VI Factions

[Josephus V]

I've attempted to play the Irish twice (my first 2 campaigns ever) and the first one was very hard...the second time I was cruising until I ran into the Mercians in a 1 on 1 showdown. Although holding my own vs them an all out civil war broke out around 950 so I saved it...maybe to finish another day.

So I tried the Scottish...but after 20 or so years I realized they don't have the fire power in their armies to compete and that their troops actually seem boring. Why do they not get Celtic Warriors I don't know?

So now I'm trying the Welsh. It seemed to take awhile to ramp up and I had to ally myself with the dreaded Saxons and Mercians but its seems to be going fine so far. I like the Celts when you give them armor and weapons and i'm about to put Welsh Bandits into my army ( can't wait to see what they can do). I invaded Ireland and although in one battle I was outnumbered 900 to 2100, my Celts and Horse with merc Vikings and FS ran the kerns and gallows away over and over. It seems fun. Now to my question.

How would you rank the armies in VI? I haven't played any factions with Huscarles (seems it would be a bit easier) but I've fought against them. Here's what I see so far but tell me if it should change?

I see the Saxon army first, with the Mercs and Vikings next. North Ums would follow. I haven't dealt with the Picts much but its seems like they have a good selection so I'd put them next with the Welsh and the Scots and Irish bring up the rear. This is based on if you can't use Mercenaries. Any thoughts?

[Xiphias]

I would have said that the vikings were better than the saxons. You just can't beat beserks and Joms vikings.

[ThijsP]

Exept with pictish crossbows and beserkers. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[Accounting Troll]

1. The Vikings - their armies kick buttock but the AI doesn't know how to do a Viking campaign, so they rarely amount to much. It's different when I lead them.

2= Wessex and Mercia. English huscarles are intended to go directly up against the Vikings, and they are better than any infantry unit the Celtic factions can muster.

4. Northumbria - Same as Wessex and Mercia but they tend to be poorer so they often get hammered.

5. The Irish. You need to be a fan of javelin units, but they are cheap and they pierce armour. You can build large Irish armies and swamp everybody else.

6. The Welsh. They can win but only if they do some backstabbing when Wessex and Mercia go to war.

7. The Picts. Some interesting units, but their lands are poor and they have no heavy infantry.

8. The Scots. No heavy infantry, poor lands and their only exclusive unit is the Clansmen who are only light infantry.

[scooter_the_shooter]

1 ireland
2 viking
3 scottland
4 welsh
5 picts
6 saxony
7 mercians
8 northumbrians


i rated it buy fun not army http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

[zelda12]

I prefer the welsh just because I like archer heavy armies

[Accounting Troll]

You have to love those Welsh Bandits.

COME INTO WALES IF YOU DARE, NORMAN IMPERIALISTS

[Josephus V]

Good responses...glad to hear I should have fun with the Welsh. I've heard about waiting for the Merc/Sax war but it hasn't happened yet. I'll wait.

Maybe I'll try to play NU also sometime. Seems like their a weak version but at least I can try the Huscarles

[ChaosLord]

You really shouldn't underestimate the Scots, they're who I beat VI with. While the Clansmen might not be heavily armored like the Huscarles they are cheap and effective. I think its only something like 15 for their support costs which means you can create huge amounts of them. Backed up with Horsemen/Mounted Nobles you should be able to conquer England.

The only problem is starting out, you need to conquer the Picts and start building a navy as soon as possible. That way you can destroy the Viking navy and work on conquering Ireland. Once you have Ireland you should be getting enough income to start picking away at the southern factions. Just eat away at the many rebellions while the Mercians/Saxons kill each other. Conquering the Welsh to use as a foothold might be a good choice too.

Properly established your hordes of clansmens should be able to sweep through England. Its really funny, you can simply charge headon at the start of a battle and win, though sending your cav around to flank would be wise. And no, i'm not just saying this because i'm part Scottish. The parts of me that are Irish and English wouldn't let me.

[katank]

clansmen are quite strong in both VI and MTW map.

