Total Tactics - How To: The Checkerboard Formation | Total War: Warhammer 3

[@igorwisniewski9412]

This formation should be great for Empire after Thrones of Decay release, where Empire part of DLC is Nuln focused, so new juicy gunpowder units.

[@MalleusGaming57]

Omg bro yeah I'm so excited for Thrones units, Long Rifles and Repeaters are gonna be sooo good! with these formations1

[@ศกรโสมาภา]

It might be a really bad idea to checker board with empire. Unlike high elf their artillery have a tendency to hit your own units if you place them in front of your artillery.

[@JossWeedon]

@@MalleusGaming57at 6:00 are you using mods for the combat animations?

[@MalleusGaming57]

@@JossWeedon At the time I recorded this I wasn’t using any mods, I had early access to ToD so none of them were working

[@dioget1]

It is

[@doomzdaydevicex]

This kind of detailed video makes me feel like you would literally be a king's ace advisor in war times

[@MalleusGaming57]

Hahaha thanks bro! I'd only take the job if I could have a magnificent moustache and Jafar's hat from Aladdin

[@zdarlight9709]

Thanks for the checkerboard tutorials. It really elevated my gaming experience using gun units in TW.

[@MalleusGaming57]

Awesome I'm so glad to hear that! Thank you for watching bro!

[@rorus9530]

omg default formation. I never knew that was a thing. This video has greatly increased my gaming pleasure.

[@MalleusGaming57]

Right?! The first time I realized it was on I was like "wth is going on?!' I've found that sometimes with updates it re-applies that toggle so just keep that in mind should it start happening again randomly. Cheers bud!

[@briancho237]

9:40 I found that as empire, you can use either of the canons to completely fck over any flying units attempting to flank. Especially with Nuln. Upgraded Nuln canons vaporizes anything flying.

[@MalleusGaming57]

Is that with the Grapeshot ability? I haven’t used Cannons in my Elspeth playthrough, been spamming Helstorms

[@briancho237]

@@MalleusGaming57 Yup, that or the helblaster volley gun

[@arackan1]

Turning off the default formation setting in settings is a game changer. These videos in general are game changers for me! But they're also so interesting because I get to see real life tactics in practice! Thank you!

[@MalleusGaming57]

Awesome that's great to hear! Glad you're enjoying bro!

[@Tom-wo8um]

Love this series, man! Thanks

[@MalleusGaming57]

Glad you're enjoying it bud! Thanks for watching!

[@ItsapaulPlays]

Knowing that default formation is a setting is gonna change things drastically for me, thanks! Also I've seen a video about the checkerboard with two lines of melee but guns are in the gaps in the second line so they can shoot unhindered diagonally.

[@MalleusGaming57]

Oh that's cool! Are the melee troops in the second line as well with the gunners? Like the second line is solid with the gunners behind the front line gaps?

[@cheaperying5672]

I just want to say I'm learning a lot from your videos, I can actually feel my brain getting larger lol. Really appreciate your guide bro❤

[@MalleusGaming57]

Haha that's awesome to hear I'm so glad these have been helpful for you bro! Big Brain Time! Thanks so much for watching!

[@DavidBrake]

I I've been playing for years and I was always aware that I should be doing the checkerboard or at least trying it but I couldn't figure out how to implement it without a lot of clicking around. Thank you for the concise explanation

[@MalleusGaming57]

No problem bro glad it could help you out!

[@voidghost84]

Nice video. I would add, that in a campaign with very hard battles, you will probably end up using many more shooters then you've shown. One of the ways to stop the enemy and shoot them to bits, is to use heroes and your lord to engage the enemy units and then shoot those units. Single characters are small, so friendly fire will be minimal. You can also use summoned units this way, if you have access to them. The checkerboard formation works great if you have archers (especially those that can shoot in all directions). The thing is you use only archers. The mass of arrows kills most armies before they get you, but fast armies (mostly cavalry or fast monsters) will make it. That's ok - just don't move your troops. A unit that engages one of yours will get shoot by a few of yours. If you have normal archers, you can order manually those that don't have the attacking unit in their cone of fire. The main advantage with archers is that in this formation, no more then one of your units will be engaged in melee at once, by one of the enemy ones. In a line, 2 can be hit at once by one enemy, preventing shooting.

[@christianwright5813]

Loving the Tactics videos! I would love to see a skirmish playstyle, such as skaven or wood elves. I never know how to correctly use them

[@MalleusGaming57]

Something like Hit and Run Guerilla style tactics? I’ve got something I was thinking of doing for that actually, planning on working on it after my next vid

[@taurvanath]

A grand display of tactics, M'lord.

[@MalleusGaming57]

Thank you good Sir Taurvanath!

[@PrometheusEpimetheus]

Keep up with the keybinds and small explanations. I've dumped so much time into this game with very little research and I'm learning alot on top of the checkerboard itself.

[@MalleusGaming57]

Awesome glad that was helpful for you bro! I'll try and keep that going for future vids!

[@MachSpidey]

Enjoyed this video very much! I think I’ll enjoy a deep dive on the other formations too if you get around doing those :)

[@MalleusGaming57]

Thanks so much bro and yeah I'm definitely planning on doing a deep dive on (at the very least) the Chevron and Dwarf Diamond Formations

[@seanfrancishenry]

Great advice! I tried the checkerboard formation in the campaign, it’s a lot of fun!!

[@MalleusGaming57]

Thanks so much! Glad it worked out well for you bro! It's really my go to formation whenever I have ranged units since it's so useful. Cheers bud!

[@Clint_Beastwood]

Bro i didnt know control grouping ordered your units from when you added them to the group. Thats like such a small thing that will help me big time. Youre a legend!

[@MalleusGaming57]

Haha awesome glad that helped you out bro! Yeah it’s crazy how useful that is but like I don’t know if the game ever really tells you that. Cheers bud!

[@Clint_Beastwood]

@@MalleusGaming57 of all the info videos I've seen throughout the years I've been using this tip the most. Much love brother.

[@Riderofrohan11]

He's back! its been a while. I'm excited to see the return!

[@MalleusGaming57]

Thanks a lot bro! Nurgle tried to keep me down but SIGMAR PROTECTS!!!

[@fatladonbike]

Much better than your last video (which was still good). I've thousands of hours in Total War games since the original Medieval Total war and this has really helped me in terms of easy setup.

[@MalleusGaming57]

Awesome glad to hear that!

[@johnyramsdale2995]

😊

[@Damian88mm]

Wow thanks I'm going to for sure use this to see how I work with the empire

[@MalleusGaming57]

Awesome let me know how it goes bro! Thanks for checking out the video!

[@anthony7512]

great tutorial! thank you so much for making this. i love how awesome gunpowder units are in this game but i could never get it to work right and was doing very poorly in battles because they never were able to fire. i am really excited and looking forward to a much better campaign and much more shots being fired now thanks to this guide :)

[@MalleusGaming57]

Thanks so much bro and thank you for watching! Glad this could be helpful for you, let me know how your fair!

[@anthony7512]

@@MalleusGaming57 I'm doing alright, thank you. I figured it would be a perfect chance with my new tactics to try some Elspeth Von Draken, but I am still struggling. Nothing wrong with your guide at all, I just am not getting the same results and I keep getting flanked. My real time management is lacking, like my reaction to what the enemy is doing if they come at me from a different angle than I was expecting then it ends up being a disaster and I am still getting wiped. I just don't understand yet I guess, but I'll keep trying.

[@sypul88]

I think checkerboard is the best for dwarves.I would only strengthen the flanks,and placed strong artillery in the rear.What do you think?

[@MalleusGaming57]

Yeah bud Checkerboard works so well with Dwarfs! I can't wait to try out their new units from ToD and see how effective they are with it!

[@sypul88]

@@MalleusGaming57 I miss another great tactic from the 17th century in Warhammer. Do you know the military camps of the Zaporozhian Cossacks? They were masters of this tactic. Their infantry was very strong in the 17th century. It's a pity that such camps are missing as units in Warhammer.Greetings😊

[@DarkFenix2k5]

Chevrons work better for gunpowder factions in my experience, in fact it's in another video on this very channel.

[@christianweibrecht6555]

In my dwarf formations, lord & heroes stand in front of straight shooters

[@danmillet]

I use chevrons you just have to make sure your artillery is superior so they will come to you. I think checkerboard works best with the high elves as even your front line can be lothern spear guard so literally every unit is an archer

[@GerritTV187]

Great video! How about a "how to do ambushes" next? Preferably from both sides

[@MalleusGaming57]

Thanks so much! That'll be really cool to do, I've been wanting to do more with ambush battles, I'll add it to the list!

[@joncheek7063]

Holy SHIAT, you just blew my mind. I did not know that units are placed in the order the unit cards are clicked. Thank you!

[@MalleusGaming57]

Haha it's so helpful isn't it? Glad I could be of service bro!

[@MrMenuga]

I really like your videos about formations !

[@MalleusGaming57]

Thanks so much glad you enjoy them bro!

[@adriangeorge6783]

Informative tutorial and to the point. Thanks man 👍

[@MalleusGaming57]

Thank you for watching bud! Cheers!

[@Nightbanekaizer]

I had an interesting battle just this night before watching this video. As Kislev I was fighting Clan Moulder. I brought many ranged units and set up on a hill but in case the emeny wasn't going to charge me I had prepared two light sleds, a Hag, two forest beast units to hide in the woods and I had two Calvelry units and a snow leopard. One Calv would be waiting for a chance to take out Moulder's only Warpfire Catapult. The enemy was in defense mostly. I charged the Hag and the war sleds to attack and lure the entire Skaven horde, dividing their forces, luring some to the woods to be slain by my beasts, the rest to my army of archers, Katarina's spells, and one Winged Husser unit. My Snow Leopard VS Throt alone near end game.

[@Kimble145]

Thanks a lot for this video, as a new player this was really informative!

[@MalleusGaming57]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching bud cheers!

[@dblamcvy]

Omg this is amazing info. Yotube has taught me so much. I just started and thought the huge battles looked fun, but I'm so bad that the game says I'll overpower the enemy and then I barely win. 😂 So I've been using auto resolve for anything where I don't have full yellow prediction.

[@MalleusGaming57]

Glad it could help you out! I find a key thing is getting set up so you only really have to micro small parts of your army while the rest just do their thing. If you ever want more help or anything feel free to join the discord, we got a group doing games and we can always give some advice!

[@asamatthew3318]

From my experience checkerboard is terrible for gun units as they can only shoot straight forward (unless on high ground) I have been placing them in a straight line spaced out, so they don't clip into eachother when rotating. I keep my infantry in tall lines (vertical if looking from the front or back of army) so enemies spill around the sides in an attempt to surround, but get annihilated by my blackpowder units.

[@dropbear430]

Very nice video mate. Hope the algorithm buffs you up. Liked and subbed

[@MalleusGaming57]

Thanks so much bro I really appreciate that!

[@christianweibrecht6555]

Very helpful tutorial

[@MalleusGaming57]

Thanks so much glad you found it so! Cheers bud!

[@redpanda3339]

A yes the good ol' checkerboard, still work even to this day. I use this a lot back in Warhammer II because I saw Legend use it a lot back then. I like it because it also didn't take much micro management.

[@MalleusGaming57]

That's something I love with it too, you can set it up and for the most part it'll do its thing which allows you to really focus on your cavalry or other parts of your army! Why complicate things right? Cheers bro!

[@Angeloflight444]

Very informative and very interesting! Thank you so much 🙂

[@zan3141]

Great video! thank you very much think i will watch an hour of your vids and learn

[@MalleusGaming57]

Thanks so much bro I'm really glad you enjoyed it! Haha thanks for watching and the support I really appreciate it!

[@PeterTurbo4Ever]

Thank you! I needed this

[@MalleusGaming57]

Thank you for watching bro glad it could be useful for you!

[@spyritwind2540]

Nice video. Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to give this a try.

[@MalleusGaming57]

Thanks for watching bud glad you enjoyed it! Let me know how it goes

[@olnasty]

You have changed the game for me sir.

[@MalleusGaming57]

Great to hear bro! Hopefully changed for the better haha glad this could be helpful for you

[@olnasty]

@@MalleusGaming57 absolutely for the better. Saw your similar video, and played an ikit campaign used the checker with the rattling gunners, and had an excellent time. Thanks my man!

[@ryangallant1886]

Another nice video. This simple formation is one of those old fashioned effective ones. I'm currently curious if you have any ideas for the future involving armies with stalk (primarily because I'm in the middle of an Anith Anar campaign myself before the dlc). I imagine such an army would likely be used either with the lizardmen and their chameleon skinks or the High Elves and their Shadow warriors, possibly the skaven as well with their gutter runners and death runners. Anyways, keep up the good work.

[@MalleusGaming57]

Thanks so much bro glad you enjoyed the vid! I'm definitely planning on looking into more ambush style battles and tactics, a mainly stalking army would be so cool to work with! Cheers bud there'll be more vids coming

[@JossWeedon]

Are there more melee animations when khorne and kislev are fighting? I’ve never seen blocking effects before.

[@AO-yo1ke]

This is awesome - good stuff

[@MalleusGaming57]

Thanks a lot bud glad you enjoyed it

[@Rafalucija]

Strategery! As George W would no doubt say, if he ever played the game. Thanks for this, my brother in Sigmar, much love.

[@MalleusGaming57]

Haha thanks for watching my bro! I'm glad you enjoyed it and I'm proud to spread the gospel of FAITH, STEEL AND GUNPOWDER! FOR SIGMAR!!!

[@cweeperz7760]

Love the checkboard formation, especially with hybrid gunners like the streltsi or amethyst ironsides. Even if you get outflanked, they'll still be fine lol

[@MalleusGaming57]

Especially some Cweeperz Streltsi, they’ll kick all sorts of ass! Haha cheers bud!

[@000phoenix00092000]

As you say square formation can rotate in less time . As a tips for the players you can rotate pressing ctrl in addition to alt. However if you want the unit tourn around (for example because the enemy is attacking exactly from back or your range unit is returned in combat so point in the wrong direction) you can simply press 'j'. Is really more fast tan turn with the command or select with the mouse and this can make difference. The cons of j is that work one unit at time and is not usable for rotate do left or right

[@MalleusGaming57]

Bro that is awesome thanks so much for the tips! I knew about pressing J with Cavalry to get them to pull out of combat but didn't know it'd make the infantry units turn around. Cheers bro!

[@chaseacing]

I have nearly a thousand hours and I’ve never seen the default drag button, my alt key will thank you

[@MalleusGaming57]

Haha cheers bro yeah it really catches people by surprise! The annoying thing I've found sometimes it re-activates after updates randomly so stay vigilant!

[@brutalchicken]

I'd love a chevron formation guide! I know you have an older one

[@MalleusGaming57]

Cheers bro that’s definitely coming! Gonna do an in depth guide for each formation I’ve quickly covered before 😁

[@ollejohansson1890]

Now i understand why I never got it working and why archers always sucked for me😂 settings never even allowed for it. Thanks great vid!

[@MalleusGaming57]

Yeah man it's a tricksy setting and seems to catch a lot of people out! Glad I could be of assistance bro haha cheers I appreciate it!

[@seiferalmasy9485]

In regard to "hope everyone gets something out of it" I've got thousands of hours over the total war games and only today found out what order I ctrl select stuff effects it's drag drop position. Here I was shuffling the unit cards around... XD

[@MalleusGaming57]

Yo awesome glad that helped you out then bro! It’s so helpful but so annoying that the game doesn’t really make that clear. Cheers bud!

[@danieleriz80]

Need to try it!

[@MalleusGaming57]

Let me know how it goes for you bro!

[@alexmcd378]

Do you have a solution for the circumstance where an enemy unit happens to be the same size as the gaps in your checkerboard, and they just walk right up to your ranged units? It seems to happen to me weirdly often. I've thought about tilting the line slightly to narrow the approach, but I haven't tried it yet. Edit: I think they follow my archers through the gaps when I have my range forward and withdraw back to the second line.

[@MalleusGaming57]

If you can have some intercepting units, maybe like characters or other Single Entity Units to intercept, or failing that maybe just make the gaps a bit smaller

[@thomasfox2257]

Excellent video

[@MalleusGaming57]

Thanks so much bro!

[@DHMakin84]

The only thing that beats the checkerboard formation? The chessboard formation

[@MalleusGaming57]

Lmao just wait until the Monopoly Guy shows up, we'll all be doomed!

[@apotheases]

How should I group my army up after setting this up? I can get the formation going, but once the battle starts it just becomes chaos trying to manage the groups.

[@dabluflcn]

By Sigmar, yes! The chosen formation for those wielding steel, faith, and gunpowder.

[@MalleusGaming57]

FOR SIGMAR! FOR THE HELDENHAMMER! FOR THE EMPIRE!

[@JonathanOtt-o6w]

Thank you ❤

[@MalleusGaming57]

No no, thank you bro!

[@cjcisbeast]

Amazing vid so helpful

[@onurgorkemgurkan7835]

Those small guard units like tzar guard benefit from the single line formations. In addition, they are not ideal field troops, Heavy armor guards or units like ice guard, are better placed holding valuable possessions and are not best equipped for field warfare. Not to mention they'll be targets. Instead use light cavalry and kossars, armoured and normal, to setup the field and support with light war machines. You can leverage their maneuverability to carry the day. And mobilizing guard units without LLords can be a needless expense.

[@MalleusGaming57]

That is some good advice, I need to play more with the War Sleds, though Winged Lancers and Gryphon Legion are great fun

[@LordKalte]

Shit, I just tried it and it works really well for the dwarves!

[@MalleusGaming57]

Awesome! Glad it's been helpful for you bro

[@willfarthing4699]

Does this work well in Warhammer 2 as well? I'm waiting for the next steam sale to get WH 3!

[@MalleusGaming57]

Absolutely, I started using this back in Warhammer 1, it works in pretty much any of the Total War games

[@willfarthing4699]

@@MalleusGaming57 amazing thank you! I'm gonna try it tonight...

[@qwidium]

2 things: 1) you have to fight a lot. I assume nobody will sped much time on selecting, moving units. and 2) a compact square skirmish unit is also ineffective since only first raw will actually shoot, most of the time.

[@MalleusGaming57]

I tend to manually fight my battles more than auto resolve yeah. At least in the Warhammer games I've found that the entire blackpowder unit will shoot regardless of their shape

[@TheDukeOfAutumn]

Thanks!

[@MalleusGaming57]

Bro thank you so much!

[@Creeptac]

Thank you

[@MalleusGaming57]

Thank you for watching bud!

[@ASquidWithC4]

Wish CA would balance more towards these kinds of tactics instead of OP single entity cheese and doomstacks

[@MalleusGaming57]

Yeah I feel you, I'm a Warhammer table top player at heart so I far prefer actual army tactics rather than spamming units

[@Brett-uq4tz]

Have you ever thought of trying the swiss pike square with empire halberdiers?​@@MalleusGaming57

[@Vyrtus_]

The Empire!

[@MalleusGaming57]

Greeting my countrymen!

[@WompaStompaCyn]

Thanks for this. Shooting through your own guys is all good fun when they're goblins, but for humans it's kind of a whole big deal.

[@MalleusGaming57]

Haha those silly humans get all upset when you accidentally shoot them, what a bunch of nerds 😆Cheers bud glad you enjoyed the vid

[@cyberpunkfalangist2899]

There's a good mod series called logic hammer that addresses that issue

[@MalleusGaming57]

@@cyberpunkfalangist2899 oh cool what does it do? More morale penalties or something?

