FLANK! DON'T STACK! - Total War Tactics: Warhammer 2

[@mcglynn20]

To be fair... that's exactly what an ork would do.

[@christopherclayton5500]

Be brutal, but cunning. 🤔

[@zahirsonny7689]

Instablaster

[@DaUziel]

Sounds loik 'e needs sum big finkin'. Mork'll sort 'em out.

[@malibuhiegts]

​@@christopherclayton5500 Kinda like baldrick Have a cunning plan, but no brains to use it, blwarghhhkadder back'in foarth

[@kevinforget549]

The only real exception is stacking mixed units. For example, kroxigores take a lot of damage on their own but when mixed with skinks they can still push through into the front and their models are not surrounded by the enemies troops due to the skinks blocking them and taking most of the damage instead.

[@ericmyrs]

Oh. This I need to try.

[@fedyx1544]

On mp sure. On sp you're better off mixing them with Saurus or TG.

[@genghiskhan6809]

@@ericmyrs How have you *not* done this (or something similar) already? This tactic has *been* the game since TWW1.

[@beastinahalfmode]

@@genghiskhan6809 -- I bought the game like a week ago. While it was something I already knew, namely from catching interest from seeing Zerk, milkandcookies, and Turin.. but I had tried a total war game before, and it wasn't for me at the time. But when I FIRST started.. I really thought the name of the game was overloading the mid with sheer numbers, and whatever you had left after building wide af would overflow and eventually flank the ends. So in short.. game and series has been out for a long time, but seeing a question like that is a good indication it is still bringing in new people.

[@RoulicisThe]

Yeah, but kroxigors are only 12 in their unit and their mordels are big compared to the skinks. It means that the skinks won't bother the kroxigors when they try to reach the frontline, unlike what would happen if you were to send another unit of skinks instead, which would get body blocked by the first one. I still agree with this tactic though : mixing monster units with Infantry can have a good synergy, but if you have the opportunity : these kroxigors would still do more damage if they manage to reach the back of the ennemy than while fighting them head-on (and I don't even take the leadership penalty into account ^^)

[@havocgr1976]

Omg that tomb kings blob, I sooo want to throw a spell on em...

[@tex4096]

I could see the vortex in my mind.

[@cataclysmicdelta1828]

Texaco yeah I feel like that’s everyone

[@cataclysmicdelta1828]

Texaco just spamming some vortexes and then summoning behind the blob and boxing them in

[@genghiskhan6809]

If only that dragon hadn't gotten its' ass kicked, a breath attack would've been disgusting.

[@everfree4175]

I used to play a lot of Napoleon total war. And as a lover of good artillery from that game, looking at those rows of targets, I was crying tears of joy~ X')

[@piggypoo]

play campaign on easy highlight all my army right the center unit of my opponents army feels good man

[@smort123]

Epic Win

[@jacksonkalvin1205]

I’m playing on easy, and I can’t even do that right.

[@charlesxii2660]

@@jacksonkalvin1205 first of all forgive me if i sound douchy but if that is so then just fight more battles and get the gist of it

[@snoot_loops599]

I would recommend playing on normal difficulty, because easy has some weird balancing issues. For example, I was playing as wood elves, about 80% done with my campaign, and then 5 full stacks out of nowhere from factions I'm not at war with hit me. I was done. I know I'm not the best total war player because I've only been playing for a couple of years, but that's one thing I've noticed. Normal campaign and battle difficulty seems to work better

[@jacksonkalvin1205]

Oh wow, actual feedback, thanks guys!

[@InternetMameluq]

2:00 It's like 300, but instead of a tight passage, they're just too stupid to walk around them.

[@tex4096]

It's like the most basic thing ever. There is no point in strength in numbers of you don't use them.

[@romanpapec6735]

@B T And even more advantage of just going around them.

[@Jaime_Protein_Cannister]

@B T What do you mean by pushing , because most battles implemented spears with additional side arms in case of closer combat, you're not "pushing", unless you want to die on a wall of spears. A spear is the ultimate weapon of war btw, much better than swords, axes ,rapiers etc Just watch a spear combat video. One advantage advantage has to do with cav and penetration. The TRUE advantage of a square formation is it's mobility. A line formation of spears cannot easily protect it's flank. A square formation can simply turn the body 90degree to a side and voila. What you ideally want is form a square when moving about and turn into thin lines when you engage. Using thicker lines is best if you're going to slowly retreat and re position so that your stronger flank wraps around the enemy. Tho totall war series lacks the microability , the orders are way too delayed to take full advantage off and units get stuck holding back most of the platoon back.

