Using REAL Military Tactics To Win An Impossible Battle!

[@Strat-Guides]

The door swinging technique is something that was done at the battle of Gettysburg under the command of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain on Little Round Top. Half of his forces held their ground while the other half swept down the hill, like a door closing with the enemy sandwiched between the two lines!

[@harjutapa]

a very similar maneuver was used at Austerlitz by Thiébault.

[@ingold1470]

The reverse slope defense at the beginning may have been the real winner though.

[@mdhall04]

I believe this is the man who studied roman militrat tactics as well. He taught the us military of the importance of having university educated officers.

[@mrjayoareyes]

Fair enough! definitely interesting... personally i would've looked for a bottleneck between the hill 🤔 then again... it's a always a bottleneck or a pincher in this game for me 😅

[@MrSquigglies]

You should check out my little warband if you haven't already, let's you make your own troop tree

[@liamrichardson6830]

This guy: Smart, tactical, uses the terrain to his advantage. Me: If I send everyone at this one enemy unit, our numbers will overwhelm them.

[@Strat-Guides]

No shame in it either, you prolly $%@# that one guy up pretty bad :D

[@seashellguy9416]

what if we spam archers only? the arrows will overwhelm them and we will totally win the battle.

[@TheAurelianProject]

That is a real tactic though. Napoleon used this sort of tactic a lot where he would focus as much force as possible on one unit of the enemy at a time.

[@botrust6543]

​@@seashellguy9416 That's what the English thought to during the Hundred years war, it worked on the first half but failed miserably when they couldn't produce anymore longbowmen or even bowmen

[@TheGreenB1rd]

@@seashellguy9416 Nahhh the game was based in 11th century, *spam cavalry instead*

[@jeanladoire4141]

i really love seeing actual real strategies used in a game like bannerlord. I'm sure making a custom battle that mimics historical events would be pretty fun

[@Strat-Guides]

I've always wanted to create custom maps/scenarios to recreate some of the historic battles like Agincourt or Yarmouk!

[@jacobbaker7763]

@@Strat-Guides I really hope that Bannerlord has more general historical looking armor mods come out for the modding community to all play with. Alot of Warband mods had shared assets from what I remember.

[@Alex-tx2em]

@@Strat-Guides A battle of Yarmouk video would be amazing, as an Arab fan of yours. I would love to watch some light cav tactics used against slow moving heavily armored units.

[@striker5003]

total war titles

[@jacobbaker7763]

@@striker5003 completely different type of game, stupid comment

[@manlyman2624]

“Screw it, F1 F3.”-Sun Tzu, The Art of War

[@Strat-Guides]

A man of culture I see :D

[@sunnyd9321]

I feel like this is how the game was meant to be played; however, it’s hard to give every battle this level of attention and foresight with how frequently they come on top of how fruitless it feels sometimes to squeak out a huge victory, at least that’s how it is in the vanilla game. This is why TW ought to focus more on diplomacy, NPC and campaign intelligence, and making resources far more scarce. I want to feel rewarded for challenging myself to crush way bigger armies that’s going to take like 30 mins to fight and not just have the AI immediately recover like nothing happened.

[@l.o.b.2433]

I mean there is some precendent for huge wins ultimately not mattering. Basically all the Punic Wars, as an example. Sure, most of the times, the Romans just threw soldiers into a furnace but they had the land and the population to just pump out more. But yeah, breaking the entirety of the enemy's army - especially when capturing the king - would pretty much end a war in most scenarios

[@beakerthefrog]

I mean a victory like this would basically guarantee the capture of a city in game if the player decides to make that happen. Or if the border villages haven't already been burned to the ground a huge influx of resources. It's true that the war doesn't end, but such is the nature of war. Unlike movies, wars very rarely culminated or depended on the results of one or two very large battles.

[@freeloaderuser6793]

@@l.o.b.2433 You're definitely right but i think that should be specific to one faction since most empires couldn't afford to do that. there would need to be balancing for it though like making them have almost no resources and have to rely greatly on others around them like rome did. i think if you beat large armies though it should make reduce the "morale" of the population since it's them suffering pretty much. increasing rebellions and so on.

[@DB-ku7vu]

@@l.o.b.2433 true but in the medieval period manpower was much harder to come by and most wars ended after a single decisive battle.

[@sebjep]

AI shitting out full army stacks in TW right after you crush them ruins the game for me.. Its unbalanced asf, but i get that they have a hard time coding their resource management and diplomacy.

[@risingsun9595]

That reverse slope was brutal, as soon as the enemy cav crested the ridge they immediately saw the shit they were in and then got slammed in the back by your cav

[@Masaki-1334]

Felt really good to watch.

[@Simon-gc6uf]

Didn't feel good to watch for me seeing a braindead AI. Whatever floats your boat though.

[@TheRavenofSin]

Yeah, if the archers were ready to fire, it would have been a complete massacre immediately. You can see the bar move visibly when he commanded them to fire.

