Warriors of the Sandstorm (Massive Battles)

Hey what's up guys it's Oakley and we're going to be playing Napoleon Total War again. This is going to be the map I believe Syrian Ridge. So we're going to be facing off as you can see here against three Ottoman players in the desert. They're going to be having a lot of these heavy cavalry troops moving up. So big component there, more of these mounted Nizami Sidiq and they have a lot more cavalry here so they went definitely cavalry heavy which is a decent move on a map like this. Because they're going to go ahead and seize all of these key ridges at the very start and these guys are mounted infantry. The allies are going to be Austria, Prussia and then myself Russia. Over on this side I decided to charge forward and I pulled back with these forces however his Nizami Sidiq are going to be within range of my troops so they're going to get off a couple of volleys. My guys I didn't intend on them sticking around for that long but I paid the price so I lost half my unit there. He's going to be sitting on this ridge and reloading however the majority of his force is actually not quite in position. So what I decided to do is turn about and I'm going to go ahead and take this position and force. So my thinking in the selection of Russia was I know my opponents are going to go for heavy cavalry presence and a lot of melee infantry. I know Russia does have some good melee stats so I went for them. They have some pretty good cavalry so I decided to neutralize the opponents build with Russia. Maybe not the most effective when you're fighting in the desert but I thought it was at least an interesting choice. As you saw here I did decide to charge the cavalry with my one unit. Yes they basically ended up being killed but I was able to exchange a decent amount of volleys with his mounted forces here. Pushed them off the hill and it allowed me cover to move up whereas otherwise if I had just sat there he would have taken the hill with the majority of his forces. So now I'm going to be moving up with my guys here trying to take the hill. So I'm going to be in a perfect place to crest the hill and I actually anticipated my opponent not getting shots off till he got over the hill so you'll see how that plays out. They're not going to be able to get the best shots. So for instance these guys here are going to try and shoot over the crest of the hill. I'm going to go ahead and minimize this map actually. So he's going to go ahead and charge forward with those bazooks and you saw these guys actually unleash some volleys into the sand. So he's charging forward. I'm going to pull back with my own, what do you call these guys, militia. The official name is the Opfeli, Opfeli, I'm not sure what the name of that is or how it's pronounced. But anyways I'm going to charge back in the face of his bazooks, pull back behind my line infantry and just pound these guys into oblivion with my own forces. I also am bringing in some more cavalry to push his Nizami city back. My musketeers are here and I also have my skirmishers in the back putting on shots against his men. So I have a pretty good enveloping field of fire and I'm going to charge in on his troops here. This is going to be enough to neutralize these forces. On the rest of the map the enemy is approaching and I have to watch out for that attack on my flank. So I'm going to charge here, force his guys back. He's getting in a charge on my men so I'm going to pull them into deeper formation. For some reason it wasn't giving me the option of forming a square so I charged into closer formation. These guys are going to go ahead and square up as well. So he's throwing in all his cavalry. I pull my own cavalry back behind my lines and I'm going to square up. Then I'm going to form up with these Russian Jaegers who are just picking off any of the men here. That's a pretty epic engagement. His guys charging down the hill. I'm going to line up with my lifeguard foot so these guys are very very strong. Over here I'm holding this flank. Anyways they're going to be looking out at the hill covered in smoke and they're going to be giving in the covering fire. So part of my guys are going to start to form up. You can see some of his heavy guard horse did get in here. So these guys are going into square. My lifeguards are now going to form up and they're going to get some good shots off against his men. So his cavalry are charging around the side. I'm going to counter charge them with my own Cossack cavalry and my general so that's going to be able to neutralize his Sylhetar guard who are very good units but I'm able to pick them off. However what he did effectively in that charge was force these guys into square so I'm going to be pulling them back and they're going to be retreating behind the main line that I have set up there. He does still remain in control of the hill but I think I came off probably ahead in that exchange. I was able to take out a good amount of his cavalry, neutralize his skirmishers but now my opponent is pushing in on this flank. He's going to charge forward with his Banshee Bazooks. I'm going to retreat before they get too close and then I'm going to fall back to this line of forces here. So he does have a huge mass cavalry component that's ready to charge. However his guys who are moving up here are going to be taking fire from my various troops here. So my skirmishers are going to be picking off his Bazooks as well as these militia men