[@Daedwartin2]

Sprunkers Just going to point this out....we actually have no evidence as on to how Romans rotated their front line or on if it even actually was a thing they did. Not only that, the single most dangerous thing you can do is turning your back to the enemy when at the area of contact between 2 armies, making it more difficult to believe this happened. It is actually theorized it might just be that the lines behind the front acted more as reserves for the hastai. Secondly, the roman front line was actually a shorot sword and shield. Against a Proper spear line like a Phalanx, it actually could acheive very little. It didnt help the Romans that they have a very loose formation at around 1.5 meters on average having been between them, compared to the Phalanx’s rubbing shoulders. Interesting thing is if you look at basically every time the Phalanx and Rome fought, what tended to happen was the Roman Army would actually be put through a meatgrinder, some Greek general would attack somewhere with Elephants and the romans spook said elephants into running into the Greek lines...and well, the greek lose because they just got broken out of formation. It is also noteworthy that when Elephants were not involved, often what caused the greek lose was the failure of greek cavalry to even show up, allowing the Roman Cavalry to flank as they wish. The one that takes the cake is the battle where the Greek Cavalry was forced off the field with the general of the greek army being amongst them. Rule 1 of Ancient Warefare: If your general is running away from the battle, you are FUCKED. All of them the Romans however suffered heavy loses. But this is expected. Push of Spear and Pike has always been a very effective method. Also, yeah, the mobility is also something I find people underestimate about Spear. I have no clue where people thought the Phalanx coulding handle rough terrain...People, Macadonia was rough terrain. Most of Phillip II campaigns was in even rougher Terrain. Greece is rough Terrain. Alexander’s Phalanxes literally were made into the hammer they were by rough terrain(The big misconception on Alexander’s army is there was an anvil. No, he had 2 hammers, just one walked while the other rode). THE SWISS PIKEMEN, some of the best pikemen seen in europe historically, live in the FUCKING ALPS if people still need convincing that Spear and Pike can easily handle it.

[@Jaime_Protein_Cannister]

@@Daedwartin2 Yeah I guess the documentary I watched must be wrong about the romans. Still Phalanx is clumsy to re-locate at moments notice. It's not really about terrain , it will behave like any other infantry unit, but about deployment, once you deploy a line it can only go forwards. This is why cav is so good in flanking spears as you pointed out.

[@drakefire6675]

The only time you should stack units is if they are monstrous infantry with regular infantry or when you have a low model unit you want to protect like Depth Guard. And in some cases, it's likely just better to flank.

[@mrroger-t6m]

Never played this game, but maybe you also want to pin down some expensive with a pair of cheap ones

[@generalharness8266]

@@mrroger-t6m The problem is with this game does not allow units with the same mass to push though each other. So if you charge spear men into the back of a unit of you own spear men fighting then the second units spear men will not get to the front line to shear the damage. Its a good game but you have units that are designed to hold and units that are designed to kill specific targets.

[@droppodgamer8076]

Drake Fire my problem is I wanna protect my Depth guard with the zombies but they keep getting caught on them so I don’t get much use from my Depth guard I don’t usually play factions that have units like this so what should I do?

[@Thrynkz]

@@droppodgamer8076 Zombies are usually meant to just muck up the enemy troops, in your situation, you have two options, either send in the zombies and then flank around with the depth guard, or send in the zombies, hold the depth guard in reserve, and then when the opposing troops are exhausted you send in the depth guard. Another thing you can do to prevent them from catching is to pull back your zombies as you charge in the depth guard so they pull past each other, then once your depth guard are near the front of the zombie formation, recommit the zombies so the first line is a mix of zombies and depthguard.

[@gerrygunawan4130]

@@droppodgamer8076 say only choice is 2 unit zombie mob and Depht guard... first choice charge def or counter charge ur enemy unit with ZOMBIe Mob... then when ur army collide charge with ur DEPTH GUard or flank them... its ur choice if it can flank, just flank to decrease casualties... but if no.choice just rush to ur zombie mob... but dont stack 2 zombie mob or u stack 2 depth guard... uts become uselesss.. less effective

[@Boomerrage32]

You should make a montage of Foot of Gork annihilating big blobs of units. You know, just to really drive the point home.

[@Tuck213]

That tomb kings stack on the high elf spears really ticked you off at the time huh

[@romanpapec6735]

Hahahaha yeah his reaction when he saw that while recapturing the battle was just too damn good:'D

[@Yceb0x]

Zerkovich is that villain who gets angry when his opponents make victory too easy.

[@Gumberculesus]

These kids would not have gotten away with this shit in Rome One.

[@Jaymo00]

Thank you for this! I am a Civ 5 player so the live battle tactics in total war kinda overwhelm me and somehow i always end up blobbing. I need to practice some more

[@Kellethorn]

One notable exception: when playing vampire counts (on pretty much any difficulty), you want basically all your infantry (except maybe cairn wraiths) stacked on a thick blob. Then you just hammer the AI with you're fast/high mass monsters and cav from behind.

