Geek Control 2 Major Tim: Total War Attila, All Hail The Spice King

Following on from my TW: Attila blog, the one reviewing the Empires of Sand DLC, I thought I might recount a little about my primary campaign as the Aksum. I hadn't played an Attila campaign in a while, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the EoS pack actually added factions that I had really been hanging out for, specifically ones that would challenge the Sassanians in the south-east of the campaign map. The Sassanid Empire goes pretty unchallenged throughout much of the game, and is surrounded by sycophantic tributary states that fund its rather one-sided war against the Eastern Roman Empire, all while the ERE gets violently beaten in the back of the head by marauding tribal factions. It suffices to say that the Sassanians are basically the "easy-mode" of TW: Attila. The new factions of the EoS help by putting some pressure on the Sassanians from below. I would say that the Sassanians are still the easy faction, since the EoS factions have to spend some time squabbling before turning on either the Sassanians or the ERE. Sassanian players need not despair too much, the early game will still favour them, and be pretty easy to get ahead, but if the Aksum or Hymjar manage to get over their squabbling, they could become a mid to late game problem.

The Aksum had a lot of appeal to me, mainly because I always found north-east African kingdoms to be pretty fascinating, and was always a bit disappointed that Africa as a whole seemed to be relegated to the background of most TW games. There is a rather spiky modern misconception that Africa is a homogeneous continent (almost as if it were one country), and that it is technologically backward, or inferior to other parts of the world. This misconception spreads into the general view of Africa historically, with some people thinking that Africa was always behind the rest of the world, even in the dark ages when Europe's highest level technology was wells with less than 10% feces. TW has had a bit of a sad history of ignoring Africa and China, both of which have amazing cultures and military histories, so it was gratifying to see at least one of those issues addressed.

 

Pictured: Some happy African gentlemen sharing their culture with Romans.

 

The Aksum campaign revolves around your position on the coast of Africa, and the spice trading lanes of the Indian Ocean. My nerd alarms went off within seconds as the game started making one "spice" reference after another. The missions had coy little referential names, such as: "The Spice Must Flow". I've always enjoyed having a bit of a roleplaying aspect to my gaming experiences, even if it is mostly just in my imagination, so I spent a little time trying to figure out who "I" am in this game. My first thoughts were of Xaro Xhoan Daxos from Game of Thrones, and it seemed pretty accurate to the situation.

 

 But after looking at myself in the mirror, trying to be half as cool as that guy, and making a few attempts at sucking my gut in, I decided that I was probably more like this guy:

 All hail, The Spice King!

It seemed pretty accurate, and besides, I'm basically playing this campaign with a Harkonnen level of cunning and viciousness. 

The key to getting started with an Aksum campaign is to decide off the bat who you'd like to fight, and how you'd like to theme yourself. Part of what appeals to me about CA's DLC packs, as opposed to free generic factions, is that the rosters have a lot of variety, and the campaign has a lot of missions and optional ways to play. If you choose to fight your way north and betray your neighbors, and the ERE, you'll have a tough time of it, but you can secure your first province and start pressing on towards Aegypt, and all the young Cleos therein. However, the game kind of encourages you to start out by targeting the Arabian peninsula, and with good reason: the spice routes to India are located all along the coast. You have powerful friends in India, all of whom would love to see you grow as their sole trading partner, and fill your mutual coffers through a spice monopoly (They're basically House Corrino).

Typically, you'll find yourself compelled toward the east, as the campaign is kind of going that way. Fortunately, the Hymjar and Sassanians are all kind of hostile towards you already, and capturing the spice ports will come with the kind of rewards that make the whole endeavor so worth it. Spice ports provide a ton of cash, and make you a sexy trading partner to other nations. Plus, it is pretty obvious that the game wants you to go this way, so unlike other factions, the Aksum can recruit some pretty excellent units from the spice ports, which I think most people will use as the backbone of their armies. These spice units carry unique Indian weapons that are earned as part of your deal with your eastern partners, so it makes your army stronger, and look cooler, so you can be all like:

The other major decision to make at the start of your campaign is which religion to go with. The Aksum start out as Eastern Christians, which makes it easy to buddy up with the Romans and their protectorates. Until you start pressing into the Mediterranean there won't be anyone to fight except the Sassanians or Romans, so the choice is kind of linked. If you stick with Christianity, you should almost certainly wage war on the Hymjar and Sassanians, but if you are contemplating making peace with these guys and going north into Roman territory, you might consider the alternative, Semitic Paganism. The bonuses are both pretty good, and the opposing temple forms offer pretty cool advantages (Christian churches reduce corruption or improve farming, while the Pagan temples can add moral and unit buffs). Where this is more of an issue than other factions is in the endgame unit selections. The EoS factions all have two sets of top tier units, differentiated by your faction's religious choices. The Christian path nets you access to some decent top tier spearmen, and some badass cavalry (basically African knights of St George), while the Pagan path gives you some cool stealth infantry, and more tribal-esque warriors.

 

Oh yeah, these guys look like friendly chaps

It all depends on what you really value, and I actually changed my mind about half way into the campaign. I really wanted those cool tribal warriors, but found that the neutral units, especially the Spice Warriors and Spice Guard, kind of neutralized the need for top-tier infantry. Ultimately, sticking with Christianity helped out with my relations with the ERE when I finally declared peace with the Sassanids, and access to powerful cavalry that were kind of lacking in my campaign. 

I'll tell you more of the adventures of the Spice King soon, but for now, if you are thinking of picking up the DLC, or specifically playing as the Aksum, hopefully this whetted your appetite and gave you some starter ideas. Go forth, son of the Ibex, and make the spice flow!