MTW-Almohad - if you can't beat join them

[condors]

i normally play the Danes and i was most impressed with the Almohad's urban militia when i went up against them looking at their troops they also have hashishin(they can hide and ambush) which works perfect in my tactic of trying to capture the opposing general. I hope this is one of the games i win :)

[condors]

I have 6 provinces i am going to build urban militia in cordoba from the start to ward off the spanish and crusades that are sure to come. With my starting money i am going to build up my mines, farmland, ports and try to get merchants going. I am not sure if i will be able to get control of the sea but i have a province that gives a boat bonus so i will go with that there. My border to the egypt give a light calvary bonus so i will build toward that. I would like to build heavy calvary in cordoba and my urban militia in granada(where they get a bonus) and berber camals in morocco where they get a bonus. So 4 of my six providences give bonuses to specific units. With my last province alegria i will build spies assassins priests and such.

I am not sure everything will go as planned but that is my tactic for now.

[condors]

khalifah yusuf (aka king joe)
influence 8
piety 5
command 7
acumen 5
field defense specialist (+3 command when on defense)
with 10 command on defense he is relocating to cordoba to defend against the spanish attacks.

(i read that almo's get good generals this king looks to me)

[Chief Rum]

Good luck, condors. I hope you fare better than you did in Denmark.

That is a damn good king to start off with. Good idea moving him to Cordoba, as the Spanish seem to star a war with the Almos almost right away in the games I have seen. Keep a close eye on the Egyptians, though, too, because they are also very warlike.

Concentrate on the ships and farms before the mines. The mines are another decent source of income, but you can't build them quickly and they just don't bring in the income that trade or farming does. If you can get good trade going quickly, you will be doing very well, because you are much closer to some very highly profitable provinces with whom to trade than we Northern Europeans are.

BTW, when you said urban militia, is that actual urban militia or is it a special Almohad militia? My impression from your posts about the Almos in your Denmark thread is that they had a different (and better) urban militia, and it would seem weird to me, too, if a desert-faring faction like the Almos had convential medieval town-style urban militia.

Anyway, good luck.

Chief Rum

[condors]

When you get a town guard you can train Almos Urban Militia(in lieu of militia sergents)
60 men
37 support
Heavily armored
good attack
good defense

i don't think they ever get a better infantry through the game (if they do i have never seen it) These guys can go toe to toe with fedual men at arms and can train them 1st turn in cordoba. I saw these guys cut throught my vikings like butter.

Out of 16 attacking units i would like 8 of these guys 4 calvary 3 light 1 heavy(general) 2 camals/archers 2 seige machines

[condors]

the spanish attack with 800 men but i have 860 defending
i send my camals at their jinnetts(horse arches vs camal archers)
i meet them head on in flat ground the knights of santiago seem to be the only unit able to hold their own vs aum(almo urban militia) in fact they did pretty well but overall it was no contest as i attacked the knights from 3 sides they fall.

totals:killed 661 taken 74 lost 360 (i really need the money as i keep getting that insucfient funds message) hopefully they will attack again next turn :)

The faction is in morning with the passing of the king (i will have to see who emerages as my on field general, i should be getting some light calvary in a couple turns hopefully one is general quality)

[condors]

Joe II
influence 9
piety 5
dread 3
command 6
acumen 6
killer instinct
strange

well he is only 24 so he should be around awhile and will tentivly lead the forces in cordoba until i can find a non royal replacement

[condors]

they bring 813 men vs my 560

ah my favorite battlefield two brides. I get some aum in front of each with a group a camals behind

I see 5 units i don't like seeing 2 spanish jinnetts 2 royal cavalary 1 knight of santiago they seem to be trying to breach the west bridge i move my general there to rally troops (had to do it twice darn heavy horses)

i manage to hold them off in my longest(time almost ran out) killed 574 taken 124 lost 212

that is 572 men lost in the last two years i will not be able to replace these guys and i am no fan of training peasents some normal urban militia may have to step in to help. Luckly i can now train light calvary.

[condors]

the spanish attack for the third straight year i am still overjoyed at getting 9712 ransom for their king, 410 vs 410 hills and woods are the terrian. I have 58 camels 352 aums. They have a ton of spanish jinnetts and 1 group of order foot soliders and 1 spanish infantry. The jinnetts are anoying because they can outrun my camels. The battle goes pretty well as they lacked any heavy calvary(seems to be the only thing that stands up to me)

Killed 186 taken 123 lost 52 (after i get my 60 guys next turn that gives me +8 this year net)

[condors]

1103-seems luck is with me 3 of my 4 spanish borders break out in rebelion(guess he used to many troops attacking me) I get my egypt border in shape(light calvary and desert archers for now)

1116-I have to say thank you chief rum as you predicited egyptians attacked luckily i started planning for this over a decade ago and i am ready for the attack

Its a funky desert with an oasis and hills 940 vs 792 i really like the light calvary for chasing down runners

killed 592 taken 114 lost 218

I captured the egypt king!

That is twice i got big bonuses to my coffers its really made a difference for me(i got an extra 20k which is huge when your first starting out i have never captured another king early in the game with the danes as germany is my only border and they normally don't attack for a while if ever)

[condors]

1129-spain is still having trouble with rebels i join the fray with 2 seige 8 aums and 6 calvary i think this is the best group i can attack with at least with my stradgey my aums target all spearmen calvary go after archers(circle around the infantry line) 3 west 3 east and try to crush my oppenent in the middle it doesn't always work but when it does its much more effective than running straight into their spears.

Castile is better than any province i have.

I am also egypts ally again wonder how long that will last.

The rebels join the fight and its a 3 way dance

we win forcing the spanish into their castle

killed 145 taken 119 lost 33

(this wasn't anything like the prior battles these guys ran away pretty quickly, for what its worth there were no trouble units out on the field without jinnetts or heavy calvary they have nothing that stands up to my aums)

[condors]

the rebels have spain on their heels backed them into navarre as their only province, with egypt as my ally i take portugal leon and valencia all at once i don't have the exact numbers but peasents fold too qucikly(has anyone ever had a peasent win a battle with anything besides another peasent? maybe archers out of ammo?)

now with 10 provinces and a little boat route my merchants are helping me out getting almost 6k a turn

[condors]

spanish attack me hoping to catch me forces spread a little too thin.

The king lead 726 men versus my 360
2 groups of royal knights and 1 jinnettes are in the desert my aums just dominate(5 star general alum is leading them) I am trying to get him 7 stars then give him a title to bring him to 9.

killed 285 taken 110 lost 85

the spanish king is dead and eliminated from the game.

I have my eyes on getting navrre and aragon wont change the amount of fronts i have and will bring in extra money and if i am very lucky i will get that general a couple stars aums can get promoted every battle(not all units can not sure exactly how that works)

[condors]

i take aragon in 1141 navare 1143 aquitaine 1148 then britany in 1166 killed 410 lost 102

new king khalifah ishmail
influence 7
piety 4
dread 3
command 4
acumen 3
chinless wonder
(not as good as his fathers were)

sorry about the lack of details

i am working on my intrastructure and building dhows to get my trade routes to expand the entire map i am at war with england and france and will try to knock them out of the game i want the entire west side of the map then attack egypt and clean up whats left after the horde strikes.

[condors]

i spend over 50 years establishing trading routes and building up new king is Ali II
influcence 7
piety 3
dread 4
command 4
acumen 4
irritable

[condors]

i invade anjou with 2 catapults 6 units of saharan calvary and 8 units of aums

we meet on flat land without trees in the rain

my forces equal 740 his 2576

my aums dominate killing 697 taken 350 lost 154

they had spearmen and light calvary mostly 2 units of royal knight were the only units that ever did any damage against me

This was a total fair straight up fight and the aums were more impressive in this one then in other were they had more heavy horses(seems to be the only unit that can match up with the aums to this point)

[condors]

it was errierly similar to the battle i had in anjou

aums ruled the field again killed 641 taken 268 lost 114

[condors]

Umar
influence 7
piety 3
dread 4
command 4
acumen 2

seems my kings are not so good any longer either :(

in 1211 egypt and the empire strike only to be forced back but egypt ruins my chain of ships i will have to sink all of their boats and keep them at bay europe seems to be a harder target then egypt right now anyways so i will bring them down for sending my allies the turks into hiding.

