Europa Barbarorum 2 - A Review of the Best Mod for Medieval 2: Total War 

I've put almost 550 hours just into this mod. It and the original Europa Barbarorum mod are two of my favorite games of all time.

In my opinion, I think gudeaTW is the best unintentional ASMR there is, and here I'm going to explain why. His soothing voice, calm demeanor, extended knowledge of history, and passion for gaming lends to create such a peaceful experience that I relax while learning about the various mods produced by the passionate community and little tidbits about the history of the periods. As a fan of Total War since I first played Medieval 2, there is not quite any other experience quite like this on youtube.

You speak exceptionally clearly without sounding like a robot, and it's something i didn't realize i missed in other creators.

Great review. EB (both 1 and 2) is something special, and very few mods across gaming, let alone those in the TW community, come close to its level of passion and attention to detail. At university I studied military history with a specialism in Classics (focusing on Roman politics and military reform of the Augustan period) around a decade ago, and accompanied that time with multiple playthroughs of EB1. The developing team's weaving of primary source material and a thorough secondary source bibliography was extremely useful to place my studies in context (and borrow from!), as well as being an entertaining way to explore counterfactuals. No other gaming experience has delivered something as unique as EB in that regard. I think a lot of people get put off by its frighteningly large scale in comparison to vanilla, and how it adopts a glacial pace in favour of historical accuracy and authenticity (to a fault, for some), rather than the arcade-esque "gamified" feel of the original RTW. Those looking for that should play the Warhammer titles (which I enjoy for other reasons). As you've illustrated in your video, it's as much about the role-playing aspects, and understanding historical change through the broad political and socio-military developments of the last BC centuries. I used it as a learning device as much as playing it for a hobby. Once you accept that, and you're willing to read more history (I've spent hours reading the essays that are meant to be unit descriptions), you understand the project and are more willing to invest time. You're in it for the long haul, or not at all. EB2 markedly improved the role-playing aspects of its predecessor, and finesse more or less everything else, so can only be applauded. I am currently awaiting a 2.35 iterative (or 2.4) patch, like everyone else, but will probably reinstall to scratch that itch for yet another foray into EB.

this is an awsome review for a very misundertood mod, will be looking forward for a future hayastan campaign, hats off to you good sir :)

I have really barely touched medieval 2. But watching this has made me feel like playing the mod really badly now!

nice one, well done! i would also highlight the meticulous provincial recruitment system (aor) that is very much a staple of the EB. btw, in terms of tribute as Hayastan (something I was involved in) it shouldnt be every turn but once a year, in spring iirc. thanks for the review, it’s very much in line with my thinking.:) PS. you may want to enable the date/season on your UI;)

The biggest flaw in Europa Barbarorum 2 is the time between the updates. Several years ago the Romani reform script was broken and it took over a year to get an update that fixed it, and in 2.35 the Pahlava's reform script is broken and I've been waiting over a year for an update. ...But I can't really complain about it, they're doing the modding for free, no strings attached, and I can't expect them to dedicate even more of their finite spare time for this.

Great review, subscribed! Europa Barbarorum 2 is the best mod of all time, alongside IMO a mod for Battlefield 2, Forgotten Hope 2, which, i guess tackled WW2 with the same level of historical accuracy as EB! EB 2 is so far the only total war game where i went above 300 turns in a campaign. In fact, i went for around 900 turns across a year or so, in an epeiros campaign. Best singleplayer campaign i ever had in a game.

Spent about a bazillion hours in EB1 about 10-12 years ago. EB2 was a rumour with couple screenshots at that time. Recently rediscovered it and was just amazed how well developed it is. Graphics are insane, especially units design. And campaigns are so diverse. Had great fun with romans with all that moving generals back and forth to Rome for elections. Nabatea has a very interesting process of going through settling and hellenisation. And now suffering with Pontos (damn galatians). Going to spend another bazillion hours .

Hahaha, I must be the only person who loves the eastern battle music. It's so jarring and frankly terrifying. Makes me flinch when fighting against those cataphract armies and feel hyped up as hell when fighting as them. Also there's a series of really cool music tracks based around the same scale and drumbeat all by the same guy, depicting Bactria, the Saka Rauka, the Seleukids, and the Parni. Gives this real epic feeling to the campaign. There's a lot of opportunities for roleplaying.

When I hear you voice this line always comes to my mind that I watcged years ago"Our pointy hats will protect us from their deadly gazes"

Really cool mod review man. I've always looked at this mod with curiosity but never actually checked it out. I didn't know it was so historically accurate. That's pretty cool, especially considering half my time is spent watching history videos on youtube so this seems only natural to go along with it.:D.

