How to play Northerners

Share and discuss strategies for playing the game, and get help and tips from other players.

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Velensk
Multiplayer Contributor
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Joined: January 24th, 2007, 12:56 am

Re: How to play Northerners

Post by Velensk »

Grunts, assassins, and archers (archers especially in 1.9), maybe some trolls as blockers/damage sinks. Grunts are slightly more mobile than spearmen and fight them on roughly even terms while costing less. Poison is good for spearmen you don't need to finish quickly and archers for combined arm effects/countering cavalry.
"There are two kinds of old men in the world. The kind who didn't go to war and who say that they should have lived fast died young and left a handsome corpse and the old men who did go to war and who say that there is no such thing as a handsome corpse."
Insinuator
Posts: 706
Joined: January 6th, 2004, 10:42 pm
Location: Portland, OR

Re: How to play Northerners

Post by Insinuator »

See, that's what I used. As soon as I lose, I'll attach a replay. Unfortunately, this is 1.8.5, so no Archer boost. :(

:shock: I won. Mostly this was due to one critical error my opponent made. But it makes for a good analysis.
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Ins_vs_vandal_-_win.gz
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Last edited by Insinuator on May 28th, 2011, 3:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
Velensk
Multiplayer Contributor
Posts: 4002
Joined: January 24th, 2007, 12:56 am

Re: How to play Northerners

Post by Velensk »

Well, do keep in mind that there is a reason why in 1.9 cavalry got nerfed and orcish archers got buffed. It was in very large part because northerners were having trouble with this match-up specifically so it's not surprising that you would be having trouble here.
"There are two kinds of old men in the world. The kind who didn't go to war and who say that they should have lived fast died young and left a handsome corpse and the old men who did go to war and who say that there is no such thing as a handsome corpse."
Velensk
Multiplayer Contributor
Posts: 4002
Joined: January 24th, 2007, 12:56 am

Re: How to play Northerners

Post by Velensk »

And again, a second thing to consider was that this match-up was considered balanced enough to not need changing for awhile (though meta-game shifts have had something to do with it).

Anyway, if you want my analysis.

Turn 1: No Comment

Turn 2: No Comment

Turn 3: No Comment

Turn 4: Slight changes to positioning could have allowed you to threaten the village with four hex sides rather than 3. It's a good idea to keep the pressure high even if you don't think you're going to attack.

Incidentally, it generally is easier to rush on the east side. Due to the way the villages are set up you're less likely to run into heavy resistance.

Turn 5: Don't know what you're bringing your leader out for, you don't want to use it to attack, you are not likely to need it to counter attack, and you'll have greater flexibility with what to do with it if you have it on your keep at the start of next turn.

Turn 6: No Comment

Turn 7: No Comment

Turn 8: What is your opponent doing with his leader?

Turn 9: I think you wanted to push forward/flank here but not engage. Keep your trolls out front and such. Sure he can attack you with daytime advantage but on your next turn it'll start to be dusk and he'll have a hard time disengaging at that point and you'll be constantly reinforcing while his leader is a long way away from home and it's just as long a distance back around the other side. If he doesn't attack you then you'll still be in a much better position to chase him down and get your engagement at night and he won't even have the advantage of first strike.

Turn 10: Might as well have poisoned the spearman, remember, you want him to attack you right now. In order to kill the assassin he'd have had to commit at least two spearmen (and three might not even manage to kill it) who would almost certainly die if left without support. Meanwhile if you poison him then if he keeps running he'll be weakened and not as able to fight off a nightime assault.

Turn 11: I don't think you want to bring your leader to this fray, I think you'd get more mileage out of reinforcing the east even if it is just a stream of goblins.

Turn 12: The attack on the right seemed a bit risky to me considering that the grunt missed last turn.

Turn 13: No Comment

Turn 14: No Comment

Turn 15: No Comment

Turn 16: Stats can be misleading though I agree in this case that he has not been particularly unlucky.

Turn 17: No Comment

Turn 18: No Comment

Turn 19: No Comment

Turn 20: You might want to harass with that naga, he can keep quite a few units tied up if you put him where he can threaten villages.

Turn 21: Look at the overall section later.

Turn 22: Risky there with the leader, though I suppose you don't have a better option.

Turn 23: No Comment

Turn 24: Pains me to see a unit that close to leveling being risked like that.

Turn 25: No Comment

Turn 26: No Comment

Turn 27: No Comment

Turn 28: No Comment

Turn 29: No Comment

Overall: I think that you could have punished a few of his strategic choices earlly in the game with different moves however when it comes down to it, you came out ahead in the brawl you made so I think this demonstrates that the balance wasn't impossible before. With the improved archers it'll be even better next version. Your opponent did not use as many cavalry as is typical in this match-up which lowered the mobility of his forces to the point where your mobility was better and I think you could have taken better advantage of that.
"There are two kinds of old men in the world. The kind who didn't go to war and who say that they should have lived fast died young and left a handsome corpse and the old men who did go to war and who say that there is no such thing as a handsome corpse."
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Superking
Posts: 51
Joined: October 8th, 2011, 10:48 am

Re: How to play Northerners

Post by Superking »

Attatched is a game I had recently that portrays the strengths of northerners pretty nicely. In particular, using the resilience of trolls to force the loyalist into dividing his forces and the importance of using northener units in groups of 4 or more.
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Northener vs Loyalist Freelands.gz
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