How To DOMINATE With An Aserai Only Army | Bannerlord Tactics Guide

[@philjohnson1744]

That was fantastic! I especially liked the parts when you got overwhelmed and issued order f1f3 to great effect.

[@Strat-Guides]

Haha sometimes F1 F3 is better than doing nothing :)

[@opperbuil]

Dear Strat Gaming, thanks for being my go-to guy in Bannerlord. I am just a horse archer lamer who can just get above F1 into F3 skills and can Rambo with the troops. So compared to me, you're the final boss of this game. My respect and gratitude for making the most of us smarter.

[@philjohnson1744]

I follow his tactics but still die all the time.

[@davenaoh5545]

I used to one of those horse archer people but I decided to try with vlandia and it’s very fun

[@rathfoks5051]

Aserai armies are probably the most fun in my books. It's all about pressuring the enemy to push you and when their cavalry is out of position you send in the mamluk and faris to run circles around their foot troops and watch the green kill feed go wild. I know the infantry are geared towards a skirmisher role at first glance, but their kit makes them perfect for simply holding in place and fending off cav. Once the enemy gets close, set infantry to loose and let them toss their javs on the approach. After that the enemy should be weak enough to just full charge command and wipe them. In bigger battles using your cav is a bit trickier, you don't want to let them auto pilot or they will die fast. Its all about micromanaging the aserai cav to harass your enemy into bad decisions

[@themis828]

Micro managing on ps5 is a nightmare. I end up stacking kg and faris for ranged, cata (still looking for a 2nd) maybe the mamult? for melee and druzhinnik champions for heavy melee.

[@creagfuentes1768]

Could not agree more, when he said Palace Guard I was like bro Infantry!

[@throwchampion9830]

Step 1: cav only

[@APersonOnYouTubeX]

Step 2: F1 F3

[@nathanerbaugh9899]

But where's step tw..... oooooo I see what you did.

[@alekseykuleshov111]

@General Kenobi (c) Sun Tzu

[@evildaddyz]

F1 f4 is better

[@ellocosjchushhxha]

Step 3: refer to steps 1 & 2

[@flotnar2512]

Always great to see a fellow strategist. My go to strat for my infantry getting outnumbered (but if I have a good count of archers) is to shield wall my inf up front and put them in a really tight square. As the enemy infantry encircles them my archers have a field day at their backs. All my big shielded sturgians got to do is hold and survive.

[@cardosivadi967]

I haven't played Bannerlord in a couple of months now, and I still watch each and every of your Bannerlord uploads!

[@Strat-Guides]

I'm glad they are entertaining enough to watch lol thanks! :D

[@philjohnson1744]

Wait... we can Play bannerlerd?

[@PedroLimaPTS]

What I usually do with Aserai is use Mamluke Heavy cavalry in two groups. Archers and Infantry intermingled with melee cav to stop cavalry charges (and the cav to chase them once they disperse). Use the arrows from three different directions, cav to break shield formations while bow and arrows pick them off. Has been working so far, and since I'm going against empire in my latest campaign, the menavliatons and cataphracts are welcome additions, especially against infantry. Khuzaits are still a mild nuisance though. Great vid Strat!

[@derekgarvin6449]

Great video format with the side-by-side showcase. I hope it performs well so we get more.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks! Hopefully this one is useful in some way. It's a lot of information to take in and most of it could only be explained by real life examples, so we'll see how it does.

[@rickybuxton8245]

this was a fantastic guide. I would love to see a Sturgia or Battania guide

[@Strat-Guides]

I'll be doing one for each culture!

[@jacob.da.snakob]

@@Strat-Guides YAY!!!!!!

[@basilias_Ligyron]

Heres the quick version of battania : recruit archers , find a close hill, fire at will

[@cacharadon7460]

In the first fight against the Vlandians. If you had the Infantry in shield wall behind the hill and the archers behind the infantry, the archers would be able to decimate the enemy cav while they are stuck on the slop. Put the horse archers on skirmish so they do what they do best and take the melee cav behind you on follow and shield wall to slow down the charging enemy infantry as well as to dive into the enemy archer lines. I think you could eke out a better victory that way. Edit: NVM lol, I just went back to the beggining and you only had 25 archers, you would need to invest more into archers for my idea to work. Maybe 100 archers, 250 Infantry and 50 melee cav. Working with just what you had, I think your idea to hold the hill against the cav was the better option. I run around with a lot more archers, so my immediate go to is pincer with infantry and flank and sting with archers

[@Strat-Guides]

I was only able to switch the units in my personal party (200 units in total) and based on the enemy's composition I felt like the Palace guards were a lot more important. Archers are amazing if you can get a critical mass of them, but if you're short in numbers they can easily get swamped. It's tough when you rely on the AI for 80% of the army lol but that's a bit more realistic for most people's campaigns.

[@cacharadon7460]

@@Strat-Guides What battle size are you playing at? Sorry if you already explained this elsewhere, but maybe if you increased battle size you could field more archers. Though, that would make the enemy harder to deal with as well

[@mountelbert4214]

Looking at the numbers on display, probably a thousand. At most points the numbers are basically 530 vs 470

[@drifterofwind4160]

Mmmmm data, over all i have found 1of 2 things. 1 horse archers unless you need to use them to pester the enemy should be treated as mobile platforms to delay infantry. I found shielded horse archers have 1 great use. Keep them by your archers and use them to counter charge cav to buy your archers time to retreat or for you to pull your cav back to protect then. There mobilty makes them flexible when it comes to fighting or stalling. :) now shielded foot archers do something REAL interesting. Think archer shield wall to position archers with more arrows to do the heavy lifting. They also help with cav giving them hell. Suprised the numbers turned out the way they did. Fantastic analysis, what it means is taleworlds did there homework in someway. Keep up the good work! Very apriciated for those who have not played aserai.

