A SS 4.1 Scottish Army
I vote someone makes a SS TACTICS folder so people can share thier new SS Tactics...it took me a while as a SS noob to get a decent battle line rolling.
This is my late 1100's to early 1200's army. Play your cards right and you can get this army rolling very quick in the game. Lower taxes and build a farm or two in Ediborough and you will have the Heavy Pikes really fast. I usually take Nottingham as my only castle in the Isles.
For this army you will need:
5 Heavy Pike Militia
4 Highland Nobles
4 Noble Archers
2 Border Cavalry
3 Balistas
2 Trebuchets
Field Combat-
The Pikes will be your main battle line. They should be in ranks 4-5 deep, but this may very depending on the size of the forces you are facing. The Noble Archers (HAs) will form up in ranks 3 deep behind the HPMs. The Highland Nobles (HNs) will be formed up behind and slightly on the flanks of the HAs and the Border Horse (BH) will be formed up behind the HNs. Depending on the slope of the terrain you form up on, the Balistas will either be behind or in front of the formation. The Trebs will always be in the rear.
The HPM will hold the line against almost anything the AI can throw at it. A very well placed charge from a very Elite calvary unit may present a breach, but thats what the HN reserves are there for. Watch out for larger armies enveloping your battle line, use the HNs to prevent this and shore up any damage inflicted. HNs arent that great at this job at first, but a little exp and armor/weapon upgrades and they are good to go. The HPMs will be slow about taking down the baddies, but down they will go, up to and perhaps above Dismounted Feudal Knights. They will devastate any calvary dumb enough to charge them, but watch out: Elite, Heavy cav can break their formation. If this happens, use your HNs, HAs or General to hold the line, in that order of precedence.
Rely on your artillery as much as possible, even if it prolongs the battle or costs a few extra casualties. As they go up in exp, they become vastly more effective, especially the balistas. The main purpose behind all this artillery is to force the AI to come to you, even if they are on defense. The balistas excel against enemy siege units, and the trebs excel against everything else. Why not have 5 trebs? It would take an extra 12 turns to get the army complete and be alot more expensive. Also, it might just be me, but balistas seem to be far more accurate than trebs, and seem to kill just as many if not more troops than the trebs in your average battle.
The BHs are the best archer/artillery killers next to Alan Calvary, and that is about it (ofcourse they take out routing units quite well) Never endanger them if you do not need to, the HNs are just as good for flanking units engaged with your battle line.
The HNs, as already stated, need exp and upgrades. Exp is the easiest to get, but due to thier low defense value, expect alot of retraining. My favorite way to get thier exp up is to assault a town with a large garrison, you will see why below in the Siege section. The main purpose of the HNs is to shore up gaps that may appear in the main line and to prevent your HPMs from getting enveloped. THE ENEMY MUST NEVER GET AT THE FLANKS OF YOUR HPMS!!!! If they are not need for any of these dutys, use them to flank the AI units engaged with your line, just dont let them take a calvary charge.
HAs arent the greatest archers, but if you wanted great archers you wouldnt be playing Scotland now would you? They can deploy stakes, have decent range, and dont get completley PWNED in melee. Using them is simple, keep 'em behind the HPMs and kill stuff. If you are facing a Cav heavy army, consider deploying the stakes on your flanks and then redeploying the HAs. Target light calvary first, then lightly armored units, then whatever else.
Siege-
Pretty straight foward, use the trebs to knock holes in the walls, at lest 3 holes, more if you have the ammo. Use the Balistas to take out whatever the AI uses to fill the holes. Once you have made your holes and forced the AI to retreat from the walls, run your HPMs into the breaches. Try to use them to form a 'beachhead' behind the walls. Use some HNs to take the walls real fast.
Once the 'beachhead' is formed and the HPMs are back in spearwall formation (they should have been taken out of spearwall to get into position fast) move in your HAs and bring the Trebs to within range of any garrison they can hammer, no point in wasting the lives of you men, and the trebs need exp anyways.
Once the trebs are no longer an asset, form two units of HPMs into a 'cork' for a road and move in the HAs. Here you have a choice. The HAs will pretty near exterminate whatever cowards hunker down in the city square, but as the AI generally uses the crappiest militias as garrisons, this is an excellent oppourtunity to get your HNs some chevrons. Cheapo units that cant runaway from you!!!!
Ill give an update on this armies tactics Vs. Mongols and other horse archers, as well as a part two when I finally play long enough to get Noble Swordsmen, Noble Pikes, cannons and guns!!!
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Originally Posted by Akkaid
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