Thank you for your review, I found it very interesting! I'll give this mod a try :)

Thank you for the nice review. Keep up the good work.

Hey there,played EbI when i was young like 1000 ago 😁 Since that day I becomed hooked by total war games (historical ones) because of that experience Time passed and played other and more modern total war games mods like.... Ancient Empires,DEI,Age of justinian,Fall of the Eagles 1212 ad,Radious mods (Attila,Rome II,Shogun II)basically all well done mods and to the FAV list for many...but Forgot about my true love and what made me love total war games,then found your review and fell in love again with EbII and I want to say thanks for your passion. I wish they will continue developing this mod and I wish more people will open the eyes again and enjoy this pure gem of a mod,thanks Gudea to remind me again what I truly love ❤️ 😊

I really liked the mechanic for Lusitania when you invade Numantia they get a full stack army appear for them so you had better have most of spain if you want to take them on.

The amount of Historical information in this mod is amazing I'll be having a long time reading !

I *love* the Eastern battle theme. It's so menacing. I listen to it when I exercise.

Love this mod, do you know if developers of this mod is planning any updates, i am not using any social stuff so its hard to follow on any news from eb team, cheers

First got to touch Total War with Rome 1 back in 2015, never regretted it. Now on my first week of playing EB2 and it is amazingggg!

Great video, and for a great mod (the very best of the non-medieval setting mods for Med II) that deserves it.

I've only recently dipped my toes into this mod around 2 years ago and was awestruck at how different it was, I mostly played custom battles but the funny thing is was that it was only recenlty that I found out the Helion League or however they pronounced it in the mod were the greeks. I felt so stupid afterwards.

It's really funny to pick out assets from other games in this, like the market from Caesar 3 in the buildings tab of konosos

Nice Rewview,you made me play EBII and i thank you for this,is the best Historical Game ever played ❤

Amazing and thank you!

It is "κοινόν ελλήνων" pronounced Ki(like tee)n'O'n el'I'(again like tee)non and it meens the greeks' common.Thank you great video

Is the music you’re playing in the Lux Invicta mod for Crusader Kings 2?

What mods have better battles and why? I'm curious what you think.

It's frustrating that Spies and Assassins are so damn expensive in this mod. In EB1, in my Casse campaign, I have spies covering the whole of Gaul; the Aedui and Arverni can't move without me knowing about it. In EB2, the fog of war is omnipresent. I wish that Spies/Assassins/Diplomats were super cheap and had a super active role to play in EB2. That way, you would need a Spy/Assassin attached to your Generals/Diplomats to protect them from assassination, and you would also be constantly sending Assassins to take out the AIs Diplomats to stop them from bribing your armies and to hit their Generals to weaken their armies, like a giant game of wack-a-mole.

Played the heck out of EB1, never got into part 2 really for some reason (might have only tried a very early version of it for 30 min) - Just installed Ancient Empires mod for Attila, lo and behold the campaign selection screen, the music and the year in history window. Is this the same team ?

Nice. Im huge fan of the original mod. Tried this one back in 2015, but it was quite lackluster compared to its predecessor, but I see its about time to give it another try. :) Thx for yr video.

You make me want to get back into my Kimmerios Bosporos campaign! But oh, I've just started a Rome campaign in Imperator: Rome...

great review, best total war mod out there, i played EB1 from 2006 til 2010, waiting for the next EB2 update

I'm playing Vanilla Beyond for the first time now but I'll check this mod after. I've only ever played Medieval 2 Total war and I love it.

Is it possible to request a review of Rome Total REalism and Roma Surrectum? Both of these are available for download, but the features are not detailed. I guess they are along for such a long time that the developers think it is obvious :) Thanks for considering!

Hey, some of the buildings (I play as the Romani) increase income but reduce public order for some reason or that some building increase public order but reduce income. Any explanation why? I am trying to learn this mod to the best of my ability.

100% agreed on the eastern battle soundtrack. Not only is it dreadful to listen to, but there is no variation and it plays in every single battle. Had to switch to the vanilla Rome:TW soundtrack.

Hi Gudea. Love the video. You said EB 2 battles are great but not outstanding. What are the best mods for battles in your opinion?

Is there a way to play just the campaign without the battles? I was hoping to use this epic campaign system and then play the battles with miniatures on the tabletop. I've played Total War since the beginning off and on but the battles are not very realistic. Maybe some type of cheat or something to apply my tabletop results to the battles. You make well thought out reviews.

