Tips for nords vs Vaegirs battles

[a_ver_est]

After being alone for a while I joined the Nords, they were at war vs swadia. After few time swadians were reduced to 1 castle and surrender. I though it was a good moment to get married, but when I was trading to get enough money to do it the war started vs Vaegirs. I didn't put many interest in it since I wanted to solve all marriage quest asap.

Once married I move my attention to the war and I found that we have lost a city, our king army has been destroyed, even our capital was under siege !!

My economical situation is bad, I used most of my money to get married and obviously there is no time to spend trading now. My warband was about 60 men, 2/3 infantry, 6 heroes on horse and the rest archers, most of my troops aren't top tier. Vesrsus swadian I used to deploy a line of infantry in a close formation, behind a line of archers and cavalry set to charge when the enemy approach. Always (if possible) in high terrain.

Usually infantry stops crossbow bolts with their shields, also they absorb the swadian heavy cavalry charges and force the knights into a melee where usually get dismounted fast. With this tactic I can win them even slightly outnumbered.

But versus Vaegirs it isn't working, after charging their knights are able to break the contact and repeat the charge, also they seem to use better flanking movements and many times reach the archers line. Obviously mi own cavalry (my heroes) are to short in number to deal with them.

After few battles my party is reduced to 40 men, one possible option is use mercenary cavalry but I started the war without money so I can't recruit them, I had problems even to get enough money to pay the upgrade for my men. Some of my Enterprise were under sequestration I did a small trade trip from Sargoth (flax) to Thir (fish) and then to Suno but It hasn't been very profitable. I don't want to go far away for more profitable routes because Sargoth is in real danger.

So I have to do better which what I have ... any tips for the battles ?

Also a fast question, in my weekly cost screen after the incoming and payments it shows I have about 11K denaries, but in my party screen I have only 800 denaries, is the weekly screen bad ? where is this money ?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Renneko]

RAPE AND LOOT, you are at war with the Veagir, so plunder village's, attack the caravans, this will have a impact on the veagir economie aswell, and looting village give you tons of money

 

[Blackfish]

DRINK FROM THEIR SKULLS!

On a more serious note, if you're an archer you could try to shoot their horses from under them, esepcially since some Vaegir knights ride on hunters instead of the usual warhorse. Or, since you say your warband is 2/3 infantry, you could try splitting the infantry up so that you can deploy in a wedge/crescent. If you're commited to a single line you could command your infantry to 'stand closer' (that's F2, F4) two or three times, and they should be able to stop even a heavy cav charge dead. [EDIT: Ah, reading your post again you know this already.] You could also do that with your archers to stand closer, they stop cavalry better this way.

Another idea is to turtle in Sargoth (or any castle for that matter) and wait for the Vaegirs to assault it. In castle assaults they can't use their cavalry, and your infantry should be able to butcher their infantry and dismounted horsemen (or at least make them pay dearly for every keep they storm).

Hope some of it helped. 

 

[Dellivis]

one tactic I find that works well for me is similar to your strategy (but when I play nords only some companions are mounted no cav )  I place my infantry out front and archers behind them up a ways on a hill (if possible if not I place my archers at the bottom of a hill and have my infantry about 1/2 up it ). I tell my archers to hold fire, (theres no reason for them to blow all thier arrows/bolts at a target halfway across the map) and wait for the enemy to try to:

A) attack me from the front 
B) attempt a flanking maneuver

Either choice I wait till they are in range before I have my archers fire usually by having them close ranks they double up  makes lots of fun (and usually will do some serious dmg to peeps with or without shields)! Have my infantry close ranks a few times so cav cant smash thru them and attack my weak archers.

With my companions I send them out wide right usually once I find out if they chose A or B (its funny if they chose A and I try to send them out thier whole army immediatly decides to go after my cav/companions and ignore the rest ) then its fun killing time! have them charge right into thier left flank (usually loaded with weak infantry).

my archers/infantry really don't do much maneuvering  just sit there and absorb the first wave of troops.

Mind you I play on a not so challenging setting sooooooo take this idea with a grain of salt 


~also are you running any mods like diplomacy? If you are running diplomacy, you just need to talk to Aubrey whatever the rest of his name is.  He controls the treasury (he'll either be at your fief/castle/town depending on what you own).

 

[a_ver_est]

DRINK FROM THEIR SKULLS!



If you're commited to a single line you could command your infantry to 'stand closer' (that's F2, F4) two or three times, and they should be able to stop even a heavy cav charge dead. [EDIT: Ah, reading your post again you know this already.]

