REINFORCE this channel here: / zerkovich We'll take a gander at the unit roster of the new & improved Bretonnia! I'll talk through the army strengths & weakness, and what each units role is with the army! Twitter: @Zerkowar
Poor peasants. oppressed and taxed at %90 of their entire produce and promised protection in return, then conscripted and forced into a cannon fodder role anyways.
Fun fact: Men-at-Arms aren't actually conscripts. They're the most physically fit peasants (AKA the ones who aren't crippled by mutation, inbreeding, and stunted growth from starvation) who are taken into their lord's service. They guard his castle, watch his borders, and patrol his lands. Of course, the physical state of Bretonnia's peasantry is so crappy that almost all the Men-at-Arms would be deemed utterly unfit to serve in the Empire's armies (some can barely lift their shields due to deformities!), but this is Bretonnia, where good-quality infantry is seen as an oxymoron!
I was talked into buying Total War: Warhammer a while back and just couldn’t get into it because I’m use to games like league of legends and Starcraft. Game started collecting a lot of dust until I found your channel on RU-vid. I went from losing at the campaign on easy to winning on hard. Your videos are entertaining and very informative. Keep at it!
Bodacious same here, I was hyped by this game but I got crushed by the secessionists at the very start of the campaign. Anyways none of that is gonna stop me until I completely understand this game.
Id recommend dawn or war if you like 40k. Ulimate apocalypse is absolutely necessary, but you'll need then you'll need the soulstorm dlc. But highly recommend 👌
welp that So tell me, is it easier for a human to protect just himself with a shield, OR protect himself and a horse he is sitting on with the same sized shield?
So why don't the hippogryph knights have the living saints trait? They're clearly Grail knights riding on hippogryphs. Also I don't see why Bretonnian men-at-arms units are only 120 men (on ultra size) instead of 160. Bretonnian lore says their knights are backed by massive amounts of men-at-arms. They're have such poor stats anyway, so a few more men might be useful.
This is just MY OWN opinion...but so many idiots have millions of followers on RU-vid yet you find a badass like Zerkovich that's channel rocks and he is criminally under subbed. This needs to change. I'll commit to spread the word about your channel and if all of us just tells one other person to watch and sub we can more than triple Zerkovich's subs in no time. Awesome channel Zerko.
Well yeah you're right. But instead of pointing out my mathematical error like some young keyboard Nazi go tell people about his channel. Then again, if the people we tell also tell another....and so on and on.....
Hahah, you guys. Thank you man. I appreciate the support and sharing of my humble name. Honestly my channel only properly began when Warhammer dropped, so it's not even been a year yet! I'm just new to the Total War RU-vid game but my plans for world domination know no bounds! I'll overtake Lionheart yet! :P Glad you like my works yo.
Hey Zerkovich! could you make a video on the different lores of magic or maybe rank them from the most useful to the most useless, or possibly a video on the different heroes?
I'll admit to being someone who leaves shock cavalry in melee for way too long. Your guides are great; well thought out and very informative. I'd be quite interested in seeing a guide (or set of guides) on effective army counters. What units and tactics are effective against each faction and how to defeat a larger force with a smaller one that's built for the job, that sort of thing.
Sometimes you have to while you move other Calvary around to charge elsewhere or from behind. Did a battle in campaign vs Norsca. My Knights killed a shit ton but the Norscans just out numbered me by so much. When the last of my Knights was routed from the field though the Men at Arms and Peasnant Bowman along with a Life damsel had been protecting the Trebuchets were still all full strength. Louen and a heavily damaged Paladin joined them and by that point the Norscans couldn't defeat Fresh Peasants raining arrows and stone down on top of them.
Honestly , You have perhaps some of the best guides out there ! Whenever I have a question , watching your videos gives the right answer ! God Bless !!!
I hate it, it's soul crushing, it's like running around with flagellants with half the leadership and damage all while having a cap on units I can field because they all count as peasants... I will continue this.
@SpaghettiandSauce I met chaos and really couldn't beat down all that armor even with foot squires, no anti armor range and shitty trebs forced me to grind the way into it... Made me drop it out of sheer boredom, might redo it in mortal empires with sfo running one day.
