What is the best way to break a formation?
Use an all-cavalry force and burn all of the peasants homes and rape all of the women while the infantry are unable to catch up.
Eventually the refugees will swamp all of the static defenses.
Bonus points for using a compound bow to kill infantryman who can't reach you, and then using Chinese siege engineers to ruin the city walls.
In any given situation, usually large amounts of missiles, large missiles, or large amounts of large missiles. Make swiss cheese of em.
>>1414253
Parthian style horse archers around the flanks
or caltrops and ditches pre-dug (or lots of small field/picket walls) for when they advance.
>>1414273
This doesn't work against heavy infantry with plate armor
t. Leonidas
>>1414278
>Leonidas
you mean that guy who was killed in exactly that way?
Flanking.
Use of missiles.
Force the enemy onto uneven terrain (hilly or forested areas).
>>1414253
About ten of these might be able to
>>1414253
>hilly terrain
>fortified zig-zag trenches
>a shitton of archers/missile troops
>artillery
A mix of these would probably do the trick.
>>1414253
throw big rocks at em
t. that asshole that plays TW with a armies consisting of >50% ballistae
>>1414253
Cannon fire.
win the cavalry battle on the flanks
>>1414253
Nukes
That depends entirely on what resources you have at your disposal.
Fire, traps, cannons, cavalry. Lots of ways.
If you want to be flashy about it you can do it Cannae style. Draw out the center and tuck in the flanks with cavalry.
>>1414386
>Artillery armies
Gross and boring and gross
>>1414253
Throw a huge fucking boulder against it.
>>1414282
Encircled by infantry?
>>1414253
Entreched positions.
Massed artillery.
Guerilla warfare.
Cut off supply routes, then taunt them with food.
>>1414426
>mfw this is exactly how the US won the Western Front
>>1414253
Homosex to disrupt the cohesion of military units. It's why the Spartans lost.
>>1414504
>disrupt
Homosex turns a formation of men into one of steel.
>>1414504
Homosex armies are basically why thebes took control of Greece.
Sacred Band > Spartans
Napalm or any similar substance to it
>>1414504
The Sacred Band of Thebes was much gayer and kicked Sparta's ass
>>1414605
no, but the Sacred Band was specifically made up of pairs of male lovers
>>1414609
Yes, I know that. I'm asking whether they had a different view on homosexuality from the rest of Greece at the time. Unless your "no", was your reply to that. In which case, wouldn't half of the band be made of social pariahs?
>>1414615
if you didn't want people to respond why did you post at all?
>>1414624
I wanted to people to respond with jokes.
In this situation, if we are to consider the men in question to be well armoured and disciplined, the optimal strategy would be to avoid engagement in favour of securing food/resources and gaining the logistical advantage. That way, you may delay engagement until you can ensure a fight on your own terms, or better yet, opt out of a battle entirely.
If battle is unavoidable, then the proper course of action rests almost entirely on what equipment your army is provided.
>Missiles
If your troops are in anyway comparable to the enemy, then they'd be fairly limited in range and therefore at the mercy of their cavalry. Plus, training entire armies of men effective in killing men with ranged weapons is difficult, considering how they were never meant to be primary killers in a battlefield. And that's to say nothing about the enemy's skirmishing capabilities.
>Artillery
This will certainly kill a lot more men and disrupt their formation, but it would take time to set up and load. But to qualify, the killing power of pre-gunpowder artillery and even early cannons is vastly overstated. Any bombardment would have to receive a concentrated follow up by infantry or cavalry to take advantage of the enemy's confusion. Remember to defend artillery batteries from counter-attack. If they do counter-attack, formation would have broken rendering engagement more faovurable.
>>1414263
So, be genghis khan
There has to be another way.
>>1414253
Make them chase you
>>1415018
There is a reason that in between the stirrup and gunpowder, a huge amount of effort was put into cavalry.
If you don't have steppe people, try and get some longbows or crossbows.
They should be able to defeat even heavy plate.
>>1414253
Bombs.
>>1415018
I've heard this was done a lot in Western Europe too. That's basically what the Hundred Years War chevauchées and the Iberian cavalgadas were, small scale cavalry raids on civillians.
>>1414425
Cannae was a very, very high risk plan. Had ANY element of the roman force fought better, or been handled even slightly competently, they'd have cracked the center, split Hannibal force in two, and slaughtered them.
This nearly happened as-is, and DID happen to his brother in spain.
>>1415044
>try and get some longbows or crossbows.
>They should be able to defeat even heavy plate.
They don't. English archers at flodden were ineffective.
In fact, they weren't effective at killing armored infantry in the majority of battles.
>>1415044
LONGBOW ARROWS DO NOT DEFEAT PLATE ARMOR. THEY CANNOT PASS THROUGH PLATE ARMOR. THEY GO INTO THE GAPS OF THE ARMOR WHERE WEAKER ARMOR IS. THE ONLY TIME THEY ARE EFFECTIVE IS WITH MASSIVE NUMBERS AT CLOSE RANGE TO MAXIMIZE THE CHANCE OF HITTING A WEAK POINT.
WHY WOULD SOMEONE SPEND THE EQUIVALENT OF A REALLY REALLY NICE HOUSE FOR ARMOR THAT CANT STOP FUCKING ARROWS.
HOW IS THIS HARD TO UNDERSTAND?
TW Rome 2 strategy
Ballista followed by arrow volley
War dogs
Cavalry on the wings
Then charge at the last second
Most enemies have routed, the others killed by ballista and arrows, charging in a wedge will split the remaining force into 2 v shapes of enemies to be held on one side by infantry and the other by cavalry from the wings
That is my strategy for straight conventional battle
>>1414253
Fear.
>>1414253
Fast reloading weapons, incendiary, and explosives can be used to get rid of any crowds unable to guard against them as a collective
>>1414253
explosives, music and shouting
tanks
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Make them arrogant, make them feel they're making an overwhelming victory, or make them scared. Basically have them running towards you in disarray, or running with their backs exposed while gasping and screaming.
>>1414253
Trees.
The newest method is using trucks.
>>1414253
>>1415488
How are the infantry archers going to get to your cavalry.
They're never going to be where there's a concentration of force, or where you expect them to be.
>>1414503
more so from Ariel bombings
Chuck big ass rocks, then cavalry to get the ones that scatter, then move in the main force
>>1414253
Artillery and machine guns
>>1418210
By being dispersed among the infantry you intend to attack, as an organic part of the unit.
Combined arms formations are not a modern invention.
Byzantine infantry units could easily consists of a mix of heavy infantry with 40-60% archers in each FILE. This leaves no section of line not able to shoot back.
>>1414253
>>1414253
Killing the enemy until they can no longer bear fighting and rout.
That's how 99.99% of all armies attempted it anyways.
>>1419730
Not OP here
Waging a war of attrition barely plays out in anyones favor
War-elephants.
>>1414253
WITH FIRE
everyone loves a nice fire, unless its stuck to you
>>1420007
Hello, friend.
