Cavalry Trick

[Eng]

First I hope nobody has ever posted this and that this is the right place for it

The Trick:

If ure using two cavalry units and u want to attack another one, u can use this. take one cavalry unit and take him behind the enemy cavalry then attack with your first unit to the front. If both units will engage the enemy unit (In same time or almost at same time) it will cause most of the knights to fall,die...

[TevashSzat]

That is a derivation of the pincer movment and is well known to be a very effective basic strategy

[llewellyn]

i think that it was talked about in rome, mtw for sure but in mt2 a simultaneoisl cav charge would be killer

[pike master]

introductory tactics to simple warfare. hammer and anvil.

[TevashSzat]

no mad cat, hammer and anvil is where you hold the enemy with heavy infantry and then flank while pincer is a dual attack that simultaneously engages the enemy to decrease morale and prevent escape

[Quickening]

no mad cat, hammer and anvil is where you hold the enemy with heavy infantry and then flank while pincer is a dual attack that simultaneously engages the enemy to decrease morale and prevent escape

Interesting. We need a new topic to detail these tactics even though most are obvious.

[pike master]

at one time or the other in the battle the enemy cav have to turn to face one of the attacking units which would by default become the anvil. then the force that the single cav unit has to turn its back to is the hammer.

pincer move is to fix an enemy at his front and smash him from both flanks.

cant have a pincer without something to occupy his front.

two units attacking from opposite directions against a single unit is hammer and anvil.

[holycow]

any unit if surrounded will route easier and/or get demolished, so even 2 town militias can take down knights if they can successfully get behind cav not flank. so you don't even need 2 cav to deal w/ heavy cav unit.

[_Tristan_]

you can also achieve it with two Xbowmen units on (manual) skirmish against a heavy cav (works best the heavier it is...)

But you'll have to micromanage those units...

First, try to determine which unit of Xbow the cav will charge then skirmish that unit away manually...

Try to remain at all times in the max range of your Xbow as it is longer than the charge distance of most heavy cav...

If they continue to advance on that unit, they will soon show their unprotected back to the second unit of Xbow...

Should they change and try to engage the second unit they will then turn their back on the first unit and bolts will rain down their back...

Repeat as much as necessary... and before long the cav (with quite a few casualties) will run away to get another target (if not rout...)

You might call this one a crossfire...

[FactionHeir]

I tried that before and it did not work well, but then that was a bodyguard I tried it on ;)

Anyway, you can kill most cavalry with 1 charge from the front too if you align them properly:

Your cavalry needs to charge through the tiny gaps between enemy cavalrists.
If that happens, they will basically mow them down. Works best if the enemy cav is moving towards or away from you. Once charged into such a cav unit the above way and out of 32 men, they had 2 left.
If your cav hit the enemy head on, ie. facing straight, regardless front or back, you will hardly do any damage and those of your cavs which end up walking along the sides of the enemy cav will be killed.

[sapi]

The trick described with the crossbows works much better with professional horse archers like vards.

Get the cavalry to commit to one unit, lead them away, then shoot them to pieces/charge and destroy

[Didz]

First I hope nobody has ever posted this and that this is the right place for it

The Trick:

If ure using two cavalry units and u want to attack another one, u can use this. take one cavalry unit and take him behind the enemy cavalry then attack with your first unit to the front. If both units will engage the enemy unit (In same time or almost at same time) it will cause most of the knights to fall,die...
Use that a lot particularly in battles amongst city streets.

Post one unit down a side road well out of the way, goad the enemy to attacking your main street blocker by using crossbowmen or archers. As soon as they close, charge your other unit from the side street into their rear so that even if they break they can't escape. Remembering to replace your street blocker with a new unit behind them just to make sure they can't send another unit down the road to repeat the trick on you.

Likewise in open battle goading the enemy into attacking your main battleline and then wheeling cavalry round into their rear is a pretty certain way to win. I usually combine it with a charge on their missile line first, drive off or rout their archers then turn and charge into the rear of their main body.

I also get the impression, though I haven't tested it, that if you have a choice its always better to attack from the enemies right rather than their left. The reason seems to be that the enemy carry their shields on their left arm and I certainly seem to get more casualties if I attack them from the other side.

[_Tristan_]

The trick described with the crossbows works much better with professional horse archers like vards.

Get the cavalry to commit to one unit, lead them away, then shoot them to pieces/charge and destroy

Playing the French faction, Horse archers are quaite rare and thus I have to make do with Xbow infantry....

But it surely can be very effective with HA thx to their speed...

[llewellyn]

a trick i like to use is to make my centre and right weaker then my left, all my heavy cav is there, when the main battle starts rout the centre units and have the enemy pour through to try to kill my gen. have my light cav aid my general with a series of charge and recharge, then as this is happening wheel my heavy cav to back and charge. basicaly you annhilate the opposing army and take only a few losses unless you time it wrong, timing is everything

[Callahan9119]

lol have some pity on the poor AI :laugh4: