The Empire Civil War Blood Bath (Massive Battles)

Hey what's up guys it's Oakley and I am joined by IndiePride and we're going to be doing a massive ginormous civil war battle between two empire factions. The rules that we decided to do is no magic, no fantasy units, it's all going to be gunpowder. This is very much like an empire battle you'll be seeing. So it's got all kinds of handgunner units, huge army sizes, you'll be seeing 40 units so like I said lots of great cannons, hellstorm rocket batteries, mortars, handgunners, pistoliers, outriders and a limit of two steam tanks per army and yeah it is going to be epic we're deployed here on both sides of this relatively open flatland and it is going to be a carnage house. Yep and I'm IndiePride and so for this army that I brought I have brought a ton of great cannons and hellstorm rocket batteries that are going to be trying to outrange Oakley. I do, I did invest more in my artillery pieces than Oakley did. He has more handgunners than I do so he's going to be trying to cross this chasm in between us through withering gunfire and try to start shooting into my ranks and I'm going to be trying to make sure that doesn't happen, taking out these columns of infantry as they approach but we both do have two steam tanks, those will be very important in this battle as well. I'm about ready to get into this, do you want to press play, 3, 2, 1, press play and get into it. Yeah so the interesting thing about this battle is, well like I said or like Indie said it's not a symmetrical battle and so we brought different approaches and my approach is going to be the way of the infantrymen and when you take the way of the infantrymen and you match it up against the way of the artillerymen well then you're going to be seeing a lot of explosions and a lot of carnage. So I decided to bring up my troops in column formation because you can't win a battle if you're not looking fabulous and you can't even call it a victory if you're not looking glorious in the process of winning so that's what I'm doing, I'm moving up in column formation in the face of withering gunfire and Indie's going to be taking full advantage of that so I have multiple columns moving up into no man's land, just getting wrecked, especially this column here. Guys on the left hand side, the columns are just getting absolutely pooped on by the steam tanks and the great cannon artillery so yeah Oakley was trying to march in formation, make it a little bit more realistic looking and they are going to get absolutely destroyed as they march up through this wooded pass right here and in the center my hellstorm rocket batteries are on counter battery duty so just trying to take out his cannons while his steam tank and his great cannons are going for my steam tank so he wants to take that steam tank off the field as soon as possible and make them stop firing, it's a pretty good strategy but it will take a lot of firepower to take down a steam tank. Oh my god, I'm looking at my front ranks, they did get off one volley at your steam tank so I'm pouring everything, both my steam tanks, almost all my great guns and these two handgunner units are going to be targeting your steam tank and my goal is to hit your high value targets as soon as possible. You are on the other hand targeting my infantry blobs so we're kind of targeting each other's advantage and we'll see kind of who wins out in the end but oh man your steam tank is taking a beating. It's really low right now, it's going to be about one more cannon shot to take down this first steam tank which is a problem because I really want these guys to stay alive, once they get into melee combat they can do a ton of damage and of course they have a lot of firepower from range but it's going to blow up right there and some of my handgunners are going to take some of that cannon fire as well so my hellstorm rocket battery is still on anti-battery duty, still trying to take out his great cannons, get rid of those range capabilities. We see some of the cannons have already gotten blown up and silenced those guns but over on this side my hellstorm rocket battery is going for some of his blobbed up handgunners and we're just trying to do as much damage as possible before the handgunners from Oakley get into range and start this line battle strong. My left flank has now deployed, I've pulled up my four columns of infantry, the center is now pushing up as well so I'm sending the general order to advance. I also brought two, there is kind of one general's unit and then an officer so I have two heroes so to speak and so they're going to be reinforcing my ranks as I push up. On the right I'm attempting a cavalry assault but it is going to go very much like World War 1 cavalry assaults went, I'm just going to get shot to tiny little pieces and there goes the glory of the imperial knights right there. It is so brutal dude. And just panning along the center of the battlefield is freaking amazing. I really love what they did with the hellstorm rocket battery, it's really satisfying to listen to and watch just like all these explosions, all this firepower coming in, just looks so impressive and I've really done a good job so far of taking out the batteries right here, the great cannons but the problem is he still has two steam tanks on the field and one of my tanks has already gone down. I haven't