A guide to Northumbria

[CountMRVHS]

This guide assumes M/M difficulty settings and standard unit sizes.

For a time, Northumbria was one of the most renowned and powerful of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Its kings exerted influence over their neighbors, its abbeys and monasteries were centers of art and learning, and the region was famous throughout Europe for figures like the Venerable Bede and St. Cuthbert.

Unfortunately, those times are past.

With the appearance of the Vikings, Northumbria saw itself torn apart by civil war, unrest, and invasion. At the beginning of the time frame covered in VI2, Northumbria has shrunk to roughly the region of Bernicia and Elmete, possessing only three settlements: Maelmin (the Royal Residence, or capital), Hagustaldsae, and Loidis. In some ways, its financial and geographical position makes Northumbria the weakest of the four Anglo-Saxon factions in VI2. (As such, the mod designers have quite properly rated this faction “Hard” compared to the others.) All this means that Northumbria is a challenging faction to play, but also a faction which can experience a dramatic turn in fortunes once its economy and military begin to flourish. So you want to see Northumbria regain its rightful place at the pinnacle of Anglo-Saxon greatness? You want to see England ruled from the North rather than the South? Read on. We’ll begin by taking a look at the military available to a Northumbrian ruler.

Warriors and Tactics

Northumbria’s unit roster is functionally identical to that of Mercia, Wessex, and East Anglia. The only difference, in fact, is that Northumbria seems to be the only Anglo-Saxon faction that lacks a unique unit: East Anglia has its Beardsmen, Mercia its Marcher Horse, and Wessex gets an elite Fyrd unit I believe. The Northumbrians must make do with the basics – fortunately, those basics are pretty good.

Infantry:

You can train Peasants, of course, but why would you? You’d need to be unable to train any other units (thank you, mod designers! That feature makes Peasants much less ubiquitous), and their numbers and stats are puny, obviously. Only a sadist would force these poor guys into battle. Moving on…

Build a Muster Field and you can train Spearmen. They are the consummate no-frills unit for the Anglo-Saxons: no javelin-throwing, no shield wall or other fancy abilities, just solid defense and decent numbers at 45 men per unit. For the majority of the game, Spearmen will make up the bulk of your armed forces, and will serve you admirably.

Fyrdmen are the next step up from Spearmen, but depending on your income you may not be able to train as many of these as you’d like. They’re a little better statwise than standard Spears, but the real advantage is their ranged capability. Keep Fire At Will switched on to make sure you’re getting the most out of them. Also, don’t neglect the Shield Wall formation with these guys, especially in static defense situations like sieges or bridge battles.

Armoured Spearmen and Thegns will both come on-line at the same time, probably well into your game. That’s just as well, because their expense would be prohibitive early on. Armoured Spears have Shieldwall capability and great defensive stats; ditto for the Thegns, except Thegns also carry a war flag that inspires nearby troops, and as swordsmen they’re a bit more attack-oriented. The game will tend to place your Thegns on the flanks of your army at battle start; that’s a fine place to keep them, just make sure they don’t stand there passively and get charged. Use them to flank or otherwise anchor your line – they tend to take very few losses when fighting most other infantry.

And of course there’s the Royal Hirth, your bodyguard unit. They come packed with throwing spears (check Fire At Will) and the kind of equipment and ability you’d expect for an Anglo-Saxon noble’s retinue. Ideally, you’ll want one of your family members to be leading every serious army in your military, but sending a few extra nephews and cousins along for the trip can also be a good idea, especially if they’re not exactly the administrative type. The only real threat to these stout swordsmen are cav charges and humongous axe-wielding pagans.

Trainable Mercs:

At your Alehouses and Inns, you can also train some mercenaries. The type of unit will depend on the location of the province: In all English regions, you’ll often be able to train Mercenary Fyrdmen at the lowest-level building. Chances are, you’ll be able to train these merc Fyrds earlier than the regular Fyrds – but they’re about twice as expensive in recruitment and upkeep costs. The advantage of these guys is that you can train up to 9 per turn (thanks to the 0-turn recruitment time) – insanely expensive, but if you need a sudden infusion of men, this is the way to do it. I only found myself training Merc Fyrds towards the end of the game, when my income was pretty stable; even then, I only trained a few.

