Gauls: the complete tribe guide

Gauls combine beginner safety with one of the highest defensive mobility ceilings in the game. Their early protection tools make mistakes less punishing, while fast cavalry lets an experienced player farm, reinforce and intercept across distances other tribes cannot cover.

Every unit below links to its page in the unit database, and every comparison opens in the Unit comparison with both sides already chosen. The whole roster is on the Gauls page.

The hero

The Gaul hero is best understood through mobility and the tribe's wider defensive and farming identity rather than as an isolated stat bonus. In practice he supports a tribe that wants to move quickly, protect development and exploit fast cavalry. The equipment that changes those numbers is in the hero database.

The Trapper, and the cranny

The Trapper is a strong early deterrent against lone heroes and small raids: it forces an attacker to commit more troops than the target is worth. Its military importance falls sharply as armies scale - a trapper that holds 400 troops is decisive in week one and irrelevant in month three.

Combined with the tribe's stronger Cranny protection, it makes the Gaul opening unusually forgiving. Both are reasons a first-time player is pointed at Gauls, and neither is a reason an experienced one stays.

Troops, and what they are up against

Phalanx

Cheap, balanced one-crop defence rather than a single-stat specialist - which is what makes the Phalanx the most common defensive troop in the game.

Unit	Def inf	Def cav	Def / 100 res	Crop	Cost	Speed	Side by side
PhalanxGauls	40	50	14.3	1	315	7	this troop
SpearmanTeutons	35	60	14.0	1	340	7	Compare
Ash WardenEgyptians	55	40	11.3	1	420	6	Compare
PraetorianRomans	65	35	10.9	1	460	5	Compare
ShieldsmanSpartans	85	45	12.3	1	530	8	Compare

Swordsman

Usable offence, but not what makes Gauls a top conventional hammer tribe.

Unit	Attack	Attack / 100 res	Crop	Cost	Speed	Carry	Side by side
SwordsmanGauls	65	12.1	1	535	6	45	this troop
ImperianRomans	70	11.7	1	600	7	50	Compare
AxemanTeutons	60	12.2	1	490	6	50	Compare
Khopesh WarriorEgyptians	65	10.0	1	650	7	45	Compare
Twinsteel TherionSpartans	90	11.3	1	795	6	50	Compare

Pathfinder

The fastest scout in the game bar the Hun Spotter, and mobility is part of its value: a Gaul scout arrives before the decision has to be made.

Unit	Def inf	Def cav	Speed	Crop	Cost	Side by side
PathfinderGauls	20	10	17	2	380	this troop
SpotterHuns	20	10	19	2	380	Compare
Equites LegatiRomans	20	10	16	2	360	Compare
Sopdu ExplorerEgyptians	20	10	16	2	380	Compare
SentinelSpartans	40	22	9	1	445	Compare

Theutates Thunder

The Theutates Thunder's defining advantage is reach: farming, long-range raids and ghost-hammer behaviour that slower tribes cannot answer. Against the Steppe Rider it trades attack for speed.

Unit	Attack	Attack / crop	Attack / 100 res	Crop	Cost	Speed	Carry	Side by side
Theutates ThunderGauls	100	50.0	9.2	2	1,090	19	75	this troop
Steppe RiderHuns	120	60.0	13.4	2	895	16	75	Compare
Equites ImperatorisRomans	120	40.0	8.5	3	1,410	14	100	Compare
Valkyrie’s BlessingVikings	160	80.0	9.8	2	1,625	9	80	Compare

Druidrider

Strong mobile infantry defence - the unit that answers an infantry hammer three hours away.

Unit	Def inf	Def cav	Def / 100 res	Crop	Cost	Speed	Side by side
DruidriderGauls	115	55	7.8	2	1,090	16	this troop
Anhur GuardEgyptians	110	50	7.3	2	1,090	15	Compare
Elpida RiderSpartans	120	90	7.3	2	1,440	16	Compare
PaladinTeutons	100	40	7.0	2	1,005	10	Compare
Huskarl RiderVikings	95	100	9.2	2	1,055	12	Compare

Haeduan

The second half of a mobile defensive cavalry package, and the highest cavalry defence in the game. It also hits hard enough to be used offensively, which few defensive units can claim.

Unit	Def inf	Def cav	Def inf / crop	Def cav / crop	Def / 100 res	Crop	Cost	Speed	Side by side
HaeduanGauls	60	165	20.0	55.0	5.7	3	1,965	13	this troop
Resheph ChariotEgyptians	120	150	40.0	50.0	7.5	3	1,800	10	Compare
Elpida RiderSpartans	120	90	60.0	45.0	7.3	2	1,440	16	Compare
Huskarl RiderVikings	95	100	47.5	50.0	9.2	2	1,055	12	Compare
Equites CaesarisRomans	80	105	20.0	26.3	4.3	4	2,170	10	Compare

Ram and Trebuchet

Serviceable rather than a reason to choose the tribe. Rams and walls and Catapults: targets, durability and how many to send compare every tribe's siege.

