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Thread: Battle of Borodino HELP!

  1. #21

    Default Re: Battle of Borodino HELP!

    Well, thank you for all the assistance I did not get. I could overcome the problem alone, in a different way, that I will not share. Aheheh. All I can tell: it includes dinosaurs.

  2. #22

    Default Re: Battle of Borodino HELP!

    Hey,

    This is on Very Hard difficulty ..Thought this replay would help you.

  3. #23

    Default Re: Battle of Borodino HELP!

    On the hardest level for Borodino I won doing something slightly different from what I have read here and elsewhere. I send one unit infantry to the town, defeat the two infantry units there and hold the building, at times leaving one of the units in square to wipe out lots of calvalry even if it dies. When the Russian cavalry attacks in the town, I hit the center with chausseurs in front, grenadier and fusilier units to the left that can go into square if surviving cavalry come from the town area, and virtually all my other infantry. At the moment it seems most liable to help, I send a cavalry unit up to finish off the leftward blocking unit or else just bypass it and take out the 20 lb. mortar. But I end up taking out the last unity on the center heights with a combination of cavalry and infantry, and taking out the last artillery on the hill with cavalry. I should add that I tend to have cavalry left over from the town to help. In the town, I feint retreat to get the one unit there to cross the little river separating the town from the forest on the top part of the map, and then hit it with a cavalry charge. After that, the cavalry joins the rest of my cavalry which I've moved to be ready to strike the center heights. Anyway, after sweeping the hill, all the Russian units but one from my right flank come up to attack. Through a combination of forming square, using cavalry, and having chaussers across the river, I wipe out everything they send. Then I send cavalry to wipe out the Russian General, head to my right flank to wipe out one remaining unit there and take the victory. It is a tough battle to win.

  4. #24

    Default Re: Battle of Borodino HELP!

    Something that helped me in very hard. So first of all, I recommend you pause the battle as to be able to maneuver your units properly. Granted, some might consider it cheating, but the overall starting positions are mostly crappy.

    First of all, you need to dismount your artillery units. Then, you need to retreat your grenadier up to the reserves. You need to move your entire right flank and your cavalry (plus Napoleon) to the forest on the right. Not too close, so far below their original positions. On the left flank, send the cuirassiers on the left. There will be a little crossing point. Take it and wait. You can send them further in but don't do it too far. Advance your infantry just in front of the trees, but do not engage. Your chasseurs will be next to the south of the village.

    Have the two canons on the rights fire at the fleches on the right side (not going to do wonders, but it's still that). The artillery on the left will fire the building in the village. It's very important to activate barrage on as quickly as possible to further increase the number of shots you can land in it. Send what remains of your centre (1 line inf/1 light inf) to cross the river. It's very important to make sure that your troops stick to the river as to avoid drawing the grenadiers further. Once you've advanced on the side, out of the sight of the grenadiers, you'll see troops coming towards you. At this point, your moral is already low because you've been bombarded by the Russian artillery. Make the line infantry adopt square formation and then, put the light infantry on light infantry behavior behind. It's very important as to increase your fire and decrease the damages of the artillery. Normally, the enemy sends two units of cavalry and one musketeers. With continuous bombardments from the artillery and with your precarious positions, you won't be able to hold for long. Nonetheless, the square combined with light infantry support and the occasional friendly fire will allow you to kill the two cavalry units (1 hussards and 1 cossack I believe).
    This move might look like a suicide mission, and it is but it serves two purposes:
    - it draws artillery fire on your unit which allows your artillery to be under less fire (especially the unit on the left). Likewise, the artillery breaking less easily allows your infantry to breathe.
    - most importantly, it draws the units guarding Koutouzov. To capitalize on that, you need to send your cuirassiers eliminate him. You'll have killed the enemy general very early in the battle. It'll cost you some horsemen, but rarely more than 15. So you'll have 45 cuirassiers minimum.

    Normally, your infantry and cavalry units on the right have all reached the forest. Since they're not under fire, you need to move them up outside of the village on the right kept by one infantry and one cuirassiers. Your cavalry will reach the outside of the forest north of your current position. The infantry will need to hide behind the houses. For the cavalry, with their current position, it's better to move them first. You may want to stick your infantry further to the edge of the map while having them in tight formation. This is to keep your units from accidentally entering the canon's range. Your reserve will be out of reach of the enemy but you need to do the same movements. It'll take time, but done properly, it can easily save you the battle. You can make them run a little but you can also keep them walking, to preserve their strengths and moral.

