Almohads

[Cheetah]

Summery of topic provided by ah_dut

summary plus own tips:
Alhomads: They are a fairly unique and peculiar faction. They can fight Christian style or Muslim style.
First I wish to talk about the Alhomad style of battle.
First the AUM or alhomad urban militia. This is considered to be able to pwn any unit in early. ( I disagree VG will spank them on equal everything) They are heavily armoured and can be used in early to attack even the powerful FMAA head to head. They are your legion unit, the meat grinder to whoop somebody’s sorry ass. However, they need support.
To support them you have brilliant skirmish units. In the words of Doug-Thompson ‘You have one unit that is unconventional -- desert archers -- and one unit that is just strange -- Berber camels.’ I agree but they are very micro heavy. I like to send the DA out in a skirmish line with the AUM right behind them. They are good archers so use them. They are faster than conventional troops so keep an eye out. I like Berber camels a lot. While unusual they are able to dispatch Jinetes and other pesky units, while skirmishing. They are slow but capable in combat against horses.
Your other skirmish unit deserves special mention, the murabitin javelineer. It rocks put simply. They are AP so can kick those damnable Spanish royals (who you will be fighting right?) these are better pursuit troops than DA in my opinion. They have some combat skill and are also fast.
Cavalry: you have relatively boring cav. You have pursuit cav in the Saharan cav, average medium but not capable in the drawn out melee in the form of the ghulam cav. You have an excellent attack cav in the form of the ghulam bodyguard. Nice and lethal.
Doug-Thompson defines what to do very well: MOPPING UP SPAIN

Finish off the Spanish if they survive in Leon. You may wait a turn or two to get some Murabitin javelin troops from your spearmaker in Morocco, and AUM from Cordoba. Peasants in Castle’s garrison will also free your good units.

If you were lucky enough to kill the Spanish king in Castile -- who's always a tough son-of-a-gun -- and his heirs, you will be able to leave the rebels in Leon and attack Valencia if you want to. Nobody's going to reach Leon while you hold Castile, although the Spanish faction will probably re-appear.

Now get yourself a shipbuilder, you’ve got a long coast ahead of you. Also get yourself Portugal or you’ll have a lot more to defend now whoop some Egyptian ass now. Make sure you rule from the Pyrenees to Sinai. My job is done.
Doug-Thompson has the idea for the rest of the game: Make multiple Jihads. If you don't know how to use Jihads, learn.

Make Bedouin Camels in Egypt and elsewhere. They play havoc with Crusader knights.

Learn to use Faris. They are one of the few new units you get as the ages roll on.

If you want decent heavy cavalry, you're going to have to take Armenia and Lesser Armenia sometime, to get Armenian Heavy Cavalry.

Upgrade, upgrade, upgrade. Retrain, retrain, retrain.
Ah_dut

additions: against knights, give em naptha http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-jester.gif



Edited: To include this summery.

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Bullethead
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Posts: 34
From:Wakefield, LA
Registered: Aug 2002
posted 09-03-2002 04:03 AM




V'ger said:

I'd be interested in knowing if the Elmos are this uber when played by a human?

In the right hands, I'm sure they're even worse. However, those ain't my hands

My 1st attempt at the campaign, I chose the Elmos. I had no idea what I was doing (still don't, actually ) and the Spanish looked pretty tough, so I bribed El Cid and signed a peace treaty with the Castilians, built up a garrison there with alims to settle the religious problems, and went and backstabbed my Islamic brothers in Egypt.

Lesson to any other newbie Elmo players: NEVER, NEVER, NEVER do this.

Anyway, the bulk of my armies are way off on the east front. I take Egypt, I take Sinai. The fight sways back and forth through Palestine and Arabia, but eventually I corner the Egyptians in Tripoli. At this point, the Turks declare war and start pushing me back in a big way. Whoops. The remnants of my once-proud army is pushed out of Egypt back to where it started. Fortunately, the Turks then get into trouble with resurgent Egyptians so don't bother me any more.

However, while this eastern misadventure is at its worst, the perfidious Spanish break our treaty and boot me out of Cordoba with massive force, although the keep holds out. So now I've got a 2-loss war going and the Spanish outnumber me greatly. But despite the odds, I must retake Cordoba so I send in all available forces. Fortunately, the Spanish army splits at the same time, part taking Portugal and part overrunning El Cid. Thus, after a hard fight, I regain my capital province but lose Valencia. And to my dismay, I find Cordoba burned to the ground--only the keep itself remains, so all it can produce in its own defense are peasants.

I rush up the 2 new units from Morocco and Grenada, along with my king and his Ghulams. Cordoba now faces large armies on all borders. Fortunately for me, only 1 attacks, but it still outnumbers me greatly. I manage to crush it, but the commanding prince inflicts terrible damage on my forces before escaping. And it was only 1 of 4 large Spanish armies I have to deal with.

It's apparent that there's no way I can rapidly build up forces in Spain. Not only are there insufficient local facilities, but I'm now pretty much out of money anyway. It's also apparent that if I stand still, I'll be crushed. Cordoba being useless, I decide not to hold it but to go on a guerrilla rampage, trying to hit the weakest Spanish force available and lay waste to as much of Spanish territory as possible.

So I move most of my army to Portugal. Thus I sidestep the hammer blow that falls on Cordoba that turn. I destroy every building in Portugal. Next turn, I repeat the manuever in Leon. And so it goes for 8-10 years, my gradually dwindling army frantically pillaging hither and yon across Spain. Portugal, Leon, Castile, Valencia, and Cordoba all change hands several times as the Spanish try to pin me down and I somehow keep eluding them. This entire area is reduced to an utter wasteland of burned-out cities and ruined forts. Famine, plague, revolts, and religious unrest (I had several alims plotting revolution in the Spanish heartland all this time) follow in the wake of the armies. No mercy is shown by either side, all generals involved maxing out on dread. Spain has become Hell on earth.

