Surprisingly Effective Units

[Colovion]

What units have you been surprised were SO good or even good at all?

I was surprised to find out that Thralls aren't total rubbish and could hold a flank in deep formation against a little Cav, but I shouldn't have been that surprised, but I thought them no better than peasants.

Longbows also surprised me at their effectiveness vs armour units. I had four units of LBs and the enemy sends one of their Heirs in the form of Royal Gaurd out to attack my front lines - strangely with no backup. They start getting rained with arrows and falter about 50 feet in front of my units and they just got slaughtered with arrows coming from all across my lines. Made me smile.

The Vangarian Gaurd also amazed me.

I hear that Napthas can be pretty devastating as well.

[IrishMike]

Kerns surprised me with that evil, sneaky javlin attack. I onced faced a unit of huscarls with only armored spearmen and kerns (1 unit both defalt size). I pinned with the spearmen and javlin with the kerns then charged the rear and won the day. Amazing

[massamuusi]

1920 fully upgraded joms vikings lose to a hanful of jinettes and javelin throwers on desert....
Almost to last man they die.

[ah_dut]

in the begining jav and naptha frieked my brains out, these days i blow the AI armies to dust with them

[mdutr0]

Naptha definitely. The first time I actually used them correctly they absolutely decimated a unit of heavy ghulam cav in 2 or three volleys.

Armoured spearmen also surprised me. I used them well into the high era in my Hungarian campaign. They're suprisingly tough and I didn't expect them to hold a line so well even against CS and CK

Halbs just flat amazed me. Same Hungarian campaign they completely ate the Horde's lunch. A unit of MHC would charge, I would counter-charge the halbs, and the unit of MHC would just evporate.

Thanks,

Micah

[WorkNeglecter]

Organ gun.

Wow.

[Darth Binky]

Swabian Swordsmen.

I love these guys, especially in bridge battles. They just rock right through enemy cavalry (due to their AP ability) and through spears (since they have swords).

Just nasty nasty nasty.

[katank]

naptha are simply amazing as are javs against jedis.

it's also possible to get organ guns mercs in high onwards.

I lined up all three types in a bridge defense of kiev and the khan with several units of MHC just evaporated in a blaze of glory.

also, early on, cav is surprisingly effective.

hobilars were able to many many battles for me.

[Colovion]

yeah early on I forged the majority of a vast English empire across all of Europe with primarily Hobs and vanilla spears with a little archery for taste. The Hobs did way more than I expected their hobby horses to

[katank]

I actually used tons of archers in combo with the hobilar. the only stuff that hobilars can't handle well are spears and those can be destroyed using ample archery.

Brits have discount for archers and that's pretty sweet.

[Ecthelion]

Saracen infantry, they just keep going and going and going. The first campaign I ever played, when I was even more tactically naive than I am now, I had armies comprised entirely of Saracen infantry and the still beat everything

[gaijinalways]

Long bows, arbs, xbows. I love shooting the enemy down from a distance

Also kats as they are usually easy to get and with a good valor will keep attacking even down to a few men (sometimes retreat but they will often recover their courage and can be used to harass an AI unit again)

[Gith]

Saracens surprised me as well, with their complete reliability. They aren't pretty and they aren't outstanding, but they have always gotten the job for me.

Organ guns just flat out amaze me. I love watching a unit of 100 FS walk up to it and get dropped down to 60-70 with one volley. Beautiful.

[ConstableBrew]

I absolutely love halbreds. They hold up long enough aginst swordsmen to allow cavalary backup to position itself at the flank and they rock aginst cavalary and heavy armor units. Not to mention they can brush off most arrows.

[Maeda Toshiie]

HAs. Plain ones even, when used playing the turks.

[Duke of Gloucester]

Turcopoles (I know these are HA's). I only play England and these are the only HA's I can have. The first time I used them i thought they were rubbish and gave up on them for a while, but I have returned to them. I used them to harry and annoy and therefore break up a large defensive formation of turks. The turcopoles themselves didn't kill many but they drew infantry units away from the main body, tired them out and made them lose formation. A few charges with CK's destroyed the units. In fact with 2 turcopoles, 2 CK's and 2 Demi-culverins, I defeated most of the enemy before engaging my main force.

In short, I found them very good at breaking up a large defensive army into managaeble chunks. Most of them were killed in the process, but well worth it, I think.

[Ludens]

Any horse archer unit except vanilla ones. It is beautiful to see how they can disrupt their enemies and tear them to pieces. The only thing is that you need to keep a constant eye on them and I cannot do that without the help of the pause key.

[Papewaio]

Spearmen, Saracens, Hobilars and Milita Serjs are all value for money.

[Ulair]

Here's my vote for saracens, hobilars and HAs (even vanilla); all surprised me on first few uses. Also I'll stick in a word for Armenian heavy cavalry: cheap as chips and on a charge-withdraw-charge pattern they cause major havoc . Finally, vanilla archers (in early at least) still surprise me when used in sufficient numbers against even Templars and the like.

[ConstableBrew]

what is HA?

[YAKOBU]

Horse Archer ConstableBrew

[katank]

AHC are amazing. with master horse from armenia, you can get v2 ones that are superior to v0 CKs less than 3 decades into the game and cost less than half as much. that is just plain OP.

[Tomassi_Rossino]

The Hashishin are just fantastic. IMO, the range of longbowmen and also being able to camoflage themself without the usage of trees or woods. I thought they were just 16 archers with no real purpose but they are excellent at ambushes.

[katank]

they are 12 men units. they can be overwhelmed easily though due to the tiny numbers.

like battlefield ninjas in shoggy, they are just useful for taking out the enemy general and not really much else.

their build reqs are also insane.

[cutepuppy]

from the first campaign I played as spanish, I just loved jinetes. I learnt to appreciate militia sergeants, the english 'v2 combo' billmen from mercia + LBM from wales is also quite easy to get and very powerful. And I discovered the power of simple woodsman in a random battle: I pinned teutonic knights with vanilla spears and charged them in the back: the AP bonus and irresisteble charge just destroyed those pesky germans.

[Sociopsychoactive]

Longbowmen in melee still surprise me, they hold up far better than any other shristion foot archer unit.

UM and militia seargents, maybe even woodsmen I find really great and far better than their price and requirements suggest if used correctly, charged into a pinned armoured unit they wreak terrible damage and hold up reasonably well.

I really fell in love withy naptha when the horde started sieging me, one or two units of it were able to kill or rout half a dozen MHC without taking a hit, without needing to be supported in one siege, though the enemy were demoralised from tower fire.

Swiss pikemen still amaze me, thiough the requirements are a bit steep they make up for it if you get switzerland early enough.

[Bgreman]

I've got to say that the Varangian guard are simply stunning at killing pretty much anything I send them against. Their kill ratio is disgustingly high, and I fear for when I can't produce them anymore.

[ah_dut]

Bgreman welcome to the org

Huscarles are better than VG, have lower reqs and take 1 turn to build. To be honest though, Vikings make me sick, they are am,amazingly cost effective. Also, woodsmen as previously mentioned are one of the most cost effective units ever

[SpencerH]

I've seen high morale huscarles chase down my cav units and obliterate anything in their path. Definitely one of the strongest units in the early era.

[MadKow]

I knew they would be good but the first time i got to use JHI , I was in awe.
However the single unit that made a lasting impression on me was a Mounted Sergents unit that was the only cav. i had in a defending desert battle. I was facing a much bigger army. Had my spear line made, i guess a couple of archers.
It was a Gaugamela style battle. The lines clashed and the seargents charged the enemy flank again, and again and again. They had no armor upgrade, so they didnt tire too much.
I started that battle plannin to sell an expensive defeat, and got instead a resounding victory, because of those MS.

Meaning the right unit, in the right situation, with the right leadership will almost certainly excel.