mod, so that's 'Scythian' in the standard game).<br>
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I positioned the archers and light horse in the centre and set the infantry units in <em>testudo</em> formation, each facing in a different direction at six points around them. The Sarmatians rode close enough to try peppering the testudos with arrows, but the Roman archers were able to pick enough of them off to drive them away. After trying this a few times, they tried getting a bit bolder, but a sally from my position by my cavalry drove them off again.<br>
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By this time they had totally surrounded my position at a safe distance and the AI obviously decided a concerted attack from all sides would break me. My missile troops hit them as they came in from all sides and then I broke my <em>testudo</em> formations and had my legionnaries hit the charging horses with volleys of <em>pila</em> before closing with them hand to hand.<br>
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There was a few minutes of brisk close-in fighting, but my Romans proved too tough for the Sarmatians in close combat and before long a steady stream of breaking and routing nomads were heading for the hills, with the Romans in close pursuit.<br>
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I think the Rome Total Realism mod makes the Sarmatians a bit too weak. These were the guys that taught heavy cavalry tactics to the Goths and Gepids, yet they don't seem to have any heavy lancers at all. I'm going to suggest some changes to the RTR team to make them a bit stronger and more historically accurate.<br>
Cheers,<br>
<p>Tim O'Neill / Thiudareiks Flavius<br>
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