Quote Originally Posted by Kraxis
Well, they survived, but their losses were heavy. They are a large unit in horde formation (not to confuse withhorde units) so their footprint was very big. The poor equites are good, but they are really rather light and not suitable to beat up spearmen.
They did a good show I think.

Archers are also nerfed. At best I have seen 7 as a missile attack for archers, so no more machinegun Foresters. But archers is of course still effective. Losses can be rather substantial, but nothing like before. It could be argued it isn't enough of a nerf, but at least something was done. And most archers are very weak in melee. We are talking basic archers of RTW in capabilities.

I tested a few more battles... Boy was I in for a treat. The concerned historical crowd won't like this.

Lombardii Berserkers are really wild! First of all, they are giants, about a head taller than everybody else (great potential for modders I guess), naked upper body of course, and they carry massive twohanded swords with a big handle, almost a polearm.
They look the stuff of legends, but in combat they still surprise.
32 of these giants ripped a Levy Spearmen (big) unit to pieces with three losses. If they aren't interrupted they will perform a special melee attack where they sort of whirl and advance into the enemy formation. This sends the enemies flying like if they were hit by a chariot. That Levy Spearmen unit was destroyed in 20 seconds if not less.
Further these guys have warcry, but that makes them go into heroic morale (uncontrollable) and charges whatever they like. The same happens as soon as you attack with them.
So, don't send large weak units against them, especially not if they are very dense.

I though they were increadibly scary (and wondered if others had a similar giant unit). So I tested them and the Golden Band (not too good a unit) against some Saxon Hearth and Chosen Axemen. Surprise!!!
The Berserkers where limited in their maneuvers because they got interrupted all the time. Suddenly they ere just another good unit (but of very small size). At least they fought to the death. So it seems they are far from overpowered, but you need special tactics to deal with them (besides missiles).

Also tested the Burgundian Lancers. Now there we have a unit we can remember. Their charge was devastating, but their melee capabilities left a lot to be desired. Their charge bonus was 10. So I see a fine line here. The good chargers lack the strength to fight it out later on, and their charge isn't strong enough to win instantly. Meanwhile the strong cavalry (like Cataphracts and Clibanarii) don't have the thundering charge but will eventually win against most infantry. Tried it out against Comitatenses and it was a firm victory for the Cataphracts, in fact they split the legionaries up into small groups that were more easily handled. Yet the Comitatenses lasted until only a handful remained, andthe melee was prolongend and very furious. The Cataphracts were basically locked down in this fight for a long while.

Lastly, Wedge seems to be better now. But don't use it with weak cavalry. I nearly punched through the Comitatenses with Cataphracts. So I wonder what the Burgundians could do with it.

BI RULESSSS!!!!!!!!