Horse Archer Armies

Horse archers are my favorite units. By this time I've played hundreds of battles with horse archer armies. I've done a lot of experimenting, and reached some conclusions. However, I'm sure there are a some things I haven't thought of yet. So please share your tips.

Grouping To maintain manual control of an HA army, I find it best to have 3 groups of 6 units. Each group forms up in single line formation and the groups take left, center, right. Typically I lead off with double flanking maneuvers, which sometimes leads to full encirclement.

AI assistance
Note, If you put groups under AI assistance they will sometimes melee attack against enemies who try to chase them off. As long as your cavalry is equal or better than the enemy in melee, its OK to trust the computer's judgement.

I've found that pair groups of 2 units under AI assitance do a much better job of staying out of melee. However, this grouping usually leads to confusion scattered all over the map. This could be fun in MP.

One of the main advantages of AI assistance is that units are less likely to be left alone in remote areas of the field because pursuit was stopped.


Enemy Cav
The best way to counter enemy cav is to let them pursue one unit and hit them with a broadside charge from another unit.
The next best way is to skirmish your way over to a slope then turn and fight, and have another unit charge them from the rear.
If you must keep running, switch to cantabrian circle. When the enemy charge hits, only 1/4 or so of your men will be affected. Cantabrian circle also seems to improve their ability to turn 90 degrees when pinned against the red perimeter line. This tactic is especially good against cataphracts in the desert. The enemy tires out.
Cantabrian circle wastes the energy of your units so I recommend it less than 10 percent of the time.

Enemy Archers
Charge archers if they are unprotected. Shooting them works almost as well. In RTW and BI, horse archers equal or surpass foot archers. In MTW arbelests and crossbows, especially with a pvaise outmatch HA's. Cantabrian circle reduces your vulnerability, however I seldom use it. Enemy Archers are not much of a problem in RTW and BI.

Enemy Infantry
Infantry are no threat. However, if your army runs out of ammo while the enemy infantry stays in good order, you may be forced to withdraw. The key is to make your missiles count by shooting them from a direction not covered by their shields. I often encircle bodies of enemy infantry and manually target my HA's. My HA's will usually shoot over the closest infantry who faces them to hit a farther unit who has their back turned.

Support
Horse archer armies don't need support, but sometimes its available and you might as well use it.

Typically Hun armies have lots of heavy cav. Heavy Cav should charge enemy cav especially generals. The affect of a frontal charge is magnified if your units are stacked on top of each other. I usually deploy heavy cav in double line formation, the second wave of a charge breaks most enemies.
Naturally you can use your heavy cav to attack archers, artillery, etc. Infantry can be attacked if double flanked. If you need to run down enemy horse archers, work as a team. You must cutoff their escape routes then close in.

Infantry support is entirely unnecessary, but can be used to good effect. Spearmen should hide in trees or deploy near the rear of your zone. In basketball the technique is called "pick and roll".

These are a few of my thoughts. I might add more later. I'd be interested in hearing other HA lovers chip in.

Hey, I'm a junior member now. Thanks ~:)

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I hate to spoil it but you register as a junior member and then get promoted to a member. :hide:
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well good post, though I disagree about the AI part, I don't let hte Ai handle my troops, never.

You tend to lose troops way to fast, and sometimes they don't skirmish anymore, sepecially when they need the micromanagement when they reach the red line.

:balloon2:

Good post Manguda. I agree to you because I love archers armies too.
Just a few exeptions:

I really dislike the AI, they cause too much problems

HA-armies are doing great in open territiory and smaller armies. Whenever you are sieging or defending/attacking a bridge they are not so well without support. For some enemy unit types I strongly suggest to have support forces.

You need at least a few 'blocker' units to fix strong enemy forces until you restrike. Good blockers are spearmen. They are good for bridges and to buffer heavy enemy cavalry charges. I dislike to see one of my HA to disappear next to the maps edge while pursuit by enemy cavalry. Sometimes it is good to let them run into your spearmen - and they WILL do it while following your HA. I use to have 2 spearmen units in my big armies.

Because infantery is slow heavy cavalry can do the same job and is more flexible. They are also good for flank attacks. General's units are great for this and attracts a lot of enemies charges. Ideal for trapping following enemies into a lot of your forces. They are also great in stopping enemy heavy cavalry (usually generals) to prepare flank & rear attacks.

Foot archers can be a great support for you too. Every time you charge enemy foot archers with cavalry, they soon start to march and stop shooting. The AI know this too, so FA attract enemy cavalry charges. Trap them into your spearmen or heavy cavalry while flanking him out as usual. FA are not only good for traps, they can use their famos burning arrows to strike fear into an enemies unit. That works best when hitting them into their rears. FA are always a good support for any army, so they are to mainly HA's armies too.

When supporting a HA's army like suggested, you can also handle one of the biggest flaws HA often (not always) have: They are easy to make run when outlfanked!
I use HA to move or to strike into the enemies rear to make them run. But while generals or heavy cavalry work great with this, HA often tend to run themself! When fighting big enemies armies with high morale units, you have to be careful with your HA.

In general there are no better units but HA in making the enemy open its battle line while skirmishing. They are good to outflank and trouble most of their foes. They are not to beat when pursuiting fleeing forces. They are not so good when charging alone. Against flanks and rear of the enemy they are almost fine, but desastrous bad when attacking direct. Use them for hit & run tactics. Never use them in hand to hand combat over a longer time. They are like worser light cavalry in this job. Remember lancer cavalry: Run into the enemy makes great damage, but after a few seconds you better pull out and recharge again. Your losses will become minimized when doing so.

While the AI assistance function kinda sucks, it works better for HA's than for any other troop type. I almost never let the AI control my troops anymore. As I get more experienced using these armies there is less and less need to. The one case when I still use it is when the enemy has almost all cavalry, especially against another horse archer army.

The reason is the enemy AI will pursue in several directions at once, then change its mind and do something else. If my units were just standing still when pursuit started, they will just stand still when pursuit stops. This leaves my units isolated and combat inneffective. With a pure HA army the micromanagement isn't too bad. But, when you're manually controlling heavy cav, you need to let HA's fend for themselves.

The other way to prevent this without using AI assistance is to order your HA's to move to the center of the enemy formation. They will never get there because they skirmish away, but whenever pursuit stops they will again move toward the center of the enemy formation.

If I can afford to lose a family member and have several stacks. I trust the AI to control my reinforcements, so I can field 2 stacks at once. Often the AI will throw away the general, but it conserves the HA's admirably well.

I would not let AI handle my units ever, HA or any other.

About Enemy Cav VS HA heavy army. Having the Enemy cav follow a unit of your HA in to the wood were you have a unit of polearms hid is great fun.

Ecxellent post Mangudai. Thanks :bow: