HRE: Reiters Tactics and Deployment.

[Doug-Thompson]

I find that the best use for reiters is on the flanks- when the two armies collide send round the reiters round the flanks to lay down a galling pistolade on the enemy infantry, and then charge them in to finish the job when the moment is right. If you try to use normal [infantry] gunpowder units this way they usually just get trampled down by enemy cavalry but reiters can easily skirmish away.

I also find reiters are good for thwarting flanking manouevres themselves- leave them out on the end with the line refused* - their range is short enough that they don't distracted shooting at units engaging the centre, but long enough (and their guns powerful enough) that they can inflict pretty crippling casualties at any enemy unit that tries to get around your line.

*swept back, like the swept-back wings on a jet fighter.

The flank guards approach is something new and interesting.

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Tried the unit out in a custom battle against a Papal army. Let the computer pick the enemy units. Deployed thin lines of Reiters on either wing, backed up by more Reiters. Threw in one line of Mounted Crossbows and another of knights behind those. The enemy chose a lot of spears, some sword and shield units, a couple of mounted crossbows, a bodyguard unit, other knights and even some artillery.

There wasn't time for micromanagement for the Reiters. They routed the enemy mounted crossbows on the flanks, which allowed my units to crush the enemy in the center. However, the short range of the reiters means that they tended to get out of the battle when skirmishing. When the skirmishing stopped, they are so far out of range they have to be ordered back in. That's how I spent the time I could devote to reiters.

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2k post.

[Shahed]

I'm going to start an HRE game soon... pistol everyone !

[TheLastPrivate]

From what I know historically the pistol-wielding approach on cavalry i,e, reiters was not all together successful in the end - it was cumbersome and was counterintuitive in utilizing the speed and mass of cavalry. Even dragoons weren't the most successful units although they rock in Kingdoms... I guess its pretty accurate historically how reiters look great on paper yet practicality is an issue.

[Rozanov]

In Kingdoms Reiters are pretty useless against mongol horse archers - tried a 1 v 1 situation in a campaign battle.

Mongol HA outranged and fired quicker than the Reiters.

Best used against stationary infantry who don't mind being shot to pieces at close range.

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[Husar]

I feel like Reiters have been reduced to almost useless in Kingdoms, they had 4 of their 20 ranged attack taken away, they seem quite a bit less accurate even when standing still and their 11 armour seems rather useless against anything but peasants. In the original game I could effectively use them against almost anything, even an army of just four could beat quite a few AI forces but in Kingdoms I had eight plus four mounted crossbowmen and that nowgorod army shot us to pieces while my reiters seemed to miss most of the time or not inflict enough damage to kill a lot, they mostly ended up with more losses than kills while the mounted crossbowmen all had around 200 kills before they were shot to pieces as well.
In the original game Reiters were a lot more useful, they might still have lost against so many dismounted Dvor, but they should have killed more themselves.

[Rhyfelwyr]

Hmm, I just used Reiters with Gothic Knights against a standard Mongol stack. Won it in the end, but Reiters didn't look too effective, I had rushed them close to the enemies HA's on the flanks but the Mongol Horse Archers beat them comfortably. Then my Reiters got caught in melee and routed, the Gothics saved the day.

Am I just using these guys wrong, dreaming of the long range camel gunners?

[Rhyfelwyr]

Just fought a full Aztec army under their Prince with an army of 8 Reiters under a captain. Took 180 losses out of 720 men, killed almost all of their 2,400.

I think I'm learning how to use these guys.