At the Alehouses in Northumbrian regions, you’ll be able to train Mercenary Lithsmen, a Scandinavian-inspired axe-unit. Unlike the Merc Fyrds, the trainable Lithsmen can only be trained one per turn: the big advantage with them is the cost. A unit of 35 will cost you under 100 shillings in upkeep, making the trainable Lithsmen one of the most cost-effective units available to you (the Mercenary Lithsmen your generals can buy outside settlements are twice as expensive, but still a good buy in the early/mid game when you’re looking for some flexibility). These axe-wielders are no Huskarls, but as flankers they are quite handy. Don’t let them get charged by cav – or anyone else, for that matter; they should be doing the charges themselves, preferably into the flanks or rear of already-engaged enemies. Keep your general close by, as their morale seems a bit more fragile than other units, but used in tandem with your other forces they can be a real asset.

The Mercenary Butescarles trainable at the highest-level Inns or recruitable from the campaign map are excellent fighters, and they know it. Hence they’ll charge top-shilling for their services. If you can afford it, a single company will be a great addition to your army. I like to keep them back from the front line, to avoid cav charges and missile fire, and to give them room to do some flanking. As one of the heaviest units available to you, these men should be dedicated to killing the enemy general – or pesky horsemen, thanks to their bonus vs. cav.

As noted above, as you conquer other regions you may find other trainable mercs available – so don’t destroy the Alehouses or Inns when you conquer a new region! In Wales you’ll find Longspearmen and Longbowmen available to train. I never bothered with the Longspears, but the Longbows are an excellent investment for the late game: they take 0 turns to train and don’t cost all that much. In Alba you’ll find Pictish Infantry – but most likely you’ll be within a couple provinces of victory by the time you can train them, so their availability will be moot.

Recruitable Mercs:

Out in the wilderness, you’ll often find Mercenary Rabble, Mercenary Archers, and Mercenary Horsemen available for your generals to buy up. These are almost always great investments. Upkeep is relatively low for these units, their performance is fairly good, and they can help fill gaps in your roster, especially in the early game. It may be some time before you can reliably train Horsemen of your own; the skirmishing Merc Horsemen will allow you to turn a tactical victory into a strategic one by chasing down routers – especially valuable for those battles when you’re besieging a town and enemy reinforcements attack you. Capture all the fleeing besieged forces before they can reenter the town, and it’s yours.

Mercenary Rabble would seem to be a wretched little unit, but they actually have great uses, mostly due to their throwing spears and cheapness. They are one of the most flexible units you’ll find early on, able to flank & fight well enough, and as garrison troops their cost can’t be beat.

Likewise, Mercenary Archers are a good way to give you an answer to enemy missiles early on. Their skills with the bow aren’t quite as good as the Archers you can train yourself, so I will often use these with flaming arrows for the fear effect. If need be, you can also throw them into a flanking role. Use them with the Rabble to garrison newly-conquered settlements and allow your real fighters to keep campaigning.

Other likely mercs will include Lithsmen and Butescarles, discussed above (but in the case of the Lithsmen, it’s better costwise to train them yourself), and occasional exotic units such as Mercenary Gaill-Gaidheaheghdiiaalgazundheit … the green guys with axes, OK? Look for them along the west coasts of Wales and Cornwall.

Ranged:

Build some Butts and you can train Slingers and Archers. Slingers have lower attack but better range; I tend to keep my Slingers to the far left of my army as a result, so they can shoot at the unshielded right side of approaching enemies. The Archers I tend to keep behind the first rank of my Spears, with skirmish turned off so they don’t run once my Spears engage. Neither of these units is excellent, but they are cheap and good as garrison troops and, obviously, for the occasional missile duel that breaks out before the real battle.

Cavalry:

Horsemen. What can I say? During the midgame you’ll want to train more ofthese guys, as they’re sturdier than the Merc Horsemen and offer a surprisingly good charge. Used correctly, your Horsemen can kill enemy generals: keep charging & repeating while your infantry keeps everyone else busy.

Tactics:

In the early game, most of your battles will involve lines of Spearmen facing off against one another. Things are pretty straightforward at this stage: Seek flanking opportunities where you can. Often this can be achieved by keeping your general in reserve and sending him round behind the enemy. You can also get results by sending your left- or right-most units out away from the main battle, thus luring enemy forces away in that direction, and using spare Spearmen or your general to catch these enemy units in the flank or from behind when your decoy unit turns about to engage.

Once you are able to train larger forces, the game will deploy them in 2 lines, with units like merc Rabble, Lithsmen, or Thegns on the flanks, spears/fyrd in the middle, and ranged units in between your double-line of spears/fyrd. I usually keep this basic formation untouched, with the following exceptions:

1) make sure your back line of spears/fyrd are close enough to your front line to throw spears (if applicable)

2) move your general from the far back into the middle, between the 2 rows of spears/fyrd

3) move archers into the gaps on either side of your general, with slingers on the flanks

4) make sure spear-throwers are switched to fire-at-will.

I also like to make 2 groups: one group of the front-line troops, except flankers, and another group of the rear-line troops. This allows me to assemble them back into position after engaging if there are enemy reinforcements I need to turn to face, for example.

With the rear line of spears/fyrd, I often find myself splitting them up once the front line is engaged, sending half to the left and half to the right; once my flankers (the Lithsmen/Rabble/Butescarles, etc.) have engaged, these reserve spears move around to the rear to totally surround the enemy, or protect my troops from cav charges or other enemy units.

Next, we’ll take a look at the geography and strategic possibilities for a Northumbrian king.

Homelands

The most prominent feature of your fledgling kingdom is fact that it is oriented along a North-South axis, with the Pennine mountain range splitting it down the middle. That range makes communication between the east and west coasts difficult – reinforcing Luel from Maelmin will take awhile – but it also means that your enemy’s strategic maneuverings can be predicted, provided you have watchtowers spread around your kingdom. Make watchtowers a priority early on, to keep an eye on the Albans to the north and everyone else to the south. Spies are a long way off, but train an emissary and use him to check the size & strength of neighboring settlements you may want to conquer – or to keep an eye on how many units the Mercians are training.

In order to gain the title “King of Northumbria” (and the Influence boost that accompanies it), your king must preside over the conquest of only 2 more regions than you possess at campaign start: Luel (Cumbri region) and Eoforwic (York), both rebel-held. The closest rebel province to you is Lindisfarne, and there are other settlements to choose from if you decide to head northwest (Annain and Hwiterhe), or southwest (Pec Saetan).

Assuming you don’t want to start a war right off (more on that later), you’ll be wondering which rebel settlements to snap up first. It turns out this is a critical decision, which can have profound long-term consequences. No pressure.

In an earlier Northumbrian campaign, I decided to head west first, to take Cumbri; then, I figured I’d turn south and take York. Bad move. Heading west early means you leave Loidis as your southernmost settlement – a settlement with no walls, a low population, and very limited troop production potential. It’s not hard to see that Loidis becomes a magnet for the AI – the Mercians or anyone else bordering you can waltz over and take it in a single turn if they bring a handful of spearmen. (Actually, this is likely to happen regardless of how diligent you are at manning your borders.) Then they can work their way up through your territory with impunity. There will be some back-and-forth, and you might be able to pull this strategy off, but ultimately I started a new campaign rather than put up with chronic debt and constant invasion.

The other possibility for you at this very early stage is to make a move on Din Eidyn and take the Scots by surprise. Din Eidyn is a good settlement to take, but the problem (with any Total War game) is that it’s very difficult to stop a war once you start it. Take Edinburgh, and you may find yourself having to conquer Alba just to keep them off your back, which will necessarily draw resources away from your southern frontier, leaving you wide open to attacks from the Mercians and other AS factions.

But even if you manage to hold your southern border while you wipe out Alba, the real problem with the “north first” strategy is that you shut yourself out of being able to influence events in England south of the Humber. While you’re grinding down the Scots, Wessex is likely grinding down the Mercians, Danes, and East Anglians. Whoever is in control by the end of it, the last thing you want is to turn south only to see that all of the rich land below York is in one faction’s hands.

