ME Ulm Vs Jotunheim advice wanted.

[thejeff]

I haven't had much luck relying on pikeneers and repelling.
That's just 1 damage and the accompanying morale check right?

It probably depends on which giants you're up against.
The militia run from their own shadow. Some of the others will just ignore the pinpricks and smash the silly little people with the long sticks.

[Kalin]

Yeah, but that's 1 wasted attack, and there's only 1 giant per square due to his size, so you just got 3 chance to hit him back. When shields and armor does nothing, repel is the about the only thing you've got left... ^_^;; all of Jotun's troops morale is generally 12-13, and they don't have that great of a defense (mostly prot and HP), so unless he's accumulated a ton of experience, that means you've got a decent chance of negating the damage.

In general, I've found that pikeneers are subpar when compared to heavy shielded troops for tanking size 3 and below enemies. However, when you are fighting size 4 and above who doesn't trample, pikeneers shines. Usually large creature have massize strength and will kill you in one hit regardless of armor, so the ability to repel and negate their attack works great. There's the question of the Vaetti in between the giants, but those guys shouldn't be able to scratch Ulm's armor. Pikeneers also happen to be one of Ulm's cheapest national troop, so it's pretty good for the price of a foddler.

[Sandman]

Ulmish pikeneers also have 11 morale, compared to 10 for their other infantry.

[PvK]

Jotuns tend to kill humans when they hit them, whatever armor the humans are wearing, so hire lightly armored indepenedent troops to use against the giants - using Ulmish heavy infantry is just a waste or armor. Missile troops and a horde of cheap light troops tends to work, though.

PvK

[PDF]

Crossbows (arbalests) may save your day, although hard to mass for Ulm. If your pretender can get to Fire arrows, this plus as much as possible indie archers can make much damage.
Pikes can hold them for a while .. yet will lack punch. Only Guardians and Maul infantry can put some damage in. Maybe a mix of 2 pikes+1 Guardian per square to oppose each Jotun can work.

I can't see how any of Ulm magic can help, Smiths are weak mages and Jotuns laugh when they see Blade Winds...

[Huzurdaddi]

Indeps that are high defence and that who's defence does not come from shields are your best bet.

I do not know what kind of gold ratio you will need to carry the day. Your own troops are, as you mentioned, one of the worst possible matchups.

[PDF]

Huzurdaddi said:
Indeps that are high defence and that who's defence does not come from shields are your best bet.

I do not know what kind of gold ratio you will need to carry the day. Your own troops are, as you mentioned, one of the worst possible matchups.

Pray for finding Pegasus riders ?
What kind of troops do you refer to ? Light Infantry won't do any damage to Jotuns, and indie cav is nearly impossible to recruit, so I wonder. ..

[Huzurdaddi]

PDF said:
Pray for finding Pegasus riders ?

That would be great!

PDF said:
Pray for finding Pegasus riders ?
What kind of troops do you refer to ? Light Infantry won't do any damage to Jotuns, and indie cav is nearly impossible to recruit, so I wonder. ..

Anything that rides anything would be excellent ( eg: tribal cav, they are expesnive) Burgmeisters, Any kind of amazon, Lizard warriors, and light infantry I suppose. PS: I had never really thought about this, but lizards do seem like the best bet out of all of these.

I was thinking more fatigue than killing outright. If you want to kill them outright then Ulm has the big 2 handed weapons necessary, I do not think it is cost effective though.

Ulm vs. giants is a horrible mismatch.

[thejeff]

Better than a pretender who can do fire arrows is a pretender who can make Flaming Skulls. With those (and Phoenix Power) any Smith can do Flaming Arrows.