Best Troops in Best Formation! | Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord

After doing in-depths for all of the different categories of troops I have found the definitive best sheild/shock infantry, archers, horse archers, and cavalry and put them into the best possible formation to show you how to win 5 to 1 odds on the hardest difficulty.
Hope you guys enjoy :)
#bannerlord
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Mods: No_Hud Photo Mod

[@SpartanIsGaming]

Best Shield Infantry: Imperial Legionary Best Shock Infantry: Aserai Mameluke Palace Guard Best Archer: Battanian Fian Champion Best Horse Archer: Khuzait Khan's Guard Best Cavalry: Imperial Elite Cataphract Check out my in-depth videos to see armor, skills, equipment, and performance comparisons for each unit.

[@giggitygoo21]

how are you respawning units?? 5:17 you had 118 archers mid fight but then at 6:37 you have 146 again after respawning them.

[@campbellshore9627]

@@giggitygoo21 I was also wondering about this... medicine skill maybe?

[@SpartanIsGaming]

@@campbellshore9627 when more than 1000 units between two fighting parties they spawn in after either your troops die or the enemies. Battle limit is 1000 troops on the field

[@SpartanIsGaming]

@@giggitygoo21 battle limit is 1,000, it’s 300 vs 1500 when soldiers die on my side I get reinforcements and when soldiers die on the enemy side he gets reinforcements. Power Ratio stays the same, so I don’t start with my max

[@giggitygoo21]

@@SpartanIsGaming ah ok you have many thanks from this noob! My army is only at 126 so far.

[@gamma4053]

F1+F3 -Sun Tzu

[@riptidezim6151]

Technobladeee

[@kaplan2653]

😂😂

[@hechmijarray9834]

Lmaoo

[@suslu4797]

@@riptidezim6151 no not exactly

[@riptidezim6151]

@@suslu4797 it's a joke

[@rookieboidontbanus6983]

Back I’m my day we didn’t have these fancy square and wedge formations. All we did was stand in a line and stand in a line, stand in a loose line then counter charge cavalry and archer volleys.

[@emigdiochapa707]

Gods was I strong back then

[@horrorhouse16]

@@emigdiochapa707 Robert Barration?

[@The_Riot]

@@horrorhouse16 Nah it’s Darude from Sandstorm

[@damian5824]

"F1 F3" ~ Sun Tzu

[@seanwalters1977]

The days of 1000 stat man

[@LeeeWai]

13:1 kill/death ratio on realistic ( with an army 5 times your size ), I would say this is just awesome!

[@SpartanIsGaming]

Finally some appreciation for this strategy. Thanks man

[@LeeeWai]

Would be that possible 1. without Battanian Fian Archers? 2. in the forest maps?

[@SpartanIsGaming]

@@LeeeWai forest maps yes, without fian champions not a chance. They did over 90% of the damage in all my tests and I used all of the best units I could think of from my previous testing of every unit. Fian Champions are the most important aspect of this strategy. But you can try to replace them with other archers. If you are having a hard time getting fians just mass kidnap forest bandits and turn them into fians. Super easy

[@Yourebeautyfull]

Fians are pretty much like the Elintor in the legendary Perisno mod from Warband. They are divinely overpowered creatures when used under the right circumstances.

[@PapaYaga1]

@@Yourebeautyfull even in the wrong circumstances lol the Elintor would wreck everything with just their archers

[@MrMrkman98]

It's kinda sad that the AI just stop in a line in front of your archers because of small group of infantry forming a shield wall

[@beastofalbeasts1]

Cheese ftw

[@Mikalent]

At this point, it is better than Warband AI, who would literally send all their units to run down 1 footsoldier who separated from the melee blob.

[@SL-mj2eq]

The whole AI side in bannerlord is sad. And thats an understatement...

[@CENTURION.CARPATIC]

Even you, in real life would not cross beyond that small group in front cause, in the chaos of battle, you would think it must be a trap so you would engage that small group first. Besides you would not want enemies to your rear. I think it's pretty realistic.

[@Ralleigh]

@@CENTURION.CARPATIC This, your maintaining formation. Surrounding an enemy like the blob of legionnaires is dumb especially with a line of infantry and archers right there.

[@SpartanIsGaming]

It's insane to think that this was one of my first videos I ever made and I didn't put a single edit or cut into this entire clip and it got 400,000 views. Gotta love how supportive this community is!

[@ninjaoffcialyt4845]

Because we don't give a fuck about tatics and you went in depth why you did what you did. All we do in game is just out no or out strength them with basic shield wall line archer formation(which is strong but can be easily countered)

[@avandarkwalker9132]

@@ninjaoffcialyt4845 This tactic is kindda outdated, the AI is way smarter now. If they’re already surrounding your shield wall with some infantries then the rest will go straight for your archers.

[@lowleelow3166]

We just love epic battles :3

[@Stocking_Knight]

Congratulations mate

[@Discoveryman29]

The best i have ever fave is 3 against 1 but its always 1 on 1 again khuzait or aserai.. the AI always break the shield wall and face the closest enemies which are always the horse archers, guess imma start using square now

[@michelvandeweetering4450]

you had 300 soldiers. and you somehow managed to not include a Sparta meme. missed opportunities..

[@hesselpower0187]

The batanian fians gave u 96% of your balance of power

[@masterchief3510]

Nice background

[@Reznov141]

More like 99.99%

[@giggitygoo21]

how do you keep spawning units from thin air? 5:17 4:04

[@Reznov141]

@@giggitygoo21 he reached higher than the soldiers numbers limit thats why they are spawning more.

[@SL-mj2eq]

@@giggitygoo21 Well if his battle size is set to 1500 then u cant spawn in 1800 troops at the start of the battle. So the left over units join the battle as reinforcements as soon as enough units have been killed...

[@doodlydoo6101]

Sir Big PP now thats a commander i would die on the field for

[@VintHeXer]

Look at the list of units: - Legionnaires - Elite cataphract - Sir Big PP... I suppose that exactly Big PP made a deal

[@shivery_timbers1430]

Everyone else was low tier compared to sir big pp

[@tomasferraz7655]

This is nice until u encounter an army of horse archers :(

[@SpartanIsGaming]

Even then, cataphracts and khans guard would distract and you could put your archers with their backs at the border of the map so they cant be surrounded and use a shield wall in front to absorb arrows. That would be a beautiful sight lol. I'm more than willing to show you that fight if you want.

[@tomasferraz7655]

@@SpartanIsGaming the for responding. I think that a video of hos to counter khuzaits armys could be very interesting, considering that all the time khuzait empire tend to snow ball and conquest all the east región of the map. Really good videos bro, u are the only youtuber that i know that cares about strategies and formations and i love it

[@SpartanIsGaming]

@@tomasferraz7655 thanks man, and probably because I'm a huge nerd that likes to overthink these games lol

[@WiciuSJ]

@@SpartanIsGaming Like Palpatine would say: DEW IT! :D I just found your channel and I have to admit, that You have quite impressive tactic skills in Bannerlord. Thanks for all your tips, I'm gonna try all of this..if I gather and train such units as You do. :D Cheers from Poland

[@theoneandonly3435]

5:02 u have 32 infantrymen 5:44 u have 34 on your first hotkey so im asking myself how u revived 2 soldiers or if there is any reason for this. I wouldnt have looked after this but there were troops just poppin out of the ground. Still an impressive tactic.

[@RagingAura]

Tip: You can micromanage your cavalry to charge, and then pull through the enemy line, allowing them to avoid counterattacks by the infantry. This maximizes their charge bonus and reduces damage taken. Bonus points if you lead the charge yourself ala Rohirrim style!

[@jesusshrek1271]

FOOOR ROOOHAAAAAAAAAN

[@FuSiionCraft]

The thing is, you shouldn't have to micromanage your cavalry when you charge... It should just go through, not stop immediately as if the soldiers were solid concrete walls... Also, this charge was inspired by the biggest charge in history led by French Marechal Murat and General Lasalle, and most of all, the motherfucking winged hussars who liberated Vienna :D

[@NicoCoeurDeLion]

I JUST started playing this and I can’t stop. It gives me Fable and Dynasty Warrior vibes because the music and combat gameplay but way cooler and way more fun!

[@SpartanIsGaming]

Exactly man, after installing some good mods this game is insanely fun to play. I recommend you try Calradia awakens mod when you finish the game

[@Marc-ud7hz]

@@SpartanIsGaming Can you recommend some good modes?

[@Vok250]

The crazy thing about fians is you dont even need horses to upgrade them. Wildly OP units.

[@marcinzysko1653]

There are few things that I can add from my own experience regarding Fian Ch. - At the very first encounter with enemy horse archers, you can rotate your archers to the left, and make them stand for a while. The enemy horse archers will then sort of "slide" on your fians like meat on a meat slicer. They will die faster and i greater numbers. Once they do, or run away, just have your Fians simply move back to front of the main enemy force. And your archers will be safer as well, since they will all be fighting and not just a small portion on their left flank. - Spliting your archers in to two formations and have them both flanking enemy infantry in a "scisor formation" will not only allow your Fians to work to their full capacity and ingnore enemy shields, but also keep them in range from main force (even without infantry of your own). And if they manage to get close to one of your archer formations anyway, just move them back, while the other keeps shooting. The only thing left there to do is to keep your flanks from being flanked by meele cavalry. You can spare your horses on such interception, instead of having them desperately aggroing infantry.

[@ether23-23]

ooooooh i will try splitting my archers into two formations. great idea

[@latorus2275]

And it works more beautiful with horse archers)

[@charlesanastasia7574]

@@ether23-23 he specifically said not to split them in two formations

[@ether23-23]

@@charlesanastasia7574 nuh uh

[@SpartanIsGaming]

I wanted to mention that I only started with 170 troops and reinforcements came in later (dudes teleporting in) because of the troop limit being 1,000 and the power balance being way in their favor. Had a lot of people ask about that.

[@najiseif2521]

@spartangaming how do you pause your game during the battle to re-arrange your formation

[@connorconway2021]

@@najiseif2521 that's in the base game.