[condors]

i guess there is a timeout thing or something cause it looks like i lost my post basically i took out the english and now going to get the danes from behind its 1246

chief rum-how did you use arbelesters ? i tried them in one fight and was not impressed (i have found very little use for archers to be honest)

[Chief Rum]

I'm not sure what tactics you are using. If you're still doing that edge of the red circle thing, I would suppose you wouldn't need archers. When you meet them on a field and allow them to approach you, or you to approach them, though, archers are key. Arbalesters load really slow, but their weapons are armor piercing, so they are particularly effective against heavily armored opponents. I generally do the tried and true archers behind spearmen thing; that seems to work for the most part, although the Mongols have tested that tactic quite a bit.

I can't tell from your writeups if you're still doing that tactic thing or if you're meeting them squarely and your aum's are kicking ass. Maybe with the Almos you don't need it. I don't know.

Chief Rum

[condors]

well i changed my tactic i select infantry charge for the formation and charge at any spearmen with my aums and have my calvary go for seige weapons and archers. This has worked very well my archers/spearmen needs more practice trying 3 desert archers 3 of my spearmen units, 4 aums, 4 calvary and 2 catapults

ps has anyone had any success with mangrols or trenchbuckets?
i can never get them to fire on a consistant basis or are they only usefull in castle seiges? catapults/balistias work on battle before the seige which i like even if they are the most effective unit

[condors]

1266-(i am trying to finish this game tonight and get the 60% victory as i miss my danes)

I elimate germany and france from europe and now working on the egyptions. I am currently making 16k a turn and have my 6 orginal places cranking out troops to attack with

[condors]

well in 1296 after driving back the horde and eqytians i take the partial victory and now able to get back to my vikings!

[condors]

i went back and loaded the autosave and played it out to a total victory in the late age i did get a boat upgrade and some new seige weapons but my infantry remained the same as the early period i did take switzerland and was able to produce halibarders but pikemen were not an option which i miss

[condors]

basically the almo's have great early units as do the bzyantines about equal in the high age and definatly below in the late age but if you destroy other places that are built up or take over new ones they are much easier to get. The reason i like the danes so much is put up a fort and you get vikings(i hate peasents!)

[Blade6119]

Funny you should do this, as i myself love the Spanish. Very tough opening position, but an outstanding royal line(maybe best in game), and the bribery of el cid make for a strong group of generals....just knocked out the almohads, and am currently pushing through Egypt...life wasn't always so good, as the Egyptians had knocked me back all the way to spain, but Prince(now king) Garco led a crusade to palestine leading every man i had, and we won...we lost 6,346 men in the crusade, but 3/4 of them were mercs....gotta love the mercs....cost a pretty penny, but thats what the trade routes are for. France just knocked out england, and bye bye denmark(sry, but they had a civil war in their two provinces and they lost....the new king sucked balls and died quickly at the hands of the germans.....maybe i should write up a dynasty as well...

[condors]

hey blade did you actually play out the battles?

if so did you find anything besides heavy calvary able to take out the aums?

i have found them to be the best bang for the buck troop so far (i love gallowglaes but they can't be mass produced)

[Blade6119]

i tried to lay out a few of the battles, like defenses when i'm outnumbered, or or attacking and they bring in reinforcements i dont expect....other wiase i let the computer handle....

I have found that my spanish jinettes from leon work well, as they are pratically horse arcers and are fairly quick...i love recruiting viking mercs and using them, as early in the game they are superior. I also love to have som spearmen, as whenever i eave them out, thats what the bulk of their army is. But royal knights and kwyazimahran(no idea how to spell) cavalry always form my center and i use them as the back-breaker after my infantry sften them up...so pretty much all ive found are vikings and horse archers...

The almohads are dirty little pricks, because as my crusade(with all my troops) captures egypt, the almohad "lost prince" shows up in morocco...crusades cant go backwards, so i was scared to death...luckily their 3,000 men were mostly weak troops with a fair amount being peasants....beat them with 6:1 odds, just using my royal line which i needed to kill off anyway...only my king survived the battle, leaving the only heir to be my greatest general off on the crusade..and the crusade ended the next year in victory, so i achieved 4 things at once...a succesful crusade to be able to build Knights of Santiago, turned the tide in the war with egypt, destroyed once and for all the almohads, and killed off all the heirs that(even though by any other standards would be world class generals, which i had 8 of before prince garc), were inferior to Prince Garc.