Strategy and Tactics: How to Conduct a Battle

[_Tristan_]

Forget the History Channel...

To get acquainted with military tactics, one useful read is the Osprey line of books...

While being beautifully illustrated (Angus McBride for most of them, enough is said), those books give insight on troop types and army evolution, battle reports, description of castles and citadels...

Look here :

http://www.ospreypublishing.com/


And some free articles about the period :

http://www.ospreypublishing.com/content4.php/cid=65

[pike master]

buh! but!

americans are more intelligent than other people. we can see things from outside the box looking in. we arent embroiled in the old european rivalries.

all we have to mislead anyone about is the american indian wars. 8(

[Foz]

Yep! especially if the presenter or the historians doing the narrating have American accents.

buh! but!

americans are more intelligent than other people. we can see things from outside the box looking in. we arent embroiled in the old european rivalries.

all we have to mislead anyone about is the american indian wars. 8(

Keep it on topic please. Due to how historically involved this topic is, it's always close to degenerating into historical debate and off-topic commentary... and I really don't want to see that happen. The history channel, American presenters, and The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything can be discussed in other threads.

[Foz]

A lot of discussion has gone into the hammer and anvil tactic and how it can be used to pin troops down to receive cavalry charges from the flank. This tactic doesn't have to be limited to cavalry, though. In fact it works more similarly than one would think with archers taking the place of cavalry. You needn't charge the archers into the enemy flank - just trot them out until they're even with the enemy flank unit(s), and watch the enfilade fire tear the enemy to shreds. It's very effective, even if not quite so much as a cavalry charge. Once the enemy is routing, you can of course turn the flank just like you would if you had charged the end unit with cavalry. I find it's always helpful to have some archers at the outside of the formation for this reason - though make sure they're not the only unit forming the end of your line, you'll want a cav stopper (usually spears) too to protect the archers from getting bowled over if the enemy flanks you.

I also note there has been very little discussion of assault tactics. One that I've found particularly useful is to equip some archers with ladders. When the battle starts, you run them (yes, units with ladders can run, unlike other siege equipment) off to the far sides of the wall you're attacking. I often put them around the corner even. The point of the tactic is that no matter what the enemy decides to do, you gain an edge. If the enemy chases the archers, he is compromising the defense of the primary assault area. If he doesn't, your archers will end up on the wall in great position to rain arrows down on the enemy units as they wait for the walls/gate to be breached. In fact I'd say this is the only good use for ladders - they're decidedly not good for use in a frontal assault, as too few men can get onto the battlements at once. Use siege towers for that, even if you must spend an extra turn to build them. I guess as far as tactics go, this is largely equivalent to flanking the enemy battle line, and brings the same benefits.

It can also be useful to have multiple rams and attack the enemy settlement on multiple fronts. Usually you'll break through on one side before the other, and can rush troops through to attack the other entrance from the defenders' rear. This can be especially effective if you take a smaller force for the 2nd ram, generally a few cav and maybe 1 or 2 others. The enemy often will defend better against the primary force, allowing you easier access with the cav of your secondary force, who can then flank the primary assault site and often quickly end the battle.

[_Tristan_]

It can also be useful to have multiple rams and attack the enemy settlement on multiple fronts. Usually you'll break through on one side before the other, and can rush troops through to attack the other entrance from the defenders' rear. This can be especially effective if you take a smaller force for the 2nd ram, generally a few cav and maybe 1 or 2 others. The enemy often will defend better against the primary force, allowing you easier access with the cav of your secondary force, who can then flank the primary assault site and often quickly end the battle.

The same result can be obtained with a spy (or spies dependent on the quality of those) sent in the settlement prior to the attack...

Not only do you gain an element of surprise (the enemy won't know he's been betrayed until his units have been deployed) but it achieves the same result as multiple rams in less time (avoiding the reinforcement of the besieged faction) and with less casualties (if under enemy fire, units can run to the gates whereas ram-maning units must walk...)

If such a result is obtained, the main thing is to lead the enemy in believing you've will make a frontal assault. Thus, place all your units facing the main gate but deploy the flanking units on the sides of your lines...

The flanking units may lose a little time getting to the side gates, but having deployed away from those guarantees less opposition when going in...

It's become my main sieging option (not too chivalrous but who cares...)

[GodWillsIt]

My tactic has been basically covered here but i will share anyway.

My first line is a single line made up of Cav. the weakest Cav I have in the middle of the line and the strongest at the flank. My 2nd line consists of firepower in a double line consisting of , Hand gunners, Naffatun, Crossbow or Bowmen, ideally Naffatun, or gunpowder. My 3rd line is the best i've got Heavy Cav or Elite Inf in a column formation. 4th line if needed is aux. cav to keep me from getting totally flanked. The Gen Unit is also used in the aux. Cav


-----GC GC GC GC WC WC WC GC GC GC GC
-------------------FP FP FP FP
-------------------FP FP FP FP
---------------------BU BU
---------------------BU BU
---------------------BU BU
---------------------BU BU
------Cav Cav Cav------------------Cav Cav Cav

GC=Good Cav
WC= Weak Cav
FP= Fire Power
BU= Best Units (cav. or inf)


My basic concept is to have my 1st line WC retreat, route, retire while my Good Cav flanks amd makes a sort of tunnel to the center of the enemy. If that excecutes my FP line discharges and either retires or tries to flank depending on melee ability. As soon as the FP line discharges my BU line is right there in the center to wreak havoc on the confused or pursuing enemy center. The key is to have precise waves of attack one after another. You really have to pay attention to what is going on in the middle.

