Fighting Archers in Sieges

[XSevSpreeX]

So I've noticed that archers REALLY mess up your army if there's a large number of them during a siege (when you're attacking). How can this be countered? Obviously shields work, but they only protect one side of your troops because they don't carry two and some castles (especially Almerra Castle, the ladder is on the inside so you're being shot at from 3 different directions when climbing up) your army can be shot at from multiple sides when climbing up the ladder.

 

[Captain_Octavius]

Having more ranged troops yourself.

A good tactic is to have a 1/3 Rhodok Sergeants with their big shields, and 2/3 Rhodok Sharpshooters. Line them up at some distance from the wall, with the Sergeants in front of the Sharpshooters. Sharpshooters are truly sharpshooters, and will clean the walls pretty fast. Take a ranged weapon yourself with you for the hard to hit ranged troops that your sharps don't target due to a strange angle etc. The Sergeants will draw a lot of fire and catch almost any projectile fired at your troops in their big shields.

 

[A-BIack_Man]

to start out a siege i get companions with two shields or some tanky infantry and sit at the bottom of the ladder.  then i have my archers go to town on their archers while shooting them myself.

or just completely overwhelm them with melee, if you manage to break through their lines at the top of the castle you can easily chase down the remaining archers.

 

[Captain_Octavius]

If you got a siege where the defenders have a large group of top tier heavy infantry plus a large group of top tier ranged troops (often the case with Good Campaign Difficulty), breaking through with brute force isn't going to work, at least not without tons of casualties and superior man power.

Shooting them from the walls is almost always the best choice against strong defenders.

 

[Aethelred]

Shooting them from outside is the best tactic, for any siege really. Of course, you do get those lovely castles in which all the reinforcement archers/crossbowmen spawn in a courtyard and never go up to the walls, leaving you with a huge pack of them to deal with. Sieges suck, really.

 

[gabriot]

Shooting them from outside is the best tactic, for any siege really. Of course, you do get those lovely castles in which all the reinforcement archers/crossbowmen spawn in a courtyard and never go up to the walls, leaving you with a huge pack of them to deal with. Sieges suck, really.

Not if you're playing against rhodoks and on any difficult setting, you weill get peppered to death within no time at all by the sharpshooters

I find the best thing to do is to minimize the area in which you can get shot from, because archers are what kills you, any meleed people you should be able to out maneuver with a high enough athletics and weapon skill

 

[Aethelred]

Err, no. Sit outside and shoot is the best way to minimise casualties. In the tougher castles sharpshooters (or any ranged troops) will pepper your infantry to death on the ladder/tower easily, but from a reasonable distance even sharpshooters aren't very accurate. It requires you to use a ranged weapon yourself to be really effective, though, which is annoying if you don't normally do that, and it's pretty unrealistic to pick off half the enemy yourself. With Warband it's a lot easier since you can often re-use the same ammunition they're shooting at you.

Of course, it does probably depend on your battle size. I play with 150 which means it rarely makes sense to go over the top until the enemy's reinforcements are virtually depleted, otherwise 50 fresh enemies keep materialising around you/in front of you/on top of ****ing houses. With a large battle size you really have to adopt these tactics. It does result in casualties because you have to send your army up once you've run out of ammunition (take them back down from the ladders once your reinforcement wave arrives). Perhaps more aggressive tactics will pay off with a smaller battle size. Oh, and I always play with full damage.

 

[spawn10317]

otherwise 50 fresh enemies keep materialising around you/in front of you/on top of ******** houses.

i've never notice them spawning on top of the god damn houses

 

[XSevSpreeX]

Thanks for the responses. For those of saying to use my own ranged weapon, I use a masterwork heavy crossbow (or it's a masterwork siege crossbow, I can't remember which one) and my battle size is 200. I'll definitely try to get some more ranged troops, I was already trying to build up on rhodok sharpshooters when the nords declared war on me so I didn't have much time.

 

[Aethelred]

It does happen on at least one native castle, unless they fixed it (not played for a while). It's one of many reasons why it's a good idea to have cheats enabled, even if you don't want to cheat. It'll save you some frustration when weird **** happens (another scenario is when siege defenders spawn inside of a wall or building).

Really, sieges should be much better. In defence it's satisfying to slaughter a much larger army, but attacking is just a chore.

 

[JTDC]

Get a bunch of your fellow lords to help you out.  Then let their troops take the hits running up the ladders like a bunch of morons, while you and yours hang back and shoot down their archers.  Or just bring a very, very large number of Huscarls.  If they get a foothold on the walls, they're mess up pretty much everyone up there.

 

[sanis]

You picked the hardest castle of them all, Almerra is known to be tough.
In general:
- you bring enough ranged troops of your own to clear the walls
- top tier troops on the ladder, i usually bring some huscarls so they can gain entrance faster: less clutter on the ladder less casualties