who are going to help pour on the fire to his guys here. So I'm hoping to whittle down their numbers. Yeah you can see right there I'm doing pretty well. The rest of the army has not engaged yet so we'll wait off on looking there yet. He's going to charge forward with his Bazooks. I'm going to counter charge with my own militia. Those guys can take charges. They're pretty beefy and they have decent melee stats. I'm going to reform and get some shots off. Over on this flank I'm pulling back right here because he was getting some flanking fire on me and he threatened to charge with his cavalry so I pulled back. And I'm just going to hold out here, put some guys, musketeers over on the right side in the woods just to pressure that hill. So we're going to be forcing them back and we're going to get some nice volleys off against his men. So at the top of the hill he has two of these Nizami Sidiqs. So that's going to be sort of evenly matched against one of my Russian Jaegers. These guys are going to come in to help out soon and then also these forces in the woods so it's kind of an even neutralized battle there. Over here he's going to be charging forward with his own cavalry. That's a good move to bring these mounted Sidiq troops because they can get off shots at your men and then he can charge in if he wanted to. However, I'm going to get up in square in the last second and just ward those cavalry men off. So, they're basically forced to choose another target so he's going to be pulling straight into my Russian Jaegers. I was hoping this player would try and support me but he's doing none of that. So I'm going to pull back to these musketeers who are going to form up in square. I'm going to bait his cavalry into this position and I'm continuing to get shots off here. Move this musketeer unit to put pressure on his forces. When I force these guys back that's going to allow me to push these Russian Jaegers here to help even the fight. Let's go ahead and take a look. I'm going to go into slow motion actually for the time being. We're going to take a look at the rest of the battle. So Austria is actually sending in some Ulans to crush this flank. However, there are units back here ready to counter charge but this is a good way to break up this front. Over here it's kind of a face off and over on this flank is where a lot of the action is happening. So he charged in with his mounted Nizami Sidiq and then we counter charge with Ulans. However, he does have the Sillatar guard who are going to be doing a lot of damage. This main line here is doing decent damage but they're getting picked off at a distance by these Nizami Sidiq and then also you have this huge melee charge coming in through here. The Kemestat Janissaries are very good in melee and they'll chew through infantry. So what he's hoping to do is follow up with a cavalry charge, force these guys into square, charge in with the melee infantry and clean up that flank. So it's a pretty good move and I'm interested to see how a battle went down with the three Ottoman forces because they play very differently from the traditional European guys. So the charge is coming in through here, we can go ahead and watch a little bit of that if you'd like. Austria is maybe not looking at the battle as he should be, these guys should be in square just to hold off his cavalry charge but it doesn't look like he'll be doing that which is unfortunate. However, he does have forces here who are moving in the back. If I were him I would just form them up right here and just get some shots off to cover these guys. So I didn't have the best allies so it's a little bit too bad, however, he did secure the forest here which is going to be enough to hold back the Ottomans. In any case, this is what's going on here, Austria came in and helped counter charge this line, forced them back, I kept the pressure on and then he's going to be helping clean up these cavalry troops who are chasing my men. Over on this flank, like I was telling you, I moved up these additional Russian Jaegers. However, they're pretty exhausted from running around. I think just being in a desert environment does that to you and I'm not sure if the Ottomans have some sort of built in buff when it comes to fighting in the desert. I would think so because Russians are definitely not acclimated to the desert environment. But two versus one, I should be evening up this fight and what you'll see me doing relatively soon is I decide I need to take the advantage here so I'm going to be charging forward with all these lines, moving first with my light musketeers and then I'm going to follow up with these lifeguards to try and force them back. But for the time being, I've positioned some Cossack cavalry here waiting to counter charge these infantry if the opportunity arises. My troops in the forest are just going to be holding their own and getting off some shots against these line infantry. So I would say this battle has been stabilized and I'm waiting for the opportunity to break through on this flank. Let's go ahead and put this back on play and just survey the battlefield. So on this flank, that cavalry charge basically broke through his line. Like I was saying, he was going to follow that up with some of these Janissaries. So this is being devastating. These guys are forming up in square and they're just getting picked apart by these forces over here. And now another force of these guys are coming in. Mounted cavalry with guns. So they're