[Bijo]

What a great thread and I've read some nice things.

I agree with the one who said you must know your army's capability to decide how to use it. Terrain is very important to use to your advantage, and of course weather too, and time of the battle.

I also agree strategically - in the bigger picture - you must mainly attack (or defend as necessary), and in tactics you must defend for you would have greater control and inflict much damage with missiles before the main battle.

But strategy and tactics have in movement the same principle, it's just that strategy is on the larger overall scale. I enjoy strategically luring an enemy towards your weak army as bait, but you'd have another force hidden nearby in the flank next to the position you calculated the battle would take place.

For example look at the Battle of Lake Trasimene. Hannibal lured the enemy's forces along the line of the lake eastwards. To the north you had hills and forest terrain where he hid other forces. As they were in pursuit towards his nice target eastwards, his hidden forces flanked them from the north downwards with more impact, whereafter their rear was totally destroyed, meaning those all-the-way-left units could close them in by continuing to the rear, as they'd be surrounded by Hannibal's army and the lake to their south. Hard pushing and it was done.

Other strategy-level things to think of are for example economy. Block as many enemy ports as you can with your navies or ground forces, and when strategically attacking stay on their land to cause devastation an wait for them to attack you so you can again tactically defend.

Make sure you wage war on their ground and not yours.

If the goal is to defeat the enemy, strategical options like spies and assasins are great ones(!), because they serve the purpose. Not only will they give knowledge about the areas, armies' strengths and varieties, etc., use those assassins to kill their royalty and any other target you can oppurtunistically take care of to weaken them.


Depending on the faction of course, I usually think the following is the most effective basic setup for battle (with spears on the side, and in center both spears and/or swords, and cavalry maybe more to the flank):

---s s s s s s s---
s-m m m m m m-s
-cv--cv--cv--cv-
----art--art----

s : spears / swords
m : missile infantry
cv : cavalry
art : artillery
You could use this in a defensive setup as well as an offensive one, though with the offensive one you could maybe put your archers in front to skirmish, as could be the case in a defensive stance.


The following is nice too, if you can pull it off:

--------s-------
----s s---s s----
--s----------s--
--m ---------m
----m m m m----
cv-----cv-----cv

With that you hope to lure their main force to yours, then you pull back the center and you will have the following:

---s-----------s
-----s-------s--
-------s-s-s----
---m-m-m-m-m-m
--cv----cv------cv

The enemy infantry is frontally attacked as well as sideways, but you'd need sufficient troops... and perhaps luck? :P


If there's enough thick forest around, before the battle starts you can deploy some cavalry in them on the sides to hide. Then you start the thing and you can maybe slowly walk your cavalry deeper into the forest to then turn around and hit them in the back.

If there's forest around that you have to go through and you are the attacker, the enemy will probably always have some units hidden on the sides. I'd make the line as broad as possible and keep cavalry all the way out on the flanks behind.

When openly defending in the field, just pepper the enemy as much as you can using archers and artillery so their force is weakened when they arrive.


Well, that's all I have to say, really

[pike master]

it would be nice to use terrain maps that are balanced instead of the grassy flatlland so people can take advantage of terrain, cover and concealment.

[Didz]

it would be nice to use terrain maps that are balanced instead of the grassy flatlland so people can take advantage of terrain, cover and concealment.

I assume your referring to the multiplayer game maps here, as in the game itself maps reflect the area where the battle is being fought and so don't need to be balanced and are rarely flat.

One idea which might work was the approach adopted by tabletop wargmainers for competition games. Here both players get to allocated equal elements of terrain and are allowed to place them where ever they like on the tabletop or discard them completely. Once all elements are in place, or discarded, the players roll dice to determine which table edge their troops deploy along.

[pike master]

yeh your right it was a multiplayer suggestion and was a little off topic.

[Bob the Insane]

Reserves - From a purely gameplay perspective I have found the traditional concept of reserves does not work particularly well in MTW2... It is next to impossible to withdraw depleted units from the line while replacing them with fresh ones and trying to plug a heavily depleted and wavering front line with piecemeal insertions of fresh units is a receipe for a mass route...

I have found two effective uses for reserves that are basically similar in concept.

The first is more defensive and is the second line, often of more professional (read higher morale/elite) units. Once the first line starts to waver in places you can attempt to withdraw it behind the second line. The second line bolstered by your general should hold and once the withdrawing units are clear they can be stopped (and the general can attempt to rally any routing units). Once the units are reformed, the more intact ones can be returned to the line on the flanks of the existing units.

