The Staked Longbow Army of Doom

Also know as The Elmohead Missile Army of Doom.
It has been used succesfully more then once, and it is hard to break. It's designed to counter armies that are Cavalry heavy ... ie. if you play no rules 1v1 and your opponent is Timurids, Mongols, Russia or Poland expect him to have loads of cav.

Now this army can easely be perfected to your own choice, one likes to take some cav with it, the other wants some good infantry units, but the main part of it is this:
Spam Longbowmen (ie. Longbowmen, Yeamen Archers and Retinue Longbowmen)

Place your Longbowmen in a circle on the battlefield and deploy stakes, make sure the stakes are adjected to eachother, leave no gaps.

Here's a replay of the succesfull use of an army of this kind

However note some things:
1. This army won't work in games that have rules. If your opponent has a normal amount of Infantry units he can easely walk through the stakes and attack you, you who have a penalty for units placed so closely on eachother.
2. This army won't work if your opponents has Musketeers, they will kill loads of men per volley, which isn't worth it.

In other words, only use it if you're sure that your opponent has loads of Cavalry.
Or use it in teamgames, but do consult your allies first, they might not like it when they have to take the deads while you get the kills ... and they will have to line up at your side.

One of my fun armies, though it's not very practical in real games. :) It's just fun to use and can hold its own if your teammates know how to support you. hehe

Aye, I'm working on an Aztec rush army now, still have to test it tho ... won't be very practical I think

If its a team game your allies just gunna get wtfbbq double teamed :P

(didnt download replay, but I assume its just like a RTW phalanx bow of old with stakes not phalanx, correct?)

Something like that.
But it works far better (as the stakes can't rout and be killed) ... if you do download it you'll see Flim getting desperate and driving 3 units of Knights into the stakes ~D

Besides you'll see that my team won ... as I told Starcy and Guy what I was going to do, Starcy formed at my side and Guy on an enormous hill on the other side. If I would be in the middle it might have gone better as it did.

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Originally Posted by Stig

Something like that. you'll see Flim getting desperate and driving 3 units of Knights into the stakes ~D
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lol, if there was only archers inside the steaks he could of walked the knights through, they don't die that way :beam:

Well inside the stakes I deployed 10 groups of longbowmen and 2 units of supporting units to storm out.
And I placed 3 Spearmen units outside it to support my army ... but they got slaughtered by the cav that later ran into my stakes.

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Originally Posted by ElmarkOFear

It's just fun to use and can hold its own if your teammates know how to support you. hehe

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Indeed, without support that alamo Stigglet built up would have been overrun with infantry pretty quickly. Plus, as mentioned above, the enemy could just simply bypass you.

Roflmao... Elite tried using a stakebox in the second game of our ccs match after they got rolled the first time... desperate i guess... vs the stakebox tho it was an heroic victory


morale of the story is steak boxes suck and is popular with noobies cus they can beat other noobies with it:laugh4:

lol, no they are pretty good ... you just have to hope that your opponent has Cav only, if he hasn't you're for it

I played the first game... the second game i had to leave for work but i watched the replay. SA took lots of cav that game... utterly pwnt the noob stakebox. Myself in none tournament matches have beaten stakeboxes atleast 6 or so times and have never lost to a stakebox...and i always go somewhat heavy in cav usually.

Wondering, how do you get your cav through the stakes, they will be killed the moment they hit them.

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Originally Posted by Stig

Wondering, how do you get your cav through the stakes, they will be killed the moment they hit them.

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Cav can walk through them, just not run...

Our dear Pariya has always been a big talker, but he rarely can prove what he states in an online game. He still hasn't taken me up on my High era, low-florin, all Cav vs. my all peasant army. Hot air rises, so I guess its the best way to the top for him. :laugh4: Also, he doesn't actually read and/or understand most posts. He joined the Silent Assassins, who have some very good players, so he could ride their coattails to stardom.

