billmen best use?

[Brogie]

how do you use bill men properly?...they keep getting slaughterd,, my levy spearmen survive longer!!!!

[Monsieur Alphonse]

Simply: don't use them. In the beginning levies are sufficient and later in the game you get armored swords. AS are among the best heavy infantry in the game so why use anything else.

Billmen don't have any use because they can't be used in an anti cavalry role and AS are better in mêlée.

[HoreTore]

Bollocks. Billmen are simply wonderful(post-patch). They have a wonderful charge, something the swordsmen lack. I usually put stakes at the front, longbows behind them and billmen behind the lowngbows, with cavalry on the flanks. When the longbows are about to be charged by the enemy infrantry, the billmen charge through them. They do a wonderful job at cutting the enemy up. They don't have as much staying power as swords or even spears though(heavy bills do), so they're more like cavalry with some additional staying power, the ability to charge though stakes, more men and better against spears.

Basically, they're the english anti-spearman unit. They're also wonderful flankers, although that job can be done with cavalry.

[rebelscum]

Sautee in garlic butter and serve with some crisp lettuce and a chillie dipping sauce... sorry I thought you said 'prawns'.

billmen .. billmen .. erm .. oooh I don't know ... they are pretty lame.

[trickydicky]

Bollocks. Billmen are simply wonderful(post-patch). They have a wonderful charge, something the swordsmen lack. I usually put stakes at the front, longbows behind them and billmen behind the lowngbows, with cavalry on the flanks. When the longbows are about to be charged by the enemy infrantry, the billmen charge through them. They do a wonderful job at cutting the enemy up. They don't have as much staying power as swords or even spears though(heavy bills do), so they're more like cavalry with some additional staying power, the ability to charge though stakes, more men and better against spears.

Basically, they're the english anti-spearman unit. They're also wonderful flankers, although that job can be done with cavalry.

You have a point mate, but I just find it easier to use AS, they rock.

So my advice to the OP, if you want less hassle just use AS.

[Rozanov]

Best use of billmen is for sticking up printed adverts on walls.

(for some reason the ones in the game have lost the brush on the end of their sticks.)

[WhiskeyGhost]

billmen are the infantry alternative to cavalry

[HoreTore]

You have a point mate, but I just find it easier to use AS, they rock.

So my advice to the OP, if you want less hassle just use AS.

Well of course they're much better than billmen... You have to compare them to heavy billmen, who actually have a lot of staying power. But compared to levy spearmen, bills are better by far. They do need to be combined with stakes(or even a spear screen, if you lack longbows). This is the early game we're talking about, and you'll face at best armoured spears. Billmen are more than capable of killing them. I'm playing the english now, and my french-killing army is 6 longbows, 5 bills, 1 mailed knight and a general, and it has done wonderful against much larger french armies... I usually take a whole lot of casualties though, and I need to retrain my men after a battle... But I see that as a good thing, as it keeps my blitzing in check

[pike master]

i never did like the billman. i hate to pay bills.