Britannia, one of the new mini campaigns in Kingdoms focuses on Britain and its internal struggles. New playable factions include Ireland and Wales. There is a nice collection of new units. There are a lot of armour piercing (AP) units in this campaign and there are also new gunpowder troops, which are much better than the old ones. The new culture troops feature adds to the diversity of your army and each of the factions provides a radically different experience. Note that full advice about each unit class is given in the Medieval 2: Total War Guide which also available on Gamefaqs Please read the class descriptions in that for advice on how to use them. The other guides in this document focus on changes from Medieval 2’s units. Enjoy!

Glossary

CA: Creative Assembly, the development team that created the Total War series.

Counter Fire: Fire directed at missile units by a missile unit, as most missile units themselves have poor armour and are easy prey for missiles.

Flank: The sides of a unit. Charging into the flank is much, much more effective than charging directly into the front. It is also a verb meaning to flank a unit; charging into their side

Focus fire: Targeting all missiles at a particular unit, or group of units to weaken them

HA: Horse Archers

Line Infantry: This is a generic term for any infantry than can take and hold the enemy and fight them in melee, thus forming your battle line. It also means troops you’ll use to form the bulk of your army and thus your line. Spearmen and swordsmen are line infantry. Line infantry are usually well armed and armored as they will be in the middle of the fighting. They will often take the most casualties as well.

TW: M2: Total War: Medieval 2

MTW: Medieval: Total War, the second game in the series. Medieval 2 is a remake of this game.

RTW: Rome: Total War, the previous game in the series

Skirmish: A unit firing missiles and staying out of melee. Skirmish mode, which all missile units have makes them run back to avoid melee if the enemy gets close. Units with javelins are usually called skirmishers.
Differences between RTW and Medieval 2

Despite the obvious changes in eras from Roman times to medieval times, RTW and Medieval 2 share the same engine, as Medieval 2’s engine is a heavily modified Rome one. Thus there are some leftovers from Rome, but there are things that are noticeably different, even if the base mechanics are similar.

Battle speed: The most immediately noticeable thing in Medieval 2’s battles is that they are much slower. Units move much more slowly than RTW and tire faster. Melee is slower and because units have much higher morale it takes a while for the winner to be decided. Individual soldiers block and parry a lot in Medieval 2, meaning it takes longer for a solider to kill his enemy and soldiers stagger and are realistically stunned from hits they failed to block which didn’t kill them, slowing melee down. Cavalry is also a lot slower and their charge is toned down this time around

Impetuous trait: Some units in Medieval 2 are impetuous. This means they generally have good morale and the death of a general doesn’t affect their morale as much. Only elite or religious troops have the impetuous trait with a few exceptions. You can rely on these units. The trait can make them charge without orders however. If you are moving them past a melee, say to flank, sometimes you’ll see them just charge into the melee when you didn’t tell them to. This is caused by the impetuous trait.

Disciplined: Some units, usually tough, elite ones are Disciplined. This means they resist morale shocks; like the general dying or an attack in their rear, losing less morale when these events occur and are therefore much more stable units. Disciplined troops will take a lot more to rout than normal ones and are very good units to have.

Death animations: In Medieval 2 a unit’s solider count goes down after the dying man has finished his death animation. Until then the causality doesn’t affect morale. This is different to Rome: Total War, where as soon as a man died (before he even hit the ground) he was considered dead. This means that units may take a second or two more to rout or otherwise react to something.

Morale: In Medieval 2 units take much longer to rout. Elite units have very high morale and the last ten or so men in a unit will sometimes fight to the death. Even weak units like Spear Militia have good morale and wont rout until half the unit is dead, if they are just in a normal melee. Even units like Peasant Archers have quite good morale compared to RTW. Situations like being flanked and outnumbered and shot by gunpowder will still greatly affect a unit’s morale, but causalities and losing a melee affect it much less.

More effective fodder: Because of the generally higher morale, kills inflicted by missiles (besides fire or gunpowder) have little effect on morale if the unit isn’t in melee. A unit of Spear Militia being killed by arrows will stand their ground as long as the archers stay back until about 20 guys are left, meaning the enemy will have used up plenty of arrows. Using cheap units as fodder is much more effective than in RTW. This is rendered mostly ineffective by gunpowder however, as being hit by gunpowder applies a huge morale penalty so much that units will rout very easily from gunpowder and causalities alone. Will be enough to rout the unit. Flaming missiles also damage morale.

Combat Animations

A large change in Medieval 2 is the use of proper combat animations during melee. A solider must hit his enemy with a sword swing or whatever to actually stagger or kill him. There are also new animations for soldiers getting hit but not killed, like staggering or stumbling. While these animations are happening, a soldier cannot block.

The upshot of this is that soldiers that are seriously outnumbered will spend a lot of time getting hit and staggered, due to individual soldiers being targeted by multiple incoming attacks, making it harder for them to hit back against the enemies. A u

Unit Ranges: Archers: 120 Crossbows: 120 Javelins: (foot and mounted) 55 Bombard: 325 Grand Bombard: 375 Ribault: 150 Culverin: 425 Mortar: 300 Cannon: 380 Serpentine: 450 Basilisk: 450 Ballista: 180 Catapult: 200 Trebuchet: 280

Unit Ammunition: Archers: 30 Crossbows: 30 Javelins: 8 Naffatun: 5 Bombard: 30 Serpentine: 36 Elephant Cannon: 20 Basilisk: 30 Ribault: 108 Culverin: 30 Cannon: 30 Catapult: 30 Trebuchet: 30 Ballista: 50
Negative Morale Effects

Casualties: Losses have a lower effect on morale than losing a melee. If a unit has taken a lot of casualties, but starts winning a melee they will often stay and fight. This has far less of an effect on impetuous units, like knights.

Flank attack: Getting attacked in the flank will cause quite a lot of casualties, so this can rout most non elite units if they are already in a melee.

Rear attack: Getting hit in the rear will cause a truckload of casualties and, coupled with the penalty for the rear attack will rout just about anything very quickly.

General/Captain death: The General dying is how many a battle will end and become a slaughterfest, though the higher morale in Medieval 2 causes units to hold much more often than in RTW. The General’s death has a huge effect on morale at first, often causing a mass rout; the effect is largest close to where the general died and radiates out, losing intensity. The penalty gradually lessens, until it affects units to a much lesser degree, if they haven’t routed off the field yet that is. This will Be listed as “general recently died” to “General dead” as it fades.

Routing friends: If a unit can see friendly units routing, they will take a morale drop.

Gunpowder weapons: Gunpowder has to cause casualties in the unit for it to affect morale, but it has a very high effect: a few gunpowder hits will rout even the steadiest units like knights. Its morale crushing effect is one of gunpowder’s biggest advantages.
Positive Morale effects

Proximity to General: Units close to your general receive a morale bonus, depending on how good a general he is and what traits he has. This is visible when you mouse over units close to the general: the tooltip will say “Spirits lifted by the general’s encouragements”. Thus it is good to keep the general close behind fighting units, especially when using low morale troops, or fighting fear inducing enemies.

Winning a melee: Being on the winning side of an ongoing melee will encourage your troops to keep fighting. Elite units, like knights don’t seem to care if they are losing a melee or not. It barely affects their morale. That’s knightly arrogance for you.

Routing enemies: If a unit can see routing enemy units they get a morale bonus.

General’s Rally: The general’s Rally special ability greatly raises nearby unit morale for about 30 seconds and can put units from wavering to steady.

Unit Abilities

Loose Formation

Spread out men! We might be able to live longer that way!

A unit in loose formation spreads out into a looser formation, with space between each solider. This helps the unit resist missiles, as the space in the formation means there is a chance missiles may harmlessly hit the ground between men, instead of hitting one of your soldiers. The formation doesn’t actually have any hard coded effects, like raising defence or the like; it simply works on a physical level by reducing the chance a missile will hit one of your soldiers. The formation is useless in melee however, as men tend get into melee slower and when the unit charges there are less people impacting with the initial killing force of the charge. The unit is also very vulnerable to cavalry charges, as the less rigid formation lacks weight to resist the charge and stop it, like a solid wall of men can and cavalry can ride right into their ranks and flank individual soldiers. Only use this formation when you’re under fire. Loose formation is also good for units serving as arrow fodder to allow them to survive just that little bit longer. It comes in handy also for light cavalry trying to catch horse archers, as they can cover more area in this formation and it makes it easier to catch the horse archers and force them to commit to melee.

Circle and Shoot

Ashes, ashes, they all fall down!

This formation is a lot like the Cantabrian Circle from RTW. Just like that formation the cavalry ride around in a small circle in front of the enemy, launching their missiles. The constant movement makes them hard to hit with incoming missiles and enables them to skirmish back quickly as they are already moving. While the chief users of this formation are horse archers, javelin cavalry are very effective in this formation. In Medieval 2 javelins pierce armour and with the formation’s quick skirmishing and constant fire they can decimate heavy infantry and avoid incoming archer fire better. This is especially effective against two handed weapon units, as their lack of a shield makes them easy to hit.

Fire Arrows

Death has never been so pretty.