But north and south of the devastated region, both sides are slowly, painfully slowly, building up reserves on very tight budgets. I choose to build up troops in Grenada while the Spanish build a church in Aragon. Next thing I know, a huge Crusade bulldozes its way into Cordoba, freeing the regular Spanish armies to finally corner my king in Leon. He, his 2nd son, and his entire force are slain but he takes many Spaniards with him.

Then it's Grenada's turn. 3 times the Spanish come, Crusade and all. Twice their forces are shattered. But the 3rd time's the charm. Out of all the Elmoheads who ever lived in Spain, only 2 alims are left, still fomenting rebellion behind the lines.

Without missing a beat, the Spanish push on and Morocco quickly falls. Then the Spanish halt to deal with religious uprisings in several provinces. I, however, cannot take advantage because the bulk of my surviving generals have become disillusioned and carry out a successful coup. By the time the new dynasty is in power, the Spanish have assassinated my alims and reassert control over all of Spain.

And then it comes, the Great North African Crusade Blitzkrieg, an unending stream of them from Spain and then from Italy across the sea. The 1st Spanish Crusade is targeted on Egypt. After the loss of all my rich provinces and best generals, followed by civil war, there is nothing I can do to stop it. It slaughters and burns its way from Morocco to Egypt, which it successfully takes. My provinces return to my control when it passes, but they have been gutted.

And that was just the 1st of the series. Soon, others follow, targeted on my provinces in succession working east to west, so that the western provinces get pillaged repeatedly. And in between, the Italian vultures descend with amphibious Crusades of their own to pick my bones. The brutality reaches levels beyond even that in Spain as the Spanish exact their revenge.

I lose count of the number of Crusades that overrun my lands. 4 or 5 from Spanish Morocco, 3 or 4 from Italy at least. All that saves me from being completely occupied all at once is the fighting between Spaniard and Italian over the same provinces, and between Spaniard and Turk over Egypt. While often reduced to a single, barren province, still I regain others as Crusades move on and my long-suffering people rise in revolt. This gives me more armies than I could ever hope to build in the blasted ruins of North Africa. With them I finally manage to destroy a Crusade. It's Italian and I kill the Doge who is leading it. He had no heirs so Italy ceases to exist.

But this is the last glimmering of the Elmohead Empire. Within 2 years, all that remains is Cyrenacea with massive Spanish armies on both flanks. The Spanish have taken Sinai now so feel safe enough to add their Egyptian forces to the final assault. The last Elmohead Kaliphah goes down with his remaining troops in a final, appocalyptic battle. Jackals scatter his remains across the bloody sand.

Thus pass the Elmoheads from the international scene after a mere 100 years or so, unmourned by even their Islamic brothers. They go down in history as a psychotic regime of utter barbarism, infamous for their brutality, whose final desperate gallantry against the Crusades is forever tarnished by the innumerable atrocities they committed both then and earlier in Spain. What scant traces remain of their architecture are today used as latrines by all passers-by. But no-one remains near their ruins or mass graves by night....

------------------

The lessons I learned from my disastrous Elmohead experience are as follows:
1. Kill Spain as soon as possible. If you don't kill Spain, you'll lose your best provinces beyond all hope of recovery. And then it'll just be an endless stream of Crusades all across North Africa until the bitter end.

2. Gain control of at least the North African coastal waters. Otherwise, you'll have endless amphibious Crusades dropping anywhere and everywhere.

3. NEVER attack the Egyptians before destroying the Spanish.

------------------
-Bullethead

In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is strength, in water there is bacteria

IP: Logged

[Doug-Thompson]

EARLY

Kill the Spanish. Let me repeat that. Kill the Spanish.

I play the Almohads by dropping taxes to the floor to preserve loyalty, leaving one unit in Cyrenacia and moving everything to invade Spain.

OPENING MOVES:

Turn 1: Sultan moves from Algeria to Morocco. All other troops, except a token garrison in Cyrenacia, move that direction. Que Almohad Urban Militia in Cordoba and Desert Archers in Morrocco. Build an observation tower in Cordoba and one in Cyrenacia. Que a spearmaker and 20 percent agriculture in Morocco. I que 20 percent agriculture in the other provinces, too, but suit yourself.

Turn 2: Sultan moves from Morocco to Cordoba, and all available troops do so, too.

Turn 3: Invade Castile. If the Spanish fight, kill the king.

ALMOHAD EARLY BATTLE TACTICS

Fighting with the Almohads is not the same as Christian slugfests. AUM are superb units, even dominant in the early period. However, you're trying to hold down your casualties because you are going to have to garrison large, rich rebellious Christian provinces. So you need to be crafty and patient.

In fact, I recommend turning the time limit off on battles.

Skirmishing

You have one unit that is unconventional -- desert archers -- and one unit that is just strange -- Berber camels.

Both units can skirmish well. They can go forward a bit, fire, cause significant casualties to unarmored units, and fall back.

However, keep the AUM and skirmishers close. Desert archers are faster than melee infantry but not that much faster. Berber camels have little to fear from an equal number of jinettes but aren't as good against knights. More important, Berber camels have poor morale and are too slow to get away from any cavalry if they get into trouble. They need support.

Your skirmishing units have poor morale. If they rout, the chain reaction can destroy your whole army.

