Army Composition

[Mike08]

I am trying to play the grand campaign (as the English) in MTW2 and I encountered a rather large problem: I have no idea what kind of infantry to use to hold the main battle line. I am a vet of the series and in RTW, for instance, there were the legionaries, or the phalanxes, or the swordsmen, or warbands; but in MTW I cannot seem to find a standard, easily replaceable type of infantry unit to be the backbone of my army. I use "hammer and anvil" tactics in my battles and have been using armored sergeants to hold the line but they simply cannot stand up to late period armored units. So after that I switched to Armoured Swordsmen but they are fairly expensive and not easily replaceable. Are swordsmen the best? Or should I switch to a civ with pikemen? Help is appreciated.

[Zhou]

I am trying to play the grand campaign (as the English) in MTW2 and I encountered a rather large problem: I have no idea what kind of infantry to use to hold the main battle line. I am a vet of the series and in RTW, for instance, there were the legionaries, or the phalanxes, or the swordsmen, or warbands; but in MTW I cannot seem to find a standard, easily replaceable type of infantry unit to be the backbone of my army. I use "hammer and anvil" tactics in my battles and have been using armored sergeants to hold the line but they simply cannot stand up to late period armored units. So after that I switched to Armoured Swordsmen but they are fairly expensive and not easily replaceable. Are swordsmen the best? Or should I switch to a civ with pikemen? Help is appreciated.

The english really does lack good late-period line infantry that's cheap and easy to replace (city-trainable is probably a good way to put it). Your best bet is, as you've guessed already, Armoured Swordsmen. What you're basically looking for in line infantry is a combination of two things:

1) High Total Defense

AND/OR

2) Spearwall formation (some halberdiers/pikes...although I believe pikemen are better).

If I remember correctly, you the English can train Halberd Militia. This may be a decent line infantry unit that's cheap and easy to replace, but you'll have to move quickly with the hammer as I don't once the Halberd's spearwall formation is broken up (fairly quickly after initial contact), they will start taking significant casualties. On the plus side, if you keep Guard Mode and Spearwall on, the enemy may be literally stuck running into the points of your halberds without dying. In this scenario, you have all the time in the world to perform your flanking manuevers.

That said, you may want to look at factions that can train decent infantry from their military academies if you want solid line infantry that's easy to replace (for example, Spain and their Tercio pikemen).

[Hex Khan]

Personally when i play as england i use billmen to hold the line, true they may not be the best unit but they come in mass and so serve their purpose, also the fact their armour piercing is enough for me, i usually fight very much like the agincourt historic battle, billmen centre, archers on the flanks various elites filling the gaps.

Though like Zhou states if you want to go heavy infantry on heavy infantry either english knights (the guys with the poleaxes) or armoured swordsmen are your best bet.

@Zhou, England has no phalanx units i think their the only euorpean nation that doesnt have either the pikemen or halberdmen, wich is unfortunate really since they ought to have one like the others

[Kesxex]

Never played the English myself, only had them as enemies.
So from that point of view (getting killed by them) the units I rather dislike to face are Billmen and Armored Sergeants. In the later game Heavy Billmen and Dismounted English Knights are a rather daunting prospect to face.

My typical army consists of 4 units of spearmen (best I can get), 4 units of shooters (normally xbow mercenaries), 2 light cav to roam, threaten and go after broken units, 2 artillery (ballista, later cannons), 4 units of heavy cavalry for flanking and a general. Filled up on the last slots with whatever is available.

My center normally holds fairly well. Sure, the attrition on the infantry can be quite high, but as I build units in the back and ship them to the front there is a steady replacement. If I am short then mercenary units will fill the army.

In the later part of the game I use Handgunners (only option for English are Arquebusiers instead) to cover the flanks. Properly formed up (facing any incoming flank attack) their attack is not that devastating for losses but for morale.

Against a cavalry charge my preferred tactic is to have the charge to be received by a spear unit (and yes, the losses will be high), then flank with one or two more spear/heavy infantry units while binding incoming infantry with other infantry units or flank attacks from my knights.

As English one of the best way to get some good infantry units is recruiting mercenaries on the continent and bringing in good English units to make a good army.

[Samuel Adams]

I have only played for three days now, since buying the game, but I generally am successful having my spear units placed in front, backed directly by a line of swordsmen. Then I place my ranged units behind them, at least when I'm on a hillside. Then I place cavalry on the flanks... generally I have one "Division" of cavalry on one flank, stonger than the "Division" on the other. I also attempt (terrain dependent) to place my cavalry in a position where they are concealed from the enemy line of sight. This way I can fake a flanking manuever with my lesser division, and after the AI turns to meet that threat I deliver a decisive pounding blow with my main cavalry division. I leave my general and maybe one other mounted unit behind the infantry to counter any immediate threat to the infantry line.

This also results in a fairly skinny, yet deep infantry formation.

Exeptions were when I used English longbowmen and utilized the wooden spikes, and at that point I put ranged units up front directly supported by infantry to the rear to deal with cavalry that get too close or flanking enemy assaults that got through my cavalry hammer.

[Kesxex]

One other option is to use Armoured Swordsmen in conjunction with Armoured Sergeants.
In this setup the Armoured Sergeants (spears) are set up front to receive the charge and the Swordsmen with a smaller front and deeper half behind to the left of the Sergeants.
Now as I understand you use your infantry to move forward so in this case your Sergeants will receive a charge by the cavalry and bind them (losses expected). The Swordsmen now can swing into the cavalry unit by the side (the one with no shield).
Subsequently now the Swordsmen expose their flank towards a lurking infantry charge of the enemy. This can be countered by a flank attack from your cavalry.

One option to not loose the oversight is to group your first and second line into separate groups. This way you can charge your second line of Swordsmen all together if there are more than one cavalry charging.

The only trouble I can foresee with this setup is that it takes some more slots in your army for infantry units and your front won't be as long against an infantry army as it should be so you will have to watch out more against enemy infantry getting in your flanks.
This on the other hand you should be able to counter with your archers weeding out the overlapping infantry units and cavalry charges.

Alternatively use Heavy Billmen or Billmen Militia to receive the charge. Militia has the advantage that they are fairly cheap, produced by cities instead of castles and the losses won't hurt that much.

[tommo_312]

use portugal they have great pikemen, xbowmen and cavlry and they are really gd buddies with us english so...

[Blau&Gruen]

(to delete)

thanks

[Blau&Gruen]

I have no idea what kind of infantry to use to hold the main battle line.

Longbow instead of too many heavy infantery.

My english standart order of battle starts in a defensiv position. It is built around the Longbow and its defense ability. It wants to blood out an enemy who is stronger in number, who attacks from various positions of the map, who includes horses and hardend foot. The Longbow leads my battle. My hard elements hold the flanks and counter charge over short distance when necessary. My mobile element is active on the rear and free to charge over longer distances. When the rear is free and the enemy battleline near to break, the mobile element is lead around one of the enemy flanks and everything else pushes forward in a General Attack.

* Longbow
* Field defence
* Secure the flanks
* Destroy everything on your rear
* Blood them out
* Storm and break the enemy battleline

^ IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ^
Hardest (Field Defense) Hardest
Element Halbard/Spearfoot Element
Longbow/Longbow/Longbow/Longbow
Mobile Element: Horse
(can flank can fill the gap can hold the rear)