A far better move is to make York your first target. Yes, Lindisfarne is close by, but you can grab it at your leisure; I don’t want to waste any time getting York under my control. Train up some troops, recruit a few mercs, and try to approach the city with something like equal numbers. Fortunately they’re rebels, so the battle should be relatively easy.

After several turns, assuming you make York a priority, you’ll find that you’re in possession of the eastern half of Northumbria. It’s a good idea to grab Lindisfarne and then Luel when you can. Legacaestir, in the Pec Saetan region, south of Luel, is also a priority – if only so you can give the Welsh and Mercians a target that is somewhat out of your homeland region. Legacaestir is a slow grower, with no walls, so you’ll find yourself with a strategic reality that will haunt you for much of the campaign: your southwestern frontier will be more fluid than you like. It’s not ideal, but eventually you’ll be able to afford to keep a decent army in the area to fend off attacks from Wales and Mercia.

The North

Alba and the Norwegians are the two factions you face in this direction. You begin at war with the Norwegians (and the Danes), so it pays to take that emissary and send him north immediately, with 2 goals: 1) to secure trade rights with Alba, and 2) to get ceasefire and trade rights with Norway (which owns lands in the far north of Scotland).

You’ll also want to keep an eye out for emissaries of the two Irish factions, who tend to cluster around Edinburgh and Maelmin. Get trade rights and an alliance with them if possible.

Trade rights are very important for Northumbria, perhaps more than any other AS faction. Your many coastal regions mean you should be doing a lot of sea trade, and farming income isn’t as big a factor in your relatively poor lands. This means wars will have a more noticeable effect on your economy, if you end up fighting a trade partner.

A quirk of the RTW engine comes into play here: Never share a border with a faction you want to trade with. Shared borders are an invitation for the AI to invade in most cases. Since you don’t border any of Norway’s regions, they will be very open to a ceasefire and trade rights, and will likely stay off your back for the remainder of the game (they have bigger fish to fry with their Irish and Scottish settlements).

The Men of Alba seem to make surprisingly docile neighbors, considering the above. In my several Northumbrian campaigns, they have only started a war with me once, and I was easily able to handle it. In my recent campaign, *I* was the one who started the war – to grab my final 2 or 3 settlements required for victory. Previous to that, the Scots were apparently too busy with the Norwegians and the Ui Neill’s periodic coastal raids to give me any trouble. Things were so peaceful along my northern frontier that I was able to focus all of my military strength to the south, leaving skeleton garrisons in Maelmin, Lindisfarne and Luel – an ideal situation.

Things could go otherwise, of course: If one faction gets the upper hand in Scotland, be it Alba, Norway, or (less likely) the Ui Neill, you’ll want to watch out. But otherwise, leave Scotland alone until you need to clinch your final victory.

The South

One unique strategic feature of Northumbria is that it is relatively easy to defend your bottlenecked kingdom with a single stack, but as you gain new lands south of York, the increased distance between settlements becomes a problem.

After you’re established in your homelands, or perhaps before, the other factions will come calling. Most frequently this will be the Mercians and/or East Anglians; likely targets will be Loidis, Eoforwic or (if you’ve taken it) Legacaestir – and if you’ve taken Legacaestir, prepare for an attack from the Welsh.

It would be nice to think that, with a skillful network of alliances, you could limit your workload in the Midlands region – teaming up with Wessex against Mercia, or with the Welsh against Wessex – but it rarely falls out that way. Regardless, send your emissary around for trade rights with everybody and alliances where they make sense: Wessex and the Danes could be good allies for you, along with the Welsh (for now, if they’ll bite).

In reality, you’ll likely end up fighting three factions to your south – maybe more, depending on your pattern of conquest.

The key here is to look for walled settlements, with the goal of taking and keeping them. Anglo-Saxon culture settlements are a priority, because you can make use of all their infrastructure buildings and are unlikely to face steep unrest penalties. In other words, your primary targets should be the heartlands of the Mercians.