[@MikeDindu]

Gotta scout ahead before you just start crashing into enemy lines

[@risingsun9595]

@@MikeDindu The IS-2s are the ones who push

[@Chrollostasis]

This is exactly why I love the game, using strategy and terrain to win fights you're outnumbered in is great, and history shows how efficient it is as well, there are many wars where one side has much less resources and numbers, yet still pull through.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for watching! I actually had to fight this battle more than once because I lost it the first time lol It was a tough one

[@Chrollostasis]

@@Strat-Guides Yeah on the power bar you had 1/3rd so I can't blame you for struggling, second try is great for them having double the troops, when I need to save rollback disadvantageous fights it takes me 3-4 tries, or I give up and pull a Battanian and run to the woods where I have more speed

[@serpentine6171]

Like the Scottish and the Welsh.

[@Gr3nadgr3gory]

Reminds me of playing most of my battles in Rome: Total War on the bridges. I may not have massive cliffs, but the AI treats a couple of feet of water like them.

[@nob0dbeat]

REAL military tactics like ur general sprinting into their backline of cav

[@Substance2020]

Real military strategy like putting all your men in a hole.

[@neurotic3015]

@@Substance2020 His men weren't in a hole, there was just a ridge in front of them, which would be a very effective tactic.

[@Substance2020]

@@neurotic3015 His whole army was between ridges. with the only way to retreat in any direction is by having to move UP hills. He even says himself that he's "stuck".

[@neurotic3015]

@@Substance2020 Bro, there were very clearly downhills to his left and right and uphills to his front and back. He wasn’t in a hole, and even if he was, it’s not disadvantageous when the ridge of that hole is too thin for the enemy to position on. It acts more like a barrier than a plateau on higher elevation. Nobody is gonna charge downhill from there, nobody is gonna shoot downhill from there- there’s no disadvantage for him in that position, only advantages. So yes, real military strategy “like putting all your men in a hole.”

[@Substance2020]

@@neurotic3015 A goddamn hail of arrows or stones shot high would obliterate those men in that spot, not to mention the enemy could easily have flanked and positioned on side ridges looking down into them. It was a ridiculous strategy.

[@TricksterPoi]

Just imagine in the enemy side who notice your calvary already at your rear as your calvary charging in their main force... Only to be smashed against two forces and you are literally struck in the middle, having no way to escape as that enemy calvary pouring downhill like a river against a mountain. Well played strategm.

[@Strat-Guides]

That's probably that point where your stomach drops and you just have to suck it up knowing you're probably not going to make it. I guess you get to go out fighting at least lol

[@Davidofthelost]

I was on the other side of a bridge against a force of 700 to my group of less then 300. I lined up my archers along the bank and made my infantry a shield wall on the bridge itself, before sending cavalry charging across and making the infantry go to loose formation to minimize damage done to them. Lost 50 men but I DESTROYED the larger army.

[@alxjr69]

I love bridge maps for this exact reason

[@Jerieth]

@@alxjr69 Yeah positioning is everything. If you can hold the enemy back and let your archers do the damage, it is great. I have seen sieges where the defender was completely outnumbered and still won due to a bottleneck situation.

[@vodago]

The viking who held off 40 people with just an axe was there in spirit!

[@Rybka4376]

I tried the same and enemy's archers destroyed my army, because bots were not rushing into my shield wall

[@Davidofthelost]

@@Rybka4376 thankfully the enemy was primarily melee troops for me. So when I got my cavalry over I had them focus on their archers before facing their cavalry while my archers helped my footmen until we could hit them from the back.

[@noellesato311]

We need more videos like this. Theory and number crunching for the "best troops" and "best formations" only goes so far outside of actual field tactics. This will save a million campaigns.

[@Strat-Guides]

I agree with you! I've said something similar in other videos - using the best units can give you an edge, but having good tactics and commanding skills is almost like using cheats lol

[@philozoraptor6808]

@@Strat-Guides Height (even tiny difference) seems to give huge advantage to melee units and espeically javelins units (archers are obvious here), tested it multiple times with exactly the same units fighting each other and the difference was staggering. I guess sometimes you really make simulation and simulation makes the gameplay.

[@Strat-Guides]

@@philozoraptor6808 Well said! I do hope someday the devs integrate a lot of your hard work into the base game as I find it difficult to go back to the base game after using RBM for hundreds (maybe even 1000+) or hours.

[@cardengixoth6878]

@@philozoraptor6808 Well duh. Didn't you listen to Obi-Wan? It's over. Strat had the high ground.

[@jimvenanzio6561]

The Codex Astartes supports this statement.... at least in theory, it should.

[@OliverBB.]

Hey pro tip, get your archers as far on your left flank as possible. Flanking the enemy on thier right = fewer shots on shiels. Edit: oh wow, never gotten this many likes before, thanks!

[@Strat-Guides]

The amount of times I forget this tip is staggering lol I appreciate it :)

[@jellydamgood]

@@Strat-Guides I tried flanking with archers before and the enemy reinforcements snuck up on them and messed up the formation. Very annoying.

[@Tiger4ever89]

@@jellydamgood i find it more convinient to send two cavalry one left one right, and come from the back.. right before my archers can do the most dmg.. they will focus on my cavalry, but my arches will kill the front line faster.. while marching with the infantry

[@enriquetaborda8521]

Gold

[@HeathBlythe]

They can get some hits, but it's a matter of time until your forget about them and they're left to fend for themselves with whichever units catches up to them.