[@Apostasy_Plague]

@@connorconway2021 so helpful good answer lmfao

[@merklerderer]

This video really helped, my personal sturgian army of 140 beat a vlandian army of about 700 ( i kinda had to retreat when my archers ran out of arrows though )

[@SpartanIsGaming]

Nice man

[@rayyzadd6266]

Plot twist: Spartan Gaming is a legit Spartan commander back in the day

[@larlee5578]

PAWN --> e4 HORSE --> f3 Classic Chess set up

[@STARGUN8687]

300 vs more numerical enemy ? Wow, that's some Spartan gaming here.

[@TheRedwall111]

Offset your archers to the left of your infantry; charging enemies’ right flanks are more exposed. Cavalry to the right of infantry to ensure the initial charge forces their infantry to expose themselves even further to archers, sometimes even showing their backs.

[@LCInfantry]

Wouldn’t it be to the left side to see the exposed right side of the enemy?… since the enemy hold their shield in there left hand?

[@ArguaratronGorgantuous]

@@LCInfantry that’s literally what he said

[@LCInfantry]

@@ArguaratronGorgantuous Hmm yeah. I must have not read when he said enemies’ right flank as possessive.

[@storm0fnova]

I have many questions about this. first, why use elite cavs and khans guards as throwaway fodders? they are hard to get and upgrade. ( a group of 25 elite cavs will take 200+ game days to gather) second, why not use the shock troops earlier? why not use them in conjunction of infantry? i'd put them inside the square formation and choose falxmen or sturgian for the 200 reach weapon third and arguably most important: why not use high ground for your archers?

[@SpartanIsGaming]

Erocknrolla I used elite cav and khans guard because they are the best in the game and I needed them to slow the enemy down rather than flank. Definetly shouldn’t take 200+ days to gather 25. By the time you own a city (I always take imperial cities) you can get dozens of noble troops a day. Best shock infantry in the game is the palace guards and I tried them in the middle of the square but they perform way worse than you would think behind shields. So I used them to counter any infantry that ran towards archers or used them to flank which they do really well at. And for the high ground thing the most important aspect is that I needed my archers spread out but also every single one to have line of sight so my best option was line flat ground rather than a hill so everyone could fire. Hopefully that covers everything for you. Keep in mind I had to use the best troops from each type and I also tried this multiple times to figure out what would work best

[@storm0fnova]

@@SpartanIsGaming dozens of noble troops a day? are we playing the same game? i enable cheat, teleport around the entire map checking all imperial villages and cannot even recruit a dozen of cavs a week (which is the refresh timer), noble troops never spawn in towns. and i've done all available quests to boost relations with them on easy recruitment difficulty. in my oldest playthrough i own 10 towns and 8 castles. yet the most reliable recruitment for noble troops is from prisoners and bandits. While logically speaking sending your strongest troops in to buy time will have the greatest result, but i don't think any commander would do such a thing, seeing how it's basically a suicide mission, and nobody sends their elites to do that, except maybe Leonidas from sparta. And having archers elevated will enable them to shoot past your shield wall soldiers since they have the drop on the enemy. also much higher chance for headshots and elevation provides free range due arrows dipping from gravity. i basically instantly retreat for better map rng if there are no hills around my spawn location. usually i want the lowest level archers to have their feet above head elevation of infantry the square is a good tactic, prevents enemy from flanking Over all great strategy, i frequently fight armies 3-4 times my number too, since the ai is just so dumb.

[@boahkeinbockmehr]

Yeah I guess it's a question of RP. The strategy in the video is probably among the most optimal but for "realism" (or at least how I envision what ancient battles were like) reasons I like to have a "Verlorener Haufen" (~lost rabble) of light javelin throwing infantry (e.g. battanians) that I use to countercharge horse archers/ slow down the enemy advance and disturb their lines before I get my heavy infantry in formation into the hopefully resulted chaos. Heavy cav on the right flank to countercharge breakthroughs and have their shields on the optimal side and shock infantry plus the remaining lost rabble on the left trying to outflank/ break through encirclements of my main line. I don't really like horse archers and try to bring as little regular archers as possible (I find that they often force me to fight from a stationary position which can get boring really fast). You can also defeat way bigger enemy armies if you time the shock value of your flanking attacks correctly, though it is of course a lot less effective against overwhelming enemy forces than the strategy shown here. (Though in regular battles you mostly just lose cheap and easily replaceable units)

[@AK-lk4hg]

@@storm0fnova almost every castle`s bound village offers you elite troops, lots of them. Cities never have elite ones

[@defaultset]

Mount and blade, total war, and similar games really be reviving the art of formation based melee warfare. Legit had to read a manuscript on how people would beat cavalry and horse archers.

[@maxpower4215]

Great tactic! The only difference I make in my own gameplay is to charge the cavalry from behind the enemy lines so they dont run into the shield wall and just die.

[@blowedup3207]

Very nice combine of some actual war tactics by different armies across the world and even centuries, i see your interest in that. Also, camera mod for sending everyone in positions need to be in the game, very nice and clever tool. I'm was very happy for getting visualizations by flags how they gonna forming, and this even more boosting level of comfort. Good job at the game and commanding, i'm flattered by the work you have done!

