How'd you mix your troops?

[Donkerman]

The Engles, Saxons and Jutes have the same troop tree AFAIK. If you want less hasstle try recruiting Engles to the northwest (Between Lichidfield and Grantebrycge). They also have the Hearthweru (25lvl troop). There are mostly bandits and none of those nasty franks and denas.

Also try fighting lesser troops at first (anything except franks and denas) to get your troops to at least Geoguth level (3rd tier infantry). Once you have a mixture of Heartweru and lesser infantry you can take on those bad asses.

 

[Argeus the Paladin]

I think the reason why most infantry seems to be cut to ribbons by Dena and Franks in this mod is similar to the reason why Roman auxillia in The Eagle And The Wolf sucks - they use a lot of spears, which, in M&B terms, blows pretty badly.

 

[andristan]

I generally have a large archer contingent in my army, around 45%(250 out of 630), as they are really quite useful, especially when you outnumber your opponent, as, in my experience if they have less than you they will pick a defensible spot and wait for you, have your archers kill one and they charge your nearest guys. Archers are great for attacking castles, have all your guys hold ground covering the archers and the Welsh Saethydds will go to town on the defenders, if you have enough(generally 35-50 is a good balance with the in-game battle sizer), Those archers shatter shields easily and I can take a castle of 187 defenders without losing more than 10-15 guys.

 

[FrisianDude]

I think the reason why most infantry seems to be cut to ribbons by Dena and Franks in this mod is similar to the reason why Roman auxillia in The Eagle And The Wolf sucks - they use a lot of spears, which, in M&B terms, blows pretty badly.

Yeah, but even if the player uses a sword then they still take a huge lot of hits even if just wearing a tunic; they're simply damn beasts, those Dena and Franks.

 

[AKM]

I think the reason why most infantry seems to be cut to ribbons by Dena and Franks in this mod is similar to the reason why Roman auxillia in The Eagle And The Wolf sucks - they use a lot of spears, which, in M&B terms, blows pretty badly.

Yeah, but even if the player uses a sword then they still take a huge lot of hits even if just wearing a tunic; they're simply damn beasts, those Dena and Franks.

They're the 8th century equivalent to bikers on PCP; axe to the head, keep on going. Drives me nuts, but now that I have two score (40) Hearthweru, I hunt Dena and Frank pirate groups for renown and money.

My troop mix is primarily Saxon-Frisian and Jute. The Jutes end up as Ridwiga Jutes, whom I use to chase down fleeing enemy troops. The Saxons and Frisians end up as heavy Infantry who form my shieldwall; I hire archer mercenaries who stand on one side of my line and pelt the enemy from a flank when their shield wall hits mine. Lately I've started picking up some Britons, who are pretty hardcore at the higher levels (Teulu, etc).

 

[Argeus the Paladin]

I see that. Dena and Franks can stand toe-to-toe with the Hearthguards of whatever nationality and deliver some major casualties to them.

 

[AKM]

I can't reproduce that. My hearthweru, even the geogutha, invariably survive with minimal losses if any. Possibly my party's surgical skills are higher.

It might be the tactics I'm using, or that I have enough of the elite troops that they can't be encircled by the Franks or Dena raiders, which is when serious losses start to happen in my battles.

 

[Argeus the Paladin]

10 Hearthguards (I don't really fancy calling them Hearthweru - this is one instance where the ethnic names sounds decidedly less badass than the translated version IMHO) and 40 mixed troops out of which at least 20 were second and third-to-top tier versus 30 Franks. 3 died.

 

[Von Fritz]

likas likas *.* loool

 

[Uhtred Ragnarson]

likas likas *.* loool

what? 

 

[molashkre]

likas likas *.* loool

what? 

First post and already bull****,so what will be next 

 

[Makememove]

I try to bring as many top-tier troops to a battle as possible; normally I raid around my country with about 100 Teulus who are the core of my army. When necessary, I can take up to 350 top tier troops, for example when besieging a big city or fighting aan enemy king with his lords.  For sieges, I´m using about 50 good briton archers, my Teulu army and the top tier Briton infantry - they are easy to get, quite cheap and if they die they can be replaced quite easily. I think that in this mod, using a heavy cavalry force is still a good way to kill every enemy army.

 

[FrisianDude]

They're the 8th century equivalent to bikers on PCP; axe to the head, keep on going. Drives me nuts, but now that I have two score (40) Hearthweru, I hunt Dena and Frank pirate groups for renown and money.

Aye, forty Hearthwere should be enough to see off even larger Dena parties but still it seems odd that they are such juggernauts despite being relatively poorly armoured (most of them). Even my current character (of Frisian descent of course. ) often has a hard time chopping into them but maybe his gear is a bit too heavy.

My troop mix is primarily Saxon-Frisian and Jute. The Jutes end up as Ridwiga Jutes, whom I use to chase down fleeing enemy troops. The Saxons and Frisians end up as heavy Infantry who form my shieldwall; I hire archer mercenaries who stand on one side of my line and pelt the enemy from a flank when their shield wall hits mine. Lately I've started picking up some Britons, who are pretty hardcore at the higher levels (Teulu, etc).

I've noticed that the Frisian cavalry actually seem to die off relatively fast despite being quite heavy.

 

[AKM]

I've noticed that the Frisian cavalry actually seem to die off relatively fast despite being quite heavy.

I have noticed the same. I don't use the cavalry for assaulting enemy lines. What happens when I do is that they invariably charge home, get into the formation, then are hacked to pieces from three sides: they don't have the ability to charge through and they don't switch to something more suited to a melee fast enough to avoid dying. A strong shield-wall is crucial in Brytenwalda, it seems.

 

[qmax]

It is true that archers are not valuable if you just have everyone standing in a line with enemy approaching shields up.  But they are valuable as soon as the battle is joined or the enemies start fighting your infantry.  Every time they get hit with an arrow distracts them from hitting your infantry.  And in a siege they can soften up the defenders as soon as they turn to the side and engage your troops.  You can improve their effectiveness by attacking oncoming infantry from different directions and getting the enemy to turn.  And, you can make your line of archers a reasonable defense force by assigning the archer role to some kind of infantry, preferably with spears.  That will harden your line of archers to be able to better withstand cavalry when those spearman are mixed in.

 

[Dent]

For defense of my town or assaulting an enemy on my own, I use all available troops. Most of my men are Duguthas, but I have quite a few medium infantry as well. I just hire Briton auxilia from the towns nearby if I need light infantry to bolster my ranks, and then I put them into the garrison of new towns. Only my bodyguards and myself have horses.

If I'm going on campaign with my father-in-law, I take a few Geoguthas and Duguthas. I don't like sacrificing my own men if I can use an ally's. In desperate situations, such as the Mercians besieging the capital, I take my personal retinue of Hearthwerus. They're too expensive to use as assault troops and too expensive to keep as a garrison, but 50 Hearthweru Engles plus whatever auxiliary Britons I can find plus my 1300 renown is usually enough to make enemy lords scatter when I show up.

If I'm just wandering around attacking weaker lords (20-30 men) I bring my four bodyguards and Hrunting.

Never use cavalry or missile troops if I can get away with it, but I put them into patrols to give my men as much advantage as I can.