[@honestintrospection8138]

This was honestly right up my alley. Hoping for more but here’s another idea. What if people send you their battle clips to be critiqued, put into a compilation, tactics explained, etc. I would devour that too and it would probably bring a lot more people into this, gain some interactive traction if you will. Great job on the battle and coverage as well. Reminded me of taking a rebel castle outnumbered about 2.5 to 1 last week. Had more than 100 kills personally because I ended up chewing through all their archers and back line, completely negating the death passage of my troops from the high wall to the courtyard. Got a bit too close to going down before my companions ended up meeting up with me and taking over. I pulled back, found high ground with wall cover, and took off heavies with headshots at an angle as well as the people starting to run from the morale loss. Felt like an awesome and impossible victory.

[@Strat-Guides]

Good idea, I did have someone send me their save a couple months ago and I was able to win a siege defense for them (it was actually really hard, took my 2 or 3 tries to figure it out). If you've got anything in mind, send it my way :) Hit me up on discord, probably easier to send it that way as I don't get replied to comments (only the first message).

[@genericgamer2836]

@@Strat-Guides That seige video was absolutely goated, would love to see more content in that vain, but I still love your content regardless!

[@iiswizward342]

I love when it's not just charge and die or run away and it's actual strategy

[@furimindusties5736]

It is quite enjoyable.

[@christianriddler5063]

Tactics, not strategy.

[@Jcdenton706]

Would be very cool if you made a little battle map with clear troop types, numbers, and where they are. Also love the content ☺️

[@Strat-Guides]

That's a good idea, like a top down 2d model to show positions, etc? Or I could just take some screenshots and recreate it... I'll think about that a bit. Thanks for the idea!

[@ЕгорИванов-ю3ж5р]

@@Strat-Guides I think screenshot with RTSCamera is enough

[@satanwithinternet2753]

@@Strat-Guides yea kinda like total war

[@semzz7769]

@@Strat-Guides yeah like a little sketch of the formations and battle plans before the fight.

[@noahmathers]

You mean like a mini map, damn that's a really good idea for a mod. noted 📝

[@MichaelDavis-mk4me]

It certainly isn't an impossible battle unless you don't use any tactics, which I'm sure a lot of people do, but for anyone who played Total War, you know that tactics is 60% of a battle, army composition is the other 40%. In Bannerlord, I consider 2 to 1 to be an acceptable ratio in most battles not knowing the terrain, it's up to 5 to 1 if you have huge hills. There is nothing cooler than defending a big hill in Bannerlord, I once defended against an elite Aserai army, almost all cataphracts outnumbering me around 3 to 1 with mostly militia troops and archers. The ennemy was mowed down by arrow fire, then once they reached the hill, it was was way too steep for the horse to charge, they were destroyed on the spear shield wall. Their horses died, they were unable to climb even on foot. It felt so realistic, I'm very happy higher ground is well represented in this game.

[@Strat-Guides]

Well said! KZbin pretty much forces us to use titles that are a bit on the extreme side. It's not really an impossible battle but I do have over 4k hours and I actually lost this the first time I played it. It's deceptively hard because of the RBM and True Armies of Calradia mods. Top tier units are extremely difficult to beat, even with good tactics since they soak up so much damage.

[@froo5667]

Don't forget about unit quality. 10 fian champions would kill 100 peasants with ease.

[@MichaelDavis-mk4me]

@@froo5667 Only the extreme low tier units such as thugs, peasants and recruits are that bad. Honestly, quality isn't a huge deal in Bannerlord, it's one of my issues with the game actually. Your character skills and tactics are what really wins the battle, a Aserai palace guard isn't going to perform that much better than a Sturgian axeman. And since, every battle, you'll lose a good chunk of your elite troops, you'll just use mostly mid armies since you lose elites too often to sustain an important force of them.

[@MaxCroat]

@@MichaelDavis-mk4me Eh, once you start getting like 200 or more troops in your party, this issue becomes much smaller. You can see he had 350 troops and most of them seemed to be pretty elite. Not saying he would have necessarily lost, but he certainly would have taken much higher casualties if it were all level 2 and 3 troops.

[@YouLikeBosch]

I always feel guilty not studying up on actual tactics. I usually like to lone wolf it in someone else's army and I almost always end up dying near the end of it after being incredibly reckless. This makes me want to take my time with the next playthrough and be strategic. Nice vid!

[@Strat-Guides]

I think that's a normal progression as I used to do that same thing! Lone wolf, get a hand full of kills but get knocked out and watch my army get torn to bits by the awful AI haha

[@furimindusties5736]

Yea, I've been trying to only join an army if its going into battles it will win, try to lone wolf a little bit for exp. Otherwise I don't join the war or I just lead my own army. I'm trying to implement tactics, key word is trying. Did beat up a Khuzait (is that their name?) who had better troops by forcing them into a rocky uphill choke point. A hidden hand commander beat me when I tried to charge him while his formation were on a hill. It was head and was around the back, but nonetheless my cav got stuck and my foot troops weren't close enough to capitalize the initial shock. Beat him later when he tried crossing his army through the deep end of a river...

