Deadly but fun army of Pikes

This was an experiment with the Bro Clan and I. In many circles it is believed the strongest attack is a flank attack, but in this replay I will prove an extremely strong center will also win in a 3 vrs 3. I'm in the center with nothing but pikes, rear line of pikes have 3 cheverons plus to prevent a rout from a head on attack. Both my allies on right and left flank are committed to protecting my pike box and any flank happening. I do not ram the pike down the center of the attack but march the pikes right to their infentry line and drop the pike wall so the tips of the ends of my pikes lands in the enemy formation causing defensive melee. First line of pikes get obliterated by arrows and melee as the other lines move slowly inward and to the flanks increasing an overwelming sea of pikes. In the end the accumulated effect is too much for the defenders and they collapse.

Extremely effective attack and fun to play with, give it a try. BTW this was a 10k army of pikes in high era. Here's the replay.

http://www.hawk.igs.net/~cgazey/pikewar.rpy

Yup bottom, even in the late/all era, pikes can be devastating in a team game, but you have to have your teammates stay back and cover your flanks, until you begin to gain the upper advantage. If one of your teammates goes in first and gets his flank rolled, you would be in big trouble. :) I know, I am normally the one who's flank gets rolled and my poor teammates must deal with it. hehe

Also, good point about stopping before contact with the enemy frontline, and lowering your pikes in "spearwall" formation. It makes a big difference, and also keeps the pikes safe from cav charges. If you just send your pikes in for hand-to-hand, they will most likely lose. Plus, keeping a second line of Pikes behind your first is a good idea. They stay fresh and are ready to take over, if things go badly for your 1st row.

I will watch the replay tonight after work. Thanks for posting it.

PS: Tell Kuma I am looking forward to the day when we will both be on at the same time and can play against or with each other. :)

man that seems like a novel stategy what do you think elmo?

LOL Madcat. I may have seen something similar from a certain teammate of mine awhile back. :yes: Though I will have to watch the replay to see which of the two appear to have it mastered. ~:thumb:

The best thing about the above army, is it can be tailored to fit in with your team's strategy as well as your opponent's playing style. Though it isn't the fastest moving thing.

Now I can't wait to see the replay when I get home from work. :)

I will have to play this army and post the replay so everyone will have a good "Bad" example of how NOT to use it. They say you learn more from mistakes than successes.

ELMO WONDERS IF PIKEMEN CAN BE PLACED IN SKIRMISH MODE BWAHAHAHAHA!

When we did the game we were all laughing at my army (me included) we didn't think it would work. The acronym is Yellow Mellon as my ally (FYI). But this is where the some of my Shogun years came in as we use to play this stratagy in Shogun.

7Bear7Polar would go all yari Spears, 7Bear7Dej would go all cav and I would go 0 val Monks. Using spear wall to block, monks to attack and all cav army to flank.

The pike army reminds me alot of the all Yari army Polar use to take.

And yes, you will see Elmo that I went in first with my allies following up the flanks after me.

P.S. I will have to rip Kuma from Kal.:laugh4:

When I get a chance I will post a stratagy that did fail on me, and I was sent routing to the hills.:laugh4:

My problem with the Pike army is, I forget to stop before getting too close to my opponent, and lowering my pike in spearwall formation before I move forward. They get slaughtered quickly if I make that mistake.

Yup, I remember you, Dej, and Polar doing just that thing. It takes a lot of coordination to pull it off to, so you knew if you won, you played very well. :)

Tell Kuma, I'm callin' him out! hehe

I keep forgetting to save my darn games at the end. They need a big pop-up that says; "Elmo do you want to save this loss for the .org replay section?" Maybe I can talk CA into adding that in with the next patch.

We had similar opponents into css but we coped.
We divided ourselves into 2 battle groups, pavs and some cav were connecting them. We were fighting on flanks of pikes with supporting inf and cav when our pavs were shooting pikes. In the end almost nothing left into our armies, exept - cav and pavs :) So we used cav against opponents archers and then our archers took down their pikes/foot knights.

Indeed having a strong and reliable centre to work from is vital in 3v3s, Being heavy on pikes has the ability to turn the game in ure favour, however many experienced clans im sure u would agree Bottom would be able to rotate, skirmish and attempt to leave one of ure allies vulnerable/stranded to a full on attack, Pikes are great but not on the move :-( The player using the build in question would have to be a very gd reader of the game at hand :-)

problem is they are too unreliable and either be a good weapon or a hole in the teams line. it needs constant micro managment and they can be isolated and encircled easily in the heat of battle.

the best way to beat pikes is a massed and densely packed assault by your infantry. it usually brings victory every time ;)

Pikes are very slow, so if they aren't in the middle, they can be vulnerable to being left behind, while the enemy concentrates on the opposite team flank. You can speed them up a bit by taking off the spear wall ability. They will run, but they fatigue fairly quickly and tend to get out of line, which isn't a good thing for that unit.

This stratagy works great, but, it's what I call the "Ace in the Hole" stratagy. It's something you have to play as a surprise tactic, you can't play this stratagy all the time. Once a week is good to unleash this surprise tactic. You see people play multiplayer games one after another, you get confortable playing same styles of games and same types of armies. When this stratagy is good, is when when nobody expects it.:laugh4:

The result is usually, your unprepared, didn't select enough infentry, too many cav etc. etc.. Any army is beatable, if you know what's coming at you. It's the unknown that can take you off balance.

What you want in the end, is a multitude of stratagies to pool from. Many clans since Shogun use a multitude of stratagies to use and this is what makes them hard to beat at times. So if we decide to use the "Bear Claw" (which I have affectionly called it) more than likely we have not used it in awhile and our combatants won't be ready for it.:2thumbsup:

Yup. Surprise is your biggest advantage in many team games. :) Especially if the team you are playing relies only on one or two strategies and cannot adapt to such surprises.

Tried it with Melon earlier to great effect against two CGOS players, will find the replay for tomorrow :-)

i dont know about all this new tactics stuff. i believe i will stick with the one that works for me. werent pikes just for protecting muskets historically. they shouldnt be able to be used offensively in the game if ca finds out they will have to fix it. it will break the paper rock scissors aspect of the game. and we dont want that to happen. :|

If you watch the replay, you can see that bottom may have moved to the enemy, but he didn't really attack them. He stopped right before them and planted his pikes. It was more of a defensive effort after that, as the enemy tried to bring their cav around to flank. Sort of an offensive defensive move. :laugh4:

lol, I was cursing at Bottom on Vent for doing this, now I see the light. Me and Barrett ran similar tests and had great success doing this! We have yet to try our Aztec/Pike combo, where we bring all inf and just INFBALL the enemy to death :)

LOL I want to see that replay when you do. :) I like the ole rush'n Aztecs.

Heres the replay for mels pike ball of destruction with a lil help from me :D
Stay tuned and watch this space for Aztec/Scot ball of fury...

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1C3786G5

do you guys use pikes like how we used to use inf in mtw1, march them right in from of the enemy and halt?

i am curious, when i make them attack shinnanigins ensue

He

Quote:

---

res the replay for mels pike ball of destruction with a lil help from me :D
Stay tuned and watch this space for Aztec/Scot ball of fury...

---

Very good, I enjoyed that, but it's called the "Bear Claw" (c)tm:laugh4:

Bottom stamped rights on it lol

Actually I posted one like this a few weeks back at the .com when somebody wanted to know a good late/all era anti-cav/anti-musket army.

https://i101.photobucket.com/albums/...Musketarmy.jpg


and since you guys can't decide which name to use, just call it:

Elmo's Lawyer Sues Bottom For Copywrite Infringement: Pike Army Of Doom. :laugh4:

Hey Barrett. I FINALLY figured out how to get the darn download. I looked and looked for that figure they were talking about putting in the box by the DOWNLOAD button. It was right next to the box! DOH!

**DONE IN THE BEST HOMER SIMPSON VOICE ELMO CAN DO**

I am getting ready to watch it now. :)

Quote:

---

Elmo's Lawyer Sues Bottom For Copywrite Infringement: Pike Army Of Doom.

---

Ha! Doesn't even look like my army so my lawyers will let you have that one.:laugh4:

The "Bear Claw" is 10k high and consists of all pikes, "No substitutes".:whip:

Though if you continue with this action Elmo, I will have to call Jim Henson Inc. about your name.:laugh4:

Elmo, you have no archers... what happens when the muskets march up and just shoot you and force you to attack? bottom's tactic was almost as noob as the stake box from england...

its possible with a pure pike army to aborb all of the enemies arrows and still have a viable force if he uses all horse army and you stay on defensive. when someone uses a horse army they should by default be the attacker since it would be pointless to go after them. as i have learned my self when playing with high infantry armies.

noob. that's the best way to go after horse archer armies.... attack them ASAP and chase them tot he back of the map.

There's an enormous amount of hostility in your posts, that amount is allowed everywhere ... maybe consider being nice to eachother

Muskets will rout a unit of pikes in 3-5 volleys from my experience. And considering their sizable ammo reserveses this army does seem pretty noob. Stig grow up, do you want everyone to hold hand and sing songs or something?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by }{Huscarls}{Barrett|L|

Heres the replay for mels pike ball of destruction with a lil help from me :D
Stay tuned and watch this space for Aztec/Scot ball of fury...

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1C3786G5

---

I give u, the aztec/scot pike ball of fury in action!!! :laugh4:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=28D65LIW

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Zeph

Stig grow up, do you want everyone to hold hand and sing songs or something?

---

For example