[@dagoelius]

"But oh no let's just select the entire army and give a single right click, and watch this shitty game of tetris unfold"- Lmao!

[@nqh4393]

Whenever I see this, I can't help but drop a giant vortex magic on that.

[@no.one.2]

This definetly shows I can improve. I have been flanking as per training from the other videos, but is see that I still have too many units attacking only one of theirs. I have a lot of squads I can use to engage all of theirs or flank. I will definetly grt better with those few extra clicks. Thank you Mr. Zerkovich.

[@Dr.AvenVon]

wait, some People that go online actualy do this? I'm a total(war) noob, I only Play on easy and even I don't do this, even I allways try to flank with Units that are only in the place of better ones.

[@TheManofthecross]

how much do you lack confedence to do it on normal? you know people shame people for playing on easy now a days. :(

[@zimboth]

​@@TheManofthecross I mean it can depend on what race you play (i play normal but a lot of my games on vortex had the lizardmen dog pileing me making me fight hard to not lose ground with allies being a need not a wont) and also votex vs mortal empires (no mortal empire games yet) so I can see some people taking easy on there first few games. I would recomend trying tome kings on normal if you just want to dip your toes in it removes army upkeep as a worry.

[@TheManofthecross]

@@zimboth I see and I usually play as riekland on the old world for the empire of man so I know how to deal with the upkeep and the supply lines issues and all so it is ok. and yes I know about the tomb kings not costing gold to recruit etc there skeleton warriors and spears make up the main line of the lot but the tomb kings are limitied by the amount of amries you can have they can only field so many at a time and have to rely on numbers.

[@jaredmccain7555]

lol when i was i kid id send like 6 units onto 1 unit thinking it would kill them faster now i know why i sucked so much.

[@michaelmcdowell7096]

Thanks for tips, I'm new and bobbing with vampire counts and this will help me flank and tie up missle units without suicide rushing them with flyers

[@sohamc4979]

Zerkovich is hard on mistakes; a good teacher !!!

[@cameronmcindoe6119]

So don't stack unless all the units are actually able to hit the enemy and are squishy damage dealers with armoured escort. also always look for flanks to deal more damage, take out squishy units and damage morale.

[@nayrosnoflaalfonso1050]

exactly

[@RRRRRRRRR33]

Flanking? Like the Dohraki did in game of thrones?

[@sentinelplayztm922]

No as in flanking as in the tactic used widely throughout all of warfare throughout all of history

[@janbazuine6636]

@@sentinelplayztm922 r/woosh

[@foxkashima]

This is a great guide and series about warhammer 2. Thanks for the good work.

[@DraconiusDragora]

I find it that telling your units to do X over Y just doesn't work. Example: Telling one unit to walk around a spear unit or sword and shield unit. Instead of doing what I told them, they just charge into making a blob, just because they are in Z range of the unit, or a single model of the unit ran off into it. I have had multiple times, where I tell large units to move back, or out of combat, and they just don't do it. I have to spam the order constantly for them to -sometimes- do what I tell them to do. I have lost count on battles I have lost because of units just ignoring what I tell them to do. Yet, in Shogun 2, they *Do* what I tell them too. Even if they are attacked mid run, they will ignore fighting, as the commander *me* told them to do X thing. The problem is, the A.I of the units takes over, rather than letting the player do what they can, to sway a battle. Another example, group is starting to lose, tells them to move back, as another group goes in, this should switch out the worn down unit, with the fresh unit. Giving a short rest for the worn down unit. Just something so simple, apparently is out of questions. As the worn down unit will ignore it to 100% and keep on fighting, blocking the fresh unit from getting forward. Causing a huge problem.

[@no.one.2]

I have the same issue sometimes. I have started making longer arcs away from anything they will make contact with to avoid them engaging something when they walk near it. I dont like doing it because it will take longer, but clearly it will get them to do what I want.

[@allisterforest1842]

being attacked in mid-ovement has been in totar war since at least Rome II

[@DraconiusDragora]

@@allisterforest1842 If you tell a unit to do X they must do X. If you tell them to retreat, they should retreat, not run head first into combat again. Being attacked, should not overwrite their ordered goal. Example; Tell a unit to climb the wall, but the opponent opens the gate, the unit will not just jump off the walls to go through the gate, that is retarded.

