Stupidest things in battle

[Somebody Else]

Everyone always publicises their brilliant victories etc. How many will let the embarresments out?

Personally I can account for many irresponsible losses to my cavalry by charging them into massive enemy formations just as their reinforcements arrive... and my armoured knights are toasting under the desert sun.

But the best I've seen has to go to a friend of mine, who sent his general unit into melee, then succeeded in smacking him in the back of the head with a catapult. Needless to say, he didn't survive the experience

[o_loompah_the_delayer]

Me English against the Scottish highlanders, I had 3 spears, 3 archers and 2 urban militia so 600 men in all against about 300 clansmen and 60 archers. I was busy lining up my army into a pretty formation, archers in front, spears behind them and urban militia on either flank in preparation ot shoot when the highlanders charged down adn routed every single unit. The whole thing was over in five minutes, and I lost about 550 men. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif

[Black Arrow]

I regularly come to grief trying to get cavalry over a bridge just as the heavies holding the other end break and rout http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/shock.gif

[Aymar de Bois Mauri]

Quote[/b] ]Personally I can account for many irresponsible losses to my cavalry by charging them into massive enemy formations just as their reinforcements arrive...

That happened to me quite a few times... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif




Quote[/b] ]But the best I've seen has to go to a friend of mine, who sent his general unit into melee, then succeeded in smacking him in the back of the head with a catapult. Needless to say, he didn't survive the experience

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

That one is priceless... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif




Quote[/b] ]Me English against the Scottish highlanders, I had 3 spears, 3 archers and 2 urban militia so 600 men in all against about 300 clansmen and 60 archers. I was busy lining up my army into a pretty formation, archers in front, spears behind them and urban militia on either flank in preparation ot shoot when the highlanders charged down adn routed every single unit. The whole thing was over in five minutes, and I lost about 550 men.

Almost the same thing happened to me once too http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif However, I was able to rally my men and win the battle.
I outnumbered the scotts 3 to 1, but my losses were horrendous too http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif
Those Highland Clansmen can be a pain in the *** sometimes... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/pissed.gif


Once, when defending, I pursued an army with about 50% cav (mostly HA) with my full infantary army, after I had trashed all the enemy infantry.
My men arrived at the other end of the map exausted, when enemy reinforcements (HC, CMAA, etc) poured in...
I don't need to continue, do I?... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif

[taoistlumberjak]

playing napoleonic mod, i set my lines up, skirmishers to the front, cannon massed, ready to defend.

facing the wrong way.

It wasn't too hard to turn the army around, but it sufficiently screwed things up so badly that i ended up having to divide my forces, lost both batteries of cannon, and most of my good light infantry.

[Canute]

I regularly come to grief by failing to account adequately for my impetuous cavalry by failing to give the enemy line a wide enough berth while rounding their flank. Suddenly, my wonderful knights get a sniff of all those spearmen over there, and charge headlong and uphill directly into a wall of spears, instead of into their single-man general unit in the rear.

It would be nice if all those well-born gentlemen would occasionally impetuously do something helpful, or smart.

[Jacque Schtrapp]

Heheh...

I learned about the click and drag feature to draw formations. I used it for the first time in as the Byzantines fighting the Turks. I was the defender and chose to set up on a hill in the middle of the map. I clicked and dragged right to left and was rewarded with a nice pretty formation on top of the hill. I set my spear units to hold formation and hold position in order to take advantage of the defensive bonus on the hill. I watched eagerly as the Turks advanced up the hill... right into the rear of my troops which were facing the wrong way http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/shock.gif Instant slaughter. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif

*smacks self on the back of the head*

Left to Right Left to Right Left to Right http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/idea.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/idea.gif

[G_Love]

On more then one occasion, I've made the mistake of thinking I had had finished an army off, and sent my forces pursuing their fleeing rabble off the field...only to run head on into fresh reinforcements. Of course, with my troops scattered and now tired from running down the fleeing cowardly dogs of the enemy, they usually take way more of a pounding then they should.

This usually leads to me fighting the next 3 or 4 battles letting guys run away and hardly getting any prisoners because I don't want to get caught like that again. Ahh, someday I'll learn the proper balance here. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Oh, and another vote for not paying enough attention to my impetous knights sometimes. I have a nice defensive formation set up, I'm just waiting for them to walk into my archer fire while sending the cavalry out to flank them, and my knights decide it'd be a great time to charge THROUGH my archers, my spearmen, and into the enemy formation. Thus taking hits from their own side, then getting surrounded and chopped up. Just wait a few more minutes, guys Such a waste of perfectly good heavy cav. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif

[The_Emperor]

My worst defeat ever?