[@unhackerthelaziestbastardo6083]

@@Strat-Guides I remember I was in a game where I had, more men than the AI enemy, but I got knocked out early in a battle. And the enemy AI had actually positioned itself quite well. And I got to watch my army throw itself away on a really bad approach. Like basically presenting themselves to the enemy archers.

[@javierlavanchy5316]

I remember winning a battle of with an army of 700 hundred men against several armies of up to 2500 men by having archers on the highground and dealing with the cavalry head-on with 2 segmented lines of foot-soldiers. Lost a lot of good units, but after we were done with all the cavalry, dealt with the rest of the armies by simply circling around with cavalry, NOT ATTACKING, just keeping them in a big circle, retreat, and let the archers fire a volley for massive kills. Hence and repeat.

[@The_Gallowglass]

Terrain advantage, bottlenecks, etc are super important especially if you're outnumbered. Bridges are fantastic for that. Making the enemy cross a river or a pond as you pelt them with arrows mmm.

[@killertrr1]

The cliffs that block the Beach on that one map? **Hands on Face** Mmm... perfection.

[@JesterForHire1663]

That was a pretty well run battle. I don't have any mods so I feel like I'm always struggling to control my troops a bit, but usually just let my sarges take charge lol.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you for watching! I find the AI does a decent job controlling foot troops (most of the time, not always lol) but they really struggle with cavalry.

[@fedggg]

Door swinging technique, really interesting seeing certain strategies used in game, I think it would be interesting if you explored the French/norman defense. chevauchée would be interesting baiting enemy forces into alternative areas, picking them off comes to mind but it would only be useful as a vassal realistically

[@Strat-Guides]

I'm going o have to do some studying on that one as I'm not familiar with it! Thanks for the reference :)

[@fatihaydogdu2720]

Real Military Tactic: General kills hundreds all by himself so numbers match in the end.

[@The_Nihl]

I often try to use real battle tactics and split my infantry on left, center and right, it works amazingly well to be honest! your execution is amazing. nice and fluent control of units. only thing i would suggest in future is trying to position archers more on the left flank, so they have better chances to not hit into shields.

[@ezequielhernandez7281]

Just a thought, for the maybe remaining 3min, your archers weren’t doing much. Probably could’ve saved some of your infantry if you had a group of archers cover them as you had the left formation move up to pinch. Then again you had only one big group of archers. I find it helpful to form two groups so itll allow for more mobility and coverage of your infantry

[@Zoro__13]

Great video, you should bring more of these techniques and general strategy in the open map, like best city/castel to capture!

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for watching! That's a good idea, I'll add it to my list :)

[@thebigksmoosey]

This is the stuff that makes these games so good. I loved Warband, and I love Bannerlord even more. No other game scratches the epic battle and action game mix like this. Good video as always! Thanks Strat!

[@Strat-Guides]

It's even better with a good set of mods :) Thanks for the continued support, I appreciate it!

[@rod.lunx0]

@@Strat-Guides Great video! May I ask which mods were you using here, if any? Keep it up with these, they are really helpful and also fun to watch!

[@devinahfong1933]

If it's rts combat tactics you like, total war has great stuff. You yourself don't really play a character, but you lead a faction comprised of multiple armies, and looking at those fights is always fun

[@grandspeaker6529]

Man that is one of the best looking and organized armies I have seen on this game, also your weapon selection is insanely smart as you were able to maul thru the enemies

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for watching! :D

[@23babocheoreom]

What spear did you use? It's so fast.

[@qsafex]

I think what helped him maul the enemies the most is playing on 0.25x damage.

[@morbus5238]

Cant remeber the name of the pike but it's got a flag at the tip and if you have a shield equipped you'll only do thrust attacks, but you go two handed and you can hack and slash like this guy but have more length, quickly became my favorite weapon while mounted

[@grandspeaker6529]

@@morbus5238 ok that does sound good

[@CheeseTheTerrible]

that first tactic actually just saved me. I wasnt paying attention and went into a fight where I was heavily outnumbered 301-1148, didnt have a hill so I pushed my men into the rear of the map. Was able to hold off that entire Khuzait army and only 28 of my men were killed and 82 injured. Definitely earned a sub for that

[@dillonkerr7549]

Man I'm trying my hardest to stop f1 f3ing. Trying to actually command and stuff and this man executes the most fluid back flank I've ever seen.

[@johnpetersen1547]

the ax kill at 1:57 was unreal

[@Laucron]

The closest I had to a tactical battle was one time where I parked my army inside a forest because the enemy had an endless amount of cav. It helped a bit but I ended up having to kill like 70 guys by myself and it took forever lmao

[@afawafa322]

just like waterloo’s reverse slope defence with the use of the ridge and all

[@Strat-Guides]

Exactly!

[@WesideRipper]

Shield wall and archers with horse archers and cavalry for it and run have won me so many impossible battles tactics always win. Great content bro

[@MohammedAbdulNoor]

Congratulations strat for reaching 900k+ also for reaching 72k subs

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you! I had no clue this one would take off the way it did

[@kalziumbones1557]

I love these. They’re very entertaining and they show me new tactics

[@Strat-Guides]

Glad to hear that!