[@allisterforest1842]

@@DraconiusDragora I understand what you are saying. I think the developers figured that in most cases it's better for a unit to settle into combat if it is intercepted by an enemy unit. Also imagine if pikemen could do what you suggested. There's a way to get them to push threw a unit they are engaged with by spam clicking. Since the soldiers don't naturally fall back while losing in combat they will sit in place and get totally slaughtered by the pikes

[@DraconiusDragora]

@@allisterforest1842 So having a unit that is not in combat being glared at from 20 meters away will just BANZAI into the enemy, when you told them to WALK around them. Hell even Medieval 2 has better logic than that. And to note: You *can* spam click a whole unit through a blob. But it is not worth it. It works better with larger units like Cavalry, but they still can be spam clicked through enemy lines, while taking a fuck ton of damage. So again, old system way better where they will DO what you tell them too.

[@thecentralscrutinizerr]

It's Summer. The date is August 2nd. The year is 212 BC. The place is Cannae, Italy. 80,000 Roman infantry and 5,000 Roman cavalry led by two Roman Consuls faced off against 30,000 Carthaginian infantry with 8,000 cavalry led by Hannibal Barca. At the end of the day, not a single Roman was left alive and it was _not_ a Pyrrhic victory for the Carthaginians. Biggest real life example of stacking ever in the history of warfare.

[@OMagela]

All your content just saved most of my campain issues, and i just started with the most complicaded faction to run the campain: The Clan Mors... Now this is a thing to think about

[@Kooolmun]

This video helped me get through a tough situation on my darkelf campaign. :3 thanks Zerkovich.

[@MrSilvara3]

i would like to also put my input into this discussion in more technical and economic term: The army is like your resource, never spend too much resource from just one angle of attack and play a number game. if you are outnumbered, play more defensively and actively try to protect your front-line from being flanked too easily until the opportunity presents itself to open new angle of attack. if you have the number advantage, actively try to seek out of opening new angle of attacks whilst trying to get through their rearguard (I.E. the units that are protecting it's flanks). if both army is even, then it all comes down to the planning of a battle and the execution of said battle plan and doctrine. What i meant by doctrine is: what is my composition of my army and how i fought my wars as a faction? what is my strength and weakness to know how i fought my wars and form a battle plan. for example, for vampire coasts in battle and campaign it is: ranged superiority and monsters along with vampiric corruption, being able to recover from battles quicker, along with special missions and unique rewards for defeating minor-pirates. the only time you ever stack is when the enemy unit value exceed your own unit value, in that case additional units is required to turn that fight into your favor. but most importantly though, knowing the reality of a situation and getting a big picture of your own wars and battles is a key to opening the door of the future of your own nation.

[@TheDiggus]

Loose formation units also sometimes benefit from stacking. Goblin spears and nasty skulkers are a good example for this.

[@jaymay7957]

I love these games and I didn’t know multiplayer was so popular wtf!

[@janbazuine6636]

6:29 that tomb guard is a ninja

[@mangaranwow2543]

Thanks for the advice, I have to admit that many times I also just stack my rats in one big combat. Now i now better =)

[@professionalsocialparasite301]

while moving the front line towards the enemy front, i just give any of them one targetunit (especially if i have the counterunit). mostly (campaign)ai and players just stack, so you always have free units for reserve, defense of range units or flanking... not that hard. anyway, good "damn noob, oben your eyes..." lesson ;-)

[@nshilts5829]

the one thing you should have mentioned is combined arms with monstrous infantry mixed in with chaff allowing you to have the damage output of the monsters whilst they're meat shielded from high damage

[@harjutapa]

Stacking like that makes me so happy when I'm playing anything with a Winds spell.

[@zero5496]

those that stack up was asking to be wreck with magic and even artillery works well

[@georgemorley1029]

When I am advancing my line towards the AI line in campaign, I always watch to see if they gravitate towards one part of the line more than the other, especially if my units are slightly staggered. It seems like the AI will often ignore the fact that there are other units further back and bases its decision to attack on the proximity of the unit that is closest to it. That means that if I put spearmen (for example with the high elves) at the top of the advance and rangers slightly behind them, I can encourage the AI to stack and blob on the spears, then I move the rangers out wide (or through gaps in the lines) before the lines meet and bring them round the back. Once this is achieved a spell on top usually breaks the blob pretty fast.

[@7upac]

As a brand new player this is very helpful. Thank you

[@soldier22881]

Thanks!

[@frederickbaggett936]

Isn’t this the Concentration of Force mechanic?

[@toddfrombethesda6963]

That’s what I was thinking.

[@Alexander-tw3hl]

To be honest i usually stack my frontline units when i'm fighting in shield wall formations or when I want to break theough a certain part of the opponents frontline with sheer weight of mass.

[@bwya4558]

omg that Tomb Kings blob is ripe for a spell, why wasn't there an immediate cast from the high elf player.

[@dramaking9559]

My use of tactics is usually one hellblaster and 1 handgunner on each side. Have about 2 to 3 groups of them with artillery support and pray to god the enemy break before melee

[@Rift93]

I used to do this so much it didn't really click to me that these models interact with each other the way they do

[@rasplez9889]

Skaven haven't heard of this tactic then because they tend to just rush their entire force into your defensive centre line creating massive blobs with your flanks relatively untouched.

