Halberdiers

[m52nickerson]

Having recently read through the Golden Hoard thread I noticed that the old arguments for and against Halberdiers had come up. Personally I lover those guys. I completely replace spears with them. Yes they have low moral. You just have to make sure you build them only where you have some moral boosting buildings. A church and requiem at minimum. I believe that gives +3 to moral. Next only let them attack Calvary and other Armored units, but only when those are close to your lines. Never let armor piercing units near them. Also don't let them receive a Cav charge while just standing there. Have them charge the incoming Cav. Pavise arbalesters set on hold formation, hold position do a good job taking charges and hold long enough for the Halberdiers to engage the Cav.

[Prince Cobra]

As far as I've heard the morale does not sum up (though I am not that sure, really). But even +2 morale, even +1 morale can work well if placed nicely (on a hill). I've noticed that whilst playing from high starting age (your forces are not that big and it seems that the Horde is slightly(!) smaller and also shows more preference towards horse archers than heavy cavalry). Halberdiers seems to have slightly lower upkeep cost than basic spears... However, they are slightly more expensive... Basically, my recent experience with the Byzantines High/Hard/ VI shows that the main killing units are the arbalesters (pavised or not). Strong archer units (like Bulgarian brigands and the Trabezond archers) are appreciated, though not obligatory. The cavalry deals well with the Golden Horde infantry. The fearsome heavy cavalry of the Horde dies easy when blocked by spears and attacked from the rear with Varangian guard (they can be well replaced with Chivalric foot knights) or just a mercenary unit like billman. I have not tried to leave the spear unit alone whilst I pepper the Horde unit with arrows

Perhaps the Halberdiers seem to be most useful as the Russians since apart from the woodsmen (though they are not that bad, really but a bit fragile) they do not have anything different from halberdier that is armour piercing. Basically, yes, the Halberdiers are an option, if you have them. And as long as you have the time to build churches and other niceties before the Horde arrives (though I admit the backbone of the army was the plain spearman that is also not famous with its good morale). And once again, the main killing is done from the arbalests esp. vs. the horse archers of the horde. If youy play as the Russians, do not forget to take some Druzhina cavalry with you! I used it as a mercenary unit as the Byz and it is perfect at flanking the Horde Heavy Cav after the latter is pinned! The Druzhinas also work well against the GH warriors.

Why do you use the expensive (and requiring high tech development) Pavise arb. to hold the cavalry charge? I believe they will lose about 1/3 of their number in the process. Spare them.

In the last battles with the Horde (that I mentioned), things were simply desperate for the Horde. More than 1:10 even 1:15 casualty rate and this mainly some arbalests and few cheap spears... Of course, I never meet the Horde on flat but rather fight on the nice Georgia map with a good general. I really started to wonder why I did bother to take more than 5 units of Varangian guard, though I admit I preferred to use billman (1 unit for all the battles) to flank.

P.S. The main disadvantage of the Halbs is on the offensive + they require a higher tech than the plain spears (level citadel). If you play at early, it will be easy but if you start playing on high you basically have 1 province with citadel in the best possible case.

[gollum]

Halberdiers are simply redundant; the only faction that can find uses for them are the Russians, due to lack of alternatives (and not even them! just remembered that the russians can rain militia seargents...). Catholics can have the much better dismounted chivalric knights and can fare better even with upgraded Militia Seargents due to the later's higher stamina that causes them to be far more useful than the awkward halbs. The Byzantines have the Varangians that are all is needed. The Turks have the heavy Janissaries. The Almohads have Militia Seargents that can do the job as i have said. Only the Egyptians lack a heavy infantry armor piercing elite unit (the Abyssinians are outclassed due to low armor and defence and need substantial upgrading to fare decently against heavily armored infantry opponents).

