How to defend with Arbalests.

This article describes how to defend against any threat using an army consisting of 50% or more arbalests, and achieve very high kill ratios in your favour. After surviving the early period, you want to hold key bottleneck locations with a very strong, but cost effective force, allowing your fancy elite troops (e.g. Chivalric Knights) the freedom to be an offensive army, and expand your empire. This article is about how to create that defensive army, deploy it, and manage it on the battlefield. If you hold good bottleneck provinces (e.g. Flanders as the English, Morocco as the Spanish, Lithuania / Kiev as the Russians), then you can hold and bleed white any offensive neighbour with little ongoing input of troops. Kill ratios of 5:1 are routine, and 10:1 perfectly attainable – even on the “expert” game difficulty setting. My record is 1080 enemy killed, 0 losses on my side.

There are 4 sections to this article:
1. General principles
2. Defending hills
3. Defending flat terrain
4. Optional variations

1. General principles
1.1 Arbalest overview
I’m assuming you have:
• limited ammunition set (28 bolts in the case of arbalests)
• battle time limit set (this is your defence of last resort in very large battles)
• tech access to build arbalests (bad luck to the Turks)
• Normal unit size (i.e. 60 arbalests per unit). Not so important, but it’s my standard play setting.

Arbalests are slow firing, long range, armour piercing (0.7 modifier to armour i.e. 70% of a targets armour score is negated). Massed arbalest volleys are a deadly threat to every unit in the game. Arbalests take a long time to use up their ammunition, so the initial battle (before reinforcements arrive) will be over while your initial arbalests have 10-30% ammunition remaining.

Arbalests have steel bowstrings, so are less affected by rain.

Since you are the defender, you get to set up an intricate formation before the battle, on terrain of your choice. This is normally at a map edge, on top of a hill is available. As you are the defender, the enemy must come to you, tiring themselves out, and ensuring the battle is on terrain of your choosing. If they sit back and wait for you, then you win the battle when the clock runs out, so they have to come to you.

Arbalests have a low, fast trajectory, making them less affected by wind and targets moving towards (or running away) from them. This does make it harder to fire over the heads of screening troops protecting the arbalests from the enemy.

Did I mention arbalests are utterly deadly in massed volleys? While some battles will be a slow battle of attrition (most of the attrition happening on the enemy side), occasionally it is possible to achieve sickening slaughters with single volleys. I have taken a fresh enemy unit of 60 halberdiers down to 11 routing survivors in 1 volley using 9 arbalest units with a clear downhill view.

If each arbalest unit averages 4 kills per volley, with ammunition for 28 volleys, and 8 arbalests in your initial deployment, then you’ll kill approx 900 enemy soldiers if you can create the time to fire al the ammunition. Given that about half the enemy army tends to survive by withdrawing or running away, your initial deployment will handle an army of 900 soldiers, with 900 reinforcements before running out of ammo, or using your screening troops for mêlée kills. With plentiful arbalest reinforcements its entirely feasible to shooting through an enemy army of 5000 troops without any serious melee occurring. This is especially handy for dealing with the Golden Horde and Papal re-emergences.

The aim is to create a defensive, static formation, that can’t easily be flanked, allows multiple units of arbalests to fire at a given enemy unit simultaneously, has screening troops to occupy enemies that approach too closely, and sufficient ammunition in the initial deployment to shoot through and rout the entire enemy initial deployment. All arbalests will be set to fire at will, hold formation, and hold position. All screening troops will be set to hold formation and hold position. Arbalests will be grouped into logical groups of 3-4 units, which all have a similar field of fire. This allows you to bring concentrated fire to bear on a key enemy unit mid battle without much micromanagement.
1.2 What to put in your defensive army
Arbalests:
The main killing engine of the army. I actually prefer Arbalests to Pavaise arbalests. Here’s why:
• Arbalests are cheaper to produce
• Arbalests need only a Bowyers guild, not a Master Bowyer – cheaper and faster to get the infrastructure to build them
• Arbalests are normal speed on the battle field, not slow like Pavaise Arbalests, so they can run away from trouble, withdraw quickly when out of ammo to allow reinforcements, and arrive sooner if they are reinforcements
• If you do have the luxury of producing them in a citadel with a master bowyer, then they get +1 valour bonus. Pavaise Arbalests required a master bowyer just to be build-able, so do not get the +1v. The key valour bonus is +4v, at which archery gets significantly more accurate. Most of this will come from the general, but a +1v head start is useful.
• The armour bonus is only good against enemy missiles. These will be your first victims in many battles, and are generally easy to rout, shorter ranged than the arbalests, or both. They also tend to end up shooting at your screening troops (that’s what they’re for), not your arbalests.

Screening troops:
These are not intended to do much killing, but hold the line for as long as possible to allow more arbalest fire. In 95% of battles they will hold a line and not let any enemy through at all, and not retire from the field for the entire engagement. In 30% of battles they will hardly get any fighting to do at all. They will take occasional losses to friendly arbalest bolts in the back. C’est la vie
Screening troops want to be:
• Heavily armoured
• Reasonable morale
• Good defence
• Average or better performance against all troop types
• Reasonably priced (what is reasonable depends on how rich you are)
• Not impetuous
• Not relying on a charge bonus for good melee results
• Easy to replace (i.e. not fancy mercenaries or bribed troop types)

Excellent examples are: Chivalric Sergeants, Italian Infantry, Halberdiers, Gothic Sergeants

Slightly light on endurance examples are (ideally with bonus armour): Billmen, Swiss halberdiers, Chivalric men at arms

Expensive examples are Chivalric Foot Knights (impetuous), Swiss armoured pikemen, Varangian Guards

Very bad examples are : Highland clansmen, Gallowglasses, Ghazi infantry, Urban militia, Woodsmen, Fanatics, any form of cavalry (they are too tall on their horses and get shot in the back a lot)

Screening troops will either be in formation in front of the arbalests (in a hillside defence), or in loose formation just behind them, waiting to charge out and stop approaching enemy (flat terrain defense).

The General:
Will either be cavalry or one of the screening troop units. You want at least 6 command stars. If you have the patience to farm generals against peasant revolts (I find the Mediterranean island exceptional for this) it is feasible to have many 9* generals with field defender virtue (+3* when defending). This makes the screening line much tougher to break, and your arbalest fire much more accurate. Simply choose a low value island you control, demolish all the happiness buildings and the fort (keep the port and the farmland), remove all troops, set taxes to very high and let the peasant revolt appear. Reinforce the island with a defensive army, crush the peasants when they attack, and enjoy the boost to the general’s command and virtues (and a small gold boost from the confiscation of land owner by the unfortunate peasant leaders). It’s generally best to do this on islands that have been under your control or rebel control for a long time. A loyalist revolt can have some very hard hitting troop types, and is an entirely different animal to a peasant revolt.
Take care to at least charge the generals unit at a fleeing enemy, even if there is not actual melee. If he just sits there for battle after battler you risk the “not so bold” line of vices.
As well as farming your general, you’ll be banking valour in the arbalests that shot up the peasants, and getting practise at handling defensive arbalest formations against an easy and forgiving enemy army.

Cavalry:
Use 2 units maximum, normally just one as the general. Having no cavalry is acceptable. Cavalry simply isn’t that much use in this style of battle.
In normal battle cavalry is useful for:
• Running down enemy archers (arbalest bolts do this very well)
• Running down routers (arbalest do this up to a certain range – after that, let them rout)
• Charging and breaking key enemy units (massed arbalest volleys do this)
• Running down or at least chasing off enemy horse archers (arbalests do this very well).

In short there is no pressing need for cavalry. If you do bring some use it for:
• Quickly reinforcing a weak flank (cavalry can run behind the arbalest line from flank to flank)
• Short chases of routers (don’t chase them to the opposite end of the map, as your cavalry will be unsupported)
• As reinforcements entering the map to build a larger router catching force
• As a single unit lure in the opening positioning, to ensure that the enemy approaches your formation from a good firing angle

Artillery:
In general don’t bother. Certain very hilly or bridge battles can favour catapults or serpentines, but apart from that bring more arbalests instead.

