Battle strategy

[CEWest]

When you have 5 groups of slow moving spearmen and ashigaru, and are confronted with 5 groups of archers, what is the best way to come out on top (defending)? I can sit in the trees on a hill for twenty minutes taking losses due to arrows until they run out, then charge them, and have my arrow riddled, demoralized army run away after a minute of hand to hand.
Or I can charge them right off, and let them outrun me, launch a few rounds of arrows, run further, launch more arrows, by the time I catch them, not only is the army demoralized, but also 'very tired' to 'exhausted'...
Obviously it is fairly rare to come up against an army of nothing but archers, but it's happened to me twice this week.
help!

[Vanya]

Multiple attack vectors. Attacking head on in a mob will lead to the events you described. Try to charge your men from both the back AND the front at the same time. Your men will meet the archers between them. Or you can attack from the left and the right at the same time.

But, YA are fast, and the SA should never be able to outrun them anyway. So, with a YA mob chasing the SA, the enemy SA will eventually rout as they are perpetually moving away from the enemy as this is deemed cowardly!

Or, if you are on D, you can wait for the pigs to spend their arrows and charge at you uphill, where your pig-stickers will hoist them into the rottisserie... http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/rolleyes.gif

Manuevering is key. Or just spend the money and get some cav. They will catch up to them arrow-spittin' bastids in no time...



[This message has been edited by Vanya (edited 11-21-2001).]

[jomni]

Yeah I love seeing my Yari's poking the enemy's butt when they run. http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/biggrin.gif

[Khan7]

Of course having no archers in the face of a range-equipped enemy can be viewed as a disadvantage of elementary significance. As in ALWAYS HAVE SOME SORT OF RANGE SUPPORT OR YOU WILL SUFFER. Same goes for modern conflicts and having artillery. Archers = field artillery.

Really, not having archers is like missing an arm. Victory is still possible but only with other significant advantages.

Of course, having ONLY archers is an even MORE cardinal mistake.

But as far as winning in situations where you don't have archers.... the others who have posted here have good advice. I'd still say just always have archers, they keep your options open and your army intact.

Matt

[Sir Chauncy]

Well I have to agree with what has been said before, those yari ashigaru are very quick but they bolt easy. So if you set them up at the top of a hill at the back of the map and set up your YS in the tree nearby but far enough away say that when the archers being firing they can be charged from behind. The archers should then try to move to compensate for this. That way when you charge the YA down then hill they won't be being shot at and won't run. Also when the archers do run you can cut them down in droves because you run faster than they do.