How about when my big bad Crusade arrived in Bulgaria (after passing through another Byz province), and they were confronted by a 1,000 army led by a Biz heir. Given this was before I realised how powerful the Byz genrerals were, I sent my forces into the fray... Suddenly a dreadful counter-charge of Byz Infantry and Kats came thundering across the map and up to my men who were on the higher ground.

My men stood ready to halt the charge, suddenly Adrenaline was brown... and my men ran screaming for a change of armour

A crusade numbering 3,000 men stranded from home deep inside Byzantine territory, defeated by a smaller army led by a Nine Star general http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif The loss of the crusade brought England into Civil War, and the French decided to re-establish themselves in a big way.

The King was stuck in Northumbria with only 300 men, everyone else went over to the rebels, or was under attack by vastly superior armies.

The Kingdom was lost http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif

[Dhepee]

Once I was leading an HRE army against the Poles. They were mostly peasents and urban militia with some Feudal Sargents and Royal Knights.
I had my king leading the battle, somehow his was one of two cavalry units. I put them in a wedge and charge. He was killed in about 5 minutes. Even though we were beating the tar out of them, the HRE routed. I couldn't recall anybody. Then the king's idiot son became king and I had 10 turns of rebellions. Never charge your king's unit in a wedge.

[Derfal Cadarn]

Right scene setting time.

Playing as the English, Id sent my armies on a sweeping attack manouvere into eastern europe. The mongols had arrived but that wasnt a problem , one of my princesses had married the Khan and everything was hunky dory.Anyways took 4 or 5 territories quite successfully and was quite happy to watch the mongols go at it with the poles.

Then i get attacked by the HRE, ok not a total surprise, id been the aggressor for quite a while, i reckoned that someone would attack shortly and the HRE obliged.

the froces were quite evenly matched about 800 men on each side, with a good mix of archer, calvary and foot soldiers, so nothing to worry about there. Scanned the battle field, intial starting position base of a valley with two nice looking hills, one in front of me and one behind me. As the defender, i had the opportunity to place my army before battle commenced, and decided that i would defend the hill behind me. So far so good except instead of placing my men, i hit the commence battle button, so the battle starts with my men on the lowest part of the battlefield. after mildy reprimanding myself for doing such a foolish thing, collect my thoghuts and start to march my army to the hill i wanted to defend in teh first place. Then out of no where the HRE calvary arrives and to be honest i didnt even try to win after that, by the time id recovered sufficently to do anything about the charge half my men were dead or running and the other half, wanted to join the routers, but had the slight problem that they were now surrounded. Within 5 minutes of the battle commencing i was presented with the please wait whilst the battle automatically resolves screen. 5 MINUTES, i lasted longer than that in my very first battle. anyways i limped home with less than one hundred troops, having inflicted casualties of 8. Im sure if i had set my mind to it i coudlve inflicted mroe causalties, maybe at least make it to double figures, but i was so distraught at the fact that having made the first error, i then compounded it by letting y army get caught from behind whilst marching in good order.

so the lesson from all of this is save before you fight :-)
no im joking on that dont like to refight battles just cos i lost, but the lesson is if you make a mistake, live with it and do teh best you can, dont try and correct it, for that leads to even greater mistakes

[HawaiianHobbit]

Once I put my whole army backward and didnt notice untill the fighting started and my army was slaugtered and almost instantly routed loseing a few hundred men and only killing about 10 of the AI's. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/shock.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/angry.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif

[desdichado]

As defender (English I think, expert), I spied a nice village in middle of battlefield and decided to defend it. had all gaps plugged by halberdiers and cmaaa, archers behind ready to deal out death.

Of course, AI had about 3 catapults in perfect range which immediately started up a bombardment, enemy troops were also quite close by so I had no time to redeploy my slow moving heavies or to attack catapults, so I had to sit and watch my men defend village which was soon a blazing ruin - enemy kept circling me stopping any kind of breakout and then came in for the kill. My men defended bravely but at end of battle my veteran army routed with about 80% KIA.

Still I should have saved replay course the screenies would have loked awesome.

[[DnC]]

Well I can't think of one in particular, but I have caught myself being reckless and plain lazy to implement some tactics to a battle causing (almost) catastrophic consequences.

