Horse Archer tactics

[Dash]

I'm more of a foot archer kind-of-guy, but seeing the power of the Mongol horse archers has me hooked. I'm planning on playing as the Turks or Byzantines, but I'm not exactly good at leading horse archers. (I'm more used to using cavalry in a more Western way)

Anyway, any tips or tricks to using Horse Archers would be greatly appreciated.

[zhangxy]

Try targeting one unit and shooting at it from the front and from behind with your horse archers. They can't block arrows from both sides so you'll easily pick them off. You can also lure units away from the battle with your horse archers if you are heavily outnumbered.

Good luck!

[MyNameIsGreat]

For horse archers and cavalry in general, the Russians are easily the best. They are difficult to play and it's a slow campaign, but their HAs early on are very cheap and their late units have some of the best cavalry in the game.

For tactics: Always aim for the formations with the deepest ranks. When horse archers miss, it is usually above or below the enemy, rarely to the side. So shooting the deepest rank will guarantee the most casualties.

The best tactic is simply spreading out your horses and having the enemy break up to chase them. Waste all of your ammo before charging. By then they will be very tired and demoralized and you can charge/rout them by hitting their backs/sides.

When dealing with archers, the best tactic is to fake a charge with your HA units. Right before your horses hit the enemy, tell them to change direction and retreat. The enemy archers will run away because of skirmish mode and you can repeat this tactic to ensure the enemy archers are constantly running (and therefore never firing )

Also remember to micro-manage your horses, since the skirmish doesn't always work! And avoid the corner of the map as HA units always get stuck there.

[Sher Khan]

Let's put you in the Battle Planning forum and see if we can make a steppe warlord out of you.

Moved.

[Dash]

Thanks for all of the advice. I'm gonna go give it a try with the Russians then. Hopefully I can master them before the Mongols arrive.

Thanks again.

[wearycelt]

I feel it is appriopriate here to give a little extra emphasis on one particular aspect of the HA. When units are routing, moving in a loose formation, or engaged in battle with infantry the makes for fantastic Light Cavalry just don't let them stay in melee hardly at all. This works really well with the Hungarian Nobles and I bet you will find it efective with the Russian Boyar Sons. Less so with Kazaks. Russia Rules, Good Luck!

[Dash]

I've been using the Eastern Roman Empire's HA, and I seem to be doing well with them... at least during field battles. Don't use them much in sieges, except just to batter away at the enemy garrison.

Thanks for the loose formation tip; I'll keep it in mind.

[Carpathian Wolf]

Byz has unique HA and cavalry in general. While western cav is heavy, and eastern cav is light, the byz has medium cavalry. They can trade arrows with the eastern factions and chase their HA down and win in melee, and vs western units they can out run them and keep pounding them with arrows.

[Owain Glyndŵr]

Carpathian makes a valid point... the Byzantine Cavalry can do an okay job in both roles, but they will often be outshot by those Eastern horse archers, especially the more elite ones. Make sure you maneuver them properly or those Eastern archers will just keep running away and shooting.