[@cyberpunkfalangist2899]

@@MalleusGaming57 changes range calculations and trajectories of range based on more realistic expectations you can read it in the stream workshop as part of a SFO sub mod group

[@TheTorrence11]

amazing ty

[@MalleusGaming57]

Thank you for watching bud, glad you enjoyed it!

[@cuthailon]

From the ashes a great malleus general arise. But what about the chungus faction (Ogres). Is this formation good for them, or is there another for the big ladz? Great video anyways :).

[@MalleusGaming57]

Haha Nurgle's blessings couldn't keep me down, my faith in Sigmar is too strong! Cheers bro and that's a very interesting question, I haven't played much with the Ogres but I'll have to check out how their shooting interacts with their units. Off the top of my head I could picture a line of Leadbelchers with a screen of Gnoblars but no idea how effective that'd be. I'll have to look into it!

[@fredarooni21]

What "unit size" setting are you using?

[@MalleusGaming57]

It's at Large

[@Im_Anthonyy]

The most interesting thing is how u made the VFX of the gane look that great, because in mine, idk what it is but the magical glows and all the other stuff looks pixelayed and awful, im guessing its because i play in 1080, but idk

[@MalleusGaming57]

I play at 1080 as well, otherwise my settings are mainly Ultra or High.

[@Duette-1]

Does this work with canons as a second line?

[@MalleusGaming57]

Like cannons in place of gunners? Yeah it could work, it'd give them a clear line of sight, I'm not sure how much damage they'd do in comparison to sustained handgun fire and they'd be way more cumbersome to move. I would imagine that Grapeshot Cannons would annihilate though!

[@Daelan1234]

Why not make checkerboard where ranged units are squares, but mellee units are lines?

[@MalleusGaming57]

If the Melee units are lines they'll likely take more damage faster since more of them are in model to model contact with the enemy troops. Also I forgot to mention this in the vid but by being more compact they have more mass so its harder for enemy units like Cavalry to punch through them. If they're in a thin line there's more of a chance the enemy could just penetrate through into your ranged units

[@matteotani1360]

Welcome to manipular sistem. I use this since Rome II 😂

[@kayleemichelson4019]

I personally dislike the checkerboard and don't recommend it when fighting stronger armies or well mixed enemies. Main issues with it is that if you put your units into squares, they become prime targets for enemy artillery and spells, long thin lines take far less damage. Another issue I have with is terrain. Many maps just don't have good flat land or nice big hills to camp on. This is easy to miss from top down view but putting a gun infantry behind a slightly elevated ground is a bad idea and they won't fire at all. Then, when facing enemy army with a lot of long range units, they're gonna just sit there and pummel your front lines, while your ranged squares are out of range.. and finally, flying units and summons. If they land a dragon or something between 2 ranged boxes at the back, they turn to face each other and cause a ton of friendly fire.

[@cyberpunkfalangist2899]

There's a name for this historically, and it's called a tercio.

[@MalleusGaming57]

Yeah I covered Tercios in a couple of videos

[@followernumber1]

The flamethrowers are not a good option. Your units get fried and debuffed as well

[@MalleusGaming57]

Yeah I’ve noticed that happening more in this update, didn’t seem to be much of a problem before in other formations I’ve done so I feel like somethings changed, gonna have to do more testing

[@followernumber1]

@@MalleusGaming57 hopefully in new update they can make them more practical. Like halving the damage done to friendly units

[@savagesavant4964]

You discovered an ancient battle formation that's about 2-3000 yrs old. ....great job

[@Voice_of_p]

Comment for the comment god! Likes for his throne.

[@MalleusGaming57]

Praise be ye in service to the Dark Gods!

[@corbinwhite1911]

more

[@MalleusGaming57]

MOAR!!!

[@wsywwwong5376]

P

[@LuckyAJC]

i honestly dont like checkerboard at all

[@Michaentus]

why the clickbait lord

[@MalleusGaming57]

Cuz I like her moxie

[@Search_In_Google]

Against other players it won't work. Human player will flank this formation or break through using magic and combination of units.

[@Search_In_Google]

against elves ot won't work either, they will shoot you down with their 180m range units.