[@6666Imperator]

this reminds me of the time when a friend and I would call each other to talk about which awesome castle defense or battle we had and what our stats were in Total War Medieval 2 and Shogun 2 and stuff :D

[@Strat-Guides]

Nice! There's nothing like a tough battle during a 50+ hour long campaign where any mistakes would mean you just wasted 50 hours lol

[@CraigPrime]

Then there is me, playing on every easiest difficulty setting, using my tested and true "Melee Front Archers Back and We Have No Cavalry Because I Don't Know How to Micromanage Them" approach. This was far more satisfying to watch.

[@Strat-Guides]

Haha nice, as long as you're having fun then who cares :)

[@vondantalingting]

That's the bread and butter of every campaign. I've done that with the earliest mount and blade as well. But over time, a well placed mounted archer contingent could reverse everything. Hence, a better placement would be Melee front, Range second line, melee cavalry in reserve, and mounted archer to harass and bait their cavalry into our shield wall. The following coup de grace by our flanking cavalry followed by the mounted cavalry harassing and decimating their ranged units as their cavalry is depleted, infantry squished by cavalry, and ranged units are integrated into the soil by horse archers is just *chef's kiss".

[@ΝΕΙ]

It’d be so cool to see one of Hannibal’s strategies, and it actually working. Because of how this game works, the enemy wouldn’t be confused, but they’d still be boxed and trapped.

[@nerovanbraus9119]

i cant belive you actually made a revolving door tactic work with a inversed slope, good tactics but even better foresight

[@EnRandomSten]

I remember a while back when I was testing ways to make throwing weapons work I tried something similar to this. I played sturgia and had my axmen at the bottom of a hill with javelins behind them. The Idea was that the angle of the hill would increase the chance of my throwing weapons to hit the enemy as they either had their shields pointing forwards (to block the spears) or pointing down (to block the axes). Its also a legit strategy to equalize archery disadvantage if your enemy has superior ranged units (which is the case against all enemies when playing sturgia lol). I cant remember how well it worked against cavalry but I'd assume not great unless you could have pikes just at the crest of the hill to poke the horses as they go over

[@algorithmgeneratedanimegir1286]

This is not a strategy, it is a tactic.

[@EnRandomSten]

@@algorithmgeneratedanimegir1286 cool

[@Jerieth]

Interesting strategy employed, I liked you slowing down the Calvary, but the real thing with this game is not the quantity of your troops, but the quality. If you looked at the beginning you were almost 50-50 in actual strength, yes you were outnumbered, but the strength/quality number was something like 60 vs 40.Also with morale in this game you can easily turn an outnumbered enemy if you hit them in the right places. Still excellent strategy, putting your archers on a hill is usually the best move, some people like to place them in front, but I think the high ground is always better. Shield wall really helped too. The fact that you were the defender makes it easier. In this game you would rather be defending, unless your army is mostly cav. You may have reserved some of your cavalry to use them later and hit them from behind, but overall excellent strategy to winning.

[@Strat-Guides]

That's a great analysis of the battle! You're spot on I think. Just FYI I did actually fight this more than once - I lost the first time pretty badly lol so charging in definitely wasn't an option and using the terrain and formations made a massive difference. Thanks for watching!!

[@darthrevan4933]

Something similar to the door swing you did I tend to do is get a group of shock infantry (example valandian Billmen) and set them just behind one flank of my main line to come out when the lines meet (shock units usually have less armour and a two handed weapon so there faster and hit harder than the line infinity with shields but can chew through an occupied flank)

[@scr3aming3agle83]

I got so happy when that reverse slope play was pulled off, well done

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you! I've been itching for a moment to actually use it lol

[@jimmyc2223]

Good decision, nice tactic, and put the terrain to good use too. And the cherry on top, you almost singlehandedly took out 10% of their number by yourself 😂 Nicely done sir

[@kittycatcat6962]

I love hold fire, once the enemy archers move past there shield wall you order fire at will... Feel like an Elf commander slaying orcs everytime I do

[@Strat-Guides]

Haha gotta love the sound/look of a full 200+ archer volley!

[@alexanderrahl7034]

I've been playing Eagle Rising with the My Little Warband mod lately. My clan army is modeled after the Iberians from Rome Total War 2. So mostly light to medium armor, with oval and palaic shields and falcatas. The special quality to them though, is every unit is equipped with javelins except the archers. I've perfected my tactics against Roman and Carthaginian units easily enough. Their Phalanx and shield walls always manage to tank the hits from the front, but makes then susceptible to a cavalry charge from behind with my Cantabrian Cavalry. (And my cavalry is medium cav at best) But the Dryatians have been the harder culture to fight with their spears and falxes. They also have a lot of javelin armed units (ironically in RTW2 Iberians were the Iberians biggest weakness because of their low armor and shield strength making them weak to range) but many of their units use 2h weapons and no shields. Instead opting for a loose formation. So I figured it would be easy to beat them. Cavalry charges all day and let my archers pick them off. That first battle _did not go well_ I learned almost immediately never to do a frontal cavalry charge on them again. My men and I slipped through their units to stab at them, but the falxmen hewed at our cavalry and I lost 3/4 of my 80 cavalry within a minute. My dominant strategy I've developed for them now, is to split my infantry into 2 groups. Place my archers behind group 1, and then have group 2 on the side or to the side and back a bit. Then take my cavalry to skirmish with the enemy and wait for them to collide with the front line if group 1. Which is when I order group 2 to wheel around to their flank and start tossing javelins at them, while the cavalry and I take out their archers. Their falx men can still do some damage to me, and I need to be careful because these tactics don't scale down to small army sizes though. But damn does it feel good to think during these battles again lol