At first, a single stack led by a family member and made up mostly of Spearmen, a couple ranged units like Slingers, Archers or Merc. Archers, a few Mercenary Rabble, and some Mercenary Horsemen will be able to do the job (well, it’ll have to – it’ll be all you can afford). But as you advance, keep an eye out for adoption candidates (depending on how many youngsters are in your family tree, of course). You’re not likely to get any stellar candidates, but even an average adoptee can become an effective lord of a settlement and the new warleader of the southwestern front. Keep training out Spears as you can afford it, and play defensive warfare with the Welsh.

You may be tempted (I was) to swat down the Welsh by sacking a few of their settlements. The AI Welsh have an annoying habit of leaving southern Wales to rebels and attacking you from their base in Gwynedd while their Cornish cousins make trouble for Wessex. But a rampage through Wales isn’t likely to be very effective, unless you can conquer it outright: it’ll just make for a longer front you’ll need to manage, and a lot of very unhappy settlements.

Of course, that doesn’t mean slash-and-burn is a bad idea for you as a whole. Sometimes you’ll need the cash injection it offers. But be judicious about it. As soon as you scramble over the corpses of the last Mercian holdouts, you’ll be facing some advanced West Saxons, East Anglians, and Danes. You don’t want to be stuck with burned-out shells of towns at that point.

There is so much variation possible in the fortunes of the other southern factions that it’s impossible to give a step-by-step walkthrough of your conquest. But apart from focusing on wiping out the Mercians, East Anglians, and Wessex (probably in that order), there are some other general considerations for your seemingly endless southern campaign.

First, keep an eye on population growth. Spearmen are a solid unit, but you don’t want to deny yourself access to the upper-tier guys like Fyrdmen and (eventually) Armoured Spears and Thegns. My usual policy in RTW-based games is to keep my taxes as high as possible to allow for at least 0.5 percent pop growth. In the case of the Northumbrians, though, that might not be enough. Keep taxes cranked too high and you might never see those fancy units in Maelmin or Eoforwic. As you can afford it, consider lowering taxes in certain settlements with the goal of growing to a higher level of military production, or at least building walls.

Second, the Midlands region and East Anglia boast many river crossings you can use to your advantage. The AI seems to hate it when you park your army on a bridge, and are only too happy to throw their men across into your meat grinder on the other side. If you’re confident in your bridge-battle expertise, and if you favor defensive tactics, placing an army on a crossing in the strat map can be a great move.

Third, spy out settlements that have stockades for walls. Stockades are a great fortification advance in VI2, as they cannot be knocked down by rams – a besieging army must come through the gates. This virtually eliminates wall battles (no ladders), and makes cities far easier to hold. Of course, you don’t want to take a stockaded city by assault: wait it out, or wait for the AI reinforcements to attack you, turning it into a defensive battle.

Since you’ll be doing the vast majority of your fighting in the central regions of England, there will be few terrain features like slopes or thick forests for you to worry about – or use to your advantage. The landscape is great for cavalry, in other words, so make sure you’re bringing some to the fight. In the early game, the Mercenary Horsemen are a great addition to your army, and all you have access to, but as you advance you’ll be able to train Horsemen of your own. Don’t underestimate these guys: one of the few battles I lost was because of the cav superiority of the West Saxons. As soon as I saw their 4 Horsemen fanning out into flanking positions to surround my footslogging army, I knew I was a goner.

The AI Anglo-Saxon factions seem to favor balanced armies in general, so in addition to Horsemen you should beware of ranged threats, and be prepared to answer with some of your own. Your Slingers and Archers aren’t war-winners, but bringing a couple along with your Spear-heavy army is a lot better than just waiting for the enemy to whittle away at your infantry.

It’s also likely that your first advanced troop types will become available in recently-conquered Mercian or West Saxon settlements. Don’t go nuts training Thegns and Armoured Spearmen, though: a few of them go a long way, and the upkeep is expensive. To be honest, by the time you can train them, you’re unlikely to strictly need them – but they can certainly help.

As you advance, start tinkering with your capital location. I ended up moving mine to Eoforwic after I had conquered down to the English Channel, and moved it again to the Mercian capital after I started to face unrest in Wales.

