Your army Compositions and tactics.

[Laman]

Well one that I like to use with Bactria (and slightly altered with Pahlava for one the Pahlava variant uses more horsies (including horse archers)). Unfortunately it is only the most useful against poorly armored units, unsure how well it would be able to handle one of the Seleukid elite stacks.

It looks something like this:

pf : pantodapoi phalangitai
ea: eranshar arshtbara
tp: thanvare payadag
sc: skirmishing cav
gc: generals cav
mc: median medium cav or similar if I have gotten my hands on them

---sc
ea sc
ea ea
pf tp mc
pf tp gc
pf tp
ea ea
ea sc
---sc

I mostly just let the archer shoot the enemy to pieces. If needed i send the skirmisher cav to annoy the enemy. Works rather good against most armies I fight in the east.

[Ower]

In my Pahlava campain, the heart of my army are HA 2-3 unist and 1-2 FA + suport of some Persian/Mardian Archers :2-5 units, + 2-5 units of slingers. I dont know if it's just me, but my slingers are eficient, but if you compare man/kills then my slauther instruments are the HA, and rout instrument Archers whit fire. The reason is thet my AI, always tryes to face my slingers whit the phalanx, so they are more like a bait for the phalanx, while my HA and Archers, shoot or burn them from the rear, and to kill the enemz general.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Here is a Polybian Legion of mine deployed:

It is the only era where my army is nearly deployed the way I want it at the start. I just have to move Triarii and Velites. I arrange them Velites, Hastati, Pricepes, Triarii, missiles, cavalry. As soon as the battle begins and I see the enemy's movement I move the cavalry to one or both flanks. If I'm expecting cavalry or a harder fight, I'll line them up in HPT lines rather than a grid. (Camilian is similar but I have to deploy it myself.)

Here is an Imperial Legion of mine:

Since I'm fighting phalanxes, I lined up in a single line. If the enemy is smaller or more compact, I line up in two rows of five legionaries with the spearmen guarding the flanks of the second line. (I'm trying to replace all cavalry and missile allies with avxilia, but there is no cavalry avxilia in Persia.)

[NeoSpartan]

Dang that a load of Celtic clinger and archers u got there man.

Any particular reason why????

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Dang that a load of Celtic clinger and archers u got there man.

Any particular reason why????

The slingers don't do a whole lot. (Many of my armies had eastern slingers which lacked the AP in 080.) And the archers, I got used to having four groups of 120 or 160 and when I got groups of 242 archers, I kept the same number of units.

There is a real anti-slinger ideal going around, but I use them. (Never more than 4 in an army though.)

Plus, now I'm fighting mostly Parthia. And they have archers, horse archers, and cataphracts (and randomly an army made entirely out of pantodapoi phalanxes). Their archers and horse archers always target my archers once in range and their cataphracts are impervious to any damage. (I had all 968 archers shoot all at once at a group of cataphracts and one horseman died.)

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

OK, here comes mighty Macedon - I just love those battle diagrams:




YES, I KNOW THAT R:TW BATTLES ARE LIMITED TO 20 UNITS; NOT 21! But I think the best approach to figure out the optimum battle deployment is first to think of what would be the best, and not what is possible. Then we can easily choose what unit we can leave at home without any major disadvantage.

Explanation of deployment:
The first line consists of Peltastai, usually Thracians. Next comes the main battle line, made up of four units of Pezhetairoi in the center, each 8 rows deep, guarded on the flanks by Thureophoroi. Next comes the reserve: Two units of pezhetairoi, usually weakened ones from previous battles; on the sides (dark blue with x-mark) some heavy assault infantry, usually Royal Guard; and in light blue, Agrianian assault troops. The fourth line is usually made up of two units of archers. At the rear end is the cavalry: On the flanks Prodromoi, usually Thracians again. Then, on the right wing, Thessalian nobility, and on the left wing, the Basileos or Strategos himself, accompanied with an additional unit of Hetairoi.

If confronted with a lot of archers, we should leave the skirmishers at home - they only take casualties before they could kill anybody and consequently rout without the possibility of prooving any worth of themselves.

Most likely, we do without one cavalry unit, either Thessalians or Hetairoi, because in most cases, three really heavy cavalry units will be enough.

The third possibility would be to leave one assault unit at home, most likely the Royal Guard, as theese don't grow on trees, and won't be very common in any army.

Tactical flexibility:
Thraikioi Peltastai can easily retreat after hurling their javelins, regroup behind the second line, and give additional flanking protection, as they are fairly good in melee too.

The first battle line is the main fighting force, doing most of the defensive work, also called the anvil. The Thureophoroi protect the flanks of the phalanx from enemy assaults.

The second battle line is really flexible. The two additional Pezhetairoi can easily extend the rather short main battle line, if the Strategos notices great amounts of enemy troops on one side. The battle line would be extended and formed like a bow then. The Agrianians and Pheraspidai can easily hurl their spears above the head of the main battle line, and afterwards, move to the flanks to attack the enemy there.

If the third line consists of Cretans as archers, these could be used in pitched battles to aide their comrades at the front, almost like the Thracian skirmishers.