[@biigsmokee]

Me: "what's going on.. this is insane" Strat Gaming: "just going to tell everyone to charge here" Me: "ah yes, a man of culture I see"

[@hariyantotri888]

I think it will be interesting to see no kill bannerlord challenge. You cannot kill any enemy but your troop can. And then some rule like maximun amout of friendly casualty you lose the battle

[@DanOfTheD3ad]

Looked to be mostly light to medium cav. I had a similar battle, on similar terrain the other day. With the troop make up I had, I ended up using a ridgeline to give my archers (mostly Fians) the elevated position, supported by heavy infantry. Disrupted their cav charge with mounted skirmishers and then heavy cav runs once they closed close enough into archer range. Took some heavy micromanaging, as I had to recall and do several sorties, while keeping out of enemy archer range as much i could. Literally just cycling charges with the skirmishers and heavy cav. Making sure the enemy cav was always engaged or chasing, pulling them in, wearing them down. Used the tactic a couple times before, and it definitely works to blunt the charge and disrupt large cavalry armies. By the time you pull your cav back, they hit your infantry on a uphill slope in a disorganized slow mess. Easy pickings until the enemy infantry catches up with the overextended cav. After that, I used my mounted skirmishers to delay their reinforcements, and used the heavy cav to hit their archer line before turning to flank their battle line. The downside is, that you tend to take heavy loses in your mounted archers/ skirmishers as they stay engaged the longest while delaying reinforcements, and you may end up having to do a balancing act if the enemy also has a lot of mounted archers. Luckily, in this case, they didnt, and they walked right into the meat grinder. Closest historical comparison would probably be the Mongols i guess, since half my army is typically mounted archers/ skirmishers and heavy cav. Don't know of any real battles that used a similar tactic though, just know its worked well for me in the game. Then again, history is chalk full of commanders over extending their troops to early, so at least the enemy response is probably historical XD

[@Yes_Fantasy_419]

Swinging the door on their flank? Chamberlain from the American Civil War himself would be proud :)

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah Chamberlain! He's one of my favorites to read about.

[@jeffbezos2960]

8:26 "We've got lots to be proud of this day 😐"

[@HeedTheCarnyx]

I'm just getting back into bannerlord and started to wonder if real tactics would actually work. Guess I know now! Thanks for another great video man! Can't wait for more bannerlord!

[@Strat-Guides]

There are a few others I've been meaning to try out, I'll be sure to post them if I can get it to work :)

[@TheShadowwarrior80]

I remember using real tactics in total war. Heck, I used the same plan that Hannibal used at the battle of canne against the vandal kingdom in Attila: total war

[@Strat-Guides]

Nice! I've been watching some history channel videos on ancient tactics and it's really interesting stuff

[@TheShadowwarrior80]

@Strat_Gaming thanks, the use of real tactics in the game tends to make things run smoother.

[@Jamespetersenwa]

Is this what a military genius looks like out in the wild?

[@Gebunator]

In MB1, using nords only made you embrace hills and forests just like that due lack of own cavalry. Then later on, when I started bolstering my army with cavalry, instead of the "door slam", I tended to have my cavalry either sweep back and forth infront of my meat wall or just charge their archers.

[@btheg9953]

Not a whole lotta red???

[@bordep]

🧛🧛🧛🧛🧛🧛🧛🧛🧛🧛

[@Pho7on]

The funny thing is that the enemy army had no tactical advantage in attacking you so should have just waited for a better position instead of going at you like a zombie horde, but a lot of history has been made by that kind of poor decision-making: thinking superior numbers can make up for bad tactics.

[@Strat-Guides]

So true - underestimating the enemy seems to be one of the biggest killers of empires/kingdoms!

[@harjutapa]

What is that weapon you're using? Looks nifty

[@Strat-Guides]

I usually have a 200 - 250 length polearm (thrust only, no swing), a 1H mace and a 2H mace. It's nice to have options :)

[@ASoldierOfGodrick]

It feels so good when making a tactic and your archers just raining fire and you get so many kills

[@Nutellla]

One of greatest tactics is not facing the enemy when outnumbered😂

[@Strat-Guides]

True! Sun Tzu approved reply

[@alik.5990]

Can you do the Turan tactic with khuzaits please? It is also known as Crescent tactc. It's a real tactic used by Turks for hundreds and thousands of years and most of the time win the battles outnumbered against Crusaders. It would be really cool.

[@Strat-Guides]

Time to do some research - I'm adding it to my list!

