Matchlock Ashigaru Strategies

Hello everyone!

For those of you who are unaware of the present state of the matchlock ashigaru I will inform you that they are incredibly powerful.

That being said, I have created new armies (small, medium and large) that consist of roughly 50% matchlock ashigaru. These new armies are incredibly powerful, and have brought me to the 255th spot on the 1v1 leader-board. Not only are they incredibly powerful, they are also insanely inexpensive. I would highly recommend that everyone tries a few matches with armies composed mainly of matchlock ashigaru.

My small army is composed of: 2 yari ashigaru (X), 4 matchlock ashigaru (O) , 1 light cavalry (V), 1 yari cavalry (V) and my general (G). When I organize them, it looks like this:
X O O O O X
V G V

At this point you may think this army is suited for hill camping, but that is somewhat impossible as bow units out range matchlock units. You probably already knew this, but the members of the TWC forums had overlooked it...

With the formation above, you may see cavalry charges as a huge threat. However, the intimating volleys that the matchlock ashigaru fire will rout most charges - as has been the case in my past three games.

On a last note, I will include my medium size (or large, I can't remember) formation:

X O O O O X
X O O O O X
V V G V V

In conclusion, if you want to try something new, try using an army of based around matchlock ashigaru. I've been using this strategy for a while now and it got me to the 255th spot on the 1v1 leader-board. Remember that if your opponent brings a number of bow units that you must go on the offensive.

I am, etc.

The Mr. T Virus

Edit: When I submitted my post it screwed up the formations... The cavalry should be on the wings and the general in the middle. It's standard form really.

Thats pretty cheesy but I might try it out. Matchlock are extremely powerful considering this is a rock paper scissors game.

isnt it rock paper shotgun?

I tried this strategy and decimated 2 decent opponents and uploaded 1 replay on my thread). It might be a mainstay army for me. It's certainly cheesy though. Can be crushed by mass cav.

I cannot object to that - as I have never encountered a cavalry heavy army. The most I have ever faced was 6 Yari and some clever micromanagement took care of them.

I encountered a decent opponent who kinda flushed his cav down the drain through a foolhardy front on charge. If he had simply held off the cav my triple line defense would have suffered a bit more. It was a close game as it was.

A few games ago a guy did the same thing to me. However, he was smart enough to throw a unit of yari ashigaru at my line so they would all waste a volley. Once my men were reloading, he plunged in with 4 units of Yari... I lost that one.

On a different note, I have recently replaced my matchlock ashigaru with matchlock samurai. I can no longer afford a decent sword and spear force with this change, but I can keep my great gaurd and katana hero units. Overall, the matchlock samurai are superior because they really can hold there own in a melee fight as long as they are in range of your general unit.

I have a question: Has anyone ever played a matchmade battle tht had higher funds than low or medium???

Do you thing quantity (lets say bow ashigaru) or quality (bow samurai) are more valuable in Shogun 2?