1.3 The battle phases
Phase 1 – the setup

You set up your troops according the plans I give in sections 2 and 3. This takes quite a lot of care, but will save you trying to rearrange your troops mid battle. You will be setting up at with your rear against a map edge or corner.

If you are bringing more that 16 units, be sure to cycle through the reinforcements to get all the right troops in your initial battle line, and shunt the cavalry and excess arbalests to the reserve. You should also cycle through your reserve to make sure you get the correct reserves arriving first (arbalests if your position is secure, cavalry or tough infantry if you expect the screening line to be breached).

As soon as you start the battle get your reinforcement muster flag placed slightly to one side of at the back of your formation , right on the edge of the map. This way your arriving reinforcement walk directly into an area protected by your screening troops, and you can take control of them as early as possible.

Phase 2 – the enemy approach

Basically you sit there and let them walk up to you. Since you’ve already set up in a god defensive position, them there is not need for you to manoeuvre at all. If they brought artillery, it’s wasted, as you’re sat out of range at the back of the map. If they bought siege canons, simply endure the fire. Do not move.

As they approach, your arbalests will start firing at them (they’re on fire at will).

If they try to engage in missile duel, outgun them, and focus on their freshest missile unit. Endure the fire, return fire, and do not try to chase the enemy missiles off. HOLD FORMATION AT ALL COSTS.

If they feint with horse archers, simply punish the horses with concentrated arbalest fire, and thin their numbers until they withdraw, are slaughtered or rout.

If they try to flank you should have sufficient filed of fire and firepower to damage if not rout the flanking unit, then let your screening troops hold them for a long time.

Never move out of formation at this stage of the battle. Never….

Exception to the rule: If you’ve been forced to deploy in a less than perfect location and your flanks are a bit weak, or there are forests blocking some of your field of fire it can pay to send out a lone cavalry unit as bait. The idea is not to attack all even if there is a tasty opportunity (lining up the enemy for the turkey shoot will achieve far more than a lone charge against a unit of archers). Lure the enemy onto the line of approach you want them on, them run your cavalry back to the cover of your screening line. Ideally your cavalry arrive with a decent lead, or slightly off centre relative to the line of approach of the enemy, so that your arbalests have clear line of fire without shooting your cavalry. Sometimes you do end up shooting your cavalry – but they’ve done their job, so go ahead and fire. Ideally you won’t use your general’s unit for this job, as it is a high risk task for the lone cavalry unit. Sometimes they get cornered and slaughtered, but that’s OK as long as they lined the enemy up.

Phase 3 – the turkey shoot

This is where you inflict most of the casualties. It’s the make or break phase of the battle. The aim is to hold the enemy within range of the arbalests, with as little mêlée engagement of your screening line as possible.

Initially as the enemy approach, the arbalests will fire on the closest units as they come into range. Fire will be spread out amongst all the enemy lead units. This is fine for the first 2-3 volleys. After that you need to take control of your arbalests and direct their fire for maximum effect.

You’ll have the arbalests grouped into sets of 3-4 units with similar field of fire. This way you can get 4 arbalests firing concentrated volleys of 240 bolts at a single target, all by clicking on 1 group and one target. As the enemy approach closer, your target priorities are:
1. missile units
2. cavalry
3. high value infantry (e.g. chivalric units, halberdiers, varangian guards, foot knights)
4. the enemy general
5. low value infantry (outdated units, spearmen, militia, peasants)

The aim is not to annihilate a given unit, but to inflict the maximum possible casualties over their entire army, while breaking the fighting strength of a few units. If the target does rout, that’s nice, but don’t fixate on one target.