done much HP damage to the steam tank at all actually, it's only down to about, only taking about one fourth HP. His handgunners are moving up, he's got some double line fire going, I've routed two of his handgunners but he has more fire coming in from the trees and this is going to be a really brutal line battle, Civil War style right now. Yeah this is so cool and what I was doing at this point was focusing fire against your units so I think you're getting general damage done to me but I'm trying to pick off your units from the right moving forward and you can see your line just getting whittled away. You bring outriders Napoleon style to try and reinforce the ranks but I'm going to start focusing some of my cannon fire to take out your artillery pieces and having my captain nearby to rally the men is definitely paying off. Yeah and your steam tank is moving up now, I think you wanted to get into melee at this point, start using that steam gun, yeah steam cannon is shooting in now. I don't know how much actual damage it does, I think it only killed a couple models there but I do have that double line fire going on with my outriders and my handgunners, it's nice to be able to get a couple. The far left actually, I'm closing in with some of my cavalry units to swing back around this flank so outriders have shot into the flank of your force because we're kind of trading flanks, on the left you were able to push me back but now I've reinforced with steam tanks in the center, I have a pistoleer force going to be just charging your main line so we'll see how this goes. We both have tons and tons of supporting ranks of infantry so it is chaos being traded but I think having two steam tanks with pretty high health on the right flank is going to be helping me a lot but on the left you're totally surrounding my troops, the hellfire rocket is doing a lot to whittle away my forces, I don't have much left and the terrain is definitely helping me out. Yeah withering fire coming from this hill in the center, trying to get him pushed back in the center of the field there and I'm definitely winning over on my left flank, I have a lot of outriders and my handgunners moving up, I wanted to just push my advantage over here because I do have more troops but if I'm going to push this advantage I have to push it hard, I have to make sure I wipe out these troops very quickly and then maybe if possible wrap around and get into his rear, that would be difficult but I do have the manpower over on this side. What that means though is that in the center and over on my right flank you're definitely going to start taking advantage because you have the steam tank moving in there and a bunch of the handgunners in the center just rounding a lot of my guys. And I'm trying to push in on your gun positions like the high watermark of my steam tank was right in front of your great cannons and so I'm having a hard time pushing through there, the closer you get the more accurate you end up being but in the center I am doing a little bit of an advantage, the masses of my troops really paying off and now I'm going to have a big surge. Towards the center I'm charging forward with lots of ranks and coming out of the forest in the middle I have three more handgunners coming in so I'm going for the mass push at this point. The whistles have blown up over the trenches and here we go. Yeah so in the center this is going to start being really brutal for me, you've got double line fire going. You do have this one unit that's, I don't know if you click a movement order or what but they're going to get mowed down right in front of my lines and then rout but those two handgunners up on the hill are going to be a problem for me. I no longer have the firepower in the center to get them off and dislodge them and my artillery pieces are starting to become a little bit exposed. If you push really hard in the center you could probably just get to the guns. And then of course. Yeah that's what I was doing, I mean you pointed out to that like those two units I pushed up were pretty exhausted at this point and low health anyways and you'll notice my guys that are firing away had been previously ranked up to triple silver chevrons so that's why I want to give them covering fire because I knew they would be able to just destroy you if I could keep them safe. Well yeah so the thing with range units and with chevrons and range units is that it gives them like morale and melee attack and stuff so they don't actually get buffs to range damage but the extra morale can actually be really beneficial in these line battles it makes them stay in the fight a lot longer and if they're not routing that means they're firing and if they're firing they're taking heavy damage so it's definitely not a bad thing to have some extra gold go towards chevrons. My right flank is really crumbling at this point, you're pushing up now. I did manage to take out your steam tank a while ago. Did I take out both already? Oh yeah your other steam tank is bouncing back, yeah so having a steam tank is definitely beneficial to kind of shore up either flanks. So you see them ping pong but my right side is getting absolutely thrashed by concentrated artillery fire. This position is not going to hold which is why I swung that steam tank over here. I'm getting some really good volleys off on the right hand side but