Fire arrows are used by all shortbow and longbow archers. Crossbowmen do not have this ability, nor do Horse Archers (they have Circle and Shoot, crossbows have none). Fire arrows can set fire to siege equipment and lower morale of units hit by them, but the effect is hard to notice unless their morale has already been lowered by other factors. Fire arrows cannot actually be aimed at siege weapons themselves, so just shoot at the crew and your arrows should hit the siege weapons as well. A siege weapon hit by a fire arrow has a chance to be set on fire, making it unusable by its crew and destroying it when its damage reaches 100%. Fire arrows fire much more slowly than normal arrows. With Peasant Archers for example normal arrows take about 5 seconds to fire, from the time the archer starts nocking the arrow. Fire arrows take 15 seconds, three times as long. If you are trying to kill men use normal arrows, as you can fire more of them in less time. If you are trying to get a unit to rout use fire arrows.

Spearwall
When spearwall works it can be effective.

The spearwall is a formation used by pikemen and some polearms. It causes the unit to tighten up its formation so men are shoulder to shoulder and the first three ranks to extend their polearms forward, creating a wall of pointy death. This is meant to be effective against cavalry and also work as a wall against infantry, much like a phalanx. Unfortunately it is buggy and often when an enemy touches the pikewall the pikemen will switch to their swords, ruining your defense against cavalry and making themselves very vulnerable. Polearms/pikemen do not have shields so they often die quite quickly in melee. When the spearwall works though, it will stop cavalry and their charge momentum dead, killing many of them and preventing them from attacking since the pikes keep the cavalry out of melee range

When using a spearwall if you use right click+drag to make a formation with multiple units selected, you will notice there are gaps between your units. This makes it easy for enemies to sneak in though the pikewall and attack the pikemen in melee. It is more effective to drag each unit’s formation out making sure they touch with no gaps. This will form a solid wall of pikes with nowhere for enemies to get in, until the unit suffers bugs, or enough men die to weaken the wall.

Schiltrom
Circle of death!

A Schiltrom is a tight, round formation in which spearmen arrange themselves in a circle, spears pointing outwards. This lets them protect themselves from all directions at once and they cannot be flanked, as the entire outer edge of the unit counts as its “front”. This is a useful formation for defensive situations, when you have to hold an open area. Since the unit is facing all directions, soldiers will not move to fight enemies, unless they are directly near them, so the unit cannot attack as effectively as it could if it were in standard formation, as only some of the unit will be in combat while the rest stay in formation. They are also very vulnerable to missiles since they are crammed together in a very dense formation. Artillery will also kill a lot of them.

Schiltrom is a very specialist formation; it is really only good when defending an immobile position, like a city’s central plaza or when you are constantly being attacked from all directions. In standard battles there is no reason to use Schiltrom, as it will just lessen your unit’s capacity to attack. Ideally you shouldn’t be getting flanked at all, so this formation is often of little use. While in this formation the unit can march, but not run and when moving they do not have their weapons ready, so make sure to halt them before a melee, as they need a second to redress the formation after halting. Most spearmen can form Schiltrom.

Wedge Formation

A wedge is a narrow triangle formation that can be formed by heavy cavalry. The leader of the unit is placed on the point of the triangle, so he will be first into the enemy. This is not a good idea with captain led units, as the captain will be first into the enemy and at risk of being killed. A wedge formation is meant to increase a unit’s ability to charge, but it doesn’t matter, because with a wedge only a few men hit with their charge bonus and the men at the back are wasted. Less men get into the initial killing phase of the charge and so less enemy die on the charge. It also results in the men at the front of the wedge being isolated from the rest of the unit and usually killed. The men at the back also take a while to get into melee, because of the depth of the formation, so the unit can’t focus its attacks properly, fighting very ineffectively. Given all this, it is not worth using wedge at all, just stick to standard formation.

Version Info

1.0: 26th of October 2024: loads of minor corrections added morale and other missing stuff. First version uploaded to Gamefaqs!

1.1: 11th June 2025: Minor corrections and added missing mercs and culture troops.

Credits

Libreoffice for making the best free Office suite ever!
Xander77 for fixes.
Enonightcore who’s guide I used for some merc locations.

Spearmen
Mmm! Horse kebabs for dinner again!

Armoured Sergeants
Attack: 11 Charge: 5 Defence: 17 Armour: 3 Morale: 9 Cost: 640 Upkeep: 155
Factions: England, Baron’s Alliance

Armoured Sergeants are tougher than their Medieval 2 version, with better defence but for some reason actually have less armour. This means they are slightly tougher in melee to an extent, but are vulnerable to missile fire. Always have some light cavalry to kill archers shooting your sergeants. They have higher morale in Britannia than they did in Medieval 2, the same as knights and will stand firm. They are very important for England as you will use lots of them to stop Norway's many mounted Huscarles their high morale and good stats make them very solid for protecting your flanks and holing your line.

Cliathairi
Attack: 9 Charge: 4 Defence: 13 Armour: 0 Morale: 5 Cost: 400 Upkeep: 125
Factions: Ireland

These useful spearmen will be Ireland’s early game spears. They have good stats and do well, but their lack of armour gets them killed quite quickly. Early game they are superior to any other faction’s spearmen, with the exception of Wales, which helps tip early campaign battles in Ireland’s favour. Make sure to keep them out of missile fire if possible and obtain armour for them asap as they can be upgraded to light mail. They are Ireland’s only spearmen, so you will use lots of them. They only have a little more morale than militia so be careful with them. They can form Schiltrom.

Levy Spearmen
Attack: 7 Charge: 3 Defence: 11 Armour: 0 Morale: 3 Cost: 290 Upkeep: 125
Factions: England, Barons Alliance

Levy Spearmen are quite different from their Medieval 2 versions as they have much better stats, especially their defence, while still costing the same. This makes them more useful and even though they are the weakest spearmen in the Britannia campaign; they are perfectly capable of all the normal spearmen tasks. They can be upgraded all the way to heavy mail which gives them very solid defence for such a cheap unit. They can form Schiltrom.

Meirionnydd Spearmen
Attack: 9 Charge: 4 Defence: 16 Armour: 3 Morale: 5 Cost: 470 Upkeep: 125
Factions: Wales

Meirionnydd Spearmen are just like Cliathairi, except with a bit of armour. They are good for early spearmen and are very important to protect Wales’ vital longbow troops from cavalry. They can form Schiltrom.

Morgannwg Spearmen
Attack: 11 Charge: 5 Defence: 20 Armour: 6 Morale: 9 Cost: 730 Upkeep: 155
Factions: Wales

Morgannwg Spearmen are very tough spears for Wales’ late game. They have a very high attack for spearmen, high defence, excellent morale and some of the heaviest armour of any spearmen. They also have a great a great charge bonus for infantry. These spearmen excel against cavalry, but will hurt just about any enemy and are perfect for defending your many archers against cavalry. Make good use of them and use lots. They have knightly morale and are highly trained. They can form Schiltrom.

Spear Militia
Attack: 7 Charge: 3 Defence: 11 Armour: 0 Morale: 3 Cost: 290 Upkeep: 125
Factions: Norway, Scotland

Spear Militia are just like Levy Spearmen and should be used in the same way. They will be much rarer in Britannia as only two factions have them. They can form Schiltrom.

Templar Sergeants
Attack: 10 Charge: 4 Defence 16 Armour: 3 Morale: 5 Cost: 470 Upkeep: 155
Factions: England, in Edward I’s army

Templar Sergeants are pretty much Armoured Sergeants with slightly less attack and much worse morale. Consider them flavour and use them while you have them. They can’t restore their numbers by retraining so once they are gone they're gone.

Town Militia
Attack: 6 Charge: 2 Defence: 9 Armour: 0 Morale: 3 Cost: 280 Upkeep: 125
Factions: Norway

Town Militia, unlike the Medieval 2 version have worse stats than Spear Militia and are only just very slightly cheaper than them. This makes them useless and you should always use Spear Militia rather than these units, as they are a better unit for virtually the same price. Note that they are Untrained compared to the Spear Militia’s Trained tag. They can’t form Schiltrom, the only spearmen that can’t. They also only get +4 vs cavalry rather than +8, again the only spearmen that do. Don’t ever recruit these men!

Pikemen
Armour envy.

Pikemen are better in Kingdoms than in the base game. They hold their formation better and seem to use their pikes for longer and they do a good job when their pikes are out. They take longer to change to swords if an enemy is close and are all round better troops. Their lack of shields and armour means they will get whooped by melee oriented troops, like swordsmen or axemen, but they do a good job vs. spearmen and cavalry and are cheap. They work best against low defence troops like Billmen, as then they walk forward, stabbing with their pikes and as long as they keep killing the weak enemies with their pikes the pikemen won’t get close enough to draw their swords. This lets them kill off the first rank or three of a unit, before getting bogged down into a melee. Only Scotland gets pikemen in Britannia.

