Most numerically lopsided battle you have won

[nijis]

I'm trying to get a sense of how much various factors can be a force multiplier -- troop type, technology, leadership, morale, terrain, combined arms and force composition, etc.

What is the most numerically uneven battle anyone has won? And what were the factors involved? Screenshots would be great, as they rule out incorrect recollections. Obviously it will be impossible to isolate a single variable, but this could give a sense of how much one can boost one's combat power in theory, if one tries to combine force multipliers.

Apologies in advance if this has been previously covered.

Note that I'm interested in single one-off field battles, not wars.

 

[Avernite]

I don't recall specifics, but it's undoubtedly one of my Cataphracts vs levies battles. Given that they obliterate even Holy Orders at equal numbers...

 

[A_Dane]

I got involved into an independence war, while I was fighting a seperate revolt.

My 5k retinues (mostly heavy infantry) were on their way to Finland to fight the first revolt, when the independence war faction showed up with their armies + the spawned troops independence rebels get, they numbered some 9-10k if I remember correctly.

I was absolutely certain my retinues were gonna get their asses handed to them, instead they just went ahead and slaughtered those forces.

I lost some 1500 men, the opposing side lost 7k (It should be said I had 3 generals ranging from 15-21 leading the different flanks)

 

[gja102]

This is fairly off-topic, as it happened in CK1, but in my AAR I actually managed to lose a battle where the odds were 16,106 vs 63.

 

[stormblind]

I got involved into an independence war, while I was fighting a seperate revolt.

My 5000k retinues (mostly heavy infantry) were on their way to Finland to fight the first revolt, when the independence war faction showed up with their armies + the spawned troops independence rebels get, they numbered some 9-10k if I remember correctly.

I was absolutely certain my retinues were gonna get their asses handed to them, instead they just went ahead and slaughtered those forces.

I lost some 1500 men, the opposing side lost 7k (It should be said I had 3 generals ranging from 15-21 leading the different flanks)

Honestly, I've found that the various Heavy Infantry racial bonuses and Heavy infantry armies are absolutely ridiculous for being able to win lopsided battles. I was conducting experiments throwing my heavy infantry troops at rebels, and the most lopsided battle I ever had was 600 (largely) heavy infantry army led by my king destroying a 4k un-led stack. I think I took 28 losses or something along those lines.

 

[Capt Oblivious]

Well if you play the Game of Thrones mod, you could lead Aegon the Conqueror with less than 1,000 men and defeat back-to-back doom stacks of 10k+. Of course, he had a martial rating of like 175 with the dragon trait. In vanilla, I've had 400 heavy infantry and 100 archers hold off against a 5k stack attacking a mountain territory. Generally, that's incredibly rare and doesn't happen though. It helped that their leader was rated at like a 6 with no one leading the flanks if I recall correctly.

 

[A_Dane]

This is fairly off-topic, as it happened in CK1, but in my AAR I actually managed to lose a battle where the odds were 16,106 vs 63.

My god, reading that made my day, thanks mate

EDIT: Tuareg, a i gotta stop typing when I'm still sleepy.. Will correct my mistake immediatly

But well.. dark magic if you must know

 

[Grubnessul]

2000 v 4500 battle is the best I won. 500 men Housecarl retinue and a few fully upgraded housecarl trainingsgrounds.

 

[nijis]

That's good to know it's possible to win at 1:2 or 1:3 odds. Thanks!

 

[Blitzzer]

Something along the lines of 15k versus 32k. I killed all their leaders, was eventually declared "victor" when the muslims morale failed and ran away, letting the Hammadid have Aquitaine.

 

[Gheald]

Just had a 16k retinue of horse archers/heavy cavalry defeat 45k ilkhanate stack.. they attacked me in mountains and i had 16 martial leaders in each column. I thought for sure they were going to beat me. Only reason I didnt leave the province to avoid the fight is cause I had captured all the holdings in it and was trying to buy time for my eastern flank to capture enough holdings to get warscore to 100% before their 140k non-attrition stack arrived. This suprising win allowed me to get to 100% and to kick the ilkhanate out of arabia.

 

[Hackworthy]

I had an army of around 6k Serbians defeat almost 20k Fatimids while helping to defend Jerusalem from the Jihad. After a turnabout like that, you can imagine that we won. Of course then the Sunni Jihad came we were to weak to beat it back but... pa šta?

 

[NewbieOne]

Just had a 16k retinue of horse archers/heavy cavalry defeat 45k ilkhanate stack.. they attacked me in mountains and i had 16 martial leaders in each column. I thought for sure they were going to beat me. Only reason I didnt leave the province to avoid the fight is cause I had captured all the holdings in it and was trying to buy time for my eastern flank to capture enough holdings to get warscore to 100% before their 140k non-attrition stack arrived. This suprising win allowed me to get to 100% and to kick the ilkhanate out of arabia.

Ironically, that's kinda how the Mongols won their battles historically: horse archers and heavy cav, trained from child, not superior numbers.

 

[Finnish Dragon]

I think geography plays significant role in this issue. I think the most lopsided victory for me was when I played as Ireland and I had some 15k men while England attacked with more then 20k. The place to fight was in the Northern Ireland where the English army marched over the St. George Channel to Ireland. Because of that I did have a hefty defensive bonus.

 

[Casiru]

When you have a huge Hcav retinue from France/Germany etc they will regularly destroy armies 5-10 times larger than themselves. knights_offensive = 0.6 from the retinue + knights_offensive = 4.2 from the tactic (If your leader has 16+ martial this will activate as often as possible) means they just walk over most armies. The main exception being mongol archers because their tactic ends the melee phase.
I had a mod with full HC retinues and a combat event that ended skirmish... lets just say that game ended fairly fast (4k vs 30k, don't even care).

 

[Graaf]

The most lobsided battle I won was as the Duchy of Edessa vs a bunch of sultans. I defended in mountain range with 17 martial rating and a mountain expert. Won against 3 vs 1 battle. I had to give my credits to the designers that it's actually possible now to win those sort of battles. It was a Pyrrhic victory in the sense that few were left to celebrate the victory but hey I won!

 

[Pinstar]

All -carafract retinue vs Timurid doomstack. I'd say about 2 to 1 odds 30k vs 60k. They had a river crossing penalty but the terrain was plains so no defense bonuse to me. Won it with about 20k left.

The 20k got 1 tick of recover before the remaining 40k+10k survivors from the first battle. I won again.

Horse Archers + Heavy Cav + good generals = own.

 

[shypixel]

Best I have won: an 18000 vs 10300 battle as Frisia against the Fatimids (Crusade), all retinue troops, led by my King with 23 Martial.

Worst I have lost, not including roflstomping by mongol doomstacks: Same Frisian army, reduced to 7500 men defending in a mountainous province was almost completely wiped out by a 3k Fatimid army. Didn't help that I thought that battle was a gimme and was distracted elsewhere, so don't know what troops they used to squash me. My king and 3-400 of his retinue escaped to waiting ships.

 

[NosgothKingdom]

Ironically, that's kinda how the Mongols won their battles historically: horse archers and heavy cav, trained from child, not superior numbers.

Actually horse archers and light cavalry. Battlefield movement and speed was essential and the lack of it in european *heavy cavalry* was its doom against the mongols.
Heavy cavalry is too overpower in CK2.

 

[NosgothKingdom]

Just play as greeks and have a pure cataphract retinue (and boost tech in your capital). You'll win almost any 2 to 1 battles and even some 3 to 1 or more.
And considering the AI seems to go for it with any numerical advantage, they'll throw armies to be decimated by you all the time.