So, keep your AUM in easy support distance of your skirmishers and inflict as many casualties as you can with arrows before making melee contact. Jinettes are a favorite target for arrows. So are urban militia. Militia are unarmored, very vulnerable to missiles, not very fast and they have an anti-armor bonus against AUM if they ever get to melee.

AUM -- The Killers

After causing as much havoc and death as possible with missiles, close in with AUM and finish things. Keep the desert archers handy, though, even if they are out of arrows.

When an AUM unit routs its opponent, break off the pursuit and have that AUM attack another unit that's still fighting. If possible, let a unit of Desert Archers who are out of arrows keep up the pursuit of the routed unit. Desert Archers are fast. They'll be tired, but will do a decent job of keeping up the scare.

Have Berber camels get around the Spanish king's unit and melee attack it from the rear. Be careful about using your Ghulam Bodyguards, but don't be shy.

The pursuit

When the general rout begins, that's when Saharan cavalry comes into its own. They chase down routers superbly and have decent enough melee stats to do something with their catch. I once had a very early battle with the Italians, who had invaded Valencia, and one unit of 80 Saharan cavalry took 516 prisoners.

The Saharans should be drawn out in a two-rank line to spread their net as wide as possible. Put them in a wedge to squeeze through tight spots. Remember to charge through fleeing units, not just order an attack.

The more routers you capture in Castile, the less you'll have to fight in Leon. Even if you ransom the prisoners, the Spanish will have less money for new troops.

MOPPING UP SPAIN

Finish off the Spanish if they survive in Leon. You may wait a turn or two to get some Murabitin javelin troops from your spearmaker in Morocco, and AUM from Cordoba. Peasants in Castile's garrison will also free your good units.

See the section about Murabitin assassination's of royalty farther down.

If you were lucky enough to kill the Spanish king in Castile -- who's always a tough son-of-a-gun -- and his heirs, you will be able to leave the rebels in Leon and attack Valencia if you want to. Nobody's going to reach Leon while you hold Castile, although the Spanish faction will probably re-appear.

Many Almohad players bribe El Cid, but I think that's far too much money for a good general, some Jinettes you can't rebuild and some spears.

MURABITIN KING KILLERS

Javelin troops take a certain knack and a lot of practice, but are very deadly, especially to small groups of knights that are stuck in melee. This makes them king-killers extraordinaire.

Spread javelins out two ranks deep, set them to hold position, turn fire at will off and put them close to the target before ordering them to attack. If they are right behind AUM that are also only two ranks deep, that's quite close enough.

Murabitins are also much better at pursuing routers than Desert Archers. They are just as fast, have much, much better melee stats and have very good morale.

DEFEATING EL CID

The secret of effectively fighting El Cid is Saharan Cavalry. Remember queing that 20 percent farming in Morocco? That's so you can build a horse farm to replace casualties to your Saharan Cavalry and build more. (Cyrenacia has a bonus, but is too far away. Also, you get little revenue from the 20 percent agriculture improvement you need before you can get a horse farmer. Do that one later.)

Put peasants in conquered Spanish provinces and move good units on El Cid. Keep your army together and make him bring his army to you. If he plays coy with the Jinettes, wipe out his spears with Berber camel arrow fire, with Saharan cavalry accompanying them. When he tries to interfere with jinettes, slip the leash on the Saharan cav and close in with the rest of your army, particularly Ghulams.

Now you have, all of Iberia except Portugal, Aragon, and Navarre.

NOW WHAT?

Get your self a shipbuilder in Cordoba. You have a very long, very vulnerable coastline.

I make allies with Aragon and put one fleet each in the Gulf of Valencia and along the coast north of Spain ASAP. Now I'm safe from sea-borne invasion. Christian states can only attack me through Crusade if they march through Aragon. If Aragon conquers Navarre, so much the better.

PORTUGAL AND DIPLOMACY

Somebody's going to invade Portugal. It had better be you. Christian invaders can come by sea, right through your ship screen, to invade this rebel province. Then Leon and Cordoba are exposed to invasion.

Speaking of the Christians, I like to ally with the one that's winning of the inevitable French-English war. That way, if they start a Crusade and the shortest route is through you, you can allow the Crusade to pass. Muslim brotherhood be damned. After all, you're going to get ...

THE EGYPTIAN ATTACK

Plan on the Egyptians attacking you. Exceptions are rare.

Your mission is to make sure they don't get anything for their trouble but the Cyrenacia sand trap, and that they soon lose that -- and Egypt. Leave Cyrene taxes very low. Make sure the Egyptians have to have a large garrison there since the province is so loyal to you.

The Eqyptians don't have anything that can effectively stop AUM and desert archers. Here, I'd recommend dropping the initial skirmish and just go at them, Christian style. The desert archers will cause plenty of casualties on the unarmored Nubian spears and Bedouin camels from behind the AUM. Murabitins will take care of any Ghulams who give you trouble.

When the Egyptians rout, you'll be amazed at the number of prisoners you will take.

Also, you should seriously consider building a Ribat in Cordoba fairly early and declaring Jihad on Cyrenacia. A little extra influence and piety for your ruler and some free units, including siege units, never hurts.

OK. I RULE FROM THE PYRENEES TO SINAI. NOW WHAT?

You're on your own from here.

A few general tips:

Control the sea (duh)

Make multiple Jihads. If you don't know how to use Jihads, learn.

Make Bedouin Camels in Egypt and elsewhere. They play havoc with Crusader knights.

Learn to use Faris. They are one of the few new units you get as the ages roll on.

If you want decent heavy cavalry, you're going to have to take Armenia and Lesser Armenia sometime, to get Armenian Heavy Cavalry.

