Effective Spanish tactics in the Americas campaign

[Vesuvius5150]

I was working on my Spanish campaign today and i kinda realized the tactics for Spain in my book were extremely simple. My most effective one was, pin the enemies with native mercs, hammer the flanks with cavalry, and watch their lines crumple. Rinse and repeat. So my question is, how do you achieve diverse and effective tactics? I've never really had any kind of success with the other Spanish units. The swordsmen and pikemen are good against the natives but fold under weight of numbers in my experience. Crossbowmen and musketeers have never really proven too effective for me. I'm not really sure where to place them.

Usually the terrain isn't favorable to them (i am never on a hill for example, and even if i am, usually i'm not defending), and if you put them in your lines its only a limited success. I tried putting them up front, but they only really fire 1 or 2 effective volleys before i have to move them behind melee troops, which may be enough to turn away peasants but against Jaguar warriors and more elite troops it really doesn't have the desired effect. If i deploy them on the flanks, the enemy troops usually bee-line straight for them, in which case i have to move either cavalry or infantry to screen them, rendering them pretty much useless because that can't fire over the screening force. The only other unit thats worth it is the culverins that occasionally come with expeditionary forces because they explosive shells tear through the clumped masses of natives.

This isn't really like a 'zomg musketeers are underpowered' or 'spain is underpowered' thread, i was just curious how other people effectively utalized Spain's resources in the Americas campaign. Ultimately it seems that i would have to trade how easily i win the battle for diversity in the battle, but i mean i don't want to purposely handicap myself with units i can't use well in order to be a little more entertained. Like i said the aim is really effective and diverse tactics.

[randir14]

I let the musketeers fire until the enemy is close then I rush all my natives at them and come around behind with my cavalry, usually causes them to route quick. Then it's just a matter of killing the routers.

[Amerikai]

Cav tears through native units no matter where you're charging from.

[HansDuet]

With 20 units of Conquistador, you can kill any Aztec army and as many as you want. The problem is how to get those Conquistadors. After you get them... Game over, indians..

[UniQ]

I get to many The upkeep costs ass and I don't really get that much money from the cities.

[Trajan]

Tactics and strategy threads belong in the battle planning sub-forum. Moved.

[hellheaven1987]

Actually I got more than 20 units of Conquistadors 20 turns after the game, all of them are from reward. The problem is, my force is spread thin, each front only have around 5 Conquistadors. The building system problem of New Spain also prevet an early offensive - you probably need to use Sword Militia for a long time before Conquistadors can be built.

Anyway, I allow Azetc to play their slaughter game with other Native American, and I rush to conquer rebel settlements in south... with the help of Maya!!!

[Hellbent]

Once you get the Spanish Dragoons, things would get even easier, although they don't have that much ammo, they sure can kill.

[Shaun]

Once you get the Spanish Dragoons, things would get even easier, although they don't have that much ammo, they sure can kill.

I agree with this, Spanish Dragoons kick ass! I had two of them in my army, and they managed to rout a pile of native troops ... albeit that the natives were also quite poor quality, but still. However, Spanish Dragoons are also extremely expensive, and appear very, very late in the campaign game. I am wondering if mounted crossbow men are a good alternative to them, they might have more ammunition and are definitely cheaper.

[Hellbent]

I agree with this, Spanish Dragoons kick ass! I had two of them in my army, and they managed to rout a pile of native troops ... albeit that the natives were also quite poor quality, but still. However, Spanish Dragoons are also extremely expensive, and appear very, very late in the campaign game. I am wondering if mounted crossbow men are a good alternative to them, they might have more ammunition and are definitely cheaper.

Yeah, but I don't think they have the same morale-sapping ability of Spanish Dragoons,

[coman]

I find the key to success to actually work in units smaller than one would expect when fighting such massively large numbers as one can face in the New World.

I will take some screen shots, but in general:

1 unit of musketeers in front of two rows of any Spanish sword, in front of any supporting missile men. I will often use cavalry to anchor enemy forces and if my army has a cannon unit, this will go to work immediately on the most likely command unit the enemy has, or their strongest charging unit.


I will then use two of these small pockets in tight quarters, covering the other unit, about 250 meters apart on. The second unit is usually on the left hand side of the primary unit intended to take advantage of weak right side defense.

The AI for the America's seems to favor a mass rush with some skirmish (haven't faced Apachean's much). I will often bait and switch between the two small forces, retreating the primary engaged unit before the line ares met, regroup them 200m to their rear.

Tactical dispersement of Conquistadores is key as I have routed full stacks of armies with just three flanking horsemen and successful charges. I haven't bothered much with crossbow militia or pike militia and even poor Tercio's get chewed up really hard. If a unit doesn't have two hit points, it probably isn't getting much use from me. Dismounted Conquistadores are easy to obtain and return the best results for the cost and upkeep.

I had one battle (I took one screenshot at the end) where two units of dismounts, 2 units of native warriors, 1 musketeer and a mauled unit of culverin held one of the coastal rebel cities against a full stack and reinforcements from the Mayans. I had about 27 men left at the end of the fight. The enemy never made it more than 25 meters into the town.

When attacking cities, I advance to a spot, blow holes in their walls, then send in a single musketeer unit, two dismounted conquistadores and advance to their square. Once the enemy has retreated to the core of the town, I may surround them. The muskets keep them at range and will turn them back. Using any mounted forces to flank and pull off their best troops with feint maneuvers returns good results as well.

Blending these tactics, I have held all of southern Mexico, the Yucatan and the lower Americas for 40 turns now and really have it all too easy.

My single piece of advice for best results with the Spanish is try and fight on wide open ground in the plains southeast of Vera Cruz.

coman

[PooFoo]

Unfortunately Spanish infantry isn't very practical except for sieges. One unit of dismounted conquistadors barely beats a unit of jaguar warriors.

[The Rights 2]

do not forget that those spaniards had the reputation of demons (or equivalent), and that the thousands of natives feared them for that

[Filibusteria]

the Allende's book is pretty unhistoricall. The spaniards were 50 and had 300 indian auxilliaries. The mapuche army was 3000-5000 according to spanish chronicles, but they always increase the enemy numbers. What made Ines de Suarez win was the idea of cutting off the heads of the captures chiefs and thowing them to the mapuche, who were stunned and terrified. Ten, a cavalry charge deeated them. But only a house, a pig, a chicken and two wheat bags survived the attack. Santiago had to be completely rebuilt.