[@jescruz5465]

although a real army with 100+ infantry woudn't stop halfway a charge just to catch some 20 enemy infantry in the middle haha

[@wilmarvisser5471]

Spartan, uhmmm, I was wondering, is there mabe a chance that you could begin a Bannerlord campaign?

[@SpartanIsGaming]

I mean I beat the game a few times, do you mean like do a letsplay? Or a speed run showing the fastest way to beat it? or archers only or something?

[@wilmarvisser5471]

@@SpartanIsGaming Nah just like have fun and like as you go through the game you could like give hints (almost like a guide but just also having fun) I like watch people like begin in the game and the progress they have made.

[@wilmarvisser5471]

So ya, basically a letsplay.

[@uchihagotze]

Either Only Battania, or eliminate the mongols campaign

[@ekoeko6994]

@@SpartanIsGaming i'd love to see a playthrough you have great potential to grow

[@hugdeeznuttz3458]

English during the one hundred years war: Hey ive seen this one

[@wojak-sensei6424]

Alexander with a time machine: can I take this man to my campaigns?

[@danielpirela1225]

How to win every battle: Please use the following units: -Battanian Fian Champions -Imperial Elite Cataphracts -Imperial Legionaries -Sturgian Veteran Line Breakers -Khan's Guards This is not formation, it is mainly composition, terrain and some luck

[@JasperKlijndijk]

no, these formations work with lesser units again smaller enemy army’s

[@BrokenOlive]

This just showed up in my recommendation and I must say, that was a damn well played game. You have this down to a science by now. Well done!

[@MarioPawner]

Probably my favorite thing about this is Big PP's Tactics skill going from 27 to 58 in this one fight.

[@pyroparagon8945]

He won a 5v1, I'd say he's a pretty damn good tactician.

[@CountArtha]

Your character’s Tactics scale goes up when your units do damage. Best way to level it up is with archers, because they get the most damage done (shield damage counts!).

[@CountArtha]

(Skill, not scale)

[@ferg4486]

Hi Spartan! Thanks! After watching you move your troops like that I was able to take on an army. Not like you 300 vs 1420, but we had a similar amount of troops, mine were slightly less, and I only lost 1 troop! To me that was amazing, since I usually lost almost as many as the other side. THANKS!!

[@samuro3420]

How fascinating, never thought you could do that in bannerlord. All i ever do is pressing F1 then F3 with my full imperial elite cataphract while also diving head on to the enemies lol

[@TheMoldyOne]

Later this month I am upgrading my computer with the new amd stuff coming and hoping to find a mod that allows more units on the field so I can stress test the new computer

[@ratwalsh8794]

I realize this is a long time after the fact. But I was always under the impression that even back then, the best shock troop was the battanian veteran falxman; and the most important thing about the superiority of certain shock troops over others is the reach of their weapon. Correct me if I'm wrong

[@testermonkey2304]

yes youre right as long as they can still 1 hit hs and 2 hit body shot the opposing troops

[@HanaTheSloth]

As someone currently facing a 1200 Aserai army bearing down on my only city with a 226 man army, I thank you.

[@SpartanIsGaming]

At least aserai have the weakest armored infantry. You’ll have the best chance beating them in a siege. Lucky it’s not sturgia or the empire

[@HanaTheSloth]

@@SpartanIsGaming It worked! Keeping a good sized garrison helped. Been fighting off village raids constantly, so city(Myzea) wasn't well stocked for a siege. Sally out with my garrison and handily defeated the Aserai. Thanks for the tip!

[@cenobitecyborgkratch9669]

You're going to lose

[@HanaTheSloth]

@@cenobitecyborgkratch9669 But I won... it was the continuous Imperial armies I couldn't deal with.

[@cenobitecyborgkratch9669]

@@HanaTheSloth play multi player it's fun if it's not crashing

[@lucienaras2165]

Your technic is a real technic. It was used against the Romans by a parthian army, 10000 archers and 1000 heavy infantry was abble to defeat 28000 legionary, the same way as you do.

[@erkicman]

I was testing these kinds of formations last weekend - they're really good at cutting down losses in battles! The only question I have is - what is the best thing to do with your archers when they run out of ammo?

[@SpartanIsGaming]

Retreat them, if your archers all run out of ammo either have them go up to the dead bodies and collect their arrows to fire again or have them run away and re engage into the fight with full ammo

[@takuoku2546]

if they are battanian fian champions, then just charge. they have the best 2 handed skill

[@user-cr4cj1fl8z]

@@SpartanIsGaming What do you mean have them run and re engage ? DO they come back while in battle or you ment retreat the battle and have it again which replenishes their ammo.

[@Lithane97]

One thing that I really want to see is formation attacking. So instead of your cav just running all over the place they actually try to stay together as a formation, hit the enemy, then move away / reform and charge again. It would make the cav so much better.

[@UkSapyy]

You can put AI in command, if you do that then one NPC becomes commander of the unit and the cav attacks together. Once you used cav for the initial attacks, putting them under AI command makes sense, better than having them under a charge command all the time.

[@storrho]

Best tactic for 100v1500: Have 100 archers, Retreat when enemy reaches your lines, Profit.