I like the intuitive nature of the units.

since they are highlanders, park em on high ground and then charge down.

gosh they are beautiful when they rip through enemies charging downhill.

attrition war you can also win with the cost effectiveness as ChaosLord pointed out.

I like the Irish though due to difficulty but fun of using jav troops.

[CountMRVHS]

The Welsh are way up there on my list simply because of the turn around factor. You know, when you're scrabbling around for cash, hoping you can squeeze enough money out of taxes to pay for a teeny mine improvement so you can eventually pay for your Welsh Bandits...

... and then that magical moment many turns later when your Celtic Warriors and Royal Bodyguards actually rout a Mercian army. It is a thing of beauty.

The Irish are similar in that respect, but there's less tension involved because they're pretty rich to start with. It's still great when you start to win the war of attrition though.

In the same general area as those two I'd put the Northumbrians. They're fun because you've got to fight the Vikings early on, and hope to hold your little kingdom together in time to start turning a decent profit, all the while hoping the Mercians or Picts don't suddenly get greedy. Northumbrian Woodsmen are also a surprisingly effective unit in VI, given the right leadership.

After those three it's sort of a toss-up. It really depends upon my mood, but the Scots, Picts, Saxons and Mercians all have their selling points. The Saxons and Mercians are fun in a bash 'em all sort of way, and it's great to pull off a victory against the Vikings with your huscarles. I tend to play the Scots more aggressively and flood the battlefield with clansmen. The Picts... I don't think I've ever actually completed a Pictish campaign. I get halfway through digesting Northumbria and decide to move on to something else.

The only faction that I honestly have a hard time staying with is the Vikings. I know, I know -- it's VIKING invasion; the Vikings get their own music, their own special abilities, their own uber units.... but it's hard for me to get into a battle when I'm the Vikings. Can anyone else relate, or am I alone on this?


Well, that answers the question on some personal level, anyway http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-jester.gif . The bottom line is, I love the whole Viking era campaign, and with the exception of the Vikings themselves, all the factions are near & dear to my heart, much more so than the medieval campaign.

CountMRVHS

[gaelic cowboy]

I know exactly what you mean it get's boring after a couple of turns never mind conquer the whole map thank god for 60% victory I say. Anyway whats with carls ,huscarles ,landsmen and joms I know they have differant stats but it just feels too samey to me. just to vary i try to win in viking using more lowly units just to look and feel differant however i never take to the feild without berserkers heh heh heh http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smokin.gif

[katank]

well, I like the vikings although the masses of carls backed up by landsmenn with a dash of BG huscarles can take down just about anything and it's boring after a while with point and double click type of battle.

no need for maneuvering, my troops can take em all head on. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[mfberg]

easiest to hardest

1. Vikings - Joms
2. Picts - mtd crossbows - rule the world with mounted crossbows (my current campaign) as long as you have 2 ships you win.
3-4. Sax/Mercians
5. Northumbria
6. Welsh - hard to start, split kingdom
7. Irish gallows/kerns, no archers
8. Scots no money, split kingdom, highlanders

mfberg

[shakaka36]

1 Vikings, raid the countryside, distabilising everyoen then seize the south of england and your set.

2 The Saxons, the riches of their lands enable me to just bulldoze my enemies with pure numbers and those same riches mean you can get advanced troops faster. plus huscarles are great

3 The Irish, i've never played them, but unless i take them out early they always cause me trouble latter on

4 Mercia, HUSCARLES their lands are pretty rich too, and your in a good position at the centre of the map

5 The Scots, once you take out the picts northumbria is easy pickings, and with your starting province in ireland you can make quick work of the irish to.

6. the welsh. only played them once, and i lost, but only becuase i was at war with litterally every faction on the map. but they are quite good with nive unique units.

7. Picts and Northumbrians, ive only palyed each of these once, as both i was absolutely mutilated by the scots and vikings respectively

[Oleander Ardens]

The most fun to play:

1. Irish
2. Picts & Welsh
3. Northumbria
4. Mercia
5. Scots
6. Saxons
7. Mercia
8. Vikings