Basic Battle Tactics?

[JimMorrison]

Originally Posted by Lingchih

Well, I've been playing with Elephants recently, and and I don't seem to have any problem getting them to attack rear. They do occasionally break off and attack the front army, but if I get their morale up, they do seem to usually go all the way to the commanders. A couple of sermon of courages will get their morale up to 12.

Granted, this means you need a strong force up front, so the elephants don't see any need to attack the frontmost army.

Any indicators as to the rest of your layout? I find that one squad of blockers, with one squad of Ele, will get your tramplers to bypass the front troops ~50% of the time or less. At least, against indies, as I rarely use Ele against human players (bad experience with Skinshifters! ).

[Akela]

So I guess in general I've been fielding large squads, primarily to avoid routing but I was also trying to take efficient advantage of the spells that affect a whole squad, like Strength of Giants. I did notice however that a lot of them weren't getting into the mix very often.

I'm going to experiment with breaking them up into smaller squads and spread out my line a bit. I like the idea someone mentioned of telling all melee to "attack rear" increasing the likelyhood that the enemy's front line will be flanked.

Now, if I break these units up into smaller squads, is it better to have 1 commander with 5 squads, or 5 commanders with 1 squad each. (Let me guess, it depends right?)

[JimMorrison]

Originally Posted by Akela

So I guess in general I've been fielding large squads, primarily to avoid routing but I was also trying to take efficient advantage of the spells that affect a whole squad, like Strength of Giants. I did notice however that a lot of them weren't getting into the mix very often.

Don't take the text -too- literally. There are no spells that specifically affect a "squad". They either are single target, have a specified AOE, or are Battlefield wide. Pay close attention to the battle replays, and watch how the AOE spells are targeted, and you will start to get a good feel for how many castings you need in order to get most units, etc.

Originally Posted by Akela

Now, if I break these units up into smaller squads, is it better to have 1 commander with 5 squads, or 5 commanders with 1 squad each. (Let me guess, it depends right?)

There is no functional difference. The primary consideration, is that no matter what you do, you may lose a commander or 2 or 3 when you least expect it (and/or especially when Storming castles). So having some spares around is always a good thing (I generally try to maintain at least twice the needed command in any army, just in case).

[Ironhawk]

People will of course take issue with what I lay out below but the OP asked for basic (general) layouts so here is my default...

Basic Troop Layout:
Most forward block - heavy inf, high prot or at least troops with big shields
Flanking blocks (slightly back/to the side of the HI) - light inf or specialty troops
Archers - Fairly close up behind your infantry, modifying for weapon range
Cavalary - off to the far sides so they can flank if they make thier rolls

Army Placement:
If you have strong missle/magic firepower, place your entire army further back on the field and set your men to Hold and Attack. This allows your archers/mages to fire more times while they enemy approaches.
If you have weaker firepower, then place your men as far forward as possible with orders to Attack. This will reduce the amount of time the enemy gets frienly-fire free shots at your men.

Squad Size:
Units with lower morale need to be in larger squads to reinforce their communal morale. Units with high morale can be used in smaller squads. My rule of thumb is that a squad is 30ish men, a small squad is 15-20, and a large squad is 40+. You can also pepper low morale squads with high morale troops to bolster them up.

Assorted Notes:
-Attack rear is a finicky order, as you have found. Orders like Attack Archers/Cavalry/Largest are more effective. If you know that your enemy will place units of one of those types in his backfield, use the associated order to attack them.
-If you have a unit with an optional missle attack (like javelins) that you want them to use, you must leave them on default orders or Fire. If you give them an Attack order they will not fire as they approach. Very handy for light infantry.

[Ironhawk]

Oh and about commanders: Usually you want to pack as many men as possible under a single commander with a lot of leadership. Since most of your commanders are mages with low leadership anyway this is the natural way of things. The only time you want to break this format is when your commanders are being assassinated. At that time, it is more valuable to put fewer men under more commanders to ensure that as many of them as possible arrive at the battlefield.

[Raiel]

I just posted a new (guide) thread with some detailed plans/layouts; I don't know how helpful it will be in it's current form, but as an original post I should be able to go back later to edit it. I wrote it up earlier today, but much of what I included has already been mentioned by the forum regulars in this thread... I hope that doesn't offend.

[vfb]

Originally Posted by Ironhawk

Oh and about commanders: Usually you want to pack as many men as possible under a single commander with a lot of leadership. Since most of your commanders are mages with low leadership anyway this is the natural way of things. The only time you want to break this format is when your commanders are being assassinated. At that time, it is more valuable to put fewer men under more commanders to ensure that as many of them as possible arrive at the battlefield.

I think it's safer to assume your commanders are always being assassinated, or if not this turn then starting next turn. Putting all your troops under one leader is asking for your armyless support mages to arrive on their lonesome in enemy territory.

There's no advantage I can see to putting everyone under one leader, except less micromanagement, maybe. You can't even break your army into smaller squads (if you like small squads) because you only get five squads per commander.

[Panpiper]

[quote=vfb;672839]

Originally Posted by Ironhawk

There's no advantage I can see to putting everyone under one leader, except less micromanagement, maybe.

I had long been under the impression that the Sword of Aurgelmer and the Chalice affected only the units under that unit's command. But I just looked them up in the book and I now know that they affect the entire battlefield. So my intended insightful remark that the Sword of Aurgelmer and the Chalice are a good reason to put large numbers of troops under a single commander turns out to be not so insightful. ;-)

[AreaOfEffect]

The only cases where a commander can impart any benefit to those he commands directly is in cases of special movement, such as sailing, water-breathing, and, in one special case, flying. Who leads who will not matter when the battle starts.

[JimMorrison]

Originally Posted by AreaOfEffect

...and, in one special case, flying...

Magic Carpet
Flying Ship

2, it's the new 1.