Most feared elite unit

Which one is the bane of your existence?

  • Khergit- Steppe Lords

    Votes: 12 15.2%
  • Swadia- Inquisitors

    Votes: 27 34.2%
  • Vaegr- Master Marksmen

    Votes: 27 34.2%
  • Rhodok- Master Sergeants

    Votes: 9 11.4%
  • Nord- Champions

    Votes: 4 5.1%

  • Total voters
    79

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AvaRice

Sergeant Knight at Arms
As you've probably noticed, each faction in BOW has an elite-type unit. The question is which one do you most dread to see coming at you're troops on the battlefield?

My most feared unit is the Rhodok Master Sergeants. They butcher my cavalry companions, and even Jezza can't go toe-to-toe with one on foot.

I'd probably be more afraid of the Master Marksmen if they weren't my allies though.
 
East Asiatic Dragon Lords if you can count minor faction units.

Heavy Armour, Insane attack speed, top quality weapons/horses  :shock:  the only way i can beat them is by getting all my Rhodok spear units into a big huddle around some rocks or tree's while i ride out to kill there infantry before they slaugher mine.




 
Master Marksmen. Ten of them could machinegun down five times their number in footmen. If you try to solo them, they shoot your mount out from under ya. I've seen more than a few take a lance hit right to the back. They make me hate fighting Vaegirs.
 
I've had Swadian Inquisitors in my ranks before and it's like having a small band of dark knights. Nord champions fall behind them in body count only because they're on foot.
 
AvaRice said:
My most feared unit is the Rhodok Master Sergeants. They butcher my cavalry companions, and even Jezza can't go toe-to-toe with one on foot.
Strange, I don't have any problems with them. Well, that might be because I command an infantry army, hehe. Biggest problems are still marksmen and sharpshooters. Or even all these militias - some armies are carrying about 30 of them.

But I guess the larger the battles are, the more valuable is heavy infantry. So if you have the cpu (and the number of troops) to form a turtle, there's not much the enemy can do. The only problem here is the morale...
 
Master marksmen.  Accurate arrows, rapid fire, beastly 2-handed weapons, strong armor.  They are simply bad news.  Trying to lance them is an invitation to an arrow in the face.  Then they pull out some big honkin' blade and slash away.  I usually wait until they are shooting at someone else and then charge them, or just stay away and let the Ranger Guardians and Swadian Inquisitors take their lumps while I clean up the archers and marksmen.
 
I had a band entirely of master marksmen and they butchered everything I came across. Armed with warbows and two-handed weapons is a benchmark for ownage.
 
Me having a party of footmelee heroes and nords, the vaegir marksmen always rapes me. Even with my shield up, they hit me for 50+ damage.
 
Just to have that said: there are tactics against ranged troops. I know they are still annoying, but usually you can make their strongest ability almost useless. Hills are good (wait behind a hill, charge as soon as they come in sight), woods are even better. Well, if you fight on foot, that is. As a mounted character the hills are the most important tactic points.
And if the enemy is just waiting on his hill, just take your shield and wait until they don't have arrows/bolts left. Just be sure to be far enough and, important, get off your horse. A good choice is to wait at a position slightly behind the top of another hill, so that they can't hit your feet. That's boring sometimes, but if you like to get some arrows in your head (and the one of your friends), you can still just charge them...
 
I wouldn't even say that there is a unit to be feared most... I mean being one against a band of Dark Nights makes a tough fight (if you minimize the damage to yourself and make them dumb it's tolerable though  :roll:), but when there is a good 200+ warrior skirmish a particular troop does not make a great difference.
There are some basic rules, which one  has to obey to slay overwhelming enemies from a horseback, one and the most important of them being to shield yourself with a damn heater at all times and watch your back carefully.
If you are charging a mounted lancer than you'd better change your lance for a sword (a morningstar will do better) and go to his left. Don't want to get a crouched lance blow. And don't charge a line of cavalrymen before your own cavalry comes out to play. You'll be surrounded in no time.
If you meet any infantry lancers as well as archers you better be cautious not to be open for a good frontal hit (or an arrow, as a matter of fact) or one from the side. The latter happens when you are especially fascinated by taking down some smart-arse halberdier, who just took down one of your heroes. And, of course, at all suitable times you should use a lance to stay away from witty guys with twohanders.
And the heater works well to charge archers. You just need to crouch after they make a shot and before you ride past 'em. Another way of doing it is to make sure that the archer aims at someone else.
And the last one... be quick enough to slay all the archers and cavalry before the enemy takes down all your troops. After that the battle would become a free target practice and I doubt if you could win one like that.

