I've played Short and Long Campaigns as England and never saw these guys. Looked it up online, I could swear I had a Woodsmans Guild. Guess I never upgraded it.
These guys are ranged special forces. They can do fantastic fighting against other archers or sniping down dangerous but small-sized enemy cavalry units on approach, but they're also capable of defending themselves at choke points, on rocky ground, or in forests where the cavalry charge is either impossible or less effective. Other things they're good at is quickly scrambling up ladders to seize gates, giving spearmen who manage to close the distance a horrifying surprise in melee, using their small and nimble unit size to provide close support during melees, charging in from the flanks once out of arrows using their enormous attack stat, and defending walls. Just don't let them get hit by a cavalry charge out in the open, because even light cavalry will melt them. I think the score is fair though. What's the use of an elite unit if it's so elusive no one can get hold of it? They're basically the medieval A-team.
@@Gitsmasher I'm mainly familiar with them from the Britannia Kingdoms campaign. They're much easier to get hold of as mercenaries there. I think they're also different statistically, but they still serve the same battlefield role.
@@Gitsmasher Thanks for the comment. Imo you just need to spam archers - the better the better. You also need to have Fortress - and Citadel for the upgraded ones (from where you can recruit these). Chivalrous ruler (5+ chivalry) also helps. :)
I've used groups of them hiding in woods to ambush other units on the campaign map and battlefield to really good effect before. They're super niche, and they're very fun to use. However, you get them so late in the campaign, they're very limited in recruitment, and you have to manually resolve all the battles they're in, which in the late game can be a bit frustrating. So, fair.
I had these in a campaign and they were great. Just make Nottingham where you build your archers (no peasant archers allowed), and it'll come soon enough
Hit points are a really strong defense against high damage missiles, and that combined with the very high missile damage with AP and the high RoF of bowmen relative to crossbows makes that result a pretty safe bet. In general though, this unit definitely makes me feel like "time to victory" or "micro intensity", or both, needs to be a factor in this series. Sure, that will advantage sinple to use units, but a unit that is effective at something without requiring insane levels of micro management and which achieves results in a reasonable timeframe is arguably more powerful than a unit that requires fifteen minutes of intense micro to do that same thing slightly better.
The small unit size (less missile volume than regular lbows) and very limited recruitment conditions (making it a pain to regenerate as you'd need planning a full supply route only to reinforce them) makes them not worth it.
@qualityoldgames7721 oh, on top of that they are limited to 3 units max ? That makes them even worse, as for any practical use they would be limited to defending the British Isles. If by the time you have a citadel there you still need significant forces to defend the area, you're doing something wrong.
@@qualityoldgames7721 I thought that was what you meant by the unit limit in your video. Is it instead the number until the unit becomes red (more expensive) in custom battles ?
Well , i like it. Absurd stats, firepower, stealth (can hide anywhere) yet low unit counts is probably the game telling us " Oy , dont waste their arrows killing medicore units. Go try sniping General Bodyguard or sumfink " 😅
I've played Short and Long Campaigns as England and never saw these guys. Looked it up online, I could swear I had a Woodsmans Guild. Guess I never upgraded it.
Yeah, I remember being able to get a few to the new world, but they're astonishingly rare
Thanks for the comment. Yea, the requirements for these guys are quite high :)
These guys are ranged special forces. They can do fantastic fighting against other archers or sniping down dangerous but small-sized enemy cavalry units on approach, but they're also capable of defending themselves at choke points, on rocky ground, or in forests where the cavalry charge is either impossible or less effective. Other things they're good at is quickly scrambling up ladders to seize gates, giving spearmen who manage to close the distance a horrifying surprise in melee, using their small and nimble unit size to provide close support during melees, charging in from the flanks once out of arrows using their enormous attack stat, and defending walls.
Just don't let them get hit by a cavalry charge out in the open, because even light cavalry will melt them.
I think the score is fair though. What's the use of an elite unit if it's so elusive no one can get hold of it? They're basically the medieval A-team.
Got any tips to trigger woodman guild? Seems random tp me😢
@@Gitsmasher I'm mainly familiar with them from the Britannia Kingdoms campaign. They're much easier to get hold of as mercenaries there. I think they're also different statistically, but they still serve the same battlefield role.
:D Yea, it seems they are a bit too elusive for their own good. Thanks for the comment.
@@Gitsmasher Thanks for the comment. Imo you just need to spam archers - the better the better. You also need to have Fortress - and Citadel for the upgraded ones (from where you can recruit these). Chivalrous ruler (5+ chivalry) also helps. :)
I've used groups of them hiding in woods to ambush other units on the campaign map and battlefield to really good effect before. They're super niche, and they're very fun to use. However, you get them so late in the campaign, they're very limited in recruitment, and you have to manually resolve all the battles they're in, which in the late game can be a bit frustrating.
So, fair.
Thanks for the comment. Yea, sounds like a nice tactics. Perhaps, if they could deploy the stakes, they would be significantly better :)
I usually used those guys as snipers against general bodyguard or some specific units like elephants or something like. 🤔
Sounds like a reasonable tactics. Thanks for the comment :)
I had these in a campaign and they were great. Just make Nottingham where you build your archers (no peasant archers allowed), and it'll come soon enough
Thanks for the comment. Yea, Nottingham might the best place to go for these guys :)
Hit points are a really strong defense against high damage missiles, and that combined with the very high missile damage with AP and the high RoF of bowmen relative to crossbows makes that result a pretty safe bet.
In general though, this unit definitely makes me feel like "time to victory" or "micro intensity", or both, needs to be a factor in this series. Sure, that will advantage sinple to use units, but a unit that is effective at something without requiring insane levels of micro management and which achieves results in a reasonable timeframe is arguably more powerful than a unit that requires fifteen minutes of intense micro to do that same thing slightly better.
Thanks for the comment. Yea, most definitely archers and horse archers suffer from rather loooooooooooooonnnggg battles in the tests :)
The small unit size (less missile volume than regular lbows) and very limited recruitment conditions (making it a pain to regenerate as you'd need planning a full supply route only to reinforce them) makes them not worth it.
Thanks for the comment. Well summarized :)
@qualityoldgames7721 oh, on top of that they are limited to 3 units max ? That makes them even worse, as for any practical use they would be limited to defending the British Isles.
If by the time you have a citadel there you still need significant forces to defend the area, you're doing something wrong.
@@Duke_of_Lorraine Oh, didn't know about that max 3 units... Yea, makes the unit quite a bit worse then :) Thanks for the comment.
@@qualityoldgames7721 I thought that was what you meant by the unit limit in your video. Is it instead the number until the unit becomes red (more expensive) in custom battles ?
I use these guys the way i play as High elves in Warhammer 3😂,
Sounds nice :) Thanks for the comment.
@qualityoldgames7721 you are b! Well i hope you christmas was very Merry👍
pretty good guys, but their unit size is just so small.
Well , i like it. Absurd stats, firepower, stealth (can hide anywhere) yet low unit counts is probably the game telling us " Oy , dont waste their arrows killing medicore units. Go try sniping General Bodyguard or sumfink " 😅
Agreed and the requirements are rather high :) Thanks for the comment.
Id still say this unit is englands best Archer unit in game despite its specific requirements to get them
Thanks for the comment. Imo their lack of wooden stakes is a bit of an issue. That makes the Retinue Longbows more versatile imo :)