Hey guys...I would first like to say thanks to all the guides here, they are all pretty interesting reads and help flush out the and add to the immersion level of the game. They are all well written.

Let me first say I am an Shogun player, I use to play the game online through their matchmaking system back when the game first came out, and am happy to say I held the top 3 spots for 1v1 battles. (GO ME!!)

I played Rome: Total War, but the lack of the competitive ladder kept me from playing the game too much, although it was enjoyable I never really got into it like I have recently. I just picked up the BI expansion pack about two days ago and was messing around getting destroyed by the AI. I usually play on VH/H and lets just say things were not looking good for my triumphant return. I turned to this website immediately to gain any filler knowledge that I needed in order to really bring the pain in the campaign.

All these guides have been a tremendous help and I thought I would add my two cents so far from my limited knowledge of playing thus far. I know I know, BI came out AGES ago! Anyway my take, and I am sure this applies to almost any other faction as the units I use are mainly just the Faction family member bodyguards.

This seems like border line glitch to me, but it has helped me grasp a little more of the game, and I thought I would share it with you guys.

I started my umpteenth campaign yesterday after experimenting with the infantry armies, I found that the pitfalls of retraining and mixing troops was really putting me in a bad spot in the beginning...nonetheless I overcame and this was my what I came up with to pretty much dominate any army that proceeded to stand in my way.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I am not sure if some want to hear this, because I said it seems like border line glitching.




Ok here I am at the beginning of yet another campaign, I was having hard times previously and decided to go with the good old turtle and mass archers, disbanding all beginning troops in order to supplement a larger defensive force behind my city walls. The thing I found to be the most problematic at the very beginning was that if I tried to take any rebel camps in the initial turns, I was often (and when I say often I mean every time) was attacked at home by a consistent force of WRE that would beat me down, or the other factions would break newly formed alliances and besiege my new settlements. I was unable to put forth any meaningful army and my treasury was soon DEEP in the red.

Ok, after the build up of defensive forces I was still having a hard time playing the turtle once again, I found my treasury to be in the negative. The MAIN reason for this was not my army but my GENERALS! The amount of money spent on three units was almost the same price for my entire army. The Alemmani have an early coming of age giving you three Chosen Warlords in your camp, I believe the support cost to be around 600 or more.

The situation presents itself as such. I am hopelessly outnumbered, I believe the WRE had around 1000 troops give or take a 100. I decided I was going to quit the campaign go kick a puppy and start again later in the day but not before an all out suicide attack on the besieging army.

The Alemanni general, Soumanar (sp?) is a phenomenal first general, and with the night attack option I believe his command star rating is a 9 against WRE when attacking.

I sally forth my band of peasants at this time after numerous battles and a waning economy I was forced to survive with little. I leave the peasants in the garrison and start my cavalry on the western exit to the city from where the enemy would be stationed. As is normal when you attack another army they will typically fortify a defensive posture and this was no different, I did not have to react to the WRE army attacking me so it made this all flow perfectly from the outset.

I circled from the west and noticed that the enemy was a on hill and thought that this would be a quick slaughter for me and I can commence puppy kicking asap.

I brought my cavalry to almost the northern border of the map right along the withdraw line. The WRE army turned to face my cavalry on the hill, they were stretch out along the hill facing my cavalry, I stood at the farthest right if you were looking from the WRE vantage.

I charged the right front of the enemy and immediately routed the one or two units that were entrentched there while taking only 2-3 deaths I had taken out almost 140 of the enemy. Since the routed units were so close to the withdraw line, they were immediately gone and I had no longer to deal with them. The WRE army filled in the position. I had an epiphamy that only a true conqueror would at that moment. I COULD WIN THIS!! I proceeded to continue on and without being any more descriptive, it went exactly as I had described in my initial charge, I just rinsed and repeated. Before I knew it I was looking at a Heroic Victory with almost 800 of the enemy slain while taking only MINOR casualties to my self-retraining cavalry force.

Without boring you with any more details, I have destroyed multiple full stacks of the Franks hording army with only 5 family member units. My men will kill roughly 100-1 at times if everyone goes perfectly of almost any enemy army sent at me. I had to tweak the strategy a little bit, but the main ingredient never changed.

I will report on my progress when I am done CONQUERING some more.