[@tzaneee]

even if you`re new to the game ...after 2-3 battle where you see that not all units you are pilling up are attacking ,you change you tactic

[@nbp2015]

I know it was the High Elves, but as a Dark Elves and Chaos player, I was fucking salivating at how good of a Burning Head that blob would have been!

[@serkelet2]

This mistake is even made by very good players in tournaments, specially (and specifically) during the last phases of the battles. I guess they kinda panic when they are running out of troops an the enemy still has some character or monster in good health and throw everything at it, but that doesn't stop me from feeling baffled when I see it.

[@kevinforget549]

there is another exception where your leadership increases when your units are surrounded by other units. at the end of a game when units are nearly depleted a single character can easily route heavily damaged units one at a time so its usually better to pile them in, though technically you are surrounding the enemy, not bunching up in front of them as seen in this video.

[@gerrygunawan4130]

Sometimes i wonder, how come people play online with this strategy... even ur enemy is AI in campiagn... those stacking army even fight AI will take high casualties . More likely huge sarcifice

[@Darkstreets56]

I'm a long time player of all the total wars and my favorite tactic is make a heavy strong middle with cav behind them and Simi strong wings making me able to spear head through their center so I can funnel my center units through and cav for a massive flank

[@nayrosnoflaalfonso1050]

i smell shogun here

[@allisterforest1842]

I know flanking is peferable, but in seige battles at choke points If I am not worried about AOE magic attacks I will place units right on top of each other to make the formation more dence. The reason it doesn't work well offensively is because when you charge in your units break formation and will press themselves closely together against the enemy. Defensively when you are attacked your units usually won't break formation and are stuck at what ever spread in combat.

[@romanpapec6735]

Yeah charging in one more unit in this case could be an advantage. But any more of that and you are just tiring your units, not accomplishing anything.

[@dexjonesyouareaman3201]

All Total Warhammer players are equal but Zerkovich is more equal than others!

[@FlannelPrime]

Would love to see more tips and tricks videos like this. Thanks

[@komkom3425]

This isn't always a mistake, in fact if the enemy has an archer line and or lotherns sea guard it will pepper the flanking unit to smithereens or pepper its back negating its shield bonus, not to mention it will expose the unit to enemy reserve cavalry, sometimes best thing to to is to keep your units together and tie the enemy down into a slow and relatively safer grind

[@kaleidoscope3234]

yeah but blobbing up your units wont help either, just more practice targets for enemy skirmishers and present yourself as a juicy piece mob for cavalry to tap into.

[@Razielts1]

On that train of thought you should charge the front line and keep the flanking units as a secondary line as you use cav or other means to disrupt and stop range from firing enabling you to finally flank with your reserves

[@Razielts1]

That will keep the shield bonus if they are attacked and you won't suffer as many losses

[@burnttoast26]

Great guide as usual, but I gotta say: every time you say "THE Chaos" I die a little inside.

[@MatthewNoPants1atoll]

Also, don't all engaged units suffer from fatigue? Having a 2v1 frontal melee generally sees one player with two exhausted units and a (smarter) player with only one? Fresh reserves win so many battles for me

[@spiffygonzales5899]

Please make a vid on how to destroy seige towers. I have been testing with lvl 4 defense (Bretonnia) One hundred hours in game and never once destroyed a tower :/

[@nayrosnoflaalfonso1050]

get 5 grudge throwers and 10 cannons then you can maybe get it to half health... maybe

[@Zerkovich]

You know you can click on the Towers and give them targets right? Get a couple targetting one tower.

[@spiffygonzales5899]

@@Zerkovich I've done that. Tested it for hours. No luck (was using Bretonnia if that affects it any)

[@sersu3478]

Spiffy Gonzales never played Bretonia before so I am not quite sure if that affects it. But as Dwarfs or LZ and the capital or a high defense building I usually manage to destroy one tower on each flank, or if I'm lucky sometimes two. U just need to focus your defense towers

[@RogerCillion]

Not to mention all that waist of fatigue engaging with all units, when one unit can rest, or apply flanks secure morale bonus.

[@Basillic]

when there's a wide central fightline going on and i have spare units to flank with. Do I flank as fast as possible into 1 enemy or do I take my time to position them, thin my flankline so 1 unitgroup can flank multiple enemy unit groups?

[@islesofalbion2561]

Would you be able to make a tactics video about positioning for missiles and artillery? During my Empire campaign I felt that my handgunners only got a chance do any damage on the enemy's approach, as they refuse to shoot after I pull them behind my front line. I suffer similar problems with cannons, whilst my helstorm decides to make several shots into my reserve line. Should I send my gunners to flank? Or should I have gaps in my front line large enough to shoot through, but too small for the average unit to fit through?