Upgrade, upgrade, upgrade. Retrain, retrain, retrain.

[TheBMeistor!]

The key to defeating the Spanish is to hit them as quickly as possible. I send one Saharan Cav unit to defend the border with Egypt, the rest of my armies I move to Cordoba.

The first turn that your king can invade Spain do so, if you use all the units available the Spanish will retreat to Leon.

If you let him retreat to Leon you will have to defeat an even larger army of mostly Jinettes, which can be a real pain. Instead I would invade Castille with about 6 units; your king, 4 DA, and one AUM. He will fight an army of that size and it is possible to kill him this way.

I lucked out a little on deployment though I think as the Spanish army deployed opposite a wooded hill in the middle of the map. As soon as the battle started we both charged up to meet in the center, my AUM gave him quite a surprise when he recieved thier charge in the woods. No idea why the Spanish king led a charge from the front of his army into the woods but the net result was a dead king and an entire army routing.

The king died with no hier and Leon became a rebel province, which was much easier to take later.

[katank]

I prefer to split my forces during the first year my king attacks.

2 AUM, two berber camels, 1 DA are all you need to take Leon.

hit them the same turn as invasion of Castille with rest of forces.

you should be able to get at least two AUMs and 2 DAs in Castille along with peasants for affordable mass.

I use peasants for archer protection.

peasants in hold hold actually take a bit of time to chew through and my AUMs and king get time to flank and break off their attack.

the battle is a bit tough but as TheBMeistor says, it's quite possible to kill the Spanish king.

In Leon, rush the enemy inf with the AUMs and take some potshots at the enemy inf with DAs before chasing the enemy archer unit around the map.

the jinettes can be easily handled by your berber camels.

the boys outranged the jinettes and can also kill them in melee.

as long as your berber camels keep those lousy jinettes off the backs of you AUMs, they can chew through any enemy inf and rout the entire Spanish lines.

you may be at risk of a rebellion once you take both but you should be switching to pumping peasants in cordoba and morocco on the turn you attack.

[Mouzafphaerre]

-
Early/Normal

Bribe El Cid and use him, along with your Khalife or Prince (who comes the second or third turn) to conquer Castillia.

Never rely the Egyptian bastards; fortify and build up Libya.

Don't build armourer+ in your African provinces, maybe except Morocco.

Crash the Spanish and Aragonese ASAP. Know the value of El Cid's Jinettes and use them efficiently.

As valid for every faction, build up the strongest navy on the map, not the second Crash anybody potentially threatening your naval superiority.

The game is yours. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-smile.gif

PS: Thanks Katank
_

[katank]

I respectfully disagree with bribe cid part.

I find that bribing him on hard or expert is equivalent to economic suicide early on and that mean no units for a while.

Hence, I would just use the khalif and forgo the cid, rather going for an extra AUM or two.

Crushing Spain and Aragon and esstablish mountainous border at Navarre/Aragon is essential.

[Doug-Thompson]

There's a real problem with letting Leon go rebel if you kill the Spanish king in Castille. On the harder difficulty levels, there's a good chance the Spanish faction will re-emerge, stronger than it ever was.

[katank]

I never had a reemergence there in the two times I tried this. (both on expert).

I did get some nasty christian rebellions though but my AUMs nicely handled them with the aid of forests and hills.

[Doug-Thompson]

Quote[/b] (katank @ May 22 2004,21:09)]I never had a reemergence there in the two times I tried this. (both on expert).
You're luckier than I've been. I've only had it happen once, but it was a dandy -- about two full stacks, mostly militia trash but a lot of jinettes, and a five-star king.

[katank]

that doesn't sound that bad.

a few units of AUMs hiding in the forest can take that.

I hate stupid militia seargents though because of their AP ability.

DAs can knock them out nicely but jinettes are a pain as you said.

[Kristaps]

Quote[/b] (katank @ May 22 2004,21:09)]I never had a reemergence there in the two times I tried this. (both on expert).

I did get some nasty christian rebellions though but my AUMs nicely handled them with the aid of forests and hills.
well, you were lucky. a reemergence can happen in any of the provinces or a few of them that the faction used to hold before it died out. i've seen Spanish reemerge all over the map after some plague killed their last king (but before his death they held a good part of the map).

[katank]

I know the horrors of reemergence but found it a risk worth taking as often this early on, the game engine cuts you a bit of slack.

sacking both is necessary. sacking Leon to stop the neverending flood of annoying jinettes and castile to prvent more spanish javs, spears, and possible crusades.

attacking only one woudl also mean that the spanish king gets to go to the other province and consolidate, possibly opening cordoba to counterattack.

if you have sufficient amounts to safeguard cordoba and assault the Spanish homelands, then that type of attack is too late for my liking.

it's best to beat the Aragonese to Navarre as otherwise it could be a bit more messy.

just my two cents.

[RollingWave]

Almos are definately one of the easiest faction to start with in early..... (along with danes, egypt imho )

You get the AUM, which is by far the most cost effective infantry in the game until high (And even then it's still quiet good... only varian guards are seriously better but they are also seriously more expensive and slower and harder to get)

Berber camels are ok units... they can skrimish a little and they can take on most light cavs and maybe win if they have superior position/moral/upgrades, something that can't be said for all other early era archers. and having an extra rout chaser is never bad.