[@hermitguy102]

It’s a simple 3 step process. Step 1 is cavalry step 2 is F1 and step 3 is F2. Works every time.

[@DBT1007]

F3

[@zakaishelton9726]

I have always dominated with aserai only comp finally seeing the love they deserve

[@SuperCosmicSpaceMagnet]

A longer video than you usually produce? Hell yeah, sign me up! Also, I love this. Aserai feel quite underrepresented to me, I wouldn't be surprised if they were the least played of all the factions. I LONG for heavy Camel armour.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah I figured I would try a different format this time since it's hard to give solid advice for combat - every situation is so different and I felt like sharing my thought process during a real battle would be more useful, but who knows lol Yes, more camel armor!

[@SuperCosmicSpaceMagnet]

@@Strat-Guides Have you tried using Husnphee yet? Its charge damage is absolutely absurd, and with its mass being so high it can even plow along the line of an enemy shield wall during the clash like some kind of killdozer, dealing charge damage to absolutely everything. It is about the size and speed of a bus, and has no armour options, so just gets eviscerated by arrows, and it is also so tall that you'll often not be able to reach enemy foot troops with your weapons. HOWEVER, it is also just absurdly fun. Bad, but fun.

[@celladoor_uk]

This is perfect. I have been doing an Aseriai play through for the first time and this video will be really helpful. I have experienced exactly what you describe at the start. Aserai are pretty OP in small to medium engagements but they become quite difficult to manage in larger battles. I am finding using the skirmisher cav properly is what makes or breaks a lot of these larger battles.

[@Strat-Guides]

It's a really interesting problem to deal with! Definitely a rude awakening once you get to the big army-level battles lol Thanks for watching!

[@jamoecw]

with Aserai i use the melee cav as chasers. i fight smaller armies and when they break i send the melee cav to get as many kills as possible to whittle their numbers. when fighting Khazuits i use the melee cav to chase the horse archers back to their lines to great effect in big maps. in large pitched battles they tend to be wasted space. meeting their forces in the middle of the desert tends to be the better option if you are cav heavy, and in rocky areas if you are infantry heavy. the archers are the staple, despite not being the workhorse for either configuration as they are decent either way. in rough terrain where you can hide your shock troops have shock troops if possible, but in flat deserts they will tend to die easy to either cav charges that you can't stop or archers blotting the sun. the Aserai are brittle, with a composition and set of tactics for open terrain, rough terrain, and repeated small battle attrition being quite different from each other, and tend to do very poorly if you have the wrong one for the situation. of course this is all for a build using kingdom policies and perks to get that sweet 500+ party, and maybe 1k+ with clan parties personally built up.

[@loonie5468]

The Faris cavalry from Aserai are bad if you don't lead them yourself. But if you set them to follow you and you personally lead the flanking charges on literally anything, and then order them to charge upon contact - that's when they start to really shine due to their speed. I am unsurprised to see they're annoying/not as good when you order them here and there manually, but if they follow you by default and you personally lead their flanking charges (which is when their javelins really shine with their speed), they become genuinely great with hit-and-run stuff. And the moment you see a bit more red from them than you'd like, order them to follow you again, regroup at a safe spot and reassess if the your army is doing well with its KDR. If not, give them individual commands on what to do next, pick your next flanking target and lead the Faris into yet another flanking manuever until they run out of javelins. At that point tho, they do become a bit more meh admittively.

[@Strat-Guides]

I know what you mean - the problem with that is it's not really viable to do in a huge battle when you're outnumbered and every group needs some attention :( I think on offense, they can work wonders as you have plenty of time to micro and lead from the front

[@loonie5468]

Yeah, fair point there. I will admit to liberally abusing the hell out of the slowdown effect and with 1000 vs 1000 wave battles I also agree that keeping Farises alive would likely be a major pain in the ass lol. Still, was a good video that confirms what I've suspected about the Palace Guards being just fine, even if they aren't as OP as Voulgeirs or Falxmen.

[@alex86fire]

Very interesting video. I think the Master archers performed very well most of the time, if you look at their KDR but they were too few to make a big impact. And I think they are one of their best troops. Would have been interesting if you had 200 more archers or so. I expect the battles would have been easier, but I don't have that much experience in this kind of large scale battles, so I might be wrong. Also, I know shock troops are strong but I think they excel in your army because from what I've seen in your videos, it's your style of fighting to use them in most efficient ways. Can't wait to see the next videos in the series.

[@xproxorx]

Like always great content. I personally prefer having cavalry at front in shield wall formation and tanking a lot of damage and using shock and spear troops at flanks starting with archers upfront

[@nadawiib]

Strat I've found cav and inf to both only be useful (or at least consistent) at only distracting/delaying the enemy force from getting into position while my own archers get into a good spot. Where do you put archers/crossbows in a list of troops you prioritize in recruiting? Good vid, I love the back and forth struggle fights you get in this game trying to secure advantageous ground! It's like a skirmish to determine the fate of the overall battle

[@legate7158]

Depends on if you want to join a faction or take your own fief. For taking your own fief, I recommend recruiting archers usually about 1.5 hours before the siege(since in said siege, archers are either top-tier or dead). You want a lot of archers for the first fief as it will give bonus to the battle when the enemy sends an army to recapture the town/castle, even if you use the send troops command. The alternative is joining a kingdom where you can just recrite as you go and train them by joining kingdom armies, virtually every battle you can upgrade atleast one troop to a higher level, if you lead persionally or send troops it does not matter, that's what I've found. Now if you are just worried about fighting battles you want them either second-to-top-tier or top-tier because it means they will miss less often. I usually go with the CARAVAN AMBUSH or ESCORT CARAVAN quests as they provide big battles for you to both train troops and learn some tactics (the IG skill and you getting used to battles) However, the biggest weakness of low-tier archers is that *they miss* but that is not the main problem: the main problem is the arrows hit the floor which means the enemy can pick them up to shoot back at you! Final note: Aserai Archers are about as good as Empire in my experience but idealy you go with Fian Champs as they are the best archer. *Don't use crossbows.* They do only slightly more damage, and have a miniscule bonus to arrow speed, but by far not enough to make up for their low arrow bank and painful reload time. EDIT: But archers are only as good as your infantry lines. If the enemy beats your infantry, however that happens, your archers will be useless. TLDR: Avoid Crossbows if able, recruite as you follow Kingdom Armies if you join a faction or about enough time to train them to T4/5 or 5/6 for Fian Champtions (prioritise fian champions if you are able). Long answer to a simple question, but I hope it helps!