Though sometimes trying out the most strangest tactics can be fun

[Aymar de Bois Mauri]

Quote[/b] ]It would be nice if all those well-born gentlemen would occasionally impetuously do something helpful, or smart.
You're quite right http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif



Quote[/b] ]I learned about the click and drag feature to draw formations. I used it for the first time in as the Byzantines fighting the Turks. I was the defender and chose formation on top of the hill. I set my spear units to hold formation and hold position in order to take advantage of the defensive bonus on the hill. I watched eagerly as the Turks advanced up the hill... right into the rear of my troops which were facing the wrong way Instant slaughter.

*smacks self on the back of the head*

Left to Right Left to Right Left to Right http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/idea.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/idea.gif
ROTFL http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif
Fortunatelly I was able to notice that kind of incident and correct it before the enemy arrived... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Nowake]

The stupidest thing? Turning the back to the enemy.

[ichi]

In a tough fight against a very strong army, each unit was engaged, except my General/King and his General/King.

So I selected all of the units by pressing Ctrl-A, and put the lot of them on hold position. I had a full 21 men Gen unit while his Gen unit was depleted down to six, so I figured I'd flank the line and charge Gen on Gen.

I selected my Gen unit, but missed the little icon at the bottom of the screen. Instead, I clicked on the sliver of space between his icon and the next unit.

This sent all of my men to that spot, slightly behind where they were, and as they turned they exposed their flank/rear to the enemy units they routed, almost in unison.

Gah

Of course this gave the King a Good Runner vice, I had to ransom my best army at time when I could barely afford it, and it took five or six more years to finally conquer that province.

ichi

[Ja'chyra]

Nice stories.

Unfortunately my mind tends to blank these things out when they happen to me, handy that http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

Or they never happen to me, I'll let you decide http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[FoundationII]

They don't happen to me actually, I play multiplayer and I do hate it when my ally is a newbie and get overrun easy and the enemy flanks me after he rushed my ally.

[Volucer]

French,Hard,Early,Dom

Just the other day I was feeling quite comfortable with my defences I setup in Aragon to meet the growing threat of the Almohads. I knew as soon as the Spanish fell they would come for me.

I had a full stack with 6 Fuedal Sgts 2 Mounted Sgts 4 Archers and 2 FMAA and an 8 star general at the head of 20 Royal Knights. As well as 8 archer units in reserve in a seperate stack.

Just as a guessed a few turns after the Spanish fell the Almohads attacked with 3 full stacks lead by a 9 star general.

The battle took place on hilly terrain, which is usual for Aragon, but I was hoping to get the bridge map.

I posistioned my forces at the top of a steap hill sure that my archers and 6 Fuedal Sgts could hold it easily.

The Almohads moved all their cavalry to my left flank and moved all of their infantry on frontal assualt. They spread their units out to match the length of my defensive line pretty much making my archers useless once they engaged becuase they held nothing back. (I've had very bad experiences when sending volleys into engaged units...like killing and demoralizing my own troops)

I hid both my Mounted Sgts in nearby trees hoping to get a good charge on an enemy unit trying to come around my right flank. I also moved both my FMAA to the left flank hoping to contain their cavalry.

This all seemed like a good plan until I noticed that the ranks of my Fuedal Sgts began get thinner and thinner. Soon they were down to only 2 ranks deep. I noticed the center unit had been pushed open like a door allowing a fresh enemy unit to engage the adjacent Fuedal Sgt formation from the flank. Becuase I sent RKs to help my FMAA hold off their cavalry on the left flank I was forced to send in archers to reinforce the center. This was the turning point. A few moments later, all 4 archer units were fleeing and cuased the rest of my army to waver. Moments later every unit started routing. Worst loss ever.

I lost about 700 men to their 200 or so. I learned some valuable lessons from this and from reading up on the boards. Like keeping infantry in reserve to reinforce wavering units and not sending armoured unit sinto arid conditions.

[ChErNoByl]

Looks like lots of people put their troops backwards. haha.

For me, i had a bad experience with Wedge formation. about halfway through the battle, when i was winning, i took my general unit of knights and put him into wedge. I then targeted a lone unit of (i forgot), and charged at them. Just as they made contact, my general died because he the first one in, and soon my whole army was routed.

[HopAlongBunny]

The only one that stays with me and shouts: Idiot; whenever I think I'm clever involved a canon.

I was set up on a hill, good position with the enemy pretty much forced to advance into my canon. The timing was perfect: this shots gonna rout the lot of'em I cried

Ooop. Need the general over here click (Canon take forever to load...etc.)

Boom

Dead general...only person to die too http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif

Routing....much slaughter...more routing...more slaughter...

