Any glorious few against many battles?

One of my most unforgettable battles is between about 823 Byzantines and 1400 France in Edessa, AD 1360. I'm playing as the Byzs and you can the imaging the horror I felt when hundreds of French Chivalric Knights charged toward the Byz infantrys. Luckily, my force were located on a hill so the cavalry charge were contained by 400 Byz infantrys and constant fire from about 300 various types of misslies plus two Ballistas.

However, the French, with far greater numbers, tried to out flank me with their Order Foot soldiers. I have got only 10 Feudal Sergeants, 21 Byz infantry and 10 Neptha Throwers remained in reserve to pull up a last stand between the Order soldiers and my archers. These guys never wavered and they fought to the last man. Only one Feudal Sergeants survived the battle.

As for my calvarys, I sent 80 Kataphraktoi and 40 Feudal Knights to strike at the back of the French so they have to went through quite a bit of the distance, but they arrived at the battle field just in time to hit French and save the day. The French morale wavered after that and ran away.

Well fought, sounds like it was a lot of fun. French knights and Order troops can be daunting to face. I remember them thoroughly kicking my butt when I fought some huge battles against them as Eqpyt.

Two nights ago by 880 man Trukish army defended against 4250 Egyptians. After three campaigns of getting my butt kicked by Egypt, I had learned how to fight tham and was easger, but still I thought I was doomed.

My army contained 3 heirs, Ottomans, Saracens and some tough mercenaries (and some not so tough mercenaries)

The ground was excellent for defense and the Egyptians played right into it. Their calvary advanced uphill through a forest towards my position and my cheesy infantry (2 urban militia and one FMAA) wiped out hundreds of tough calvary - Mamluks and Kwhaz. My mercenary unit of Longbows and Pavise Arbs cut down the Mamluk Horse archers. When they routed, my heirs, Alan Mercenary Cal, and horse archers cut them down

Oh the revenge it was glorious My general went from 5 to 6 stars, and picked up two virtues: skilled defender and the one that gives you +1 command whem outnumbered 2 to 1.

Surprisingly, my casualties were not that bad, the Egyptians never did reach my main position with infantry or calvary and most of the casualties were the mercenaries (by design http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...ns/biggrin.gif) a ew times I charged my Saracens at them and flanked with my heirs, but they broke quickly because their general had died in the initial fighting in the forest.

I learned from this how powerful infantry are in the woods - FMAA are decent, UM are not and those three mercenary infantry units killed at least 500 calvary. The one UM recieved 4 valor points - 1st time I've seen that in one battle, but there were only 6 men left in the unit

My most enjoyable battle was in my first campaign as English (on normal). Had no idea how to play the game but was having fun learning. Controlled from Navarre and Aragon to former HRE empire. The Almohads decided to launch invasions up and down my coast and a land invasion against Aragon. Spent next ten years fighting over Aragon - Almos had 7,000+ troops Incl. Jihad) camped in Valencia & Castile. This war was seriously draining my troops from central europe and my drive east had faltered badly.

I made a mistake and sent too many troops from Navarre to plug losses in Aragon and the wily AI then invaded Navarre.

4,000 Almos vs 1,800 English with AI having better general. I was still learning so daunting odds for me (I was still using longbowmen to skirmish at this time and they did surprisingly well&#33http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...icons/wink.gif. Battle started with my troops in a forward position facing downhill. I beat off the first wave after concentrating missile fire on AUM (by this stage I really hated these guys after they walloped me in our first clash).

I pulled my troops further back up the fill to anchor my flank with woods. All my reserves were in. Beat off 2 more waves and my guys were now seriously tired and at less than half strength and I was getting worried. Next wave came and I made a final charge downhill. I did not expect them to hold. My exhausted troops were wavering but my only unit of cmaa (my favourites) I had held back now came to my rescue pounding downhill into flank of enemy line and it crumpled. My men could rest a little but as next wave came on I decided they could go on no more and they marched off the field, defeated but not broken. I had a mere 600 men left out of original 1,800 but had killed or captured 3 times that. I was very proud of my men that day.

I finally learned how to use Jinettes - 1 unit had 300 kills alone and they were still there at the end. To watch this unit launch their javelins and then charge in and rout an enemy spear unit (pre patch) and then capture all but 2 of them was great to watch.

I then spent the next hour pulling units from every province in my empire to retake Navarre (but that's another story).

If we started a poll about best defensive unit, I would choose the Byzantine Infantry. They are solid, elite, difficult to route, good attack and defence plus chape. With the help from missiles, not even French Knights or Mongol Cavalry can charge them.

Exile, it seems that the AI Islamic armies emphaized on cavalry, that means too much mobility but not enough stability. Such forces are strong in assault, but they are useless if the opposition possess solid infantry. The terrain in Asia Minor is highly defensive. My favourite tactics as Byz is to use the Byz infantry to absorb the shock from charges and laid down an supporting barrage by the archers. When the enemy become tired, the heavy cavalry would be unleashed and even a head-on charge would succeed. The timing has to correct, otherwise my own troop would become tired and wavered.

By the way, desdichado, what's the composition of the enemy's force? Mainly cavalry or else?

Hi,

I don't know if it was the most glorious, but it was the one I wasn't sure of winning.

Playing as the Danes, my 6 star general Mr. Ericsson felt compelled to hold Constantinople with his 1000 men army against the Egyptians. You could say he did a favour to the Byzantine King in exile on Rhodes, who often employed his kinsmen in his Varangian Guard so they started to feel right at home in Constantinople.
Well, the Egyptians attacked 3 years in succession with 4000 men, thought only about 2000 good troops in each wave, the rest more or less peasantry. But it was still a challenge as I couldn't replenish my troops since the seas were blockaded and there wasn't any bowyer shop left in this province.
Well, in that battle I improved a lot defending against cavalry, plus I got more insight on all the funny units Islamic factions have at their disposal. I learned that saracen infantry are tough, especially lots of them. By the end my two units of CMAA were quite exhausted. If it weren't for the vikings I surely would have lost.
Anyway, my general picked up the butcher virtue, since he wasn't in the mood of letting any of those ~1000 infidels get back home....