Wanderlust: The Art of Mass Migration

By Sassenach
In my opinion, the weakest element of RTW lies in the campaign strategy. Put simply, it isn't
hard enough. Having played the game for a few months I found that the only way to get any
kind of a real challenge out of the campaign was to play Numidia on vh/vh or impose
arbitrary rules on myself like refusing to sell map information, always honouring alliances or
deliberately holding back from attacking to allow the other factions to develop. Ultimately
this detracts from the gameplay. In an attempt to spice up the campaign game a bit I've been
experimenting with a wholly different approach that fundamentally changes the overall
campaign - mass migration strategies.
The aim of a mass migration strategy is to set out from the very beginning to transport a
particular faction to a totally different part of the map, with different resources, different
enemies, different tactical imperatives - basically a different game. Migrations can be used to
give you a strategic advantage. The first time I ever tried one was when I moved the
Scythians to Sicily, moving from the poorest territories on the periphery of the map to some
of the richest, right at the heart of the action. Usually though, starting a mass migration is not
going to make the game any easier for you. It's a high risk-high reward strategy that involves
you burning all your bridges, if you make one little mistake it can be game over. What's more,
those factions that are in the best position early on to successfully migrate are generally those
who have the least to gain from it. Why leave Egypt or Macedon to head for new pastures
unless for the fun of it?
The following is my guide to the best way to succeed in the travel business.

Setup
The first 10 turns are absolutely crucial to the success or failure of any migration strategy.
There are two considerations that should outweigh everything else you do, time and money.
The two are interlinked, but I'd say that time is the most significant. Basically, if you're not
already well under way towards your objective by turn 10 it's probably too late. You may be
tempted to wait a while, build up a really big army with some better units than you started
with and then set sail. This is a big mistake, as I will explain later.
Every single action you take in the first few turns should be tailored toward the migration.
Here are a few rules of thumb:
Building construction:
The only new buildings you should ever even consider building are a port, if you do not
already have one, and basic stockades around undefended settlements. The reasons for this
policy should be obvious, you will be abandoning your original provinces at the earliest
opportunity, so any money you spend on them will be money that you might as well just give
to whoever will ultimately inherit them. Obviously you will need a port, because you will be
transporting your people by ship. The reason I build basic walls is mainly just to delay the
enemy when they inevitably move in to take over my old provinces. The extra few turns

worth of revenue you will get from these provinces by forcing the enemy to lay siege means
that they effectively pay for themselves.
Troop recruitment:
While I can't emphasise enough the need for speed, you will probably need to raise a few new
units before you set off. You will need to leave a few peasants behind to enable you to move
every single halfway decent unit you possess. Also, as it will take a few turns to assemble all
your armies in the same place, you will have a small window of opportunity to construct
some decent units. The key here is that you should only build them in provinces that are close
to the boats, otherwise, it will double the time taken to assemble your forces. The only caveat
I would add to this is the need to build more than one ship. I like to send a bit of a flotilla,
because you don't want to find your entire army sent to the bottom by a pirate ship.
The absolute worst thing you can do is build a better barracks or stables at the start of your
turn, wait till it is built and then wait another few turns while you train better troops there.
The reasons for this are manifold. Firstly, for every one of those units you train there will be a
new unit being produced in the target region in every single province. Effectively this means
that the time taken to build these troops isn't really helping you when they eventually arrive at
their destination. Secondly, these better buildings are going to cost you money that you will
never get the full benefit from. Thirdly, as you are not building any economic improvements
your economy is going to go downhill fast if you burden it with a huge army to maintain. It
will take a while to sail to your destination, if you carry too many troops you will arrive with
a colossal debt that you won't be able to get rid of by exterminating the cities you capture.
This means you can't retrain your troops, so the extra troops you bring are not really a net
gain in available forces.
Economy:
As I said, money has to be a massive consideration. I've attempted a lot of migrations and I
think there's only two occasions when I've managed to arrive at my destination with any
money in the bank. When you make your plans you have to assume that you will be in debt
when you arrive. This is not necessarily too much of a problem, but it is essential that the
debt is not too large. You will probably have lost half of your original settlements by the time
you get to where you're going. You are going to be bleeding cash at an alarming rate at this
point. If you can't manage to get back in the black pretty quickly your troops will not get
retrained, you won't be able to build your own temples to help keep order and you'll find that
it is impossible to advance far enough to establish a functioning empire. I'll deal with what to
do about this problem a little later, but in the early stages you will want to stockpile as much
cash as you can. This means taxing your people as much as possible, selling maps and
alliances to your neighbours and spending nothing unless you absolutely have to. Saving up
is not easy, as you will discover, but it is imperative to keep your finances under control as far
as you can.

