PBEM game: The first step (Running)

[RibbonBlue]

Great my luck is just going great. The independts around me are all Milita/longbowmen/heavy infantry/crossbowmen/knights.
Theres also a druid province and barbarian province.
All my provinces have knights. I saw one province that had milita+longbowmen, I go to conqure it with my army. 4 Knight commanders and 3 knights!!!. The druid province I am attacking will probaly contain darkvines. My luck is just going great!!!

[Alneyan]

Five turns (out of eight) are in.

[Agrajag]

Good point about Ermor.
Though if he only plans to research with his summon, a spectator would be more efficient as they can summon themselves (just like dusk elders) but they (spectators) offer more RP/DeathGems.
Now give me my turn!
I have a big test on monday and I don't want any turn on my head while Im doing it =P.

[sushiboat]

Speaking of Marignon and Ermor, I am curious about the real world history that inspired them. I know that Ermor represents the Roman Empire, and Pythium represents the Byzantine Empire (the Eastern half of the Roman empire that survived Rome's fall). I have heard that Marignon is supposed to be medieval Spain, and some of the names do sound Spanish. However, other names sound more French (like Marignon itself) or Italian. Perhaps Marignon represents all of medieval Christendom.

[Alneyan]

I would say Marignon is southern France/northern Spain, with the Holy See (Marignon has a Cardinal, like Pythium if memory serves). The part of France I am thinking of is the lands of the Cathars, as it would be fairly close to Marignon, I believe. Add the Inquisition, maybe even the Reconquista, shake a lot, and you have Marignon. That's how I see them at any rate.

[RibbonBlue]

Any tips on killing Knights+Lowbowmen+milita/heavy infantry/light infantry, as man. My last atempt to expand was at a "20 or so milita/lowbowmen" that also had 3 knights+4 knight commanders. Right now my expansion efforts are going to get crushed since I am pretty much surounded by that stuff.

[Molog]

Make some knights and longbows of your own.

Perhaps use lots of longbows on the barbarians. Barbarians got low protection and morale.

Buy some good mercenaries if you want to expand early.

[Alneyan]

Everybody is in except Machaka and Arcoscephale.

Your best bet is to go after the Barbarians or the Woodsmen for now I guess, backed by longbowmen. They should be able to make them rout fairly quickly. You may also want to pull your infantry to the back of your army, or even keep them with the longbowmen: a small squad is more likely to rout.

I am not sure what else to do with mundane troops, but then I do poorly with national troops. A row of spearmen (long spears preferably) may do the trick to halt the charge of the knights, backed by a few of the damage-dealing troops of Man (Axemen or Tower Guards). Alternatively, it might be possible to do something with Tangle Vines to keep the Knights entangled, and some firepower support: the Crones can cast Lightning Bolt at Evocation 2, a killer spell as it bypasses armour.

[Ironhawk]

RibbonBlue said:
Great my luck is just going great. The independts around me are all Milita/longbowmen/heavy infantry/crossbowmen/knights.
Theres also a druid province and barbarian province.
All my provinces have knights. I saw one province that had milita+longbowmen, I go to conqure it with my army. 4 Knight commanders and 3 knights!!!. The druid province I am attacking will probaly contain darkvines. My luck is just going great!!!

Sorry for the slow reply. RibbonBlue as Man you have a very strong selection of national units with which to defeat the indies threatening. I will run down them and just make some quick comments, some of which have already been covered in the thread.

Barbarians: Man LOVES barbarians. They have barely any prot and arent particularly fast. Build about 20-30 longbowmen, set them way in the back of the field and Fire Closest. You will tear them to pieces before they even reach your men. Bring a set of spearmen or other chaff and set them to Hold and Attack if you feel you really need it.

Druids: Another indy type that is favorable to Man. Again, just mass up your longbowmen and this time set them to Fire Archers. The woodsman will have to move forward to get into range of your longbows (if they have been placed farthest possible back!) so they wont even fire first. Your longbows will slaughter them in 1-2 volleys and they will flee. Then the blowpipe guys will be in range and the same will happen to them. Darkvines could pose a problem, I dont recall thier prot. Maybe bring some chaff to tie them up while the longbows go to work on them. You might also get some lucky arrow hits on the druids themselves which could cause a rout.

Knight Provs: These are tricky. I will list off a way to defeat them here but it requires a bit of subtlety to get the tactical placements just right so I highly recommend you put off attacking knights until later in the game. Anyway, the trick with Knights would be to bring 1) chaff and 2) knights of your own. Put the chaff up front, set to Attack Cavalry - these guys will all die, but they will use up the Lance attack. Somethign cheap (with shields in this case, since enemy has bows) and use enough of them so that they wont rout if a couple die to arrows in the first 1-2 turns before the knights can kill them. Then have your Longbowmen set way back and on Fire Cavalry. Probably you wont kill any, but you might wound one or two, which can be the deciding factor with a small squad. Then have your knights way back as well with Hold and Attack Cavalry. So they will jump into action once your chaff has eaten the indy lance attacks and Lance the enemy in return.

[RibbonBlue]

Cool, thanks alot this really helps. I just slaughtered a mass of barbarians. The knights will fall soon hopefully.