What is the use of militia

[Bogdanovist]

Are militia seargants any good for anything??? I'm playing on the early period with the Italians and usually have 4 genoese sailors, 4 ital inf, 4 fmaa 2 mounted xbows and 2 royal knight (or somthing like that) in my armies. Is there any good reason to take say 2 fmaa and 2 milita seargeants??

[Hosakawa Tito]

Hi Bogdanovist, welcome to the org. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif I use miltia sergeants in the early period as flankers. They receive an attack bonus against armored units and are fairly cheap to produce. They are vulnerable to missles and don't fair well against cav head on. I try to pin the enemy unit with spears and use militia sergeants to then hit them in the flank or rear. They die fast and with only 60 men per unit don't hold out long in a head to head engagement.

[Xicote]

In my experience Militia Sergeants are a decent all round unit. Especially in the early game. They make mince meat out of Peasents, Urban Militia and ordinary Spearmen. As Tito said, with cavalry, flank them from the side or rear rather that head on. They may be able to kill cavaly like Hobilars, but your best bet is to flank cavalry.

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

[Nobunaga0611]

Yeah they will come in handy against armoured units like Tito said. Also, if you get a unit at about v4, look at their stats, they're not bad.

[econ21]

I think the militia sergeant is one of the most under-rated units in MTW. I was looking at the stats last night after the billmen vs halberdier post, and MS are pretty close to these highly prized units (makes sense considering their equipment) but you can get them much early in the game. I think people are put off by the name militia but it does not seem to mean much in this game. Should be used as shock troops on the flank. I am quite scared of the early AI Italians as they often have these units and they can give my early HRE some trouble. But you ask an interesting question - I don't tend to build them or use them; I should look more closely at the choice of MS vs FMAA as early flankers.

[A.Saturnus]

MS are definitely usefull They are cheap and can hold out against most inf and if you manage to flank they can do some serious damage to cav. Only when charged by heavy inf or cav they`re in big trouble.

[Knight_Yellow]

my entire inf line is always militia seargents they rock. under my command they never loose against any unit on the field unless i do sumthing stupid but u just need to know other units weaknesses

[HopAlongBunny]

Militia are very good

They are cheap, and very effective. You get them early, and with a little care they can become very high valour units. Try them on the flanks of your spears...whatever the spears are holding the militia will just mince. Throw them headlong into the AI's spears http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif Bonus vs armour, bonus vs cavalry the benefits are endless (as is this post I fear)

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

Ack Ok, they aren't bonus vs cavalry but I use them against knights all the time (see above about flanking http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif )

[Foreign Devil]

Militia sergeants under a good general can be quite effective. I recently fought a battle where most of my men were highland clansmen. They managed to defeat the enemy, which had a unit of militia, but they got cut up pretty badly in the process.

[econ21]

I just did some checking in the text file and it seems, contrary to the manual, that militia sergeants and urban militia do NOT get the anti-cav benefits that other polearm units do (eg billmen and halberdiers). It is a bit strange, but there it is. Not a big loss, as spears are better against cavalry, but it may explain why my urban militia are less good counter-attacking cav than I expected.

So the natural comparator unit is Feudal MAA. The support cost of MS is 2/3 of that of FMAA. They have one lower attack and two lower morale but one higher charge value and they have an AP weapon (probably not a big deal on early). Their defence is higher but that is before factoring in the shield after which the FMAA would be one ahead on defence and armour. All in all, I think the numbers imply FMAA are the very marginally better troops if cost is not an object (eg for your main army) but MS would be very cost-effective units to bulk up other stacks. Both FMAA and MS are among the more dangerous units the AI throws at you on early.

[Nobunaga0611]

They still worth buying imo. They're good early units, and can be used as a garrison later in the game for provinces that aren't in danger of being attacked, which doesn't include many, but some are.