How to help and beat the chicken man man

[PandACT]

Help it!

1.Catapults. Definitely catapults. They're sturdy enough to distract and/or take down stragglers, and are cheap, deadly, long-ranged, and able to take down groups. A good support AND primary weapon.
2.Chariots. They're tough enough to do some damage before a) dying directly in the middle of their push and slowing it considerably, or b) run around pushing heavy support out of position and give the chicken men from the CMM time to wreak some havoc. Multiple aren't as helpful.
3. Balistas. This one is the strangest to watch, since there's a shocking amount of friendly fire. However, balistas' low damage and high knockback* actually push the CMM forward! Additionally, a single well-placed shot will ruin their position, thus saving time and chickens. Pretty much any position except for putting them in front of the CMM works.

Beat it!

1. 10-15 samurais in almost any formation will pretty consistently take it down quickly, as long as there's no group-killing support. Particularly effective when shields are in the front row. Don't use vikings in the back or front, though! They die easily and end up breaking position and slowing them down.
Best positions: either a line pointing towards the CMM with shields in the front, or two rows of 4-7 perpendicular to each other with shields in front.(Footmen are ineffective due to less DPS.)
2. Archers. Not poachers or muskets, archers. Their superior range will allow them to lock on to the chicken man man rather than the chickens and take out the support before it does too much damage. Poachers might block out the sun, but archers can shoot it between the eyes.
Best positions: support, particularly in the back. Do not put in a line towards CMM!
3. Catapults(3-5) + ballista(s). Ballistas don't do much except for slow it down*, which is the sole weakness of the catapults! How convenient. One ballista will be effective enough, but might be hit by friendly fire, so I recommend two. However, supporting this is extremely hard as you will mow down your army, and you won't have too much close range support to mow down theirs. Best positions: A U or V with the point/round side pointed toward the CMM. (Balista behind) Also, a line of catapults in the back with two a third of the way up. (CANNOT BE SUPPORTED)
4.Chariots are a great distraction, and usually buy you about 30 more seconds of damage.
5. DO NOT SWARM. Never swarm, never horde. For some reason, it makes all your troops less effective and never works, no matter how many low-level troops there are. Spread out, ballhogs!


*If you're bored, just line up 10 ballistas in front of it. Do it. Really.