Ambush armies....

**Saint_of_Battle** · January 16, 2010, 02:26 PM

Hail, noble knights!

Ive been playing today as France. England declares war on me, I repel them and march upon Caen. The hippie pope urges to stop the war, which i couldnt ( very demanding all the time ) . The English mustered an army , around 1000 man large to march upon Rennes. I sent 2 half stacks to stalk them and I hid one of them in a forest. Anyway the stupid english went that way, I attacked them against my will and got excomm for nothing. It was also on english borders, so it wasnt defensive.

An another similar thing happened when i was scouting KOJ with some 20 knights whom i hid in some woods. They ambushed KOJ and i got a stupid war. Egypt eradicated them tho..

So be careful where you place your armies...

Has anything similar happened to you?

**django333** · January 16, 2010, 03:03 PM

Just use spies, assassins, priests and diplomats as scouts to avoid unwanted battles. Pirests are the best scout imo since they are usually abundant. I usually place a priest at each of my neighbors settlements and any main choke points such as valleys, river crossings, bridges, etc. to keep an eye on my enemies movements.

**Saint_of_Battle** · January 18, 2010, 07:31 AM

Originally Posted by django333

Just use spies, assassins, priests and diplomats as scouts to avoid unwanted battles. Pirests are the best scout imo since they are usually abundant. I usually place a priest at each of my neighbors settlements and any main choke points such as valleys, river crossings, bridges, etc. to keep an eye on my enemies movements.

Yeah, but i was stalking them because it was too obvious they were going for Rennes. Stupid went through woods and i got exomm for a war they started...

Also withdrawing wont have any different effects, you simply let them get away.

Personally I love ambushes, especially when i have a lot of cavalry. Just charge and rout. On the particular battle with the english (forest battle, couldnt see anything), the ambush failed and i had only mounted sergeants (25) and Breton light cav. i won with 12% losses. They just had fyrds and spear militia, no cav...

**gluteus maximus aurelius** · January 16, 2010, 03:57 PM

Oh yh, similar situation too, I was playing as milan or someone and had just taken Rheims when the pope ordered me to stop attacking the ponsy french, despite me having an army outside their walls. So i moved them back into the trees to wait until they could attack, then the french king trundles over and walks into my ambush. Fool.

**Gromovnik** · January 16, 2010, 07:09 PM

I hate ambushes since RTW. They never go according to the plan, and I loose about 50% more men than I would in a normal battle. Plus those situations on the strat map you described...

**JorisofHolland** · January 17, 2010, 07:17 AM

You can choose withdraw before the battles starts, right? But do you still get excommunicated when you retreat from it?

**gluteus maximus aurelius** · January 17, 2010, 07:23 AM

Originally Posted by JorisofHolland

You can choose withdraw before the battles starts, right? But do you still get excommunicated when you retreat from it?

Yeah that happened to me a fair few times as well, stupid pope's just looking for an excuse

**JorisofHolland** · January 18, 2010, 09:47 AM

Ambushes are a nice weapon indeed. I heroicly slaughter a force that outnumbered me 3:1 with only 9 % casualties. But they are not that nice during peace missions from the Pope, apparently

**Saint_of_Battle** · January 18, 2010, 11:35 AM

Yea indeed, at least i got myself a pretty nice general adopted but an error ruined everything. Just started a campaign with Scots, now i have to cope with useless assasins...