[@nadawiib]

@@legate7158 thanks for the detailed reply. Right now I'm a vlandia cultured vassal of battania and we just crushed 90% of vlandia in a war that I won 2 cities from. Now that the area is worn down from the war and battania is taking a beating from the east, I'm gonna snipe an army or 2 worth of highborn and stash them in garrisons before I leave with my fiefs. I agree that the crossbows feel underpowered (esp compared to fians) but I think their specialty is the same as in real life, they are quick to train and do very good damage en masse. Fians are my #1 go to troop but vlandian crossbows are excellent as filler ranged units while I get highborn trained up

[@MarztheStoic]

19:47 Imagine if the Battanians were as organized as the empire.

[@Strat-Guides]

They would be pretty much unstoppable I think! Especially if they hired more archers.

[@maxrander0101]

@@Strat-Guides that is pretty much how my army ends up a main line of Battanians mixed with a few front line troops that can throw a good way backed by a mixed archer group to take out as many enemies as they can before the lines clash along with a core of strong cav that are used as both bodyguards and shock cav for punching through the rear of an enemies lines i have never lost a battle even with armies that out number me as if i know its going to be a tough fight i will set my inf and archers up and order the cav to follow me and just ride through the enemy lines from the sides again and again until im almost in range of my own archers then i will lead them wide to one side and then have them form up on a flank one that i know they can be ordered to charge into and punch through a rear section of the enemy

[@koraysblog]

@@maxrander0101 Man ffs use some punctuation

[@maxrander0101]

@@koraysblog if i could i would but due to issues with how i see words and read things i cant understand where to use them im soo fucking sorry for having a disability that affect the way i write i guess i should go and kill myself should i if you think i should reply to me in a way that tells me you have no understanding of how everyday things people take for granted can be hard for a person with a disability

[@Jwsponky]

@@Strat-Guides Have to say if I were truly in charge of Battania I would pull a medieval England and make it a law that every man of levying age had to practice one day a week with the long bow, and then deploy said archers on mass.

[@axinite2545]

Done many Aserai playthroughs. Many many battles against the khuzait and especially vlandia, which seems to have a massive aggro against Aserai and just pours cav heavy armies through that narrow strait. Defeat 1 and another comes a day later. Faris heavy armies are a very good way to go, there are multiple strats. From circling around to hit from the sides with their javs, or holding fire and taking advantage of their speed to charge at cav face to face. With enough Faris their high speed means they can get an encirclement of the enemy cav. Mamluke cav are a bit complex and unfocused at first, but they actually have multiple tactics. They can be used as skirmishers to draw enemy cav away or just scatter the enemy, or just be used as mobile archer platform to get behind or flank infantry and shoot into their backs, when done at the moment infantry lines meet it's a game changer for your infantry. They also are great to use to hit opposing archers firing from behind their infantry in open field battles, having them hold fire and moving them on top of enemy archers, using them as light cav to take out archer lines while keeping your heavy cav free to fight in the melee. Aserai infantry are imo the best archers in the game after fans, they have a shorter range but much faster fire rate. So better to not snipe with them but have them hold fire until the opponents are closer. Mamluke guards suffer in open battles with no shield and a shorter weapon then other shock troops but once on top of the opposing infantry they can do fairly well. In siege battles those mamluke guards truly shine. Either way they do take a lot of casualties but are easy to replace. The biggest disadvantage to Aserai troops imo comes from how their troops line splits. They end up with a very even split between all their units, with a slight focus of mamluke guards, rather then a better 3-1 ish split of infantry and guards. That's when the ai promotes, the Aserai line splits at level two between the tribesman, which gives both foot archers and infantry, and basic mamlukes. Which makes replacing infantry who take high casualties in battles and need enough mass to maintain effectiveness hard.

[@JJaaasss]

Thanks for commenting in real time and explaining your thought process on how to deploy troops and make quick changes, it’s really helpful.

[@Tate_THG]

Thank you Strat, I’m finally gonna start my full conquest as your videos guide me to glory

[@Strat-Guides]

Good luck with your campaign!

[@xj40002]

Full valandia break down would be great

[@AJ-yh1ou]

Damn bro u really put alotta effort into this shi, just watched 3 videos straight. A real earned sub.

