Man-at-Arms Into Skirms
Steps 12 · 6 → 19 pop · ~9 min
Hit Feudal Age around 9:15 with Militia already walking out, upgrade to Man-at-Arms, and back them with Skirmishers for a full-Feudal composition that beats most early army mixes.
Step Timeline
Follow the villager rail and resource-split columns while you play.
Opening
8 steps · pop 6–17- 6
6 → sheep under the Town Center - 9
+3 → wood, drop a Lumber Camp - 10
+1 → lure and eat the first boar; lure one or two deer in with your Scout if available ↳ Free deer food keeps your eco on hunt longer
- 11
+1 → build a House, then a Mill on the chickens or berries - 13 +2 → Mill (berries)
- 14 +1 → lure and eat the second boar
↳ Bring it in as the first boar runs low
- 16 +2 → hunt under the TC
- 17
+1 → build a Barracks and then a House at the front of your base
Feudal
4 steps · pop 19 9:15- 19
+2 → hunt, research Loom, then click up to Feudal 9:15 ↳ Land with roughly 3 on wood and 15 on food
- 19
Move 2 off food → gold and drop a Mining Camp; get 3 Militia out - 19
Send 5 off the hunt → wood and 3 off the hunt → berries; research Man-at-Arms, then Double-Bit Axe (Horse Collar optional) - 19
Build an Archery Range at the front and start Skirmishers; put new and straggler-tree Villagers onto farms; add a Blacksmith with Fletching, keep adding Man-at-Arms, take Arson at 7-8 Man-at-Arms, then Infantry and Skirmisher armor and Wheelbarrow at 14-16 farms
Strategy Notes
- This is a pure Feudal Age power play: Man-at-Arms do the damage while Skirmishers shield them from enemy Archers, giving you an army that answers almost anything an opponent can field before Castle Age.
- Get the first three Militia out the moment you age up and start poking at the enemy's Villagers and woodlines — early pressure forces them onto defense and buys time for your eco to rebound from the aggressive opener.
- Lead with Man-at-Arms and Double-Bit Axe, then layer in Skirmishers as soon as you see Archers; the two units cover each other's weaknesses, so keep the front line of melee in front of your ranged support.
- Tech up steadily at the Blacksmith — Fletching first, then Infantry and Skirmisher armor — and add Arson once you have seven or eight Man-at-Arms so they tear through buildings and snowball any push.
- Do not forget the economy behind the fight: seed farms off the dwindling hunt, take Wheelbarrow at 14-16 farms, and keep walling so the constant unit production never stalls your food or wood.
- From a winning Feudal position you can keep grinding in Feudal or transition smoothly to Castle Age, folding the army and farm economy into Crossbows, Pikemen, or a Knight switch depending on the matchup.