When you accidentally have the most insane battle...

[Krozzy]

I always tell myself not to cross the Jatu plains. It's not worth it, just hike your happy ass around. Every time I get destroyed and taken prisoner, I am pretty good about avoid it for a few in-game months. But I get cocky. 

I hate, hate, hate, fighting Jatu. When you play with all the "hard mode" settings and no-save, the Jatu secretly draw straws before the battle to see who is going to go suicide commando and weave through the entire battle just to put his honor lance in my chest. Happens every time. 

So anyways, here I am, taking a stroll with my best vassal buds through the Jatu plains, because "Hey, I know this short cut...". It's all nice and foggy-like, see? They won't be able to see us.
When all of the sudden, a wild Jatu band appears!  It's OK though, he's just a little guy, 30 men or so....wait what, HE'S COMING RIGHT FOR US  Kind of annoying, but what ever. Let's just try to do this without any casualties please. Well, guess what? They had friends near by. I got destroyed. I think I even had the Battle Field advantage.

PRE-BATTLE SCREEN
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/366283831997846322/864A14E0128B4728E45BA224A4E383D4EC78ECF7/



Alright, time to roll up my sleeves...I'M NOT GOING TO LOOSE.
My vassal friends don't deserve to be left for the crows.
As a matter of fact this was probably one of the most amazing battles I have ever been in.

Setting up, deep in the thick Fog.
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/366283831997846742/E8F44343F7C9B7ACC3C61294DD1E32D31876AE8A/


There was no way I was going to send my cavalry to meet the Jatu charge(again), I would instantly loose 1/4 of them. Then the rest just get skewered one-by-one. On top of that, I can't even see the damn battlefield. I decided to try a different tactic.

My Strategy: Mash everyone into a line. Break the initial charge! Hold them at all costs, then counter-charge when they peel away.
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/366283831997847216/6E81824B70E0B57EB0370A2B5DA866C6D6410FDF/
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/366283831997847344/12D5D4E27E0B52C1A09764FC226189EAFDF7021A/


I can hear them coming...
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/366283831997847480/ACA333107FB47153FF9CCF8A1B66A21FD707FA58/


There they are, using a screen of recruited prisoners...Never seen that before.
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/366283831997847853/324464F14BA0D30B76BCF0823477804282FE93AE/


TIME FOR THE MAKE-OR-BREAK MOMENT
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/366283831997847960/6FD90D7E8A153301A479E12913784C3315D26652/


I wasn't able to get any snaps of the actual impact and initial damage, fighting for my life and all, but it went well....Surprisingly well.
I charged out my cavalry, and set my infantry up to make a sort of "home base" for any cavalry that will get dismounted. I basically just did circles around them, try to protect my grounded men from the big mean Jatu.
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/366283831997848066/2052A944B85B82D83BA875D20AE32A4F741CF3CC/


New Enemies Arrived! Pulling back my Cavalry so they don't get blind sided with another massive Jatu Charge!
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/366283831997848876/86D5DF6AD32DBD3A78DCFD38B2680CF9948A0DBD/


Jatu Slaves having it out with my infantry. At least that's a fair fight. Swinging my cavalry around to deal with the new Jatu reinforcements.
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/366283831997848725/27749A5AA2FECE16D8C872F9E52C1B08B556FCDC/


Cavalry coming around about to get a  perfect flanking charge on the eager Jatu reinforcement charge.
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/366283831997849006/2842250D6C98D503D3C18D45AE3D0A4B0A394DB1/


Dealing with the slaves...
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/366283831997849143/F33EB2801F32AB0398B499D5C709741CFB873839/


Honestly, my best performance VS Jatu ever! I was shocked that, not only did my tactics work, But I managed to avoid getting impaled!
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/366283831997849461/D6E44E5504DE9F43CBAE9C1F3EDA764F10F0A58F/


What's even better? I whooped them so damn hard, that in following fight, they were timid! That was a huge mistake on their part. I took full advantage of that and gave them a taste of their own medicine...
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/366283831997850026/688B577BA2986A4916CAD00F04B9B4BDC1DC18E8/
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/366283831997850147/63370DEFBB2FA53D00D73C9250C08CAA34290FD1/
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/366283831997850285/9488C9B0BFB5A4B2E44EF245A2142C990142CA37/

 

[Elf]

Erm...is this necessarily a new thread?

 

[Brew]

Nice after battle report, I hate the fog almost as much as I hate the jatu

 

[Krozzy]

Erm...is this necessarily a new thread?

What?  I can't tell if your being serious, or rude. 

I can't tell what your asking. If you mean "Has this thread been done before?", then no, this is a me posting about a awesome battle I had last night.

If you mean "Has this type of thread been done before?", then yes, It's a battle report/story recount.

If you think my battle or this thread specifically is lame, just say it; I can take criticism.

 

[Madame de Pompadour]

Indar does not approve your gruesome actions towards his cute little Jatu.

 

[clock4orange]

If you think my battle or this thread specifically is lame, just say it; I can take criticism.

you were bloody lucky m8, as I remember my own battle for life by mistake:
I was hunting around Noldor to gain some relationship with them, when I spotted nice battle, 400+ Jatu army with 60-70 Noldors and because I had 450 troops I decide to help them... my mistake was, I didn't look closely, because there were 3 Jatu armies, 1400 men... 6mc. of training gone with my dead soldiers in less than hour 

 

[Krozzy]

Indar does not approve your gruesome actions towards his cute little Jatu.

