Reinforcements

[Azrael]

Hey guys,

As the English, I had the Alhomeds invade Aquitaine. I had the better high ground, sufficient archer cover and absolutely loads of Feudal Seargents.

Despite this (and possibly due to their catapult), the advancing Alhomed army fought an uphill battle against my troops, and caused them to route.

I couldn't beleive this was happenning, thought the battle was lost, and let all my Units but two dissapear from the battle field, when I remembered reinforcements.

I hammered the reinforcement button until the bottom of my screen was full of troop Units again, and the reinforcements marched on like a whole Army.

The Alhomeds were split and disjointed, having chased me to the map edge, and my forces easily overcame them forcing them to route.

Halting my forces, I then arranged them in battle line, upon the same hill.

The Alhomeds, with about as much reinforcements as me, filled an entire army on the far side of Aquitaine, but wouldn't advance towards my troops.

We held our ground, as the defenders, the time limit elapsed and the battle was won. Victory snatched from the jaws of defeat.

Strange thing is, against the Alhomeds Spearmen seem to fair better than Feudal Seargents. I have noticed this in other battles as well, and it seems a bit strange since I always saw the Feudal Seargent as a "Posh" Spearman.

Let me know your thoughts.

Azrael

[deutschlanduberalles]

Quote[/b] ]I had the Alhomeds invade

Funny how often you see a line like this on these forums. Damn the elmos. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

In answer to your question, I've learned from painful experience that reinforcements are only available to command like seven or eight minutes after you bring them up, so after each major clash I look through my units, see which ones have taken heavy casualties or have no fatigue bars left, withdraw those, and bring up reinforcements in a leisurely manner. The only time I rely on reinforcements in a way like *slams reinforcement button multiple times staring google-eyed at the advancing Elmo horde* is when my army has gotten their butts handed to them on a silver platter and I desperately need more men NOW.

[econ21]

Not sure why Almhohad spearmen beat your feudal sergeants. Are you sure their leader didn't have more stars than yours? That can help. Do you recall what type of spearmen they were? Almohad's don't get Saracen infantry do they? They are great - as good as Chivalric sergeants, IIRC - but I did not think Almohads got them.
Of course, the Almhohad Urban milita are awe-inspiring, but don't use spears.

[solypsist]

Bring on reinforcements asap. When defending, put the flag right behind your "line"; when attacking, keep moving it depending on where you may need them. Some people like to have attacking reinforcements assemble away from the fighting, a sort of "next wave"; I prefer to have them show up to help me out quickly and so bring it up to the fighting.

[sbreden]

yep, bring them in as soon as ther is room. You can let them stage well behind your lines until they are needed.

[Hakonarson]

Note it doesn't matter where yuo put the flag - the reinforcements all have to march from teh edge of the map regardless.

Placing the flag close to your line means they are on "autopilot" for longer so you don't have to manage them yourself, but I've also found it can get the troops into trouble because you aren't thinking of them if they run into unexpected enemy