Almerra Castle - Pit of Death

[Tachyon]

Ok really, how do you take this castle? The ladder is in the central courtyard, and once you enter it... your troops are ripped to shreds by Sharpshooters on FOUR sides armed with Siege crossbows.

I'm playing at Max . Difficulty Settings, Battlesizer 100.

Troop composition :

28 Nord Huscarls
9  Nord Veterans
18 Rhodok Sergeants
36 Vaegir Marksmen

As soon as I rush into the courtyard, it's a massive slaughterfest. Even the Huscarls can't withstand the barrage of arrows.

 

[Swadius 2.0]

The castle was the first one I took. I just took out the majority of the archers and left the melee guys alive so their next reinforcement wave won't come until one of the heavy infantry got to the top of the ladder and took out one of the enemy troops.

 

[DaveDaDude]

Take more ranged troops, just keep shooting at them from a distance until you run outta ammo, then retreat, then come back and keep shooting.

Repeat until Win

 

[thedudee95]

ctrl-f4. it helps .

-but if you wanna take it like a men, get more troops, and have ytour melee wait while your archers kill the enemy archers. when they run out of arrows, send everyone chargin. it works for me.

-Recommended party: over 70 personnel.

 

[Tachyon]

ctrl-f4. it helps .

-but if you wanna take it like a men, get more troops, and have ytour melee wait while your archers kill the enemy archers. when they run out of arrows, send everyone chargin. it works for me.

-Recommended party: over 70 personnel.

And how exactly do you make your archers kill the enemy archers? Just letting them inside the courtyard results in all of them dead.
In case you didn't read my first post, I have well over 80 troops.

 

[thedudee95]

you dont go in yet. you line them out outside the castle, and let em loose. only send melee units in courtyard after archers are done spraying.

 

[Tachyon]

you dont go in yet. you line them out outside the castle, and let em loose. only send melee units in courtyard after archers are done spraying.

It's useless lining them outside the castle, because there are so few enemy archers on the wall. They just lose 3-4 sharpshooters that's it. The spraying is useless. You need to send your archers INSIDE so they can pick more targets.

 

[fisheye]

Go in yourself, hugging cover, sniper-style? That's my usual answer to hard assaults.

 

[Tachyon]

I think I may have found a really nice weak spot. There's a hill behind the castle that provides a good vantage point for my archers. It's done well so far, I haven't taken the castle yet though =P , but the defenders are getting hit badly.

 

[Swadius 2.0]

you dont go in yet. you line them out outside the castle, and let em loose. only send melee units in courtyard after archers are done spraying.

It's useless lining them outside the castle, because there are so few enemy archers on the wall. They just lose 3-4 sharpshooters that's it. The spraying is useless. You need to send your archers INSIDE so they can pick more targets.

I concur, at Almerra at least, the exterior landscape of the castle offers little to no angle in which the archers have a good view of the enemy, it's only at the ladder that the view from the enemy archers is unobstructed.

 

[Tachyon]

Damn, it looks like the only way to take the castle is to bring in enough troops so that the enemy doesn't start out with much.

 

[Sorkenlol]

Yeah it's a real hell.. I had to play it over again 4 times before I was satisfied with the amount of losses I suffered. In the end I lost maybe 10 men, and my allies over a hundred. There isn't any certain tactic to take it I guess, what I did the last time was that I just stood outside of the castle, went for something to eat and let my kings war party of 1000 men including my own take the castle.

 

[Swadius 2.0]

I remember even after taking out a bunch of archers, that the projectiles flying around were still extremely prevalent, I had to equip to shields, using one to block one side of the courtyard, and another one on my back to block the ones from behind in the other directions. This allowed me to advance up sideways, telling everyone to charge from the base of the ladder after I've ran past the defenders at the choked point and killed a few archers on the sides of the courtyard, allow a majority of the infantry to advance up to the top of the ladder.

 

[imsorry]

there are a lot of threads talking about how to siege. I don't find the castles too different. when it come to siege, I always do the same routine.

 

[Tachyon]

there are a lot of threads talking about how to siege. I don't find the castles too different. when it come to siege, I always do the same routine.

Almerra castle is unique. Try sieging it , and you'll understand my dilemma.

 

[Skorpion]

Took me a couple of tries, but generally, send the infantry in to draw fire, then lead your archers through into the courtyards and help pick off theirs.

 

[Dragon13]

i sieged almerra castle TWICE: never had any problems...and damage to allies was full too...but veeery low difficilty otherwise....soooo i cant understand your dilemma as much

 

[Ruthven]

ctrl-f4. it helps .

-but if you wanna take it like a men, get more troops, and have ytour melee wait while your archers kill the enemy archers. when they run out of arrows, send everyone chargin. it works for me.

-Recommended party: over 70 personnel.

Coherency fail.

 

[noosers]

Get a siege crossbow (unless your archery is good enough), two sheafs of ammuntion and a big shield. Park your infantry/archers just outside the outher curtain wall. Sneak into the broken gatehouse, stick to the right side of the entrance and pick off the enemy archers one after one, first the 2 on the farthest wall ahead, then the one in the tower to your upper left. Afterwards its just abusing as much cover as you can ( possibly using your parked meat shields as well) picking the enemy off one by one.

If you´re outnumbered too heavily it may well be the case that the enemy decides to chase you and runs down the ladder with his first or second reinforcment wave - then you got him. Just kill them on the ladder with your mob of angry infantry. If not you will have to clear up the top of the ladder just enough that your shock infantry can force through the remaining defenders. Just pick the defenders off that another two or three casualities will trigger off the reinforcements. If you time it right, your troops will be behind the choke point and the enemy arrive one by one into your wall of steel.

 

[Pellagus]

I find the best way is to lead your infantry through the courtyard and up the ladder. You have to be quick, and you do get punished on the way across the courtyard, but it's faster than trying to pick them off from outside, and much more fun.

I had to re-take Almerra twice last night after Ragnar gave it to Lord Gerlad, who couldn't be arsed defending it and decided to stay at home instead. Luckily, the Rhodoks don't seem too bothered either. There were four lords holed up there when I arrived, but by the time I was ready to attack, three of them had fled.