Heavy Pike Militia
Attack: 8 Charge: 5 Defence: 12 Armour: 6 Morale: 5 Cost: 500 Upkeep: 185
Factions: Scotland

Heavy Pike Militia is a good unit with very heavy armour for militia, solid morale and good attack. They are easy to recruit and their heavy armour makes them an effective wall to allow Scotland to flank with their Highlanders or let their subpar archers have ample time to shoot. They are superior to the standard Highland Pikemen.

Highland Pikemen
Attack: 8 Charge: 5 Defence: 6 Armour: 0 Morale: 5 Cost: 360 Upkeep: 125
Factions: Scotland

Highland Pikes are quite weak all around. They are cheap, have good morale and are impetuous so will they hold for quite a while, making them good fodder. Their total lack of armour makes them inferior to Heavy Pike Militia and they can only be upgraded with padded armour. They are highly trained compared to the trained tag every other unit of pikemen gets.

Noble Pikemen
Attack: 10 Charge: 6 Defence: 13 Armour: 6 Morale: 9 Cost: 680 Upkeep: 215
Factions: Scotland

Noble Pikemen are the best pikemen in Kingdoms, with high morale and stats and will serve well for stopping cavalry and as general solders for Scotland. You are better off with Noble Swordsmen for general use and Spear Militia to absorb charges however. Noble Pikemen have no real strengths; they are just not as bad as other pikemen.

Scots Pike Militia
Attack: 6 Charge: 4 Defence: 4 Armour: 0 Morale: 3 Cost: 260 Upkeep: 125
Factions: Scotland

The weakest pikes, they are better than the Medieval 2 version, but still of limited use except for missile fodder and stopping cavalry charges. With no base armour, only padded armour available, militia level morale and terrible melee stats they will not last long. Use them to receive cavalry charges and consider them disposable as they are very cheap.

Swordsmen

It’s not the size of the sword...wait yes it is!

One handed swordsmen in Britannia are much like Medieval 2, but two handed swordsmen this time around pierce armour, making them much, much more effective. With their very high attack values and AP ability, two handed swordsmen rip though opponents in melee very quickly and they are far more useful than they once were, as now they are not outclassed by heavily armoured units who in Medieval 2 could resist their attack and take advantage of the two handed swordsmen’s lack of defence and shield to kill them easily. Two handed swordsmen should be used whenever possible and excel in a melee along with fodder troops like rabble so they have less chance of having their hits interrupted by blocking, as the fodder helps take attention away from them. They also have a devastating charge for infantry. Two handed swordsmen are more than capable of fighting alone, although their defence is still often low and they die from missiles.

Armoured Swordsmen
Attack: 11 Charge: 3 Defence: 18 Armour: 6 Morale: 9 Cost: 570 Upkeep: 150
Factions: England

Armoured Swordsmen are excellent swordsmen with good stats and high morale, able to cut their way through spearmen and the like, but they are outclassed by most other swordsmen and two handed ones. Use them as the core of your English army, but back them up well with longbows. Combining them with Longbows is very important when fighting Norway to help them win though vs their many AP axemen. One vs one the swordsmen will lose.

Gotland Footmen
Attack: 18 Charge: 9 Defence 14 Armour: 5 Morale: 11 Cost: 640 Upkeep: 150
Factions: Norway

Gotland Footmen are devastating two handed swordsmen. They have excellent stats, excellent morale, frighten nearby infantry, pierce armour and are just badass. They shred every other unit in the game including general’s bodyguards. Just keep them away from cavalry charges and massed missiles and they will crush everything in sight. If you are fighting this unit charge them with cavalry from the flank or rear or shoot them with longbows. Tie them down with fodder like spearmen to hold them in place as you whittle them down.

Gwent Raiders
Attack: 7 Charge: 2 Defence: 5 Armour: 2 Morale: 5 Cost: 310 Upkeep: 155
Factions: Wales

Gwent Raiders are all round bad swordsmen that are rather useless for anything but fighting spearmen, acting as standard infantry for keeping attacks away from your longbowmen and taking walls if you’re forced to assault fortifications. They are weak, with low attack for a sword unit, horrible defence and next to no armour. They are cheap, have good morale and are impetuous, so even though they might take large numbers of causalities, they will stay in combat for quite a while. They are impetuous and untrained.

Highland Nobles
Attack: 15 Charge: 9 Defence: 11 Armour: 3 Morale: 9 Cost: 490 Upkeep: 175
Factions: Scotland

Highland Nobles are good two handed swordsmen with a high attack, a powerful charge and decent defence. High morale, but they aren’t impetuous. They come in handy as strong assault infantry, especially against armoured targets. This is about the only late game troops Scotland has that are worth a damn as their pikemen pretty much suck. You want to use a lot of these men, along with some Highland Rabble to take hits and some Highland Archers to engage longbows They are no match for Gotland Footmen however.

Muire
Attack: 14 Charge: 3 Defence: 19 Armour: 6 Morale: 11 Cost: 780 Upkeep: 60
Factions: Ireland

Muire are late era swordsmen for Ireland with a strong attack and astronomical defence for a two handed unit. They have excellent morale, are Disciplined and are highly trained making them a fierce unit indeed. They are excellent infantry and are great for acting as your core heavy infantry force that cuts their way through enemy lines. They also have a very low upkeep cost. It is one of the lowest in the Medieval 2 series!

Noble Swordsmen
Attack: 11 Charge: 3 Defence: 18 Armour: 6 Morale: 9 Cost: 570 Upkeep: 175
Factions: Scotland

Noble Swordsmen are tough, heavy swordsmen used for forming your core force and slicing your way through heavy enemy formations. They aren’t as good as Highland Nobles are, since they don’t pierce armour and have weaker attack. They have much better defence however. Same morale as them too.

Norse Swordsmen
Attack: 9 Charge: 2 Defence: 14 Armour: 3 Morale: 5 Cost: 370 Upkeep: 150
Factions: Norway

Norse Swordsmen are rather useless, as Norway has very effective axemen instead. They can be used alongside with Viking Raiders at the start of a campaign before you can mass Huscarles as the higher attack swordsmen can attack lightly armoured foes while the lower attack AP axemen can focus on armoured enemies. This takes advantage of the higher attack of the Norse Swordsmen. Once you can mass Huscarles you don’t need these men.

Ostmen
Attack: 9 Charge: 2 Defence: 13 Armour: 2 Morale: 5 Cost: 340 Upkeep: 150
Factions: Ireland

Ostmen are quite balanced swordsmen. They have good attack and defence as they have a very high shield value, making them good at parrying in melee despite their low armour. They have good morale and are also impetuous, so they will stay in combat for a long time, even while taking nasty losses.

Ulster Swordsmen
Attack: 13 Charge: 8 Defence: 10 Armour: 3 Morale: 5 Cost: 360 Upkeep: 125
Factions: Ireland

Ulster Swordsmen are weaker than the other two handed sword units and have much lower morale. They are still decent enough at the normal swordsmen tasks, but their lowish defence means they die quite fast. They will put a dent in most units in a hurry with their high attack and the fact they are AP. They work well as flankers or general assault troops. Just don’t expect them to crush all enemies and mostly ignore losses like the other two handed units do.

Polearms
Attack with courage men! We suck less now!

Polearms seem to be somewhat better in Britannia and of course still are all AP. They seem to kill a lot more than before instead of getting parried all the time and if they outnumber the enemy they can actually defeat units like Feudal Knights, as they will get quite a few kills when men hit knights that are distracted by other soldiers in the back or side, where they cannot parry. They are very cheap too, which makes it easy to have lots of them to compensate for their weakness Weaker polearms still aren’t great outside of use as garrisons, but the class of unit as a whole is somewhat more effective than before. They will still take a lot of causalities and you may be better off with axemen.

When using polearms; keep them in the spearwall formation, if they have it. This lets them brace their polearms, so when the enemy charge the first rank of attackers will impale themselves on the AP polearms and many of them will die. Keep spearwall polearms in guard mode too, as polearms, like pikemen, kill quickly when in formation. Non spearwall polearms should be left with guard mode off.

Billmen
Attack: 14 Charge: 6 Defence: 8 Armour: 0 Morale: 5 Cost: 240 Upkeep: 125
Factions: England, Baron’s Alliance

Billmen are much better than in Medieval 2. They are the weakest polearms and in a straight fight their defence and lack of armour means they die too quickly to dish out any serious damage, but with their high attack and great charge for infantry they are deadly flankers, able to decimate armoured units quickly when they charge in front the flank. They will still dish out some damage when attacking head on and they are very cheap, so they are easily replaced. They narrowly lose to Noble Pikemen, who cost much more than Billmen. Their lack of armour is a serious weakness however and you’re better off with Heavy Billmen since they are just a little more expensive and much better armoured.

Heavy Billmen
Attack: 14 Charge: 6 Defence: 13 Armour: 5 Morale: 5 Cost: 320 Upkeep: 150
Factions: England, Baron’s Alliance

Heavy Billmen are just like regular Billmen, except well armoured. Their armour really helps them stay alive longer and they do a good job vs. most armoured units. Just like regular Billmen charging from a flank will shred armoured units. They barely lose to Noble Swordsmen, but lesser troops should be cut up handily by them, which is very good when you consider their cost!

