The English
If you’re playing the English in Norman Invasion, you have your work cut out for you.

A glance at the English faction in the main menu may lead you to suspect that they are the easiest to play. Already in possession of the vast majority of England, the English command a significant army of crack troops and would seem to be a few mere sieges away from victory.

In some respects, the English starting position resembles that of the Normans. Both factions begin play with a large military and extensive infrastructure already in place. Kick the Norman dogs off your island, take a few settlements, and win the campaign in time to watch “Survivor,” right?

Well … take a glance at your financial situation first. Then think about setting up your DVR. It may be a long night.

The English suffer from what must be the largest starting debt in mod history. Over the course of the game, you’ll gradually be able to claw your way back up from this financial sinkhole, but the immediate reality – in fact, the reality for the next 30-40 turns – is that you are unable to train or recruit any troops or mercenaries, or build any buildings. You have to make do with what you’ve got.

Fortunately, what you’ve got is nothing to sneeze at. The English Housecarls (and their bodyguard versions, the Royal Housecarls and Housecarl Guard) are the strongest infantry in the isles, able to take on any enemy unit in a straight-out, hack-em-down fight. Like any foot unit, they can be decimated by a successful cavalry charge, but in the right conditions (i.e. defending in an assault – see below) they can make mincemeat out of Norman horses.

The English also benefit from some starting units of Select Fyrd and Fyrdmen, both of whom perform well against infantry or non-charging cavalry. Thegns are durable swordsmen, and their war-flag encourages your other, less stout troops (such as the many Light Fyrd) to keep fighting. A few other decent mercenary types – Mercenary Lithsmen and Vikingr – round out your starting roster, along with the ubiquitous (and, sadly, rather cowardly) Light Fyrd.

Before making any moves on the campaign map, it’s always a good idea to take a tour around your impressive realm. You begin the game actually losing money, but it is possible to reverse that by increasing taxes across the board. At this stage, it will seem like forever before you’ll be in the black, but don’t worry – you’ll lose plenty of troops soon enough.

Take special note of the garrison troops that are scattered around the kingdom. There are plenty of Peasants holding down your various towns, but especially in the west you’ll find lots of Light Fyrd and Fyrdmen doing you very little good as policemen. And a look at your armies gathered near Harold at Hastings will drive home the fact that you are not leading just the cream of the crop – there are lots of Peasants scattered around amongst those Housecarls. Take those Peasants out of your Hastings armies and send them marching west and north, to swap out with your Fyrd and Light Fyrd, which are more useful on the battlefield. These troops won’t make it over to Hastings in time, but they can be put under the command of one of your other family members in the area and used as a light field army to cause trouble for small bands of Normans or Welsh (or Rebels) who may show up, and to take back lightly-defended towns that you lost.

And you will lose towns. The English campaign is designed to play out as a massive defense, so you’ll find it exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to actually kick the Normans back to Normandy. The best outcome of the first few turns is that you hurt the Normans badly enough that they can’t simply steamroll all over you. Your job, in other words, is to buy enough time to start earning those shillings once again.

You can’t help but sympathize with the English King Harold. This isn’t the first invasion of England he’s had to deal with this year; in fact, his troops have only just arrived from defeating the fearsome Norwegian viking Harald Hardrada at Stamford Bridge, near York. Now William has landed, and it’s up to you to get Harold Godwinson through this new crisis.

Hastings

We all know how this went down in history. And although it was a tough fight which William very nearly lost, the situation at game start is overwhelming for the English player. There are simply so many Norman stacks bunched close together that, even if you manage to see off an army or two, the third (or fourth) one will likely finish you off.

It’s best to begin by consolidating your troops and doing a bit of maneuvering. Once you’ve got rid of all your Peasants, make sure Harold has a nice, full stack under his command, with not too many Light Fyrd. Group any other partial stacks together (under family members, of course) so that the Normans won’t have any “easy” targets at first.

And then back off. Since the Normans are grouped together, attacking them on turn 1 will only result in lots of Norman reinforcements ruining your day. You could stand your ground and wait for the Normans to attack you on their turn, but you’ll just face the same scenario. Instead, withdraw Harold and Leofric’s stacks north, back through the trees towards Hrofesceaster. Try to position Harold’s army “in front” of Leofric’s, so the Normans will be inclined to attack him first (otherwise, Harold will show up as AI-controlled reinforcements and you may lose him), but be sure the two armies are close enough to reinforce each other. Other armies in the area should also be moved – one could head east towards Cantwaraburh; the others could move a bit west and north. You don’t necessarily want to set up ambushes here, but simply force the Norman stacks to split up so you can take them on individually.

Ambushes are slightly sub-optimal for the English for another reason: the English are great at defense, and less great at attacking. Since all your armies consist of infantry, you don’t want to have them marching around and getting tired. And most of your troops can form a shield-wall and throw spears; a static defense scenario allows you to use both of those qualities to full advantage.

So with that in mind, keep your armies initially near the choke-points provided by the forests nearby. The trees will negate some of the Norman arrows and potentially slow down the enemy cav.