Once a target has received a few volleys is will do one of 4 things:
1. Rout – let it run and move onto a new target
2. Scatter to loose formation. This reduces the melee ability and morale of the unit. Move onto a different target. Once the original target regroups to a close formation, shoot it some more.
3. Charge your line – if this unit is the biggest threat shoot it with everything you have to rout it, or at least reduce it as much as possible before it hits your line, then move onto another target. If it’s not the biggest threat, ten chances are the whole enemy army is charging your screening line – so move onto the instructions for Phase 4 – the rout.
4. Stand there and take it. Good. Keep shooting it until it drops below 50% strength or routs, then move onto a different target
5. Manoeuvre up and down your line without engaging. Keep shooting, but be aware that targets may move out of a good field of fire for one group of arbalests, and into another, so you’ll need to keep switching targets to ensure each group shoots at things in front of it. Chances are the entire enemy army will do this, so just enjoy the shooting time, and keep killing. This happens mostly when you have a good defensive situation (i.e. a hill), with identical strong units (e.g. halberdiers) screening all angles. The AI can’t decide where to attack, and doesn’t fancy its chances from any angle, so tries to lure your units out of formation. Don’t take the bait – keep shooting. Impetuous units like your Royal knight general or Chivalric foot knights can cause issues by charging without orders, so be ready to grab them and order them back into line.
6. Withdraw out of arbalest range. This won’t be the entire army, just the target (often their general will do this when fired at). Switch to a different target, and wait for the original to re-engage, and then shoot it some more.

Phase 4 – the rout

This is the phase where you choose to rout the enemy from the field. You’re not going to chase them all the way off the map, just initial a chain route that clears your immediate area. The enemy may well regroup and come back, but you have time to reorganise and bring in reinforcements, and you get to shoot them all over again as they approach.

When to cause a rout:
1. Your screening troops have failed, and some arbalests are engaged in melee
2. Your screening troops are heavily engaged, and you have run out of mid range targets to shoot. Once an enemy foot unit engages with your screen it’s very hard to shoot it without casing friendly fire casualties at the same rate you kill the enemy, so only do this as a last resort. Cavalry can still be shot reasonably effectively, as they stand above the infantry screening line. Once there are only a few good targets left at mid range it’s time to rout the enemy
3. You’re down to 25% ammo or less
4. If the odds where very heavily against you from the start. Not in sheer number, but in troop types for the initial deployment. If you’re trying to form a screen with 3 units of FMMA and couple of urban militia against a large army of order foot, chivalric knights and halberdiers then you probably need to go for the rout as soon as possible, and skip the turkey shoot.

How to cause a rout:
Routing occurs when a unit’s morale drops too low, this is stating the obvious. In this type of defensive battle the most common ways you can lower a unit’s moral are:
• Causing casualties (morale penalties at 10%, 50% and 80% - shoot up the unit.
• Causing high casualties in a small amount of time (temporary penalty) – use massed volleys
• Causing casualties with missiles (temporary penalty) – shoot the unit up
• Having routing units close by – rout a low morale unit first
• Locally outnumbered – make all the units friends rout. Even knights will run when alone and faced with 480 angry arbalests plus the screening line.
• Kill the general – this is the big one, and can start the rout all by itself.

The ideal way to cause the rout is to have several enemy units already shot up to below 50%, so carrying a significant morale penalty. Have half of the arbalests focus on the totally destruction of a weakened and low morale target, the idea is to make this rout on its own. At the same time the other half mercilessly targets the general’s unit. Keep firing no matter what the angle, range or friendly casualties. Note that the general himself will have multiple lives, so will probably be the last one in his unit to die. It helps if you have reduced his unit somewhat in the turkey shoot phase. Keep shooting him even if you’re only achieving 1 kill per volley.

As their general dies, all the enemy troops get a temporary -8 morale penalty. Any unit near another routing unit will probably rout at this point. Any unit at 50% strength or less will probably rout anyway. Any unit that receives the next volley of all you arbalests at once will probably rout. Once the rout start it will chain across their entire army, with the possible exception of a few fresh very high morale units like knights. As these are all that’s left to shoot, shoot them. They’ll soon run away too.

Don’t chase the routers.

