Anti-Pike armies and tactics for Multiplayer

[HeroSK]

Hi all..

Last night, I played 3 macthes (10 K) aganist a player that plays with macedon and pontus and heavy depends on pikemen.
As macedon,he deploys 6 royals, 4 companions, 2 lancers and some archers.
As pontus, he uses, 6 bronze shields, 2 chariot archers, 3 capadocians and some archers.

What would be the best unit combination and strategy aganist those kind of armies?

Thanks in advance ..

[achillis]

well it depends wat faction your playing. I would take approximately 5 archers about 5 phalanx and approximately 6 cav. but like i said it depends wat faction you are playing.

if u tell wat faction u play i might be of more help.

[HeroSK]

well it depends wat faction your playing. I would take approximately 5 archers about 5 phalanx and approximately 6 cav. but like i said it depends wat faction you are playing.

if u tell wat faction u play i might be of more help.

It doesnt matter, you can propose any faction..

[Prince_of_Macedon]

Last night, I played 3 macthes (10 K) aganist a player that plays with macedon

As macedon,he deploys 6 royals, 4 companions, 2 lancers and some archers.

What would be the best unit combination and strategy aganist those kind of armies?

"Some archers?"

Could you define "some?" Also, could you specify if the archers are regular or Cretan (or a combination of both)?

Anyway, the most optimal way of beating a conventional Macedonian army is to use Rome.

Use a small, but upgraded army consisting of Praetorian Cavalry (2-4), Urban Cohorts (4-6) and Roman Archers (4-6). Put your Urbans on "fire-at-will" so they can obliterate those pikemen before they even touch your legionaries.

A lot of Roman players like to go heavy on archers (8+), but with a bit of maneuvering, you won't have to resort to such cheeseball tactics.

NOTE: Unless they're screwing around, Romans should not be losing to Macedonians at 10k.

[achillis]

ok well i guess that answers your question

[HeroSK]

"Some archers?"

Could you define "some?" Also, could you specify if the archers are regular or Cretan (or a combination of both)?

Thanks for answer, I meant 2-3 regular archers. Actually,he doesnt use archers a lot. He heavly relays on pikemen.

Ok, I will try Romans next time.

[The Super Pope]

With Romans use your superior manuevarability to surround him. Pikes break very quickly to attack from behind

[Xavier Dragnesi]

Well this has worked for me a lot of the time:

This is for any faction that you play as:

Get 5 units of medium strength troops, 4 units of good/excellent cavalry (preferably fast as well), 2 of the best archers you can get, and 2 anti cavalry units.

Place your medium strength troops in a line facing him, and put them to loose or tight formation depending on the length of his line and his number of archers. Place your archers in front. Keep two of each cavalry on the wings, plus one of each anti cavalry unit.

When the battle begins, try to maneuver your archers so they can fire on the enemy cavalry without moving into a vulnerable position. If he has chariots, use fire arrows to make them run amok. Then move your cavalry and anti cavalry troops to engage with his cavalry. At the same time, move your medium troops forward to engage with his pike line.

Now this part depends on how well you've used your cavalry and anti cavalry units. If they've managed to destroy the enemy cavalry, swing round into the enemy rear and smash two units of cavalry into the back of each of their pike units, moving down the line as you go. They'll rout very quickly, and maybe cause a chain rout.

However, if you haven't won the cavalry fight, then you can only hope for the best that your medium troops will be able to overcome the pikes in time to kill the rest of his cavalry.

Good luck.

[HeroSK]

Hi all thanks for advices..

Here a match aganist this guy. He again choses macedon and I am leading romans as Prince adviced.

My army consist of : 2 Preatorian Cavalry, 3 roman cavalry, 6 urban, 2 preatorian. (No upgrades)
Enemy army : 6 royal pikemen, 2 creatan archers, 2 normal archers, 2 companion cavalry, 1 macedonian cavalry, 3 light lancers
My center:

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My Right wing : a preatorian and a preatorian cavalry and a roman cavalry

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My left wing same combination as right but here 2 roman cavalry

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Enemy army deployment:

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My fanking move from left..

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He preparet his creatans to fire me and immedieately attacked with may cavalry and he brought a royal to protect archers..

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I went around pikemen and charged to creatans

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But another pikemen come to aid. Also other achers caused severe damage to may cavalry. I sent my preatorian and tried to charge pikemen

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He moved entire cavalry to help his right flank

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And I lost the battle at my left..and he follwing my cavalry to kill

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At this ponit, I sent my remaning army to main line and used pila..

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While I routed some royals, he turned his entire cavalry and attacked urbans

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Urbans routed his some cavalry..and I charged pikes from behind..

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Eventually, my army melted and lost the batte..

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Feel free to share any commet and advice..

[Prince_of_Macedon]

Hi all thanks for advices..

Here a match aganist this guy. He again choses macedon and I am leading romans as Prince adviced.

My army consist of : 2 Preatorian Cavalry, 3 roman cavalry, 6 urban, 2 preatorian. (No upgrades)
Enemy army : 6 royal pikemen, 2 creatan archers, 2 normal archers, 2 companion cavalry, 1 macedonian cavalry, 3 light lancers

Hey, you only followed part of my advice. Use Rome, yes, but also use Upgrades too!

I also recommended a no-nonsense army consisting of Praetorian Cavalry, Urban Cohorts and Roman Archers.

EDIT: you still had a better army than him though. Do you have the replay? You still should've been able to beat him.

[Xavier Dragnesi]

You looked like you were in a pretty good situation in the second-to-last picture....

However, a thing I observed from your pics that I would like to ask a question about, and therefore may be able to come up with a strategy to beat.

Does he always mass his cavalry on your right flank as shown in picture 5? And does he usually order them around in a big pack like that?

Also, some of your mistakes. You should never charge archers with cavalry when they are at close proximity to enemy pikes, as there will be a very big chance that the archers will run behind the pikes, and as you cavalry follow, they will get impaled. You should get some of you own archers, as said by Prince.

I think lack of archers are your main problem. If you just had two or three archer auxilia, I believe you could have decimated his Companions, as they rode past to help at the right, as they are extremely vulnerable from the sides are rear.

[HeroSK]

Does he always mass his cavalry on your right flank as shown in picture 5? And does he usually order them around in a big pack like that?

He uses his cavalry together usually. But not always at right . While playing as pontus he takes 3 Cappadocian and places them to left wing and at right 2 chariot archer and a scyted chariot.

I couldnt take axuliary archers since it is 10 k game and they are pretty expensive.

Also, I should use my army as one, shouldnt divide it I think..

I played 3 games and won just one game with pontus as he plays with romans.

Thanks for advices, keep them coming please