The problem of the halberdiers is that their role as a unit is supported only by part of their stats. Part of their stats says that they are a "slow but tough" unit, that can grind opponents to submission, but their low morale and low stamina, that translates into lower morale as a battle progresses, mean that they cannot hold in long slugging matches against high morale or high charge opponennts (and even less to knights and heavy cav that have both!) - and such a luxury cannot be had in the battlefield, especially in long drawn affairs against the Horde. Their low base attack (1) makes their problems even more pronounced. For comparison, Billmen, that outclass the halbs in every way, have a base attack of 2, which is ap and morale 2 (comparing with the 0 of the halbs), and excellent stamina.

Halberdiers should have a base attack of at least 2, normal speed and morale of 4, to be a unit that is worth upgrading the town_watch to level 3 (in a Citadel iirc, as castles do not give the 3rd town watch level!).

I think that m52 description's about their uses is fairly accurate; in effect halbs have to be babysitted and used way too ecclecticaly to be a useful unit in the battlefield.

[m52nickerson]

Granted that if you try and use Hals to grind anything other then heavy armor and or horses they will lose. That is what units like CMAA are for. Ddismounted chivalric knights are very nice, they are also far more expensive.

[caravel]

The GH thread explains it all IMHO. (i.e. "why halbs are crap and what to do about it")

[Prince Cobra]

Granted that if you try and use Hals to grind anything other then heavy armor and or horses they will lose. That is what units like CMAA are for. Ddismounted chivalric knights are very nice, they are also far more expensive.

Just a note: the halberdiers are useful only on passive defense (staying on hill, wating for the enemy to come, turn him into flight and no pursuing him). Everything else results into disaster that I (almost) experienced in another battle with the Horde. The battle was saved not by the Varangians, not by the hired mercenary Halbs but by wretched Spearman who were dying for their fatherland. From this moment on, the plain, simple spearman is highly appreaciated. Of course, it is true that the Byz does not have anything better but what they have is not insufficient.

CMAA are nice, though they have no business in a thread for the Horde, as you know.

[gollum]

As you stated in the opening post, the halbs are not good for taking charges. I am not sure they can also be let loose against enemy infantry armored units, especially ap, armored infantry units; they have an attack of 1ap against infantry that is really poor and in my experience they often lose. Their advantage against cavalry is real however (ue to the +3/+1 anticav bonus) - provided that they are not chraged (because there is a very real danger they brake). Having a unit of pavise arbs/crossbows on hold position/formation and in loose formation stop an enemy cavalry charge and then bring the halbs in, will work. It is in my experience the only thing they can do, but not too many times, because they get tired and soon they are not able to do even that.

Dismounted CKs in vanilla can be switched between mounted and dismounted and although indeed expensive they are worth every penny they get - unlike imo the halberdiers.

[Prince Cobra]

As you stated in the opening post, the halbs are better not for taking charges. I am not sure is they can also be let against enemy armor units, especially ap, armored infantry units; they have an attack of 1ap against infantry that is really poor and in my experience they often lose. Their advantage against cavalry is real however - provided that they are not chraged (because there is a very real danger they brake). Having a unit of pavise arbs/crossbows on hold position/formation and in loose formration stop an enemy cavalry charge and then bring the halbs in will work. It is in my experience the only thing they can do, but not too many times, because they get tired and soon they are not able to do even that.

Dismounted CKs in vanilla canbe switched between mounted and dismounted and although expensive they are worth every penny they get - unlike imo the halberdiers.

To ruin the reputation of the halbs even more. In a certain battle, due to miscalculation how much I've been outnumbered, I was forced to send Byz cavalry and to stop a unit of Halbs. In order to give a chance of my cavalry army simultaneously used some Naptha to bombard the Halbs. It worked, though it was evertyhing a man should not do. In fact, the enemy army broke right there. But I presume I was lucky that day.

Do not tell me these Pavised poor souls have a chance against the GH cavalry... and until the slow halbs wrap around the cavalry... And not to forget that the GH cavalry tends to pull back and charge for a second time. Are you sure it will not make many wives unhappy (well, most of the wives; few may think of it as hitting the lottary...) ?