If they run off the map – great – you win.
If they regroup and come back for more you get to shoot them as they walk all they way in all over again. They’ll probably filter back towards you piecemeal and it’s unlikely they will hold morale long enough to hit your screening line. Now is a good time to withdraw arbalests one or two at a time if they run out of ammo and cycle in fresh, fully loaded reinforcement arbalests.

Just occasionally you’ll do everything right, kill the general and they still won’t rout. You can either sit it out while shooting up some key units to try to rout them one at a time, or charge your screening line at them. This is high risk, and if they still don’t break, and get around the flanks of your line and into the arbalests, they you have a problem. All is not lost, but it’s going to be a bloody slugfest with equal casualties from then onwards. I’m generally happier doing this if I have very high quality troops in the screening line that can hold their own in any melee (chivalric foot knights are my favourite for this). If you do charge, don’t chase the routers once they break. Just reform the original line, and wait for them to come back, so you can shoot them some more.

Phase 5 – the reinforcements tail

This can be treated very much like the regroup of the routed enemy forces. Units will generally come at you piecemeal, and can be shot up and routed without ever reaching your screening line. If the enemy shows signs of trying to build up a whole army out of range, then attacking you can send out a lone cavalry bait to lure them in when they are only half formed up, but it’s rarely necessary. In most battles the quality of troops they’re cycling in as reinforcements is lower that the initial assault, so shooting them up will be easy. They’ll be carrying a permanent -2 morale penalty due to the death of the general, and will be locally outnumbered, so will often rout when they receive their first volley.

You’ll be low on ammunition, so keep a god eye on you arbalests. Once they are out of ammo, withdraw them immediately. As soon as they are off the map, you can cycle in some more from you reinforcements, and arrange them in the prime firing position near the front of the formation.

If you don’t have enough (or any) reinforcements it is possible to totally run out of ammunition. You will have achieved a massive casualty’s superiority, but the battle is not necessarily over. If you’re just receiving a dribble of peasants, spearmen and militias, they your screening line should be able to mêlée and rout everything that arrives at your line.

If the enemy still has large numbers of high quality troops then life can get difficult. You where probably outnumbered more than 4:1 if this has happened.

You have 3 choices:
1. Consider chain routing their current forces, and chasing them all the way across the map to keep them routing, and ultimately either hold them in their red zone, of force them to withdraw from the battle entirely. If your last units of reinforcements where cavalry then they can make this easier.

2. Hold position (ideally on your hill), and melee anything that attacks you. You’re trying to slaughter your way through all their reinforcements. This works best with durable screening troops. Keep your ammo-less arbalests on the field for intimidation purposes. They help to give the “locally outnumbered” morale penalty to the enemy. Don’t chase routers, don’t move from you’re defensive position.

3. Hold position, mêlée attackers and wait for the timer to run out. This can be the only option if they have missiles or horse archers and you have no cavalry. Again – durable screening troops help here. The worst I have had to do it sit on a hill with 5 units of halberdiers and 2 units of Chivalric foot knights while 14 units of Golden Horse archers shot at me. I lost over 200 troops to the arrows, but help the fields unit the end of the battle. I still achieved a 4:1 kill ratio due to the 1100 Mongols that my arbalests had killed earlier.

1.4 Replenishing the army.

You will rarely come out of a battle with 0 casualties. The enemy often escape with half of their army, and may well swing in more troops from other provinces to have another go at you next year. Keep the defences strong. Have at least a part unit of arbalests and a part unit of screening troops to fill in the gaps from friendly fire and small melee losses. Ideally you’ll have a land or naval route from your troop training provinces to have the option to reinforce with at least 1 full unit of screening troops every turn. If you’ve lost more than 60 arbalests then something went wrong.
The valour should begin to stack up, especially in the arbalests with their low losses and high kill rates. This makes the defensive army even stronger. The general should also improve, with more command stars, virtues along the skilled defender line, and possibly skilled last stand line. My best defensive general ever was a unit of Italian Infantry with 9*, field defender, skilled last stand and natural leader.

Next time … Defending hills