Saharah cavs are very nice, yes stepp cavs are better but no one can get those early on, while u have a province that give you +1 bonus, you also now have the best light cav early on

The key is... as everyone else already meantioned, control iberian penensula fast, you may choose to bribe el cid if you want, I think if you want to do that you either do it at the first turn or wait till u completely kill spain. cause u won't have enouhg money in between to really do it anyway... try to mass everything and then take spain fast. after that build up a good shipping force while try to steal egypt (though don't go too deep into the middle east yet imho... too many crusade and too many enemy to be worth it)

Once you got the money rolling try to push into france, I would usually ally with the italians and sicillians to secure trading, try to take the biggest advantage out of the french/english war, then push into the brithish isle and scandanavia and see if the holy roman empire is avaliable (usually they are just huge army of crap units... perfect for ur army to counter).

Try not to fight with the italians and byzantians (or really who ever has a big stake in the mediterrian trade) for as long as ur able.... try to secure the western side of the map and let the hoard help you destroy the east... if you havnt' pushed deeper into the middle east yet start doing it as the hoard arrive.. should be easy as whoever is winning the turk/byzantian/egyptian slugfest is gonna get hit hard and be quiet occupied.

key to countering the western army:
1. napta and javlin: when the going gets tough, blow them up I say, if u can properly use these u can defeat even the most sophisticated army in late age

2. camels: berbers are only decent vs light cavs and somewhat acceptable vs medium cavs like mounted sergents... but for the heavier stuff definately try to get bedoiuns and flank them....

Disadvantages:

Spearmen: probably the biggest thing the almohads miss for a complete early game domination is the best spearmen in early game ... saracen infantry, instead they have the rely on nubians which are actrually pretty decent too, the murawhid infantry are more for charging... use ur nubians to take the heat and charge them with muhawid/bedouins and ghazis.

Horse archer: if you don't have VI then u don't have faris:/, which kinda makes it hard when fighting vs high age egypt or the turks/mongols in general.

Heavy cav: a disadvantage for muslims in general but even more so for the Almohads.... try to gain an early advantage ..... ur gonna need to rely a lot on numbers and superior generals later on..... if you want you can try and secure the armenian heavy cavs early as they are good if u use them well but fighting deep into the mid east that early is just dumb..... ghulums are ok replacements but don't count on them to beat good units in a head on charge.

coastline: a rather too long coast line means u gotta get into the sea quiet fast or have crusade landing left and right....

[katank]

I actually find armored up saharan cav from cyrenacia to work better than ghulams.

I know it may sound crazy but V2 saharans from there have 4 attack and their defence need to be pumped up a bit with some armor but the main purpose of cav is to maneuver and the saharans don't suffer that much from less defence and their speed makes them maneuver better than ghulams.

the more attack also means more of an impact of shock charge in flank or rear.

they can also catch stuff better.

so without AHC, you best cav bet is saharans.

if using nubians, try and get them some armor and morale or they don't do their job very well.

sometimes I just prefer muwahids and AUMs for aggressive attacking infantry line instead of pin and flank types.

they ae also the only muslims with militia seargents which is interesting.

[RollingWave]

That is true, but it depend on ur approach towards battle I guess... having a pinning unit is still good and nubian is one of the best you get.... IIRC stats wise they aren't that much suckier than feudual sergents and they got better moral/disciplin... and you may be right... between the royal guards and the v1 + saharans there's not much of a point to ghulums...... (sad.... the other 2 muslims need them even less lol)

Taking Egypt relatively early so you can train bedoiuns is kinda nice too.... and will keep the eggies in check more.. but never do it until you kill the spaniards.

[katank]

establish 2 province border of navarre and aragon before hitting the eggy.

I would also recommend against heavy AUM use as they woudl be fried.

by ghulams, I meant ghulam cav as ghulam BGs still pack a punch although 20 men units aren't that useful in raw numbers.

[Doug-Thompson]

Quote[/b] (katank @ May 26 2004,16:46)]I actually find armored up saharan cav from cyrenacia to work better than ghulam (bodyguards)
Now that's something I hadn't considered before. Have to give that a try.

As for the lack of spears, the murabitin/muwahid combo may be a pain to micromanage but is quite effective. I don't miss Saracen Infantry that much.

[katank]

yep, they are only weak in the defence and armor department but work reasonably well once at 2 armor or so.

they also compensate for lower defence than ghulam cav by being stronger on the attack.

I frankly prefer cav with more attack and less defense as I use them as finesse units for flanking and rear attacking and they usually don't have the defence come into play, only killing rate.

[Kristaps]

Quote[/b] (Doug-Thompson @ May 27 2004,20:29)]
As for Almo's lack of decent spears in the Early: I disagree. The nubian spear-men are carbon copies (sta-wise) of feudal sergeants that Catholics get: and there is no better spear unit (except Italian Infantry) available to Catholics in the early era.

[katank]

actually, saracen inf are carbon copies of chiv seargents although not as tough as italian inf.

The nubians are pretty good in being disciplined and actually work better in the desert than saracens.

However, I prefer muwahids and AUMs with militia searges and occasional dash of ghazi as my infantry when playing the almos only recently adding in some murabitins when I got a renewed appreciation for javs.

Almos battles line should be far more oriented towards attack and mobility rather than defense as nubians.

[RollingWave]

I tend to use the AUM as my prime force... I find in most cases it's probably better to just try to steam roll through everything with AUM while using ur cavs/muhawid to flanks adn ur archer to provide a little cover fire... and use teh napta/javlin to provide the big focus fire power where you need them (usualyl where ur trying to charge through with ur AUM ....)

This seems like a completely opposite of turk style... where u should try to seriously own them with horse archer then break them with charge... while using some saracen inf and napta+turko foot to hold a steady middle line where u can regroup....

[katank]

me too, almos are a lot more rush heavy with the fast murabitins and the hard hitting AUMs with muwahids being attacker spears as well while lacking the defensive saracens.

steam rolling is better with almos.

