Infantry in BI

[Zatoichi]

I've just started a campaign as the Franks having finally won my ERE campaign. Anyway, I like the default spear unit, but they do get whittled down very fast by archery. They are a good filler unit though, but I prefer having a mixed line up if at all possible, with a few of each infantry type so as to be adaptable.

[Bob the Insane]

I have started doing a three row thing with the Germanic troops for defense. First row is spear troops in shieldwall three soldiers deep. Second row is archers. Third row is axemen (or other assault troops). With some infantry and or cavalry to protect the flanks this works very well.

The archers do a little damage and give a morale penalty to the enemy troops during their charge and the shieldwall appear to be able to absorb just about any charge without taking significant damage. Just ensure you keep the archers out of the way (leaving them on skirmish helps) and then charge in the axemen anywhere the line is under pressure. If you are lucky you can break the enemies attack, if not you should hold them long enough to win on the flanks and roll around them...

If the enemy pushes out skirmishers or archers of their own I would push my archers to counter, but you have to be careful because the AI in BI is hugely aggressive toward your archers if they are out in front.

I did experiment with a mixed line but I found that the swordsmen suffered a larger number of casualties when absorbing the assault than the (cheaper) spearmen so I put an end to that...

My offensive strategy is similar, pinning the enemy with the spearmen and looking for weaknesses to exploit. But it is no where near as tested as the defensive strategy (that says something about the AI tweaks in BI I think)...

So I guess I am saying that I find use for both troops types together...

[Ellesthyan]

In my Frankish campaign I first thought the levy spears were pretty cool with their nasty javelins and the massive upgrades you get with the wotan temples. However, after only a few significant battles it became clear that the few heerbann units I kept round as assault forces were much more useful, if only because they don't get slaughtered if you leave them for a few seconds.

A sample battle would be my 8 levy spears and 3-4 heerbann (and some supportive archers and cavalry), versus an evil force of 7 Alemannic warlords and some peasants. Now warlord cavalry are unreasonable strong, and seven of them is just about too much for a proper battle. However I felt confident with my army having 4, 5 chevrons (heerbann 3), and enough javelins to beat up the horses.

It turned out a little different, as my left flank of three spears was crushed in a matter of seconds, while the center with the other spears was getting beaten up harshly. Apparently, when a powerful cavalry unit charges infantry they kill like 20 men in an instant. To sum up; I was able to win the battle with not a little luck, but afterwards most of my spears were annihilated, while the heerbann had pretty much saved the battle, simply by _not_ dying and _not_ fleeing.

after some more rather disastrous experiences with the levy spears I've ditched them and degraded them to garrison and rebel-mop-up duties, as they don't have the morale and surviving ability to hold the line at all and survive a long battle.