Ouch! Help with huscarles

[Geezer57]

An exercise recommended for players new to skirmishing: set up a custom battle, for the AI take a single Joms Viking (an uber Huscarle) at 725 florins, for yourself take a pair of Irish Kerns at 250 florins. Set your Kerns far enough apart that the Joms can't attack them both simultaneously, but close enough that they can both reach the enemy with javelins.

Learn to recognize when the enemy unit has picked one of yours as a target, then take the other Kern off skirmish and target the Joms for missle attack - let the other Kern stay in skirmish mode and run. Keep this up as long as possible, only taking manual control of your target unit if it gets close to a map edge or corner - you don't want to let it get trapped, as it will be chewed up beyond salvage if it gets stuck in melee. If one unit runs out of ammo, try to get the enemy to switch targets, so the one with javelins can chase/fire instead. Never engage in melee until both Kerns are out of ammo, and the Joms Viking is totally exhausted, then (and only then) attack simultaneously from flank/rear. Done right (it requires lots of micromanagement), your cheap skirmishing force will defeat an elite force costing almost three times its own.

It's much easier using faster mounted units like Pictish Mounted Crossbows, but can be done (with practice) by most foot skirmishers. Once you've won with foot skirmishers, you'll learn to love almost any fleet armor-piercing missile troop against slow heavily-armored foot elites. It's almost like the "dance with Death" in bullfighting, where the two opponents are physically completely mismatched, but the outcome can determined by skill and cunning.

One side note: javelin troops find it much easier to target the enemy if they are stationary (and preferably at an elevation to the target). This often requires some sort of "pinning" unit, to fix the enemy in place. The preferred type for this duty is a strong spear unit, but unfortunately Viking Invasion is short on selection for this type. There are Fyrdmen (available to Mercians, Northumbrians, and Saxons), Viking Thralls (Viking faction only), Dismounted Nobles (only 40 men - all factions except Welsh & Viking) - but none of these are widely available nor particularly strong. In a pinch you might substitute sword/polearm infantry (Celtic Warriors, Militia Sergeants, Urban Militia, Woodsmen), but don't expect them to last long. As Irish (where this discussion first started), I really think your best pinning unit are the Gallowglasses, although they're better suited (as mentioned) for flanking, and need to be given every morale/defense boost you can find. Other than a few royal elites, there really isn't much to choose from in VI for holding troops. In the late stages of the game, sometimes maximum upgrades to Celtic Warriors or Fyrdmen will seem to make do, but that isn't an available option at the start. Which is why I stress learning to skirmish, to harass and harry your enemy before he gets to your main line. Every dead Huscarle who never reaches your position for melee attack is one less to worry about. And the more tired they are, the better for your rested troops.

EDIT: going from memory and depending on the Yaz Units Master Tool has its disadvantages - I completely overlooked Spearmen/Armored Spearmen for the Irish (they're not listed in Yaz for the Viking period, at least in the version I downloaded). Thanks to Kralizec for pointing out the omission - obviously, Armored Spearmen would be a better choice for holding against Huscarles.