Playing the Saxons: archers, TCs and transitions

Guide under review: the plans below are not build orders validated in real games.

To get started with the Saxons on Arabia, open archers, then add TCs when you can hold them. The trap is booming too fast: you drop three TCs, spend all your food on villagers and have no army left when your opponent shows up.

On Arabia, start by defending your resources

Scout your opponent’s opening. Against Scouts, keep a few Spearmen near your exposed villagers. Against archers, compare numbers and upgrades: if you can’t take the fight, pull back and add Skirmishers.

Saxon camps and Mills give resources once completed. Use that to replace a Lumber Camp that’s gotten too far away, not to build pointless camps. Foot soldiers also cost 5% less per Town Center or Castle, up to 20%. Archers get this discount too: the bonus doesn’t force you to play infantry. (Official overview)

A tower can secure an exposed gold, but it doesn’t cover your whole base. The extra arrows bonus for Towers and Castles only kicks in from Castle Age.

When you can move out, advance with your archers grouped up. Look for an accessible wood line or gold, without walking under the enemy TC. Your goal is also to keep that mass alive so you can upgrade it in the next age.

In Castle Age, crossbows before the boom

Once you hit Castle Age, click Crossbowman and your Blacksmith upgrades to cash in on your mass right away. Against Knights, add a few Monks behind your crossbows. Against a big archer mass, look at Mangonels instead.

Then add your Town Centers (TCs) near resources you can defend. Each extra TC needs food to keep running: lay down your farms, without leaving your Archery Ranges idle. If your opponent is already on your gold, defend first. Your third TC can wait.

Three TCs and a Castle are enough to reach the maximum discount. In his first look at the Saxons, Hera prioritizes military upgrades first. He also suggests staying in Castle Age while the army can still do damage. (Hera, 15:24)

Adapt your army comp without changing everything at once

Keep your archers and add Pikemen if cavalry becomes a problem. You can get Varangian Guards ready for melee fights, but keep your ranged units: the Guards remain vulnerable to swordsmen.

The Hearth Troop is trained at the Castle. It’s heavy infantry whose javelin threatens ranged units, but it moves slowly. Use it to push with your siege or hold a chokepoint, not to chase retreating archers. Its wood and gold cost also calls for a different villager split than the Varangian Guards. (Unit overview)

In Imperial Age, archers, Halberdiers and Trebuchets make a simple first comp to practice. Get the buildings ready to replace losses. The Saxons have neither Blast Furnace nor Bombard Cannons: their infantry isn’t fully upgraded.

Shield Wall boosts the armor of grouped-up infantry. Against Onagers, though, be ready to spread your units: better to lose the grouping bonus than take a shot on the whole army. (Saxon technologies)

On Arena, don’t give up the relics for free

After your FC, scout what’s happening outside before starting your boom. Your Monks can go pick up the relics, but without Fervor they stay slow: escort them and watch out for enemy Scouts.

Clerical Recruitment improves Monks, but requires a Castle and a research. Don’t count on your walls to hold against Trebuchets. In your replay, check whether your new TCs interrupted military production right before your opponent’s attack.

Practicing the build order

Archer Rush Arabia tutorial, full guide · Ciskhan (FR) is a general resource for this opening. It isn’t a Saxons guide, nor a build order validated for their bonuses.

Sources and limitations

Patch 185872, official overviews and Hera’s guide; tech tree cross-checked against local data. Partly untested draft. Hera’s guide was reviewed through automatic transcripts and covers a pre-release build against AI; no ranked meta is demonstrated here.