Cavalry Armies

[cavvie]

So, I'm playing TE 4.0 as Bactria. I've come to really appreciate a significant cavalry disposition of my forces. I just started a war against the Selucids and their primarily foot armies are decimated from long range by my numerous horse archers. I'm still having problems though, mostly when facing the horse archer and formidable general skirmishers from the tribes to the north. Granted, I havn't fought them with many horse archers yet but I seem to suffer heavy losses against these archers; a taste of my own medicine. How do you guys deal with horse archer/cavalry armies?

[removeduser_426582376423734]

Deal against them? Mainly use light troops to tire out the archers, and have backup cavalry or infantry to finish them off. Theres no real way to fight them, they're so damn hard.

[guyyug]

againts normal heavey and light cav spearmen against archer cav, you just have to wait for them to run out of arrows or light cav

[NobleNick]

Cav armies are tough to deal with, which is why I like to go heavy on cav (sometimes fielding many half-stacks of all heavy cav). Here are somes tips:

So as to not have to repeat myself for every category below, I'll just start by saying that Horse Archers (HA) and Armored Elephants, used correctly, are excellent against just about anything. Foresters are good against anything except possibly HA and chariots. (I suspect they are good against HA and chariots; but can't say for sure, having never witnessed Foresters versus these units.)

Against heavy chariots: Use high quality Heavy Infantry (H.I.) or Phalanx. Experienced and upgraded Legionary Cohort are more than a match for A.I.-driven Egyptian Heavy Chariots.

Against non-chariot heavy cav: Heavy chariots, if you've got them. If not, Phalanx is best (if you know how to use them), followed by deep formations of H.I. Add in Archers/Velites if you can keep them protected. You can use your own heavy cav (I enjoy doing this); but unless you use good tactics, it can become a brawl-fest.

Against Light cav: Heavy cav creams Light cav.; and H.I. and spears/Phalanx of any kind will do the same. Archers work (protect them!), if you can get the enemy to hold still or turn their backs.

Against Horse Archers (HA) and Chariot Archers (CA): Heavy cav and/or light cav. I prefer a mostly heavy cav mix with maybe 1 light cav for every 6 heavy cav. I have not had to face huge numbers of HA/CA. (I think that could be a nightmare.) In the many battles I have fought against enemies bringing HA to the party, the HA are a high priority target for my cav, and typically last about 45 seconds.

The big beef some have with using heavy cav against light cav or HA is that light cav can outrun heavy cav. True. But light cav can NOT escape from 3 or more heavy cav without leaving the battlefield. Annihilate anything that doesn't run. If a light cav unit does run, ignore it until more pressing business is taken care of, then simply string your units out in a screen and pin the runner against a wall or battlefield boundary. The story is the same for HA, except you typically can't ignore them, and more cav units are needed to pin the offenders quickly.

A standard practice I use against HA is to figure out who they are going to attack and slide heavy cav in behind them from wide on the flank, while they are pre-occupied. Game over.

Another trick I use against HA is to let them chase a unit into the woods where I have cav hiding. When the HA are in the center of a triangle of formed by three of my cav units, they are toast: I turn the unit around that I was using as bait, and quickly tighten up the triangle. No matter which way the HA run, two units close off the escape. The nice feature of this tactic is that the HA are typically totally surrounded and therefore quickly eradicated (no routers). This is quite satisfying; but I don't use it much anymore; because I try to eliminate these guys at the very start of the battle, BEFORE they do their damage.

Hope this helps.

[cavvie]

Yeah, thanks. I was creamed at the start of my Bactrian campaing. Played against some rebels with about 5 units of Horse archers and 2 units of pesky barbarian general cav. Obliterated and lost my heir. Not a pretty sight. Shortly there after the Seleucids took advantage of my weakened state...

[NobleNick]

... Played against some rebels with about 5 units of Horse archers and 2 units of pesky barbarian general cav...

Yes, that is what I would consider to be a lot of calvary, and a tough nut to crack. The most HA I can remember playing against was an army that had two units. You had FIVE units plus the 2 general's bodyguard cav? Yikes!

Six heavy cav is the minimum I would like to have to meet a force like this. If they could make contact, the heavy cav would quickly end the existence of the general cav; but then you have to trap the HA, typically using at least 3 on 1. So I would put 3 heavy on each of the 2 general cav. Losses should be very minimal. Then you are down to 6 heavy against 5 HA. Two groups of heavy each pick out one HA to exterminate, then do the same for the next two HA. It is 6 weary Heavy cav against the last HA. I would expect heavy losses from all the riding time exposed to HA. And, oh by the way, you probably had another regular battle going on between your infantry and whatever else the enemy brought. And the success of this presupposes that you brought 6 heavy cav along (something most players don't do).

[John Wayne]

If you have acess to some of the tougher infantry that Bactria has, use them to 'dull' the power of the enemy HA. As Armenia, I used its Heavy Spearmen to hold a battle-line, AND to force my Scythian enemy to waste all of its arrows on the HS. After having their arrow supply exhausted, the 3-4 units of Cataphract Archers were used to destroy the enemy.

Or you could just use standard archer units. They seem to be built with an inate HA killing ability. Just remember to shield them with infantry and you'll be fine!

[Draugdur]

Or you could just use standard archer units. They seem to be built with an inate HA killing ability. Just remember to shield them with infantry and you'll be fine!

Agreed, I'd also try to counter HA with foot archers... I 've never actually fought a battle against an army of HA, but in MTW FA had generally longer range than HA, which made them ideal against HA.

Or you can wait 'til they exhaust their ammo (unless you play on very hard - in that case, you'll run out of soldiers sooner )