However, in later periods, you shoudl switch more to the turk style and use faris etc to tire them out before going in as your AUMs will actually get beat by CMAA.

BTW, your name is quite apropos, eh?

[RollingWave]

The problem is that I don't have VI which means I don't have faris http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-oops.gif , though usually if you can secure the Iberians fast you should easily still be able the win big tiem during high thx to much better upgraded units and overwhelming numbers (not to meantion you still have the arbalest... just mass them with attack upgrade and u win :P)

Gernada AUM with 2 lvl of armor upgrade is still far far better than any CMAA :P

Another great thing about using Muslims are teh Jihads... prety much means once u take a piece of land there's little chance of anyone taking it from you again.... I usually try to get some nice shipping access (espically vs the eggies and whoever is winning the turko/byzantian war,) and land several army at their shore... they will at least retreat from a few of those province and once they try to take it back I just move to anotehr province and summon a few jihad to overwhelm them :P

[katank]

it's fairly true that AUMs are still strong particularly from granada which means they can match CMAA with iron upgrades etc, but in general they are less effective.

also, the late era catholic knights are actually more of a problem as you rarely have a sword duel but may faced bonused Chiv knights, lancers, or gothic kngihts pouring onto your AUMs and your AUMs just not able to hold them.

lack of saracens or other heavy spears mean that it's not so easy to coutner those uber knights.

[RollingWave]

But as long as you destroy spain and the french relatively quickly it is rare that anyone can pull off a significant amount of knights against you :P and when they do try a huge amount of arbalest with some nubian/murhawid to try to tank a bit while kamakazi them with naphta and murabin is ur best bet I guess... and if they don't take the charge head on than usually AUM can last a while vs knights too

[katank]

that's fairly true.

I frankly haven't tried high or late almos and I guess kngihts woudln't be a problem with my rabid blitzing either.

HRE can barely survive often so it's hard to imagine them fielding gothics but sometimes they do.

I do think that uber upgraded AUMs with weapons etc. can take most everything though.

[ah_dut]

summary plus own tips:
Alhomads: They are a fairly unique and peculiar faction. They can fight Christian style or Muslim style.
First I wish to talk about the Alhomad style of battle.
First the AUM or alhomad urban militia. This is considered to be able to pwn any unit in early. ( I disagree VG will spank them on equal everything) They are heavily armoured and can be used in early to attack even the powerful FMAA head to head. They are your legion unit, the meat grinder to whoop somebody’s sorry ass. However, they need support.
To support them you have brilliant skirmish units. In the words of Doug-Thompson ‘You have one unit that is unconventional -- desert archers -- and one unit that is just strange -- Berber camels.’ I agree but they are very micro heavy. I like to send the DA out in a skirmish line with the AUM right behind them. They are good archers so use them. They are faster than conventional troops so keep an eye out. I like Berber camels a lot. While unusual they are able to dispatch Jinetes and other pesky units, while skirmishing. They are slow but capable in combat against horses.
Your other skirmish unit deserves special mention, the murabitin javelineer. It rocks put simply. They are AP so can kick those damnable Spanish royals (who you will be fighting right?) these are better pursuit troops than DA in my opinion. They have some combat skill and are also fast.
Cavalry: you have relatively boring cav. You have pursuit cav in the Saharan cav, average medium but not capable in the drawn out melee in the form of the ghulam cav. You have an excellent attack cav in the form of the ghulam bodyguard. Nice and lethal.
Doug-Thompson defines what to do very well: MOPPING UP SPAIN

Finish off the Spanish if they survive in Leon. You may wait a turn or two to get some Murabitin javelin troops from your spearmaker in Morocco, and AUM from Cordoba. Peasants in Castle’s garrison will also free your good units.

If you were lucky enough to kill the Spanish king in Castile -- who's always a tough son-of-a-gun -- and his heirs, you will be able to leave the rebels in Leon and attack Valencia if you want to. Nobody's going to reach Leon while you hold Castile, although the Spanish faction will probably re-appear.

Now get yourself a shipbuilder, you’ve got a long coast ahead of you. Also get yourself Portugal or you’ll have a lot more to defend now whoop some Egyptian ass now. Make sure you rule from the Pyrenees to Sinai. My job is done.
Doug-Thompson has the idea for the rest of the game: Make multiple Jihads. If you don't know how to use Jihads, learn.

Make Bedouin Camels in Egypt and elsewhere. They play havoc with Crusader knights.

Learn to use Faris. They are one of the few new units you get as the ages roll on.

If you want decent heavy cavalry, you're going to have to take Armenia and Lesser Armenia sometime, to get Armenian Heavy Cavalry.

Upgrade, upgrade, upgrade. Retrain, retrain, retrain.
Ah_dut

additions: against knights, give em naptha http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-jester.gif
additons: Katank says get v2 saharans in cyrenia and a maste horse breeder, it's very good and beats a ghulam any time

[katank]

knights being hit by naptha is good policy.

murabitins are awesome due to all of what ah_dut mentionned but also their 4 morale means they work better than most other javs.

I still advocated pumped saharans as with v2, they have 4 and are actually better shock troops than the rather mediocre ghulam cav they only have less defense. However, this isn't that much of an issue as you shouldn't really be charging the medium cav type ghulams head on anyhow.

24/26 for saharans mean they actually maneuver faster and better.

ghulam cav are too high tech to be worthwhile for their stats.

ghulam BGs are still awesome but their cost in support is prohibitive.

I hate royal BGs as part of regular army except for royals and heroes. their support costs make them merc like in expense.

keep level v2 saharans can already beat them.

