Mount & Blade: Warband Troop Types

Why Is This Guide Useful?

Groups.

You can reassign troops to groups and increase accuracy and efficiency with your orders.

This is very good for commanders who dont fight a lot on their own.

Sounds Cool, What Can I Learn?

Insight about troops

Some basic strategy

Can I Learn Yet?

You need to know these things beforehand:

Giving orders (f1, f2...)

Party screen actions (Move troops up/down, reassign troops to x group)

Infantry

This contains my own categorizations for melee

Shields/Meatshields

As the name implies, you use them to protect your other units.

Shields are rather op in Warband, they can catch arrows which should've hit the head.

They also give omnidirectional blocking, making them superior to other AI in duels.

Meatshields are a special type, as they have no shield.

You usually dont want unshielded people to protect from arrows, but in some mods, like Gekokujo set in Japan, there are no shields. These units have good armor for low cost and quick training.

Examples:

Nord melee tree (Shields)

Swadian melee tree (Shields)

Any troop you want to die

Anti Cavalry/Spears

As the name implies, you use them to murder horses. Usually the riders too.

There are 3 good ways to stop melee cavalry in native:

Spears

Thick formations

Cavalry

We'll focus on spears for this section.

Polearms with atleast 150 range can stop horses, no matter speed or damage dealt, with a thrust.

In some mods, especially the multiplayer napoleonic wars dlc, crouching makes the tip of the spear instakill horses.

AI prefer to attack, rather than brace, but sometimes they focus on the rider behind and spear the horse in front of them.

Keep in mind that the AI can be quite terrible with thrusting attacks, especially against other infantry, so you wont have a pike experience anytime soon.

Examples:

Rhodok melee tree

Shock troops

The offensive and aggressive berserkers.

They have axes or crushing weapons.

Axes bypass the resistance of shields, making the shields be easier to destroy (but still really hard).

Crushing weapons can bypass the shield, depending on its resistance, at the cost of lower damage. Most crushing weapons are also blunt, giving them a chance to knock people down.

This is good for flanking and for smashing the heck out of siege assaulters when they try to climb into the walls.

Examples:

Nord melee tree

Sarranid Mamlukes

Swadian Knights and Sergeants

Ranged

The ones who'll probably deal the actual damage.

This does not include throwing weapons, they are add-ons for melee troops.

Archers

They will blot out the sun...until they run out of arrows like always.

Archers typically have weak low level troops and decent high level troops.

Their main trait is their high firerate, which is useful for blitzing the battlefield when you set up a good death funnel.

But this also means you have to micromanage them, or they'll waste their arrows like there is no tomorrow.

Examples:

Vaegir ranged tree

Sarranid ranged tree

Nord ranged tree (albeit weaker than the others)

Crossbowmen

Thats a peasant.

Lets rob him!

Oh dang, he has a crossbow!

Peasant massacred unshielded bandits.

Crossbowmen typically have good low level troops and good high level troops.

Their main trait is their low firerate and good damage at low levels, making replenishing armies quicker.

The low firerate is usable in long battles, sieges for example. But they have little to no blitzing potential.

As such, you should use them as movable turrets, place them somewhere and focus on the rest of your army.

Examples:

Rhodok ranged tree

Swadian ranged tree

Cavalry

Horsepeople

They are stopped by other horses ironically.

Lancers

They have lances to spike people.

Cavalry is used aggressively, but even more so with lancers.

For example, you distract with horse archers and lance the unshielded sides of the enemy, tell them to regroup and repeat.

This strategy requires a lot of micromanagement.

They should be used in the field only, or its a waste.

Examples:

Khergit melee cavalry tree

Swadian cavalry tree

Melee cavalry

Anything that doesnt have a lance or a ranged weapon and is mounted goes here.

They do the same thing as lancers, attack a distracted enemy.

Unlike lances, they need less micromanagement, as only lances need some charging space to couch their lances. But they still should be pulled out when the enemy focuses on them.