yeah the steam tank is going to change the balance of power over here a bit. It's going to be really hard to push up with the steam tank running in. I can't actually move up my hand gunners because he'll just run me over with the steam tank so I do have my outriders shooting in trying to do some HP damage to the steam tank there but in the center I've got some double line, actually at this point I have triple line fire going in now but your charge from the empire captain up the center is coming right now. Yeah but it looks like you're going to be sending your own general as well to try and counter charge me. So my guy was sending there to tie up her lines because I know I need to get the advantage, retain the advantage with my hand gunners because look how much artillery fire is coming in. So we're both going to commit but like I said earlier on in this commentary, I have two hero characters and you only have one so I can effectively tie yours up like this without running too much of a risk of mass routes and now my gunners in the kind of right behind this engagement are going to be firing straight into your lord. Yeah and that's a almost full strength hand gunner unit, they've taken a lot of HP damage now they're trying to drop models but before that volley they were around 75 men in a unit so every time they fire they're going to do a lot of damage. I am beating your empire captain but like you said this is something you can afford to lose, it's not your general, it's just a hero unit tying down my stuff, tying down one of my gunners and my lord and that's going to be a problem. So I am now committing my steam tank into melee and I didn't get there in time to get blown up by a volley from the hand gunner so my steam tanks, both of them are dead at this point and I've at this point run out of a lot of my artillery crew's ammo so I'm now sending in a bunch of hellstorm rocket battery crews into melee with hand gunners Yeah and it's getting pretty desperate so on the right flank I've lost everything except for my steam tank that's now getting focused on by all of your gunners but it doesn't matter you know I'm tying up so many of your guys and now I'm just going to run through them going straight straight through. Oh my god he's t-bagging some of my dudes, your steam tank was just t-bagging my hand gunners it's so messed up. So one of my units is occupying about like a dozen of yours it seems in the center I'm pushing hard I only have I think one gun crew left with just you know a skeleton crew on it I did withdraw my kind of officer because he's being pursued by your general who has better HP and had better supporting fire so I'm going to pull out of there and just now start to concentrate fire with this little hill that I've secured on your side of the battlefield and try and shoot away at him and so we've traded flanks and now it's going to be the time where we reposition perhaps try and face off my steam tank somehow managed to pull out of there the war machine getting out of there with a couple units falling after him we'll see if he escapes with his life though and I have pretty much shattered your left flank but or sorry your right flank but they will start to come back here soon. Yeah and I have one cannon great cannon still firing but they're almost out of ammunition you can see I think we've got one shot left your steam tank did manage to break through but it will soon join the graveyard of the rest of the machines on this battlefield the other steam tanks I think it's going to be like one more volley and it'll bring down this final war machine I would think let's see what it's HP yeah it's at 139 HP I think one more volley from the outriders should be able to kill them so we'll see if we can catch that but yeah you're trying to get into a flanking position maybe try to silence my guns and then this last volley coming in now come on just blow up it's so low he's almost out of there he's like sparking he's in the sunlight now oh and just as he crosses enjoy his brothers with the outriders charging glorious behind so that's kind of funny they hunted their metal prey um so yeah the I think the the choice for me to bring two heroes was really a good idea here at the end because I have one of my heroes my general actually with almost no damage done and now he's charging your gun crews and you're it's really hard to take out the heroes with what you've had you have left and anything you devote to shooting him allows my gunners to do more and more damage meanwhile your general is you know caught in a fight with my own officer the empire captain with supporting fire on my end so it's going to be kind of to my advantage here yeah pretty soon I'm going to pop stand your ground and a bunch of the board commander's buffs hopefully try to beat this empire captain which he should be able to do once I got all my buffs going but you're going to quickly be able to reinforce with some of these routing hand gunners and in the center you do have more full strength hand gunner so at this point I'm committing tall storm rocket battery crews I have very few hand gunners at this point and the extra hand gunners you did bring to the field are going to end up being pretty big in this late game because I lost all my guys I have to commit these really crappy melee troops into melee and I have so they're literally running up to me and