Really keen to try this (and EB1) out sometime and get stuck in to all the detail. It's a shame people don't take so much interest in them any more. One thing I'm unsure of with EB2 is how it handles phalanx units - obviously that's a pretty huge feature for Hellenic factions in RTW but I'm guessing it doesn't carry over to EB2? Generic spearmen units wouldn't feel as satisfying to me. Anyway, thanks for the helpful overview.

wow thats looks like decent mod, one of the few with such of realms selection, thanks for upload bro :)

It's a great review for a great mod. Excellent job! It's just a pity that you didn't tackle differences between EB 1 and 2, especially newly added factions are not mentioned. And here's my biggest issue with EB 2 - since there is still a faction limit (higher on M2TW engine than RTW engine, but still existent nevertheless) I find Pergamon and Lugiones as wasted faction slots. As for Pergamon, I understand that it was important in that time period and significant small regional power, but from pure gameplay perspective it adds absolutely nothing. It's just another copy-paste Hellenistic state thrown in a turmoil of Anatolia. AFAIK, they don't even get any specific, faction unique unit. It's just a cheap rehash of Pontus, except it's worse. As for Lugiones - well, I understand that creators probably wanted to fill some spaces in Central and Northen Europe to give some flavor and challenge to Sweboz, but Lugiones seem for me kinda...forced (the same goes for Boii by the way, but they were at least relevant in that time). I actually should root for them, since I'm from Poland and they cover lands of modern-day Poland (though there's no connection between these Germanic people and Slavs obviously), but still I doubt they were that important in that period. On their defence, I actually think that they are fun to play. In my opinion there were better options for factions for these two slots, for more unique and fun gameplay. If they wanted another power in Asia Minor they could have added Galatians (especially since we already have a myriad of Galatian units, plus it would be interesting to play as barbarians surrounded by Hellenistic and Eastern superpowers. Some faction in modern-day Sudan would be great - I actually think that Kush in Rome 2 and Axum in Attila are great additions to the game because they add something fresh, plus I guess there are a lot of sources about ancient Sudan/Ethiopia to create faction that would not be "Fantasy Total War". Plus another challenge for Ptolemies, who said that only Seleukids should have a hard time? Other choices, well maybe some Thracian or Illyrian tribe? (though most of their units can be already recruited by the Getai, Macedon or Epirus). I'm not historian though and I might be wrong. On the other hand, I find that Taksashila, Arevaci, Massylia and Nabatea are great. Also Pritanoi, although there are supposed to be Casse replacement, feel different in gameplay, and thus fresh. Anyway, great review for excellent mod! And I really enjoyed watching Hayasdan campaign!

nice , how does it compare to broken crescent? that's the only mod i've played and played a lot of

I am looking forward to a mod at this detail level in the Rome remaster

What's the recommended campaign difficulty?

As an Armenian (Hay), I love your video

What is the best mode combination for rome and medieval for historical realism? I tried rome total realism years ago and it was great but there has to be something new.

Any helpful guides that can aid me in my playthroughs?

great mod but i still think Divide and Conquer is the best med 2 mod

Great review of a professional quality. EB is really a great mod, and in a way better than RS3.

love and light xxx

what do you think of ''Wrath of the Norsemen''?

Is someone knows what languages does the Arevakoi, Gaulish and other than (Latin and Greek speakers) Classical Civilizations speak?

tbh, I think id prefer a standardized naming convention. its a bit odd that the game as a whole uses local terms instead of uniforming itsince they are all being used in a singular context of the game itself, just in terms of referencing I think it would be more streamlined that way. like, even achedemic papers tend to stick to a convention for consistancy’s sake when dealing with broad topics of multiple cultures (maybe using parenthesis if they do want to note a particular)

How can I activate the missions it seems to me there are no missions ..

good video

This mod is long af but once you get into it oh boy

I think they should really consider moving over to Rome remastered! Probably a ton of work but also worth it in the end!

I love this mod. Only problem is that when I press end turn, the game lags for 3-5 minutes, and it's virtually unplayable. 🙄

i love this mod, and sship also.

having only just watched a small handful of your videos I can tell you're a massive Armeniaboo fantastic taste

the only thing i don't like in this mod is the fact when a unit is skirmishing, they rush forward to throw their pila/javies, which is breaking the line...

for me the legend mod 1 - deus lo vult 2- Europa Barbarorum 2

If I remember correctly, this mod requires 20 GB of free space. right?

