Your Unstoppable Army

[mrdang]

What do you use to conquer Caldradia?

My current party size
+30 from Base
+35 from Leadership
+20 from Charisma
+99 from Renown
184 Total

Casual Peacetime Party this is what I use to roam quickly from place to place for touring tournaments and rescuing more peasant women Small enough to move fast, small enough to attract bandits. Autocalc will get the best of you if you only have companions in your party so I add a few non-hero units.
1 Me
6 Companions
9 Sword Sisters
16 Total

Siege Party for moderate play. sometimes you just want to be merciful to weak factions
1 Me
6 Companions
15 Archers: Vaegir Marksmen preferred. I do most of the archery myself, so I don't need too many.
48 Fodder: any random units I pick up from enemy parties
50 Heavy Cavalry: mostly as support in case large war bands interrupt my sieging
120 Total

Casual War Party for fun fights and challenges. I use this for renown farming
1 Me
6 Companions
40 All Infantry or All Cavalry

War Band for total war and repelling constant attackers from all sides
1 Me
6 Companions
15 Vaegir Marksmen
40 Infantry: Nord Huscarls preferred. Otherwise, I just upgrade from the same line as my cavalry recruits
38-58 Fodder: space for any random units I find
30 Light Cavalry: Sword Sisters. Used to chase down evading enemies while heavy cavalry stay in the heart of battle
30 Heavy Cavalry: Vaegir Knights, Swadian Knights, or Sarranid Mamlukes.
160-180 Total

Garrison usually unprotected but since I have Dhirim... I just steal and upgrade all units I rescue from successful sieges. Besides that, I just store reserve troops in there and it seems to have built over time.

Companions
Matheld
Rolf
Alayen: Level 10 Looting
Lezalit: Level 10 Tactics, Engineering
Katrin: Level 10 First Aid, Level 10+1 Wound Treatment, Level 10+2 Surgery
Klethi: Level 10 Tracking, Level 10 Spotting, Level 10+1 Pathfinding

General playing style

• Use what's happy
• Use what you find
• Use either your faction troops or Sword Sisters

 

[nood]

Well, I tend to use Huscarls for offensive sieging.
For siege defence, I like Huscarls.
If I want to punish someone for raiding my villages, Ill take some Huscarls.
If I am fighting cavalry, I tend to favour Huscarls.
For ranged enemies, I prefer Huscarls.
Against melee infantry, Huscarls work well.
If feeling adventurous, I might take some Nord Veterans and Huscarls.

Otherwise, I just use Huscarls.

 

[borge12]

Well, I tend to use Huscarls for offensive sieging.
For siege defence, I like Huscarls.
If I want to punish someone for raiding my villages, Ill take some Huscarls.
If I am fighting cavalry, I tend to favour Huscarls.
For ranged enemies, I prefer Huscarls.
Against melee infantry, Huscarls work well.
If feeling adventurous, I might take some Nord Veterans and Huscarls.

Otherwise, I just use Huscarls.

With such a complicated setup how do you remember it all? 

I'd probably screw that up and accidentally bring Huscarls

 

[Boduar]

I think I was better off when I had 20 huscarls + 130ish heavy cav but since huscarls have since died (only have 1 champion huscarl left) I just have like 90ish mamlukes 35ish vaegir knights and 20ish swadian knights and 10ish sword sisters.  Numbers fluctuate after every siege since some die and I replace with rescued prisoners.

Max army size is 188 for me mostly because I pumped cha/leadership (only have +88 from renown atm actually lost quite a bit due to long peaceful trading/waiting).

Edit:  Wow I jinxed my poor Huscarl he just got killed by Rhodok sharpshooter at the first siege after this post ... he had survived the last 15.

 

[Noapte]

Well, I tend to use Huscarls for offensive sieging.
For siege defence, I like Huscarls.
If I want to punish someone for raiding my villages, Ill take some Huscarls.
If I am fighting cavalry, I tend to favour Huscarls.
For ranged enemies, I prefer Huscarls.
Against melee infantry, Huscarls work well.
If feeling adventurous, I might take some Nord Veterans and Huscarls.

Otherwise, I just use Huscarls.

This. And I also sometimes use Huscarls.

 

[Bones40]

All heavy cav (Swadian, Vaegir, Sarranid...take your pick, doesn't really matter, hell even all Lancers do well) are the best armies in the game, but are sooooo boring to command.  My current army is 55 Huscarls, 15 or so Nord Veterans (soon to be Huscarls), 30 Rhodok Sharpshooters and every companion in the game (used a tweak to keep them all) all kitted out skill wise and equipment wise as heavy cav with blunt weapons (the only cav in my armies, including me.  I fight on foot).  All companions have at least 4 power strike, 2 power throw, 4 riding and 4 training.

I may swap out the Sharpshooters for Vaegir Marksmen.  I usually play a Vaegir army and I'm really missing the rate of fire of the marksmen.

 

[Baguette Eater]

Some swadian knights some huskarls and a some vaegir marksman... Until good ol' Harlaus fired up a war on both Nords and Vaegirs

 

[Pushkatu]

I have 210 available slots right now with 2200+ fame and level 40 character.

I have 120 vaegir elite knights(elites are normal vaegir knights updated thanks to a mod that adds more troops to the factions). It took me 30-50 days and many, many battles to train them. I also have 3 Royal sarrramid manlukes also added by that mod and the rest are archers, vaegir mostly. During peace, I only take my knights, but when at war I take my archers to.

I managed to defeat a 750+ rhodock army with my 200+ army, but not easy at all.