Hey now, THEY attacked ME. I would be completely happy if I never had to fight Jatu! We could meet up in the spring time and roast marshmallows over a camp fire with Honor Sticks, or what ever Jatu do. Maybe give them one of my village elder's daughters, bleach her hair, and say he name is Khaleesi. I know one elder that is ether running a racket, or has like 50 daughters.

 

[Krozzy]

If you think my battle or this thread specifically is lame, just say it; I can take criticism.

you were bloody lucky m8, as I remember my own battle for life by mistake:
I was hunting around Noldor to gain some relationship with them, when I spotted nice battle, 400+ Jatu army with 60-70 Noldors and because I had 450 troops I decide to help them... my mistake was, I didn't look closely, because there were 3 Jatu armies, 1400 men... 6mc. of training gone with my dead soldiers in less than hour 

I had a situation mid-game on this character, where I had like 100 men-at-arm/armored footmen, 75 longbowmen, and like 20 knights/squires. Trying to take a shortcut through the Jatu plains to do a quest, I got too close to a Jatu army and there was a smaller party chasing me. I was traveling at like 4.6, they were at like 4.8, the army was at like 4.0. It was like watching someone slowly crush your dreams. When they were finally almost touching me and I realized there was no way out of it, I just sat there and looked at the screen for like 5 minutes.

 

[M0rdred]

Klaus says; all horselords must die!

 

[Madame de Pompadour]

...

Besides, great story. Such battles make the most fun of the game. Dancing on the razors edge is difficult, yet you get the most satisfaction if you are victorous.

Klaus says; all horselords must die!

Philipp... err., Frederick of Mettenheim does not approve that. His hidden desire when arriving to Pendor was to get closer to these elegant beautiful smart creatures.

 

[MoCus]

i eat jatu for breakfast. seriously a fierdsvein army \ elite cavalry army takes them as easily as lunch money from the class geek

 

[Brew]

I had a situation mid-game on this character, where I had like 100 men-at-arm/armored footmen, 75 longbowmen, and like 20 knights/squires. Trying to take a shortcut through the Jatu plains to do a quest, I got too close to a Jatu army and there was a smaller party chasing me. I was traveling at like 4.6, they were at like 4.8, the army was at like 4.0. It was like watching someone slowly crush your dreams. When they were finally almost touching me and I realized there was no way out of it, I just sat there and looked at the screen for like 5 minutes.

should have disbanded some troops, thats what I do when I need to make a getaway, its better than losing whole army + denars + loot + weeks of looking for companions
disbanding the lowest level troops gives the best speed boost so its not like you will be getting rid of your best troops

 

[Krozzy]

I had a situation mid-game on this character, where I had like 100 men-at-arm/armored footmen, 75 longbowmen, and like 20 knights/squires. Trying to take a shortcut through the Jatu plains to do a quest, I got too close to a Jatu army and there was a smaller party chasing me. I was traveling at like 4.6, they were at like 4.8, the army was at like 4.0. It was like watching someone slowly crush your dreams. When they were finally almost touching me and I realized there was no way out of it, I just sat there and looked at the screen for like 5 minutes.

should have disbanded some troops, thats what I do when I need to make a getaway, its better than losing whole army + denars + loot + weeks of looking for companions
disbanding the lowest level troops gives the best speed boost so its not like you will be getting rid of your best troops

Thanks for that info! I never thought of that. It will most likely save my ass many times to come.

 

[M0rdred]

should have disbanded some troops, thats what I do when I need to make a getaway, its better than losing whole army + denars + loot + weeks of looking for companions
disbanding the lowest level troops gives the best speed boost so its not like you will be getting rid of your best troops

That is... really rather cunning!

 

[Lord Irontoe]

It sure beats a tactical retreat which always seems to leave your best and rarest troops behind

 

[mniezo]

what i don't get is how you guys manage to get your cavalry to stay in line. No matter what i do, the orders i give, the cavalry will always stay lance fomation. It is only frustrating when i see other guys being able to use J for cavs while i never could. so what kind of heinous sorcery is this?

 

[Madame de Pompadour]

what i don't get is how you guys manage to get your cavalry to stay in line. No matter what i do, the orders i give, the cavalry will always stay lance fomation. It is only frustrating when i see other guys being able to use J for cavs while i never could. so what kind of heinous sorcery is this?

Maybe disable formations with U or Charge commands?

 

[Krozzy]

what i don't get is how you guys manage to get your cavalry to stay in line. No matter what i do, the orders i give, the cavalry will always stay lance fomation. It is only frustrating when i see other guys being able to use J for cavs while i never could. so what kind of heinous sorcery is this?

Tis' the magic "U key" spell.

Every battle I tell my cav to mount and disable formation, Just in case someone decides to get off their horse. I don't even know the keys by heart, but my fingers do. I even do it when I have no cavalry, It's just something that my left hand does by itself now. The only time I ever go Wedge is if the enemy cavalry is in a line formation. All other cases, I find Line waayy better.

 

[darkheart84]

Fog + Tree obstacles + 1000 Horse people with lances and bows...

As someone who likes to play realistically (dead is dead), I would have grown bald cursing the game to hell and back. I have to say though, these moments are what make the game great, living to see the end of these battles, down to the last peasant enemy infantry - especially when the odds are completely against your survival.

Here's to the demise of the Jatu scum

 

[Joker515]

Had a very lucky map against the Jatu, they were all in the river and were sitting ducks

Spoiler