I DOMINATED With Pike & Shot Tactics In Bannerlord!

Pike and Shot Warfare was a revolutionary idea that changed combat tactics forever! But could it have been used soon, without gun powder weapons? In this video, we'll be using Mount and Blade 2 Bannerlord to simulate Pike and Shot tactics in a medieval setting to find out!

0:00 - Intro
0:22 - Battle #1: Crossbows and Pike (RBM)
2:08 - Battle #2: Archers and Pike (RBM)
3:05 - Battle #3: Crossbows and Pike (No Mods)
3:46 - Battle #4: Archers and Pike (No Mods)

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[DuxLindy]

pikes were effective against infantry, but in the game they're pretty much the worst option.

[rickybuxton]

I was waiting for the "finally here's a battle replacing the pike with more fians, to show just how broken they are" 🤣

[syltis]

The biggest takeaway for me is asking why in the world at least some of the adjustments of RBM haven't been included in the main game.

[KartarNighthawk]

Tactics like this were used in the medieval world, just with the appropriate adjustments to avoid friendly fire. England regularly combined longbowmen with billmen and dismounted men-at-arms in the Hundred Years War, while on the other side of the world, China uses crossbowmen and archers on the flanks of spear units from the Iron Age on. It's mostly just a case of positioning, making sure your missile units can get to safety/your heavy infantry can get in front of them before the lines collide.

[firespark]

Would be cool to see an early tercio formation, with 1/3rd sword and shield inf, 1/3rd pike and 1/3rd crossbow

[drifterofwind]

the result of Strat's Indepth analysis: Taleworlds needs to fix there units and math. great video. its funny to see what tactics work vs what don't in a video game. since games like total war have similar play styles on a more RTS level. be interesting to see if taleworlds snipes the RBM crew one day to implement the combat system they developed into the game. keep up the good work.

[mr.stotruppen]

I remember in the Gekokujo mod for Warband the relatively simple change of adding up stab to and removing side swing from all spears dramatically increased the combat capability of ashigaru spearmen from being virtually useless to near Shogun 2 tier against pretty much everything.

Yeah the first couple ranks of dudes are still squishy but there's three or four others behind them all stabbing away over their shoulders. Half the time your own men can't hardly get a hit in if they don't outnumber them.

Hope Bannerlord improves spearman AI at some point. They're too passive as it is. Always outclassed by everything else.

[MercAgentVinny]

I’m so glad you finally got this video out, we know you’ve been struggling a lot with this video and the script so I’m happy you were satisfied enough with the video to post it :)

[JawaThePwn]

Could you perhaps do a video showcasing the difference between vanilla and RBM?

[horacestorm]

Man, I laughed my a** off when you mentioned Ramsay at 01:55 😂🤣

Also, this might not sound relevant to this video, but I just wanted to thank you for confirming and fixing some of the loopholes of the knowledge I'm having about pike & shoot formation.

I'm currently writing a novel, and the main character's army comprises mainly of pikeman, range-weapon users (a few bow and arrows, rifles, etc.), with a company of cavalry troopers. I'm also using it in a medieval-like world, so I'm not very sure about how accurate the battles would be. But now that I have this vid, I can somewhat go back and take a look to see what I can fix.

Thanks for the vid, Strat. This is very much needed for me.

[getsomeboy]

Been waiting for guide. Love it. Been using strictly knights and crossbows in my last playthrough they are effective.

Using tactics instead of f1 f3 is the way to go. Terrain advantage can really destroy larger armies against all odds

[TheMissing]

what I took away from this video is vanilla has like 0 balance.

[mercbast]

I've been playing pike and shot since bannerlord dropped, I've written a few guides on it on the subreddit as well(probably nearly impossible to find them). It's a great way to play the game. I simplify it even further, and keep it more historical, by mixing the pike and crossbows into the same unit. I'll typically run 2-4 blocks (depending on my army size). It's very effective to create enfilading fire opportunities. Central blocks will receive enemy infantry, and then flanking blocks will advance beyond the infantry line, and be able to pump nearly point blank xbow fire into the flank/rear of the enemy infantry line, while being protected from other infantry/cavalry due to the pike mix in the block.

You can achieve all sorts of real worldly type tactics with this. Oblique attacks can be extremely effective. Overload one side, but remain in oblique order. Set up so your oblique wing is on the shieldless side of the enemy line. Then you just pump bolts into their unshielded side.

Lot's of fun. Glad Strat is doing something similar.

[henrykkeszenowicz]

I learned about pike and shot back in Warband, playing as the Rhodoks.

[BillyPeach.]

I was going to start a playthrough without RBM but it's so obvious how essential it is after that demo

[HistoricalWeapons]

Note that firearms were invented in 13th century. Which is medieval period

[orlumbuseuw]

Loose formation defeats the purpose of pikemen. Pikes worked by forming a wall to stop frontal attacks.

[plasticbazooka]

A pike and shot formation in real life would usually mix shock infantry behind the first few ranks of pikes, using two handed swords, voulges, and halberds, etc.

I don't know when that fell out of favor but there's plenty of examples of this type of mixed infantry in history.

[LeatherCladVegan]

I've been running the mod called 'Guns and Powder', which is a Napoleonic warfare mod. Was looking for exactly these kinds of tactics, so thanks as always Strat! It's gonna be some radness. Austrian Jaegers FTW!

The mod itself doesn't have Napoleonic pike units, so I have been variously using Khuzait spearmen, etc, for the pikes. I think I have settled on the Sturgian Heavy Spearman as my pike guy (Vlandians have been replaced with Napoleonic Austrians, so no Voulgers unfortunately). Also, the Napoleonic cavalry are Uhlans, Hussars, and Cuirassers, which... are difficult to know how to use properly. The Uhlans have an actual lance, whereas the others only have one-handed swords, so I'm amassing Uhlans, but honestly I still don't know how to use them properly.

I am guessing you're into that sort of stuff. Anyway, cheers as always my man.

[shanewoody]

There wasnt pike and shot in medieval warfare but there was the Swiss pike square