Reinforcements

[MrWhipple]

When I was in the Army (back in the black & white days when dianasaurs roamed the earth) I was in language school and we had a two hour break for lunch. Since the chow was not that good, me and a couple of buddies would stay in the class room and play wargames. (The paper and cardboard type. This was before PCs) I was having a pretty rough time with one battle that I kept loosing so I asked a Colonel in the class who had been to West Point, what I was doing wrong. His answer was kinda wierd but he swore you could win any battle or war with this strategy. He said Well Whipple, what you have to do is just remember 'two up, one back, a hot meal a day and a clean pair of socks' . What he meant by this was split your force into three parts and keep one third in reserve to commit into battle when you are either on the verge of winning or loosing. Timming is everything here. Then just keep the troops happy and you have it. To translate this into MTW terms, just keep the morale high and have a reserve handy. I have used this with great success in many MTW battles (and other games including the real thing). My question is: How much and what kind of reserves do most people use, if any, and how important do you think this is in the game?

[Shono]

I always try to have a tactical reserve, either of cavalry for mobility or infantry for strength. If I have enough then both and ideally heavy troops.

The infantry can be used to plug gaps in the line or add pressure to a weakened enemy line.

The cavalry can act similarly to infantry but also be used to out flank the enemy if required.

Also troops feel better if there flanks are covered so having troops behind them can help with morale.

[Hobot]

Usually my cav is my reserve force out of my initial army, as they are more mobile, and can be committed at a later point after my infantry engage. Then I attempt to charge enemy flanks, back or other weak points...or run down archers or fleeing enemies.

[katar]

depends if i`m attacking or defending.

attacking; cavalry, spearmen and any good melee units.

defending; archers, lots and lots of archers and spearmen. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Cebei]

Wow I liked that advice. Your reserves mostly depend on what type of battle you are playing. As you can see the opponent's initial team, you can formulate a counter tactic with counter units of the enemy's units. For example, lets say that the enemy has mostly heavy cav at first and light infantry with reserves, are you going to use horse archers as reserves or....? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

[Stratagos Desaix]

I rarely use reinforcements I just keep 2 to 4 of my units in reserve,Its only towards the end of the game when the cpu is sending 6000+ that I start using 2 stack armies.

[SmokWawelski]

My initial army is usually full of infantry and slow-moving units, whereas the reserve has cav and/or light and quick infantry/archers.

What good are these guys if it takes them forever to join the battle...

[Archlight]

Last night I had a major battle where my glorious Byzantine armies finally destroyed the heathen Egyptian horde in the Sinai.

What saved my bacon is that I had many many steppe cavalry in reserve so that they could get to the fight quickly. Where my battle lines were drawn if I would have had to wait for infantry to get to me I would have been at the least pushed back and lost due to time, or been crushed under thier tons of camels.

[Jeebus_Frist]

I prefer to have a solid first line preferably formed up with spear units. Spears are excellent against cavalry so I find myself less likely to be charged and I have the added advantage of good defense. Behind my spears I like to keep four to six units of archers. My archers will help by decimating any nearby cavalry and thinning the enemy's center as well. I like to place offensive units, cavalry or swords, on both sides of the main formation in order to provide me with a lethal flanking force should the opportunity arise. The plan is that the spears will engage the enemy's main line and by virtue of their defense not get slaughtered quickly. The archers are detailed to look for enemy cavalry or some type of elite unit. The flanking units will either take advantage of enemy positioning and rip into a flank or fill a hole in my lines as the need arises. I always order my reinforcements so that I receive cavalry first (excepting bridge battles). My attack is based on the assumption that I will break the enemy and need cavalry units to mop up the field or I will find myself routing and in need of cavalry to delay the capture of my more valuable elite units. To this end I suppose the reinforcements bug has been kind to me since I always want my cavalry first. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

[Gregoshi]

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif Hello Jeebus Welcome to you - and your cav on our flanks. How did you know our stables were over there? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif