how to use halberdiers efficiently

[Delvecchio1975]

Hi,

I tend to restart campaigns before i get there, but how do you use halberds in an efficient way? Pikes & spearman are good against cavalry, swords and axes to take on spears and other infantry, but i never really got around to figuring out halberdiers. Do you put them on the walls, in front of the gate, ... ?

[Judeman266]

Halberd Men at Arms are good for flanking melees, attacking already engaged cavalry and supporting sword infantry. Halberdiers (with the spearwall formation) are to be mixed in the front ranks of pikemen. The formation becomes a meat grinder that can take down everything I've faced. The key is the quality of the pikemen which hold back the enemy while the halberdiers attack with their halberds. Halberd Men at Arms can be used for this as well but should be placed in the rear of the formation until melee begins because they don't stand up to cavalry charges.

[High Fist]

So you'd have 1 pikemen, 1 halberd all throughout the line?

[Judeman266]

5 pike/3 halberd in main line is one of my main lines

[Delvecchio1975]

how do they fare one on one against spears and against swords?

[LusitanPlayer]

Wouldnt they be just better as a shock infantry?

[Judeman266]

Both can defeat spears and swords including chivalric knights and the best spear units. Halberd Men at Arms can be used as shock troops, but Halberdiers are too slow.

[LusitanPlayer]

Obudshaer FTW haha

[Emperor Hantscher]

I've always mixed halbediers into my line of spear men. I have not played SS but in Broken Crescent that is how I use them. That way you have the "holding" ability of the spear men but the halbediers give them greater kill power.

[Zanze]

Early Halberds I use as shock infantry / second row infantry, late halberds are used linemen. Late Halberds have enough armor to somewhat ignore at arrows, and they get that nifty halberd wall thingy. The early ones, militia and men at arms, I use for second row infantry first and foremost because heavy cav sometimes smashes through prepared spearmen. The halberds will mince said heavy cav if they do.

[SoumyaBanerjee]

Halberdiers move too slowly when pikewall is on for them to be effective shock units. Though some of the more professional varieties. such as JHI or obudshaer can probably be used as shock troops. However, i normally use them just as i would use pikes, with halberds being more versatile and generally more heavily armoured than the corresponding pike unit, which allows them to take on line infantry as well. Dont expect them to defeat feudal foot knights and the like all by themselves though, like most polearm units, they require a good deal of support.