[@alimertc]

its also known as feigned retreat

[@msj1117]

Great fight, Strat! Quick question: were you using the "Follow Me" command for your cavalry a lot? Or was it more "Go to Position X"? A combo of the two based on the situation? Also, great kick at 6:50! I often forget to use kicks outside of tournaments. I tend to go into Berserker mode and just hew away with the Dane Axe, lol.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah I do use follow me often when I'm using cav as the AI doesn't handle them very well. I sometimes use the move commands as well, particularly if my attention is needed elsewhere like when the shield walls collide or I need to reposition my archers. TLDR - a combo of both :) When using the RBM mod, kicks are really important because the AI will block almost everything if they are facing you!

[@msj1117]

@@Strat-Guides awesome, thank you!

[@linming5610]

You managed to make them focus a large part of their men to a small part of your line nullifying their number advantage. That was cool. What mod were you using?

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks! I fought the battle twice, lost badly the first time and then figured out a better way. The big 2 mods were RBM and True Armies of Calradia!

[@Decessus117]

The Bob Ross of military generals

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol I like that :D

[@spudmanii]

I love the strategy of bannerlord SO much, but one of my favorite things to do is hunt for commanders. I lead cavalry in on sweeping charges to soften up lines and see who's there, then go straight for the enemy commander as soon as I find them. Once they're gone the whole enemy force falls into chaos

[@Strat-Guides]

Nice! In one of my campaigns I focused on riding and throwing specifically for that - I would go solo and head hunt using impale - it's an easy 1-shot for each one :)

[@ylmazarslaner5401]

F1+F3 -Sun Tzu

[@theepicolaf-gunther1389]

Just had a similar battle, 2000 vs 2200, I took position behind a river and baited them to come down a narrow path down a hill in front of the river. They came down there and my troops could just spam them with arrows and javelins. They came in 5 waves, battle took 40 minutes xD Glad I was using the RTS camera mod. Which mods were you using for your game? I think I recognized Realistic Battle Module (with the armor Module as well?). How were you able to actually use the spear efficiently? Especially the faster thrust speed. Is that part of RBM or a spear rework mod?

[@Strat-Guides]

Wow 40 minutes! That's a slog (but a really fun one I bet). This one was mostly using RBM and True Armies of Calradia. I didn't have the spear mod, but RBM does change spears a lot still

[@balakaylee6289]

Man that is an incredible spot. Never seen that ridge/hill area. Incredible defensive positioning.

[@stormcloaks1042]

Respect that soldier who pick enemy shield to cover himself. He hold the line soo long that he needed a spare shield. Giga chad

[@erikpierre6227]

The men respected how their leader dismounted to fight in hand-to-hand combat.

[@anthonybluhm4724]

This is a great example of getting yourself superior troops and playing on the easiest setting

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol Try again! This was on Bannerlord difficulty, the enemy had more tier 5 and tier 6 units than I did AND had close to 2x my numbers. I actually lost this battle the first time I fought it with a 0.5 KDR so it was a actually a tough battle. I appreciate you helping with the algorithm!

[@anthonybluhm4724]

@@Strat-Guides Well, slap me silly... Anytime with the algorithm! 😁 How did you sustain so little damage every time you were hit? That is why I assumed easy difficulty. I take much more damage than that even when I have the best armor.

[@Strat-Guides]

@@anthonybluhm4724 I'm not sure, but I've got about 60 or so hours in that campaign and once I hit 275 athletics and got good armor it was like that for most enemies. Maces and crossbows were pretty nasty to fight against and the occasional couch lance, but mostly their attacks bounce off. RBM is such a different experience IMO

[@holysauce4982]

I'm not a bow person at all and I thought it was unwise to put the infantry on the downhill but then again the bowman got the best targets doing that Just shows different ways different people think

[@mgkpraesi]

02:40 real military tactics...i see.

[@DrBish0p]

My strategy is similiar to that. Cover the archers with infantrymen and when enemies attack, i wipe them out from behind with my cavalry.

[@Marcel-von-Riva]

Yeah, the results of this very easy strategy are sometimes ridiculous. Today i had a battle 1200 vs 1200 and in auto resolve i lost very high, not even half the enemy army was killed or wounded and i have strategy skill about 250... than i fought it by my self with this strategy and i baited the enemy cav in range for my archers. I lost only 50 men and 50 wounded. 😅

[@felipezenun]

6:26 loved the slapping the enemies butt with a two handed mace strategy XD

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol

[@xxDrain]

My tactics begin and end with pressing F1 followed by F3.

[@MrRasta3600]

Awesome. You really are the Bannerlord. 🤣

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for watching!

[@vic8497]

How was this an impossible battle? All i see is AI charging blindly into shieldwall. every outnumbered match can be won with that tactic.

[@KomonoxDragon]

For anyone that wants to have large armies but don’t want to make its every move just hit F3 & F4. The ai is pretty smart to do it’s own thing

[@fcatulo]

That was incredible, wow! What mod list are you using?

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks! I've got the full list in the description of this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aX-4lIyNj7Jllac&ab_channel=StratGaming I put them in the same load order as well, so you can use the order I listen them and it should work.

[@fcatulo]

@@Strat-Guides Killer! I've just returned to Bannerlord after taking a break for a bit, and your videos contributed to that. Definitey gonna use the tips I've got from them on my playthrough.