[@LCInfantry]

Until there is like 300 Calvary

[@vassowned7768]

Cavalry is easy to take out with archers and like he said just before they reach you press retreat the fight stops and you can go back in its cheesy and op asf

[@LCInfantry]

@@vassowned7768 I’ll try that

[@eddiewilliams5188]

I got the game thinking it would be easy LOL Much respect to this guy!

[@SpartanIsGaming]

Lol, yeah this game set at realistic is definitely no walk in the park combat wise. Thanks man

[@FeNeR35]

I fought against 5.000 + with this tactic and louse but killed 78% of the enemy . This tactic is good to use !

[@richardpagel6959]

It is no tactic, it is simple game mechanics / AI abusement.

[@SL-mj2eq]

@@richardpagel6959 I wouldnt call it AI abusement i just call it insanely terrible AI. As soon as Talewords said better AI and i looked at the actual AI from there gameplay video's i knew the AI was just as stupid... :-)

[@vibez2806]

@@SL-mj2eq it is taking advantage of the AI being bad so it is AI amusement. Still fun tho

[@liamleonard9120]

As a console gamer who can only play civilization 6 for a strategy game, I gotta say I didn’t even know games like this existed. This is really cool and just imagine having this simulator as a tool for ancient generals to practice with. Maybe somebody other than the mongols would have realized horse archers are OP.

[@balthierg]

There is a mount and blade game on console, I did atleast see it on the ps4. Its previous game in the series to this game. It's still really good.

[@sahkogile]

also Total War

[@davedsmer]

dude on the left flank at 7:00 going full sparta mode out of formation with that 2 hander. props to that man.

[@peter4210]

Heres a better meta, have slightly more infantry then archers, put the infantry to the right forward, and archers left rear. Maneuver your infantry and archer so the enemy infantry attacks your infantry sideways to your archers. since they will face your infantry, their shields will be to their left, the wrong side to block your archers, have your cav flank their archers so your infantry dont suffer the same fate, or distract them with yourself, and have your cav do a rear charge on he infantry. an early distraction from your part will prevent enemy archers from joining the main fight since they are on advance command and will stop because you are in their do not advance range, but the infantry will keep going since you are not the main mass of your army

[@ayeejiff9847]

always wondered what battle deployment mods might be out there. photo mod noted !

[@SpartanIsGaming]

It’s my absolute favorite mod, I play the campaign for the strategy and the fights. It helps so much to have a god like view

[@jaydynbristol8920]

I use basically the same setup, except I usually lead my cavalry and mostly just attack from behind with them.

[@bloodemprince1337]

A perfect showcase of archery being a bit overpowered lol if you want more range plus flexibility try the Vlandian Crossbowmen there great at shield walls, range, and can beat top tier infantry troops pretty reliably in close combat. Only downside if calv push in there kinda screwed but they can just about take them out in one bolt when they are charging so it goes both ways

[@KaiReel23]

Its just ai abuse

[@cvijetinglisic8368]

They doesn't have enough ammo for big battles. If you play 500v500 they will run out of arrows in mid battle.

[@bloodemprince1337]

@@cvijetinglisic8368 that's due to the fact that they carry shields, also wasn't talking about ammo efficiency. In sieges they well also refill there bolts so no issues there. I get what your saying tho, but personally it'd an issue due to AI not respecting range units

[@michaelplanter1327]

Thats what i call genius

[@NicoCoeurDeLion]

I woulda got flooded lmfao

[@harrazmasri2805]

he is the medieval king hahaha

[@Dadecorban]

its not genius its obvious from day 1

[@richardpagel6959]

I would call it AI abuser. :D

[@cgmstudio2599]

you mean AI pathing exploit

[@helgraf6976]

My favourite tactic using similar army just without the shock guys is spliting the archers in two groups for the flanks protected with cavs and inf shield wall in the middle. The ai in new update goes after the inf and the enemy cav is killed with my cav and the infatry is flakned with arrows as I tell my guys to give way to enemy.

[@SpartanIsGaming]

That’s what I do if I’m highly outnumbered now. If it’s a normal matchup I use the formation in the video since it’s easier

[@ZephenTheGreat42]

"Hey everyone, welcome to my armor unboxing vid. Got quite a few lords here haha. Lets hope theres more than just blood in these ones unlike the last nations L O L. Be sure to SMASH that like button and subscribe"

[@halo12390]

7:13 Sir Big PP gained a level

[@MonteKristof]

The best formation regardless of the number of troops is F1 -> F3. I have spoken.

[@danielclark1859]

Ohhh this makes me think of how sending out a single entity unit in TW:Warhammer and then firing all artillery and archers around them is big brain tactics.

[@Shmozone]

This dude coulda probably saved me when my new castle got besieged by an 800 person army. Was a good 3 days owning a castle though

[@Kenshiman123]

There’s a video on how to survive overwhelming sieges online somewhere

[@Shmozone]

@@Kenshiman123 I'll have to find it, super hard to get a foothold in this game. Thanks!

