Orcs are unbreakable

[Caboose]

I am starting a new campaign as the empire and I've had 2 or 3 battles in a row where i outnumber the orcs about 3-1 and ill have entire units surrounded, but the enemy fights until there is usually 1 or 2 guys left of a 100 man squad, they never rout. Also champion units can sit in the middle of 5 stacks of swordman/greatswordman and they take very little damage and never break either. Is that supposed to be normal?

[Evangeline_Blue]

What difficulty level are you playing? That might be the issue. The AI gets a bonus at certain difficulties, and you get a penalty.

[Caboose]

I was playing on Hard. However, even on normal in seems my calvavry and heros will chase after thier heros/monstorous creatures after theve broken and just walk at them and never bring their helath down, until they rally and destroy my units.

[Lusandar]

Orcs tend to have below average morale. Doesn't mean they'll break right away just because you charge them in the back though. Aside from that, there are abilities that can make units unbreakable temporarily.

Make sure your cavalry is going at full speed when chasing routed enemies and you'll be fine. They won't come back into the fight unless an ability is used on them to raise their morale.

Most champions and monstrous units deal aoe damage when they strike, cramming more models near the monster/hero isn't going to help; it'll mean you'll be taking more damage and their morale will stay high because they are crushing your units. It's best to just keep'em still with one unit and fire at it with others or if you have a monster or hero of your own who's good at dealing that large unit/hero, sending them to take care of it.

[grazr]

If you're looking to deal damage to enemy leadership as empire then artillery and black powder missile troops will do the trick. Those rocket pieces that i forget the name of are actually pretty good even tough it's listed as "inaccurate", especially when leveled (greater accuracy) and even more so if the lord has the gunnery invested into him in the red skill tree which adds damage. Helblasters are also great at dealing morale damage, even to orcs/trolls, but their short range make them very vulnerable to getting charged before they can get of a lot of shots; and these are mid-late game units.

Handgunners are also consistently reliable at taking out enemy leadership. Having just two of these throw 2 volleys into an approaching unit can route them in seconds (i also find them useful for taking out missile cavalry). In the early game just some crossbowman should do the trick for dealing with enemy morale, try to target units without shields though.

The only orc armies i have trouble with are the cavalry heavy ones which don't appear often. I don't like them because it just becomes a game of cat and mouse with your anti-large cav chasing their cav, the AI flidding about trying to find an opening.

[Caboose]

Thanks to both of you for the comments, they are much appreciated. I will try some of the things you suggested and hopefully will finally start understanding how the battles in this TW work.

[grazr]

Awesome. Also don't underestimate the usefulness of an embedded hero. Using a defensive buff on a friendly unit caught out of formation or an offensive buff (or a buff that is both off/def) on a unit engaging a high tier unit can really turn the tide of an engagement and protect your flanks.

I once had a bright wizard spam defensive buffs on a unit of spearmen that managed to single handedly pre-occupy an orc giant spider and deal a respectable amount of damage to it in the process. Having that one cheap unit distract such a powerful one was a decisive part of that battle. Of course i made sure my lord was nearby with his leadership auro as monstrous creatures deal good leadership damage