I just can't beat knalgans...

[A Guy]

Hello there, as you can tell from my avatar, I am an undead player. I can beat every other faction (with drakes being especially easy), but I just can't beat Knalgans. Dwarvish fighters are hard to move from a hill or village, and my only counter to them is ghouls, which will just slow them down.

I don't usually save replays, but I'll try to get one. Help, please?

EDIT: 500th post, yay.

[Mist]

Undead versus Knalgans:
You'll want to catch Knalgans on poor terrain. Dwarves on hills or mountains are hard to move - they usually have to move themselves. To combat this you'll need to use Poison and magic to make them move.

Skeleton: A good standard unit, Skeletons are only in serious danger from Dwarvish Fighters, of which you will likely face several. This unit can take on all of the Outlaws as well as the dangerous Ulfserker. At night, his 6-3 attacks on Guardsmen will also be quite useful.

Skeleton Archer: A good cheap unit who is most in danger from Fighters and Ulfserkers, his role is to pick at Fighters, Gryphons, and Guardsmen, though money is better spent elsewhere.

Walking Corpse: Not a good unit to combat Dwaves, the WC is better to hold villages against sneaky Gryphons or to kill trapped ones. There's no need to recruit these early.

Vampire Bat: Do not recruit this unit when fighting Knalgans. The superior Gryphon will easily kill this unit resulting in a loss of 13g.

Ghoul: A crucial unit in your fight against Knalgans, the Ghoul's Poison shuold be used to cut through their resistance and make the slow movers retreat from advantageous positions. Also used as a good Gryphon deterrant, this unit is worth having 2 of.

Dark Adept: Another key unit in your arsenal, the DA deals 11-2 damage to Dwarves at night, 10-2 to Guardsmen. Also having the capability to ignore the superior defenses of Knalgans, these guys are invaluable in your nighttime assaults. Their major drawback that is easily exploitable by Knalgans is their lack of melee, so keep them protected at all times.

Ghost: As Knalgans have no true counter for Ghosts, these scouts should be used exclusively over Bats. Their greatest use is using their ranged attack on melee exclusive units. Their Drain melee and high resistancies makes the Ghost essentially impossible for melee units to kill. The sole exception to this is the Ulfserker. At night, and even possibly at dusk/dawn, the Ghost has an excellent chance of killing an Ulfserker with his Drain attack. During the day, however, the Ghost is in real jeopardy of defeat from this unit. Try to keep the ghost from Thunderers as well, as 2 shots will take him down, and you won't want to lose this unit so easily.

A good first turn recruit would consist of a Ghost, a Skeleton, a Ghoul, a DA, and another useful unit like another Skelton, Archer, or DA. Don't let Dwarves get on mountains if you can stop it. Ghosts are great for this, but Ghouls and Skeletons work nicely too. If Dwarves do end up on mountains either ignore them and make them move to unfavorable terrain, Poison them to force them to move, or use Adepts on them.

In defense, Ghouls on villages or mountains will prove very bothersome to Knalgans. Keep them in the front line to Poison oncoming attackers. They'll take Thunderer shots (at 13-1), so they'll last a while too. Skeletons are alright to keep in front too, due to their resistancies outside of Impact. Make sure your Adepts stay behind so they don't get Ulfd.

On the offense, you'll want to take out Ulfs first and then anything on poor terrain. Terrain plays a huge factor in the damage you will deal Dwarves, so sometimes it will be better to ignore Dwarves on mountains and to kill other units instead. Adepts can remove problem Dwarves though, so have a couple. At the end of your assault put your Ghouls in front to protect your units and to Poison the survivng forces.

there were some changes since that was written, but most of it is still true.

[silent]

Although I am a Drake player normally, my advice would be conduct the battle on you preferred terrain. Don't take them on in the mountains, let them come to you on less advantageous terrain

[mcv]

Of course that advice is always true: fight them on your own turf, not on theirs. Some factions are a bit more outspoken in what counts as their turf and what doesn't.

[AThousandYoung]

What kind of turf do Undead like?

[thespaceinvader]

Nothing in particular special - get by this by not sticking to YOUR best terrain, but to theirs. They can't get good defence on mountains if you bung them up with units. Failing that, just get to reasonable defence terrain that isn't adjacent to mountains or hills.

[silent]

Mushroom groves, and the usual 60% places are the undead's favourite terrain.

Agreed with space invader on his suggestion, in particular ghouls would be a very good choice, given the melee based knalgans, and lack of healers.

[A Guy]

Yes, I've started to win against Knalgans! Thank you all. The suggestion to take their terrain so that they can't use it was especially helpful.

All of you are the best!