I Used Robert The Bruce's Tactics To Dominate The Battlefield!

Wow. This makes me want to play the commander role more in battles than the usual Elite warrior role I usually play.

i love this concept of reproducing historic battles in bannerlord, this game is so realistic and has so much tactical depth with the different units and terrain

I kinda laughed when I first saw the thumbnail describing it as a Schiltron. Because in the Total war games, this formation is also used and is lovingly called the "Noob box"

Small nitpick, schiltrons are more ovular than square, sometimes circular. Which is where it gets its name, "schiltron" is a hedgehog. Small, circular formations of large spears (kinda JUST on the cusp of becoming pikes) began to be used in Scotland maybe as early as the 12th, Robert Bruis made them far more effective and by that point pikes were beginning to show up. He figured out a way to drill his men effectively in moving the schiltron to reposition it. Prior to Bannockburn, they had been used to guard flanks, or as static position defense. In fact, it was probably the inability to move the schiltron that cost Wallace his battle at Falkirk; they got shot to shit and then charged as they broke from the arrows. The history of the schiltron is interesting. There are currently two primary theories, that the Scots either learned it from the Swiss or the Brabantines. Both were early adopters of pike formations. This is a Hollow Square formation, used by Romans and Chinese. The Romans made use of it famously at Carrae to keep themselves from being shot and charged on flanks. Didn't save Crassus. Or poor Publius.

The battle of Falkirk showed the glaring flaws with the schiltrons. Yes, it's fearsome against calvary and infantry, but when Wallace's calvary deserted the field, King Edward I sent forth his archer force and the archers, crossbowmen and slingers began raining projectiles on the inexperienced and poorly-armoured Scottish spearmen. The schiltrons were an easy target; they had no defence and nowhere to hide. If the force isn't heavily armored, they'll get cut to pieces and run down by calvary.

I hope they add bigger battle maps, and better AI tactics. I love this tactic videos

interesting fact: the English were well famed for their powerful longbows able to shoot farther than any other bow at that time period, when William Wallace tried using a schiltron to fight against the King of England with this strategy in an open field the longbowmen simply shot from afar before the English knights swept up the last of the remaining Scottish peasants who were rebelling and captured William Wallace, not long after this event William Wallace was tortured and executed

The tactical part of this game is so satisfying. Just last night I fought a vicious campaign to take the remains of the northern empire. It was only one town and a castle, so I thought it would be relatively easy, but they had a massive amount of units. The biggest challenge was that I am not a kingdom, instead I sieged both as a clan with less than 200 units and defeated wave after wave of anywhere from 400-950 units while I was building up my siege camps! I thought I might lose every single time, but by using careful positioning of units and feints, and flanking attacks, I destroyed them all. So worth the huge amount of time it took. It’s probably about time to start my kingdom though. I’m just nervous that everyone will go on the attack against me. I think my character has earned his rest from war. Lol

You are by far my favourite Bannerlord youtuber. You're videos are consistently top quality and really interesting. Keep up the awesome work!

You know mount and blade has come a long way when these real life tactics really work.

please do more of this. historical battles emulated in M&B is what should've been done a long time ago

Fun fact, if your outnumbered by a lot of cavalry, the ai npc will actually tell you to surround the archers with the infantry to keep the cavalry from getting to them. It was super effective for me.

Robert the Bruce. The First man to use the noob box

Love seeing all the different factions he plays as in these, was not expecting to see the Rodoks

That was really cool! Been messing around with formations more in battles and it's been a game changer for sure. Been able to go into battles against more numerous foes and minimal losses.

Seeing the effectiveness of real world tactics in banner lord is pretty dope, hope you do more of these

Loving these tactic videos, they are my favorite and I watch every single one!

I'm really enjoying this series of testing historic formations. A lot of games real world tactics don't often translate well to them, so it's a beautiful relief to see them work as they should do. Mirroring what someone else said, these videos have made me want to be more of a commander and less of an elite warrior in battles. It sure gives you a lot more time to make decisions and observe the battle properly... until you get an arrow to the face :'D

Love how you have the AI comparison at the end, really shows how well the tactics work.

I appreciate the effort and creativity you do making the videos!!! Thank you for sharing and please keep up the fantastic work!!