[@gabrielmontenegro9476]

Isles of Albion You should use a chevron formation. Check this out www.reddit.com/r/totalwar/comments/7ufew8/a_guide_to_gun_formations_in_total_war_warhammer/ Thanks to the chevron formation my thunderers in my Dwarf campaign fired non-stop during whole battles. Chaos Chosen melted like butter, and shields offered them no protection.

[@islesofalbion2561]

@@gabrielmontenegro9476 Thanks a bunch for the recommendation. I took both tactics he suggested for a spin, and my battles have never gone better! Now all I need to do is re-design my armies. You wouldn't happen to have some composition suggestions for Empire/Dwarf armies...would you?

[@gabrielmontenegro9476]

@@islesofalbion2561 I am glad I could help. I only have a dwarf army composition for single player: -Basic lord (not runnelord, because it hasn't as many buffs for the units in this composition, but it could also be used once in a while) -10 units of ironbreakers (6 for forming three chevrons and 4 to protect the flanks). -6 units of thunderers (2 for each chevron). -3 cannons (1 in each chevron, between the 2 thunderers columns). Two ranks deep, so they can shoot between the space between chevrons. There you go. Early game you can use dwarf warriors and longbeards instead of ironbreakers, but always with shields, because they need the extra melee defense and parrying abilities to last longer and give time for your thunderers to do the real damage. Contrary to the guide, I have found it is not neccesary to have a hero on the tips of the chevrons to protect them from flanking. Just put the tips (the ones that are put closer to the enemy) of the chevrons touching and over each other so they do not get flanking penalties (right tip of the first chevron touches the left tip of the second chevron, and so on). Always put you infantry on guard mode, otherwise as soon as the combat stars they will spin to face the enemy on the tips and advance to concentrate on the enemy, blocking your carefully deployed thunderers's line of vision. Only allow ironbreakers to fire satchels at will if they are being confronted by infantry, and toggle off fire at will when they are charged by cavalry/monsters, so they instead brace to negate the charge bonus. The canons are for targeting enemy artillery (no more worrying over enemy chaos cannons, because dwarf cannons can blow them up in only 3 or 4 vollies, at worst, and on top of that they have better range). If the artillery is gone then target their big monsters (by the time giants and mammoths reach you, they are almost dead). If there are no monsters then target cavalry. If there is no cavalry then target armor piercing infantry (chaos chosen with great weapons, for example). Once the enemy engages your line your cannons can no longer shoot straight at them, so they have to fire at any routing unit to make sure they do not return (don't forget to also put the cannons on guard mode). Your 4 infantry for the flanks (2 in each) have to be put one battalion behind the other, because the ai when flankinng will bypass the first flanking battalion and then charge at that battalions rear, and that's when your second battalion charges and sandwiches the enemy. And the cherry on top: never leave Underway stance if you do not need to attack. The narrow passage of the Underway will allow you to block the path with your chevrons, and the 4 infantry for securing the flanks become just reserves if somehow something goes bad. The enmy cavalry will have to charge straight at your ironbreakers and be mowed down. The some dwarfs will go flying, but they will all get up and return to the formation, because the charge bonus was nullified. Last but not least, level your lord first to get lighting strike (blue promotions), because fighting more than one army in open terrain runs the risks of flanking). Then you can continue wih inspirational leader for extra replenishment or go straight to the red promotions. Do not bother with axe lord, because late game it will be useless without dwarf warriors. Get buffs torwards the units on this build, and after you finish wih the red skills move on to the yellow ones, with hard to hit. At this point your lord will be able to go toe to toe with almost any other lord, especially if you equip him with the Seed of Rebirth (regeneration). You can even but him in front of the chevrons, allow the enemy to cluster his/her forces attacking him and then order your ironbreakers to throw their sathchels for masive damage. That was pretty long. I hope I did answer your doubt. Edit: Typos.

[@islesofalbion2561]

@@gabrielmontenegro9476 Brilliant, helpful and, despite the length, clearly explained. A great help to myself, and others too I should think. Thanks again!

[@gabrielmontenegro9476]

@@islesofalbion2561 You are welcome!

[@memyselfandi432]

stack some graveguard w/ great weapons up with some zombies then send that puppy at an elite unit. the elite unit will chew through the z's while graveguard deal the damage. If you're up against chaos warriors, beastmen, other factions w/o great ranged options, try adding a Mortis Engine to the mix to get some extra health drain on the enemy and some heals on your own units.

[@nicktohzyu]

how do you do it in 2 clicks??? the best I can think of is 3 clicks, or 2 clicks + 1 key, ie drag to select, lock group, then attack

[@tex4096]

Select all units then right click.

