Not so long ago I decided to undertake a few campaigns where I manually fought through siege assaults. As these are usually guaranteed to be time-intensive, I've preferred to autoresolve, even though autoresolve does not seem to realistically account for the force multipliers of fortifications. Over time I've noticed a few things that are not immediately obvious. This guide also assumes that you are working on limited battle timers. Sieges are probably the only battles that can time a battle out before you're finished.


  • You can run with ladders. For a long time I've assumed you couldn't, because you can't run with any other form of siege equipment, but then I saw the AI running with ladders. It may tire out your soldiers at a quick rate, but if you're racing to get a unit onto a weak spot on the walls, it might well be worth it.
  • You can reuse siege equipment that isn't broken or occupied. Battering rams, siege towers, and even ladders. Once one unit has scaled a wall or broken through a gate, another unit can equip the siege engine and use it again. This can help greatly with putting multiple units on a wall, or through it, if you're besieging a Town-level settlement.
  • If you're defending, it is better to try and stop a unit from moving freely rather than try and crush them at the point of entry. Unless you're confident that you can destroy/break a unit quickly, units scaling a wall with ladders or siege towers can push aside your units if you try and stop them at their point of entry. It almost always turns into a slog, in which case it is better to stand to the side of a besieger's ladder and wear down their numbers and stamina. The same principle applies to gates, in my game the besieging AI always pours their army in after breaking the gate, like a human battering ram. A few times I've underestimated the weight of numbers, and this got the units I posted at the gates annihilated.
  • I've found Phalangitai to be quite useful at sieges. The lack of lethality that hounds their implementation in Medieval 2 is still here, but EBII pikemen are durable enough that they are very good at tiring out enemy units, whether you're defending or attacking. In the cramped streets their strengths are maximized.


The principles to my Art of Siege are as follows:


  1. Maximize points of entry. Controlling venues of movement is the key to winning siege battles. The more units you have on a wall, the better. Also try and attack multiple walls at once, ideally from at least 3 sides.
  2. Shepherd your stamina. In siege battles there's very few opportunities to flank and the AI moves too fast for arrow towers to make a great difference (or if you're on the offense, the arrow towers will be working against you.) In which case you must make up for any deficiencies in armor, skill, and numbers with the stamina of your soldiers. Whether you're attacking or defending, always endeavor to have fresh or mildly fatigued soldiers attack tired enemy forces. Rotate out tired soldiers, delegate different tasks to fresh units, sometimes you might find it to your benefit to rest your units.
  3. Preserve your elite units. Think before using your elite units carelessly. Although heavily armored elite units using shields are an ideal choice for scaling the walls with fewer losses, it is critical to keep them in good shape to let them bolster the morale of your units, oppose enemy elites, or finish off the enemies in the center.
  4. Seize the center. While I rarely manage to hold the center for the 20 minutes required to score a victory, threatening to seize the center will cause the enemy to divert forces to reclaim it. This provides a golden opportunity to allow some slacking elements to push through or the movement allows you to entrap the enemy. I often prefer to march Phalangitai to the center when I can, as they are effective in barricading the enemy from reaching their center. A few times I've slain the hostile FM/General when they rush to reclaim their center and are skewered by the Phalangitai I've posted there.



My minimum recommended loadout for a besieging army (assuming an evenly balanced opposition of over 10 units):

1x Elite Infantry (Ideally heavily armored infantry, eg. Hypaspistai, Dranik Gund, Arkoi, Sacred Band, etc.)

3x Heavy Infantry (Hoplitai, Keltoi Retainers, etc.)

3x Line Infantry (Kingetos Uisuparanon, Thureophoroi, Payadag i Kardakan, etc.)

3x Cavalry. Yes, cavalry. Even in the case where spies haven't compromised the enemy's gates, they can still be useful. Post them to your secondary avenues of assault and rush them in once you have the gate open. Obviously they won't be too useful in street fighting, but the mobility they grant can allow for riding down fleeing units, which would be invaluable for reducing the amount of opposition you'll have to cut down in the end. This can also allow for flanking maneuvers that can break a cluster of enemies.

Skirmishers...I honestly find them a little useless, with the exception of the last stage of the battle, the grind in the center. Naturally the vast majority of them are no good at seizing the walls, those few that are should be counted as one of the infantry categories listed above. The cover that walls usually grant the enemy renders them nigh useless as far as I'm concerned. I rarely find that putting them on top of the walls to fire at the enemy to be worth it. There are still two ways they can contribute to the battle. The first is that should your infantry be making no progress, the skirmishers can attempt to scale an unguarded section of the wall. The second is in the final grind, where you can position the skirmishers to fire into the backs of your enemies, which should appreciably thin them out. They also have surprising utility in tiring the enemy out, if you're defending and post them in the center.

I don't have much use for Siege Engines. They're just too weak and slow. The stone-thrower isn't that good at tearing down walls. At least, not good enough to justify expenditures worth 3 Line Infantry units. The anti-personnel weapon may be more effective than skirmishers, but it still can't match up to good ol' fashioned fast and coordinated assault.

If you're playing Romani...well, you don't really need a guide for unit composition. You'll have Heavy Infantry to spare at all times.