[Cruelsader]

Had a very big, long and equal battle as Turk against Rus (something like 3000 v 3000). Finally I managed to rout one flank of the enemy and then the whole army. I cried triumphantly and ordered all my cavarly to run down the fleeing enemy so that they would not have any hope of rallying. I had only a few cavalry units. One of them was my general. Yes, you guessed it: the poor chap got killed by a routing unit almost at once. A few moments later the enemy rallied turned around and charged back. This time I ran. All the way off the map. End of stroy. *Sniff*

Also, I have often made the mistake of cheking a unit, then making a new group by holding down Ctrl and forgetting that I already had one unit selected. Then, screwed up the whole battle by ordering the new group to do something. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif

[Aymar de Bois Mauri]

Quote[/b] ]I was set up on a hill, good position with the enemy pretty much forced to advance into my canon. The timing was perfect: this shots gonna rout the lot of'em I cried

Ooop. Need the general over here click (Canon take forever to load...etc.)

Boom

Dead general...only person to die too

Routing....much slaughter...more routing...more slaughter...
ROTFL http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif
That's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BAD http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif

[Aymar de Bois Mauri]

Quote[/b] ]Had a very big, long and equal battle as Turk against Rus (something like 3000 v 3000). Finally I managed to rout one flank of the enemy and then the whole army. I cried triumphantly and ordered all my cavarly to run down the fleeing enemy so that they would not have any hope of rallying. I had only a few cavalry units. One of them was my general. Yes, you guessed it: the poor chap got killed by a routing unit almost at once. A few moments later the enemy rallied turned around and charged back. This time I ran. All the way off the map. End of stroy. *Sniff*
Those losses are horriiiiiiiiiiible http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif
After a very tight fight, it's really awfull...

[lancer63]

Most of the mistakes you have made plus hitting the rout button instead of the grouping one on all me units when the're about to engage. Enemy cav. had a field day that time.
But the most painful and educative was the time of my first 1231 Khazar battle against the GH. After routing the first wave, my whole army was set loose to pursue and destroy, just to find out mongol reinforcements are different animals from the ones I was used to. They made it very clear they don't care how many men they've lost or how important my gen. is. They were there to kick butt and so they did. That was a painful lesson, never to be repeated.

[Aymar de Bois Mauri]

Quote[/b] ]...plus hitting the rout button instead of the grouping one on all me units when the're about to engage.
Don't you use the keyboard shortcuts? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif



Quote[/b] ]Enemy cav. had a field day that time.
LOL http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif
I believe they really did... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif



Quote[/b] ]But the most painful and educative was the time of my first 1231 Khazar battle against the GH. After routing the first wave, my whole army was set loose to pursue and destroy, just to find out mongol reinforcements are different animals from the ones I was used to. They made it very clear they don't care how many men they've lost or how important my gen. is. They were there to kick butt and so they did. That was a painful lesson, never to be repeated.
I made something similar but fortunatelly against a less disciplined army.
I could have won the day with minimal losses, but in the end it was a close contest with my exhausted men.
I still won, but with MASSIVE losses... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif

[Divine Wind]

I had a fantastic early Italian game going. Id never done very well the Italians and i was pushing up to northern europe after taking france and germany. All well and good. Then my King dies. Not good, as his next in air is what id like to describe as a Monty Python Run Away type of fella who prefers the company of his male friends. Civil War abrupts..the two opposing sides were 12,000 men loyal to the Rebels, 200 loyal to the King. Clever old me accidently presses the wrong button and all i have left of my wonderful kingdom is two units of peasants and a soft king to go with it.

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

[Aymar de Bois Mauri]

Quote[/b] ]Civil War abrupts..the two opposing sides were 12,000 men loyal to the Rebels, 200 loyal to the King. Clever old me accidently presses the wrong button and all i have left of my wonderful kingdom is two units of peasants and a soft king to go with it.
Really BAAAAAD move... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif

[mbrasher1]

Well, once I was conquering Ireland with a lazy Turkish prince, to get his valor up a bit. My ranged boys were whipping the kerns/gallowglasses, so I maneuvered the prince into a rear attack. The gallows turned to meet him and in literally one blow, they were down from 20 to 2 guys. Before I could pick my jaw off the floor, I saw my little doofus die.

What a waste. I did learn that gallowglasses are deadly against armored cav.

[Oaty]

The defeats I hate the worse is when the A.I charges all there cavalry into your spear units and they somehow mysteriously rout all your units although at theprice of decimating all there cavalry