    With the general dead, move your left flank further up. Activate light infantry behavior and engage the light infantry in front of you. Move the Swiss guard to also engage the grenadiers while the Chasseurs support the light infantry from the village. Light infantry behavior + cover in the forest + chasseurs flanking + dead general means that you're very likely to win the skirmish. If you've ruined the building in the village enough, the grenadiers will not retreat there (it'd have been more difficult to kick them out of it). Once the enemy right flank eliminated, move inside the village.

    While your left flank advances, your cavalry units on the right flank will engage the enemy cuirassiers. To end it faster, I usually draw them with the dragons while the lancers and Murat's unit flank them. Once it's done, retreat your cavalry.
    Once all of your infantry reached their position outside of the village, divide them in three groups. There must be 3 light infantry (2 w/160 men, 1 w/120) so you'll put one in each group. You can put the infantry units and grenadiers where you want. What I do is put the two grenadiers with the 120 men unit, the polish legion with one of the 160 and the regular fusiliers with the other.

    The moment to strike will be soon. Once you've entered the village on the left, the enemy will dispatch troops from the other groups to retake the village. These forces will come in two to three waves, allowing you to deal with them more easily. First, it will be the musketeers units. One of them will be the unit that engaged your troops in the centre (so the more damages you did then, the better). The other kept the second pathways to the canons on the right. The remaining cav on will also be sent as well as the militia. The militia can be dealt with a single well-timed charge of your cuirassiers. The rest will be more difficult. The cavalry will most likely charge to engage your troops so it'll be best to keep the line infantry in a square. Engage the enemy with your chasseurs. The light inf might be more difficult to protect because of the close spaces. If you see it as impossible to handle, make sure to send them in the building nearby (normally, even if you didn't fully destroy it, it still provides the spaces to shoot a bit. With your two units of cavalry, you should be able to handle the musketeers with charges and retreats, but chances are, you'll have lost a lot of your forces. When they send in the grenadiers, it's going to be difficult to hold, but in reality, it matters very little. Because all of this has been the introduction to your real offensive. Make sure to keep as many cuirassiers as you can (the chasseurs aren't really that effective in that stage of the battle).

    It is time to start your main offensive. With the three groups, you'll launch your attacks. I recommend putting your troops as to make an arc of light troops. The first fleche is defended by an infantry unit, which you'll have no problems dealing with. Shot in the front by the light infantry and in the side by the other unit (s) in the group, you'll take them out quickly. In the meantime, make sure to engage the second fleche with the remaining groups. This one is kept by a lifeguard foot and they're devastating. In most of the fights I had, they've routed the group directly in front of them (so 1 light inf + 1 polish legion). They've eventually shattered when fighting the third group but it still cost me a lot of firepower to take them down. Send one infantry eliminate the canon, and the move towards the third fleche.

    Launch your cavalry on the canons in the Raevski redoubt. You'll suffer some losses, but you'll be able to take them out pretty quickly. From there, it's pretty much game over. From there, one of the grenadiers will move to attack you, leaving the village. There are two paths towards the redoubt. Wait for them to pass, then send your cav from behind. You can even make a sandwich between the two. The remaining musketeers unit will leave the third fleche and try to engage you. At this point, you've pretty much won the battle. If you charge the last grenadiers unit in the village on the left, they'll rout easily (especially if there is an attack from behind). And then the musketeers rout, which gives you the victory.




    If I had to sum it up, this battle is about isolating the general for an early death while preparing the enemy positions for a domino effect from right to left.

  5. #25

    Default Re: Battle of Borodino HELP!

    Quote Originally Posted by Hellshing View Post
    Something that helped me in very hard. So first of all, I recommend you pause the battle as to be able to maneuver your units properly. Granted, some might consider it cheating, but the overall starting positions are mostly crappy.


    First of all, you need to dismount your artillery units. Then, you need to retreat your grenadier up to the reserves. You need to move your entire right flank and your cavalry (plus Napoleon) to the forest on the right. Not too close, so far below their original positions. On the left flank, send the cuirassiers on the left. There will be a little crossing point. Take it and wait. You can send them further in but don't do it too far. Advance your infantry just in front of the trees, but do not engage. Your chasseurs will be next to the south of the village.