going to come and clean up these squares, back that up with more of these forces. So Austria is not in a good position and he also basically let these guys run around his flank. He's not forming into square. He's telling these guys to run all the way over here. They should just stop and fire. So I would say this ally was very inept in what he's doing. I'm not really sure what he's doing right here. So he's going to charge, okay, into guard cav with the melee. So yeah, this flank is not going to be doing very well. He chases his general and just this one cavalry unit is going to be enough to disrupt the entirety of his line. Very disappointing to see that happening. So we're going to have to hope we can do better than that on this flank. Over here I did move up my Russian Jaegers once they were, you know, not tied up anymore and they're going to position themselves ready for the charge here. Over on this flank, as I said, I moved up the entirety of my line. They're going to be putting on volleys against these forces. So the Ottomans on this flank are going to be picked off. They're going to start, yeah, just dying with all these mass volleys. But he does charge some troops in here into my Russian Jaegers. I pull them back into the force with these Musketeers. Austria is at least helping me counter these guys. Square Formation is going to be picking them off. And these guys are continuing to put on the pressure. So on my side I am doing pretty well. However, what you'll see is the Ottomans have a lot of reserve forces. So Sifai Cavalry and more mounted Nizami Sedid. So if they see a flank that's being sort of turned back like this flank, they're going to go ahead and reinforce them. So they're a very maneuverable army and very good on the charge. Over here, I would say this is a relatively even fight with my guys supporting. I'm going to move in some more Jaegers to keep the pressure on. And these cavalry are going to be crushed. This is where we're going to take an opportunity to push up in the center. However, this army is uncontested. So they're more than ready to basically hold these forces back. Over on this flank, that one cavalry charge basically sent every unit into flight. Austria really, really, really responded poorly to that. He just started moving his guys around trying to chase cavalry. That exposed his entire front. Basically he stopped shooting in the front, which was really dumb. And then now basically you're going to have a huge envelopment on all of his forces. He's retreating into these woods here. But that's fine. They're just going to send in their melee infantry to clean that up. And you're going to get a giant envelopment, which is just going to push right up our flank here. So I'm going to be basically at the end of what is going to be an entire huge envelopment. So I've got to do as much as I can to turn this flank soon. So I did charge in with my musketeers just to tie down his men as my forces move forward. He's going to move forward with these Nisarit, however most of their shots did actually kill his own men. And he's going to be charging into my guys, however I'm going to form into square a little bit late, I would have to say. But that's where I'm going to move in these lifeguards. I was holding these guys in the back. These guys are also going to go into square. So this cavalry charge and infantry charge is not going to be super effective. However I bring in Russia's most elite foot troops right here to put in the shots against his cavalry. He's going to be charging in against me. So he's kind of wasting this unit, but at least it's tying up this flank and putting in some more casualties on my side. I love these Russian troops, very very strong. So they're going to be, I wanted to keep them in reserve just for a moment like this where they can help support the rear of my infantry. And some of these cavalry are just trying to pull through. I didn't realize you could pull cavalry through this effectively, but he's doing it and he's going to try and chase these Russian Jaegers straight into the line of fire right here. And that's a problem. So I do bring in my general who's going to counter charge, help clean that up. He's going to help rally my forces. Over on this flank, his Nizam and Sidi are kind of tied up with my infantry. It's sort of an even fight, however I do have lifeguards, but they are tired, so we'll see how that goes. I'm going to reposition these lifeguards to get shots on, and then I'm going to just push these guys over here to try and finish off that flank. I know I can take these forces, so I'm going to reposition some of these troops, I believe, yeah, right here, to finish off this flank, ward off against his cavalry. On this flank I can take this, I'm going to use my general to come in. I have to keep in mind that there are more of these Sifai cavalry on their way, so I'm going to have to pull these Russian Jaegers back soon, I think I did that. I may have been looking at a different part of the battlefield. But yeah, I do get a decent amount of shots against them. Over on this flank, my forces are still in the woods, squared up, they're going to be taking on his Semet Janissaries, and these guys are still holding their position. So there he goes with his Sifai cavalry, tearing through my Russian Jaegers, bringing them down to half strength. He's going to see what he can do with this, probably try and land some rear strikes. My general's here to clean up this action, and