Location: Near Munda, Hispania.
Date: March 17, 45 BC.

Objectives:
- Kill Titus Labienus.

Unit Control Points: 255/750.
Troop Control Points: 12/75.
Starting units: Auxiliary Infantry (30), 2x Auxiliary Archers (30), Catapult, Centurion (level 4), Hawk Scout, 3x Legionaries (30), Physician, Praetorians (16), Wolf Scout.
Available units:
- Roman: Archer Cavalry, Auxiliary Archers, Auxiliary Infantry, Balearic Slingers, Equites, Gladiators, Hawk Scout, Legionaries, Physician, Praetorians, Spearmen, Wolf Scout.
- Egyptian: Archers, Camel Archers, Camel Riders, Guardsmen, Hawk Scout, Nubian Archers, Parthian Cavalry, Priest, Slaves, Soldiers, War Chariots, Wolf Scout.
- Barbarian: Berserkers, Bowmen, Druid, German Cavalry, Hawk Scout, Hunters, Infantry, Mounted Bowmen, Noblemen, Pikemen, Warriors, Wolf Scout.
Available construction: Assault Ladder, Assault Tower, Ballista, Battering Ram, Catapult, Defensive Tower, repair.

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 _
| | = Village/barracks (may include various defenses).
* * = Fortification/wall.
 +  = Tower (free-standing from village).
. . = Path (minor pathways not shown).
~ ~ = River, sea or lake.
] [ = Bridge or location for bridge.
                                                                          

1 = Start location.
2 = Osuna. Population 500.
3 = Labienus' Encampment.
4 = Iberian mercenaries' tent.
5 = Mauretanian mercenaries' tent.
6 = Provincial mercenaries' tent.
7 = Additional mercenaries.

The first part of the mission should be spent gathering mercenaries. You will need as many troops as possible before attempting to cross the river. For each group of mercenaries destroy the relevant tent (4-6 on the map above). Once the tent has been destroyed the relevant mercenary commander comes under your control and all his troops become neutral. When you bring the commander near to his troops, those troops join your army.

Three aspects need to be considered in gaining mercenaries:

- 1. You have no base, so cannot afford to take heavy casualties in the first stage of the mission. You do however have scouts and no specific time pressure.

- 2. The more mercenaries fought while trying to reach or destroy the tent, the fewer ultimately gained.

- 3. Mercenary commanders that are surrounded by the units of other still hostile tribes will be attacked as soon as they join with you. If the commander is killed, his former units cannot be gained.

There is no ideal order in which mercenaries should be collected. The order may be changed to reflect player preference for certain types of unit. The only caveat is that the Provincial (Roman) mercenaries should not be gained first. If you do so, the Provincial commander will be overwhelmed by a mixture of Nubian Archers and Hunters from other tribes, and is likely to die before he can be reached.

The Iberian mercenaries' tent (4 on the map above) can be destroyed relatively easily by taking the ridge immediately to the east of the tent. Three or four units will need to be destroyed. Let archers set the tent on fire from range. Centurion writes: "A few green spearmen will move slowly towards you but won't reach you in time to stop the camp being destroyed." Eos suggests setting your troops to 'defensive' mode so that they are less likely to fire at soon-to-be-converted mercenaries. Quickly grab the mercenary Chieftain and surrounding units (including the archers in the tower) and move them south slightly to avoid alerting nearby enemy troops. Also try and avoid accidentally firing on Provincial troops stationed in the woods to the north of the ridge. The Iberian troops primarily consist of Pikemen and Hunters.

The Provincial mercenaries' tent (6 on the map above) can be destroyed by a direct frontal assault along the path from the north-west, or by positioning archers on the opposite side of the ridge to the north-east of the start location. Although a viable tactic, the first method ends up killing most of the Provincial units along the route. Centurion writes: "There are enemy Praetorians near the orange camp so after dealing with the Gladiators [in the grassland to the north-east] run the Nubian Archers to the tall grass down from the forest near the orange camp. Now have them fire poison arrows at the Praetorians, then when the Praetorians are in the tall grass set fire to the grass in front of their path." The second method (positioning archers on the opposite side of the ridge) requires several tough enemy units to be engaged first. From bond0bhave: "There are some Gladiators in most of the long grasses - use archers to set them on fire first. Then use Nubians to attack Praetorians and run away." Without Nubian Archers, enemy Praetorians are slightly harder to deal with. Use woodland as cover from the Provincial slingers on the ridge above. Once the Provincial commander joins your army, act quickly to counter any remaining hostile mercenaries on the ridge, and avoid getting into a fight with a large group of enemy waiting on the southern side of the ridge.

The most effective way of destroying the Mauretanian mercenaries' tent (5 on the map above) is to use archers at range. First take the small wooded area on the top of the hill just north-west of the start location. It contains some Nubian Archers. Try to avoid dragging any Provincial units into the battle - this is easier said than done unless the Provincials are already neutral. Once the Mauretanian Official joins your army there is a chance his tower based archers will fire at nearby Provincial units if those Provincials are still hostile.

Just to the north of the bridge is a large enemy army. To the west of them lies the village of Osuna (2 on the map above). There are a number of mercenaries on the island in the north-east (7 on the map above).

By carefully guiding your commanders along the northern bank of the river it is possible to gain the extra mercenaries on the north-east island. Send a few other troops along too, because there is a unit of enemy Praetorians lurking in the woodland in the centre of the island. Return to the bridge carefully, evading the enemy to the north. Rather than gaining these units immediately, Centurion suggests waiting until after the village has been captured: "Build troops until your unit limit is 'maxed' out, THEN go and collect the troops." The aim is to gain a bigger army than would otherwise be possible.

If your forces approach Osuna the village and its militia will join your army. However, this also causes all the enemy forces just north of the river to immediately attack, so is not an advisable strategy. From bond0bhave: "I took all my troops and went to the bridge, built some towers, placed the archers, Hunters, slingers and Nubians in them. All the rest of the archers were on the other side of the river and all the melee units on the bridge. I then used some archers to lure the massive enemy force into range of my units, and destroyed them all." If towers are built on the southern side of the bridge Pikemen can be used effectively on the bridge to kill cavalry. However, fewer enemies can be lured across the bridge. Building towers on the northern side of the bridge allows more enemy to be lured, but may be slightly more messy. Of course, since towers just take time to build and do not cost anything, you can build as many as you wish, slowly working your way north.

With the majority of the enemy army to the north destroyed, taking and holding Osuna should be straightforward. This is the only mission where it is possible to produce absolutely every unit type from all three civilizations, simply by rotating which officer recruits at Osuna. Unfortunately there is unlikely to be any need to recruit extensively from the village. At this stage there is no need to defend the village since Labienus appears only to produce new troops once his fortress is being attacked, and never uses them to patrol outside the fortress.

The final assault on the fortress is relatively simple, and little different from earlier fortress-attack missions. LordJohnDrinksalot writes: "I used my slingers to take out the enemy catapults/ballista on the hills before I went on the attack." There are many methods of taking the fortress, including the use of Assault Towers or Battering Rams. Once inside the fortress, kill Titus Labienus to complete the mission and the campaign. Congratulations. Enjoy your statue :-) .

Written by timski