How to defeat Isengard in multi

[Insurance Salesman]

Seriously, what is Isengard's weakness in multiplayer (not hotseat)? They have VERY strong infantry, armour-piercing archers and cavalry that can rip apart enemy cavalry. Maybe Mordor is just weak (its the faction my brother plays), but it's gotten to the point where the faction has been banned (even though its my favorite ). Any tools that Mordor or the high elves could use against them?

Also, I'm wondering if the multiplayer is balanced differently than the singleplayer - if not, that would explain why uruks are so good for their cost, as they would have to be built quickly in order to fight against their superior enemies. My armies are consistently bigger than those of my brother's Mordor (though maybe that's because of the troll batallions he takes), yet they're also stronger and even able to be upgraded.

[HolyDevil]

they have good stats for their costs and they are in number as any weakling orcs

add the human inteligence to that and its a killing machine

in single player when the human plays the evil faction, the AI gets TONS of bonuses, money, morale (depending on diffuclty) free stacks, etc

but if you take rohan vs isengard(human vs human), well the only way rohan can do anything is if they fight isengard ALONE, and they charge the heck out of the other player, it would require some tactic that the isengard player can't forsee or do anything about it

since the game starts with great pikeman for isengard (guards of orthanc), the rohan player has to send in a unit to be slaughtered first hand, then the rest can charge the aanoying snaga and the heavy infantry or simply go after the snaga and let your own archers deal with the rest of the infantry

but if the isengard player plays his card wells, he can corner the cavalry and send the snaga to fight them, a line of meatshield, if the cavalry retreats snagas fire, either way cavalry loses its advantage

leaving the numerous uruks open field for the rest, and lets face it, rohan early infantry sucks, militia melt away due to uruks stats and superior number, any other infantry would pose challenge, but not a victory



again its up to the master tactician...

EDIT: with mordor is the same, they can swarm gondor with their cheap, replaceable units, and even if gondor spams general units, the very cheap orc spearman, inflict some casualties
the nazguls are a force to be reckon with, vs AI u need to somehow separte them, wich is easy, if a human makes an army of nazguls, battle is pretty much lost for gondor...

in the end

vs AI, stats count
vs human, numbers count(hence evil wins)

[Romaneck]

Vanilla Gondor > Vanilla Isengard

Seriously the guards of the fountain chew trough the Uruk infantry and Warg cavalry, and The Rangers should provide more than enough firepower, axemen of lossarnach will also be of mighty use with their AP and cavalry militia will be your weapon to deal with berserkers

[athanaric]

Wargs are weak in melee and will lose to any Elven infantry unit as well as to Uruks. The key to defeating them is to prevent them from pulling off a charge. Try to gun down the Wargs and the Berserkers, and if possible the Reavers too. The rest is far less dangerous from a tactical point of view, and can be crushed in melee or with trolls.

Plant stakes everywhere when you're playing Mordor (mass Warg impalement).

If you're playing Elves, gun down everything. Priority targets for your archers are Berserkers, Reavers, Crossbows and Wargs. Next would be Archers and Pikes (no shield). Don't try to shoot Orthanc Guards, it's a waste of ammo.

[Comandertony]

yeh i would watch out for the crossbowmen...i usually dont worry about them but more than less they start to get annoying because they can really hurt your army...as for wargs they suck against archers..just dont let them charge into them...uruks are very easy to kill with calvary...and beserkers...well have fun....just dont waste your troops against them...they have good defense and attack so hit them from a distance or slow them down with lesser units..

like mentioned before dont waste arrows on the orthanc guards...they will survive and kill you..might not be the strongest unit but they had good defense..

with the pikes i always draw the pikes around with my calvary until there back is to my archers...then let loose. just dont let them come to close to your army...there not the strongest but they can hold the line for long enough to exhaust your troops and dwindle your numbers...

thats all i got...isengard is my fav faction too so...good luck.

[confused german]

yeh i would watch out for the crossbowmen...i usually dont worry about them but more than less they start to get annoying because they can really hurt your army...as for wargs they suck against archers..just dont let them charge into them...uruks are very easy to kill with calvary...and beserkers...well have fun....just dont waste your troops against them...they have good defense and attack so hit them from a distance or slow them down with lesser units..

like mentioned before dont waste arrows on the orthanc guards...they will survive and kill you..might not be the strongest unit but they had good defense..

with the pikes i always draw the pikes around with my calvary until there back is to my archers...then let loose. just dont let them come to close to your army...there not the strongest but they can hold the line for long enough to exhaust your troops and dwindle your numbers...

thats all i got...isengard is my fav faction too so...good luck.

Isengard is your favourite faction? I call that a suprise, Saruman!!

[nonnob3]

yeh i would watch out for the crossbowmen...i usually dont worry about them but more than less they start to get annoying because they can really hurt your army...as for wargs they suck against archers..just dont let them charge into them...uruks are very easy to kill with calvary...and beserkers...well have fun....just dont waste your troops against them...they have good defense and attack so hit them from a distance or slow them down with lesser units..

like mentioned before dont waste arrows on the orthanc guards...they will survive and kill you..might not be the strongest unit but they had good defense..

with the pikes i always draw the pikes around with my calvary until there back is to my archers...then let loose. just dont let them come to close to your army...there not the strongest but they can hold the line for long enough to exhaust your troops and dwindle your numbers...

thats all i got...isengard is my fav faction too so...good luck.

On the campaign, Isengard is my fav too, but it is very challenging and hard to play on "Very Difficult Level" with them...

[philipjd]

playing as Eriador in the single player campaign I was not having too much bother with the Isengard troops, careful battle yes, but not overly difficult.. unless the Pikeman were in the field against me, I generally managed to destroy all the other Isengard units, but for the pikemen was reduced to wittling away with my surviving archer units then a mass cavalry charge with my generals (usually Aragorn and/or Gandalf) which did the trick.. but risky for the generals (I do not reload for battles/leaders lost).