Barbarian Invasion

K. Fields
2012-08-12T14:36:44-04:00
Video Games

Six months ago, I finished playing a campaign in Rome: Total War. In that campaign, I led the Julii family and the Roman Empire to greatness. My victory was in 149 BC. Last month, I decided to return to Rome: Total War by playing the Barbarian Invasion expansion pack. The expansion begins in 363 AD and it covers the decline of the Roman Empire. Victory conditions must be met by 476 AD.

There were many new factions to play. I didn’t want to play as the Romans again. Given the focus of the expansion, I definitely wanted to play as one of the barbarian factions. I decided to play as the Goths. In order to achieve a Gothic victory, I needed to control 16 settlements; two of the settlements had to be Constantinople and Rome. That meant I needed to to do battle with the Eastern and Western Romans to eventually capture those cities.

This campaign was quite a bit tougher than playing the Julii in Rome: Total War. In the beginning, I was under attack from several barbarian peoples, starting with the Roxolani. We eventually fought against the Vandals, Burgundians, Lombards, Franks, Ostrogoths, and Slavs. Our primary enemy, however, was the Eastern Roman Empire. After their initial attack on the Goths, there was never peace between us. On the other hand, the Western Roman Empire treated our people well. We were even allies for several years.

Eventually, we achieved victory in 440 AD.

Click the image to enlarge.