Examples:

Swadian cavalry tree

Sarranid cavalry tree

Vaegir cavalry tree

Horse archers

The people who make the battlefield a real mess.

They can be used as mounted archers or as distraction.

They can massacre enemies when they are not holding their shields to their direction, because your own infantry attacks them.

Controversely, you can let the horse archers go behind the enemy and have your archers attack their front.

Depending on the mod, you need a lot of micromanagement or none at all.

Example:

Khergit ranged cavalry tree

Dragoons

Ranged troops who cant fire from horseback, usually mounted crossbowmen.

Basically turrets which require a little more management and can be set up far away.

Like crossbowmen, you send them to a hill, but further away, and tell them to dismount.

Example:

Sword sister

Strategy

There are 3 factors concerning strategy

Your own army

The enemies army

Terrain/Siege

Yet you want the same thing for everything usually

Let damage dealers do damage

Protect damage dealers

In practise

Flank all day

I hope none of you have a green red weakness

Infantry Focused Army

Against other infantry focused army:

Send meatshields in front

Have shock troops attack their backs

Against Infantry/Ranged mix on the open field:

Send meatshields in front

Have shock troops kill archers

Let shock troops attack the back of the enemy infantry

Against Infantry/Ranged mix on hills:

Send shock troops against enemy infantry

Have shielded troops attack enemy archers

Against melee cavalry:

Send spears in front

Have everyone else behind the spears

Tell everyone to stand closer

Against mounted melee/ranged mix:

Send spears in front

Send shielded troops to the back

Against horse archers:

Let shielded troops charge

Infantry/Ranged Mix

Against infantry focused army:

Send meatshields to the front

Send shock troops and ranged troops to their sides

Against other infantry/ranged mix on the open field:

Send meatshields far away from your main army, but close enough to flock aggro from the enemy

Send everyone else to attack enemy ranged then focus on the rest of the enemy infantry

Against other infantry/ranged mix on hills:

Send shock troops to get aggro from enemy infantry

Have ranged troops flank enemy infantry

Send shielded troops attack enemy ranged troops.

Against melee cavalry:

Send spears in front

Have everyone else behind them

Have everyone stand closer together

Against melee cavalry/horse archer mix:

Send spears in front

Send shields to the back

Have archers stay inbetween them

Against horse archers:

Let shielded troops charge

Have ranged troops camp on a hill

Melee/Ranged Cavalry Mix

Against anything on hills:

Dismount

Use infantry or infantry/ranged mixed strategy

Against infantry:

Have horse archers distract the enemy

Send melee cavalry to attack

Against infantry/ranged mix:

Have horse archers distract both

Send melee cavalry to attack both

Against melee cavalry:

Dismount

Stay behind horses

Attack stopped enemy cavalry

Against melee/ranged cavalry mix:

Dismount horse archers

Have horse archers stay behind the horses and take aggro

Send melee cavalry closeby without taking aggro

Let melee cavalry attack the back of the enemy melee cavalry

Remount everyone and attack enemy horse archers.

Against ranged cavalry:

Let melee cavalry charge

Balanced Army?

Use multiple strategies at once!

Siege?

Send shields in front to take aggro from everyone

^You can direct enemy shields by telling your shielded troops to stay a little to the right or left

Have ranged troops fire, preferably at unshielded enemies

^You can then flank an usually unflankable enemy

Send everyone to their deaths once ammo runs out or enemy reinforcements spawn

Regroup when reinforcements arrive

Your Orders

I want you to charge at the rating button!

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2521887150

Troop Types

Why Is This Guide Useful?

Sounds Cool, What Can I Learn?

Can I Learn Yet?

Infantry

Ranged

Cavalry

Strategy

Infantry Focused Army

Infantry/Ranged Mix

Melee/Ranged Cavalry Mix

Balanced Army?

Siege?

Your Orders

More Mount & Blade: Warband guilds