We stated the Stake Circle of Doom, wouldn't work in normal team games, due to its immovability and weakness to foot units, though THAT doesn't make it any less fun to play (unless someone is STILL afraid of losing and won't try anything actually a bit more challenging). hehe You can't even get some to try Late/All era games, because they are afraid of the imbalances. Worse yet, you can't get some to play any other map besides Grassy Plains. :laugh4: They are lost if they see a few hills or trees on the map.

Seems we have all these peeps saying they can beat things easily, but I haven't seen a replay yet to support it. Must be veteran noobs, who have to rely on the same units, the same maps, the same florin levels, the same teammates, and the same "exploits". ~:cheers:

I must admit though, the old STW/MTW MP community did have something over the current: There were many players and clans, who weren't afraid to experiment and take the underused factions/units and try them out. At least until the the last patch, which pretty much was similar to the situation we have currently. All you began to see were the same cav/crossbow/sword armies, over and over again. If you really want to know, THAT more than anything was why people, who didn't play RTW, also didn't return to MTW1.

Since, as stated before, mods are very difficult to get the MP community to use in large numbers, the Samurai Wars mod wasn't able to preserve the MTW1 MP community. Plus, by the time it was completed, most had already left and were playing RTW or gave up on the series. If the original MTW1 had been officially patched to the Samurai Wars standards of balance, I am sure there would still be a very large number of players playing it every day. Maybe not the Samurai Wars mod, for the reasons stated earlier about mods, but vanilla MTW.

It was a great effort Puzz and gang. I wish it was possible to mod the current engine to reflect such balance issues, then we could attract some of you old farts back to the current community.

actually i think early and high era only are noob eras because noone wants to use any novel tactics. they just want to use the old vi traditional tactics.

there are plenty of ways to dope muskets and cavalry and good missile armies who dont use muskets so i fail to understand what imbalance means. ive beaten musket, horse archer armies, and cav armies without any thing close to the amount of firepower and shock they had. it just takes a little eccentric thinking.

the vi days are over. its time to embrace the new mtw2 and learn new tactics. and find a way to either use random maps or certian variable relief maps that are considered balanced in addition to grassy plains which is always going to favor highly mobile missile strong armies.

not too downplay the fun ive had in vi im just stating you have to embrace new tactics from a different game engine.

I have been setting some games up with 5K instead of 10K. The results have been very interesting. Ranging from the players reaction to it to the actual battlefield dynamitics.

First most players reaction has ranged from grudging acceptance to outright refusal to play anything that is not 10K. A couple have even be somewhat angry about the whole thing. I believe this just supports the comments made by Elmo in a previous post.

I have actually found the 5k armies rather entertaining. Especially when paired with a wooded or hilly map. I have found that you have to use alot more thought instead of just clicking. ((YOU have limited number of "good" units and thus you try to save them for just the right situation)) Teamwork is vastly more important, than in 10k games.

The reaction of most players after the game was positive. Common reply was "kinda weird but fun".

How interesting about the STake boxes. From my experience dealing with Cav is not that bad once you deal with the ridiculous charge bonus Cav gets. Thus if Cav has to "walk" thru the stake box, and there is a unit or two of good infantry to meet them while they are in the stakes. Sounds like interesting times for those sitting on the horses?

Just my uninformed opinion.

Elmark... maby you should play the game... or talk to those who have. You say you want replays??? I'm not wasting my time on you bro... you wanna see how us pro's beat the stakebox head over to the ccs forums and look for our round 1 replays.... or ask Elite for them. And its kind of hard to ride SA's coattails all this time when 2 of the last like 3 years i've been in SA i was leading it. What have you ever won besides my disrespect elmark?


