Highly overpowered technique vs AI armies

I've arrived at a standard war party setup and battlefield technique which routinely yields victories against AI armies that outnumber my party on the order of 3 to 1, often even 4 to 1, including when they have mostly elite troops.

I call it "Rinse and Repeat", with the additional help of the "Pincushion Runaround" (PCRA). :-D

Rinse and Repeat

RR basically exploits three things:

1. Khan's Guards are by far the most powerful unit both on range and in melee.
2. You can retreat from a battle instantly at no cost, and thereby reset all sub-fatal damage to your non-hero units.
3. As long as you have enough troops remaining in your party, there is a maximum 3:1 ratio the enemy can field against you in a battle. E.g. your game is set to max 800 troops on the field at a time. Your minimum share of that is 200 troops, as long as you have at least that many fit for action in your party. They only get to field 600 at a time, no matter how big their army.

The Pincushion Runaround

The PCRA exploits three things:

1. Khan's Guards are by far the most powerful unit on range.
2. Cavalry are faster than infantry.
3. AI infantry on offense (when their army is the attacker in a battle) always stay in one squadron and turn their shields in a single direction.

When you are badly overpowered, the enemy will attack you (of course, because AI calculates you don't have a chance of winning). So you are on defense and can choose your position on the field to receive them.

Key requirements

1. Your party must consist almost entirely of Khan's Guards, with maybe a small contingent of elite melee cavalry.
2. You must keep your player character out of harm's way in the battle. No heroics. If you fall below 25% health and lose the ability to retreat and re-enter a simulated battle, it's curtains.
3. Your party must number significantly above 1/4 of the max battle size (e.g. more than 200 with a battle size of <=800), to leave margin for casualties while keeping above that threshold all throughout a long battle. I'm running about 270 men with a battle size of 800 in my current campaign.
4. It can't be one of those canyon maps. (God, I hate those.) You need room to maneuver.

Phases of battle

The battle will go in three main phases:

1. The enemy has a huge amount of cavalry.
2. The enemy has a significant but not huge amount of cavalry.
3. The enemy has little or no cavalry.

Phase 1

The enemy will keep all their cavalry in one squadron, and immediately charge you with all of it together. To receive that, you pack all your troops in a tight mass. Position them fairly far from the enemy, towards the back of the map, to maximize the chance that the enemy horse outpace their own infantry and reach you without them.

Get your person somewhat clear of the area of contact and keep moving to avoid arrows.

The enemy horse archers may attack first, but this is no concern. They will be few, and easily slaughtered by your Khan's Guards.

Wait for the enemy melee cavalry to arrive and make their charge. Be ready to retreat (in the sense of ending this round of combat, NOT just moving your troops back - Tab for battle summary, then Retreat button), and watch the kills accumulate. Your troops are almost entirely Khan's Guards, who are absolutely deadly up in melee with their glaives. They will take a decent number of the enemy horse before taking their first casualty. Allow no more than two or three casualties before you pull the plug.

When you click "Attack!" again and start the next round of combat, all the damage to your troops short of putting them out of action will be reset. 100% health for every soldier still in combat. This is the Rinse and Repeat.

Rinse and Repeat until you see the enemy horse are now splitting into two wings. This signals the beginning of Phase 2.

Phase 2

The enemy cavalry will no longer immediately charge as one, but will wait at the flanks of their infantry and charge separately at your flanks once their infantry are engaged. Timing for your retreat is now somewhat more delicate than in Phase 1. You must allow your troops time to receive enemy cavalry and destroy a significant number of them, but not enough time to take significant casualties themselves. The combat supremacy of the Khan's Guards is what guarantees that there will be some sliver of time between these thresholds.

If you have enough melee cavalry to certainly overpower one wing of the enemy cavalry, it may be worthwhile to send them out, far offside to avoid the enemy infantry. You will need to be personally standing on a high place to see far enough to dispatch them accurately. They must route around the enemy infantry and avoid contact, then approach the enemy cavalry close enough to draw them into combat. At that point you should give them the charge order (F1 F3) so they all engage and use their full number to overpower that squadron. Once they have destroyed a significant number or have taken more than a couple of casualties themselves, draw them back, again carefully routing them around the enemy infantry.

Rinse and Repeat. In every round, once you have destroyed a significant little handful of enemy troops, promptly retreat. Your goal in this phase is to gradually whittle down the enemy cavalry to an insignificant number. Once you have done this, you are in Phase 3.

Phase 3

Now your task is to destroy the enemy infantry, both melee and archers.

Split your Khan's Guards into two squadrons. Position them like a wide V to receive the enemy. If you possibly can, get them on hillsides with decently long sightlines on the enemy approach. You yourself should definitely stand on a high place, as you will need long sightlines to command the maneuvers that follow.

Wait for the enemy to come within range and allow your Khuzaits to open fire fully.

Now, the split. Your active and diligent command is especially required at this point.

Send one wing of Khan's Guards to the left, the other to the right. Send them far enough aside to avoid melee contact with the enemy. Once they are roughly on two sides of the enemy, position them more precisely just within arrow range (which for KGs is fairly long), each wing facing the enemy formation to focus their full arrow concentration (select squadron, position your cursor flag on the enemy, F7). The enemy will march all in one direction, towards one of your KG wings, their unshielded backs to the other. Back away the wing of KGs which they are marching towards, and move the other towards them. You may also need to wheel your pair of wings around (with the enemy as the center of rotation) in order to avoid running out of room at the map edge. At all times, deny the enemy melee contact and keep them under your heavy arrow fire. This is the Pincushion Runaround.

If you have significant melee cavalry, route them around behind the enemy to attack their archer line.

If badly outnumbered, you will likely need to Rinse and Repeat in this phase too, both to get out of any errors of maneuver and timing (indicated by beginning to take significant losses), and to refill the quivers of your Khuzaits (who carry two apiece, which is a great convenience for the PCRA technique).

Continue until the enemy is badly overpowered in the power meter, then order an all charge! (0 F1 F3).

You have now defeated a vastly superior foe and punished the arrogance of Lord Whoever.

submitted by /u/hajenso
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