    Have the two canons on the rights fire at the fleches on the right side (not going to do wonders, but it's still that). The artillery on the left will fire the building in the village. It's very important to activate barrage on as quickly as possible to further increase the number of shots you can land in it. Send what remains of your centre (1 line inf/1 light inf) to cross the river. It's very important to make sure that your troops stick to the river as to avoid drawing the grenadiers further. Once you've advanced on the side, out of the sight of the grenadiers, you'll see troops coming towards you. At this point, your moral is already low because you've been bombarded by the Russian artillery. Make the line infantry adopt square formation and then, put the light infantry on light infantry behavior behind. It's very important as to increase your fire and decrease the damages of the artillery. Normally, the enemy sends two units of cavalry and one musketeers. With continuous bombardments from the artillery and with your precarious positions, you won't be able to hold for long. Nonetheless, the square combined with light infantry support and the occasional friendly fire will allow you to kill the two cavalry units (1 hussards and 1 cossack I believe).
    This move might look like a suicide mission, and it is but it serves two purposes:
    - it draws artillery fire on your unit which allows your artillery to be under less fire (especially the unit on the left). Likewise, the artillery breaking less easily allows your infantry to breathe.
    - most importantly, it draws the units guarding Koutouzov. To capitalize on that, you need to send your cuirassiers eliminate him. You'll have killed the enemy general very early in the battle. It'll cost you some horsemen, but rarely more than 15. So you'll have 45 cuirassiers minimum.


    Normally, your infantry and cavalry units on the right have all reached the forest. Since they're not under fire, you need to move them up outside of the village on the right kept by one infantry and one cuirassiers. Your cavalry will reach the outside of the forest north of your current position. The infantry will need to hide behind the houses. For the cavalry, with their current position, it's better to move them first. You may want to stick your infantry further to the edge of the map while having them in tight formation. This is to keep your units from accidentally entering the canon's range. Your reserve will be out of reach of the enemy but you need to do the same movements. It'll take time, but done properly, it can easily save you the battle. You can make them run a little but you can also keep them walking, to preserve their strengths and moral.


    With the general dead, move your left flank further up. Activate light infantry behavior and engage the light infantry in front of you. Move the Swiss guard to also engage the grenadiers while the Chasseurs support the light infantry from the village. Light infantry behavior + cover in the forest + chasseurs flanking + dead general means that you're very likely to win the skirmish. If you've ruined the building in the village enough, the grenadiers will not retreat there (it'd have been more difficult to kick them out of it). Once the enemy right flank eliminated, move inside the village.


    While your left flank advances, your cavalry units on the right flank will engage the enemy cuirassiers. To end it faster, I usually draw them with the dragons while the lancers and Murat's unit flank them. Once it's done, retreat your cavalry.
    Once all of your infantry reached their position outside of the village, divide them in three groups. There must be 3 light infantry (2 w/160 men, 1 w/120) so you'll put one in each group. You can put the infantry units and grenadiers where you want. What I do is put the two grenadiers with the 120 men unit, the polish legion with one of the 160 and the regular fusiliers with the other.


    The moment to strike will be soon. Once you've entered the village on the left, the enemy will dispatch troops from the other groups to retake the village. These forces will come in two to three waves, allowing you to deal with them more easily. First, it will be the musketeers units. One of them will be the unit that engaged your troops in the centre (so the more damages you did then, the better). The other kept the second pathways to the canons on the right. The remaining cav on will also be sent as well as the militia. The militia can be dealt with a single well-timed charge of your cuirassiers. The rest will be more difficult. The cavalry will most likely charge to engage your troops so it'll be best to keep the line infantry in a square. Engage the enemy with your chasseurs. The light inf might be more difficult to protect because of the close spaces. If you see it as impossible to handle, make sure to send them in the building nearby (normally, even if you didn't fully destroy it, it still provides the spaces to shoot a bit. With your two units of cavalry, you should be able to handle the musketeers with charges and retreats, but chances are, you'll have lost a lot of your forces. When they send in the grenadiers, it's going to be difficult to hold, but in reality, it matters very little. Because all of this has been the introduction to your real offensive. Make sure to keep as many cuirassiers as you can (the chasseurs aren't really that effective in that stage of the battle).


