Balanced armies

I thought I'd talk about having proper balance in strategy. I was recently playing Imperial Glory (a Total War "clone" that covers the Napoleonic era) where I frequently use a relatively small, balanced force to overwhelm an AI's large, unbalanced force. The way it usually works in Imperial Glory is the AI likes to build armies with a great number of infantry, but usually not much cavalry or artillery (or sometimes tons of artillery with almost nothing else). In one particular battle, I was defending a country with less than 300 troops, and the enemy attacked me with around 700. I had barely over 100 infantry, 11 guns, and somewhere around 60 or so cavalry. The AI on the other hand had only line infantry. Concerned about whether he would be able to overwhelm me or not, I took a defensive position around a few buildings. I had two infantry regiments with one having 12 troops and the other close to 100. I put them both in the buildings and positioned the artillery next to the buildings and had the cavalry at the rear in a flexible position. As his army closed in, I pounded it with artillery relentlessly and sent my cavalry racing in a wide arc towards the weak end of his line. Unable to effectively form square formation under the artillery fire and under the fire from my fortified infantry, my cavalry swept in mercilessly like a wave and his line of battle almost instantly fell apart. With my artillery focusing on the left flank of his army, the cavalry sweeping in from the right, and my own infantry firing into the center, he suffered a substantial number of casualties before retreating. I think he suffered somewhere close to 500 casualties and I only suffered about 50 or so. Of course, the AI in many games is often not too bright, but this illustrates what can happen when an unbalanced army goes up against a balanced one.

It is also similar to martial arts where to be a balanced fighter, one must have skill in striking and grappling. And not just that, but ability to survive at various ranges of striking. MMA really woke up a lot of martial artists to these facts.

Anyhow, be careful about preferring a certain type of unit and make sure your forces are balanced. It is OK to enjoy using one particular unit over another, but always make sure you are prepared for whatever may come your way.