Greatest Victory

[Talbot]

I was playing MTW last night and got invading by an army far larger than my own, I had 766 to their 2212. We beat a hasty retreat. But it got me thinking. Most of you have played the game for longer than me so,

What has been your greatest victory against the odds?

[Balamir]

Im not sure about that, I dont really remember, but last night I attacked a french province who had 1900 men and I had 600, I defeated them with less than 300 casualties. It was a difficult battle though http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[kaaskop]

7000 kills 700 losses no peasants included

i was defending constantinople against the brits and mafia

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

[Shahed]

The numbers are approximate.

Forces:
Egypt: 950
Swabian Rebels: 4000

Results:
Egypt 30-40 KIA
Swabian Rebels 1,500 KIA, 1,800 captured

I had another battle vs the Mongols, I remember being outnumbered 6:1. My Turk army was based on Janissary Heavy Infantry and Futtuwas, well prepared for the invasion. Cannot remember the results entirely, but the Mongols lost in the order of 90% of their forces.

[o_loompah_the_delayer]

I sent my strange, inbred king (3*) with his 20 guards to Ireland (180 gallowglass, 120 kerns IIRC) to get killed.
I was astonished, loosing three knights, killed 124, 130 prisoners. Got skilled attacker, risky attacker etc bonuses straight away http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

[Dogmeat]

hmm the main reason i get such great kill-ratios is when i'm against huge amounts of peasant armies. But aside from that probably my greatest near-victory is the one i've already mentioned. 160 spearmen versus 3000 egyptains. 2500 enemy slain, many thanks to the citadel defenses.
I had a good match this morning though. My army, about 600 mercians against a last ditch mass invasion of the scots. They sent most of their total force at me as i was distacting with invading the picts. About 1500 troops, mostly Scottish clansmen and spearmen against my upgraded Mercian armoured spearmen and Huscarles and a high ranking prince. It was a tough match, and my prince saw a lot of action.
But i won, 1100 enemy kills 200 caps and the rest fled in disgrace. I think i've had better results but that one wasn't bad http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Kekvit Irae]

I think it had to be the battle between my 20 Royal Knights and 1000+ Byzantine soldiers. I won, but only because I was defending a citidel and the enemy was positioned behind it in direct line of sight of the catapult and ballista towers.

[Balamir]

Today, I finished my conquest on the French. I eliminated them with the english at 2 turns heat. First turn I got all of their provinces except champagne, which was behind their border provinces. second turn they attacked my king who had just invaded flanders with an army of 1932, I had 500 men mostly cav and archers, and some infantry. I beat them with the loss of 158, and their king and heirs got KIA. So they just died. And one point to mention,the total of all French armies compared to my all armies, the number was 4:1. So thats kind of a conquest I'd say http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Dogmeat]

yeah, it must feel good to finish the hundred years war in about 2 or 3 years http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
The quickest i elimated the French as the English was in 7 years. And thats cause their king kept escaping. I was fairly outnumbered in those battles aswell.
But I think overal my greatest victories have been against the horde, there are just so many off them http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif

[The_Emperor]

My greatest victory was when I moved into Castile to atack the (recently excommunicated) Spanish.

My King lead a full stack army in the attack and (almost as if the AI knew what I was going to do) the Spanish Moved four full stacks of troops into the province http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif

They had a lot of Order Foot Soldiers mixed in with other normal troops (No peasants).

After a big battle I routed the initial army and killed the general, and after that I made sure that when the enemy reinforcements came on, I would use small pincer movements on each unit one at a time... Routing them one at a time.

The Spanish Jinettes were tough to chase down because of their speed, but I had some Mounted seargents push them into a trap to be surrounded by Feudal Knights.

When the battle was over my king had both the Skilled Attacker and the Skilled Risky attacker V&Vs.

[Portuguese Rebel]

300 men versus 3000 (aprox), it was a bridge battle though... They drained me dry, i had 50 men or so at the end but i had better valor and wiped wave after wave of low grade troop. Just my little Thermopylae(did i spell that right?), you now, the spartans versus persians.

[Monk]

Turky: 640

Mongol Hordes: 2000

the battle lasted a good while but i was able to pull out the win.

end results

Turkish forces: 436 KIA

Horde Forces: 1630 KIA 200 MIA

[Balamir]

I never had the risky attacker Vice but at the end of the 2 years war ( http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif ) my king was skilled attacker, skilled defender and great warrior hehhehe

[The_Emperor]

Quote[/b] (Balamir @ June 06 2003,12:43)]I never had the risky attacker Vice but at the end of the 2 years war ( http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif ) my king was skilled attacker, skilled defender and great warrior hehhehe
Man I wouldn't like to be in the way of your King

Thats a Nice list of V&Vs.
The Skilled Risky Attacker is hard to get since you have to assault a force vastly superior in numbers, but it is really cool when you actually manage to pull it off http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[DemonArchangel]

best victory

one unit of peasants vs. 960 varangians

i was the unit of peasants

and my opponent was a newbie who didn't know how to attack.

[Sam Adams]

I killed 1500 members of a french crusader army of 2500. I had like 800 men and lost only 30.

It helps that they decided to attack uphill against my line of arbalasters and SAPs.

Once I ran down 1100 rebel peasants and archers with 4 units of lancers and lost 5 men... not quite the same thing though:P

[Balamir]

Quote[/b] (DemonArchangel @ June 06 2003,15:30)]best victory

one unit of peasants vs. 960 varangians

i was the unit of peasants
Sorry mate, I cant see how that is possible http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif

[rasoforos]

basically if you have 20 good quality , high morale units ( 16 + some reinf) then you can beat any greater numbers. You can beat the huge mongol armies with only 1000 men....