    It is time to start your main offensive. With the three groups, you'll launch your attacks. I recommend putting your troops as to make an arc of light troops. The first fleche is defended by an infantry unit, which you'll have no problems dealing with. Shot in the front by the light infantry and in the side by the other unit (s) in the group, you'll take them out quickly. In the meantime, make sure to engage the second fleche with the remaining groups. This one is kept by a lifeguard foot and they're devastating. In most of the fights I had, they've routed the group directly in front of them (so 1 light inf + 1 polish legion). They've eventually shattered when fighting the third group but it still cost me a lot of firepower to take them down. Send one infantry eliminate the canon, and the move towards the third fleche.


    Launch your cavalry on the canons in the Raevski redoubt. You'll suffer some losses, but you'll be able to take them out pretty quickly. From there, it's pretty much game over. From there, one of the grenadiers will move to attack you, leaving the village. There are two paths towards the redoubt. Wait for them to pass, then send your cav from behind. You can even make a sandwich between the two. The remaining musketeers unit will leave the third fleche and try to engage you. At this point, you've pretty much won the battle. If you charge the last grenadiers unit in the village on the left, they'll rout easily (especially if there is an attack from behind). And then the musketeers rout, which gives you the victory.








    If I had to sum it up, this battle is about isolating the general for an early death while preparing the enemy positions for a domino effect from right to left.

    Wanted to say that this works even on very hard


    My artillery didn't get routed or they did and I was able to send the surviving artillerymen to use the remaining cannons... the two cannons on the right took out 3/4 of the 20 Iber Unicorn. After your artillery routs, the artillerymen themselves usually rally before they leave the map and you can send them back to use the stationary cannons.


    Sometimes, if you send the Fusiliers across the crossing, they can get routed before they rout the 2 Russian cav... definitely they will get routed by the upcoming musketeers. I keep the grenadiers that start with the left arty in reserve... the musketeers and cav will charge across the crossing to engage you. Usually they only manage to kill 1 cav unit before being routed themselves but then the job's done and their musketeers and the 1 remaining cav unit charge across to your side. Pull the light inf back to where your arty is (still at starting position) and have your grenadiers there form square to easily defeat the cav in five seconds (square being broken in NTW). The musketeers are harder as line infantry but your light inf and grenadiers in full line plus your cannon firing grapeshot should rout them.


    When sending troops into the forest be careful not to create line perpendicular to the enemy redoubts once a lucky shot actually killed Nappy and ten horses (lol)


    The hard part is the fight in the village. I sent two of the cav units you start out with on your left flank across the river on the left into the village. When Kutznov's bodyguards leave him and attack the square in the center, both cav units charge him. The village is garrisoned by two difficult units one of them elite so just your light infantry and grenadiers won't have the firepower to rout them even with their general dead. But you will if you attack them both in the back with two cav units while they're engaging your light infantry and grenadier line. Main thing is to charge both with 1 cav unit each then detach one cav unit and charge the elite foot again to rout them. Also their infantry may try to line up a volley on you. You can play cat and mouse behind the buildings and advance your light infantry and grenadiers if this happens. You have to save your horses to charge their backside when they are engaged with your light infantry and grenadiers otherwise the outcome can be in doubt (the elite grenadiers especially have to be charged with both the cav units and be engaged by the light inf and grenadiers in full line to rout).


    For the redoubt with the Lifeguard Foot, I attacked with two chaussers a fusiliers and the lancers went behind to hit the artillery. Murat charged head on but lost 2/3rd of his horse (lol) but the lancers hit them from behind after killing the artillery. That's what routed them.


    The polish, light infantry and grenadiers were all that was necessary on the left flank (the horses were reduced to near nothing). As more units got killed they sent more and more units to reinforce the village to the point the center redoubt had no units on it. Then it was an easy rout. The building was damaged to about 40% which meant their elite infantry did not use it... but my Polish did after and got the most kills in the map .


    In sum the center had 1 fusiliers (sacrificed) 1 light infantry 1 grenadier, the left had the 1 light infantry and 1 grenadier and the two cav killers and everything else went to the forest and took the long way around.


    The whole thing needs a lot of pausing and micro to pull off because there's three fronts.

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