Stupid responses get stupid responses in return. Am i supposed to fear this mighty Elmark who sits behind his computer and lingers around trying to look big by exagerating his accomplishments in MTW1 and STW. I was there for both games, your not so good:laugh4: Come round MTW2 sumtime and i'd be happy to show u round bud:laugh4: My town now:yes:

Ask barret:laugh4:

Yup, I always keep a nice cav and/or foot unit killer, within the circle or near enough to stop any attempt to get in. Normally, with concentrated arrow fire an approaching unit or two will route easily. The most effective way of taking out a circle is to hit it with many foot units at once. The best way is to ignore it, if you can and take it out last.

Though there are strategies being developed to solve that little problem too. hehe :)

Pariya, Elmo actually plays MTW2, and he introduced this formation.

I've heard of 3 people using it, Elmo obviously, T1 blitzed BearBottom using it, and I won with it. I can prove it with replays, you can't. You say you've already fought it 6 times, I haven't even seen it that often, playing that long isn't good for you. So who's the n00b now :laugh4:

@Barrett, if the cav walks through the stakes they can't charge, that means they don't do massive damage. And Longbowmen are damned fine in melee fighting ... cav isn't ... so that won't work.

Yes stig you are so elite:thumbsdown:

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Originally Posted by -Silent-Pariya

Yes stig you are so elite:thumbsdown:

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lol no, Elmo says he loses all games, but I even lose to Elmo ~D

Off-topic but.... Stig my respect for staying calm :egypt: .... and no im not trying to be ironic

I remember when Pariya was still in his TW diapers. It appears he has now graduated to a binky and considers himself a grown up. Those who brag without cause, and who treat new players in the manner young Pariya does, deserve our pity. Please bear with him as he slowly grows into maturity, and possibly in a few years, he may actually contribute something to the community instead of perusing the forums looking for a victim of his amateurish trolling. :laugh4:

I don't believe I have ever bragged about winning, or about any other aspect of my time playing TW, but if you can show some proof of such claims, I would be glad to acknowledge my arrogance. I really hate to see you embarrassing yourself by making wild accusations, in a desperate attempt to have someone acknowledge your skill. You don't earn respect by winning. You earn it by offering something to the community other than baseless accusations and endless bragging.

falchia pariya and his roving band of minstrels, i remember it like it was yesterday.... :balloon2:

the staked army provides several different options, even in a team game. you can harass and it's easy to get folks to chase you. whoever takes it has to be ready to leave the comfort of the stakes and support in a hurry on a flank, if the enemy coordinates a double away from the missles...

keep the trigger down elmo im holdin the ammo belt for ya

Got any more o them flamin arrows? hehe :charge:

while you are greedily chasing elmo's routing units, his ally swoops in for the kill! :charge:

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Originally Posted by Stig

Pariya, Elmo actually plays MTW2, and he introduced this formation.

I've heard of 3 people using it, Elmo obviously, T1 blitzed BearBottom using it, and I won with it. I can prove it with replays, you can't. You say you've already fought it 6 times, I haven't even seen it that often, playing that long isn't good for you. So who's the n00b now :laugh4:

@Barrett, if the cav walks through the stakes they can't charge, that means they don't do massive damage. And Longbowmen are damned fine in melee fighting ... cav isn't ... so that won't work.

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Possible to some degree but what is it that u are doing when u are engaging the archers in melee? Thats right... u are preventing them from actually firing anymore missles which is what the unit is primarily designed for, so the player in question using the stake box would at some point during the game have to rely on his longbowmens ability to fight hand to hand, something i personally couldnt trust :yes:
Even with all the cav spam that is going around, ppl still bring infantry to some degree whether it be cheap spears or swrdsmen...

the yeoman archers in the english army hold their own in melee. i'm not too sure of the standard longbows. but they're good to absorb a charge, melt back and let the yeo's move in...

plus you'd want to be shooting the approaching infantry to whittle them down before impact.

it's not a perfect set up, nor is it even standard, but that's what the elmohead armys are all about, breaking from the convention and having fun, maybe even getting a win... shhhhhhh about the win ;)