then I'm putting on shots against him. His Mehmed Ali, so a general's coming in here. Let's go ahead and put this on slow motion, these guys are going to come charging in here. So this flank is kind of an obliteration of my forces against the Ottomans, it's a pretty even fight. However, let's go ahead and see how the rest of it is faring. Over here we were able to clean this up, Prussia's using this chance to envelop over on this flank. However, we're facing a complete collapse on this front because Austria was basically wiped out, and that's going to allow more troops to just pull around the flank of Prussia. And now this entire army that was previously unengaged is going to be able to reposition and attack this front. So not looking very good for us, as I said, the clock has begun to tick down until our complete sort of envelopment, because this flank is just going to keep rolling up. So let's go back to this flank, see what happened. His cavalry here rear-charged my own Russians, unfortunate to say the least, because he does charge into my own lifeguard foot. But I was hoping to keep these guys alive, however, they're going to go ahead and fall. My general does push through into this Nizhny city, try and crack those troops, and then I'm going to go ahead and try and charge against these guys, or at least bait them into this block. My opponent did form a full-scale retreat on this flank. He realized that he needed to reform because he was about to be enveloped by Prussia on this flank. So I'm going to be going ahead and reforming. The Sifai cavalry, luckily for me, are going to be sort of forgotten in the ensuing battle. They're pulling through my forces, and now they're going to try and charge back into these men. I finished these troops off, and so now these troops are going to reform. But I think he forgot about them, so there was no charge order, thank God. So amongst all these bodies right here, pretty epic battle. I'm going to go ahead and just finish him off, pick him off, and then reform my guys to go ahead and try and confront the Ottomans on this flank. But like I was saying, there's just a total collapse of our front here, and we can't much reform. Austria is really not doing their part, and his general is just positioned right here in the line of fire. He's just waiting to get picked off. The cavalry that they had, who was ready, you know, in the back at all times, is going to go ahead and exploit this opportunity, charge in, clean up this mess, and look at this. The entire battlefield that was once lined by two armies is now going to be in full-on retreat. It's at this crucial point in the battle that I think this, I can't remember what the player was who was in charge of these forces, he's going to go ahead and quit right at this instant I believe. And so you'll see he was in the process of reforming, however once the AI takes over, I think he's just going to, it's going to be in the next couple of minutes, he drops out and then his force is just going to charge right into this mess, kind of leaving me at odds. So I'm going to be reforming on this flank, and I guess you could say I technically won this flank, I did have a little bit of support in this position here, however so did the Ottomans, they had cavalry reinforced. So I would say I won my battle, not one-sidedly, but with at least a slight advantage. So it would have been enough to help out if the other forces had come out sort of evenly, but it's not at all even in this instance. On this position I still have my Russians in the forest here, they're going to be holding back this force, however more cavalry! These guys have so many cavalry, they're going to be charging in, trying to keep the Prussians back. And like I said, the AI is controlling the infantry, so a human player probably would have put these guys in square, but I guess the AI just isn't. So one cavalry charge is going to be enough to knock these guys out. These, yeah, Silesian Schutzen should have been fighting at a distance, they're going to be charging in, and basically the entirety of the force is now, yeah I don't know what the AI is doing, but they're charging in, and you're going to see basically what happens if you charge into a complete envelopment. So the Ottoman force is all too happy to go ahead and gobble these forces up, so you kind of know how the battle is going to go at this point, but let's just go ahead and watch it just for the sake of cinematics. So well played for the Ottomans, you know they're doing their best to surround these forces, kick their asses. So here comes the Degroons, they're going to go ahead and reform, but they're going to get picked off at a distance, they're not even going to charge. So the AI is definitely not a competent ally in these sorts of battles, and he's kind of confused, he's torn on various flanks, he doesn't know what to do, and no one is forming up to fight, and that's where all of these lines of fire are going to converge. So this is just very messy, any of the cavalry that try and get out of this trap are going to get picked off by these cavalry forces. So if you want to learn from good troop composition, and something you can do with triple armies, well maybe a triple Ottoman build is something you guys might want to consider. These Veshy Bazooks, who are basically the cheapest units I think they can pull off, are very useful in these types of situations. They'll be sort of cannon fodder for these troops, meat shields so to