Once you’ve put away the Anglo-Saxon factions, you’ll probably be facing a small Danish enclave and the Welsh. Take a moment to catch your breath and pat yourself on the back. The game becomes much simpler at this point: just keep up the training and the pressure on your enemies. You’re in possession of the richest lands in Britain, with highly advanced settlements and a top-notch military. Congratulations – you’ve basically won. Now to mop up.

The West

This includes Wales and Cornwall, obviously, but also Ireland and Man. The Irish factions probably won’t give you much trouble, but don’t make assumptions. In my recent game, the men of Leinster established a foothold in the Welsh province of Defet (they attacked me when I conquered the regions around Defet; I counterattacked and took the town from them; then my emissary in Ireland got us back to peace & trading again).

Wales is a relatively easy foe for you, despite their dangerous cavalry and archers. As long as you’ve managed to keep them contained, it’s a simple matter of bringing your greater numbers and heftier infantry to bear on the battlefield. The biggest problem with a conquest of Wales (and the reason it should be left until near the end of your game) is the management of unrest.

One thing to keep in mind here is that virtually every named character available to you as an AS faction is Roman Christian. So as you train spies in those Welsh settlements, thinking you’re helping with unrest, you may actually be hurting yourself. Try moving excess generals, emissaries and spies/assassins out of Celtic provinces, which resent being ruled by Roman Christian types.

You may contemplate a boat ride to get you your victory at this point; I’d advise against it, however. Man may look like an inviting target, but as a Norse settlement at game start it’s likely to be full of pagans and unhappiness. Expanding into Ireland gets you entangled in a war far from your resource base, full of Celtic sentiment and well-trained enemies. Plus, you can’t bring your Horsemen, merc or otherwise, on those boats. It’s better to let sleeping Irishmen lie and keep trading with them; get your last few settlements from the Albans.

The … East?

The Viking homelands may warrant a mention here. For kicks, after I pushed the Danes off the British Isles, I followed them to Jutland. Sieged the town there and took it – only to see hordes of Danes appear! Good to know: the Danes (and likely the Norwegians) are a horde faction, so you can’t kill them off by taking their last settlement. A few turns later, the Danes were back at their old town, asking politely to be let back in. Fortunately, by this point I was close to victory. The lesson? Leave Denmark for the Danes.

Endgame

Assuming you cleared out England and Wales, your last task is to grab 3 or 4 settlements for victory. Train up a couple of stacks and send them into Scotland, one along each coastline. If you’ve managed to keep the Scots off your back until now, either through diplomacy or defensive battles, they’re unlikely to give you any trouble now. You’re just a few sieges/defensive battles away from victory.

The Northumbrians are in some ways the most conventional of AS factions, but their geography and political situation makes them unique. Just a few centuries before game start, they were the power on the island. With the right strategy, tactics, and luck, they can be again.

[Aradan]

Very well-written guide, as usual! Many thanks!

[KindredRavens]

An enthralling read with good advice, I saw parallels with my welsh campaign often. I will be producing a similar guide for the welsh (bi-lingually ofcourse ) although due to Wales's position and Fortune among the the AI it's almost impossible to play without putting it on Marauder/Marauder level. (is that the easiest?).

[jackx]

Excellent guide, well-written and presented, and refreshingly lacking in the usual cynical advice on how to best run the AI into the ground with the least effort.

I'm afraid I still didn't start a NH campaign though, I went for East Anglia instead (again). NH's currently the biggest faction in that campaign, and has been in many others, too,despite their apparent weakness they generally seem to do well under AI control.


Marauder is normal (and recommended) difficulty, Raider is easy difficulty.

And Wales shouldn't be that hard, provided you're willing to take advantage of AI weaknesses - their roster, with powerful cavalry and missile units, is ideal for that.

[Keyser Soze]

great guide. just maybe it needs attention for players: "do not read it if you can do mistakes and learn from them" or something similar

[CountMRVHS]

Thanks for the kind words!

Northumbria is not the most popular faction in VI2, but I have a soft spot for them given my interest in history.

The AI Northumbrians can get powerful - unfairly so, it seems, given how poor the player starts out as that faction.

I haven't given the East Anglians a serious attempt yet. Playing the Danes right now, actually. Quite a difference!