Unit	Attack	Attack / 100 res	Def cav	Cost	Crop	Side by side
RamGauls	50	2.6	105	1,910	3	this troop
RamTeutons	65	3.8	80	1,720	3	Compare
Battering ramRomans	60	3.3	75	1,830	3	Compare
RamEgyptians	55	2.8	95	1,990	3	Compare

Unit	Attack	Attack / 100 res	Def cav	Cost	Crop	Side by side
TrebuchetGauls	70	2.2	10	3,130	6	this troop
Fire CatapultRomans	75	2.5	10	2,990	6	Compare
CatapultTeutons	50	1.8	10	2,760	6	Compare
Stone CatapultEgyptians	65	2.0	10	3,250	6	Compare

Chieftain

20-25% loyalty per hit. Its speed can complicate synchronised waves, because it often has to be slowed to match the troops around it - see Administrators: loyalty and conquering villages.

Unit	Loyalty per hit	Cost	Crop	Speed	Side by side
ChieftainGauls	20-25%	144,650	4	5	this troop
ChiefTeutons	20-25%	114,300	4	4	Compare
SenatorRomans	20-30%	140,450	5	4	Compare
LogadesHuns	15-30%	117,600	4	5	Compare

Settler

The cheapest settler in the game on a normal server, which is a real early advantage when three of them have to be paid for at once. Settlers and founding villages covers culture points and expansion slots.

Unit	Cost	Carry	Crop	Speed	Side by side
SettlerGauls	18,100	3,000	1	5	this troop
SettlerRomans	19,000	3,000	1	5	Compare
SettlerTeutons	20,000	3,000	1	5	Compare
SettlerSpartans	19,995	3,000	1	5	Compare

Economy and farming

Gauls can build a strong active economy through Theutates farming. Unlike the Hun version, the identity is less about the cheapest possible cavalry and more about exceptional reach: the ability to hit distant opportunities that nobody else is competing for.

Defensive strategy

Gaul defence can be built as stationary Phalanx mass or as a highly mobile cavalry network. Druidriders answer infantry-heavy threats; Haeduans strengthen cavalry defence. On regional maps that mobility becomes especially valuable, because the strategic targets are spread across many regions and whoever can reinforce two of them with one army is worth two players.

Offensive strategy

Conventional Gaul hammers are viable but generally not the tribe's strongest comparative role. The distinctive offensive use is speed: Theutates-heavy raiding and ghost-style attacks exploit distance and timing in ways slower tribes cannot.

The numbers: conventional, ghost, or both

Three Gaul offensive shapes on the same 100,000 crop:

Army	Troops	Attack	Resources	Days to train
Swordsman + Theutates Thunder	50,000 + 25,000	5,750,000	54,000,000	112.6
Theutates Thunder	50,000	5,000,000-13%	54,500,000+0.9%	193.9+72%
Swordsman + Haeduan	50,000 + 16,666	5,583,240-2.9%	59,498,690+10%	112.6

The conventional mix is the strongest per crop, and the pure-cavalry ghost gives up about 13% of the attack for it. What the ghost buys is not in the table: every troop in it moves at 19 fields an hour instead of waiting for infantry at 6, which is the difference between an attack that lands where it was aimed and one the defender has time to answer.

The ghost also takes about 72% longer to train, because all of it comes out of one Stable while the mixed army uses the Barracks at the same time. That is a real cost of a cavalry-only account and it is usually paid by building more villages rather than by waiting.

The Haeduan variant gives up 3% of the attack for 10% more resources, and buys something an attack column cannot show: roughly half as much defence again as the Swordsman and Theutates army, which the troop table above sets out unit by unit. That is the Gaul speciality - an army that can hit and then stand where it landed, which no other tribe's hammer manages without a second army.

Travel time for a real distance is in the Army calculator; the Tournament Square and the 20-field rule changes it again.

The numbers: which Gaul defence

Army	Troops	Def inf	Def cav	Resources	Days to train
Phalanx	100,000	4,000,000	5,000,000	31,500,000	162.6
Druidrider	50,000	5,750,000+44%	2,750,000-45%	54,500,000+73%	200.1+23%
Haeduan	33,333	1,999,980-50%	5,499,945+10%	65,499,345+108%	162.60%
Phalanx + Druidrider	50,000 + 25,000	4,875,000+22%	3,875,000-22%	43,000,000+37%	100.1-38%

Phalanx mass is the cheapest defence in the game by a distance - the other three rows cost between 37% and 108% more resources for the same crop. Druidriders buy about 44% more infantry defence per crop than Phalanxes; Haeduans buy the best cavalry defence of the four, and cost more than twice what the Phalanx wall does.

The practical answer for most accounts is the fourth row: Phalanxes for the bulk, Druidriders for the part that has to arrive quickly.

Strengths, weaknesses and common mistakes

• Strength. The safest opening in the game, and the cheapest settlers.
• Strength. The fastest defence in the game: a Druidrider or Haeduan force covers ground nobody else can.
• Strength. The Haeduan is both the best cavalry defender and a usable attacker.
• Weakness. Conventional offence is the tribe's weakest comparative role.
• Mistake. Relying on the Trapper past the first few weeks.
• Mistake. Building a Theutates ghost hammer out of one village and wondering why it takes a month.

Where to go next

• The seven tribes compared by the numbers - every tribe's best attacker and defender.
• Tournament Square and the 20-field rule - what it does to Gaul travel times.
• Army calculator - price the whole army, buildings included.
• Oases: bonuses, animals and annexing - what fast cavalry can clear, and what it pays.