[RollingWave]

Not to meantion saharan tend to lvl up in valor really fast when you win since they'll always take 100+ prisoner if they survive in one piece:P ... with their dirt cheap cost pretty soon u'll have a stack or 2 of v3 v4 saharan cav and almohads start with by far the best generals anyone else except the byz gets....

[frogbeastegg]

ah_dut, I have edited your summery into the first post of this topic. Thank you for your hard work http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/geisha_happy.gif

[ah_dut]

thank you Froggy sorry it took ages and i've got school http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-book2.gif

[Doug-Thompson]

Thanks for the mention in your post, ah_dut. It's nice to see somebody name a source in a forum posting. It's unusual on other forums.

Thanks again.

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/medievalcheers.gif

[ah_dut]

I always, give credit, avoids flaming. It also lets people know, the people in the know in the TW community (ie not me) http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-jester.gif

[Grand Duke Vytautas]

Hi, fans of MTW ~:) . Yes sir, the Almohads is one of my favourite factions, their troops are cool and unique and can kick Catholic ass easily ~D , if you use them well. I agree with, the fact that the Spanish must be conquered as soon as possible, otherwise they become a real pain in the ass later on with Crusades. After I finish up with Spanish, then the Rebels must be destroyed, later the aragonese. Then I secure my kingdom, build up economy for a while, build fleet, prepare defences and march into Egypt.
My favourite structure of an Almohad army:
1. infantry-swords: of course the backbone is Almohad urban militia (these guys rock on the battlefield!); Ghazi infantry is super-fanatical infantry and can make the enemy army flee in seconds, if you place them on the edges and then flank quickly, when the front is engaged (excelent morale!). Arab infantry is useful in desert, place them on flanks. I don't use urban militias at all - they are GAMECUBE units (bad morale and combat rating) And of course peasants as usual sit in garnison (you don't want them in battle, do you?)
2. infantry-spearmen: a good unit is Muhawid foot soldiers, I place them in the center. A good substitute for MFS is Militia sergeants, but the flanks must be defended, cause MS have low morale. In desert I use the Negrospearmen, they are a good disciplined unit.
3. infantry-ranged: archers in Europe, desert archers in desert, Murabitin infantry is very cool in defence (while the skirmish mod is set-off and they're behind spearmen); Hashishin is definetely the best archers of Almos and maybe the best in the game. BTW one unit of Naphta Throwers is also great (when defending especially); In High and Late period when you have gunpowder, you'll have some gunmen ~;) .
4. Cavalry: The backbone of cavalry is Ghulam Cavalry and bodyguards (especially in Europe); Saharan light cavalry and Bedouin Camels (poor poor Western Knights in desert ~D :charge: ) in deserts (they rock if you use them wisely). Also Berber Camels is a unique unit, which can be later used with Faris.
5. Siege and artillery depends on everyones personal taste, but gunpowder artillery is definetely the coolest and I can't wait for High period.

Good luck with Almos, mates ~:cheers: ! Let's teach those "fellow" Christians.

[Age]

What are these people and where in the modern world do they live?Thanks.

[RollingWave]

Basically they were Moors IIRC, which is a north African people in modern day Morroco Algeria Tunisia ?

At the height of the Muslim expansion they crossed from Africa to the Iberian across the Giberatal and established their kingdom ther.

[Don Corleone]

I think they also moved into Sicily, Malta and Naples at various times.

[kalifah of watton]

greetings my almohad brothers.peace be upon you.im currently playing a game with them and i agree with most of the advice on this thread.its 1190 and i rule from southern france to arabia.whacked the spanish as soon as i could then turned on the egyptians.had huge navy defending my coastline.then attacked the byzantines in arabia.so far so good but then my ships started getting blitzed by those decadent greeks.this was followed by me losing eygpt and cyrenacia to amphibious assault.so i scorched arabia and sinai and pulled my armies back to retake those lost provinces.revenge was sweet.dont know what will happen next,probably a ruinous war of attrition with the byzantines.
a little note on tactics which i have used recently with both catholic and muslim factions.pin the bulk of the enemy with your aum or whoever and then group your ghulams/knights into a super unit of 4 or 5.charge it round the flank and go for the enemy general.one or two of your cav may get pinned by enemy spears but i find most get through and wreck havoc.its not very sun tzu and you may take heavy casulties but the enemy usually rout pretty quickly and you can make up your losses from ransom money.im keeping a chronicle of this game which i will post when its finished.i dont usually have access to the internet so dont hold your breath.all comments and constructive critisim welcome.
ciao
the kalifah of watton :charge:

[British Mutt + Viking]

My experience with this game says that the best way to win Almohads is to settle on choosing one route to expand. You can go east, taking Egypt and Sinai, while fortifying cordoba, or you can expand into the Iberian Peninsula and try to conquer all of it and make a new border ose Aragon and Navarre. Once you have done that, launch no more offensives, just fortify those three border regions you will have, and start expanding your trade links, mining the gold in North Africa, and trying to be the Muslim buddy to Europe. Crusades might come after you, and if you occupy Iberia, the French or whoever rules France at this stage, will try to force you out of Aragon and Navarre, but overall, you will be at peace. The best defence against amphibious invasion is a navy, so build one quickly as possible and in as many provinces as possible, build shipyards! Also, a strong deterrent to attacking you is to instantly wipe out their navies if they attack you. That way, once peace is re-made, they will be less likely to attack you again.
Invading Iberia is the more profitable route, but also by far the more dangerous and difficult. It is more of a "gamble" but the pay-off is greater. I always go this route if I am up to putting myself to the challenge, but the Spanish and Aragonese are tough and the French or English can rarely resist a chance to interfere. But as long as you are bold and don't hesitate to attack, attack, attack, you will be victorious and give yourself the perfect platform to start conquering whatever you want. In Iberia, you will find iron to give your Muslim troops armour, which will give them the survivability they lack by default, tradable goods to rival Egypt, and perhaps you can afford to bribe El Cid.

