Fighting against horse based armies

[ciprianrusu]

I play as Rome. It is 560 AUC, and I'm at war, among others, with Sarmathia. Now, they keep attacking me with full stacks comprised of mostly HA and Cavalry. i have a infantry based army, as all Romans should. I have great difficulties in beating this kind of opponents. What is the best tactic?

[Jingles]

Go into Testudo until they run out of ammo.

[Oli]

and spam archers! make sure u have 4+

[Nellup]

Try to avoid field battles if possible - siege their cities when they are full of HAs, then attack, the horse archers have nowhere to run inside a city.

[century x]

Go into Testudo until they run out of ammo.

Best Way

And get your cavarly all the way around and behind them and push them towards your infantry.

[Gotthard]

1. Swear constantly, make 1/2 your stack siege artillery.
2. Vow to destroy every horse in the world.
3. Call girlfriend, continue to swear incoherently about the horrors of horses.
4. Have neighbors complain about 'noise problems' and 'demonic horses'
5. If all that fails, shoot yourself in the head repeatedly until the pain stops.

If 5 is undesirable, then just auto-battle HA armies, you'll do MUCH better.

Let's just say I have a pathological hatred of HA armies.

[Nellup]

Let's just say I have a pathological hatred of HA armies.

Really? We didn't notice...

[zznɟ ǝɥʇ]

1. Swear constantly, make 1/2 your stack siege artillery.
2. Vow to destroy every horse in the world.
3. Call girlfriend, continue to swear incoherently about the horrors of horses.
4. Have neighbors complain about 'noise problems' and 'demonic horses'
5. If all that fails, shoot yourself in the head repeatedly until the pain stops.

If 5 is undesirable, then just auto-battle HA armies, you'll do MUCH better.

Let's just say I have a pathological hatred of HA armies.

This man is a genius. You know that feeling in the pit of your stomach when your gf is about to break up with you? Yeah, I get that against HA armies. That sinking feeling....

[Octavius-Augustus]

1. Swear constantly, make 1/2 your stack siege artillery.
2. Vow to destroy every horse in the world.
3. Call girlfriend, continue to swear incoherently about the horrors of horses.
4. Have neighbors complain about 'noise problems' and 'demonic horses'
5. If all that fails, shoot yourself in the head repeatedly until the pain stops.

If 5 is undesirable, then just auto-battle HA armies, you'll do MUCH better.

Let's just say I have a pathological hatred of HA armies.

Exactly what I do, excluding the part with the gf, since I don't have one. But I do swear constantly when I see veteran Legionaries that swept half the world slaughtered by some idiots on horseback.
I don't exactly shoot myself, but if I owned a gun, it would certainly cross my mind..

Jokes aside, I know the Sarmatians where superb archers. I wonder if I could be there witnessing a Roman army (even a late Roman army) fighting a HA army (like the Sarmatians, Huns, hell, even Bulgars). These guys sure knew how to piss off a Roman.

[rory o'kane]

i hate them, unless i've got use of them as mercs, then they're quite nice for running around behind a bunch of phalangites, and mucking up the enemy's formations!

EDIT: the "form testudo until they run out of ammo" and "spam archers" ideas are both really good, that's what i'd do!

[Paidonomos]

I second the whole "avoid field battles". Those cursed Sarmatians were quite a pain to finish off in my previous Roman campaign. I found that guarding bridges and river fords helped tremendously. I would suggest 6 archers (preferably syrian archers), any merc hoplites you can find, and the rest either legions or auxilia. The HA will fall at the hands of the archers and any dopey infantry/non-archer horsies will get owned at the ford/bridge. Once you have sent a few armies to the glue and gelatin factories you can siege those cities with impunity.

[ciprianrusu]

I found that guarding bridges and river fords helped tremendously.

That is the only way i could deal with them until now. The only problem with bridge battles is that sometimes they cause CTD's.

[tone]

Reminds me of that line in "The Princess Bride" ...."Never start a land war in Asia" - now I know why

[ComesSiculorum]

What is the best tactic?

RUN! RUN RUN!!!

[rory o'kane]

they're on horses, they can run faster.
nah, a wall of testudos, with archers a little behind. it'll be fine!

[Kahnovitch]

If you're playing as Rome with house rules you're in a world of hurt.

I've demolished multiple stacks of post marian/testudo capable romans (on occasion in the same battle) with a single Parthian HA stack, so there is no easy option other than to fight fire with fire or choose your battlefields carefully, i.e river crossings, sieges etc. Anything where the HA's are disadvantaged.

Good luck

[ComesSiculorum]

Hi, here a link about a similar subject :

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

[ciprianrusu]

I've managed to hold their invasion at river crossings. There i can stop them. But on open field I'm in trouble. They seem to have read about Alexander tactics, of anvil and hammer. They charge my front line with some crappy infantry, and attacks from behind with cavalry. Even when i am wining it's a Pyrrhic victory.

I love this game!!!!

[Kahnovitch]

The Sarmatians gave me my toughest fight as Parthia.
It took a combined stack of Cataphract archers and Persian cavalry to overwhelm then.
as far as foot archers go, Syrian and Cretan have excellent range so snap up as many units as you can find and pack them off to you Sarmatian borders.