That all's pretty hard though, or, probably, I'm a lame player. Speaking of which, I've got completely no idea how one would do the same thing on foot, though I dismount myself from time to time to get done with archers on hilly terrains.
 
Roamer said:
I wouldn't even say that there is a unit to be feared most... I mean being one against a band of Dark Nights makes a tough fight (if you minimize the damage to yourself and make them dumb it's tolerable though  :roll:), but when there is a good 200+ warrior skirmish a particular troop does not make a great difference.

A charge of ten Swadian Inquisitors is incredibly powerful, often tying up a group without elite units until the foot can arrive. When I fight the Vaegirs, 90% of my casualties are to Master Archers. I've yet to fight the Rhodoks or Khergits but the Nords Champions can do some awesome damage, though they don't seem as useful as the mentioned units.
 
Guess I'm lucky to be on the Swadian side fighting Nords and Rhodoks then. Don't know why but I always have problems fighting Rhodoks. They just seem very heavily armored and whenever I take on a Rhodok lord party I start losing men like crazy the second the melee begins. I've had Vaegr Master Archers as allies before though. Just told them to hold position and they took care of everything.
 
Feanaro said:
Roamer said:
I wouldn't even say that there is a unit to be feared most... I mean being one against a band of Dark Nights makes a tough fight (if you minimize the damage to yourself and make them dumb it's tolerable though  :roll:), but when there is a good 200+ warrior skirmish a particular troop does not make a great difference.

A charge of ten Swadian Inquisitors is incredibly powerful, often tying up a group without elite units until the foot can arrive. When I fight the Vaegirs, 90% of my casualties are to Master Archers. I've yet to fight the Rhodoks or Khergits but the Nords Champions can do some awesome damage, though they don't seem as useful as the mentioned units.
Cavalry is usually uncapable of tying another cavalry troop. When you go against Dark Knights you end up chasing them all around the place, while their crossbowmen try to take you down. Most of the time they are successful.
As for the Champions I've never noticed that they have any shields what so ever... but I'm not keen on infantry anyways.
 
That's why you have to see which party you are about to take on and stop to adjust your inventory.  Pick the best horse for the job.  Courser for cavalry to outrun them, charger for infantry to stand up to axes, etc.  I usually don't use a shield at all, but may take one into a battle against lots of archers.

And it's still Master Archers, by popular acclaim.  Pwnage at the point of an arrow.
 
Roamer said:
Cavalry is usually uncapable of tying another cavalry troop. When you go against Dark Knights you end up chasing them all around the place, while their crossbowmen try to take you down. Most of the time they are successful.

I was speaking more in terms of infantry(only chickens fight from a horse :wink:) but cavalry do tie up other cavalry. As you pointed out, you end up chasing them over hill and over dale.
 
Can someone tell me what the inquisitors are like? I'm yet to see them in action, and won't be able to play M&B till Saturday  :???:

All other elite troops are smashing though! Great job!
 
ezoons said:
Can someone tell me what the inquisitors are like? I'm yet to see them in action, and won't be able to play M&B till Saturday  :???:

All other elite troops are smashing though! Great job!

Like someone else already said. They are like Black Knights but with lances and no shields. Very heavy armor and horses.
I played against them and you really need a good mace or some other weapon good vs armor. You can use thrust with sword against them, though, as it also seems to be very effective against armored enemy that moves toward you.
 
That's because it does pierce damage when you thrust. In fact that is my main method to kill cavalrymen on foot (with a sword char, of course): run directly in his direction, hold ready for thrusting. Cavalrymen can't attack directly to the front (except lancers, in which case you shouldn't attack the front without knowing what you do), so it's a relatively safe position. Releasing the thrust in the right moment unually means a dead cavalryman, flying off his horse or being pulled by it for the last steps. Not as strong as a couched lance, but I would say still enough to kill him with 80-90% a chance (bastard sword, power strike 6 and weapon prof about 470). One reason is the pierce damage, another one is the speed modificator. Oh, and you can plan a low amount of damage, depending on the horse (it will hit you), but since you save alot of time chasing after him, it's a good deal (helps your troops to survive).
 
Now that my character is, predominantly, a horse archer. When I face armred cav. I like to use a heavy or balanced military pick. While less damaging and with somewhat shorter range than a morningstar, it's decidedly the fastest 1h anti armor weapon of the arsenal. I prefer to aim for the legs of the enemy, because they're generaly less armored + I can get a bigger target adding the mount's body. That way, and if I time my blow fright, I can hurt/kill an inquisitor, or any other armored foe btw, or kill his mount and make him an easier target. Swords aren't much use to me in this situation because taking advantage of their higher piercing damage takes too much effort in very demanding situations. I know picks aren't very popular but they're a must for me against mounted tanks. Just my 2 cents.
 
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