On the battlefield, form a shield-walled first line consisting of your strongest troops: Housecarls, Select Fyrd, King’s Thegns, and Fyrdmen. Make sure all missile-capable troops are turned to fire at will. Near the ends of the line, you can put some solid “anchor” units, such as Thegns or Royal Housecarls. Bowmen and Light Fyrd should be behind this main line – the Light Fyrd not in shield-wall, as it slows them down and you may need those Light Fyrd to quickly move to a hotspot in the battle. Your general and extra bodyguards can be towards the center, just behind the line.

As the Normans approach, they’ll try to outflank you on one side or another. Just keep turning your entire formation to face them; eventually, they should give up this maneuver and begin the assault. As soon as possible (and without drawing too far away from your shieldwall), bring your Royal Housecarls, Housecarl Guard, or plain ol’ Housecarls out to attack enemy cavalry. Norman infantry is no problem for your troops under most circumstances, so focus on swarming their horsemen and hacking them down – especially the enemy general. You may be pleasantly surprised at how well your Housecarl-types perform at unhorsing those pretty riders.

Still, after a few of these early battles, your forces will be worn down, even if you’ve been victorious. Since you have no cav of your own, there’s no way for you to chase down routers, meaning lots of those fleeing Normans will get away to fight again. The goal here is to stage a fighting retreat towards the two towns that are critical for your survival: Wintanceaster and Lundenwic.

In the meantime, take opportunities to swat at the Normans wherever you can. If a single Norman army is besieging Cantwaraburh (very likely in the first few turns), send one of your armies to attack. Cantwaraburh’s walls mean that you can repeat this tactic a few times, and retreat inside the settlement, where any assaults must deal with your troops in the congested town – advantage English. Get used to this kind of defensive siege warfare: you’ll be counting on it to stay alive.

Hunkering Down

Winchester and London are crucial for several reasons. First, they’re good income producers and already have some infrastructure established. Second, both are required for coronation: Winchester is where your new king will need to be crowned (the Witangemot necessary for this is already built for you), and London is where the Norman leader can get crowned. Winchester is also a Historic Capital: lose it, and you’ll find maintaining the happiness of your remaining settlements is much harder.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, both Winchester and London are blessed with Stockade walls, which require an assaulting army to batter down the gates themselves. This single feature will allow you to hold them against assault after assault after assault: simply keep your heavy troops near the gates and attack the hapless enemy when they begin to pour in.

But when should you move your armies into Winchester and London? The timing here is important. If you fight the Normans too much in the field, you may watch your armies get whittled down to an ineffectual nub, incapable of holding those towns. If you retreat behind the stockades too soon, you may be allowing the Normans to roam at will around your heartlands with their armies still largely intact.

In practice, by the time your reinforcements from the west and north arrive near Winchester or London, the Normans are likely to be very close anyway. It’s a good idea to get those reinforcements into the towns, and then move the remnants of your Hastings armies inside when you still have some Housecarls to your name.

Still, you’ll want to keep a family member outside, with a small force of Light Fyrd or other nonessential troops. He can roam around outside Winchester, taking any lightly-held rebel or Norman towns and generally creating a headache for the invaders.

To this end, you may want to keep your navy around. The Normans will eventually attack the Isle of Wight, but they won’t leave it heavily garrisoned. If you can get this commando general and his troops on your boats, they can retake the settlement there and scurry back to the mainland before the Normans come back to re-take it.

It will be rather unnerving to watch the Normans take town after town, but there’s no point in a heroic defense of Selaeseu if Wintanceaster is going to fall a couple turns later. It’s a sad reality that the Normans will often be able to waltz into your wall-less towns and slaughter your Peasant garrisons while taking no losses of their own. It’s all part of the grim calculations the English are forced to make at this stage. Plus, the English have a trick up their sleeve: rebellion.

It’s probable that you will be the benefactor of several rebellions in settlements that the Normans have recently conquered. The Normans are quite unpopular, and if they leave a town too lightly garrisoned, there’s a good chance it will rebel back to you. That’s always welcome news, and while the “free” troops you gain will mostly be of the Peasant variety, keep your eye out for specialists like Mercenary Butescarles, Sokesmen, or the all-important Mercenary English Horsemen – the only cavalry unit available to you.

Apart from acquiring new family members via adoption, marriage, or coming of age, these rebelling troops are the only new soldiers you’ll see. So don’t just leave them sitting there with the Peasants; move them to where they’ll be useful – either your roving field army, or the London or Winchester garrisons, whichever is closest.

New family members are a more reliable way of getting additional soldiers before you can train them. The vast majority of the time, you should accept all adoption offers and most marriage offers (in the case of the latter, make sure the proposed husband isn’t too old relative to his proposed wife – you can check the family tree before making your decision). The extra cost associated with these new lordlings is entirely acceptable given the skill of the Housecarls they bring with them. It’s possible to hold London or Winchester with little more than a skeleton garrison – provided you have 6 or so family members in the city.