Sword Staff Militia
Attack: 8 Charge: 5 Defence: 12 Armour: 5 Morale: 5 Cost: 610 Upkeep: 150
Factions: Norway

These polearms have decent stats, are well armoured and can form spearwall. This lets them get some more kills in at the beginning of the melee, as the chargers impale themselves on the polearms and as long as they keep formation they will do well. They are inferior to Heavy Billmen.

Axemen
A typical, highly tactical, Scottish strategy.

Despite polearms being somewhat fixed, two handed axemen still suck and should not be used. Even against spearmen they take about as many causalities as they dish out.

Regular one handed axemen are extremely useful units in Britannia. There are a lot of well armoured units that are just begging for an axe blade in the face. Norway get the most mileage out of axemen, as their Huscarles and Viking Raiders form the core of their armies. Axemen tend to have lower attack than swordsmen, so if you have a choice, send your swordsmen at the lightly armoured troops and have your axemen target the heavier ones to put their AP bonus to work.

Ceitherne
Attack: 5 Charge: 1 Defence: 8 Armour: 2 Morale: 3 Cost: 230 Upkeep: 100
Factions: Ireland

These axemen are all around below average and will die quite quickly with their low defence and attack but are useful, cost effective filler for an early army and their AP ability lets them do more damage than you’d think when looking at their low attack. These men are very cheap and have low upkeep so use loads of them and charge them in a big mass and they can defeat stronger troops. They have low morale, so keep your general close by. They can have their armour improved all the way to heavy mail, which aids them greatly.

Dismounted Huscarls
Attack: 9 Charge: 3 Defence: 15 Armour: 3 Morale: 9 Cost: 540 Upkeep: 150
Factions: Norway

These units are the main infantry unit of Norway. They have well balanced stats and do a good job at dishing out the pain to pretty much any enemy. They have high melee skill and thus will parry often. They are fair superior to Norse Swordsmen as they have just a little less attack as is common with axe troops, much better morale and of course do much better vs the multitude of well armoured troops found in this campaign Use loads of them as Norway.

Highlanders
Attack: 9 Charge: 3 Defence: 6 Armour: 0 Morale: 5 Cost: 340 Upkeep: 125
Factions: Scotland

Highlanders are your stereotypical, fierce, axe wielding Scottish infantry. They wear nothing but kilts of course and are impetuous. They scare enemy infantry. They have excellent attack for axemen, but really low defence and no armour, so they kill fast and die fast. Scotland will use loads of them as their line troops, so try to get them armour upgrades to aid in their survival and attack in one huge mass to overwhelm the enemy with their numbers. They can stay in a melee for a long time, even while taking terrible causalities because of their impetuous trait and are useful at any period in the game. They are one of my favourite units. I like to use 10 or more units of them and order them all together as a huge mob, they are very effective this way and last a long time when told to attack together and can rout enemies quickly because they cause fear. They are untrained.

Rhyfelwyr
Attack: 14 Charge: 8 Defence: 13 Armour: 5 Morale: 5 Cost: 320 Upkeep: 150
Factions: Wales

Broken two handed axemen.

Sami Axemen
Attack: 16 Charge: 9 Defence: 11 Armour: 5 Morale: 5 Cost: 420 Upkeep: 155
Factions: Norway

More broken axemen. They have a low mental state so they will run more easily than you'd think. Whee!

Viking Raiders
Attack: 7 Charge: 2 Defence: 11 Armour: 0 Morale: 5 Cost: 450 Upkeep: 155
Factions: Norway

Viking Raiders are essentially lesser Huscarls. They have less attack and defence and no armour, but still have AP axes and decent morale. They really aren’t much cheaper than Huscarles when you consider how much weaker they are, so just use them early on when you don’t have access to Huscarls and as dependable garrisons and army filler. Later in the campaign phase them out except for use as garrisons.

Welsh Militiamen
Attack: 5 Charge: 1 Defence: 6 Armour: 0 Morale: 3 Cost: 270 Upkeep: 125
Factions Wales

Welsh Militiamen are weak axemen, with all round low stats, but they are very cheap and can be recruited with few buildings, making them useful to make hordes out of and use them in a huge mass to break the enemy with numbers and their AP attacks. They are cheap and useful and make good garrison troops. Beware that they have low morale and a low mental state so they can rout very easily. Keep the general close! If using them as garrisons try to hold the central plaza, don’t fight on the walls as their morale is just too low.

Skirmishers
Scotland: Getting shafted since 1296

Skirmishers in Britannia are just like Medieval 2’s version.

Deisi Javalinmen
Attack: 11 Missile attack: 9 Charge: 6 Defence: 8 Armour: 0 Morale: 9 Cost: 530 Upkeep: 185
Factions: Ireland

Deisi have high morale and good stats, making them useful skirmishers. Their melee weapon is not AP, even though it looks like it might be, but of course their missiles are. Their stats make them useful flankers.

Welsh Skirmishers
Attack: 8 Missile attack: 9 Charge: 3 Defence: 8 Armour: 0 Morale: 5 Cost: 360 Upkeep: 125
Factions: Wales

Welsh Skirmishers have less attack then Deisi, but they have an advantage against cavalry as they also use a javelin in melee that counts as a spear and gives +4 attack vs. cavalry, like militia spearmen. Make sure to put this to good use when you can. They are untrained.

Archers
Longbowmen are every bit as deadly as they were in Medieval 2.

Note that every archer unit in Britannia has a shield with the exception of Peasant Archers and Archer Militia. This makes them just a bit better at resisting incoming ranged fire. It also gives them even more of an advantage over crossbows, none of whom ever have shields.

Archer Militia
Attack: 2 Missile attack: 5 Charge: 1 Defence: 2 Armour: 0 Cost: 220 Upkeep: 100
Factions: England

Archer Militia are poor archers and one of only two archer units without shields. By the time you can recruit them they are already essentially worthless. Stick to Peasant Archers from cites and use your castles to recruit better archers unless you have no choice.

Gaelic Archers
Attack: 7 Missile attack: 7 Charge: 2 Defence: 7 Armour: 0 Morale: 5 Cost: 510 Upkeep: 155
Factions: Ireland

These are the only archers Ireland has. They are pretty decent as archers go; they are average shots, but they are better in melee than most and use AP axes which gives them some handy extra utility. Don’t make too many of these men, Ireland is better with melee and javelins.

Helwyr
Attack: 5 Missile attack: 7 Charge: 2 Defence: 7 Armour: 0 Cost: 310 Upkeep: 100
Factions: Wales

These archers are nothing compared to Wales’ longbowmen as they just use shortbows. There is really no need to use these units when you have the powerful Welsh longbows available, except as garrison units.

Highland Archers
Attack: 5 Missile attack: 5 Charge: 1 Defence: 6 Armour: 0 Morale: 3 Cost: 320 Upkeep: 100
Factions: Scotland

Highland Archers are the main archers for Scotland and are all around weak. They have the worst missile attack in the campaign. They at least carry AP axes for a little bit of melee ability. Every faction needs archers in its army but don’t expect miracles from Scotland’s. Their morale is low and they have a low mental state so they will rout quite easily.

Longbowmen
Attack: 5 Missile attack: 6 Charge: 2 Defence: 6 Armour: 0 Morale: 3 Cost: 550 Upkeep: 150
Factions: England

The mighty longbow is again hell of a force to be reckoned with in Britannia. While there are fewer heavily armoured troops, the longbow’s extreme range lets them severely weaken troops before the clash, particularly since there is a lot of infantry in Britannia. They are fantastic vs Scotland and their many pikemen and will just tear them to shreds before they can even get close. They are also vital to weaken their AP Highland Nobles and also Norway’s Huscarls before they can start cutting down your Armoured Swordsmen. Make sure to keep them out of melee and keep a melee unit close by to intercept any attackers. They are somewhat effective against armour in melee, since they have AP hammers, but Longbowmen should be used at range; they are too valuable to throw away in melee. They are untrained.

Noble Highland Archers
Attack: 7 Missile attack: 7 Charge: 3 Defence: 12 Armour: 3 Morale: 9 Cost: 550 Upkeep: 175
Factions: Scotland

Noble Archers are much better than plain Highland Archers in all ways. They shoot better and are far better in melee, able to dish out some pain and take some abuse with their defence, AP axes and light armour. Their armour can also be upgraded further than plain Highland Archers. Use these well and replace Highland Archers with these when you can make them in large numbers. Weirdly, despite their excellent morale they have a low mental state. They are untrained.

Norse Archers
Attack: 9 Missile attack: 7 Charge: 2 Defence: 12 Armour: 2 Morale: 5 Cost: 440 Upkeep: 125
Factions: Norway

Norse Archers are well balanced archers, as they are average shots and fight very well in melee for archers. Despite what their unit description says about their bows, they are the same bows used by all archers in Britannia, besides longbowmen.