The second is the counter-attack (or second wave if you are attacking). In this case your second line will ideally consist of sword or axe units and once the line battle has matured you can charge in the units of the second line. either in mass or in targeted locations to either reinforce a suffering unit or to take advantage of gaps appearing in the enemy line.

In effect once you have your second line in place it can be used in either of the two ways above as required, it can also be called on to assist in defending the flanks.

I guess overall what i am saying is that the is little point in holding one or two units at the back and calling them reserves. What you can achieve with them is extremely limited. This second line should be at least three units of quality infantry that ideally will do little fighting if your other tactical and strategic gambits succeed. If you played MTW think Triari, but more dynamic...

This deals only with the line of battle, in MTW2...

[Sheogorath]

A method I use with the Scotts (and other pike-wielding factions) is a pinning formation of Pikes, with Noble (Highland, Swordsmen, pikes, whatever) flankers. The cheap (or not so cheap, depending on what you use) pikemen take the brunt of the force, and their higher defence values let them soak up more damage.
Then a wave of guys with great big swords hits the back of the enemy formation (or the sides, if you arent that patient :P). If done correctly, this generally produces a route against the AI's militia armies. Professionals obviously are less likely to take the bait, and human opponents are harder to encircle since they can concieve of tactics other than the human wave.


In defence of towns I prefer to leave a few units on the walls, then (if the enemy is attempting to go through, rather than over, my walls, stack some schiltroned spearmen on the streets.
Spearmen, even the basic militia units, are suprisingly effective. With three units of militia spears I once routed the better part of an Imperial Army which included a significant cavalry element. Sticking them just inside your gate is ideal, since the AI usually wont charge through a gate, thus removing the AI charge bonus and giving your spears a big advantage.
Another good method is to put a unit just behind a corner on a street leading to the square, this protects them from artillery and archer shots to a degree, and makes them harder to charge.
And, of course, if you find yourself in the midst of the town center with 50 of your previous five hundred defenders left, its probobly best just to order a charge against the nearest enemy than to wait. You'll do more damage that way.

A good overall strategy is to get Timbuktu as soon as possible. Early on load up a ship with a modest army and sail/march to Timbuktu. Dont worry too much about offending the Moors, since youre most likely either already far away from them or (if youre Spain or Portugal) at war with them.
Build a fort on one of those gold mines (or the ivory, I cant remember which is more valuable) and start pumping out Merchants. That extra few thousand florins per turn come in handy.

[Bijo]

Another strategical thing to remember is a simple one but very important as it will also help you tactically: superior numbers. It's no use to divide up a whole army into (several) pieces to allow more agile strategical movement, 'cause you take the risk a separate small army might be overrun by a superior force, meaning if it happens you lose something and not gaining anything.

Though, even if you lose a battle you haven't lost the war. Losing a battle might mean something to gain after all in the strategical picture. It can be an art to take the loss and still turn it into something useful in your strategy.

For instance, maybe you a piece of an army being swept away to nothing and the enemy pushes through towards your settlement that looks very much undefended now. They lay it under siege thinking it an easy target, but lo... With the main army (which was the whole of which we detached some units before, so now it's a bit smaller) we can push through, for we have distracted the enemy force into attacking our inferior smaller force. He must now choose whether to take your settlement or lose one of his own.
You have no problem because you know - assuming you have the resources - you can just send an army at your captured settlement from your empire's heart. That way his army will be closed in by the fresh army approaching and advancing, and the main army idle or strategically "retreating" to catch the enemy as he's being pushed by the advancing army.
With such superior numbers and strategical military maneuvers "to some extent" you will crush yon foemen... like a fish being slapped onto a sandwich, then pressing hard on it


Surprise: to attack or defend from the enemy in a way he doesn't expect. I also like boldness.


Ah, what the hell. I have enough of this thread :P

[dumas]

I go with the basic hammer/anvil with slight differences: Archers on the sides with wider but thinner line. Most battles seem to be over fast once engaged, and I found that having a lot of support troops in the 2nd or 3rd line to be a waste. A thinner line (3 column spear/pike line) with little support is normally sufficient for me to hold the enemy until the hammer strikes.

Archers firing a couple of volleys in the center then retreating behind the line where they're rather ineffective seem to be a bad strategy. I place them at the ends of the line where they're more effective. If the enemy decide to hit the center of the line, the archers are firing from the side flanks of the enemy, uninterrupted, and with a natural crossfire. If they hit one side of the line, the archers on that side retreats back behind the line leaving the archers on the other side of the line firing from the flank.

------------------E--E--E--E--E--E----------------
------------------E--E--E--E--E--E----------------
---------------E--E--E--E--E--E--E--E-------------


A--A-----------------------------------------A--A
C--C---S---S---S---S---S---S---S---S---S---C--C
------------HI----------G----------HI-------------

E=Enemy
A=Archer
C=Cavalry
S=Spear/Pike
HI=Heavy Infantry
G=General

The basic strategy is your spear line forming around your enemy wherever it strikes. Again, this relies on the battle being over fast and your line at the point of attack holding with little support until your flank attacks begin. However, once the flank attacks begin, you're likely to come out with a victory even if your main line breaks.