[@nicktohzyu]

@@tex4096 if you do that they will all converge to 1 spot. they must be locked grouped to move straight forward

[@rednaxelA11]

is it best to have a flanking unit in a more or less square formation so that they can turn quicker? is it best to have front line units spread into a line three or four men deep? Those chaos warriors as a single unit have wrapped the TK units... how do you do that?!?! is that simply just a wider unit formation?

[@cagedglobe2139]

@zerkovich If you have 2 melee units and you cant flank, is it better to blob and 2v1 or is it better to keep 1 in reserve?

[@briancook4763]

You mentioned one of the drawbacks with stacking was that some units were not even engaged (elf/undead scenario). What is the ratio of units that can engage a single unit/soldier before I have guys sitting around watching?

[@snickle1980]

This helps. See, back in the day, i swear the stacking used to work wonders. Nice to see some changes.

[@UnknownRealityMusic]

I'm sure its a mod but, what is that highlighter thing he is using. I've seen it in a lot of your videos and still haven't seen a comment that was also curious

[@gunthereinritterdesheilige8436]

with both the title and the thumbnail i first read "flank Steak"

[@Kingsman4101]

This is where having played table top helps to understand how this works.....

[@VAfurious7]

STANK! DON'T FLACK!

[@kubapicha5124]

I know this is a bit out of context, but it works in M2TW, so someone who switches between these games might do it instinctively.

[@Polex411]

isnt stacking something you are suppose to do when you are using armies like that of the skaven or vampire coast? with their meat shield units?

[@maxjambon3117]

No, your extra meatshield units should be going around the enemy mainline to tie down other units like archers or artillery.

[@QiaraIris]

Hi, I'm new at this game and trying to learn to be better. How do you swap unit to make one of the fall back like that?

[@darksoul4858]

Cant wait to fight some blobby battles as Ikkit, doomrocket best, yes-yes.

[@mitchymitch2169]

Spread your front line across the length of the map and stagger them if you are going inf heavy this will panic your opponent and give you the advantage making it impossible to flank you without winning an infantry fight

[@trevorflanagan4873]

I always stack chaff with strong units to distribute damage

[@Skullcruncher44]

We engage in a mild amount of tomfoolery

[@GarwenK]

The last time I stacked? Playing warriors of chaos on easy as kholek with an army of 14 Dragon ogres, 5 shaggoths and kholek. Was fighting vampire counts sooo I just grouped everything charged into one tiny part of there army bardeped threw moved behind them cake back and repeat til undead is dead Fun times.

[@stuff3862]

If I pull a unit out won’t they take a “penalty” for exposing their flanks? Sometimes I’ll try to pull a unit out and I see it’s numbers drop dramatically because he’s no longer fighting?

[@franzsperginand113]

I always thought these were things that were obvious and didn't need to be explained lol. Some people, man.

[@antonlevitan6165]

Hey man. Love your stuff. Been watching a lot of those videos, finally remembered to comment and express my appreciation. Keep it up! Hopefully we'll get some new furries and iguanas to flank with soon ;)

[@abrahamkhafajy8214]

i play on normal mode but i always command my unit but they refuse to move they just stick in fighting how can i make them fall back, all i get is them fight n refusing to back off until their moral drops n then they flee

[@seanhenry7174]

Should be a "grimdark" mod or setting: like in the fluff! Baaaaaad shyt happens, random and tear-worthy...only war!

[@lucasgalbani]

I gotta ask... does this tactic and the other warhammer 2 ones work on the first game?

[@niklas4842]

Lucas Albani works in every total war game

[@flazzorb]

Summary: Don't be the persians, flank them with your massive numbers. _Ignore the fact that the persians couldn't flank to begin with._

[@cypher4783]

So, what about of oblique order?

[@Bazerald777]

It can be accomplished by massing your better quality units in one flank and then flank the enemy not blobbing your line. For example, you have your usual front line and 1 line of reserve, but on the right flank you put extra 2-3 units behind the reserve. As soon as the melee about to start, rush your front line to engage the enemy while the extra 2-3 units try to flank the enemy line and attack from their side or behind. This will quickly crumble their left flank and what you do next is well just roll the other flanks piece meal.

[@huntermad5668]

Maybe they are new to Total war. Still they have the advantage of having waypoints to direct the flanking maneuver while in older total war, you need to babysit you flanking units.