Always like your guides, Zerk! Felt like the delivery on this one was really good, like you took your time explaining the units My personal opinion on Grail Guardians is that they're TOO niche in what they do. If you want infantry dead, use Questing Knights. If you want to tie up a unit, use one of the expendable infantry. All of which are cheaper by far. They should be to Questing Knights what Grail Knights are to Knights of the Realm, if you understand me They look pretty dapper though so...
one of my favorite strategies late game was to have 1 army entirely made up of flying cavalry. worked perfectly for taking cities, after all walls mean nothing if you can fly right over them. I called them my flying circus.
also for the green knight himself he comes by defult for field agents gold rank 3 which makes him even harder to take out if you have anything that is well under that.
In our timeline, men-at-arms were usually heavily armored and something of an elite unit, being shock troops. They were basically knights without the title and less fancy gear.
@@DutchGuyMike The Imperial Guards from WARHAMMER 40K in general are based on WW2 Soviets' Conscripts, including the mass waves and heavy reliance on cavalry (same name, different context) and support in general.
the blessed field trebuchet also has an ability called "No friendly fire"' so it does have that as a selling piont meaning it can support allys that are fighting in melee
The thing that should be noted about lance formation is that it is useful for zipping around the battlefield and piecing through enemy formations so you can simply just go THROUGH the enemy line, but if you're just after killing a ton of dudes with the charge, it's actually less then ideal, it reduces the number of units impacting the enemy line and dealing damage to them.
The main difference between The Empire and Britonnia, is that one believes, strange women, laying in ponds, distributing swords, is not a basis for government, and the other believe it is.
they're hunters, and yeah, basically that's they're lunch XD, the empire hunters also carry dead birds on they're belts (at least in the miniature game)
It could also be a good luck charm or a ward of protection. Bretonnian peasants are so ignorant that you never know what anything they carry around is for.
Actually it's because of the original plastic kit for Bretonnian MaA. The sculptors, Alan and Michael Perry went all out and added a ton of little bits like that for the unit, to really give it character. You had wine casks, small hunting dogs, onion belts, bunch of small relics and religious icons, etc. Really one of the best kits GW produced, sad that it's out of circulation these days.
Since you done this guides for all dlc races so far would love a guide for chaos because it is a dlc race also. And I feel like most players I encounter including myself don't play Chaos to their strengths espencially with most of the great units being expensive. CHAOS Guide by Zerkovich please
Blessed trebuchet has nearly no splash damage so is great for putting pressure on single targets. Normal one is great for infantry blobs as it does more splash but is still very good for indirect sniping
The blessed trebuchets don't have friendly fire which is very usefull. You can shoot right into big melee fighting groups without hurting your own. Until I got them i lost most units to my own trebuchets ^^
The Pox archers are honestly so good, their armor piercing is not super crazy but they’re so cheap and super cost effective. I’ve had archer units gain over 200 kills each in some battles.
I won the Bretonnian campaign by spamming archers and peasants. Knights were so expensive I almost never used them. I probably did it the hard way but I just sent waves of peasants to die while murdering my opponent by filling the sky with arrows.
@@ksanbahlyngwa1998 Of course I loved the Aventuriers (armored crossbowmen) Scotts guard and the cavalry but they appear in the roster around late game. By that time you probably conquered half of Europe anyway. There's a lot more unique units here. Grail knights, knights of the realm, yeomen archers, hippogryphs. It's fantasy France but still.
Nope not by lore or tt rule standards. The Bretonnians use older heavy armor design and relique like armor pieces and not the modern full plate that the empire uses, also chaos armor and gromril armor is stronger in the tt world. Their cavalry's power comes from the lance formation and army wide blessing of the lady keeping them protected, also their martial prowess on horseback over say the empire knights. Their horses are of stronger breed so the Brettonian cavalry is also faster than Empire counterparts.
Yeah, pretty good video and all that but... you didn't mention the strong flanking potential the trebuchetmen have!!! D: Oh wait, silly me... you were obviously gonna say that in the part 2 Now the real comment: Do you really like Bretonnia more than many other factions? Because... you hate managing cavalry, and love dancing with infantry, but you don't seem to dislike them, you use them indeed.
