Viable to archer spam as Sarleon?

[kevindrosario]

I just became a mercenary captain for Sarleon and I'm just wondering, since their higher tier archers are so heavily armored, is it a viable strategy to have an army mostly composed of longbowmen? Or will you still need a sizable amount of halberdiers? The armored longbowmen seem like they would be able to go toe to toe with most enemies except for heavy cavalry since they have no pikes or big 2 handers.

 

[manekemaan]

try and let us know ^^

 

[felixng2011]

I just became a mercenary captain for Sarleon and I'm just wondering, since their higher tier archers are so heavily armored, is it a viable strategy to have an army mostly composed of longbowmen? Or will you still need a sizable amount of halberdiers? The armored longbowmen seem like they would be able to go toe to toe with most enemies except for heavy cavalry since they have no pikes or big 2 handers.

Yes it is very viable. Just make sure to have enough infantry to protect the archers and some halbadiers as well.

 

[kevindrosario]

Thanks for the replies.

 

[DarkSoul]

From my experience Sarleon Armored Longbowmen are hard as nails. They are skilled, and brutal when firing off large volleys. They hold their own in melee comfortably as well. Though when it comes to close combat, anything they can do, Halberdiers seem to do better!

 

[azxcvbnm321]

The Armored Longbowman is the only viable unit for Sarleon in my opinion.  The Halberdiers are too hard to train.  A army composed of mainly archers and some cav. is a good one, hell all archers since you can destroy most armies before they even get close enough for combat unless there are lots of cav.  But for this to happen you need to have enough archers and not dilute them with too much infantry.

 

[manekemaan]

hey the sarleon man at arms are good as wel, excelent in shield wals and they carry morningstars --> anti heavy armor troops. They are great for protecting the halbardiers and archers.

 

[Shadow-Seeker]

In my current playthrough as a Sarleon Vassal, this is how my armies are set up.


-  -  -  -  -  -    -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <----  Sarleon skirmishers due to lower range, east to train, and way to train them. Plus they are skirmishers.

=====================================  <-- My main battle line consists of 3 rows, two different sections. My first one has
=====================================  Men-at-arms, then my armored footmen, then halberdiers. S2 has lesser infantry.
                                                                                        (sections are interchangeable, see notes)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  <-- Longbowmen, regulars in front, armored in back.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
                                                                         
                              *                                        <-- Me and the Sarleon heavy cavalry, ready to charge into the enemy flanks.
^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^                (we arn't in the back, we are at the right side of the army)

Notes:

Yes I do bring back the skirmishers when the enemy is to close.

Why do i not bump up everything to Halberdiers?

Because halberdiers have no shields, and are fragile as a sole group.

The reason for the three is because Men at arms are my trustworthy shield wallers. Armored footmen spawn with hammers that they can use to knock enemies down, which opens them to attacks to the halberdiers.

In major battles I get the main battle line of the MAH (men, armoreds, and halbs) in front, behind the skirmishers. But on training battles I'll mix the two sections so the second section can get some experiance too.

A good Sarleon army, in capable hands, can beat a lot of armies, (except Noldor). I've had resounding success against the Jatu, Ravenstern, Fierdsvain, and the D'shar.

But the D'Shar, don't let their blademasters near your troops.
The Fierdsvain arn't too terrible once you kill their berserkers and ram them with your heavy cavalry.
Ravenstern, just kill their archers and dragons, then its a piece of cake.
There are plenty of strategies to beat Jatu..

But the heavy cavalry are the real battle winners. When the battle officially gets under way, I flank the enemy, smash into their archers, then ram their battle lines from behind.

 

[InfinityAtEnd]

with 40 Fierd Huscarls I beat  500 troops in a siege battle (I was defending.. battlesize 200).

Try do that with Sarleon !!!


I agree that Huscarls are much harder to train than Sarleon Armored Longbowman, Man-at-Arms or Sarleon Halberdier but the time spend is not spent for nothing.

 

[Shadow-Seeker]

Yea but Huscarls shine in sieges. I can use a combo of Longbows and halberds to achieve the same affect. With less cost, and less time.

I mean huscarls take weeks and weeks to train, longbows take me like 4 or 5 days (conservative estimates)

 

[InfinityAtEnd]

Yea but Huscarls shine in sieges. I can use a combo of Longbows and halberds to achieve the same affect. With less cost, and less time.

