Marcus Furius Camillus is the leader of the Rome faction, slowly working up towards his eventual status as the Second Founder of Rome. This is a very convoluted time period - one that saw several cultural, geographic, and military developments, lending itself to an enticingly evolving campaign. The greatest thing about Rise of the Republic is how well it circles back to the beginning of Rome II. It forces you to play aggressively, and at times the sheer amount of consecutive battles becomes a little grindy. Those factions mostly hate each other, meaning the air tends to get thick with conflicts within the first five turns of the campaign. Each has their own bonuses and special conditions, as is the norm in Total War, providing a different set of starting positions and diplomatic relationships. Rome has only a couple of cities and is surrounded by rival tribes that want it dead, creating a volatile and extremely war-prone environment.Īside from Rome, there are eight playable factions in the DLC: the Nuragic Lolei the Etruscan Tarchuna the Gallic Senones and Insubres the Italian Samnites and Veneti and the Greek Taras and Syracuse. Rome’s armies are not a professional legionnaire force, but normal citizens that copy their phalanx fighting styles from the Etruscans (who in turn copied it from the Greeks). The Republic is still in its early days, with none of the signature military advancements on its belt. Rise of the Republic takes place in that period, serving as a bonafide prequel to Rome II’s Grand Campaign (and covering a similar period as that of the tutorial). Italy is full of Italians and Etruscans, with Greeks to the south in Syracuse and Gauls starting to make themselves comfy in the north, meaning the closest thing to a major power in the region was Carthage, all the way in Africa. It’s 399 BC, a century after Rome’s abolition of kingship in 509 BC.

This time, instead of playing as or fighting against the full mighty of the world’s greatest republic, you get to witness its rise. Creative Assembly, ever aware of the staying power of Rome and its legacy, is back again with another expansion for Total War: Rome II.

The most important thing Italians gave the world, besides lasagne (and me).

Rome 2 total war tactics