[@CapriciousStoic2]

With Aserai i use a tactic called "dot and line" . The "dot" is a Aserai Veteran Inf in - square formation - ( that i use as bait ) and the "line" is a - Aserai Veteran's Inf as a line - at javelin distance behind ( that is usually around 7m from the 'dot'). When the enemy infantry focuses and wraps around the Square Inf ( or try's ) it get javelined to death by the "Line" . After the "Line" uses all the javelins i charge them to wrap around the enemy infantry that is wrapped around my square and then maybe even make the Square Charge or break the Square and shield wall or some kind of attack / advance / or engage. It a good use of the Javelins as you want to use them on the back or sides of the enemy and the javelins are very precious. Also its a way of attacking the enemy infantry from 2 directions with your infantry's formation ( dot & line ) by sandwich them in the middle . The formation is more complex actually. On the ends of the "line" i have 2 archers formation as flanks / split even in blocky formations of many rows contacting "the inf line" with no space - maybe in loose order . Now depending on how i feel - i can advance them or tuck them behind the "the inf line" or even have them in 45 degree angle to be focused / direction to the "square /dot". That way they can also contribute in shooting the enemy infantry from the flanks. To make the archers less vulnerable i have my 2 Cav's formations ( Faris or Mamelukes ) in contact with them on each flank. I can even have a "Faris small line" 3th Cav formation behind the "inf line" as they will also shoot javelins but from 1 meters above the head of Aserai Veteran Inf "line" for more javelins power. All the fighting should be done as a combined formation as there is no use in skirmishing with your Cav's to lose your limited arrows or javs. Most of the troops are supporting each-other and do better in this setup/joined big formation with javelin distance. The final relevant tip for you is for the "dot" is to have the square facing in 45 degree direction ( mostly in the left side NW or 9'clock) to become as rhombus and present a "tip/point" to the enemy. It will make your square / dot a bit wider with maybe 15% and the enemy will have to commit more troops to wrap-around-it. Next tip's : If the square get's eaten you can still retreat the "line" to fight another battle as the javelins did incredible damage and they can fight next time [ you lose the 'dot' but you save the 'line' ] . "The line" have to maintain a relative jav distances from the "dot" and sometimes is best to used it as a 2-3-4 rows in loose order but also be wide enough to be able to jav or wrap around the enemy engaged inf formation. To wide and some troops will not contribuite to with jav vs. not-wide and again no good exposed targets. Final tip : treat you javelins very well and hold fire when needed as you want to use them all on big blob's of enemy formations of cavalry or infantry that are facing in other directions( there is no use in firing the javs on advancing shielded inf ) . 1 javelin head shot is 1 dead enemy and 1 javelin to the body can mean 50% or 85% of HP lost by the enemy. You can take army's 2-3.5 your size with little micro management. The distances are very relevant as for maximum precisions javelins need be shoot at a few meters but can also be useful at longer distances of 20-25 meters. What you want is maximum firepower and DPS with javelins on distracted enemy's that fight other formations or are tangled in mini-fights.

[@legate7158]

I prefer the videos in the sturgia vs everyone formate. With the camera being more birds-eye than first-person and the battle is clear to see, instead of a mush line of bodies. Also* with the labels above their heds to indicate the side they are on. Empire next?

[@Strat-Guides]

That's a tough one - I'll have to make a poll and see what people think overall. The last few times I made videos from the top down view there was a lot of comments about it being useless because you can't play top down without mods/cheating. I'm not sure who will be next, but I'll be getting to everyone for sure :)

[@son_of_arnor]

Strat always coming in clutch on content!

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for watching!

[@anthonyt3477]

Exactly what I was waiting for you, thanks! Hopefully youll do the other kingdoms too

[@erenhocaoglu8920]

in aserai vs vlandia I always put my units as far as possible because cav heavy armies just tend to charge with no strategy. Giving me a lot of time to kill cav with my infantry. After that i would put my archers next to infantry for the infantry clash. So they can shoot any 2 handed polearm unit before the clash. After that you charge all your units to kill remaining range units and wait for them to trickle in harrasing with cav

[@restitutororbis675]

dayum strat blessing us with a 45 min vid, todays a special occassion

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah it's a big one lol that's why I made the intro a little longer to explain and say "Don't watch the whole thing in one sitting" pretty much lol We'll see how people like it - I can adjust the format if it's not as useful as the others

[@direct2397]

I love doing playthroughs in wich i limit myself to only using troops from my chosen faction. It just spices the game up. But damn the aserai in big battles are definitely a handful. This video helped a lot.

[@fox_rblx9391]

This is exactly what i needed, thanks strat!

[@aetherde]

Damn Strat pumping out videos like there’s no tomorrow

[@philjohnson1744]

Bad news; there might not be...

[@_AmineMahmoudi]

if there was an option in kingdom tab for lords to have a specific recruiting template and chosing aserai vanguards all results will surely change for better

[@Strat-Guides]

That would be an interesting addition - influencing the type of troops they have a preference for

[@Jwsponky]

You may be interested in the Party Control mod on Steam, tis basically what you describe, with the caveat you are to affect all the lords.

[@_AmineMahmoudi]

LOL thank u ive just seen it this days but ive said that to strat@@Jwsponky

[@superloser01]

Please bring also content to the other armies of Mount and Blade 2 Bannerlord, this would be also fun and interesting.

[@Strat-Guides]

Working on those soon! I plan to cover all cultures in the game

[@cassiatullius9324]

The reason Empire was relatively easy to beat is that they had very poor quality army, when you scroll through the statistics in the end you can see that its mostly equites and trained infantryman with very few elites (which did most of the heavy lifting)

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah I'm not sure why - they had a full year to recruit up and train (1M denars in their bank)? All the other battles had majority high tier troops

[@Dylan-pj7rv]

Even of they were top tier units they would still doing poorly, i did some Empire campaign and at every single battle against Aserai with the same force size and quality (Both of us had à lot of top tier units), Aserai still win in the end in a lot of battles

[@imnotyourbuddyguy9713]

@@Dylan-pj7rv I'm surprised. I STOMP the Aserai every time I head south. What is your army composition? I found have Legionaries, Elite Menevelion, and Elite Cataphract at 33% composition each is DEADLY. Very few if any casualties.