Peasant Archers
Attack: 3 Missile attack: 5 Charge: 1 Defence: 2 Armour: 0 Morale: 3 Cost: 200 Upkeep: 100
Factions: Norway, England, Scotland

Peasant Archers are a little better than their Medieval 2 version, with slightly better melee stats. They still have a lousy missile attack and are also one of only two foot archers in the campaign to lack shields. With the abundance of new, stronger archers in Kingdoms, these units are of little use and will be killed quickly. Use them if you must for garrisons. They are very cheap at least!

Retinue Longbowmen
Attack: 9 Missile attack: 8 Charge: 2 Defence: 10 Armour: 3 Morale: 5 Cost: 660 Upkeep: 150
Factions: England, Baron’s Alliance

These armoured longbowmen are the same as the Medieval 2 version. Their armour still isn’t enough to protect them for long against missiles, so try not to get into an archer duel; their expense means you don’t want to waste them. Most of the time longbowmen will be shooting at shortbow using archers that can’t fire back anyway, due to the range difference, which keeps them relatively safe. They are decent in melee with a high attack for an archer, but they also do not have AP melee weapons, just swords so they are best kept out of it.

Saethwyr
Attack: 5 Missile attack: 6 Charge: 2 Defence: 8 Armour: 2 Morale: 3 Cost: 600 Upkeep: 185
Factions: Wales

You might expect Wales to have the strongest longbowmen because they created the weapon, but they don’t for some reason. Wales relies on its longbows. Most other Welsh infantry is just too weak to fight enemies directly and you need to use masses of longbowmen to weaken the enemy and support your forces in melee. You should focus your entire army and economy around recruiting longbows, protecting longbows and getting more longbows and attack from range as much as possible. Make loads of these troops and use a steady wall of spearmen or infantry to protect them as they unleash their storm. They have little armour, and can only be upgraded to padded, so they will suffer from counter fire and will always have lousy defence. Make sure to use cavalry and longbow fire to silence enemy archers. They are less useless than you’d think in melee, since they pack AP hammers, but should be kept well out of it as their stats are awful. They have poor morale; only as much as militia troops like Spear Militia so be careful with them and keep them out of melee or they will rout rather quickly. Did I mention you should KEEP THEM OUT OF MELEE enough yet?

Yeoman Archers
Attack: 7 Missile attack: 8 Charge: 3 Defence: 7 Armour: 0 Morale: 5 Cost: 640 Upkeep: 150
Factions: England, Baron’s Alliance

Yeoman Archers are a lesser version of Retinue Longbowmen. They are a solid improvement over the standard longbowmen, with better stats all round. They should still be kept out of melee, but this isn’t a problem for a unit with the range of longbows. They have AP hammers that Retinue Longbowmen lack. They are also trained.

Crossbowmen
A little known fact is that crossbows could fire arrows too.

Exclusive to Norway, except for Mercenary Crossbowmen and Templar Crossbowmen, crossbowmen work well against any enemy, much like Medieval 2. They still pierce armour and will shred any armoured units given time. Park them behind some melee troops on a hill and let them snipe away at the enemy.

Crossbowmen
Attack: 3 Missile attack: 9 Charge: 1 Defence: 4 Armour: 3 Morale: 3 Cost: 400 Upkeep: 125
Factions: Norway

The basic crossbows, they shoot well and should be kept far away from melee. They have the same morale as the militia version for some reason.

Crossbow Militia
Attack: 3 Missile attack: 9 Charge: 1 Defence: 2 Armour: 0 Morale: 3 Cost: 290 Upkeep: 100
Factions: Norway

Crossbow Militia are just like plain Crossbowmen except they lack armour, making them even less use in melee. They are cheaper than plain Crossbowmen and both units are poor in melee. Thus it is better to just get lots of Crossbow Militia, since you save money and their lack of armour doesn’t matter since you won’t be using them in melee anyway. Only if you are expecting a ranged duel should you bother with plain Crossbowmen.

Mounted Crossbowmen
Attack: 5 Missile attack: 5 Charge: 1 Defence: 5 Armour: 3 Morale: 3 Cost: 480 Upkeep: 130
Factions: Norway

Mounted Crossbowmen are very useful for their mobility and AP missiles to support Norway's axemen. Use them like mounted gunpowder troops.

Templar Crossbowmen
Attack: 7 Missile attack: 15 Charge 3 Defence: 8 Armour: 3 Morale: 11
Factions: England, in Edward I’s army

Templar Crossbowmen are the best crossbowmen in the game but they cant be recruited: only a few of them appear in Edward I’s army when he returns from his Crusade. They are excellent for destroying Scotland and Norway’s heavy units until England can mass longbowmen. They can’t have their numbers restored by retraining so try to minimise casualties. They are Disciplined.

Gunpowder
Happiness is a warm musket.

The new gunpowder infantry is much better in Kingdoms, as the rank fire system works properly. The front rank will fire and then crouch and reload until the second rank has finished firing. The first rank will then stand up and fire, while the second rank reloads and crouches and so on. Ranks further back will not shoot, so deploy the gunners in two ranks so everyone can fire. Because of the new fixed animations, gun units work fine under fire and will keep shooting. It’s still not a great idea to keep them under fire, as gun units have weak defence and little armour. For full details of using gunpowder troops see the section for them in the Medieval 2 guide also found on Gamefaqs. Old gunpowder infantry, like Arquebusiers are ported direclty from Medieval 2 and are still broken.

Arquebusiers
Attack: 3 Missile attack: 14 Charge: 1 Defence: 1 Armour: 0 Morale: 3 Cost: 470 Upkeep: 125
Factions: Norway, England, Baron’s Alliance

Arquebusiers are still broken from Medieval 2 and suffer the same problems when under fire and randomly freeze when shooting. If you want to use them, keep them far away from missile fire and off skirmish so they remain stationary and unload morale crushing rounds into the enemy as fast as possible. They are shockingly terrible at melee, so stay far away from enemies.

Calivermen
Attack: 7 Missile attack: 14 Charge: 2 Defence: 5 Armour: 3 Morale: 5 Cost: 580 Upkeep: 125
Factions: Ireland

Cavivermen are much, much better than Arquebusiers, as the bugs for them are fixed and they will volley and reload properly even if they are under fire and they never get stuck reloading or reforming. They are extremely useful troops, although they come very late in a campaign and it’s hard to get large numbers of them. They have a short range and aren’t very good in melee, so keep them well protected. When Cavivermen are set up and shooting they will annihilate and break any enemy in short order. They ignore armour pretty much completely, have excellent accuracy and fire quite quickly. Any unit in range will melt quickly as long as you pin them with spearmen or the like. This is the unit Arquebusiers should have been. Their morale is better than Arquebusiers and they have slightly more melee ability but they are obviously best kept well away from it.

Hand Gunners
Attack: 9 Missile attack: 13 Charge: 2 Defence: 7 Armour: 5 Morale: 5 Cost: 630 Upkeep: 150
Factions: Norway

Just like their Medieval 2 version, Hand Gunners don’t fire in ranks and thus are bug free. They aren’t very accurate and won’t kill too many, but they still crush morale and their missiles are backed up with decent melee ability, letting them unload a volley or two to wreck the enemies’ morale, followed by a charge into melee to break them.

Magnelwyr
Attack: 5 Missile attack: 11 Charge: 1 Defence: 11 Armour: 5 Morale: 3 Cost: 610 Upkeep: 150
Factions: Wales

Magnelwyr are strong Welsh hand gunners who are better in melee than they seem as they carry an axe and a shield. Their missile attack is lower than normal Hand Gunners, but the shield gives them a better chance at surviving a melee. The axe they use is also AP, like their missiles. Their morale is low so if you use them in melee make sure to support them well

Mounted Calivermen
Attack: 9 Missile attack: 16 Charge: 3 Defence: 9 Armour: 4 Morale: 9 Cost: 960 Upkeep: 130
Factions: Ireland

Mounted Calivermen are a cavalry version of the Calivermen unit and are utterly devastating. The combination of morale crushing gunpowder and mobility makes them a true force to be reckoned with. They are vulnerable to archers, but against heavy infantry or cavalry they can kill an incredible amount of enemies while taking no causalities themselves.

To use Mounted Calivermen effectively just have them walk along slowly next to enemy units while they fire away. They can fire on the move and their forward motion lets them strafe the enemy lines. Their motion lets them avoid missiles slightly better as well. Walking the Calivermen by the enemy at close range can cause untold causalities since the short range lets your men hit enemies easily. This unit alone can let you paint the map with ease.

Heavy Cavalry
That guy loves horses!

Demi Lancers
Attack: 11 Charge: 7 Defence: 10 Armour: 5 Morale: 11 Cost: 770 Upkeep: 185
Factions: England, Baron’s Alliance

Demi Lancers are more useful in Britannia than their Medieval 2 version as knights are nerfed somewhat. They don’t have the defence that knights have, but they have better attack, very high morale and equal charge, making them great for smashing into non spear units. They are great at flanking charges too. They have a low mental state for whatever reason.

Merchant Cavalry Militia
Attack: 3 Charge: 1 Defence: 13 Armour: 5 Morale: 3 Cost: 360 Upkeep: 155
Factions: All

Merchant Cavalry Militia are what would happen if you removed all combat ability from Knights but left their defence and armour unchanged. They have awful attack, the same as Peasants, no charge ability at all and are well armoured and tough to kill. Their morale is the same as militia troops.

Their stats are such that its difficult to say what to do with these men. Their armour lets them ride down archers, but they lack any charge bonus to actually do any damage to them. You could use them as very low tier flankers; their armour and defence means they will last a long time while your troops cut down the enemy from the front. They should last much longer than Hobilars doing this. They are also good for charging at and tying up archers for a long time and may even manage to kill the weaker archers.

Their status as the only cavalry that cities can produce in Britannia makes them a unit you will have to learn to live with if you lack castle troops to produce reinforcements.

Huscarles
Attack: 11 Charge: 4 Defence: 16 Armour: 5 Cost: 750 Upkeep: 155
Factions: Norway

Huscarles are tough axe wielding heavy cavalry with great all round stats and high morale. They can form wedge. Huscarles are a major threat to just about any non-spear infantry. Their good attack and AP axe makes them able to chop handily though most infantry in the game and their charge is good enough to inflict many losses.

Keep infantry away and engage them with spearmen. Armoured Sergeants and the like are well capable of shredding this unit and pairing them with longbows will whittle the horsemen down fast. If you're using the Huscarles things are much simpler: target anything that isn’t spearmen and cut them down!

Norse War Clerics
Attack: 9 Charge: 3 Defence: 17 Armour: 6 Morale: 9 Cost: 820 Upkeep: 185
Factions: Norway

War Clerics are tough heavy cavalry, only possibly bettered by Chivalric Knights. They have all round good stats and are well armoured. They have AP maces, making them very useful against armoured foes. They lack any lances, this means that their charge is lousy, so they are best left in melee. Whenever this unit is better than Chivalric Knights or not depends on the enemy, against armoured foes the Clerics may be better. For reference they essentially tie with English Knights. They are one of the most expensive units so don’t throw them away in melee. If you are facing this unit you really want to use spearmen only to combat them. Their good attack and AP lets them chew though your expensive knights easily.

Ridire
Attack: 6 Charge: 4 Defence: 14 Armour: 5 Morale: 5 Cost: 580 Upkeep: 185
Factions: Ireland

These medium cavalry have a low attack, but enough defence and armour to stay alive for a while. They also have a poor charge, so they are best left in melee and work well against weaker troops like archers. They have secondary AP maces, but their attack is a bit low to make that much use of it. Their morale is decent, but nowhere near knight level. Their all-round below average abilities makes them not worth their cost.

Teulu
Attack: 8 Charge: 7 Defence: 15 Armour: 5 Morale: 9 Cost: 680 Upkeep: 185
Factions: Wales

Teulu are like a stronger version of Ridire; they have all round better stats and pack a good charge for slamming into vulnerable infantry. Besides their good stats Teulu are Disciplined, highly trained and have high morale, so they will do their duty.

Knights
This heavy metal will rock you!

Knights are less useful in Britannia, as most of them have lower stats than they had in Medieval 2 and there is a huge amount of armour piercing units and tough spearmen in Britannia that can kill knights easily. They are far from the crushing behemoths they could be in Medieval 2. Note that while knights are weaker, their cost is the same and is often very expensive,. Most of the time knights are too costly and too vulnerable to really bother with in the Britannia campaign. The multitude of tough spearmen and countless armour piercing infantry make using them much more difficult than in Medieval 2 and your economy tends to be quite small in Britannia due to the smaller map. On paper they are decently strong, but in reality you can get away without using any knights at all.

Chivalric Knights
Attack: 11 Charge: 7 Defence: 17 Armour: 6 Morale: 11 Cost: 920 Upkeep: 185
Factions: Norway

Chivalric Knights are the best heavy cavalry in Britannia; they have strong attack and defence, able to crush troops in melee and they have the armour to take missile fire. They also have a good charge bonus for smashing into the few vulnerable infantry. They are impetuous and extremely expensive. Norway doesn’t really need these men as their Huscarles are everything this unit is plus AP axes.

Dismounted Chivalric Knights
Attack: 11 Charge: 3 Defence: 18 Armour: 6 Cost: 570 Upkeep: 225
Factions: Norway

These knights are weaker than Medieval 2’s version, but are still pretty good infantry and are more than capable of holding a line and fighting off other infantry well. They are inferior to Norway's axe troops however and just aren't something they ever need to recruit.

Dismounted English Knights
Attack: 19 Charge: 7 Defence: 16 Armour: 6 Cost: 590 Upkeep: 225
Factions: England, Baron’s Alliance

With the improved polearms in Kingdoms, English Knights are better than you’d think. They can hold their own against units like Feudal Knights, although they will take almost as many causalities as they dish out. Keep them well away from axemen. They take a while to kill enemies and are vulnerable to missiles, but for AP uses you have little choice as the English, since the only other melee AP unit they have are mounted English Knights or mercenaries. The English are much better served just using masses of Armoured Swordsmen and longbows for their AP purposes.

Dismounted Feudal Knights
Attack: 11 Charge: 3 Defence: 17 Armour: 5 Cost: 540 Upkeep: 225
Factions: Norway, England, Baron’s Alliance

Dismounted Feudal Knights are much like the Medieval 2 version, except with slightly less armour. They still work very well as steady line infantry, but are vulnerable to cavalry charges. Also remember there are a lot of infantry that pierce armour in Britannia, so make sure you send them after the correct opponents if you don't want them to get cut up. Yes they do have more upkeep than the mounted version for some reason. Make sure you don't leave them sitting in a settlement with that upkeep. Norway doesn't need this unit, their axemen are better.

English Knights
Attack: 8 Charge: 7 Defence: 16 Armour: 6 Cost: 840 Upkeep: 185
Factions: England, Baron’s Alliance

English Knights are great units with all round good stats, although their attack is low for a knight. They have secondary AP axes, so they can carve up armoured units. They are one of the only knights who are not impetuous, although their morale is also a bit lower than other knights. Again you don’t really need this unit with longbows. England’s lighter cav work fine for hunting archers and artillery.

Feudal Knights
Attack: 8 Charge: 5 Defence: 15 Armour: 5 Cost: 720 Upkeep: 185
Factions: Norway, England, Baron’s Alliance

Despite the fact their stats are all around lower than Medieval 2’s Feudal Knights, these knights are still decent enough heavy cavalry. “Decent enough” is probably not worth their astronomical cost however. They are impetuous.

Mailed Knights
Attack: 8 Charge: 5 Defence: 13 Armour: 3 Cost: 670 Upkeep: 185
Factions: Wales, Scotland

Mailed Knights are the weakest, earliest knights, but still have decent enough stats with good attack and OK defence. Their armour is much lighter than later knights, so missiles will have much more of an effect on them. They are rather overpriced and cost a lot in upkeep so think carefully if you really need this unit.

Templar Knights
Attack: 12 Charge: 7 Defence: 16 Armour: 5 Morale: 13
Factions: England, in Edward I’s army

Templar Knights are the best knights stats wise due to them always starting with 2 experience. They are great all round and will excel at any heavy cavalry task. Note that like the other Templar units their numbers cannot be retrained so try to minimise their casualties if you want to keep them.

Light Cavalry
A peasant on horseback is still a peasant.

Light cav are pretty useful in this campaign as they are very useful for chasing down the many deadly archers you will face.

Border Horse
Attack: 5 Charge: 4 Defence: 6 Armour: 2 Morale: 5 Cost: 380 Upkeep: 110
Factions: Scotland

Border Horse are one of Scotland’s few cavalry units and are quite weak. Their attack is suitable only for killing archers; they have a poor charge and their defence sucks. Use Border Horse to support your infantry, tie up enemy cavalry and run down routers and missile units. They have a low mental state.

Hobiguir
Attack: 7 Charge: 5 Defence: 12 Armour: 2 Morale: 9 Cost: 660 Upkeep: 130
Factions: Ireland

Hobiguir are rather tough as light cavalry go, with a good defence despite their very light armour. Their attack is decent too and they do well at normal light cavalry tasks of supporting infantry, attacking missile units and chasing routers. The big surprise with this cavalry is that they are Disciplined and have high morale. There are few light cavalry that can last as long in melee as these men can and they are excellent for sending in first to wipe out archers or attacking artillery crews as well as other tasks that have a high chance of the horsemen getting attacked by reinforcements and highly outnumbered or otherwise threatened, because they are fast and have more than enough morale to finish what they are doing without routing. They are quite expensive, but are very useful cavalry. Note that for some reason the axes these men wield as secondary weapons are not AP while the mercenary version of this unit does have AP axes. This may be a bug.

Hobilars
Attack: 3 Charge: 3 Defence: 4 Armour: 2 Morale: 3 Cost: 280 Upkeep: 110
Factions: England

Hobilars are extremely weak light cavalry with awful stats, lower than Peasants. They will be cut up by just about anything, but are very cheap for cavalry; the cheapest cavalry unit in the Medieval 2 series in fact. They should be used only to chase routers, as anything tougher than Peasant Archers will probably be too strong for them to kill. At least you can afford to have lots of these units. They are untrained and have a low mental state, This, coupled with their poor morale make them quite prone to routing quickly.

Mathrafal Horsemen
Attack: 6 Charge: 4 Defence: 11 Armour: 3 Morale: 5 Cost: 520 Upkeep: 185
Factions: Wales

Mathrafal are another tougher than average light cavalry, with better than average defence. They have AP secondary axes which helps them a little. Use them as normal light cavalry. Despite their description they do have lances, but still have a poor charge.

General
Forward lads! To world domination! (This was taken at Ireland’s last city before I conquered the entire map!)

Note that besides the generic generals every faction gets every faction has heroes like King Llywelyn or King Edward. Most of the time their bodyguard are the same as normal General’s Bodyguard stats wise, just with a unique model for the hero.

The exception to this is William Wallace who leads a unit of Noble Swordsmen rather than the standard generals bodyguard. This makes him very vulnerable to cavalry charges or longbowmen. Other than this Generals Bodyguards are the same as Total War: Medieval 2.

General’s Bodyguard
Attack 11 Charge: 7 Defence: 16 Armour: 5 Morale: 11 Cost: 960 Upkeep: 55(Early)
Attack: 11 Charge: 7 Defence: 17 Armour: 7 Morale: 11 Cost: 960 Upkeep: 55(Late)

Factions: All, except Ireland

All factions except Ireland share the same general which is a little stronger later in the campaign. They have excellent all round stats.

Lord’s Retinue
Attack: 11 Charge: 7 Defence: 17 Armour: 6 Cost: 920 Upkeep: 185
Factions: Ireland

Ireland’s Lord’s Retinue is halfway between the Early and Late bodyguard versions. They still do a good job protecting the general from anyone and serve their purpose well. They are Disciplined, unlike the other bodyguards.

Javelin Cavalry
It's winter and the javelins are falling...

Horseboys
Attack: 5 Charge: 5 Missile attack: 9 Defence: 3 Armour: 0 Morale: 5 Cost: 470 Upkeep: 130
Factions: Ireland

Horseboys are better in melee than Teulu, but not by much and are best kept far away from it. They have a very good missile attack and can really put a hole in armoured units. They have a low mental state so they can rout more easily than you'd think.

Teulu Skirmishers
Attack: 3 Charge: 3 Missile attack: 7 Defence: 10 Armour: 2 Morale: 3 Cost: 510 Upkeep: 130
Factions: Wales

Teulu Skirmishers are weaker in all ways than Horseboys; they are extremely lousy in melee and should be kept far out of it. Their morale also sucks, but they are for some reason Disciplined, so they have somewhat more staying power than Spear Militia, which they have the same morale as.

Artillery

As boring as this picture looks it’s a lot more exciting when you’re being shot at.

Artillery in Britannia is just the same as Medieval 2 with no real differences except the curious fact they all have 9 morale, are Disciplined and are highly trained. They won’t be routing anywhere.

Ballista
Attack: vs. troops: 55 vs. buildings: 10 Charge: 0 Defence: 7 Armour: 2 Morale: 9 Cost: 370 Upkeep: 150
Factions: Wales, Scotland

The ancient Ballista will get some use in Britannia, but isn’t really that effective. It can be good vs. troops if it hits with a flaming missile as it will kill a file of troops, hurting morale, but it’s useless vs any walls tougher than wooden ones.

Bombard
Attack: vs. troops: 55 vs. buildings: 120 Charge: 0 Defence: 7 Armour: 2 Morale: 9 Cost: 610 Upkeep: 250
Factions: All

The Bombard is the first gunpowder artillery you can create after gunpowder is discovered. While a bit weak compared to later cannon its building attack is powerful; blasting down walls in rather short order. The Bombard is way too inaccurate to be used against troops, except if they are in a big mass.

Cannon
Attack: vs. troops: 63 vs. buildings: 250 Charge: 0 Defence: 7 Armour: 2 Morale: 9 Cost: 870 Upkeep: 250
Factions: Norway

Cannon are the biggest guns in Britannia, as the Basilisk and Monster Bombard don’t exist. They do a great job vs walls, but are a bit too inaccurate to hit troops.

Catapult
Attack: vs. troops: 55 vs. buildings: 30 Charge: 0 Defence: 7 Armour: 2 Morale: 9 Cost: 400 Upkeep: 150
Factions: Wales, Scotland

The ancient Catapult works much the same as every other Total War game: it throws big rocks that crush walls and enemy troops. They work well against wooden walls and small stone walls. Big walls will take quite a long time to bust though. Still, they have decent range and given enough time will break through any wall. Their flaming missiles mode can wreck troops if you land a direct hit, as it will kill many. A few catapults are a wise investment for your early stacks.

Culverin
Attack: vs. troops: 63 vs. Buildings: 230 Charge: 0 Defence: 7 Armour: 2 Morale: 9 Cost: 800 Upkeep: 250
Factions: Norway, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Barons Alliance

Culverins are like slightly smaller versions of Cannon. They still work great vs buildings and troops, if they can hit them. Basically use them like Cannon.

Ribault
Attack: vs. troops: 63 Vs buildings: 5 Charge: 0 Defence: 7 Armour: 2 Morale: 9 Cost: 400 Upkeep: 250
Factions: Norway, England, Baron’s Alliance, Scotland, Ireland

Ribault, just like in Medieval 2 fire a barrage of small shots, hitting the enemy multiple times and wrecking their morale as they kill multiple enemies at once. They are great vs massed troops, but no good vs walls. They can still destroy gates on stone walls and flatten wooden walls.

Mortar
Attack: vs. troops: 63 Vs buildings: 150 Charge: 0 Defence: 7 Armour: 2 Morale: 9 Cost: 520 Upkeep: 250
Factions: Norway, England, Baron’s Alliance, Wales, Scotland, Ireland

Mortars aren’t that amazing when it comes to destroying buildings, as they have a noticeably lower attack than Cannon vs. buildings. They do the same damage vs. troops, but good luck hitting them with the high arcing shot of the mortar, unless they are in a huge mass and stationary. The mortar does the job against walls, but you still should use proper Cannon. Mortars can be useful for hitting troops and buildings inside settlements, as their shots arc high over the walls.

Serpentine
Attack: vs. troops 63 vs. Buildings: 10 Charge: 0 Defence: 7 Armour: 2 Morale: 9 Cost: 700 Upkeep: 150
Factions: Norway

Serpentine are small cannon which are designed for use against troops only. They are quite accurate and hit men easily. They are almost useless against buildings tougher than wooden walls.

Trebuchet
Attack: vs. troops: 55 vs. buildings: 90 Charge: 0 Defence: 7 Armour: 2 Morale: 9 Cost: 1500 Upkeep: 250
Factions: All

Trebuchet are just like the Medieval 2 version and are the best non gunpowder artillery. They take down walls quickly and can also fling dead cows to sicken enemy units and lower morale. See the Medieval 2 Trebuchet for more info.

Peasants
Bar brawl or war? You decide.

Highland Rabble
Attack: 3 Charge: 1 Defence: 2 Armour: 0 Morale: 3 Cost: 120 Upkeep: 90
Factions: Scotland

Highland Rabble have better stats than their Medieval 2 version, but still lower stats than normal Peasants. They are impetuous and have the same morale as most militia, meaning they will take a lot of abuse before routing and morale shocks affect them less. This makes them supreme fodder as they will take 60% losses and still keep going and they are dirt cheap to recruit, so you can recruit hordes of them in a campaign. Send these guys in with your main infantry to distract the enemy and let your infantry get the job done or just to ward off archer fire, so your more valuable units don’t get hit. Don’t underestimate this unit as it’s very useful. It’s also a lot of fun watching them kick enemy troops in the balls like they are in a bar brawl!

Peasants
Attack: 3 Charge: 1 Defence: 3 Armour: 0 Morale: 1 Cost: 110 Upkeep: 90
Factions: Norway, England, Baron’s Alliance

The faithful Peasants yet again get their stats changed. Now they are slightly weaker all round. They still serve the same purposes as arrow and sword fodder quite well and have enough morale to stay in melee for a little while. With the lowest possible morale and a low mental state they won’t last too long, but they don’t need to.

Culture Troops
Having tough gunpowder infantry or javelin cavalry in conquered settlements makes life easier!

Culture troops are a new feature of Britannia. When you take over a settlement where the majority of the population a different culture to yours, e.g. you’re Wales and take over a Scottish city, you can train some units you normally couldn’t get, such as Highland Pikemen in Scottish towns while playing as the Welsh. You need a have certain percentage of the settlement be of the previous culture that the settlement was before you conquered it to make each unit and have the necessary buildings in the settlement.

As you control the settlement for longer you’ll slowly convert the population to your culture and eventually lose the ability to recruit the culture units, so get them while the chance is there. Almost all of these units are based on a unit that is recruitable by the faction of the culture of the settlement, so I will simply list which unit each one is based on. The stats and abilities of each unit are the same as the one it’s based on, so see their entry for further details.

Note that this section was a real challenge to create, although corrections have been made. If any units are missing here or if I have confused mercenaries with culture troops please contact me with any corrections!

Calvary

Border Horse
Attack: 5 Charge: 2 Defence: 6 Morale: 5
Locations: 20%S Scottish Culture

Hobiguir
Attack: 7 Charge: 5 Defence: 12 Armour: 2 Morale: 9 Cost: 660 Upkeep: 130
Locations: Ireland only

Border Horse

English Mailed Knights
Attack: 8 Charge: 5 Defence: 13 Armour: 3 Morale: 9 Cost: 740 Upkeep: 225
Locations: 50% English pop settlements

Mailed Knights

Mercenary Knights
Attack: 6 Charge: 6 Defence: 15 Armour: 6 Morale: 5
Locations: Nottingham

Impetuous

Irish Squires
Missile attack: 9 Attack: 9 Charge: 2 Defence: 3 Armour: 0
Locations: 40% Irish pop settlements

Horseboys

Norse Scouts
Attack: 3 Charge: 3 Defence: 10 Armour: 2 Morale: 3 Cost: 440 Upkeep: 155
Locations: 20% Norway pop settlements

These don’t seem to be modelled after another unit. They are very weak cavalry and are only useful for chasing routers. There are lots of tough archers in Britannia who could defeat this unit.

Infantry

English Billmen
Attack: 14 Charge: 6 Defence: Armour: 0 Morale: 5 Cost: 260 Upkeep: 150
Locations: 20% English pop settlements

Billmen

English Heavy Billmen
Attack: 14 Charge: 6 Defence: Armour: 5 Morale: 5 Cost: 360 Upkeep: 180
Locations: 40% English pop settlements

Heavy Billmen

English Spearmen
Attack: 11 Charge: 5 Defence: 17 Armour: 3 Morale: 9 Cost: 700 Upkeep: 185
Locations: 70% English pop settlements

Armoured Sergeants

Highlanders
Attack: 9 Charge: 3 Defence: 6 Armour: 0 Morale: 5 Cost: 340 Upkeep: 125
Locations: Scottish pop settlements

Highlanders

Galloglaich
Attack: 16 Charge: 9 Defence: 12Armour: 3 Morale: 9 Cost: 450 Upkeep: 180
Locations: 50% Scottish pop settlements

Galloglaich

Highland Pikemen
Attack: 8 Charge: 5 Defence: 6 Armour: 0 Morale: 5 Cost: 390 Upkeep: 150
Locations: 20% Scottish pop settlements

Welsh Axemen
Attack: 14 Charge: 8 Defence: 15 Armour: 5 Morale: 5 Cost: 360 Upkeep: 180
Locations: 50% Welsh pop settlements

Rhyfelwyr

Viking Raiders
Attack: 7 Charge: 2 Defence: 12 Armour: 0 Morale: 5 Cost: 500 Upkeep: 185
Locations: 50% Norwegian pop settlements

Viking Raiders

Archers

Highland Archers
Attack: 5 Missile attack: 5 Defence Armour: 0 Morale: 3 Cost: 350 Upkeep: 120
Locations: 40% Scottish pop settlements

Highland Archers

Norse Hunters
Attack: 9 Missile attack: 7 Charge: 2 Defence: 12 Armour: 2 Morale: 5 Cost: 490 Upkeep: 150
Locations: 40% Norway pop settlements

Norse Archers

Welsh Hunters
Attack: 5 Missile attack: 7 Charge: 2 Defence: 7 Armour: 0 Morale: 5 Cost: 340 Upkeep: 120
Locations: 40% Welsh pop settlements

Helwyr

Highland Swordsmen
Attack: 15 Charge: 9 Defence: 11 Armour: 3 Morale: 9 Cost: 540 Upkeep: 180
Locations: 70% Scottish pop settlements

Noble Swordsmen

Gunpowder

Irish Calivermen
Attack: 7 Missile attack: 14 Charge: 2 Defence: 6 Armour: 4 Cost: 640 Upkeep: 180
Locations: 70% Irish pop settlements

Calivermen

Mercenaries

Infantry

Highlanders
Attack: 9 Charge: 3 Defence: 6 Armour: 0 Morale: 5 Cost: 1000 Upkeep: 150
Locations North England

These mercs are just like Scotland’s normal Highlanders, except very expensive. Highlanders have low defence and die quickly, so spending more than the cost of knights on a unit that will probably be decimated after one battle isn’t a good idea. Steer clear of this unit. They are still Impetuous

Irish Kerns
Attack: 5 Charge: 1 Defence: 8 Armour: 2 Morale: 3 Cost: 380 Upkeep: 150
Locations: Ireland, or 20% Irish settlments

Irish Kerns are just like Ceitherne, except they cost a bit more. Don’t expect miracles from these axemen, but use them to cut up armoured targets and fill gaps in your line. Keep them out of missile fire.

Welsh Spearmen
Attack: 9 Charge: 4 Defence: 10 Armour: 0 Morale: 5 Cost: 470 Upkeep: 150
Locations: Wales and the Welsh-England border.

Welsh Spearmen are decent enough spearmen with a good attack, though their lack of armour will get them killed quickly They have good morale and will stay in a melee while taking major causalities, making them a good addition to your battle line for when you just need more melee troops.

Cavalry

Hobiguir
Attack: 7 Charge: 5 Defence: 12 Armour: 2 Morale: 9 Cost: 830 Upkeep: 155
Locations: Ireland

Hobiguir mercs are just like the regular Hobiguir, but a bit more expensive. Use them as dependable light cavalry. They have a secondary AP mace.

Mercenary Knights
Attack: 6 Charge: 6 Defence: 15 Armour: 6 Morale: 9 Cost: 870 Upkeep: 225
Locations: South England

Mercenary Knights are surprisingly weak as knights go, with an attack more suited to light cavalry and somewhat low defence for a knight. Their morale is much lower than you’d think for knights, even though they are impetuous. They don’t have AP axes or any advantages like that. They are also very expensive and cost a lot in upkeep so I would steer well clear of these knights, unless you’re rolling in money.

Missiles

Mercenary Arquebusiers
Attack: 3 Missile attack: 13 Charge: 1 Defence: 4 Armour: 3 Morale: 3
Locations: Southwest of the map, Wales

Mercenary Arquebusiers are just like the recruitable ones except they oddly have armour, the only Arquebusier unit that does by default in the Medieval 2 series. Use them in the same way.

Mercenary Crossbowmen
Missile attack: 12 Attack: 3 Charge: 1 Defence: 3 Armour: 2 Morale: 3
Locations: Virtually everywhere but Ireland and Wales

These crossbows are as useful as merc crossbows have always been; provide reliable AP volleys to cover your infantry. They really cannot hold their own in melee so keep them at range. Try to keep them away from longbow fire.

Sherwood Archers
Attack: 14 Missile attack: 13 Charge: 3 Defence: 5 Armour: 0 Morale: 11 Cost: 510 Upkeep: 250
Locations: Nottingham of course! They are a Robin Hood reference!

While these archers are powerful in melee, they just wield swords and are not AP. They wield a longbow and have extreme missle attack and thus are deadly at range. They are expensive to keep and have useless defence and no armour, so any counter fire will wipe out your expensive unit and a cavalry charge will kill many of them. They are also only half the normal archer unit size, making it hard for them to kill enough to be useful because they fire less projectiles. Really, you are better off with normal longbowmen than these. Their upkeep is just way too high for such a delicate unit. They are curiously untrained.

Welsh Longbowmen
Attack: 5 Missile attack: 6 Charge: 2 Armour: 2 Morale: 3 Cost: 1100 Upkeep: 185
Locations: South Britannia

These men are just like Saethwyr, except they are a lot more expensive. Longbows can still be worth the cost however if you need them.

Welsh Skirmishers
Attack: 8 Missile attack: 9 Charge: 3 Defence: 8 Armour: 0 Morale: 5 Cost: 500 Upkeep: 150
Locations: South Britannia

Just like the recruitable Welsh Skirmishers, this unit is great if you need to cut down some annoying armoured foes. Their price is fine for how useful skirmishers can be, so don’t hesitate to grab them. They can be used as light infantry from the flanks too. They can defeat cavalry, although the skirmishers will die en mass if charged directly as they don’t have the defence and armour to resist the charge. Let a proper spear unit take the charge, then send in the skirmishers to help with melee when their missiles are gone. They are untrained.

Artillery

Mercenary Ribault
Attack: Vs troops: 63 Vs Buildings: 0 Charge: 0 Defence: 7 Armour: 2 Morale: 9 Cost: 600 Upkeep: 250
Locations: everywhere but Wales and Ireland

Ribault are very useful for shredding enemy troops and blasting though wooden walls. While they can’t touch larger walls, their repeated gunpowder hits will cause major morale problems for the enemy.

Trebuchet
Attack Vs troops: 55 Vs buildings: 90 Charge: 0 Defence: 7 Armour: 2 Morale: 9
Locations: Ireland

A very handy unit, there’s nothing like finding merc trebs when you need to take over a pesky settlement. They do a great job vs any walls. They are, for some reason only found in Ireland so they can be difficult to get.