Yep, but I didn't know that it can be done more than one time to stand even closer, thanks.

Another idea is to turtle in Sargoth (or any castle for that matter) and wait for the Vaegirs to assault it.

It is a nice idea, I was hoping for a big battle at Sargoth. There was a large number of Veagir armies besieging the city and we could done big casualties to the enemy with few losses. But when our army reached the cite they retreated. Let's pray for another opportunity.

one tactic I find that works well for me is similar to your strategy (but when I play nords only some companions are mounted no cav )

Ok, that's like me, when I wrote "hereos" I mean companions, sorry if it wasn't clear enough. I usually have some mercenaries with me in short numbers, since most armies used them I don't feel like "unhistorical" but at this moment all of them have died.

With my companions I send them out wide right usually once I find out if they chose A or B (its funny if they chose A and I try to send them out thier whole army immediatly decides to go after my cav/companions and ignore the rest ) then its fun killing time! have them charge right into thier left flank (usually loaded with weak infantry).

I fight on foot, so lead a deception maneuver on my own it's impossible  and do it through commands is really hard, last time I tried something similar I got knocked while issuing commands. But the idea of charging on their flank is really nice so I gonna try.

~also are you running any mods like diplomacy? If you are running diplomacy, you just need to talk to Aubrey whatever the rest of his name is.  He controls the treasury (he'll either be at your fief/castle/town depending on what you own).

Yep I use diplomacy mod, I only have a small fief and didn't noticed that option, is he supposed to be the men which I pay 15 denaries every weak and I never have seen ? It will be glad I have had access to all these money !!


Thanks to everyone for all tips

 

[Ludial]

Two words - Nord Warriors. Relatively easy to train up, with good equipment and stats, and most of all, most of them have javelins. They're like Roman legionnaires. Just keep them tight and time the javelin volleys.
Another thing - Vaegirs love their 2h axes. Especially the knights. That's why they break through shield walls so easily. Do not expect to defend against them in a siege with ease. The only thing that scares me in siege defense is big tough warriors with big choppeh things, such as Rhodok sergeants, Vaegir knights, and Nord huscarls/lords.

 

[Renneko]

yup train only inf, nord archers are to weak

 

[Ludial]

yup train only inf, nord archers are to weak

not necessarily. the actual tier 3 Nord archers are devastating if you have the Leadership to field a significant number of them. it has to do with the 2h axes and fast bows

 

[Boduar]

What is far more devastating is if you can find an uphill area where the enemy troops move slowly and at the top have a line of warriors/veterans/huscarls.  I have won sieges + open field fights vs huge numbers with pretty much 0 losses by abusing the throwing weapons from nords (on maximum difficulty).  One of the best fights was actually vs Vaegirs and I was able to find a small crater on top of a hill that was only about wide enough for 30 troops inside and about 10 troops where the enemies had to enter.  I closed ranks and butchered a few hundred vaegirs with throwing axes. 

 

[Remedius]

Put any archers you have on the enemies left but not too far forward to make them the target - get them to open up at a maximum effective range and leave em to it. Stand your character at one flank of your infantry boys and target the h cav - most have 2 and no sheild - pick as many as you can off. As the cavalry draw close order open fire from your holding fire infantry boys and switch to a big melée weapon for choppy choppy time. Must reiterate what has already been said - the boys must stand closer abt three times and must have decent numbers or the cavalry will steamroller you.

If you have broken them - cool - if not tell your archers to charge the rear of the enemy

 

[Dellivis]

Yep I use diplomacy mod, I only have a small fief and didn't noticed that option, is he supposed to be the men which I pay 15 denaries every weak and I never have seen ? It will be glad I have had access to all these money !!

in the village he should be hanging around near where the village elder is.

 

[a_ver_est]

Thanks for all tips and comments, finally (as Dellivis suggested) I was able to issue a command to move your cavalry at one flank using the mini-map, usually the enemy force is split in two leaving their infantry without cavalry support, that allow you to charge with your infantry against their infantry/archers with devastating results.

Another trick that worked is wait the enemy in a reverse slop position, once the enemy reach the hill top issue a charge order, your men are able to close distance fast forcing a melee combat against a surprised enemy were you usually win.

In any case Khergit declared the war to Vaegirs also, with a two fronts war they started to lose many men and lands and now most of their parties are small and full of newbies so is far easier, as easy as I moved my attention to Rhodoks who started a new war versus us.

 

[Dellivis]

Glad I was able to help.

Gl against the Rhoducks. Their shields are nasty