[Balamir]

good qquality units. Remember what we are talking about here is one unit of peasants ( http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif ) beating 960=16units of varangian guards.

Wheres the 20 unit
Wheres is the good quality
Wheres the high morale you are talking about?
please explain me or I will go to the Fatih Sultan Mehmed Bridge and throw myself to the cold current of the Bosphorus. In fact I may even not hit the water since there are so many ships passing all the time. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif

[rasoforos]

Balamir i didnt critisise DemonArchangel's post ( i would have QUOTED it if i had or at least i would have typed his name ) , and indeed its not possible.
I just said a well known truth , the fact that with good quality units , and because the enemy cannot put all his army on the map and overwhelm you with numbers , you can beat an enemy with 4-5 or more times more men quite easilly.
If that makes you wanna suicide in Bosporus then you can do it. I will definatelly not try to stop you, i promise http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif :P

[Maelstrom]

Whilst keeping Rome warm for the reurn of the Pope, I found myself facing 2,700 Rebels with just over 900 troops.

Not actually a major challenge, but even so I was quite pleased with the final casualty list of 1,880 Rebels dead for 20 of my own - and some of those were self inflicted.

The terrain was perfect though - a natural bowl with an entrance covered by two woods. I lined my arbs up high on the side of the bowl, held cavalry on the hills on their flanks and just chewed them up as they closed. The arbs made all the difference - one unit alone took out 180 rebels...

[Derfel Cadarn]

My greatest victory was fought in the desert, as the French vs the Egyptians. The numbers were not the greatest odds I had faced (1800 vs 4300).
But the desert wasn't friendly to me. I had a 9 star commander and was - luckily - defending. My opponent had an 8 star commander and an army existing entirely out of crack troops
I took up position on a hill, and the first charge was devastating to me. Already my forces slowly crumbled, one unit of Almughavars entirely destroyed. My army had been more than halved in that opening fight, and it was just the beginning When those were either killed or routed, I hastily put my units in defensive line again, as more troops were coming.
I was just in time to receive two attacks at once, making it suddenly a two fronted battle Both fronts were struggling to survive, and if either of them would break, it would be disaster: they weren't close, but effectively protecting each other's back
When those enemies (all cavalry) were still being fought off, more cavalry arrived pushing my lines back. What saved me was a brave charge by my commander into the enemy flank, routing the enemies.
When the cavalry was finished off, the infantry arrived. These were the weakest troops, mainly archers, crossbowmen and urban militia. My soldiers were all totally exhausted: the desert weather hadn't been kind to them (and neither had my opponent http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif). However, I succeeded eventually. 2801 enemy soldiers had been killed. 48 had been captured. out of my own roughly 1900 troops, I had lost 1546 Only 376 soldiers of my own had survived... I had been playing on large unit sizes, and these 376 were spread out over 14 units Only one unit had been entirely destroyed. The unit with most surviving troops was a Feudal sergeant troop with 66 men left...
A close shave, but a great battle that lasted for more than an hour http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[hrvojej]

One of the more enjoying ones happened yesterday, in my now finished campaign as Egypt on hard - beating the French king and an army of 2500 men, mostly feudal and chivalric units with 3 units of arbalesters, 3 units of slav warriors and 3 units of steppe cavalry. He got killed while climbing uphill, the ensuing charge routed everyone else upon contact, and all the units in that first wave got captured. The reinforcements were of a similar fate. And this was a sea invasion, so no retreat possible for them. I was most pleased. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Satyr]

I had a stack of Viking Huscarles and Cav when the Northumbrians attacked me with 3+ stacks. I lost about 300 and killed and captured and slaughtered 3000. My Prince gained: Butcher, No Mercy, Skilled Defender, and Skilled Last Stand Defender and gained his 8th star. I wrote it up in the other thread for war stories. I have lost less troops against similar odds before but this battle was special because I screwed up over and over and still won.

[Razor1952]

There are several posts of monarchs with 9 valour etc who have defeated large armies by themselves.

Though I havn't tested it, with the requisite valour/dread/morale you can put to flight much larger opponents.

I've been playing grells mod Interregnum, in that mod the rebels reign supreme and you just don't have the florins to flood the bad guys with a massive army. Counting your valour becomes mandatory here ....

[bighairyman]

300 mongol warriors againsr 3,000 peasant and won without losinf more than 30 soldiers http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/shock.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/shock.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/shock.gif

[Joejoe84]

Mine was against the GH. It was one of my first campaigns and i did not know exactly when the GH arrives so i was completely unprepared. One of my provinces was invaded by a huge stack of the mongol HC and a small contigent of spearmen. I only had a couple of units of feudal sarges 4 units of base archers, a couple of speamen, and an heir, all were of low valour. When the map loaded all i saw was a completely flat terrain but, there were many trees. I was able to defeat the GH by lining up the bulk of my forces across a clear, on their flanks were hidden spearmen and just outside the forests on either side i placed my archers, hopefully to suck the HC to attack my weak flanks and then i could hit their flanks with my hidden spearmen... this was foiled when they reconned into the forests. Yet i was still able to defeat them by capturing their king with my heir's gaurd when he was in combat with a unit of FS. This just allowed me to fight off the rest of their army.

[Lord_PH]

facing 4,300 with 1200. a few archers, 2 royal knights, and around 8 spearmen swordsmen militia group. the reinforcements came wave after wave and my men where getting exceedingly exhausted. i lost in the end, but, killed around 2000, losing 800.