trying to kick me so my lord is really low at this point he's wavering he's like one hit from killing the empire captain but with the shots coming in from that hand gunner you know only 22 guys left still firing in he is gonna run from the field I think he might drop to this withering fire coming in now he's got 336 hp which means one or two more volleys will be the end of him in the center your hand gunners are still holding strong beating back my hell storm rocket battery crews yeah let's see if they can do it feels like a crazy battle where now I only have two remaining uh hand gunner units in on this little hill that I've managed to claim you've charged me on all flanks I'm tied down and now here you come with more just grunts thrown into the battle to try and tie me down we'll see how that works um but in the distance I do have uh uh I see and but in the distance I do have my own captain continuing to tie up your gunners uh and other units I could otherwise be joining the charge so that's kind of what's helping me here and that's gonna be it so I try to commit some of my gun crews and they routed from the field and Oakley's extra hand gunner crews did end up being the difference in that battle I think maybe the biggest turning point okay there were two big turning points I think bringing the extra hero unit like you said let you tie down some of my more important troops and kill them in melee when I wasn't able to really reinforce them very well because I don't have melee troops and then the other was taking out my steam tank my first one very early before they ended up being able to do very much damage so you kind of just overwhelmed me in the center and without that steam tank support I ended up crumbling it was really close though and really epic so many explosions so many hand gunners and gunpowder units going off really fun battle yeah I think your mass mortar or sorry mass hellstorm rocket battery play was working really well like it would it chewed away all of my troops and had you just hidden your steam tanks a little better or kept them out of the focus fire that I had then they could have rebuffed my advances and my suicidal charges down the center you know steam tank could have flattened my charges easily but because there was nothing really there to push me back I could just steam roll you yeah with a lot of losses but I had just enough critical mass to push it up over the end claim this hill and then start sending in my captains to tie you down and do damage and then obviously having you know free reign steam tanks is beneficial like Indy said yeah so we ended up deploying almost the exact same number of troops 2753 to 2742 uh kills very similar I did end up killing more of oakley's my guys routed after my lord died got a little bit hasty with him there at the end of the battle trying to get rid of your empire captain which was really not the engagement I should have been looking for because killing that empire captain besides just tying him down and making sure he doesn't get into my hand gunners doesn't do anything if I kill him it's not going to send a morale penalty jolting through your line or anything so that wasn't really the play either but ended up being so close so much carnage and these civil war battles are so much fun to play with the empire on this game we were looking for some mods that would give us like minenheim or western land or some of the other empire provinces so it wasn't just going to be a reikland civil war but ultimately it ended up being an awesome battle definitely try it out if you haven't already and uh I really you know what I just realized actually looking at the unit count I actually have the exact same number of hand gunners as you so that whole time oh really um yeah yeah it's just uh my empire captain is in there so actually what I had more than anything else was just pistol ears um so I had two more cavalry units than you which ended up being kind of worthless so yeah your pistols didn't really do anything so I think it was your steam tanks and yeah it was my steam tanks and the fact that yes maybe we had the same number of infantry um but because I didn't spend all my money on the hellstorm rocket batteries I had spare funds to spend well that's redundant um I had spare money to spend on troops and what I did is I invested them a lot into some of my hand gunners so the ones that were all you know shoved up to silver so shoved up to uh triple bronze and then my steam tanks had experience and same with my outriders so kind of pound for pound my infantry hit a bit harder than yours or me at least had more sustain uh so in that sense I guess I had the infantry advantage yeah and each one of those hand gunners that has silver chevrons is going to have six more base leadership than a non-shoved hand gunner so that could absolutely be the difference between getting another volley off and routing so that probably did play a part in it as well but I also like having all those hellstorm rocket batteries meant I outranged you in the gun crew fight and it meant that you had to come to me so either way really fun battle lots of explosions very cinematic hope you guys enjoyed it and we'll be doing more content like this together very soon definitely make sure you check out Oakley's channel and I'll link that in the description below I'll see you guys next time yeah peace out