I mean huscarls take weeks and weeks to train, longbows take me like 4 or 5 days (conservative estimates)

true I can't manage to train more than ~5 Huscarls each week I'm recruiting and hunt down every party that I see but still I build them so slow
I had almost 50 Huscarls and I lost  them all in taking and holding a Castle ..not I'm trying to rebuild that awesome force


In my game that I change a little ... Castles and Cities have x3 more garrisoned troops ... so Castles have like 600 troops and Cities have like 1200-1500 troops ... right now I only can  have a maximum or 160 troops .... will I be able to conquer alone with 150 Fierds Huscarls an entire city with 1500 garrison ?

I would need like 6 game months to manage to get 150 Huscarls ... but anyway ... that's my plan ... unless another faction siege the city and lowers the troops there ....

 

[Shadow-Seeker]

150 huscarls against 1500 troops? they all better be recruits if you want to win. The sally forths should be entertaining.

 

[felixng2011]

Yea but Huscarls shine in sieges. I can use a combo of Longbows and halberds to achieve the same affect. With less cost, and less time.

I mean huscarls take weeks and weeks to train, longbows take me like 4 or 5 days (conservative estimates)

true I can't manage to train more than ~5 Huscarls each week I'm recruiting and hunt down every party that I see but still I build them so slow
I had almost 50 Huscarls and I lost  them all in taking and holding a Castle ..not I'm trying to rebuild that awesome force


In my game that I change a little ... Castles and Cities have x3 more garrisoned troops ... so Castles have like 600 troops and Cities have like 1200-1500 troops ... right now I only can  have a maximum or 160 troops .... will I be able to conquer alone with 150 Fierds Huscarls an entire city with 1500 garrison ?

I would need like 6 game months to manage to get 150 Huscarls ... but anyway ... that's my plan ... unless another faction siege the city and lowers the troops there ....

No way can 150 Huscarls take out 1500 troops unless they are all fodder and the place is easy to siege. Sieging Marleons with a mere 150 huscarls will get you raped for instance if the enemy has 1500 troops.

 

[Dathlos]

The answer, quite obviously, is to bring 1500 huscarls.

 

[LittleJP]

The answer is Silvermist Rangers.

 

[azxcvbnm321]

There is no way 150 of anything can conquer a city with 1500 regular type troops (not just recruits).  The battle advantage would mean you only get to spawn a few at a time and they would be mobbed at the ladder entry point.  If you do manage to win somehow, it would be an achievement worthy of the all-time most incredible feats list.  The only places I think you might have a chance are at Laria with their two ladders and that weird D'Shar one that's like a maze (long corridor right at entry point with a wall on side protecting attacker from arrows.  Still I would be impressed.

 

[InfinityAtEnd]

There is no way 150 of anything can conquer a city with 1500 regular type troops (not just recruits).  The battle advantage would mean you only get to spawn a few at a time and they would be mobbed at the ladder entry point.  If you do manage to win somehow, it would be an achievement worthy of the all-time most incredible feats list.  The only places I think you might have a chance are at Laria with their two ladders and that weird D'Shar one that's like a maze (long corridor right at entry point with a wall on side protecting attacker from arrows.  Still I would be impressed.

true that I tried just for fun to siege with 150 Armored Axemen ... I only got spawned 12 ) and the enemy had over 100 troops on the wall... =))

Only one manage to reach the wall.... me... and then I died in 1 second )

I think the same fate I will have if I bring Huscarls too =))

I just train troops now .. construct buildings ... etc...

 

[Pravenstern]

There is no way 150 of anything can conquer a city with 1500 regular type troops (not just recruits).  The battle advantage would mean you only get to spawn a few at a time and they would be mobbed at the ladder entry point.  If you do manage to win somehow, it would be an achievement worthy of the all-time most incredible feats list.  The only places I think you might have a chance are at Laria with their two ladders and that weird D'Shar one that's like a maze (long corridor right at entry point with a wall on side protecting attacker from arrows.  Still I would be impressed.

150 Demonic Magni?

 

[InfinityAtEnd]

There is no way 150 of anything can conquer a city with 1500 regular type troops (not just recruits).  The battle advantage would mean you only get to spawn a few at a time and they would be mobbed at the ladder entry point.  If you do manage to win somehow, it would be an achievement worthy of the all-time most incredible feats list.  The only places I think you might have a chance are at Laria with their two ladders and that weird D'Shar one that's like a maze (long corridor right at entry point with a wall on side protecting attacker from arrows.  Still I would be impressed.

150 Demonic Magni?

won't be able to win I think .. since you only get 15 at most if you have high Tactics skill ... so .. try  climb the ladde with 15 Magni .. and on the walls are 100+ troops )

The only way to win this is to lower the Battlesize ... but there will be no fun anymore ...

 

[felixng2011]

The answer is Silvermist Rangers.

Pretty much this. Archers are your best bet but even they probably don't have a chance unless your enemy has very very few ranged units and many low tier units.