Goth's mod Fighting Horse Archer armies

**Zimfan40** · 10-05-2006, 00:09

Hello everyone. Looking for a bit of advice.

I've been playing Goth's All Factions mod as the WRE. Dealt with the hordes (oddly infantry heavy, probably to give them a chance at sieges), subdued most of the barbarians, and took Greece and Egypt from the ERE.

Suddenly I find myself facing attacks by the Huns from several directions(they control most of Russian/Eastern Europe). Upkeep costs have been lowered for the Huns(and other barbarians) and they can field armies every bit as big as mine, despite having a fraction of the population/cities. Apparently the army buld priority has been tinkered with by Goth, and they tend to build a mix of horsearchers and the crappy hun infantry.

The former have been by far the biggest problem for me, and my infantry heavy armies do fairly poorly against them. Moreover, WRE archers stink just as much as in vanilla BI.

My current strategy involves using light cavalry to catch them and Kataphractii to take them out. This is pretty tough on the light cavs(which also stink for the WRE), and even the heavily armored horses take casualties, and it's tough to replace them.

Are there any special strategies that work against horsearchers? The hunnic threat will have to be dealt with before I can get back to taking out the Eastern Romans.

Thank you in advance

**econ21** · 10-05-2006, 00:13

I just take a lot of foot archers. Yes, they are not great, but in numbers they get the job done. Put them in loose formation and the horse archers may target them, leaving your good stuff alone.

Comitatenses or even better plumbatarii can form a solid front line - the archers just fire over them.

It works best on the defensive and especially in a bridge battle.

Getting your own horse archers is a good idea too - if you can't beat 'em, ...

**Zimfan40** · 10-05-2006, 00:23

Originally Posted by econ21

I just take a lot of foot archers. Yes, they are not great, but in numbers they get the job done. Put them in loose formation and the horse archers may target them, leaving your good stuff alone.

Comitatenses or even better plumbatarii can form a solid front line - the archers just fire over them.

It works best on the defensive and especially in a bridge battle.

Getting your own horse archers is a good idea too - if you can't beat 'em, ...

I have been snatching up mercanary horse archers, much better than the kind I can train.

Sometimes 3 each Lombard archers and chosen archers can be hired in Germany, and I have that area pretty well pacified. Maybe I'll send some over.

I suppose I should just spam the archers. At least they're easily replaced. I'm starting to sympathize with the actual Romans' difficulties with horse archer heavy armies.

I'll try it tonight.

**econ21** · 10-05-2006, 01:30

Originally Posted by Zimfan40

I suppose I should just spam the archers. At least they're easily replaced. I'm starting to sympathize with the actual Romans' difficulties with horse archer heavy armies.

Yes, it's one of the problems I have with BI. Spamming archers just does not seem a very Roman way to fight (or indeed a particularly interesting way to win a battle). I tend to have 3 or so in a full stack, which is not excessive. Then someone recommended fighting bridge battles with 9 or so. I don't think I've ever quite got that high, but the difference is enormous if you increase the number of archers.

I think the Byzantines did "spam archers" to some extent. And often archers seem to have made up about 50% of medieval English forces.

**Zimfan40** · 10-05-2006, 03:58

Originally Posted by econ21

Yes, it's one of the problems I have with BI. Spamming archers just does not seem a very Roman way to fight (or indeed a particularly interesting way to win a battle). I tend to have 3 or so in a full stack, which is not excessive. Then someone recommended fighting bridge battles with 9 or so. I don't think I've ever quite got that high, but the difference is enormous if you increase the number of archers.

I think the Byzantines did "spam archers" to some extent. And often archers seem to have made up about 50% of medieval English forces.

I generally do the same, with 2-4 archers in a stack. Tried anotehr byzantine tactic earlier, spamming cavalry(mix of heavy and light). Had mixed results, took down a couple full stacks of Huns but lost over half of mine. This opened up slots in my Italian legion for the archers, though, so I should be giving that a try soon.

**Zimfan40** · 10-07-2006, 03:33

Things are looking a bit up. I have four stacks moving in on the Huns from the Balkans and Germany, two archer/horse archer heavy(one with half a stack of Lombard and Chosen Archers) and one more makeshift one of mixed mercenaries. I have another army with a heavy infantry/heavy cav/horse archer mix that sailed up to that large city of their's on the north coast of the Black Sea, and has exterminated the city and will be going after their capital. They're accompanied by an entirely mercanarie armor of various steppe spearmen and horsearchers. Time to rain doom upon the doomed heads of my doomed enemies. Doom.

I've been razing their towns to the ground as I take them, only way to keep the momentum up, since I can't retain them. I rather like having the Western Empire rebel buffer states.

This is taking every denarius produced by my wealthy Greek and Anatolian possessions, but it's worth it. Technically 'finished" the campaign goals a bit ago, but i think I'm going to push the Huns back into the northeastern steppes and then go reunite the empire.

**Ciaran** · 10-07-2006, 11:10

I´ve found in BI you need more archers (four units are minimum, but sufficient when coupled with some Onagers, early on, while you can´t afford the heavies, six are a good estimate) than in the Imperial campaign. And when fighting Hordes, don´t forget to bring the heavy artillery. I take at least two, better three Onagers, it does wonders, as does the Sarmatian Auxiliary - the best Roman cavalry, as far as I´m concerned, great fighting power and fast. Don´t go against Hordes without them. Strategically, I aim to do bridge battles (watching all the Horse arechers drown from exhaustion is a magnificent sight) and I use tons of assassins.

**CaesarAugustus** · 10-08-2006, 02:22

Spamming archers and heavy cavalry does it for me.........consider a 10/10 stack.........it worked in my WRE campaign when i fought the huns. Whenever you can, try to hold bridges on the campaign map, even if it means giving up any territory you won across the bridge. Let their armies come to you and wipe them out one by one. Then, when all their major hordes have been wiped out, cross the bridge, take back your territory, and beat those Hunnic @#$%^&* back to the steppes!!!!!

**Zimfan40** · 10-08-2006, 05:53

Well, I've beaten back to the steppes.

Have two stacks converging on their territories in the steppes, raxing cities to the ground on the way to the northeast corner. Left one intact, to make sure it rebeled with a decent garrison, just incase my invasion force fails. Have another couple stacks going for territories they conquered in Eastern Germany.

Been covering my losses with steppe mercenaries, mostly horse archers and spearmen.

Defensive battles on bridges or in woods seem to be working the best.
Not enough of them in the Steppes, though.

Heavy cav and archers seem to be my friend, plus a few Roman infantry units to wipe out their crappy spearmen while the cav and archers do their work.