What do I build to counter High def glamour units?

[Arralen]

Kristoffer O said:
Slingers are probably better than other ranged weapons cost wise. You only need one point of damage to get rid of the glamour, so the sling should be almost as effective as the bow (apart from having slighter chance of penetrating armors).

.. but its quite hard to get that 1 point of damage, with the boosted shields which totally block missiles, and with the low damage and abysmal precisions from slings in general - they tend to miss a horde of LC right in front of them.

Poison is a very moderate use, as most nations do not have easy access to it, all those poison spitters and spells are as accurate as slings (don't hit the broad side of a dragon from point blank) - and most time the fast LC simple moves through the small poison clouds without getting harmed: They would have to stop for 1 turn within them to get poisoned.

Realistically, until the late mid-/ early endgame, against W9 or N9 or even F9W9 Helhirdlings or Vans there's only 1 thing most nations can do, unless they have access to high-level bladewind: Die gracefully ... :/

PS: And fire arrows do not help you to actually hit the buggers and get past their shields - but they are great to kill your own troops with "friendly fire" while those are swarming the Vans

[Corwin]

Arralen said:


PS: And fire arrows do not help you to actually hit the buggers and get past their shields - but they are great to kill your own troops with "friendly fire" while those are swarming the Vans

I think they do,a little. They make arrows magical, which should give it additional +2 bonus to hit its target. Not much, but better than nothing.

[curtadams]

Watching the AI performance with LA Vanheim has convinced me the glamour units are too good for the price. The last two times I've seen them they've done unbelievably well compared to other nations - twice as many provinces picked up as any other nation. I haven't had spies, but looking at what, when, and where they conquered it looks like they can clean out independents with no losses. In the early game 20+ def with mirror images is virtually invulnerable and you shouldn't be able to recruit units like that right off the bat.

[PheasantPlucker]

Here's an alternative - TRAMPLE.

I initially struggled with EA Arco against their glamour units, until I started buying something I hadn't used before - chariot archers.

Get about 20-30, give them hold and attack orders. Voila - they shoot a couple of rounds of archery fire into them as they approach, and then chaaarge - SQUISH!

I won against the glamour units with almost no casualties using those mighty chariot tramplers.

[Epaminondas]

PheasantPlucker said:
Here's an alternative - TRAMPLE....

I won against the glamour units with almost no casualties using those mighty chariot tramplers.

Hmmm.

This sounds a bit too easy. You sure there isn't a catch? I will try nonetheless.

[FrankTrollman]

I also had pretty good success with a pile of rubbish backed up with a guy who could cast Sulphurous Haze. 20 Helhirdings and 10 Vanir Huskarls dead and I lost 55 human infantrymen. I consider that an excellent trade, and I'm willing to make it until Helheim has nothing left in the field.

-Frank

[KissBlade]

Epaminondas said:

Hmmm.

This sounds a bit too easy. You sure there isn't a catch? I will try nonetheless.

This does work pretty well against most basic glamour units. The other option is area of effect spells since one point of damage is all you need to dispel the glamour. However the problem with glamour troops tends to be the dual blessed variety which is difficult to tackle with most conventional armies. Not to mention they're also super cost effective raiders.

[Forrest]

Trample will save your empire.

I thought chariots were a waste till I met the glamour units. I bought the chariots as a last gasp before giving up and turned the tide.

[PheasantPlucker]

Epaminondas said:

Hmmm.

This sounds a bit too easy. You sure there isn't a catch? I will try nonetheless.

Hehe - no catch at all, and very straightforward. I'd read the bad press that chariots, and chariot archers, had on this forum and (like Forrest) had thought them a waste before meeting the glamour boys. To my suprise, I discovered that chariot archers can be absolutely lethal.

I soon had armies consisting of nothing but chariot archers shooting, and then trampling, over the AI's glamour armies using Hold-and-Attack orders.

Those chariot tramplers seem tailor made to deal with any high quality foot soldiers. They ignored both defence and glamour attributes, took almost no losses, and were good fun to watch as well.

[Endoperez]

Trample doesn't ignore defence, but they deal 1 point of damage even if the defence roll is successful.

Another fun fact about Chariot Archers:
When scripted to Hold & Attack Rearmost, they first Fire Rear (usually unscriptable), then Attack Rear, going OVER enemy read guard that'd stop normal cavalry. They might still get confused about where they were supposed to go, though.