[@Dylan-pj7rv]

@@imnotyourbuddyguy9713 My compo is 50% of my Army being Legionnaries and Menevelions (Elite), 25% Fian Champions and 25% Cataphracts (Elite). My personnal army is good but when i do battles with vassals armies against Aserai it's à disaster

[@JanWaltVesely]

Those battles was mostly mess for my eyes 😅 I preffer symbols above heads. Also composition of enemy army can be a lot different each time. In my game i don't see heavy Battania cavalry as you have. BTW: Nice sorting by most kills 😎

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah it's a tough one - I like to use RTS camera to show these, but then people complain about cheating and whatever lol Yeah that's a good point - these guys had a full year and 10M denars to recruit whoever they wanted, but if they're at war all the time, their army will look differently.

[@ShadowElectricity]

This game is incredible. Im on my first playthrough as the chosen Aserai messiah, "Jassid Chraesteus" Sultan Unqid has already given me almost half of the Aserai kingdom, soon the whole of Calradia shall become.... Chraesteuns. Gods bless Jassid Chraesteus.

[@charlesjohnson6777]

Incredible strat gaming I keep watching these videos going damn that was epic and you always deliver. The videos just keep getting better and better, I'd like to see a video for each culture keep up the great work 👏

[@teensins6749]

khuzait next please, its funny cause i was searching for a video like this from you but for khuzaits and now you’re starting to make them! good timing for me😁

[@Strat-Guides]

Oh nice, good timing indeed! I'll be covering all cultures soon :)

[@tommygunz1174]

Aserai archers are actually pretty good best t5 archer in the game imo

[@tommygunz1174]

Besides battanian fian

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah they can hold their own! Sadly the AI didn't recruit many of them

[@bhgangsta27]

I played Warband with the Sarranids and I play Bannerlord with the Aserai. My strategy involves having Vanguard Faris and Heavy Mameluke Archers. I use the cavalry to engage the enemy and then pick off the flanks with my mounted Mameluke archers. Utilize a lot of hit and run tactics

[@bradennelson9090]

Your videos make me long for a custom battles multiplayer, where two players compose their own armies and duke it out. Maybe like how war gaming tabletops have point values to balance armies. The tactical potential is insane and wasted only being used against AI. Maybe even 2v2s. Hell even battles where it’s maybe two players coop against AI. Would be so much fun.

[@itsorcacraft9037]

Idk why but a lot of lists I've seen say that the aserai are the worst empire but almost every campaign I seen them staying in the top 3 strongest empires. Sometimes they are number 4 but it is usually not by much

[@blakethegreatone2058]

I love using the aserai. Their units aren't as well armored as others, but in a campaign the terrain helps them keep their starting positions.

[@Strat-Guides]

I'll say this - they require the most finesse to play well. Some cultures are very straight forward, but Aserai are certainly not!

[@philjohnson1744]

They have my favorite troop progression. It is not min/max but is a lot of fun.

[@MrSquigglies]

The thing I noticed that I do that you do not is you babysit your infantry line and your archers whereas I babysit my cavalry. I will have my cavalry follow me and I will use them to directly negate any enemy cavalry enemy horse archers and disrupt their passes as best I can. And more or less leave my infantry to hold the line and my archers on fire at will for the most part unless it gets into a really big battle where I'm actually in danger of running out of ammunition. Azurite cavalry is a bit funny, but their horse archers are at least comparable to khuzait and might even be better in melee except for their noble line and the fariss cavalry is phenomenal for avoiding confrontation until it advantages you.

[@jamoecw]

Strat is an Infantry man, so he tends towards infantry finesse. in warband cav was great, but in Bannerlord they deal half their damage with their horse (charge damage) so they are kind unintuitive when you get fancy and gimped in certain situations making infantry the better pick overall.

[@Mikalent]

The Primary issue with the Asari, in most Asari playthrough campaigns I have done is simple and straight forward. All of this...... the AI never does. I have done so many campaigns that I have learned, unless I am in control of the army, the army is going to get wiped. The AI for the Asari is the same as the AI for the Empire, Sturgia, Verlandia, ect. Only the Khuzaits get a tweaked AI, and that is likely only because they primary horse archers. That makes life very difficult, as if you don't have the influence (or are a mercenary) to make an army yourself, and force disband other armies that get too large, you're going to have an army wipe on your hands, and solo/small group holding territory against a 1,400 troop army is difficult, especially when the AI makes another 300 man army to dive the 1,400 for sieging a castle.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah that's true - the AI treats all units of a certain class the exact same way. Infantry charge, archers skirmish, etc. They certainly can't all be used the same way if the goal is efficiency:(

[@MrAdriaxe]

All too often the reinforcement system decides the outcome of close battles. It's the main thing that makes cavalry important, because when attacking your infantry reinforcements take too long to reach the battle and your engaged infantry gets whittled down by superior numbers after the enemy reinforces first. This is on PS4 at least.

[@creagfuentes1768]

Love your videos, also love the Aserai. I have a few questions/notes. IMO the strength of the Aserai is the Cav, in particular the Jereed they are armed with, as well as their Mameluke Cav which is really effective against lower tier troops in combat. Another aspect is the infantry which is also armed with the Javelins. The Palace guard is effective but it is honestly so incompatible with the most effective way to fight with the Aserai. Was the army composition something you focused on. I do notice in your videos you are really more infantry focused, and I did laugh at the battles with Vlandia and the Khazait because those are the two Kingdoms that give me the most difficulty because they turn into just a mess. I usually have the Infantry form squares and skirmish the Cav until they are goated into charging if they chase the Cav I usually put them in range of archers and Javs from the Infantry to Widdle down the Cav ranks until the numbers flow to my favor. And hopefully (and most of the time) the Cav is knocked out and the infantry becomes outmatched. I’m curious did you not have the infantry or were you mostly focused on Palace guard?

[@charlesjohnson6777]

Epic strat. As always

[@alexsandrosanchesjunior4149]

a campaign with each kingdom leader having 10 million denar would be fun...

[@billisultan6224]

Could have used this guide earlier for my Aserai homeland defender run. Thanks.

[@henrycao7275]

23:35 I remember there was a patch that fixed the reinforcements spawning at terrible spots. Thr reinforcements would come out from outside of the map at a spot that is "the safest." I went away from the game a while and came back, and apparently they reverted back to the old reinforcement system that was terrible... Not sure what happened

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah supposedly it was fixed, but I've noticed a lot of battles where they still spawn opposite of the map and run through the enemy's line. It's like 30 - 40% of the time (might even be higher, but I'm being conservative here)

[@Racingdrum]

You can't use the Faris like you would a typical heavy cav, they're too light and fast. Take advantage of their throwing weapons and speed, they make for devastating flankers.

[@Strat-Guides]

I fought just shy of 40 battles and found it exceedingly difficult to find a real use case for them in large battles. I've had great success with them in smaller battles, but trying to use 100 of these troops in a 1000+ unit battle feels like playing with a disability - like I would rather have 100 palace guides instead of 100 Faris. For example - throwing at archers did okay, but they usually get out-shot if you leave them there long enough. They can't really target infantry that will unless the inf are already engaged, and if the infantry lines have already met, you're probably too late to the party to have any real effect on the outcome of the battle. Maybe I need more practice, but between these tests and the 30+ hours I've spent using Aserai only units for the WC I wasn't able to find a good use for them outside of small engagements.

[@Racingdrum]

That's a good point-- I almost exclusively fight smaller battles with

[@grimtbone4953]

Hey hope everyone is having a wonderful day🎉

[@matthewpohlmann6623]

I've been playing a mumluk only playthrough, and vast amounts of Soldiers and heavy Cav are my bread and butter, takes all comers

[@SirAtesh]

Strat do you think any of these battles will have marginally different outcome if you use RTS camera mod?

[@Strat-Guides]

Good question - I think the Khuzait one probably would have. The others weren't too hard to manage. I think RTS camera is much better on offense than it is on defense. When you've got units all over the map, it's much harder to control, but with a tight defense it's not so bad from the ground.

[@seanvigil2899]

I agree, the early fire movement was awesome just because of how extreme it was. It really helped me when I was working basically minimum wage get way ahead. Unfortunately my girlfriend doesn't fall the same philosophy so couldn't keep up with it lol

[@cortniesmith3138]

Aseri are probably the only armies I have problems with. I assume it’s because they stay out of wars being down south and have plenty of time to build up

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah pretty much that! You can defeat that first army, but they will return within a day with another 1500 strong army. Then another, and another lol

[@GTC367]

PLEASE DO VALANDIA NEXT !!!

[@bubalolo]

What i see is that, in general, it's very difficult to disrupt/neutralize archers and if it's Fians goodnight... Cavalry seems to be a little ineffective in that regard, at least when compared to Warband, in that game getting your archers charged by heavy Cav meant losing them.

[@celladoor_uk]

I seem to wipe archers out pretty easy with cav in this game, you have to kind of roll through the unit with your own cav following behind you in a thick formation rather than wide one. Do not order them to charge. I make two passes down a line of 100 archers, with my cav following me, and easily 65% - 80% archers will be dead with minimal of my own casualties. Considering I am using relatively high tier cav. Tier 4 and higher.

[@tommygunz1174]

It really depends how the ai sets up its formation, if the archers are spread and you have cav, its free reign, or they can group them together for safety at the cost of efficiency

[@celladoor_uk]

​@@tommygunz1174 Yeah, you do make a good point there. The archers I have wiped out in the past have usually been caught in loose formation. Soon as your cav gets clogged, they are vulnerable and it is annoying. I feel like horses should make lighter troops fall and stumble easier. That could help horses push through formations without them getting merked by troops that really should not be killing them.

[@tommygunz1174]

@@celladoor_uk realistic battle mod reworks mounts so charge damage does more and enemies are much more like to be knocked down, its pretty great

[@celladoor_uk]

@@tommygunz1174 That does sound awesome. Might have to install that.

[@kurremkarmerruk8718]

I haven't seen anyone using the Faris like mobile skirmishers. Are people sleeping on this tactic? Two groups of Faris getting crossfire with jereeds on bunched-up infantry kills troops quicker than anything in the game. You can even ignore enemy cav, as they'll rush to stop you and get javelined to death; cavalry make for big targets. As long as you stand them still, faris are the fastest and arguably the deadliest troops in the game.

[@Strat-Guides]

I know I only showed one battle from each culture, but I found over 30 in this series and I tried that tactic several times, but with little effect. Sometimes the infantry would turn to face them, blocking all javelins. Sometimes the Faris would target the cavalry that were swarming all over the place, which generally resulted in 1 - 2 casualties out of 100+ jereeds being thrown. The only time I was able to get it to work was throwing into an already-engaged infantry line, but by that point the damage was mostly done already and it had little to no effect on the outcome. It's really difficult to manage that kind of micro in a chaotic battle like these. It's not impossible, just not reliable in my experience.

[@kurremkarmerruk8718]

@@Strat-Guides It is a very micro-intensive tactic. The Faris need to be stationary for any kind of accuracy (you're constantly hitting F4 any time you move); they need to be in two groups to turn an unsheilded flank; jereeds are like gold dust, and once they're out the Faris just become fabulous(!) Kuzhait Lancers; and scattered horse archers have to be left till the end of the battle and run down the old fashioned way. All true. If you're in overall command of an army you have to leave your infantry and archers in place while you concentrate on cav, so you're not getting the full battle experience, it becomes a real hammer and anvil set-up. However, and I played my last playthough like this, joining an APC-led army with a full cav stack (300 troops whipping around the campaign map at 5.4 speed) means you can wipe out cav/archers with an unparralleled DPS (you really can turn a battle in 30 seconds) while the lonely enemy infantry gets chewed up by your AI pals, or you, if it makes the mistake of charging and leaving both flanks open. Most armies, once the AI realises you have more cav, will bunch up in a bait ball and let you manhandle them at their displeasure. Any army under six hundred troops became a snack. I had to deliberately not take the final medic perk because it would have been OP. It's a counter-intuitive playstyle because your one object is to stand your stationary cavalry next to infantry and ignore everything else. But it does work. You're an infantry expert (I can't replicate your results with inf), so I genuinely think you would/do hate playing cav that way.

