how do reinforcements work? not showing up in battle

[ket222]

so i was attacking an enemy army - i put two small armies as close as I could to that army, then i brought up my big army and attacked the enemy army
however, once the battle began, i couldn't find my reinforcements from the two smaller armies anywhere!, nor could i see a button that would make them arrive to help

how can i do this correctly with reinforcements showing up? i lost the battle pls be very specific as i'm a newbie

[Cruzz]

You can only have 20 units on the field at once. If you have 20 units on the field then reinforcements will only show up after your current units are shattered or completely killed off.

If you have less than 20 units, then reinforcement units will arrive (until they run out or you have 20 units on the field, whichever comes first) from the direction indicated by the blue marker on the minimap after the battle starts.

[Abe86]

What Cruzz said is correct but there's more to it, I think it works like this: any one clan can only have 20 units on the field at a time, so having an ally is a great boon, and being attacked by two allied stacks a big danger. Reinforcements appear according to where they're positioned on the campaign map, stacks sabotaged by a ninja cannot reinforce, stacks lacking a night-fighting general cannot reinforce a night battle and finally, reinforcements come in waves of three units.

[Urobulos]

You have no way of controlling more than 20 units at a time. If you attack the AI it will also only have max 20 units. Except in cases when you attack allied armies. In that situation, if you attack say, one 20 unit stack and another clan has a 20 unit stack in range, they will both deploy against you. Which usually means you are screwed. Also, if an allied clan is in range they will deploy immediately on your side, swinging the odds in your favour. Would be nice to have an option to assign orders to reinforcing armies and have them led by AI, but alas this introduces a few other issues.

[Adversity]

Actually, Reinforcements appear ONLY after your shattered unit has completely exited the battlefield. Then, and only then, may another unit of a reinforcing army enter the battlefield from the direction indicated on the map.

Hope this clears any confusion.

Edit: They also appear if your unit is completely destroyed. Forgot that part in there.

[osheamat]

Or, if under the Allied AI, they get stuck on the border from time to time. Yes, I have had this happen in a land battle. No it is not pleasant

[Galdred]

it is better to autoresolve if you have 2 stacks vs one, which is a shame, and a bad design idea...