The Prodromoi Cavalry plays a very important role, guarding the flanks, fending of enemy cavalry, and fighting enemy skirmishers or archers that were stupid enough to expose themselves on the field.

In an ideal battle, the heavy cavalry doesn't even go into action, because all the important work was already done by their comrades. But in most cases, their action is required to do some key maneuvers, as for example killing enemy bodyguard cavalry, or charging the strongest enemy phalanxes from the backside.

That's all. With these tactics, you can win against almost all kind of enemy armies. In my personal opinion, the tactical flexibility is unmatched.

[Morte66]

I make no particular attempt to play historically, though it happens at times.

The details change from faction to faction, but apart from pure cavalry stuff it's: stoppers in the middle, killers on the flanks, pin 'em and skin 'em.

Stoppers can be phalanxes or spearmen or heavy sword and shield types, whatever you've got. Their job is to fix the enemy's strong and dangerous side and avoid taking casulaties.

Killers are cavalry, slingers, close combat infantry etc. They kill the enemy, hitting them on their weak sides. They manoeuvre a lot more.

I like to have fast moving defensive troops (e.g. lighter spearmen) as reserves, since they can move quickly into position and then hold whatever's causing the problem. Heavy cavalry are also good reserves, since anything that has surprised you ought to either (a) be fast and therefore light or (b) have exposed its flanks by doing so.

If the enemy have lots of cavalry, spearmen may be redefined as killers and archers/slingers as bait. [There is a fine line between getting your slingers annihilated and offering bait. Just never show more bait than you have traps...]

I don't use javelin skirmishers, unless I need to kill elephants or whatever. Regular infantry can throw javelins just as well and fight a lot better. Slingers and archers carry way more ammo.

I will generally start with a formation like this... Heaviest stoppers in the middle, stretched thin for maximum frontage (I aim to destroy the enemy before they break). Reserves behind each end of the stoppers, so they can get anywhere quickly. Archers firing over one end of that line. Slingers tight on the ends for direct fire, ready to dart forward to flank or pull behind for safety. Cavalry out wide, getting lighter as you move out. Missile cavalry widest. General at the back.

Once the battle starts... Try to kill their more dangerous missile troops with cavalry before anything else happens. Then return the cavalry to the line and wait for flanking opportunities. Push missile cavalry very wide. Let the enemy come onto my stoppers, or take my stoppers to them. Once they're pinned, start flanking.

From there, no plan survives contact with the enemy. Adapt. Keep a secure shape (if thsi means half your line isn't fighting, fine) and look for chances to gain the initiative. Once you've got control of the battle, you can break your line and have idle stoppers act independently.

[Orb]

My old Hayk 0.74 army composition in Asia Minor vs. KH:

2 x General
6 x Ayrudzi Netadzik (Armenian horse archers)
3 x Nhakararakan Aspet (Armenian cataphracts)
4-7 Galatian mercenary infantry (preferably Kluddolon, with some Enoci Curoas)

The fast, completely expendable Galatians would charge and pin one flank of the KH, while the Cats would then flank it, usually resulting in it breaking almost immediately. This turned into a chain rout, usually, with the HAs suppressing any damage, while slowly nailing the enemy general. In one battle I got 3,000 kills to 30, and after an enormous campaign, I finally defeated all the Hellenes of Asia Minor then naval-raped the Koinon heartland, before *really* turning on the Ptolemies and Seleucids.

When I was finally able to regroup against the damn Ptolemies, I ended up with
2 x Generals
6 x Zrahakir Netadzik (Armenian Cataphract Archers)
2 x Nhakararakan Aspet (Armenian Cataphracts)
10 x Merc Infantry

These basically functioned as my expensive version of my old army. Mercs pin, Cats flank and rout, Cat archers both prevent interception and can rout the rest of the line.

[NeoSpartan]

The slingers don't do a whole lot. (Many of my armies had eastern slingers which lacked the AP in 080.) And the archers, I got used to having four groups of 120 or 160 and when I got groups of 242 archers, I kept the same number of units.

There is a real anti-slinger ideal going around, but I use them. (Never more than 4 in an army though.)

Plus, now I'm fighting mostly Parthia. And they have archers, horse archers, and cataphracts (and randomly an army made entirely out of pantodapoi phalanxes). Their archers and horse archers always target my archers once in range and their cataphracts are impervious to any damage. (I had all 968 archers shoot all at once at a group of cataphracts and one horseman died.)

Well to be honest I like the ass kicking that the Slingers do. BUT since I am playing VH/M with the Aedui, I have too limit myslef in thier usage. As well as in the usage of terrian advantage. (Also, the AI really can't manage fatige and these Celtic slinger with thier long range make the AI run around too much. Eventhough I changed that, I don't feel like re-starting another campain with the Aedui). I should have played VH/H or H/H to dely the Roman advance for a few years. M is just too easy.

I am defetily with you on the usage of many Archers against Parthia and the like. U know what, u should bring in Celtic slinger from Gaul and have them shoot the Catapharcts.