[@seventhsuns3580]

Taleworlds owes you a pay check for making so many of us actually enjoy their game ❤

[@felisasininus1784]

Yo, Strat my man, I just came up with a new tactic yesterday (might not be brand new but I did come up with it myself when faced against 400 imperial army with my 220 troops, with only rocks as covers): Using your dismounted cavalry men as defensive infantry against enemy cavalry, and get this - then USING THEIR HORSES AS A GIANT WALL OF MEAT SHIELD to defend against enemy charges. Lmao, the enemy elite cavalry has zero counter to that. The only thing they can do is to get mowed down by your elite archers. Anyway, by using the rocks as flanks and horses as front and rear walls, i won. Took out all 400 enemies, only 110 of mine fell, and fewer than 30 died on my side. lmao

[@Strat-Guides]

For sure, that's a really good tactic! I like to pair that with a good chokepoint or mountain wall to really stuff the enemy cavs options

[@felisasininus1784]

@@Strat-Guides Oh yeah, I sure could have used far more favorable terrain like those! But I got caught out in the open field near the mountains outside Razih, literally the only cover I got was two roughly parallel giant rock formations, which I used to cover my flanks. And that was enough of an advantage to turn a potential crushing defeat into a "heroic" victory. I didn't realize I had it in me. So proud of it. lol

[@SuperMickyChow]

@6:44 "I dont really know whats going on here..." Me in every battle because i just cant help getting stuck into the melee

[@Strat-Guides]

Haha that was a problem I dealt with too for at least 2k hours! It's hard not to get sucked into the mess and have fun :)

[@wizardkevin101]

I feel like you could combine the schiltron formation with these infantry to better handle enemy cav, using your faris to body block and delay the enemh breaching your lines.

[@Madhattersinjeans]

Some pretty nice battles in this video.

[@lynx6032]

I would LOVE a battanian only guide

[@kendallanderson7931]

I’ve been preaching the good word of palace guards for awhile now 😌

[@XxplosiveL]

Great job on the video!

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks!!

[@louisalex98]

I always retreat when i see reinforcments coming. It's better and makes more sense that just dealing with your disorganized units and stupid enemy spawning

[@Dadikus]

Hi, thanks for the nice video, but :o) wouldn't it be better to turn on the circles above your army for a video like this so we can really see what's going on in the fight.

[@Strat-Guides]

It's funny because when I make guides using the top down camera, I get a lot of complaints! Sadly TW doesn't let us replay the battles afterwards :(

[@eldeebcampeador]

I liked this without even watching a minute. You play as Aserai= Instant Boss!

[@rexfiry4783]

Khuzait next? Imo their infantry sucks but the khans guard and horse archers are godly. Sturgia would also be cool

[@Cyrptic_3VIL_69]

Your legit the best bannerlord content creator

[@sitrilko]

I prefer the style of your Sturgia guide.

[@Drakon0Blade]

Anti-Khuzait is reliant on denying their horse archers any purchase, the elites can put up a melee fight but the heavy horse archer cannot; deny them the cavalry advantage and the AI is done. Anyone ever try using Khan's Guard on foot to serve as shock troops?

[@takuoku2546]

but is it better for you to manually command than auto resolve? you had 600~900 casualties but if you have enough tactic skill and medicine, Is it possibly better to autoresolve?

[@AntASurvival]

Dear Strat, please make a tactic guide for small battle, like 50 vs 50 or 100 vs 100. Because tactics for large scale battle doesn't work for small battle. It will be useful for people with lame pc, like me.

[@maxrander0101]

the problem is people pick one factions army as the one they will use but as a follower in warband says he would take the best units of each to build an empire and this is what you need to do have 2 sets of footmen one that can act as light skimishers the others as a mainline holding and force have a combo of the best foot archers made up of a equal number from each faction and for cav only use a group you intend to lead yourself as they are too dumb to leave to the ai set the archers behind your main front line and when the enemy is almost to your front line as in your skimishers have started throwing their javelins order them to advance to enemy not charge and ensure they are in a shield wall they will force the bulk of the enemy to clash with the front while archers rain fire from behind yes you will lose soldiers to the rain of arrows but far less than you would by relying on a defence formed from an army not built to defend and you can use the cav set to follow you to ride through the enemies back lines and delay their reserve troops and also take out the enemy archers and horsemen

[@nathanielkidd2840]

Am I missing something when I say it seems like there should be a way to delegate tasks to your captains in battle before it starts? Like tell your horse archers to ride in a wheeling formation in front of their infantry, shooting arrows at them. Then have your melee cavalry harass their cavalry, and draw them away from your infantry. Have your infantry captain to flank around their infantry and hit them from the sides. Do you have to micro manage this every time?

[@Strat-Guides]

That would be a really nice feature! Sadly, it's not in the game and you have to either let the AI butcher your troops or micromanage them yourself.

[@nathanielkidd2840]

@@Strat-Guides Maybe in future. I play on console, and trying to RTS with a controller is not the greatest. Of course I haven’t played long enough to know exactly how Taleworlds has implemented it.