[@warlord9973]

I always put archers on a big hill then use the infantry in shield wall in front while the cav is on the left but I'll also use the archer cav to go and harass the enemy before they get to my main force and that's when I'll let loose the archers I got ready for them

[@GlassShadow1818]

''Soldiers win war, but where to put is the key to victory." best quote ever

[@Solkerash]

I’d trust this guy with my life as a medieval commander

[@bassybgaming3388]

There’s been so many times were I usually just wait back at my lying for the enemy to come. I enter shield walls and then advance from there and I find it works really well. Another thing I’ve gotten really good at is attacking an enemy position. There’s been so many times now where I’ve gotten into a battle and the enemy isn’t attacking me. They are just looking for a better position. High ground type stuff. I’m really really good at assaulting enemies at high ground. For now, at least, until the game throws another learning curve my way.

[@lazymajmun9642]

Just got bannerlord after playing the hell out of warband and I am very glad to see cavalry actually is useful in this game and they worked on the commands of your army

[@termigasts5227]

I love getting my heavy crossbowmen on a hill and waiting to fire them all at once , this wave of bolts just cutting down enemy troops

[@DomR1997]

This is basically how I win every battle in a hilled area. Shield walls supported by archers while I lead the cavalry to either counter the enemy cavalry or swoop around and barrel into the enemy flank.

[@jonconnor0729]

The fact that you can do this in the first game is impressive.

[@shimiku8180]

i love that he says we can probably go in here and help and straight up club his own dude :)

[@TheBookOfAkersGaming]

Dude, those troops are so elite looking you could have won with 9, F1, F3. But it was still cool to watch.

[@edot7266]

God I love this game. Id always try to make every battle as tactical as possible to be truly efficient. My favorite Strat was my Duel ranged pincer strategy. Id have a group of longbow man and another group of Crossbows split into two groups, then some heavy cav and some basic infantry to hold lines and pin enemies. Id set the Crossbowmen on a good vantage point above the battle, usually far enough that their out of danger but still have a good shot within range. I'd set up my archers a little closer under them. Get my Calv off out of sight and get my infantry set up in their lines. Then wait for the enemy to engage the line, using my calv to interrupt theirs if they push them up first. Have only the longbow man shooting at first, but then slowly try to push my archers around to a flanking position so they can shoot from the flank. Bring my Calvary to back them up, then once the enrmy starts getting shot in the flank they start leaving themselves open to the infantry pinning them and the crossbowmen. Tell them to open fire and proceed to hit and run with my Calvary. Whichever direction they face or try to engage they get pelted with either arrows and bolts. The kill screen becomes a long long trail of green

[@izrayeljunjaki6626]

the number of times that I have used terrain as a choke point when I'm outnumbered is a lot it really says that local terrain plays a massive role in battle especially when you are outnumbered by the enemy.

[@Fiaw1]

I can't imagine not playing the game this way though? Like who rallies and full charges a battle and not use tactics?

[@Strat-Guides]

If I had to guess, well over 50% of the player base lol To each their own I guess :)

[@teodorrada9669]

2:19 "this is a real dissater for them" strat says as he is in the middle of enemy cavalry

[@EmpressTiffanyOfBrittany]

Strat Gaming, dread lord of the Bonk Stick

[@Strat-Guides]

Haha I used to call my 2H mace "El Bonko Grande" :D

[@EmpressTiffanyOfBrittany]

@@Strat-Guides I might try that out, blunt seems OP as heck with that tumbling thing :D although I can tell your character is CRACKED, what stats do you have?

[@ChrisStavros]

Camping out on the edge of the map is basically always a victory, if you can coax the enemy to attack, because your reinforcements spawn right into the battle and the enemy's reinforcements spawn onto the opposite end of the map

[@Strat-Guides]

True, although this battle didn't go over the unit limit (I have mine set at 1000) so reinforcements weren't a factor here.

[@Mimolaitte]

This game is great, there are so many strategies and tactics. I once won a battle against a lord who had more than twice my troops and practically only elite soldiers. I put my archers on a rock that could only be climbed from a single rise, a rise on which I placed my infantrymen in defense mode, and I placed my cavalrymen far away on a flat surface, the enemy horsemen and infantrymen charged at my archers and were held back in part by the defending infantrymen and killed by arrows before they got to the top, then I launched my horsemen who took them from behind. I decimated everyone with almost 0 losses.

[@Vilified_Vagabond]

Very endearing and inspiring battle. Your cavalry maneuvers were well executed and your infantry and archer positioning led to an impressive victory

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks!

[@eduardomarques1430]

love to see casual games applying strategies that in other games would be normal consensus

[@abas656thegodemperor9]

I once beat an army of 650~ troops (tier 3 to 4 troops, very few tier fives, and no tier sixes) with 180~ troops, im still proud of that moment,Idk how i did it, but i did it

[@Marcel-von-Riva]

Today i had a battle 1200 vs 1200... in auto resolved my army wasn't able to defeat half the army... than i fought it by my self. I didn't use any special strategy, i just took a defense position and baitet their cav to the range of my archers, my cav focused on the enemy archers and charged the infantry in the back. The common things to do, but the results were ridiculous ... i lost only about 100 men, 50 dead. I din't even get any new troops on the battlefield. 😅