Deploying for an ambush

[SonOfAlexander]

I've managed to spring ambushes often enough, but i've never been able to deploy one successfully yet !

I surrounded them with superior high exp spearmen and had cavalry wither end. The ballistae fired down the line where it was exposed

[hanibalthegreat]

im not realy good at ambushes but i thnik you should wipew out the rear end of the enemy army first then work your way up

[fourganger]

im not realy good at ambushes but i thnik you should wipew out the rear end of the enemy army first then work your way up

It varies on enemy deployment. Taking out the general is top priority. Given that enemy units will generally be surrounded, killing the general may be enough to break them.

Playing once as Germany (RTR), I launched an invasion of Britain and ambushed one of the rebel full stacks. However, my troops were poor in comparison (mostly standard German warbands who had already suffered heavy casualties), so rather than surrounding the enemy, I formed everyone up at the head of their column. It worked quite well as most of the enemy troops simply ran straight up the middle into their panicked chariots.

[hanibalthegreat]

wow realy they all charged your pikes cool maybe ill try that

[fourganger]

wow realy they all charged your pikes cool maybe ill try that

No, I was playing RTR, so Germans don't have pikemen (which historically, they didn't have). The troops I was using are essentially barbarian spearmen with additional framea.

[darthbane7]

Ambushing? It's nice when it works, but I really don't find much difference, in that and a real battle, unless you have lots of missile troops you can deploy to fire into the backs of units (and watch them drop like flies).

Go for it if you are outnumbered, or have lower quality units. Otherwise, it's not worth the trouble.

[Draugdur]

Hm, I'd say it's quite opposite actually If the enemy's army matches yours, an ambush can help you to take him out in a very short time with only a few losses. I did that couple of times in battles that would have benn very close matters otherwise.
And on the other hand, a battle in which you are severely outclassed and/or outnumbered is a to win, ambush or not.

[jehanzeb]

I usually move my cavalary on the two corners of the map and leave my Spearmen and rest in the middle. When the war starts I move the men forward and move the Cavalary on edges (forward). That way the other army (dumb AI) doesn't see the Cavalary passing by.

When they start charging towards my Spearmen, I use the full force of Cavalary on to their General and rest of the men.

Job Done lets head home

Regards

[stomp bash chop]

i usually line up infantry with the general on one side with half my missile troops with on the other side i put archers with fire at will off and cavalry if they can be hidden.

i then target cavalry with the missile troops straight away followed by lightly armed troops to try to get maximum effect. once they start to charge at my infantry i let them have it in the back with the other missile troops. hopefully that causes mass confusion with some continuing and more turning back at which point my cavalry appears from the woods behind the archers

ambushes are particularly useful if you have a missile heavy stack facing an oncoming cavalry heavy enemy.

[Lord Thesaurian]

ambushes r glorious if u can pull them off. personally ive never been a fan, mainly because i find them more difficult than theyre worth

[Sunbird Alkibijad]

I rarely used the ambushes, but they can be real cool. The thing u don't want to do is have your general with a weak army ready for ambush when there are huge enemy stacks around(which happens alot). The best setup for ambushes is heavy infantry+cavalry stacked army. Concentrate heavy infantry in small area, at rear or fore pat of the enemy column. Set the cavalry aside and look for weaker/thinner parts of the column. rush the cavalry there, break a unit or two into rout, it starts a cascading effect on the rest of the enemy. That's the main point of ambush. the rest is just killing as many as possible before they reach the map limit...
even better if u wait for your infantry to be pulling most of the aggro, then simply swarm with the cavalry from flanks or rear of the enemy units that are already engaging...
Tho, every ambush relies heavily on the terrain where it is due to occur...just be ready for big stacks passing by.

[fourganger]

Anyone ever fight an ambush against a Phalanx army? I played one yesterday (using Metro Naval) and the Chalkaspides deployed in deep columns, which they then stayed in for the whole battle! My cavalry (playing as Sarmatians) had a field day with lots of long flanks to shoot into and to charge.

[Sunbird Alkibijad]

well, having a few missile units in the army can be fun too...slaughter a few enemies from distance, and withdraw if u don't like the open fight...

[darthbane7]

Yes... and as for using ambushing armies with equal amounts, what's the difference? The AI never comes at you in a straight line for non-ambushes, so all that happens is you have to micro more.

Like I said, I only ambush with missile units. THAT's where the fun begins, positioning troops behind enemy units.

[jehanzeb]

I moved my cavalry last night right behind the tree. It was 356 Egyptians (me) against 820 (Romans Jullii). I kept my spearmen in front and cavalry hidden. Once Romans came near to my spearmen, I shoot off my cavalary from the side, the whole 820 men were slaughtered. End result I had 259 men left against 4 of Romans.

So yeah, it is great to ambush. Fully Recommended

Regards

[Sunbird Alkibijad]

Yarrrr...
Slaughter at every step!
I almost forgot one ambush against egyptians...I had 3 phalanx units(was greek at the time) and rest slingers and archers...was just moving the army to spread it between my other armies...anyway, forgot it on the mountain passage with a small tree section...eventually, the egyptian army(all phalanx +2light cavalry and 2 pharaoh bowmen) ran into it...
I just spread my phalanx units in a very thin line(they were either militia or the ordinary hoplites), let them take all the heat and the archers/slingers waited hidden...oh god, I didn't even get to lose one phalanx unit before these guys went routing, was some 2.5k of them or so...escaped about 600...i lost about 140-150 soldiers(it was a while ago...)
the funny thing...the trail of dead bodies they left behind...like a meadow covered with flowers in the spring time!

[Lord Dakier]

I love ambushes. As Armenia I have my spearmen form a long line. With another two smaller mini groups of Spearmen, Peltast and Archers I form the three points of a 'V' which is ' . ' I lure the enemy into thinking my army is only what they se infront of them. Once enganged in battle I bring my ambushin spearmen forward. Usually they would get decimated but as I have peltast providing close missile support and archers firing at the rear of those who attack my main frontline army I can defeat my enemy before he really as anything to do.

[Sunbird Alkibijad]

and archers firing at the rear of those who attack my main frontline army I can defeat my enemy before he really as anything to do.

THAT

[hanibalthegreat]

hey i just thout about this what if you have a stack ready fro ambush agaist other stacks you could just defeat the nenmy with an all cavalry army hit the weakest part and from the sides and wach them crumble

[Sunbird Alkibijad]

yes, that's called rolling over the enemy line...it's freaky when u try a custom battle with a full stack of cavalry...SICK