[@Winnie_Deanie]

My friend ibn isn't a first name, So u would format the name as: "Name, ibn, Father's name"... like 'Jimmy ibn John' (Jimmy son of John). For daughters it would be 'bint', So u would format the name as: "Name, bint, Father's name"... like 'Lola bint John' (Lola daughter of John)

[@Strat-Guides]

Oh woops! Thanks for the heads up, I wasn't aware but it makes sense now

[@smug9471]

Hey Strat, do you think a mod that allows total war units such as medieval 2 to sort of act like bannerlord units would happen eventually? Because when I use Calvary in bannerlord vs medieval 2, total war cav just sits there like a car jam. While bannerlord they do what I imagine cavalry would do is just bowl through if the defensive unit isn't tightly in formation.

[@Tulkas1238]

My fav civ by army composition. And the most i hate to fight against. Aserai ladies and gentz.

[@serkan978]

Good format lets see if you do the sturgians to my liking my main culture ._. (Most play them wrong)

[@Strat-Guides]

I did make a video just like this for Sturgia but it was a few patches ago and I need to redo it. I made heavy use of shield square formation, but sadly TW broke squares and they don't work anymore so back to the drawing board :(

[@serkan978]

@@Strat-Guides i know my man ^_^

[@yakatsusensei325]

will you do one for Vlandia in the future?

[@celladoor_uk]

I feel sorry for the people who need the icons above their allies heads. Just because you can't make sense of what is happening with your own eyes, it doesn't mean others can't, I actually trained myself to know what the units look like and to recognise colours. That is literally why they had sigils, banners and painted shields. I hate the fucking dots, they cover all of the action and basically ruin the whole vibe. It's one of them though, I play games to be immersed, not to be reminded I am playing a video game 24/7 and I get that there are those that need/really like silly graphics indicating everything for them. I just wish people would stop presuming their preferences are a given. They're not.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah I turn those off because I feel like it's much easier to see what's actually going on. They are very distracting to me

[@celladoor_uk]

@Strat Gaming It seems you are a true man of culture, this comes as no surprise. I'm glad I'm not the only one who hates the damn dots. 🤣 This was an awesome video btw man. You and Fleson are my go to Bannerlord guys. I love your content. Thank you for making it!

[@knowledgeispower9736]

Maybe do Vlandia next. You've done Sturgia and Aserai so far, right?

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah sort of - I probably need to redo Sturgia since TW messed up square formation so that it's not usable anymore :( I might put it up to vote again, but we'll see! I plan on covering all cultures

[@knowledgeispower9736]

​@Strat Gaming oh right. Must be annoying to have to redo content. Thanks anyway though. Great videos.

[@Strat-Guides]

@@knowledgeispower9736 yeah that's pretty much why I stopped making perk videos :(

[@shinyhawk122]

Step 1:only cav(prefferably 50% Cataphracts 50% Vanguard Faris Step 2:F2 F3(for loose formation) Step 3:F1 F3(charge( Step 4:go make yourself coffee Step 5:count enemy prisoners and loot!

[@frydog4217]

Could it be worthwhile dismounting your melee cavalry and using them as infantry?

[@Strat-Guides]

I tried it a couple times and they didn't perform very well :(

[@frydog4217]

@@Strat-Guides talewords really need to find a way to improve the ai so you can order them to skirmish properly. Also allow you to order a formation to attack a specific formation. One or both of those changes would make them far better

[@jamoecw]

@@frydog4217 enemy AI does both, so all they have to do is make a command for it.

[@frydog4217]

@@jamoecw the skirmishing that the ai does isn't very good. They circle a few times they just charge into you. I didn't realise that the ai did that would be great if players were able to do it.

[@jamoecw]

@@frydog4217 you know how infantry archers will keep a set distance from you? that is the skirmishing the AI can do that you have to micro to get. we get bargain basement stuff, even when we have a captain with top skills. after my hours that is probably the most annoying thing about the game, but overall it is still one of the best games IMO.

[@Sallet_Slushy]

Step 1: somehow manage to lose everything step 2: attempt a comeback step 3: repeat

[@m.b.8282]

This was fun

[@cheerio6738]

Hey strat do you know why when I loaded my game a lord joined the northern empire when yesterday they were apart of my kingdom

[@Strat-Guides]

Usually clans will switch sides when they go broke. Either they didn't have a fief for a long time OR they had a fief but were still losing money from it. Sometimes you need to check on their wealth status (in the encyclopedia page, go to their clan) and if they are poor, give them some money or a good fief.

[@cheerio6738]

Kk thank you

[@Ace-cr9qt]

Can you do one on Sturgia?

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah I'll be trying to cover all cultures by the end of this series!

[@Ace-cr9qt]

@@Strat-Guideswhat faction is next after this

[@johnconnorburns3269]

Do battania next, i keep getting murdered by cav armys, especially on flat maps

[@conormacdonnell5554]

Is this the case for RBM? I get killed by Vlandia!

[@evildaddyz]

How? They have the 2nd best archer I tactic is archer loose formation, infantry behind them and cav When they charge into my archer i will have my inf and cav in front of my archers as blockage

[@BoysBrotherHoodLawsOfficial200]

Strat, i need help so im playing bannerlord and im trying to be a fake vassal i have 287 charm and followed the joker charm build im getting 16 influence per day but i cant get other clans to lose influence and i have all of the policies that affect influence negatively PLEASE HELP!!!!

[@Strat-Guides]

A couple good ways - if they recruit armies, go into the kingdom tab, army tab, then disband the army. They spend 300+ influence to start the army and you spend 50 to disband it. They will start another army within 1 day or less, so it's easy to drain them. You can call for votes and then abstain so your only cost is the initial vote. I would use those 2 methods

[@vivideclipse637]

I want to do a battania army but from what I’ve experienced they aren’t good. Unless it’s me that’s trash, then I understand

[@Strat-Guides]

The only part of Battania that I think are trash are their cavalry. I actually really like Battanian infantry (and the archers, that's a no brainer though)!