[@Runngunrecordings]

SPARTANS - Love it mate, thanks

[@tgF321jikko]

I wanna see one against a bunch of horse archers, because that's the army type I struggle against

[@RM22201]

More horse archers

[@twig9027]

yes, these tactics are too advanced, horse archer spam is where it's at

[@Mikalent]

I've found the meta is archer spam army, horse archers really struggle against archers who aren't engaged constantly by shock cavalry. Archers in general seem to be a bit too powerful right now, maybe because a lot of units just get really crappy shields and don't use them. Most units I see have their shields down unless they are about to be engaged by infantry, or just took a hit from and archer, which they then lower after 4-5 seconds.

[@RM22201]

@@Mikalent yeh i agree. i tactic i use is put all my army behind my huge row of decent archers, and basically any calvary that comes my way gets mowed down, or charge through and get killed by my infantry/calvary behind. once they're done charging ya send out the horse archers to flank without problem, and then calvary/infantry.

[@benc640]

Shielded infantry can just soak up horse archers, and HA armies always have shitty infantry components. Let the horse archers shoot at your shield wall while you shoot back with archers (mounted or otherwise), eventually they’ll mostly die and you can finish off whatever shitty troops they have left. This works. In one campaign I would routinely beat 1000+ Kuzaits (spelling?) taking

[@UtopiansDream]

These battles are almost as chaotic as movie battles.

[@felixrotbuche5852]

U can get much more value out of your cav if you send them to a point behind so they catch some kills otw but don’t stand still and then u can send them back through and repeat

[@RadekZielinski.]

Basically basic roman formation. infantry in the front throwing javelins in defensive formation to protect a ton of archers. And cavalry to counter and slow down the enemy... and also to counter any enemy cavalry.

[@Yoderman]

I had no idea you could have the battle paused at the start and set up formations. How do you do that?

[@SpartanIsGaming]

Photo mod from nexus mods allows you to pause and fly around. Pretty useful, there’s a few mods that allows for it

[@lightyagami6493]

Nice good Tactics, i also like it full legionary its fun too see when 500+ elite shieldtroops running u over like its nothing xD

[@TheCausalParadox]

There are some useful tips here but aserai really got buffed in recent months. Fight an army that size now and you are going to be looking at around 500 of them being heavy cavalry and horse archers. And those units are no joke.

[@ssShockRyder]

Yup was going to say . thats not a real asari army where is the 500 faris charging with 200 heavy mumaluke archers .

[@OriginalGazGoose]

This is just the battle of crecy and agincourt with a few extra steps.

[@Ritual_Abuser]

true.. his infantry formation kinda did the same thing that wet mud and superior positioning would've done + easy longbow men shots

[@neroclaudius7284]

This man playing Rome 3.

[@Arkancide]

Troop tier/quality plays a big role as to whether this works well or not. Player early armies can have great difficulty against large stacked enemy AI armies that outnumber you this much. Also, I am finding only Sturgians have as much Shield Infantry staying power, as other factions struggle to perform as well as Imperial infantry. Just my thoughts.

[@charlesanastasia7574]

Yea it's really not a even battle if the AI has a massive army of low tier troops and you have all the best units in the game I don't want to knock him but that's just cheesing the meta

[@emrekoyuncu5652]

A fucking general straight out from medieval

[@BlakeSmith17]

I mainly use circle formations when I'm defending. Infantry in circle formation, archers in square formation inside circle and cavalry at the ready to charge.

[@SpartanIsGaming]

Really? That sounds like the bot tactic for defending. Do you have a lot of casualties from enemy fire since your so blobbed up?

[@BlakeSmith17]

@@SpartanIsGaming yes but the most of my forces are made up of basics fighters or caravaners that i've knocked out with cheats (i do use cheats) because at most times i'm actively trying to get my soldiers killed because I want to make things a bit more interesting for myself. I'm just not sure what options i have to change to make things harder on my troops.

[@BlakeSmith17]

@@SpartanIsGaming but to answer casualty question it depends on the units i use - say for example - if i'm feeling bored or deceitful; I'd spawn either Master Thugs or any other melee fighters which are pretty easy pickings and tested the units that you mentioned in the previous comment legionnary and palace guards which managed to hold off the attacks with the enemy horse units able to get through the archers units are protected from enemy infantry units and can deal with enemy archers. the cavalry can thin the herd out a little, but with the Elite Cataphract it's almost unnecessary just stay bunched up. The formation only works in the defending battle i've noticed. The number of the melee units matter as if its too small the circle formation is pointless. My characters i predominantly an archer - so i can simply remain on my donkey/camel/horse and shoot from within the circle although i've had accidents.

[@pyrphoros8739]

Best tactic i found so far is 100% achers. Split them into 2 groups and fall back whichever group gets attacked by the enenmy infantry. Managed to win several 100 vs 500 fights with only superfical to no losses at all. This is so good i just count it as a cheese.

[@SpartanIsGaming]

I used to do that to with the battanian fians since they are so fast and can retreat out of map if things get to bad but I kept running into armies with a lot of cav and it stopped working. Still a good start tho

[@storm0fnova]

you can run that tactic with 1 group of horse archers

[@jorda229]

i never even played mount and blade but watching this is cool

[@sunajax3126]

Great video ! This layout is perfectly effecient dealing with an army containing a lot of infantry units. But how do I deal with khusait army with 100+ cav and horse archers?