speak, and they'll even outright route these guys, and so he has more troops in the back helping to crush these guys. The mounted Nizami city, just go ahead and charge in through here, despite it being like a half army, he's still going to charge in, just because he knows he has the support on all of these flanks. Prussia is going to be surviving here, over here Prussia foot guards are getting picked off, so I'm kind of cowering in the forest back here, hoping to do my part to turn the tide, however it's going to be pretty hard, I do have some Russian Jaegers but they're exhausted. Over on this flank, what I decide to do is I'm going to go ahead and put some forces in the forest, hope my opponents are kind of scared at this, or not scared I should say, are too preoccupied massacring my allies, so what I'm going to do is hide forces back here, and try and hide these forces. So my goal was to pretend that this is all I had left in my force, the opponents would come streaming in through here and this is where I would get off some shots with my hidden units, so I'm trying to go out with a bang. Over on this flank, yeah it's not going very well, we can even watch this from this position, see what it would be like to be outnumbered like this. So on all flanks you kind of see these Ottoman flags and bursts of musket fire from all positions, just picking these guys off, there's not even any counter fire coming from the Prussian side, so definitely very unfortunate. These guys are having just a fuel day in terms of practice shooting. So some of the Prussians are going to form up, nice deep ranks which are perfect for target practice, it's very hard to miss these blobs, these guys are going to be moving in for more, and the entirety of this force still hasn't been committed, so it's just, yeah, that's going to be about it for that side of the battlefield, so we're going to see how my force decides to resist this. I'm here supporting fire with my Russian Jaegers, picking off these guys from point blank, and just trying to do my best. I'm going to charge in with my musketeers, yeah they're exhausted but they're out of ammo so they're going to help and try to even up that fight, however, Nizami Sedid here who are just winded are going to be supporting that fight, killing my men, cavalry are going to be pushing in, and it's at that point that I decide that these guys probably need to boogie on out of here, so I'm going to be pulling these guys back to my trap and we'll just try and see how well that does. Over on this flank, my opponent does move forward, Nizami Sedid 35 against 36 of my Russian Jaegers, however, I'm in cover so I should be winning, however, what he does have is these infantry, line infantry, trying to position themselves in the perfect place to get off some shots, that's just what they're doing, I'm going to wait for these guys to absorb that shot before charging with my lifeguard and my own general, so down to 33 men, his own general is going to be coming up, over on this flank I'm pulling back with my Russian Jaegers, yeah, they're not going to make it across this clearing, they're exhausted and there's the entirety of the force right there picking them off. Over on this side he was able to get a couple more volleys, these guys are quick on the reload and he's going to try and intercept with these Nizami Sedid, he realizes that he doesn't want my guys getting in on the fight, so my general is going to go ahead and charge in against these forces which is going to kind of force them to go into square I believe, yep, there you go. So even though he pressed square literally at the last moment, it still wards off my cavalry charge and I think that's my general right there, he was, yeah, his horse bucked him off, so that's unfortunate, over on this flank, boom, there goes my surprise, not much of a surprise I would say, I didn't pick off too many of his forces, there's just too much here, maybe if this was all there was I might be able to pull it off, but considering the entirety of the force coming down, bearing on my position, there's not much I can do at this point. I was able, however, to destroy his forces here, I'm going to charge in with my life guard against these Nizami Sedid, however they're fresh, I'm exhausted, or near exhausted, and his men are going to counter charge, and he does have his general here for more reinforcement, I just lost my general. Coming into the force are going to be these Bashi Bazooks, so definitely a good way to absorb the fire of my elite forces, and they're going to be cutting into my men, I was hoping to rout them, these guys are in square, the most elite Russian infantry, the Semenovski Guard, but these Bashi Bazooks are just too numerous and too good at melee attacks, so I'm just going to crumble, but yeah, that's going to be it for this battle, I hope you guys enjoyed, definitely a different change of pace in terms of the battlefield itself, and the armies used, so very interesting, very fun, I wish my allies would have been a bit more confident, but you can see right here, kind of the stats, how it went off, so I killed almost 1200 men, my allies killed 400 and 500, so yeah, not too much of a balanced fight, we can take a look at the stats, my lifeguard, who were supporting most of the time from various positions, got a lot of the kills, and yeah, did pretty well, my lifeguard definitely kicked ass in that battle, anyways, thanks so much for watching, I'll see you guys next time.