The Best Army Core and Composition Post-1400

[Judeman266]

I was recently playing as the Kingdom of France in a late campaign and noticed that as France, as in history, I tried maintain the same type of army core despite the technological changes around the 1400s. From experience it is apparent that the best/most available troops in the 1450s and on are the urban/late professional infantry like the Pavise Handgunners, Men-At-Arms (MAA), and Halberd MAA. However as France, because of my stable income and large treasury, I found it easier to recruit milita, pike and halberd, as infantry while almost half of my army was cavalry. The Kingdom has a marked lack of early gunners and this is why my army is mostly cavalry. Even with the expense of Gendarmes and Noble Knights, and French Chivalric Knights I was able to have 2 of these armies roaming in Iberia and the HRE respectively by the late 1400s. It was easy to win continuous battles because my cavalry would rarely take very many casualties because of overwhelming force.

My question is whether or not it is wise to have an army of this makeup. Pikes are on the rise and more and more professional pike units are appearing. I probably won't face a serious threat until I get to the Turks and Timurids, but I am just being cautious. I don't use this type of army makeup with any other faction but it seems to work with the French. Is it because of their superior heavy cavalry or their availability that cavalry is your focus when playing as the French?

Also what type of army do you use for this time period regardless of what faction you play?

[CoeurDeLion]

A solid pike & shot army could ruin your day in the hands of a human opponent. The AI however.....lol...

Pikes have a distinct disadvantage in that they are slow. Unless supported by cavalry they can be outflanked by a skilled cavlary commander. For example, using two (or two groups of) cavalry units, you can position one group on each side of the pike formation and feint charge from one side, withdraw, feint from the other side, withdraw, and so on. Keeping the formation off balance and making it re-position leaves it vulnerable and sooner or later you will have an opportune moment to charge for real from the rear or the flank. With heavy cav, you can cause a boatload of damage this way and trigger a rout.

I love using pike & shot armies, but cavalry armies are, imo, the strongest. All of my French campaigns have been using cavalry focused armies, with supporting infantry to mop up and provide a "base" for cavalry to reform around. It's also possible to do this with the HRE, who also possess excellent cav units.

[TWmadman]

usually armoured crossbowmen will be better for a renaissance army regarding m2tw mechanics. high armour with AP and good dmg, and the ability to shoot OVER your troops make them more versatile, even for siege defense. Where archer still the best, muskets are useless in siege defense while crossbowmen are better.

put it with heavy armoured cavalries like gendarmes or lancers and i say to use pikes too.

with a artillery support you should be fine.

[Judeman266]

I use some Voulgier troops. I find them very useful but sometimes they disappoint me. I think that I should add more Swiss Pikemen and mercenary crossbows and arquebusiers. I prefer flexibility over brute force so adding those unit would be closer to my playstyle.

[Mr.Lannister]

Okay, with Kiev:
A general, many Luchniki(I forgot their names), and mounted Luchniki(<<<), fill every remaining slot with Boyars, Druzhina or Heavy Infantry.

With European(Right now crusader states)
I have a main stack, wich acts like some kind of besieging army, i mainly use them for sieges, and few times for field battles, the composition are some units(4-6)
with men that can make a spear wall, some archers(3 units), crossbowmen(3 units aswell) and heavy infantry( They must have two handed axes or Swords or something) and of course...The FL

My second army guards the first army(Especially when besieging, i hate when they get me from the rear), with them i destroy every army incoming, they are completely heavy cavalry, i can defeat a larger army with less than 100 casualties, and their general is the FH.

[Ichon]

Cavalry as the French get won't have much threat until closer to 1400 except perhaps in cities but in open field battles pikes aren't very useful as used by the AI. Halberds and other AP units and heavy cavalry are your main concerns. Militia can be dangerous if they have AP especially on VH because they don't necessarily rout even with a solid charge to their rear although if you have half army of cavalry and charge each unit with 2 cavalry... rout 5 enemy, then another 5, etc... only other enemy heavy cavalry or poor terrain can screw that up.

[Judeman266]

Yea on VH its a when halberd militia don't rout from flank charge. I guess I'll have to flank with the entire cavalry force after defeating the enemy cavalry. I should just develop my recruitment centers more to allow me to recruit top of the line infantry.

[Øctavia Yávëtil Theron]

Pike & Shot is my favorite formation in the late 1400's.

[Judeman266]

@Oli

Me too, but I'm using Swiss Pikes and mercenary arquebusiers so I don't have enough infantry to make a true pike a shot army.