Mounted Archers

[Hans Marks]

I was just begining my Africa Corp invasion,took a moorish settlement,and kept going to the east.
Suddenly,im comfronted by a small moorish army,some 400 troops(To mine 1200),the battle was all in my favor 80% was the auto-resolve.But i decided to fight it on the field.and again - god o` mighty!
Only 100 of the enemy were infantry,the rest were MOUNTED ARCHERS !
Even my cavalry couldnt catch up with them,not to mentune the infantry,because the HORSE-MOUNTED ARCHERS run away even when you point over them.In a glance i ended up with a destroyed infantry and routed cavalry,i was furious.From a 80% victory,to a CLEAR DEFEAT,and to pay for my mens ransom.So ill never fight a field battle with the moors again,because of their HORSE-MOUNTED ARCHERS!

NEVER!

[Townsaver]

i just started my first moorish campaign last night.
I intend to use those HORSE-MOUNTED ARCHERS! as much as i can.

[SoulBlade]

Horse Archers can be countered by foot skirmishers like crossbows, archers and gunners. Javelins can't shoot far enough.

[rebelyell2006]

You should get your own horse archers. Or mounted crossbowmen.

[Shasqua]

The Moors don't have horse archers.

[Avatar]

The Moors don't have horse archers.

Granadine Jinetes, presumably, which of course are probably even better than Horse Archers. Unless of course it was quite far into the game and they had Camel Gunners.

[rebelyell2006]

Desert Cavalry can throw javelins in a cantabrian circle, the same for Granadine Jinetes. And Granadine Crossbowmen can form a cantabrian circle. Or they could have been using mercenary horse archers. Or it was a rebel army in Moorish territory.

With that said, javelins have a very short range, and all other missile weapons can take care of mounted javelineers. And given how short a range it is, there are three melee possibilities: if you charge at them they will either run away and throw, run away without throwing, or they will stand their ground to throw and you can catch them in melee.

[Entropy Judge]

some 400 troops(To mine 1200),the battle was all in my favor 80% was the auto-resolve.But i decided to fight it on the field.and again - god o` mighty!
Only 100 of the enemy were infantry,the rest were HORSE-MOUNTED ARCHERS!

Er ... you could've figured that out *before* the battle started.

Even my cavalry couldnt catch up with them,not to mentune the infantry,because the HORSE-MOUNTED ARCHERS run away even when you point over them.In a glance i ended up with a destroyed infantry and routed cavalry,i was furious.From a 80% victory,to a CLEAR DEFEAT,and to pay for my mens ransom.So ill never fight a field battle with the moors again,because of their HORSE-MOUNTED ARCHERS!

NEVER!

So ... you couldn't just maneuver multiple units to cover a broad front, eventually trapping them against the red-line and forcing them into melee, whereupon their superior mobility and ranged firepower count for squat?
...
Of course, Shasqua is correct - the Moors don't have Horse Archers, although they do have Camel-mounted Gunners and three Jav-Cav - unless they were using Mercenary HAs.

[Ishan]

Edited out the a few words from the OP. This website also have members that are 13 years old so if i see threads made in such a disruptive fashion i would delete the whole thread next time keep it to the point and don't use such words.

[Leaf-Fan-Forever]

If you outnumbered them 3-1, eventually they would run out of missiles to throw at you. Then you could slam them. Or just make them pay with Crossbows.

[Silverheart]

If you outnumbered them 3-1, eventually they would run out of missiles to throw at you. Then you could slam them. Or just make them pay with Crossbows.

Or charge them down with light-weight cavalry.
They are not as accurate when firing straight backwards (when being hunted), and AI-controlled Horse Archers will eventually stop or slow down - and then they get slaughtered!

[... where did it run?]

Ye, horse archers are fun.

Anyway. There are couple ways to defeat them.

1) use missile infantry to shoot them down.
2) intercept them with light cavalry (the one which has "fast moving" fits the best). Once they are in melee charge the fun with your heavy cavalry which is stronger in prolonged melee. (Like use Chivalrics over Lancers to fight Mongol Hvy HA's. I've used Stradiots - Hospitaller knight combo as Venice for example)
3) Try to fight them on very rainy weather if possible (not in the desert of course) sit, and take the punishment untill their arrows depletes. The won't make much casualties becouse of low accuracy in heavy storm.
4) Fight fire with fire.. but this is inefficient compared to the ways described above.
5) Surround and kill them. But this is the worse choice. Since it requires to have way bigger numbers, and your soldiers will end up being wored down.

[PrestigeX]

To counter Horse Archers, I use light horsemen. I let some of my light horse ride all the way around from my main army, then try and get well behind the enemy line -- and stretch out in a long line, try to catch the enemy HA's when they run away from my main force.

or sometimes just charging them at the right time you can catch them, its a bit more of a pain than other troop types. Usually with a HA type army, I try and get rid of their general ASAP, making it more likely the horsemen will flee ...

if you're taking on the Mongols, I recommend using a force as simillar to what they have as possible - good quality foot archers/crossbows, heavy cav, and lots of light cav or horse archers (if available to your faction)

[Duke Dolphin]

to be honest, skirmish mode in general just fails keep that in mind

[Sulfurion Blackfyre]

I was just begining my Africa Corp invasion,took a moorish settlement,and kept going to the east.
Suddenly,im comfronted by a small moorish army,some 400 troops(To mine 1200),the battle was all in my favor 80% was the auto-resolve.But i decided to fight it on the field.and again - god o` mighty!
Only 100 of the enemy were infantry,the rest were MOUNTED ARCHERS !
Even my cavalry couldnt catch up with them,not to mentune the infantry,because the HORSE-MOUNTED ARCHERS run away even when you point over them.In a glance i ended up with a destroyed infantry and routed cavalry,i was furious.From a 80% victory,to a CLEAR DEFEAT,and to pay for my mens ransom.So ill never fight a field battle with the moors again,because of their HORSE-MOUNTED ARCHERS!

NEVER!

Don't even bother fighting the Mongols or the Timurids then. I actually recommend you to quit the game or something lest you go mad. Especially against the Timmurids "elephant-cannon-cavalry"

[Leaf-Fan-Forever]

You won't be able to play any faction except Western Europe if your afraid of Horse Archers.

[FootSoldier]

I'm in agreement with other posters - horse archers are easy to beat with archers/crossbowmen etc. They're also easy if you have fast moving cavalry. If you don't then hire mercs, especially Alan Merc Cavalry if you're out east. On auto-resolve, though, in my games the AI always gives the win to foot soldiers against them.

Playing all cavalry armies is great fun as the Turks, Byzantines, Russians etc. It's how you defeat the heavy Danish foot as the Polish (using Polish Nobles and Strelzcy).

The joy of seeing 12 units of Milanese DFK backed up by Handgunners lumbering towards your horse archer army of Turkomans and Sipahis, or Vardariotai and Byzantine Cavalry. You run your HA's around behind them and surround them in a blizzard of arrows. You charge the unit that is wavering. They crumble, then they run. The AI gives you a Heroic Victory, and you might have lost 40 men to their 1200.