Any adivice on siege battles?

**blueray93** · March 17, 2011, 06:24 PM

Hi. Can anyone help me with some basic advice on how to win siege battles? I find them to be really really hard . I think that the smaller the castle is , the harder the battle becomes. In a small castle all the units crowd together and there is no chance for the attacker to create a diversion . I tried a lot of things , but , the moment my troops start climbing the walls , some of them fall down , some get killed by arrows and when they actually start fighting with other units , their numbers are simply too low to keep fighting and route. So , some help would be indeed appreciated.

PS: I must say that my current campaign is at normal difficulty just because of the siege battles. I tried some custom land battles , and i manage to win at hard and very hard difficulties , but my problem is with the sieges.

**Anduin1** · March 17, 2011, 06:36 PM

Yea the early sieges are very difficult, especially with low morale units like ashigaru storming the walls. If the enemy has more than a couple units of ashigaru, I would just wait it out and make them sally forth. Why? Because you will need to have twice the amount of units they have in order to finally break them. The worst thing is that even though the enemy is routed, they get right back into it so fast because the center flag resets them back to low morale. Early on those kind of losses are just to much to bare, especially if you're playing a more centrally located clan where another clan can swoop in and pick you off once they see you're weak.

**Creaky** · March 17, 2011, 07:09 PM

The best advice I can give you is stock up on archers for early sieges. The enemy will mainly be lightly armoured ashigaru, and ensure you've fired every last shot at them to weaken their hold on the walls before you comence your assault. Fire arrows are nice too, if you get them.

Also, don't attack one place, attack lots of places - somewhere you'll get through and can then flank your enemy as they hold the walls elsewhere.

**Death_Sheep** · March 17, 2011, 07:16 PM

My suggestion in the early game?

Attack from two to three directions.

Direction one: Main body composed of your archers A good number of your troops, and your general.
Primary Objective: Distraction.

Send up your archers in loose formation, and trade fire with the enemy. Make sure that you back them up with troops to charge the walls. This is all in preparation for the second part.

Direction two: Composed of two to three infantry. My suggestion best 'assault' unit combined with one or two ashigaru melee units.
Primary Objective: Scale the walls.

Once your main body of troops has attracted the attention of the enemy, you must prepare, or already have in motion troop 2 from the other direction.

Once the enemy has committed their defenders, you push in, and either attack them from behind, or take the control point.

At later levels this is better to attack from multiple directions.

Hope this helps.

**Arksa** · March 18, 2011, 04:17 AM

Originally Posted by Creaky

Also, don't attack one place, attack lots of places - somewhere you'll get through and can then flank your enemy as they hold the walls elsewhere.

Doesn't really apply to ashigarus as if you scatter them around they will flee on the spot. I usually do the opposite so I rally/inspire anyone who tries to leave.

**Creaky** · March 18, 2011, 06:40 AM

Originally Posted by Arksa

Doesn't really apply to ashigarus as if you scatter them around they will flee on the spot. I usually do the opposite so I rally/inspire anyone who tries to leave.

True, good point.

Let's refine it to - attack with Ashigaru at one point, send any samurai (since he should have some) in flanking manouvers. Support ashigaru with general.

**angelofwar12** · March 17, 2011, 08:05 PM

this is how i usually plan when attack a castle
1. Choose point of attack aim for a low wall and flat ground in front of it move all ur archer to the main attack point divide our melee into 3 group 2 will use for assault the last for diversion (usually put at another low wall but can be high if u think it will be lightly defend).
2. suppression move ur archer in range and in loose formation and either shoot up their archer or aim at the melee troop in the open, send in the cheap unit and try to burn up the gate or tower near the point of attack pull that back and wait till u think their archer is weak enough
3. now is the time for assault move ur 1 group usually light unit (ashigaru mostly) order them to climb the wall move ur 2 group though the gate, if there is a break in their defend more ur diversion in if not move them back to main force to be the reserved.

that how I plan my assault most of the time but only assault if ur force is outnumber the enemies 2:1, the defend will fight to the death so it recommended that u go for capture the keep the first change u got, last thing is if u find ur archer unable to suppress their archer retreat don't waste ur man

**Gaizokubanou** · March 17, 2011, 08:06 PM

You can actually inflict insanely high casualties by shooting arrows into the castle.

**blueray93** · March 18, 2011, 04:00 AM

thanks guys for the advice. i have tried a siege custom battle (kyoto) and , the citadel is huuuge. it has multiple levels so the AI must spread its forces. i won using of course diversionary attacks. in the early period , it is almost impossible to win . if you deploy your archers close to the walls so that they can shoot on the other units they get shot by the enemy archers and towers. the castles are just too small and crowded. so now , i decided to train ninjas and to siege them out of the castle. i will try this after i come from school.

**TotalWarker** · March 18, 2011, 05:01 AM

I had serious struggles with my first couple of seiges, so glad I found this thread. Got my arse handed to me by some schoolboy mistakes.

**Tepok** · March 18, 2011, 05:20 AM

I won a siege with fewer troops:

My [bomb lobbers] destroyed a door and damaged most units. I focused on big ashigaru units at first.

Then I walked my heavy infantry just out ofrange from the archers, that went to the wall, while my archers went for the side and shot at the archers.

Stormed the wall with half dead archer units and especially the damaged door. The wall repelled me, but my huge ashigaru blob, with my general just under the wall to prevent arrow fire, to boost their morale. I won by attrition.

Generally, keep in mind: The bigger the wall, the more of your troops die climbing and tired they become. The infantry that is supposed to storm the place should do it on the small walls.

Use your out of ammo archers as distraction by climbing walls opposed to your main force.

Taking a door really helps.

Arrow towers are a bonus but won't win the battle by themselves.

Except when really confident, never attack a castle when your ninjas haven't opened the doors for you.

**Thefallenhun** · March 18, 2011, 05:33 AM

I mostly fight field battles, I tend to shy from storming large garrisons, as I don't fee llike spending money on siege equipment. I rarely take a castle that isn't just defended by retainers.
(uesegi on hard)