In the first game I played in Warband I had already realized that what makes you get the best score is opportunism, ranged weapons, outnumbering and defensive play (aka spawn camping, quite often mistaken as strategy). Those are not bad things to have in a game, except for the defensive play, which might turn a medieval fighting game into a waiting game. Overall I think just as the other aspects of the game (horseback fights and ranged combat) infantry fight is pretty balanced out. Here's my opinion on some aspects of the WB's infantry combat:
- 1v1 fights (aka duels): duels are the most intense fights that I had in warband. Still, sometimes, it seems that walking backwards offers a little advantage over whoever isn't doing it, by making the attacker vulnerable to a sudden forward move or defender's thrown axes/javelins. Pretty annoying sometimes, making me flee from a combat or making both players do the waiting game. I think that a slowdown on the walking backwards move could make the combats more aggressive (which is good, IMO) and make it easier for people who cant/don't want to do feint attacks, just do a plain hit on the enemy's back.
- Regular combat: Fighting group vs group in Warband is pretty exciting, you really get the feel of teamwork (which is awesome, few games do that as well as Warband). Since most players in WB already know how stuff works, people usually position themselves correctly: Shield users front and pike/2handers on the back row. Whoever was in a fight like that, saw that the dueling skill level of the player matters the least and positioning yourself (together with your team) correctly is ftw. Regular infantry fighting in Warband is a thumbs up, does what it is supposed to.
- Horseback vs shoelace express: From what I see in most games, when a team with stronger cavalry than the other fight, it usually makes the team with lesser cavalry (in very rare exceptions) play defensively. I know that spears and pikes destroy a charging horse, but what about his teammate sneaking up behind ya with a couching spear and his other friend on a horseback with a bow ? On games with not so many players, cavalry vs infantry might seem balanced, but taking 2 big teams with similar player skill level, cav wins. In my humble opinion, horses should be WAY more expensive, even for khergits.
- 1v1 fights (aka duels): duels are the most intense fights that I had in warband. Still, sometimes, it seems that walking backwards offers a little advantage over whoever isn't doing it, by making the attacker vulnerable to a sudden forward move or defender's thrown axes/javelins. Pretty annoying sometimes, making me flee from a combat or making both players do the waiting game. I think that a slowdown on the walking backwards move could make the combats more aggressive (which is good, IMO) and make it easier for people who cant/don't want to do feint attacks, just do a plain hit on the enemy's back.
- Regular combat: Fighting group vs group in Warband is pretty exciting, you really get the feel of teamwork (which is awesome, few games do that as well as Warband). Since most players in WB already know how stuff works, people usually position themselves correctly: Shield users front and pike/2handers on the back row. Whoever was in a fight like that, saw that the dueling skill level of the player matters the least and positioning yourself (together with your team) correctly is ftw. Regular infantry fighting in Warband is a thumbs up, does what it is supposed to.
- Horseback vs shoelace express: From what I see in most games, when a team with stronger cavalry than the other fight, it usually makes the team with lesser cavalry (in very rare exceptions) play defensively. I know that spears and pikes destroy a charging horse, but what about his teammate sneaking up behind ya with a couching spear and his other friend on a horseback with a bow ? On games with not so many players, cavalry vs infantry might seem balanced, but taking 2 big teams with similar player skill level, cav wins. In my humble opinion, horses should be WAY more expensive, even for khergits.
