Slitherine

Wandering over to the 'Rankings' heading the other day, I noticed, somewhat to my surprise, that I was ranked 126th, with 64 wins out of 69 games, and no draws, which is all very flattering, I'm sure. As I've only played about 12 competitive games against human opponents, I assume that victories against the AI are counted too.
My question is, is there any ranking system against human opponents only? This would be rather more useful information, as wins against the AI hardly count- although I did once manage to only draw (not listed in my score...). I'm sure it can't be technically difficult.
And while we're on the topic, it would be nice to be able to see all one's results in the multiplayer screen- mine seem to disappear after a month or so, so I forget whom I've played and my totals (being too lazy to find pen & paper...).

It's only games against the AI that is counted. And not 100% correct at that, I belive.

Too right it's not accurate- I only lost once v the AI (that was playing the English at Agincourt)- I could never get my head round how to use MF archers. None of mine ever seem to generate enough firepower in the 2 or 3 turns before they're hit by shock troops & run away. I've tried interspersing them with spears, but they still get singled out. I've also tried putting them in front of a battle-line, then retreating behind heavy troops, but this only seems to give them one shot, and the danger of being hit in the rear while trying to get out of the way. Anyone got any suggestions about how to deploy them effectively? We're generally talking non-English-longbows-with-stakes here- just your standard MF Protected Undrilled lot who seem to be pretty common in a lot of armies. Any help gratefully received.

I've just looked at the rankings for the first time to find some of us are creating virtual bloodbaths of World War 1 proportions. Presumably the rate that casualties get added on will reduce now units are 300 rather than 1000+ men though, so newcomers to the game won't be scoring 3,000,000+ kills quite so easily, which doesn't seem quite fair somehow.

I also think my ranking's a bit of a cheat as I've been playing mostly against the AI.

Anyone know if casualties counted are just the "dead", or are routed/run off the map losses included?

As for use of archers...

Think in terms of using defensive terrain if possible - even English longbow didn't do so well if attacked in good going by dismounted men-at-arms or powerful foot. As Charles the Bold's English-style longbows found out when trampled by the Swiss. Though the Swiss trampled everything in their path, of course ). Then again, Charles was thinking on the right lines - massed artillery supported either by mounted gendarmes charging to "fix" the pikes (Marignano), or massed infantry firepower from behind field fortifications (Bicocca), ended the Swiss run of victories.

Pick your targets carefully and mass fire against them. You're unlikely to break anything before it can impact, but the AI, at least, seems less than willing to pitch low or middling grade disrupted close-fighting units into massed archers - if the enemy halts, keep shooting.

Keep an eye on how close enemy units are to the % at which they auto-rout. Assist them towards that percentage. Encourage "contagious" routs as much as possible.

Archers can be nasty in close combat at impact. I've seen archers cause 25% casualties to disrupted heavy foot at impact (and take as many if they didn't get the point-blank volley off in time). I've also seen my expensive, high-cost mounted troops being slaughtered by insanely determined units of low-grade archers at times.

A few archers used on the flanks can cover a large area of the field, but MF archers aren't skirmishers - not mobile enough. Try not to hang them out to dry though.

Don't be afraid to use archers to rear-charge enemy units that are already in melee to their front if the opportunity arises.

Like most things, timing is everything.

If an enemy unit they can't beat threatens archers, give the enemy something else to fight instead. Preferably something they can't ignore. That's if you have anything else, of course.

Don't even think of trying to stop something like good men-at-arms on foot with (long)bows alone. My view on Agincourt is that the French foot column(s) were probably so worn out by the time they reached the English men-at-arms they were already at least half beaten. They seem to have largely ignored the archers as well (so got hit in the flanks by archers armed with sledgehammers) - a mistake few wargamers will make (because, unlike the French at the time, we know what happened at Agincourt...).

All of the above will fail at some time or another (and will quite possibly always fail against the wrong enemy army/general).

The infallible route to success is to roll (virtual) 6's every time you need them. This will generally get you out of most bad situations

Personally I'm happy the rankings don't count Human opponents. There is enough to get depressed about as it is

Thanks for that, Tim- I think I've always been suspicious of MF archers because they're not my favourite heavy infantry, but I may give them a go now. I've occasionally used mixed spear/crossbow battlegroups, which you find in the odd list (Late Medieval Danish, Richard I Crusader); they seem to be a slightly uneasy compromise- causing LF type casualties in the shooting (or maybe I'm just not rolling the sixes...), and just not quite heavy enough to be reliable in melee (and, as I'm finding out, useless v Mongols). They do look good, though...