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What are some good ways to run Men-at-Arms? I am planning on running 50-60, or possibly more, in an upcoming tournie and am not sure of the beat way to run them.

1) Is it better to run them in horde formation or not? In a horde formation with spears you can get 4 ranks to attack, but in regular formation you have more ranks.

2) With spears or pole-arms? Is the extra attacks worth less Str? Or should the weapon depend on the formations that they are in?

3) And lastly, should they get a damsel or paladin attached to them? I'm thinking either to attach a paladin with crown on command for stubborn, or a damsel with beasts and the prayer icon for a str and T boost and Ward save.

I would probably say damsel for one, my brother and friend having played Brettonians for a while, becaue paladin on foot isn't that good. Plus its a safe place 4 ur damsel. Also halberds are probably worth it as they can inflict good damage with them. I think bus is good 4 an anvil unit to keep enemies held up 4 the knights but horde is better if you want them offense. But ALWAYS take many, many MaA.

I've had a lot of success running a 46 man block with halberds and a level 2 damsel with beasts and the Prayer Icon.

I only run them 5 wide and use them as a way of breaking steadfast on some of the larger blocks that are run locally.

I've only fought against them, but the best use seems to be in a single giant unit. Go narrow and deep, reform after the 1st round of combat if you want horde formation.

Narrow lets lances help out on both sides.
Halberds are better than spears.

-Matt

Will the damsel have to go in the front row or can she hide in the back?

I have only played against them.

But here is what my opponent learned.
Dont use them in small units and dont make them fight mok warriors by themselves.

A large block would make sense for ranks and breaking steadfast if the opponent has it.

Make them better ld so a damsel or a lord or something.

It’s tempting to see unit that gets bonus attacks and think horde formation will get you even more attacks so that must be so many attacks it’ll be totally awesome. I think that line of thinking led to so many people taking horde formation of High Elf spearmen in the early days of 8th ed. The idea doesn’t really work, because the kinds of units with bonus ranks for attacks almost always have low strength attacks.

To put it another way, if three ranks worth of Str 3 attacks aren’t going to do it, is a fourth rank really going to make the difference? Compare that to units with weapons giving them a strength bonus, who get a full 50% increase in damage output (going from two ranks to three).



The games I’ve played against Bretonians, I’ve seen small units of Men at Arms as something fun to kill once the real fighting was over against his knights, as Bretonians are always on the offensive, and the Men at Arms are so much slower than the knights they arrive in combat a round or two, after the fighting has been all but decided, one way or another.

However, one game I did see a player use a deep, bus formation as a defensive unit to hold a refused flank, while he focused his knights on the other side of the field. My own knights weren’t able to threaten a counter charge into his flank, less they expose their own flank to be charged, so instead I charged his much cheaper unit of knights and we sat there in bloody stalemate for the remainder of the game.

So I’d really recommend a single unit, narrow and deep, if you find yourself needing a cheap defensive unit. There’s no need to go overboard on troop numbers, as the unit will almost certainly be ignored by enemy missile and magic attacks.

Most importantly, though, given this unit will likely end up outside of BSB and IP range, make sure there's someone in the unit giving it decent leadership.

Marshall Ragnar wrote:Will the damsel have to go in the front row or can she hide in the back?

She unfortunately has to go in the front row, unless it is already full of characters. Only knight units in lance formation can put her in thensecond rank without some sort of wierd circumstance.

Those peasants don't know how to treat a lady.

If you cant decide if you should run horde or not, the answer is that it depends. Against a horde of bloodletters I'd probably go for ranks, against lots of ranks switch to horde.

Also lore of beasts makes men at arms utterly devastating, lore of life is an Internet favorite but I don't find it offensive enough as a lore, personally.

praetorian_aak wrote: Also lore of beasts makes men at arms utterly devastating, lore of life is an Internet favorite but I don't find it offensive enough as a lore, personally.

Quoted for truth. I've won two games now where the Men at Arms won the game by themselves by breaking the enemies center line with 10 str 5 attacks on T4 models. Who needs knights when you have buffed up peasant units .

So run the Men at Arms like this?

49 Men at Arms with Banner, Musician, Halberds with an attached Damsel that has the the prayer Icon and Lore of Beasts?

Or would the Crown of Command be better for stubborn?

I would stick with prayer icon. The Men at Arms should be stubborn due to steadfast most of the time. Also the ward save will massively help out the peasants survivability.

Keep crown for the prophetess who will be riding with your knights