Step 1 recruit some horses Step 2 recruit only horses (+heroes and trebuchets) Step 3 with no suply lines, build easily a lot of armies (6-8 flying units) Step 4 conquer whole word extra fast Step 5 Profit
What makes Louen such a great Legendary Lord? I'm a Bretonnian fan myself but I've so far only finished the Brets, Wood Elves, and Vampire Counts Grand Campaigns thus far, and its been awhile since I've used him or even gone against him (allies with Bretonnia in WE, never fought Bretonnia in VC). He can't use magic, and I think Grimgore , Vlad, and Durthu may be more killy one on one. His mount is the same as Karl Franz's, a Hippogryph? The only glaring strengths I see on him are his overall above-average statline and that health regeneration. Hard to kill, and can dish out the hurt in turn, but surely that can describe the three mentioned?
You didn't play Empire Campaign at all. I thought Empire would be first choice campaign faction because they are op late game with Steam Tanks and easiest to use early on; plus they are also the recommended beginner faction.
I'd say the Dwarfs would be the beginner faction, not that they're weak late game, but their defensive play style and how easily they can work just from a rudimentary understanding of formation and range compared to the Empire who needs combined arms makes Dwarfs much simpler to play. The Empire needs the player to understand how different units work together and how their enemies play, which to makes them definitely nowhere as easy to pick up. I'll do Empire last, their style really doesn't appeal to me. I've essentially played Empire for the entirety of the Total War series after all.
quick question: who wins in an anti-infantry cavalry vs anti-large infantry clash? The Grail Guardians for example has anti-infantry, but can they survive long enough against spear/halberd infantry until the shock cav charges the spear/halberds' back?
since there will be no major faction DLC for warhammer until the next Part, how about an roster guide for the other races (empire, dwarf etc)?? i understand the second part (compostions vs different enemies) needs a lot of time; but just an overview of the roster would be neat. and ofc, Nice guide!
Peasant Mobs? 😄 I wanna see a test battle of Bretonnia versus Beastmen. Specifically, a full army of just peasant mobs, with whatever rank increases or whatever else they spend their remaining points on, for Bretonnia... Against the Beastmen army made up of just two or three Gore Bulls... I can see it now... A mental image similar to me mowing my lawn... But with shredded peasants instead of cut grass. 😂
Good stuff as usual Zerk. I really liked the city background, it's very fitting. There's one thing that I don't understand though which has to do with Alberic. You praise him for his anti large trait however in the breakdown I see that he does 290 weapon damage and 140 armour piercing damage but only 30 damage versus large. Isn't that 30 really minor compared to his base damage levels? Am I perhaps reading the tooltips wrong?
That was Bretonnia's capital, Couronne, of course! Well it's not bad as Anti-Large bonuses go. The top Spear unit only had 15 anti-large damage. But obviously 100 men with 15 AL or 1 man with 30... is a pale comparison. But I'm not 100% on how it all works. If Alberic fights a Cavalry and a weapon swing does 30 AL damage per hit, I suppose it adds up if he hits 4/5 horses? Be nice if CA told us how it actually works...
One thing that people don't understand(and which isn't actually delivered by the tooltips), is that MA is modified by "Anti-" bonus. So if you have 19 MA spears with 15 AL modifier, they have 34 MA against large targets, which is HUGE in boosting their chances to actually hit anything. Of course, there is also a damage buff, but it's not as essential, as MA buff, in my opinion, though good nonetheless. That's why Alberic's 30 AL is so good, especially in duels with mounted lords - he kinda guaranteed to hit his target. for better understanding - "to hit" is actually working like "40%+MA-MD" formula with hardcaps at 10% and 90%, so basically you can take 60\50 lord on horse versus 60\50(+30AL) Alberic and while lord would have 50% to hit (40+60-50=50%), Alberic would have 80% ( 40+[60+30]-50 = 80) to hit, which gives him an advantage even if other stats are the same. Of course it's all chance based, so he might still lose, but he would be a lot more reliable.
Oh okay so it's not just part of the weapon strength, that makes a big difference then. Poor tool tips yay! I was thinking the only difference it made was turning 290 damage hits into 320 damage hits which is rubbish. Or 430 into 460, of course.
Hmmm, sounds like it adds up. Might I ask for your source of all this mathematical madness ? Not because I don't believe you. Just like to read/watch to try and get a good understanding of it all. As it is strange the AL stat is on the Weapon Strength tab if it's applied to MA.
there is few posts on reddit about mechanics of this game and also my friend did few tests. www.reddit.com/r/totalwar/comments/4m9sdw/how_melee_attack_and_defense_armor_and_damage/ there is formula and some text behind it as to how he tested it. www.reddit.com/r/totalwar/comments/4o1zoq/how_does_bonus_damage_and_armor_actually_work/ There is how some other bonuses, armour and ward saves are working. Now about "versus Large\Infantry" bonus to MA was tested by my friend. And from his tests lord with 0 MA and, for example, 100 vs Infantry bonus were hitting their target as often as lord with 100MA and 0 bonus vs infantry. It's also how it worked in previous titles of the game. Also few examples from the game: Grave Guards have really poor MA, like, dwarf warriour lever of "poor", but they actually perform nice versus infantry targets, as 8 bonus vs Infantry would push their MA from 22 to 30, which is actually decent. And some other examples like: -Almost all spear units have really bad MA, but actually perform really good against "large" targets, while some of the top-tier class infantry would struggle(say, Greatswords vs Giant and pack(or two for the same cost) of shielded spearmen vs same Giant), they also have big bonuses to large units -Some of the past examples and performances lead to it. Like Shaggoth. Nobody took Shaggoths, because they were mauled by the Demigryphs, but now Shaggoth actually can beat them, because they hit so often and in AOE radius too.
Just to be sure I'm clear on the Blessing of the Lady ability that Grail Knights/Guardians and the Royal Pegasus/Hippogriff Knights have - am I reading that tooltip right in that they *permanently* lose that ability (and the +20% physical resistance it grants) when their Leadership is broken? It's just got the same "limited uses" icon in the top-right of the tooltip that Raise Dead and such have.
I wouldn't be surprised if it does work like that - I think that was how the equivalent ability in the tabletop was handled and is pretty thematic; that they lost the Lady's Blessing if they fled from their enemy.
Why would shielded spear men be better against large? They'll be better against archers, but the tiny melee defense increase won't make that much difference when they're being trampled and thrown around by large units.
This is very late, but... It's commonly known that reach is usually an advantage, especially against mounted cavalry or large beasts. Some infantry can bypass some spears, either by dodging or redirecting it, to attack them directly (the shields given to the Spearmen-at-Arms add a bit higher defense, though), but it's generally harder for large enemies to avoid them. The one you're looking for against archers would just be the Men-at-Arms (Shielded), who had a higher chance of both blocking and attacking them once they closed in the distance (where they're armed with falchions) while still holding the shields in question.
Correct me if im wrong, but magic attacks don't bypass armor? i remember reading somewhere that they do, or are they just useful for bypassing physical resistances?
Most charge defence buffs are only when standing still, and only prevent large unit charges. So you should stand still and take large unit charges, but counter charge infantry. Unless the unit has Expert Charge Defence which prevents all charges.
Zerkovich, good army review. As usual you focus your effort and attention to get straight to the point of explaining what the faction's units are and, thus, to what it's gameplay is focused on. However, if i had a remark to make (or complain, depending on your point of view) is that you focus too much on Multiplayer. It is perfectly understandable, though, that you're first and foremost centering your point on the most important aspect of a multiplayer game, and i certainly never intended to discredit you on that in any way. The problem that i notice is that, by reviewing an army based sorely on multiplayer gameplay and not integrating a, sort of, short review on how it's gameplay differs on campaign (if only as disclaimer) you're making some statements about certain units that are taken as an undeniable fact in multiplayer, but ends up being completely wrong for campaign. The most blatant example is the _"Peasant Mob"_ unit. Again, like you stated, it undeniably one of the weakest units in the game (only second to Zombies) *but only in early game, without any form of buffs, equipments or other events coming in to modify it's values*. In middle-later game it becomes one of the most useful units in the game - if not *_the_* best unit in the game in terms of cost effectiveness. Just to give you an idea, on the campaign map, a single _"Peasant Mob"_ unit can it's stats capped up to around 90/100 Leadership, 37 speed, between 37/52 Melee Attack, 25/37+ Melee Defence and/or 15/18 Weapon Strength (that can get a +5 anti large against Norsca.) All that for just 16 Gold on acquisition (26 away from controlled territory) and 47 upkeep. So it's pretty darn good. And it's not just the _"Peasant Mob"_, the _"Men At Arms"_ with Spears and Polearm can get higher Melee Defence than Dwarven Ironbreaker (!). And that's just the "Peasant" units. I'm not even gonna start on the "Knight" ones...
Thanks man. Glad you like the Guide overall. Sooo, I can see your point. But as I said at the start of the vid, the guide isn't really about the campaign. Which is kinda half true I guess, as it's not exactly focusing MP either. At least I'm not intending to focus on MP. I try to review the units in a sense of what their *role* is within the army. That's the same whether in Campaign or MP I believe. e.g. Questing Knights should be going for heavily armoured units. Period. Whatever the game mode. It's also that I don't think people play the Campaign with that much choice in what units they take until later. You take what you can and need until you're able to upgrade. Like you may face the Dwarves, but haven't unlocked Foot Squires or Questing Knights (AP units), so you can't build your army as you'd like, so you do what you can with what you've got. Of course MP and Custom, you choose everything for the task and enemy at hand. Unfortunately I don't have the time to test every unit in an upgraded state and talk about it. The video would be like 2 hours long if I did haha. So I stick to the base stat versions. And also, there's many variables/modifiers in Campaign. If the General has +10 Melee attack for infantry, of course all those crappy units will be improved. But again, I think that's too much to account for and people would get bored if I talk about it I think. But sure, what you're saying about Peasant Mob can be true I'm sure. But I don't know why you'd need/want to unless you're really strapped for cash in the Campaign. Surely upgrading some Men-at-Arms would be far more worthwhile and more bang for the buck. Or if you upgrade Battle Pilgrims in a similar way, they'll be brutal! But there's nothing wrong with doing what you said of course, that's the beauty of Total War. Many ways to play! Thanks for the feedback, I will take that in. As I am aware like 80% of Total War players are just Campaign players apparently so, something to think about. I welcome constructive criticism so feel free to drop your thoughts in the future.
_"At least I'm not intending to focus on MP. I try to review the units in a sense of what their role is within the army."_ First, thank you for answering with a detailed post. Just like the videos, it's a pleasure to read. Second, i understand and perfectly agree on your point, which is to review the units and the army for what it primarily stands for, before getting on the more subtle variations that can be done with. The reason why i consider writing the post in the first place is that, more than any other faction, Bretonnia is the one which those random events and other stats modifiers can affect it's gameplay the most (and i have experience with almost every army, except the 17$ priced ones, since i haven't buyed them.) Because, like i previously said, you can start with absolutely crappy units and potentially ends up with units that can rivalise Dwarven Ironbreakers for less than e half/third of the cost. Which, frankly, in my gaming experience, is very big. _"Like you may face the Dwarves, but haven't unlocked Foot Squires or Questing Knights (AP units), so you can't build your army as you'd like, so you do what you can with what you've got."_ Again, that is a valid point. However you're forgetting one thing about Bretonnia and that is their growth rate : Bretonnia has one of the fastest growth rate in the entire game, whcih allows them to uppgrade their settlements faster than the Empire or the Dwarves. Upon reaching tiers 3, buildings unique to some provinces can be constructed and sensibly improving Bretonnian units upon recruitment : like the _"Warhorse Breeder's Stables"_ at Lyoness or Parravon, the _"Master Swordsmith's Forge"_ at Bastonne or the _"Woodworker's shop"_ at Artois. All of which can be Federated *without penalty to diplomacy or public order and without limits of turns* (you only have to worry about Peasant count.) Even if you can't build higher tiers units fast, you're still left with good opportunities to sensibly improve low tiers units fast. Which does count for something. _"But sure, what you're saying about Peasant Mob can be true I'm sure. But I don't know why you'd need/want to unless you're really strapped for cash in the Campaign. Surely upgrading some Men-at-Arms would be far more worthwhile and more bang for the buck."_ And here we get to the core of the Problem when Playing Bretonnia. You could even say that it's what one would call their *ultimate weakness* : successful Assassination attempt. See there's a key difference between Peasant units and Knight units : the vows. When you start in early game,the *only* units a newly recruited Lord can afford to mobilise are "Peasant" units because they come without any upkeep cost penalty (until your reach their limit cap, of course.) But the "Knight" are different, in the sense that, without vow, their upkeep cost suffers an insane penalty of hundreds of gold per unit, for an average 800/900~ upkeep cost. You're probably thinking "that's not such a big deal as long as you manage your recruitment well." and you would normally be in the right. But that logic doesn't work on the Campaign map because of ennemy Agents and their ability to incapacitate/assassinate the Lord of an Army. *THAT* is the weakness of Bretonnia on the campaign map : ennemy agents specialised in assassination. Banshees, Witch Hunter and Goblin Boss of decent levels can represent the biggest threat imaginable. Because when they manage to incapacitate or, worse, kill one of your lord commanding an army of higher tiers Knights, the game forces you to recruit a Lord *which sits always at level one, even in end game with full chivalry bonuses*. That way not only do you lose one of your prized general, you can litteraly end up Bankrupt in a single turn because of all the penalties stacking. And as if it wasn't enough, in the following two turns, that same Agent can do it again with your newly appointed Lord or go after another high leveled one. That's why you have to look after "Peasant" units and not realying too much on "Knight" units, and why i seem to insist so much on them. It's because if you lose a Lord with many Knight units, chances are you can go bankrupt the next turn. But if you lose a Lord with more Peasant units than Knight units in his army, the penalty is greatly reduced and you still get what arguably are the best cost effective units in the game. That is my point. (Thank you for reading and sorry for the extensive size of the post.)
Sure, I can see what you're saying about the struggles of the Bretonnia Campaign. Perhaps there is a way around it with stat points and buffs, but the general idea behind unlocking new units as the Campaign progresses is that the older units become obsolete and you have something better to replace them. I can appreciate why this theory, which is true of most factions, ends up a problem for Bretonnia.
Louen starts with 4 good knights. You can take marienburg on turn 1 now with louen on legendary and barely lose any troops. I've done it twice and only lost about 60 units total each time. Then baited orcs into attacking louen away from the city garrison, killed them, then took the orc settlement, all by turn 3. By turn 15ish you get the questing knights and everything is gg after u get the questing knights cuz they have real staying power in fights with relatively high defense/attack for a unit attainable so early in game. They're my favorite faction too, even the infrantry, cuz every unit is just covered in swag art from head to toe xD
I thought all you had to do as the Bretonsa is spam 6 Pegasus at the enemy leaders.. I have yet to find someone not do this. You could gank a general then solo half the army with their leaders alone lol. Not like the defenders could use any heroes.... Edit: Was funny when I brought the Bretons down to the green knight and the pms queen after losing my general 1 minute in. Was even better walking away 10 minutes later from them picking off a single soldier at a time from horseback... Talk about sportsmanship..
Great channel man.... Really helpful. I haven’t played TW since Rome. Not loving the changes on the campaign map, needlessly obtuse UI, and it seems construction options and diplomacy have been streamlined to the point it seems more shallow??
You might be right but i never faced more that 4 dragons in any of my battles with the AI usually only 1 or 2 and only forest dragons as i don't have the second part. Also is doesn't matter if they route, i follow and attack again and then they cant.
There is a chivalry cost buff that makes it possible to field two full armies of RHK, with them i waste just about any enemy force even with multiple armies, only lost to a multiple choas horde stack once i think and even then most of my army escaped, still it can make it difficult facing forces all over the map.
IS FUNNY I WATCH THIS VIDEO IN 2021 AND IT SEEMS TO BE THAT YOUR VOICE USED TO BE MORE MATURE BEFORE XDXDXD (04:42 I THOUGHT A FLY GOT IN MY ROOM MAN!! XD)
