Mount&Blade/Rhodoks

The complete Rhodok troop tree

The Rhodoks are an unusual faction; whereas the Khergits are cavalry-focused the Rhodoks have only infantry and crossbowmen. Their spearmen have a combat advantage against cavalry but are only moderately useful against other infantry.

Combat strategies

Against infantry

The individual Rhodok infantryman is a poor fighter; however, a large band of them in tight formation is a different story altogether. Though it may be preferable to have your crossbowmen bombard the enemy to kingdom come, if you need to engage in melee, have your Rhodok infantry advance as a large mass, where the reach of their spears can cover each others backs and deliver pointy death to their enemies.

Against cavalry

If you have a mixed array of Rhodok troops, then the best thing to do is to order your infantry ahead of your crossbowmen (this works much better on a hill), and as the cavalry approaches, they will be knocked down by the heavy fire of crossbow bolts. Meanwhile, your Rhodok infantry will have a very good chance in taking down the now unmounted riders without a problem, unless of course you are fighting a bunch of hired blades with only a handful of spearmen.

Against archers

Archers are the bane of infantry and should be dealt with quickly. If engaging archers on flat ground, have your crossbowmen spread out and charge in. They will advance from the front and provide covering fire whilst drawing the barrage from the enemy archers.

Have your spearmen and sergeants pack themselves in a tight formation and move from the sides to outflank the archers either from the sides or the rear.

If engaging archers on uneven and mountainous terrain, the best thing to do is to lure them to you. Bowmen may fire faster but this also means they run out of ammunition quicker. Have your troops hide in a sheltered location and ride out to distract and draw their fire. Once their ammunition is used up they should make easy prey for your men.

Against ranged horsemen

If your army is heavy with crossbowmen, mainly trained crossbowmen and sharpshooters your best bet is to get to high ground, ranged horsemen are not quite as accurate as your ranged units and you therefore will have a good kill to death ratio, standing on top of hills also make your soldiers naturally harder to hit. Steep hills also do very well in limiting the enemy's movement speed which against your slow infantry is their biggest advantage.

If your forces consist mainly of melee infantry units your best bet is to try to station them on high ground or in a river, since most of your infantry will have access to the board shield. This makes them (except sergeants, who frequently spawn with two-handed weapons) almost impervious to frontal archery assaults, so your best bet is to wait until the enemy run out of arrows, after which the poor AI will cause the enemy troops to attack your shield wall one after another, making for easy kills.

Against mixed forces

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Personally in mixed groups I use the set up as listed for cavalry, then I ride out with heavy armor and a lance in tow once the enemy mass is in firing range of my crossbow men. Then harass there ranged units, or simply make there infantry turn around for a brief moment leaving there backs exposed to bolt fire. It works extremely well on the Nords who pack axes, and are much stronger then your infantry.

Key thing with this strategy is to try to break up the mass of the attacking force, lessening the stress when they hit the shield/spear wall. In the event you find your self chased by cavalry run them into the shield wall, if your faster then them its not a hard feat, then continue to distract/kill there ranged units and stranglers. never charge the main mass directly just lightly flank them to force them to face you and break off from the main charge. Otherwise you may find your self stuck and surrounded with the your men in a defensive stance watching on the adjacent hill.

Besieging however needs its own section since I have yet to find an effective way to have the mediocre melee skills work well in tight spaces where I'm on the charge