Armies and Tactics

[drillmaster]

I was thinking about creating this topic since there is nothing similar even though the mod is out for quite a long time.

So what tactics do you use guys and what is your army composition?

Any tricks tips and stuff like that would be of great help for all of us. Especially for me because I always play as the Empire and have never tried another faction in the campaign. Only custom battles.

[drillmaster]

Well I use

8xhalberds
2xpistoliers
2xgenerals
4xbows
2xhandguns
2xvolley guns

The pistoliers march forward targeting heavy cavalry and generals. When they run out of targets they go back to the battleline and defend one of the flanks(the one with the gunpowder units). That way they decimate units that dont panic easily and rout low morale ones.
The halberdiers stand in a long line that never moves
The bows are placed behind the infantry line.
The handguns are place up on a hill or if there is no hill on one of the flanks
Tha volley Guns the same.
The generals are there for counter attack reasons. They stay back most of the time. If they have the chance they neutralize enemy flanking forces and rout enemies that clash with my battleline.

That is a rough plan that I use during all my battles and it results in 8-15% losses on my part.

[The Holy Pilgrim]

Here's my army set up (Reikland 15K):

x1 Inner Circle Knights (General)
x2 Reiksguard
x3 Archers
x3 Swordsman
x2 Halberdiers
x2 Spearman
x1 Mortar

Here's what my battle line looks like (most of the time):

[Alphawolf29]

Here's my army set up (Reikland 15K):

x1 Inner Circle Knights (General)
x2 Reiksguard
x3 Archers
x3 Swordsman
x2 Halberdiers
x2 Spearman
x1 Mortar

Here's what my battle line looks like (most of the time): PIC REMOVED

I fought that almost exact formation with my greenskins didnt I ? who won that one?

[Klierowski]

Here's my army set up (Reikland 15K):

x1 Inner Circle Knights (General)
x2 Reiksguard
x3 Archers
x3 Swordsman
x2 Halberdiers
x2 Spearman
x1 Mortar

Here's what my battle line looks like (most of the time):

oh man i see you have same problem as me ;p -low graphic .

[The Holy Pilgrim]

Actually, it's just zoomed out all the way. I have quite high settings actually

[Beregond]

No pistolliers? they are a must have for me. I also prefer handgunners over archers(though often have one or two archers) and tend to have MOAR heavy cavalry

[Ethien]

No pistolliers? they are a must have for me. I also prefer handgunners over archers(though often have one or two archers) and tend to have MOAR heavy cavalry

I'm just curious to your reasons to preferring hand gunners over archers, maybe they are a gem that I too often overlook. Pistoliers are really great and I like to keep at least two companies, but unfortunately most of my battles early on are sieges rather than open field battles.

@Pilgrim - I actually did try your formation, but in that battle group I had four cannons. I let them fire explosive rounds until the melee got close then let them retreat off the map since they would've just become a liability. It worked fairly well, though one heavy infantry unit did move to the side and hit my archers. It was a pretty easy clean up job from there though.

[Mac101]

I use the following

2x Reiksguard
1x pistolers
1x war altar of sigmar
2x Halberdiers
1x spearmen
3x Carroburg Greatswords
2x Crossbowmen
1x Free company archers
2x helstorm battery/ or handgunners /or ogres
2x helblaster volley gun
2x cannons

BTW lately I have discovered playing vampire counts that free company can really kick assssssssss when used propely ( but it needs to have lvl 4-5 expr.) at least when fighting empire and orcs ,didnt try chaos yet

My Vampire counts army
2x gen
1x Blood dragons
5x Black knights
2x Blood dragons on foot
3x Zombies
3x free company
3x skeleton archers
1x screaming catapult
Oh does anyone was able to survive Vardek Crom attack on Karak-a-karak ,playing dwarfs on VH/VH.
I love dwarfs units but this army is too static,slow for me.

[Ethien]

I've survived the Tzeentch armies attacking Karak-a-Karak. All the Dwarf line infantry units can put stakes, which are essential to place behind the castle gates, which helps eliminate the threat of powerful Chaos cavalry in the fray.

Free company warriors easily get slaughtered against heavy infantry units of the Orcs and Chaos, so I avoid using them when I have cheaper light infantry to use. However, the free company archers are really great.

[midterm360]

WOW THEY CAN USE STAKES!!! thats it i'm starting a dwarf campaign now

[The Holy Pilgrim]

Yeah, almost all of the Dwarven infantry and archers can use stakes.

[Ethien]

Yeah, it's awesome to see the Orc Boar cavalry go down simultaneously when reaching my stakes.

[The Holy Pilgrim]

That's exactly what happened in one of my battles. Three Orc Boar Boys (being the pea brains that they are) charged right into a barricade of stakes and around 80% of them died. The other 20% ran away.

[Beregond]

Handgunners=huge morale break, archers=no huge morale break
especially against pesky Orks and Goblins

Handgunners also have ap, but you need to protect them well(retreat in time or intercept the enemy closing on your handgunners) in order to use them effectively...

[Thorn777]

I usually set up one line of spearwall/hellbardiers, one sword type of unit behind each flank(make sure enemy heavy cav doesnt charge them), lots of archers in front of my spear wall, and one heavy cav on each flank.

The archers usually attracts all enemy units towards the spearwall, while targeting enemy heavy-cav first, then light inf. I retreat archers before the enemy reaches me and start targeting selected units not taking part in battle while behind the spearwall(usually general first)This leaves not much troops to outflank me, but if they do I still have a sword and cav unit to back up.

After some time the enemy only has heavy inf left and I start closing in with an outnumbering infantry after cleaning the field behind.

I usualy end up winning eveything like this with 10-20% troop losses. Sorta like hammer and anvil. RTW tactics never get old on me. However Holy Pilgrims set up looks quite nice, I'll try that. I like how you use fewer units than me. I usually max out my army's.

[Ethien]

Handgunners=huge morale break, archers=no huge morale break
especially against pesky Orks and Goblins

Handgunners also have ap, but you need to protect them well(retreat in time or intercept the enemy closing on your handgunners) in order to use them effectively...

Does this apply to the Dwarf units that use rifles too?

[Beregond]

of course

[RyuNoKami]

how effective are the regular archer units? their lack of ap makes me cringe when fighting against Chaos altho their speed and range makes me laugh so hard against regular Imperial humans, goblins, and weaker beast units.

[Thorn777]

how effective are the regular archer units? their lack of ap makes me cringe when fighting against Chaos altho their speed and range makes me laugh so hard against regular Imperial humans, goblins, and weaker beast units.

They are excellent vs anything thats marauder, and IMO a fair share of volleys against chaos-knights is also always worth it, to at least get their units down to 35 knights or so, so your heavy cav can deal with them without to many problems.

Also against Khorne chosen or any heavy-inf without shields they can be very effective.

But never shoot at the chaos-warriors.

HC A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A HC
.....H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H
.....S ....................S
...............G

This is how I usually have my set-up, so lots of archers, and in front of my line to be more effective at battle-start, and to draw units towards the front of my spearwall, as the AI likes attacking archers.