Arquebusiers/Handgunners

[Artos]

I rarely use these troops, so does anyone have any good tactics for them? Since they can't fire behind your troops (like archers), what's the best place for them in the battlefield? They have quit a punch in their rifles and negative effect to the enemy, so I would like to know.

[Parzival]

Put them in front of your spearmen/knights. (Not too far if you don't want to lose them.) Stick 'em in skirmish mode and they'll get off a few volleys before retreating behind your infantry when the enemy charges. Great for hiding in tree lines on flanks etc.

Musketeers + pikes and cavalry = unbeatable defensive force.

[Soulghast]

I'll give them stakes in my mod. That won't prevent the infantry to get them, but it will give the cavalry a nasty surprise.

[Artos]

Put them in front of your spearmen/knights. (Not too far if you don't want to lose them.) Stick 'em in skirmish mode and they'll get off a few volleys before retreating behind your infantry when the enemy charges. Great for hiding in tree lines on flanks etc.

Musketeers + pikes and cavalry = unbeatable defensive force.

Thanks for the tip! Especially that flanking tip, I just played and that worked.

[Parzival]

Good stuff. Rarely does one get the perfect terrain to execute such a maneuver but those are the moments I play for.

[Town Watch]

Trebuchets and arquebusiers are a nice combo, especially with the rotting cow carcasses to lower morale, then add the shock effect of arquebus.
The result is usually enemies fleeing for their lives, then you can freely ride them down with your puff/sash demi-lancers or some other hilarious cavalry

[Sub-Zero120]

I would put them right in front of spearmen so they could deal some damage to the enemy while being protected by the spearmen they could fall back behind when the enemy gets too close

[Artos]

I searched for some info for those who are interested. I'll try to adapt these with the game and see what happens.

Edit: Well, I'll try them out just for fun, I'm curious about the game mechanics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pike_and_shot

http://www.balagan.org.uk/war/iberia/1492/tactics.htm

Some pictures:

[polarbear297]

if ur defending, u should leave ur muskets until the enemy charge at u, if u do that u are goin to cause some serious damage. if u retreat ur muskets to early 1)ur enemy archers will pound the hell out of u 2) ur goin to have to drop ur defense n attack urself

[Town Watch]

I really urge people to try the trebuchet + arquebus combo. Its just so funny to play(and win) with
Besides, I like small and elite forces. Since there were no castles nearby in Italy, I had to use "professional" (militia) armies to conquer Florence and Rome. This is what I had in Italy against the Pope in my English campaign: 2 culverins, 4 trebuchets, 5 mercenary sergeants, 4 demi-lancers, 4 arquebus and the general. So my army looked really strange and funny.

Papal States' elite infantry armies were sort of dispatched rather humourosly. They do have many crossbowmen, which usually take a lot more punishement than your arquebusiers, but you should keep your musketmen behind some crappy infantry who can take the crossbow bolts. After some minutes the battlefield will be littered with cow dung/intestines, and the enemies' morale will be extremely low.

Then you should start shooting with your arquebus. The Papal Guard will try to usually advance, but arquebus fire and cow dung make them retreat while not necessarily rout.

All this hassle will give you time to bombard the enemy infantry with fiery rocks and lead. You really don't need the cannons, except in the eventual siege of Rome, which had those annoying cannon towers . So they could be effectively replaced with EVEN MORE arquebus, or alternatively pavise crossbowmen/retinue archers.

Mercenary spearmen are sorta sucky too, some pikemen could make the cut instead of them. Now you would also have a pikemen box
Also with the general you might not need but 3 cavalry units, since your infantry line doesn't really need the general. He'll be better off with your other cavalry, when they have to take a deep dive through the rotting cow carcasses and finally rout THE ENEMY.

You'd better use some high chivalry general and hit the rally button like there's no other buttons to hit.
I cracked laughing for like 5 minutes when my puff/sash clothed demi-lancers first killed the enemy captain, and then moved to the edge of the battle field and formed a 2-3 men line. The papal infantry was all fleeing and the cavalry just marched in a line towards the fleeing troops and killed/captured them all.

That was one of my favourite battles in all my TW gaming experiences.

Pike and Shot For the Win!

[Serious Spamurai]

In that wiki article Artos posted scroll down to the bit about the dutch. The formation of the individual regiments is basically the same as at agincourt.Just put some cav behind the muskets and your ready to go, Reiters would be good as they are firing from an elevated position and can shoot over your troops, they just need to counter-charge any sneaky cavalry charges the AI does. Maybe a unit of halberds, zweihanders, DGK, Dconquistadors or any other shock infntry behind the pikes to act as support.

The only problem is that you can't deploy 2 Regiments next to each other because that will make your centre the wings of arquebuses, who can't resist a charge from elite troops. Mabye trying to place 3 of them in a pyramid formation with all the skirmishers deployed infront might work giving you good firepower and a solid line. Another thing to try would be maximising the time you get to shoot at the enemy by placing the formations spread out but within firing range of each other so the enemy would be forced to spread out, or attack each one individually all the while under murderous fire from your gunners.

I just thought of a little idea about adapting the tercio square. It uses the HRE as an example. First a diagram then I'll post an explanation.

P= Pikes
Z=Zweihanders (or other shock troops)
H=Halberds (shouldn't really be replaced but you do use other anti-armour troops)
A=Arquebusiers (better if muskets are used)

The formation's base is 2 units of halberds (not in spearwall) and 2 units of zweihanders. They are deployed in square(ish) blocks and are then placed in a square themselves as shown in the diagram, they must each have enough space between to turn to face any direction. Deployed to form a square around them are 4 lines of landsknecht pikemen. Finally deployed at the front of the formation are 3-4 squares of Arquebuses. They are deployed in a square because this allows them to turn to face the enemy they are shooting at without making a mess. Squares also have a higher rate of fire than a line which makes up for the small size of the volleys.

When the enemy move to engage your gunners fire at them when they are withing range, aiming for armoured units and anything that will make a mess of your pikes. When the enemy get closer don't retreat the gunners but charge thier target, arquebusiers are better than most archers in CC and equal to pikes if they make them use swords. When the enemy attack your square you should rely on your pikes to hold them. If they enemy is beating your pikes rotate one of your Halberds or Zweihanders to face the enemy and charge them through your pike line. Use halberds against Heavy troops or cavalry, zweihanders against light infantry or pikes. The beauty of it is that squares can rotate easily without needing as much space as a line does. This means your pikes get easy support and your gunners shoot the enemy without that annoying "turning to face the enemy" problem causing too much trouble.

You could also try a formation like this, but it probably sucks, haven't tried it yet.


lll...lll...lll...lll...lll...lll
..G...G...G...G...G...
lll=pikes
G=guns
The formation needs to be parallel to the enemy line and the units deployed in squares. the guns fire at the enemy but the enemy can only charge your pikes, meanwhile your gun's carry on firing into the enemy. It follow simmilar principles to the roman checkerboard formation, only part of the enemies line can engage.

[Artos]

Good post! I'll try that, thanks. I've been trying differents formations this day too, I'll post 'em if get some über-formation.