How many Leaders/Armies do you use in the Grand Campaign?

[Bogdanov89]

It would be interesting to see how many leaders/armies do players usually use in the grand campaign?

Each new Leader increases the global gold tax so i guess there is a maximum number of leaders that you prefer to use?

Also do you try to rush for high-tier military units or do you create many low-tier military units?

[Ichon]

The magic number for me is 3. Once I have 3 in the field I concentrate on just leveling those up to 25 or so then bring in some more leaders but those 3 are the main ones for the entire campaign with only long campaign win sometimes getting any other leader over level 20. It takes usually 3-4 provinces to pay for 3 full armies but even before that having a 2nd and 3rd leader that wins a few battles and gets to level 10+ is very handy in the campaign for both assigning offices (if available) and being put to temporary use for short wars. Having a single level 20 leader is far less useful than having a level 15 and a level 8 which take about the same amount of experience to get. You can recruit a leader, use a couple battles, promote to office then dismiss and they retain their office bonuses and after a few turns can be put into the field again.

Especially early in a campaign having 2 leaders with as much army as you can afford encourages the AI to get into wars vs other factions so once most of your neighbors are otherwise fighting you can save some money for buildings and rely on less armies for awhile.

As Empire and Greenskins I've fought the entire campaign on legendary with +70% manual battles never recruiting more than tier 4 units. You take more losses for sure but high level leader and the right mix of mid tier units can defeat any AI armies with a bit of campaign map maneuvering. I find that more difficult with Dwarfs and Vampires so for those two factions I recruit highest tier units. Vampires can get high tier units super quick and having a small but high tier army is viable for the first half of the campaign when only Dwarf armies offer much challenge.

The Dwarfs due to lack of cavalry or monsters feel the most in need of a handful of higher tier units to handle the late game Chaos armies though quarrellers and longbeards are still 80% of my Dwarf armies.

Chaos I use Chaos Warriors, Hellcannon, hounds, and a couple Chaos Knights... haven't even tried the armored trolls or any dragons ogres outside of custom battles.

[Gavani]

Initially 2 or 3 but later on as many as 5 though they tend to be small armies to maintain order/crush rebellions.

[Karnil Vark Khaitan]

I start out with making a meek army and a small assist Army, so I can rush a province or 2, there after I rebuild those provinces, and updates those armies.

End game I have about 7, because I still use early game unit.

that reminds me I really miss the Legion mechanics from Attila, I really loved naming my Legion and gaining bonuses.

[General Sultan V]

2 or 1 standing usually, raise new armies when needed. Don't keep armies for too long to avoid financial issues.

[drillmaster]

I tend to keep all armies mainly because of the massive increase in performance due to veterancy. Most of the times i go for the legendary lords initialy along with 1-2 normal leaders later. Depending on the faction and the wars around me i sit tight and develop my lands to tier 5 making sure everything is available to my home province. After that its a matter of choosing who to attack and when.

[econ21]

As Empire, I usually have one main army at the start and a second lord to pick up bonuses while governing the capital. I am usually fighting very little for the first 50 turns, so being parsimonious helps fund maxing out Reichland's buildings to get the best troops.

By the time I take on the VC, it's useful to have a second army - otherwise your one stack can get whittled down and/or ganged up on by multiple VC armies. A second army is also required to hold a province while simultaneously pressing the offensive elsewhere (e.g north and south Sylvania).

When Archaon comes, I end up with about 4 full armies, with maybe 2 other lords governing or ferrying forces. Multiple armies make it easier to cover all lines of advance into Empire lands and to chase down marauding Chaos stacks. Plus an end game Chaos army can cause heavy casualties even when defeated.

I find low level Empire armies fine to fight VC and marauders, but lacking armour and AP, they don't cut it against end-game Chaos stacks. For those, some chickenknights, a steam tank, decent artillery etc are required.

I don't recall my Dwarvish campaigns so clearly. Multiple armies early on are more important for dwarves than Empire, as Dwarvish lands seem more exposed to orc attacks from different directions. Low level dwarf armies are fine against orcs. Strangely, I found early wars against Vampires more of a threat than they are to the Empire - I don't know why, as basic dwarf troops seem better than basic Empire ones. The VC seem more able to swarm dwarf territory. Low level dwarf armies also fail against end game Chaos - the ironbreakers seem required.

[ostendadler]

As the empire 3 fully fledged armies (20 units of higher tier) and 3 half stack with meat grinder units.

As the greenskin 2 main armies and one mop up defence army

dwarves 1 army of higher tier and 1 half stack in defence

never played chaos long enough

Undead 4 low tier armies

[drillmaster]

Well you need several armies in order to cover your lands. As empire its impossible to hold towns without a QRF nearby. Same applies to dwarfs i think especially through the mountain regions. You just cant react fast enough with one army.

[Death_Sheep]

As many as I can afford.

[jahjeremy]

Time to resurrect this thread!

In my current Normal difficulty Vampire Counts campaign I have....eleven stacks!

It is like turn 240, and there's a lot of Dwarves that need killing.

[♔atthias♔]

only LLs

[Chewie]

On vanilla campaign:

Empire - 7, 1 for each office. Only 3 or 4 see a good amount of combat.
Dwarfs - 6 or 7. Only 3 or 4 see good amount of combat.
Chaos - 2 or 3, LL's only
Greenskin - 4 or 5
Beastmen - 2 or 3
Wood Elf - 4

Playing hardcore endless chaos invasion mod:
Empire - 10 (all 10 see heavy combat)
Dwarfs - 10 (all 10 see heavy combat)
Wood Elf - Haven't tried but probably 7 to fill all the offices.

[Frunk]

Thread moved from WARHAMMER: Total War General Discussion.