[@SpartanIsGaming]

You can either put your shields/spears in a square or circle formation on a hill with archers in the middle or you can go into shield wall and place your guys up against a wall/mountain/border and have battinian fians wipe them out. Archers can easily take out khuzait horses since they are the slowest and weakest in the game. Hope that helps

[@sunajax3126]

@@SpartanIsGaming Will try that later, once again thanks for the tips.

[@SpartanIsGaming]

@@sunajax3126 no problem man, glad to help

[@dannycoronado7075]

This tactic really works in any scenario, I've used it and continue to use it, as well as the same troops

[@m33tballa]

They really need to make reinforcements spawn closer to the battle. You can cheese every battle outnumbered purely due to how far the AI has to run to get to battle

[@x-raymnd3972]

The Fian champions is such a fucking gigachad unit with their Dark Souls giant bows

[@qranchh]

Imagine you are surrounded by fifteen hundred soldiers, and your party is three hundred. What do you do? Obviously, a square can kill over a thousand soldiers. Oh my god, it worked!

[@SpartanIsGaming]

Batanian long bows are just insane for mowing down hordes of enemies if you can turn or slow down their shields

[@luckyspartan1875]

When bannerlord came out i played captain mode and did a square on the last flag against 2 melee armies of enemies and won

[@guildardaze1438]

Very similar to actual real life historical tactics. Other then the 1 square formation that basically block "squads" as one of them tangles up and au get stuck on it. But the horse tactics and slowing down and breaking formations. Well done and plausible

[@ozkang654]

You are basicly preparing a open shoot range for your archers and distracting them 👍👍 This strategy works well even in Real battles if i am not wrong there was a famous English War that similar strateji is used Bannerlord should have some elements like wooden spikes or some roadbloks that would be awesome you should be able to prepare battle areas before the battle

[@hynotherhino]

Thinking of English tactics, tactics similar to those used at Agincourt work pretty well in Bannerlord. You can split your archers into two groups and have them flank your infantry. When the enemy infantry attack your infantry, you move your archers forward a little and shoot the enemy in the rear. Pull them back for the next wave... and rinse and repeat. Perfect for when the enemy has a shieldwall!

[@alphalegionary7646]

My tactic is basically that except I send out my horse archers to distract the left wing cavalry as soon as the enemy infantry get about 30 seconds from reaching my infantry line, I distract them by sending the horse archers charging right at them from the right so they are covered from the enemy archers then I swing them back out while letting the enemy cavalry keep between my horse archers and the enemy archers. Then I lead my cavalry Rohirrim-style, because of course, into the gap left by the cavalry chasing my horse archers, do a wide swing past the infantry into the rear of the archers, scatter them as we blow past into the enemy infantry's rear, and as we do that, I have the infantry charge so you trap the enemy infantry in the middle, if my archers have mostly depleted their ammo I'll send them into support. But I also keep the cavalry going through the infantry, through my own infantry then swinging to the right to counter the enemy right wing cavalry, who should have been in the middle of charging into my cavalry as they were the closest targets but instead they ram into their own troops, minimizing the charge and then bringing my cavalry around behind them again to close off the pocket with both enemy cavalry and infantry trapped. My horse archers are usually good enough to deal with the remaining cavalry without much help, especially since after the double charge and pocket of the entire army, half the cav will rout. The enemy archers are usually too scattered from the first charge to fire into my cav's rear because my archers won't be able to target the foot infantry usually so they'll switch to the enemy archers and wipe them.

[@jonde_o]

Now do that while enemy is moving and you are in a first person view... :D Anyway nice vid.

[@giggitygoo21]

and without spawning units mid fight... 5:17 4:04

[@paladinsk2]

@@giggitygoo21 wtf man, did you ever play mount & blade? 1000 troop unit on battlefield max if you set it to that in settings, 1720 is more than that. When it clears out a bit, reinforcements come.

[@giggitygoo21]

@@paladinsk2 yeah that seems to completely ruin the battle. thank god for mods.

[@noobielameo]

I use a more complicated formation, Fan formation. Melee infantry shield wall, archers line 45degree right behind (this allows archers to be shooting), melee cavalry behind the infantry on standby, you can move left flank to fight enemy horse archers or counter enemy melee cavalry charging at your archers. Place horse archers right side of your archers, that way enemy flank is exposed. The moment your infantry start fighting, everyone charges, melee cavalry flank left, horse archers flank right. The enemy has no place to run and a lot will die before they can regroup..

[@riptrojans7237]

Battanian Fian champions were 69% of all kills, nice.

[@Butterkin]

I would normally find a hill or mountain to spread my archers out on. Sight advantage, range advantage and the more spread out, the less likely it is that ranged attacks from the enemy will actually hit your archers. Infantry shield wall is good, but I like to use cav not to distract the enemy or counter but to charge through them while they make contact with my shield wall. Or I'll have my cav follow me and I'll lead them into the enemy myself. Horse archers in my opinion are best when they make up your entire army. They really do become a mongol death ring, unless they were nerfed or something. I would put them in formation behind or Infront (below) my archers which are on foot and allow them to contribute to ranged kills. When the enemy is in disarray after being charged and slamming against my shield wall, once twiddled down, the mounted archers can charge in and help quickly clean them up while encircling as their AI likes to do.