Not bad but BOTET will forever be my fav :D

My medieval 2 no longer works, and for that I curse this mod, since it means I cannot listen to the sweet, sweet tunes of flutes, and the barking orders when moving troops. EB2 really was the best Rome we ever got

Legend cheeses the game in every way he can and now his mind is fried on Warhammer so his opinion barely matters

I really want a Roman-era mod that gives us better detail on the Mediterranean, *instead* of going further east, thereby giving us more factions like the Achaean League, the Kingdom of Noricum, etc. Also, I want it to do away with the obnoxious and overly pedantic native language names.

Apricot Mt is the best song. 💓😍

I discover one massive bruh moment though. I cannot build roman province in Alexandria and so far only in Alexandria, i even conquer bosporus and i can built province there but i cannot built roman province in the wealthiest city in egypt. I would comment to offical eb right away if not for some reason despite login in totalwar i cannot post or comment anything.

I have been playing Med2 since 2006 and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. I think I'm *almost* done with stainless steel...

There is trend lately where people rant about lack of latin or the original languages. Well I prefer to understand what being said instead act like pseudo historian. English is international language, that's how we communicate. What is the point of hearing sentences in language that you don't understand? With that being said, mod is quite interesting. One thing that bothers me, is every other unit throws spears before charge. I thought it was roman thing, I might be wrong though.

Do i need to re install medieval 2 to play this gold mine?

Fuck8ng Amazing 😎

Its a good mod, but nothing is better than Third Age TW

Which mod is better EB or EB2?

It's really good But i prefer Stainless Steel

The only problem I have with this mod is that the battles are just so unbearably long

Just can't get myself to enjoy EB 2 everything just looks wrong on medieval 2. But now with rome remastered I am hoping that EB will get put onto the now improved version of rome.

> The best mod for Medieval 2 > It´s about Rome

I never liked Medieval 2. I've played it with SS mod and it was really boring, but.. Now I want to try playing it again! Do you recommend me any mods? I've played a lot of total war games. Warhammer 2, Shogun 2, Rome 2, Napoleon/Empire, Attila, so you can recommend me some "harder" mods :D

Babababa babariean😂😂😂😂kidding

bro this looks like rome.... are you sue its a mod for MWTW2?

You complain about the use of "Spain" in Rome 1, less than two minutes later you describe a faction as "German".

Europa Barbarorum 2 is a mod that is big in size and execution. New models, scripts, factions, tons of cool lore for history nerds but in terms of gameplay, it is by far the worst Total War Mod I have ever played. Med 2 in vanilla has good charges, and even though the cav gets glitchy it still catches the routing enemies. In EB 2 I don't know why but they suck at routing the enemies. They are slow, laggy, and frustratingly unsatisfying to use. That is what the combat feels like. Slow, laggy, and unsatisfying. The ranged and infantry are alright, but the combat is just way too heavily modded and was turned into something far too different then vanilla combat, making the game way too niche for specific players who may enjoy the changes made. Combat aside city building is overcomplicated and many buildings feel like needless bloat. What kind of special building in this town, do you want hastati or only auxillary, not to say that these designs are terrible, as I can see the enjoyment from some hardcore players, but these changes are not new player friendly and directly contrast the streamlined building of vanilla Total War. In my personal preference I enjoy the simplicity of vanilla total war, I really wanted to enjoy EB 2 but could not because of how severe the changes made affected the vanilla gameplay. That is why EB 2 is underrated. The gameplay is niche, the changes are drastic, the passion put into EB 2 like the "historically accurate" music with replica instruments are not ignored but also sadly overlooked by many because of drastic changes to the regular gameplay. I play total war to have a crazy experience in a world map where everything goes in a semi historical background. Not to be constantly pressured by "historically accurate" events, scripts and gameplay changes. To each their own. Some may enjoy that kind of gameplay, perhaps hardcore fans of medieval 2, but I can see why EB 2 did not do so well. The changes made are niche and preferable only to a select crowd that had been following EB since Rome Total War. Most players are not going to be playing 200-300 turn games. And thats fine, the mod itself exists freely and anyone who wishes can try it out and see if its good or not. Its a ridiculously cool mod, with tons of work poured into it, but ultimately severed the gameplay balance that existed in vanilla Medieval 2, and so pushed away casual players, who form the majority of the playerbase.

The diplomacy in this mod sucks Allies are not allies Nobody cares or respects the peace treaties or ceasefire

This is not the best mod imo, its not even finished and the developers stopped working on it

Shame it's extremely unstable..

russian lounge

Fuck no, EB2 slows down the gameplay of Med2 so much. Rome 1, EB1 wasn't this slow. They need to seriously fix the cavalry in this as well.