I'm sure some of you have already stated and discussed what I'm writing here, but these are just some of my thoughts on the matter. Judge me not to harshly in my critique on Gemino and our situation vis a vis him. It may look bad, but there are some really good opportunities here.
One: we have actual proof that, despite our forces being green and not Rome's finest, we can still take his forces head on. And we also apparently cut out a good portion of his mid management. An important thing to note about anti-guerrilla warfare tactics (now we call it counter insurgency), is that taking out the head of the snake isn't always the best way to kill a movement. Sometimes, killing off a commander's lieutenants can cripple an insurgency just as effectively. While the general may still be there, much of his effectiveness in commanding a large group of men comes from having a capable staff that he can trust to know his thoughts and effectively carry out his orders.
Gemino just lost that. The people he replaces them with will be not as good, not as experienced in taking up the role, and that will play to our advantage. Trying to fight him on his own turf, bringing the fight to him when our supply situation right now could very well see us caught in a trap that gets us decapitated. But we do have a way to victory: getting him to attack us. His advantage is in being mobile, wearing us down, demoralizing us. To truly have a chance of eliminating him, we need to get him into a trap.
Lay out a trap to entice your enemy, feign disorder, then crush him
Sun Tzu made these words famous, but he was just reiterating what many commanders have used throughout the millennia: the best bait to lure out your adversary is to present yourself as weak, disorganized, and easy to take down. Offer them an opportunity that is too good to pass up, and punish them for it when they take it. This would not be an unbelievable situation for us to create: surely all have heard that the local legion is low on supplies, and filled with young recruits, and led by a young, inexperienced commander. But Gemino is clever. Surely he wouldn't fall for such a easy to see through ruse right? That leads us to the second observation I made.
Two: Gemino, for all his supposed brilliance and craftiness, has a fatal flaw: hubris. This is a man who apparently sneaked into our camp himself, to deliver a letter written to us by himself. It was to send several messages, not just what was written, but to say "look what I can do", and, "look at how in over your head you are". He's arrogant, and proud. For all his supposed subtlety, he has a flair for the dramatic. It wasn't enough for him to have us just see our legion get run around in circles, he had to give us a taste of his power first hand. It's a typical attitude many criminals take when interacting with the law. It provides a unique sense of special-ness, of power and superhuman capability.
It also get's them caught or killed 99.99% of the time.
If we present a situation that shows our legion and cohorts to be " totally weak", or lead a party of rowdy Gauls into a situation that leaves us "completely compromised", Gemino will almost certainly take the bait. His psychology demands it. He personally told us "go home boy, before I teach you a lesson you won't live to understand". And here we still are, digging in, and coming at him again. He has to come at us; he has to punish us.
And therein lays our victory. But those are just my take on the situation. I'll vote for a plan when I think on it some more.
One: we have actual proof that, despite our forces being green and not Rome's finest, we can still take his forces head on. And we also apparently cut out a good portion of his mid management. An important thing to note about anti-guerrilla warfare tactics (now we call it counter insurgency), is that taking out the head of the snake isn't always the best way to kill a movement. Sometimes, killing off a commander's lieutenants can cripple an insurgency just as effectively. While the general may still be there, much of his effectiveness in commanding a large group of men comes from having a capable staff that he can trust to know his thoughts and effectively carry out his orders.
Gemino just lost that. The people he replaces them with will be not as good, not as experienced in taking up the role, and that will play to our advantage. Trying to fight him on his own turf, bringing the fight to him when our supply situation right now could very well see us caught in a trap that gets us decapitated. But we do have a way to victory: getting him to attack us. His advantage is in being mobile, wearing us down, demoralizing us. To truly have a chance of eliminating him, we need to get him into a trap.
Lay out a trap to entice your enemy, feign disorder, then crush him
Sun Tzu made these words famous, but he was just reiterating what many commanders have used throughout the millennia: the best bait to lure out your adversary is to present yourself as weak, disorganized, and easy to take down. Offer them an opportunity that is too good to pass up, and punish them for it when they take it. This would not be an unbelievable situation for us to create: surely all have heard that the local legion is low on supplies, and filled with young recruits, and led by a young, inexperienced commander. But Gemino is clever. Surely he wouldn't fall for such a easy to see through ruse right? That leads us to the second observation I made.
Two: Gemino, for all his supposed brilliance and craftiness, has a fatal flaw: hubris. This is a man who apparently sneaked into our camp himself, to deliver a letter written to us by himself. It was to send several messages, not just what was written, but to say "look what I can do", and, "look at how in over your head you are". He's arrogant, and proud. For all his supposed subtlety, he has a flair for the dramatic. It wasn't enough for him to have us just see our legion get run around in circles, he had to give us a taste of his power first hand. It's a typical attitude many criminals take when interacting with the law. It provides a unique sense of special-ness, of power and superhuman capability.
It also get's them caught or killed 99.99% of the time.
If we present a situation that shows our legion and cohorts to be " totally weak", or lead a party of rowdy Gauls into a situation that leaves us "completely compromised", Gemino will almost certainly take the bait. His psychology demands it. He personally told us "go home boy, before I teach you a lesson you won't live to understand". And here we still are, digging in, and coming at him again. He has to come at us; he has to punish us.
And therein lays our victory. But those are just my take on the situation. I'll vote for a plan when I think on it some more.
Last edited: