Nobel Units in Shield Wall

[Talana]

Ok, I am very new to the game, but I tried to read all the guides and managed to get a foot in the game so far. Yet, I still lack experience, so sorry if this is a foolish question.

I currently place a shield wall (mostly imperial legionaries) in front to protect my archers/crossbowmen. This works well against looters, but I suffer considerable casualties when I face an even moderately sized group of bandits/raiders. The losses are almost exclusively with my mele infantry, which is unsurprising since they are fighting on the contact line.

So my idea was to upgrade my shield wall troops to noble units, so they suffer fewer casualties. However, all the higher-tier noble units seem to be on horseback. The only exception appears to be Fians, who are unsuitable for the front line.

The Varyag Veteran seem to be the highest noble footsoldier with a shield, but once they level up to Druzhinnik they are also on a horse.

After this lengthy preface, my question is how to boost my shield wall best. Are noble units just not usable in a shield wall? Or do I need to accept the losses and keep retraining legionaries? Or is there maybe a more robust non-noble unit for the shield wall? Similar to how the Vlandian Sharpshooter is an excellent non-nobel unit for ranged combat?

 

[SyncWolf]

The legionaries are excellent units for a shield wall. Alternatives would be the Sturgian Heavy Spearman or Aserai Palace Guard.

The ratio of ranged/infantry plays a large part in the effectiveness of your shield wall.

Personally I don't have more than 10-15 infantry and roughly 100 ranged. While sharpshooters are widely praised as ranged (if you can't afford Fians), they're not the fastest shot. So personally I like to mix it up With half sharpshooters, half bowmen (Vlandian/Imperial Sharpshooters and Palatine Guards). Then I also seperate them into different formations in the party menu, allowing me to place them in different locations for battles.

Useful things to consider in this is that the shield is always carried in the left hand, so their right side is more exposed. So best to position your ranged to the left of your shield wall, while remaining behind the shield wall. see picture below of how I position mine.

 

[Talana]

Thank you so much! This is a great help. I can where I went wrong. I had far too much infantry because every time I lost soldiers from my shield wall, I added more melee fighters to strengthen the shield wall. At the moment, I have a 1/4 ratio of infantry to ranged units.

I also did not pay enough attention to the placement of my range units and prioritised crossbowmen over archers. Those tips are immensely useful in rebalancing my force.