Setting Sail
So you've assembled all of your forces, now what? Well, first you assess your strength to see
if there's anything more you need, and there will be. Your army will likely contain about four
family members, a bit of light cavalry, several units of bottom-end infantry and maybe a
couple of later game units that you started with. It's doubtful this will even add up to a full

flag army. This is when you start hiring mercenaries. Mercenaries are going to serve as your
elite troops during the initial phase of the operation. Hire all the mercenaries you can that
don't simply replicate what you already have and then hit the boats and sail to Crete. This can
obviously be ignored if you're the Britons or something, but you'll probably find that
whatever faction you are and wherever you're heading, Crete will be roughly halfway there.
This is because you will more than likely be travelling east-west or west-east, the aim after all
being to move a long way from your starting position.
I always like to sail via Crete for three reasons: it guarantees that you won't lose all your
provinces to invaders before you get a chance to conquer new ones, it eventually turns into a
money-making machine and it is the best source of mercenaries in the game. You will be able
to buff up your force with mercenary hoplites, rhodian slingers, thracian mercs and of course
those wonderful cretan archers. I usually attempt to hit Crete around turn 5-6. If it looks like
it will take any longer than that then I will send out a small advance party to take the place
and wait for the rest of my troops to catch up. You will have to be able to afford to hire the
mercenaries for the plan to succeed so you need to arrive before the money runs out.
Relying on mercenaries rather than home-grown troops in the initial invasion may seem crazy
but it is actually very effective. The chances are that the mercenaries you hire will be much
higher quality than those troops you can train yourself in the first few turns. More
importantly, they will also be better than the early game troops available to whoever your
intended victim is. This is why I prefer to do it this way. If you wait until you have sufficient
quality troops of your own you will also be facing better troops, and probably in much greater
numbers than you can deploy. If you move quickly and beef up your army with mercenaries
you can catch your target while he is still using dross, giving you a potentially decisive
advantage.
By the time everybody is assembled on Crete your original provinces will most likely be
falling to invaders and your money will be disappearing into a black hole of nothingness.
Don't panic. You will have an army that can beat anybody and there are lots of juicy targets in
the area. From here, all the richest provinces in the game are no more than about four turns
sailing away. Thus begins phase three, the invasion itself.

Journey's End
Obviously the tactics you employ in this, the most important phase of the whole operation
will depend upon your troop composition and the target area. It isn't really possible to give a
comprehensive guide to go about it but I have noticed a few key considerations that should
shape your tactics if you want to achieve maximum success.
Go for the jugular:
You will need to head straight for the biggest and best cities, attack them quickly and take
them out as soon as possible. If you can capture the enemy capital early on he will lose his
ability to train his best units while you will gain the ability to train yours.
Don't dawdle:
As soon as you have captured one city your army should be on the march to capture the next.
Your enemy will have a lot more money and men than you do. If you delay in order to

consolidate you will surely be overwhelmed. Only pause to retrain your troops (if you can
afford it).
Conserve your troops:
Those of you who prefer the "meat grinder" style of battle will struggle to cope with a
migration strategy. As I have said, you will likely not be able to afford to retrain your troops
at first and you will be limited to those you brought with you. One pyhrric victory that costs
you half your men could effectively prevent you from conquering enough cities to build a
functioning economy. If this happens you are doomed. This is where those mercenary missile
troops come in. If you move quickly enough you will probably find that the bulk of the troops
you have to face are of the basic infantry variety. Cretan archers and rhodian slingers will
make mincemeat of them before your cavalry arrives to wipe them out. I try not to commit
my infantry to the fray unless I have to.
Another important consideration of this is picking and choosing your battles carefully.
Wherever possible I like to entice the enemy to attack me over river crossings or in
mountainous areas where I can set up in a defensive position on the high ground. I seldom
engage a large enemy force in the open unless I am confident I can butcher them with
minimal casualties. It's better to lay siege to a city instead and let them attack you there. That
way you get to fight two battles for the price of one, and you get the city at the end.
Once you have conquered enough territory to be back in profit you don't need to worry so
much about casualties, but in the early stages you must avoid expensive battles at all costs.
Exterminate the populace:
You probably won't need to be told this, but extermination is the only practical option for
dealing with the first few cities you conquer. The main reason for this is to clear up your
debts of course, but it also makes it a lot easier to maintain order in the conquered lands.
Enslavement is a waste of time as the slaves will only be sent to your old provinces while if
you occupy you will have to leave half your army behind to prevent revolts. As an aside, I
also like to give all my original provinces away as a gift at this point and then immediately
reoccupy them and either exterminate to get the cash from them or enslave to move the
population of my old cities across to my newly conquered (and purged) cities.
Delay moving your capital:
If you can get away with it, leave your capital set to the original provinces for as long as
possible. As soon as you move your capital to the new lands all of your old provinces will
revolt. While you may not be too concerned about losing them, you will need all the income
you can get in the early stages. Change your capital only when maintaining order in the new
territories is costing you forward momentum in the invasion. This will happen fairly soon but
I like to squeeze every bit of revenue I can.