[@YuriKC]

Great video, good tactics. But i still prefer 100% horse archer and let them destroy all lol

[@SpartanIsGaming]

man I've never liked playing horse archer or watching them fight in this game. They just run into spears constantly. But they are good for dominating open fields. Just dont expect to do any sieging lol. Everyone you lose includes loosing a horse which sucks.

[@YuriKC]

@@SpartanIsGaming yeah im playing only horse archers in my gameplay and i cant atack a castle to form a kingdom because i know im gonna be wiped

[@phenix4181]

@@YuriKC get a wife to gather regular troops and switch up for sieges, or you can put your horse archers in a castle that's irrelevant to current wars and take them back when needed or something

[@YuriKC]

@@phenix4181 good ideia of wife

[@BobbertNoodle]

One tactic that works for me which allows me to lose barely anyone, especially my cav is have 100 archers, 100 infantry, 50/50 mixed Calvary. Go on a small hill in a tight formation with all units, start to march forward were the AI only see my cav first then volley them until they change formation then when the ground units catch up I charge all units, the main cav go through but instead of a distraction their just a first hit then when the regular ground troops go in the AI is confused of who to hit first. After the first wave of enemies start to go out I Keep all units on me marching up until I reach near there spawn then charge again. This can work with 1 to 5 ratio with mediocre troops, anything more will result in having more high tier troops. Its also a bonus to having a few camels since they are slower they are like a second wave of Calvary charge.

[@fightcancer]

Thanks for this!!

[@glenp.8241]

I also do a thing where I line the archers sideways far to the battle and send the inf. Just close enough to get the enemy to follow them and then the inf retreats as the archers pick off the enemy

[@JordanPaul.M]

"how to defeat an army using exploits in the AI movement"

[@SpartanIsGaming]

If it works it works

[@richardpagel6959]

​@@SpartanIsGaming Yeah but nothing to brag around with as every M&B player already did that.

[@bradconstan5383]

@@richardpagel6959 he made the video to explain the strategy not to flex it

[@richardpagel6959]

@@bradconstan5383 Exploiting broken game mechanics is no strategy. Besides, everybody should already know that from Mount & Blade 1 by the way so it is not even something new to show, it is fucking years old already. :D

[@thecommentsectioner]

@@richardpagel6959 exploiting weakness isn’t a strategy huh?

[@critical6798]

Lmaooo the mass execution at the end is savage af.

[@tw3f4tes52]

The ultimate strategy is abusing the retreat button. Been outnumbered 10 to 1 and still won with only a few casualties. It’s basically cheating though, should probably get fixed

[@scaryonline]

Retreating and attack in medival days were a tactic and used to pull enemy into trap.

[@shafinrahman2199]

The Muslims literally stopped the Mongols by abusing the retreat button irl. It cost them the library of Baghdad tho

[@scaryonline]

@@shafinrahman2199 I really want one thing in this game. Better AI at everything from shops to selling to fight to maps to politics. This will drastically change how we play the game

[@tw3f4tes52]

@@scaryonline Yeah, though I’m pretty sure retreating in medieval and ancient warfare didn’t involve having you and/or your enemy magically disappear right before the melee only to reappear on opposite sides of the battlefield again.

[@scaryonline]

@@tw3f4tes52 the problem that your troop get to max health and every arrow is shot came back magically. They need to make retreating cost troops. So the more the enemy. The more you retreat the more troops you lost and archer and horse archer loses half In the first retreat and all in the second one. And the third one your troops is exhausted and their shield is damaged. We want mount and blade 2 to become huge and with better AI

[@bigounce9688]

Back in my day I’d just have a shit ton of foot soldiers rush in while I distract the enemy on horse back

[@liptonmyson]

Are we not going to talk about sir big pp

[@SpartanIsGaming]

Big PP Gang

[@11michaeleasley]

awesome job man! super smart strategy

[@harrybenson6731]

This shows that the AI could use lots of improvements. Bannerlord is still awesome though

[@cut--]

Great vid.. At mid late game, storming castles and running around the map I use 90% Khuzait Khan Guard. They're easy to find and level and great as cav or close quarter fighters. It's why early on everyone avoids Step Bandits because they are a bitc& to kill and can literally run circles around every other troop. I like BFC's when I can find them.

[@Misteramen]

Took a lot of time finding each one and training them huh

[@drdredd5089]

Gave me PTSD watching catraphracts charge in without support

[@seongminyu4700]

Lol I was able to kill 3600 Sturgians with 120 Fians. Thats how OP they are.

[@yodemanx]

in realistic ? with veteran AI ? i have doubt about that

[@vasa1412]

@@yodemanx probably not a single fight

[@vasa1412]

retreat cheese perhaps

[@VladT.Wallachia]

Year old video and this still helped me. thanks

[@SpartanIsGaming]

And I still use this formation to this day

[@Shammer1]

Just camp at the edge of the map and get an archer army and retreat when they are too close. Just rinse and repeat lol

[@DarkCrusade]

LMAO

[@kba]

It still works, still get scary close battles when fighting in an army where I don't command most of the troops and we're outnumbered.