Location: City of Alexandria, Delta of the Nile, Egypt.
Date: January 25, 47 BC.

Objectives:
- Defend the fortress.
- + Defend the port.
- - + Burn the boats.

Unit Control Points: 924/1000.
Troop Control Points: 32/75.
Starting units: 2x Archer Cavalry (16), 4x Auxiliary Archers (30), 4x Balearic Slingers (16), 2x . Ballista, 2x Catapult, Centurion (level 0), 2x Equites (12), 3x Gladiators (16), Hawk Scout, 4x Legionaries (30), Physician, 2x Praetorians (16), 4x Spearmen (30), Wolf Scout.
Available units: Archer Cavalry, Auxiliary Archers, Auxiliary Infantry, Balearic Slingers, Equites, Gladiators, Hawk Scout, Legionaries, Physician, Praetorians, Spearmen, Wolf Scout.
Available construction: Assault Ladder, Assault Tower, Ballista, Battering Ram, Catapult, Defensive Tower, repair.

                                        .
                                     .-' '-.
                                  .-'*      '-.
                               .-'     *       '-.
                            .-'   _   *           '-.
                         .-'     |3|    *            '-.
                      .-'  _          *                 '-.
                   .-'    |2|      1    *                  '-.
                .-'    *  *     *     *                      _'-.
             .-'   * *      * *   * *      .                |4|  '-.
          .-'                           .      .           .        '-.
       .-'        .        .    .                 .       .         _  '-.
      '-.       .                         .          +       _     |6|.-'
         '-.   .           .      .                 ~  .  . |5|. . .-'
            '-.  .     9              10  .         ~           .-'
               '-.  .       .      .                .        .-'
                  '-. .        .          .      .        .-'
                     '-. 8                    .        .-'
                        '-.       ~  ~ 7            .-'
                           '-.  ~   ~   ~        .-'
                              '-.   ~ ~    ~  .-'
                                 '-.  ~  ~ .-'
                                    '-. .-'
                                       '
 _
| | = Village/barracks (may include various defenses).
* * = Fortification/wall.
 +  = Tower (free-standing from village).
. . = Path (minor pathways not shown).
~ ~ = River, sea or lake.
                                                                          

1 = Palace of Alexandria. Start location.
2-3 = Roman barracks. Population 400 each.
4-6 = Rebel villages.
7 = Port.
8-10 = Egyptian allies.

The Egyptian rebels (which include a mixture of Egyptian and Roman units) will launch an assault on the fortress soon after the start of the mission. Since the fortress needs to be defended throughout the mission, keeping the gates up is essential. Once one of the gates is destroyed the enemy will rush large numbers of troops at your forces, which is likely to overwhelm the defenders. If either barracks in the fortress is destroyed, the mission will be failed.

There are three tactics that used together will ensure the gates survive and your forces suffer minimal casualties:

- 1. Demote three units of Spearmen to Auxiliary Infantry. Have them ready at the gates for repairs. Throughout the mission keep reassigning these to repair the gates.

- 2. Position a unit of Balearic Slingers in a tower overlooking each gate, with two units overlooking the central gate. Slingers are very effective against siege engines, which represent the biggest threat to the gates and walls. The heaviest attacks come in at the central gate. Place archers in other towers.

- 3. Place a unit of melee troops hidden in each of the woods surrounding the fortress. Use these only to kill enemy archers that creep in there from time to time and otherwise attack troops in towers without being seen.

Various other 'standard' siege tactics can be used. From bond0bhave: "Promote your Spearmen and move the Centurions to be by the archers, these [ultimately] give them a nice 30% bonus on defense and a 10% on attack. Also get your Physicians under the archers to heal them. ... Get the 2 groups of Equites and use them to hit any archers or siege engines that look vulnerable."

The rebels have three villages (shown 4-6 on the map above). These are very heavily defended. With the large army this mission allows for, it might be possible to destroy the villages. However, there is little time available for this - the whole mission is unlikely to last more than about 20 minutes. I think a strong defense is the only viable tactic.

Once the rebel attacks die down, a messenger will approach and instruct you to defend the port (7 on the map above). In addition, three groups of Egyptian allies (8-10 on the map above) appear. These will join your army once your troops come close. Mark OHearn writes: "Send your army out along the western edge of the map, and place your units with your allies near the harbour when the action on the fortress dies down a bit. This is very tactical in order to immediately recruit them." It is still possible to rush your troops south after the messenger arrives, collecting most of these allies on the way. Equally, allies are not essential, just useful.

The fortress will still need to be defended, but rebel attacks will become more sporadic and use fewer siege engines: A combination of slingers and regular gate repairs should be effective. This allows your melee troops, some archers and any new recruits to be gathered together to defend the port. Approach the port using the path to the western side of the map, thus avoiding rebel units coming to attack the fortress from their villages in the east. Oh; and avoid the ambush in the grassland...

The port has two piers, either of which makes a reasonable defensive position. In preparation for the final objective at least one unit of archers should be placed at the end of each pier. Since the rebels tend to attack the southern-most pier first, that is where defenders should be positioned.

After a few minutes the objective will change to "burn the boats". Use your archers to set fire to each of the four boats in the port. Each boat will take a while to catch fire. Once it has caught fire, attack the next boat. Once all four boats are on fire they will start to sink. Once they do victory will be declared. If the boats are not burnt within about 10 minutes the rebels will capture them and the mission will fail.

Written by timski