The effective early NON-use of Pretenders in combat ....

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by magnate:
The default strength for indies is 3, which is hard enough. What on earth do you do at strength 9, other than use an SC?

Strength 3 independents can almost always be defeated by only your starting army, with no other support of any kind. Strength 6 is where it starts to matter what kind of army you have.

[Firebreath]

Originally posted by magnate:
The default strength for indies is 3, which is hard enough. What on earth do you do at strength 9, other than use an SC?

No need for an SC (although it can help ). At strength 9, just build your forces for 2-3 turns and then attack the provinces that say they're defended by mostly millitia, light infantry and archers (and usually some heavy infantry). Try to avoid the ones with heavy cavalry and barbarians in, and you'll see your heavily armoured front rank smash through the vast hordes of millitia and light infantry in no time at all. If you have archers of your own, then the aborigines will just rout all the faster

[Teleolurian]

It's a rare occasion when I can't take a province at the very beginning, using my starting army to attack an independent (normal settings). When this happens, it's almost always because of a 'special' independent army.

Generally, I'll build a 'screen' horde to handle early expansion (like the cheaper hammer infantry of Ulm). If this is not an option, I'll look for troops with a large weapon range and set a squad of them to hold...attack while my starting units are set to attack.

This doesn't appear to work with Pangaea. My early Pan armies always get wiped out.

[magnate]

Dear All,

If you are not playing an SC pretender, how do you decide when to go up against your indie neighbours? Do you use assassins? Do you wait for a certain number of particular units? (I know that will be race-specific, but I'm wondering if there is an agreed need for eg. some sort of cavalry, before attacking.) Do you use priests? Mages?

The default strength for indies is 3, which is hard enough. What on earth do you do at strength 9, other than use an SC?

CC

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by magnate:
Do you wait for a certain number of particular units?

Yep, for most races the early rush is carried on with HI. Some may use masses of LI/MI with shield and javelins instead (eg C'tis, Vanheim). Man uses longbows. Marignon uses crossbows or flagellants. Arco and Caelum use pachyderms mixed with elite infantry.

Do you use priests?

A level 3+ priest for Fanaticism or Sermon of Courage helps a lot.

The default strength for indies is 3, which is hard enough. What on earth do you do at strength 9, other than use an SC?

Same as above, just in greater numbers.