 

[Fattyfat]

I like a strong mix for all-purpose warfare.  Prefs:

10 Elite Cavalry (Myself and 9 companions)
10 Heavy Cavalry (Pref. Swadian Knights)
10 Light Cavalry (Sword Sisters)
50 Heavy Infantry (Nord Veteran/Huscarl)
30 Crossbowmen (Rhodoks pref, but will use Swadian in a pinch)

 

[Bayard-X]

How do you pay so many people?

 

[Urlik]

since I added the 81units, I have been charging across the map with 30 mounted huscarls, 30 mercenary gendarmes, 10 war clerics, 30 mercenary elite mounted archers, an assortment of recruits in training (anything up to and including veterans) and my 7 companions on warhorses

battlefield tactics involve having the foot soldiers hold the top of the closest high ground to the spawn and letting the cav charge. nothing stands in their way

 

[blink180heights]

i currently defeat 200 plus armies  with my 35 swadian knights (yes that is my whole army even though i can have 95 troops)...  i use the follow me (so they line up) and charge tactic, then fall back regroup and charge again.... its soo easy, a caveman can do it

 

[mrdang]

Spoiler

How do you pay so many people?

it's a combination of troops being garrisoned for 50%, leadership of 7 which reduces wages a compounded 35%, and then tweaking tournaments bids a bit higher to raise the stakes and profits

between my standing army and my one garrison in dhirim, i pay about 8000 denars/week. during feasts, i play ALL the tournaments until the feast ends--play one, rest 2 seconds on the world map (2 hours game time), play again, etc. so even if your tournament bids arent tweaked higher, there's a lot of money to be made from the pockets of other greedy lords 

during wartime, i make sure my troops are worth 8000 denars with nonstop fighting. lord parties of size 100-200 drop 500+ denars per fight and a buncha nice armors in loot. prisoner payout is also very, very nice

if it were any other city, i wouldnt invest so many men into it. but dhirim has always been my favorite for its prime location 

 

[Fattyfat]

i currently defeat 200 plus armies  with my 35 swadian knights (yes that is my whole army even though i can have 95 troops)...  i use the follow me (so they line up) and charge tactic, then fall back regroup and charge again.... its soo easy, a caveman can do it

Swadian knights are awesomely good   What difficulty are you running on?  Any luck vs. Mamluke bombs?

 

[ragingbull78]

In wartime I normally run around with
6 companions
30-40 huscarls
40-50 sharpshooters
and 10-20 nord or rhodok trainees depending on what needs replaced.

In peacetime i just run around with my 6 companions.
with just my companions i can move fast enough to do traderoutes pretty quick and out manuver every bandit party that spys me if i dont feel like taking prisoners.

 

[tumph]

Well, I tend to use Huscarls for offensive sieging.
For siege defence, I like Huscarls.
If I want to punish someone for raiding my villages, Ill take some Huscarls.
If I am fighting cavalry, I tend to favour Huscarls.
For ranged enemies, I prefer Huscarls.
Against melee infantry, Huscarls work well.
If feeling adventurous, I might take some Nord Veterans and Huscarls.

Otherwise, I just use Huscarls.

This. And I also sometimes use Huscarls.

This and some random cavalry(like 10).

 

[pvtharper]

very nice. Well im different from most of you then i suppose. my character is still new, but is getting close to the leader of swadian  . Anyways ill show what i like to use with 70 for my top.

your's truly (crossbowman/sergant)
4 companions
20 crossbow's/bowman (nords/rhodok)
46 swadian soldiers (mainly footman/ infantry/and one sergant)

im trying to find a few more companions and they will be my cavalry.

they do great. With the compination of crossbows and bows the enemy are always being shot at with accuracy and repitition. then as they finaly get close with only half of there force, i charge with my soldiers and go on a killing spree ahahaha! die you hulscan!....or surrender for my side!

 

[Remedius]

Well, I tend to use Huscarls for offensive sieging.
For siege defence, I like Huscarls.
If I want to punish someone for raiding my villages, Ill take some Huscarls.
If I am fighting cavalry, I tend to favour Huscarls.
For ranged enemies, I prefer Huscarls.
Against melee infantry, Huscarls work well.
If feeling adventurous, I might take some Nord Veterans and Huscarls.

Otherwise, I just use Huscarls.

Well, I tend to use Huscarls for offensive sieging.
For siege defence, I like Huscarls.
If I want to punish someone for raiding my villages, Ill take some Huscarls.
If I am fighting cavalry, I tend to favour Huscarls.
For ranged enemies, I prefer Huscarls.
Against melee infantry, Huscarls work well.
If feeling adventurous, I might take some Nord Veterans and Huscarls.

Otherwise, I just use Huscarls.

With such a complicated setup how do you remember it all? 

I'd probably screw that up and accidentally bring Huscarls

ROTFL : so funny - thanks guys

With such a complicated setup how do you remember it all? 

I'd probably screw that up and accidentally bring Huscarls

 

[Silverchain]

At the moment, four or five companions on chargers, a few (or no) Swadian Knights, fifty or so Swadian Men-at-Arms and a few miscellaneous infantry.  I'm not bothering to turn the Men-at-Arms into Knights, they're good enough without and much cheaper (plus they can always be upgraded if really necessary).  Mostly they can steamroller a typical party (or two at once) of the Rhodoks I'm facing without much loss.  They seem to kill the great majority of enemies, there's very few wounded at the end of each battle.

Before that, a mix of Vaegir Knights and Khergit V. Horse Archers were proving reasonably effective at taking out the Marmaduke hordes. 

 

[LordSharpe]

No specific numbers, but I tend to go simply 50/50 Nordic Footsoldiers and Swadian Archers. Sometimes I include Vaegir Cavalry.