Insurgent/Ambush Armies

[Samurai Doc]

I'm trying to think of a good way to defend my home territories with as few of troops as possible. In the foreign, contested lands of the Middle East, the strategy is simple; big armies. But back in Europe, and particularly France or England in my case, you just can't always afford to have massive armies stationed at your borders. Especially with a Crusade in the works.

So here's what I'm working on with England. Particularly around the fortress of Caen, I am stationing several small battalions (4 or 5 units each) of Longbowmen in the woods. This way, if France, HRE, or Denmark gets a little too confident and invades, I can greatly diminish their armies before they reach a key settlement. And, even if I do have a large force in one of my continental cities, it will be able to crush the invading force by the time it gets through the maze of ambushes with ease.

In theory, it sounds great and I am looking forward to putting it to application.

But here are a few questions for the experts...

1) To build upon this strategy, if one of these ambush armies were concealed well enough in enemy territory, would it affect the crops and land in the area?

2) Assuming I have no military rights in a friendly territory, can my ambush army be concealed without the ally becoming aware and angry? This way, when I do break the alliance and declare war, I can pick off the army before it reaches my border.

Thanks.

[Sher Khan]

I fear that without decent melee troops, your ambush will simply wither away before scoring that many kills.

Personally, I would save the valuable longbows as main force soldiers, since 150 upkeep per unit is a little high to have multiple units out and about. Plus, without melee support, they'd melt away in no time before inflicting enough damage and you'd simply be losing money in that case.

[Samurai Doc]

Maybe, but HRE and France are most likely going to send lots of infantry. Maybe all i would need would be one unit of melee to at least distract the horses while I shoot them with archers.

I don't know. I'll give it a try and see how it works. I can always withdraw the forces if things get ugly.

[townie33]

you can always throw in a couple units of peasants. they can hold the line while you rain arrows down on the enemy

[Lord Romanus III]

Use 3 longbows and 2 melee units. Plant stakes. That is what I did. Oh, and by the way, if you try to ambush in their territory, devastation will show up around your army.

Cordially, Lord Romanus III

[Magic Man]

Aye, but a computer player probably wont recognise the devastation...

[Lord Romanus III]

Yes a computer will. in my French campaign, I tried to ambush a German army but, they just walked into it, stopping by it with plenty of movement points, so they then attacked me.

Cordially, Lord Romanus III

[evolvedbullet1]

Me and ambushes were never friends. One, most of the time they are prepared. Second, they get into formation pretty quick. Third, most ambush places on the map are horribly placed for my style of battle. And four, they never really work with infantry but since I am more of a cavalry person, so it doesn't matter.

You can flank the enemy army well with cavalry and archers will just ripe their skin off if you know what I mean. Infantry is useless in ambushes.

[cave sexte]

Actually, his longbowmen idea is really pretty good, especially if combined with a unit or two of light cavalry. Place the cavalry (concealed in trees, if possible) in front of the enemy column, then set up the bowmen on both sides of the column at about half-range, plant stakes, and have at them. The effect of arrow fire from the front and rear should wipe out huge numbers of them, even if they're smart enough to charge instantly, and once they commit to one side or the other you should have a clear shot at their flanks with your cavalry. Taking a direct flank hit from cavalry while under fire from two directions will rout almost any enemy, leaving your archers and cavalry free to target the next hapless enemy unit.

[Xenomorph]

its good if you have any archer cavalry to do ambushes, but with foot soldiers, no. save money and keep skeleton garrisons in settlements where you werent attacked for like 5 turns (or keep an extra army handy just in case) you may roleplay and stuff, but this is all about conquest; if you dont grab territories early in the game, you wont be able to do it later.

[Poradain]

Excuse the simple question but how does ambush work? I keep hiding armies in the trees but only ever once made a successful ambush (where you get to deploy your troops anywhere on the map). Most of the time they just walk next to my army and attack as in a normal battle.

[Xenomorph]

heres an example of a good ambushing place



any army trying to move from one city to another would be ambushed with 99% chances , and unable to retreat. if you win, the whole enemy army is lost. this is a big advantage, else on a normal attack the enemy can retreat once and you may be out of movement point for a second attempt. this can also be best used with a weak army as decoy to draw less troops to the ambush (meaning that halych would have only half garrison, and you would have less trouble to take it with an army from somewhere else nerby and the ambushing troops moved as reinforcements its fun to play this way when things work as we expect them to

mind that any enemy unit nearby (make sure theres no enemy spy, assassin, priest and stuff in the vicinity) can spot your troops and you loose the element of surprise.