After soundly defeating half a dozen Norman stacks at the walls of your cities, you may feel the tide beginning to turn. You’re still a long way from turning an actual profit, but if you’ve done your work and luck has been with you the Norman war machine will begin to falter. You’ll find you can be a little more aggressive – sending out a few lords to take back nearby towns or attack nearby, under-strength Norman stacks. You still want to be sure your 2 main cities are left defended, but if you can afford to make counter-strikes like this you’ll know things are slowly moving your way.

Unfortunately, it’s inevitably around this time that the Welsh will attack. There’s nothing to be done; after you’ve spend years heroically holding back the Norman onslaught, the Welsh will see that you are in no position to defend your tiny settlements near their border. The border towns have no walls, and your field army is better employed in making commando raids against the Normans; it’s simply not equipped to deal with a full-scale Welsh invasion. Expect to lose between 3 and 6 settlements before you can riposte. Thankfully, at least the Welsh concentrate their attacks on the midlands, away from your crucial cities.

Your best bet at responding to this emerging threat is to send your field army toward the Welsh, and supplement his forces with any Housecarls/family members you can spare. The Welsh troops are dangerous in the open, but your Housecarls can do a surprising amount of damage to their large armies of Spearmen. Take back any towns you can, be daring, and wait for your profits to start kicking in.


Making money


It's a wonderful day when the English economy starts roaring to life.

After decades of fighting what may seem like a losing battle, the time will come when you don’t see a minus sign in front of your financial record. Take a moment and enjoy; then, sorry to say, get your nose back to the grindstone.

If you haven’t been paying attention to your infrastructure until now, you will soon realize that you’ll need to do some building before you can recruit anything other than middling varieties of Fyrd. So get to work, making infantry barracks a priority; meanwhile, as you can afford it, retrain your weakened Fyrd units and prepare to send out several family members with your new field army.

By the time you can train Select Fyrd and Thegns, you can afford to move aggressively against the Welsh, who are probably your biggest threat right now. The Normans will still be around, but if you’ve managed to stave off their invasion, they should be relatively weak, meaning you can afford to turn northwest toward your more aggressive Celtic neighbor.

Note that your weak units are actually quite expensive in upkeep, while your Thegns will seem like a bargain. Money will become tight as you start training, so that’s just as well; sprinkle some Light Fyrd and Fyrdmen through your armies, of course, but don’t expect an entire stack of the guys to win your wars for you. Thegns and your armoured soldiers – especially Royal Housecarls and Housecarl Guard – will see you to victory against the Welsh.

As noted previously, field battles tend to favor cavalry, so your strategy during the reconquest of western and central England will be to win by assaulting settlements. Don’t wait out a siege; as soon as you can build enough rams, assault and let your more powerful infantry do their work against the lighter Welsh and their cav. Waiting out a siege only encourages the AI to send a relief force, and while the battle will at least be a defensive one for you, it’s still better to fight in the close quarters of your settlements.

You may also consider pursuing the Welsh into their homelands to ensure that they don’t rise up again. Remember that Aberffraw is a Historical Capital – probably the most feasible one for you to conquer, in fact. Make it a priority early and then focus on conquering some Welsh regions; otherwise, you may find unrest difficult to manage.

Obviously, you’ll also want to turn your attention back to the Normans as you can afford it. Kick them off the mainland, town by town, and try to undo any damage that may have been done by their setting up Feudal Lordships in your settlements.

Your last goal involves the Scots. If you’re lucky, the Scots have been busy fighting the Norse and haven’t attacked you yet. It’s probably more likely that they sent an army to besiege Bebbanburh – over and over again. Bebbanburh’s situation on a natural fortress makes it very hard for the Scots to take, even if you only have a couple units holed up there. That’s a good thing, because you’ll be unable to reinforce it until late in the game. Once you’ve dealt with the Normans and Welsh, you can turn your attention to the Scots and get some revenge.

The Scots should be an easier foe, though their Royal Horsemen and Mormaers are still dangerous in the charge and scare your infantry. Thankfully, they’re less dangerous to your armoured soldiery than Teulu. The Scots tend to train more robust infantry men than the Welsh; watch out for the stout Swordsmen in particular, and supplement your Fyrd with strong contingents of Housecarls. It’s also a good idea to train Bowmen, as the Scots’ units are more vulnerable to their arrow fire than the Normans’.

If the Norse won out over the Scots (less likely), take advantage of any Mercenary Horsemen you can lay your hands on. The Norse, like you, are infantry-only, so a few cav units can make a big difference in how quickly the issue is decided. As always, trust in your Housecarls to do amazing feats of slaughter for you – and give the Norse the same treatment the English gave Harald Hardrada at Stamford Bridge.

An English victory is truly sweet: take pride not only in defeating a daunting foreign invasion force, not only in overcoming staggering economic and strategic difficulties, but in actually altering the course of history. You have your elites, the Housecarls, famed from Britain to the Varangian Guard of fabled Byzantium, to thank for it.