[@ValosarX]

How exactly do you order a long line to attack another line in good order? I've been playing as the vampire pirates against the high elves and can't get close to them without their archers fucking my entire line of zombies to death. Normally I approach in good order but the longer it takes you to get to them the more damage they'll do. I need to get more long range artillery but for the moment I'm just avoiding them . I'm used to play factions that can sit still and let the enemy come to them

[@gts2550]

You can either select your units one by one once they approach the enemy and then order each to attack a different unit which is the obvious and very micro intensive way, or you can group your frontline with ctrl+g. This will tell them to lock formation (not just group) and engage as a line. They will pick different targets for the most part once they close in to charge distance if you do the latter. Mind that they will march at the speed of the slowest unit in order to keep formation though. And uhhh... about the archer problem, if you were playing as Vampire Counts you could use bats and summons to disrupt enemy ranged units and stop them from firing on your advancing frontline but I cannot justify not taking advantage of Vampire Coast's artillery superiority against High Elves. Vampire Coast is THE artillery faction after all.

[@Smullet90]

Bold of you to assume I would know which units do damage against other units.

[@Razielts1]

Question: are dual weapon units like kepra Guard good to mix with skeleton warriors for example? And i'm currently mixing Spears with swords so Spears take damage and swords deal damage is it bad?

[@ryanb7701]

As others have said here, it can be good to stack them in some situations (playing with a very wide stack and having them charge in reserve, which allows them to actually get to the enemy) Stacking is typically best with lower model count units like Ushabti + Spear Skellies though, try flanking with the Kepra Guard, that's where they shine.

[@Razielts1]

@@ryanb7701 thanks man so i use warriors as flank untill i get kepra guard nice

[@ishadorman5682]

I know a game called Ultimate General Civil War that demand you rigorously to flank enemy. But since this is total war with nice animation, most of people just want enjoyments to see unit poking each other with poles.

[@bwcmakro]

"like some mindless zombie horde" - maybe not the best comparison, considering they're skeletons, hahaha

[@Ballistica242]

As a new player can I ask why? atm I stack all my units because I just assumed that 1 unit does 1x damage but 2 units would do 2x damage to the opposing unit (and so on) therefore eliminating them with little causalities so i can move from opposing unit to unit. Is this not how it works? EDIT: when you move units into combat (and flanking) are you fast moving?

[@TheRedAzuki]

Only units that are next to enemy units can actually attack (surface to surface) so a blob, majority is behind the actual line of battle. So they stand idle until other targets die.

[@tannereldred7039]

Alternatively you can flank with damage dealing ranged units like empire handgunners

[@pnb4591]

In campaign I usually do this, just group them and click to engage anything, in fact I really fucking miss the AI control comand in this game. Specially with the vampire counts, it's all melee, 20 goddamn units of melee, nearly everything in my army just charge whatever is closer and I often micro half a dozen of remaining units like cav, flying or the lords while the infantry charges mindlessly and I still get to forget cav sometimes and end up losing blood knights or similar units... Not to mention it's a 40v40 battle, the 2nd army I don't even look at, just charge everything in any way possible and rage at the fact that I can't use AI control.

[@theunfortunategeneral]

ctrl+A dubbleclick works well if the enemy has inferior units.

[@chancyhill2650]

Stacking can be useful to try and pull off a unit type swap for better matchups.

[@CalmSmilingMan]

There is one big blobby line of mess engaged with enemies one big blobby line of mess! How do you know how my campaign going?

[@agedvagabond]

It's hilarious warhammer players need to be told this.

[@allisterforest1842]

notice how they also call the units models. Makes sense I guess since when they play table-top they use models literally.

[@cptcatnip6367]

how is this hilarious, there are players that never played total war or strategy games. there are so many different units in this game, and most of the time units from the same type have different icons because of the different factions. this can be overwhelming when you are new. there is just so much stuff that isnt properly explained i mean just take a look at unit stats for example, i would bet more than half of the playerbase has like no idea how stats like melee attack/defence, charge bonus and stuff like that actually works. but i bet you are an expert at this game, who know everything when you started playing.

[@agedvagabond]

@@cptcatnip6367 hilarious noobs, git gud. I don't play warhammer, it's an abomination. But I'm glad it brings revenue for the title.

[@Siegberg91]

You most remember that newer total wars are far quicker in gameplay das in older you had more time to manuever.

[@egemenozcelik7494]

@@agedvagabond youre probably one of the most toxic sounding total war players i have ever seen , i mean there isnt much but yeah youre a rare case

[@jefkotd9464]

i think out flanking isnt always the best idea but blobing up is really bad but in the GS battle you had a bunch of skirmishers yes he could have outflanked you but if he did he would get shot in the back if it was me i would maby try to go tru the gap in your line and go after another taget you never wanne get shot in the back even if you are out flanking

[@FerrousAradicen]

I didn't actually know there were people worse than me.

[@evancawley3236]

I thought you said stacking works?

[@imhollywood101]

Classic pincer move?? Car Ramrod?????

[@mso2013]

I do Like a video that ends in skelligballet