[N0valoco]

So far, I've taken the Iberian peninsula completely, have a good stable relationship with Egypt, have France stuck between me and the Germans in Europe and am going to start on Sicily due to some rather good assassinations from them.

So far, these guys are working for me. :) Never forget, fight a one-theater war if at all possible against one opponent at a time. Build up the gold and silver mines along the southern Med and then run rampant through Europe.

So far, nobody's been able to Crusade me due to well-placed spies.

I am so glad I got this game! :)

Cheers,
N0valoco

[KhaderKhan]

What are these people and where in the modern world do they live?Thanks.

Correct me if am wrong but I think they were Berbers, they at present from what I know live in North Africa.

(A famous French footballer is a Berber, Zinedine Zidane)

[Sea Warrior]

This is my first post on this forum,
so, hello to all.

The first time I conquered the map was with the Almohads,
so they hold a special place in my heart. I was well over
200 g's in debt, but I didn't care. The last campaign I had
well over 2 million banked, and a Fortress in all but one of
the provinces (again with the 'mohads).

One trick that I have'nt seen and I came across quite by
accident. Capture the Spanish king instead of Killing him.
If the spanish decide to ransom him back, it will be a big shot
in the arm to your early economy, and pretty much cripple
theirs.

[KhaderKhan]

Am pllaying the Almohads at the moment and at present am on the verge of capturing the entire map but there's one blip. Ireland has no ports so therefore I can't seemed to land an invasion force on Ireland and complete the game. Does anyone know a way around this?

[KhaderKhan]

Problem solved. Captured the entire map under the space of a 100+ years, how's that for a record...

[Byzantine_Fury]

Whewn playin as the Elmos is there any difference in the way you handle the Argonese compared to the spanish?:san_laugh:

[Umbramortii]

I love the Almohads, they're my favourite faction, though I tend to play all three Muslim factions. I just prefer Muslim armies, they are more quirky, require more thought to use and so are more fun than Catholic armies.

I used to be immensely frustrated with Ghulam Cavalry and how weak they were compared to Catholic knights... until I realized the truth. Ghulam Cav aren't meant for squaring off against knights, that was never their intended purpose. They are best used to break infantry with flank charges. Nowadays I use about two Ghulam Cav per army in that way, leaving knights to Muwwahids and Murabitin. Oh and Ghulam Cav are also great in pursuit, but way less fragile than Saharan Cav.

[Geezer57]

Am pllaying the Almohads at the moment and at present am on the verge of capturing the entire map but there's one blip. Ireland has no ports so therefore I can't seemed to land an invasion force on Ireland and complete the game. Does anyone know a way around this?
Just to answer your question in case someone else hasn't figured it out: you don't need a port in your target province to invade. You need a ship chain, and a port, in the province(s) from which you launch the invasion.

[John XVI]

I started my Almo Campaign on early,and first instinct was of course to build up my armies. I was surprised how easy the spanish were to crush,but then again I had hundreds of Nubian Spearmen and AUM. I didn't want to go to war with Egypt,so i made an alliance with them and staged massive army on the border just so that they won't stab me in the back. Anyway,I wiped out Spain and Aragon without any pain at all and created a navy that could easily transport my troops from Africa to Southern Germany. The italians try and send a crusade in Cordoba,but they can only wipe out Aragon(what can I say,I had only peasants there and main body of my troops were pillaging France.),before my not-so-shiny troops wear the crusade down and recapture the province that was left to the rebels. I was able to proceed all the way to Switzerland with the troops that I had sent through Spain and with those shipped from Africa. ~:cheers: . But my joy was cut short when I had to format my hard drive and I lost the saves :/.

[acesman]

I downloaded the XL Mod, and the game for the Almohads is a little different, with a well-armed Portugal, and a more agressive AI. I just started with the Almohads in this mod, and wondered if anyone had any thoughts on their different experiences with the Almos in MTW and the XL Mod.

[SCRIBE]

any good tips for ransacking the Castillians in the early prd of the Almos?

I currently have my king and 1 of his sons with an army of over 900 or so soldiers consisting of AUM, Ghazis, Nubian spearmen, and DAs.
While the Castillians have spearmen, jinettes, feudal MAA and their Royal Cav.
Also their king is in Navarre, and some upstart weak son of his is commander of the armies in Castille, should I attack these guys now?

:knight:

[Empirate]

On the historical questions laid down here: The Almohads were originally Berbers, that's right. But they're not historically defined as a people but as a religious reform movement.They developed out of a revival of pure Quranic Islam that took place in the 11th century in Morocco and Algeria. AFAIK, they were the first to build Ribats - withdrawal places of religious learning, often producing powerful, tight-knit groups of "holy" warriors (as is reflected in the game with Ghazis). Their forebears, the Almoravids (another religious reform movement, holding to slightly different tenets), had taken over the southern Iberian peninsula after the decadent lot of the Umayyad Corduban Caliphate and the Iberian taifa kingdoms (smaller Muslim city states) had gradually lost a lot of ground to the early phases of Reconquista. They called for help from their Muslim brothers in Morocco and Algeria, and the Almoravids came. They weren't overly successful against the military genius of the Aragonese King Alphonse I. "el Batallador" (meaning, "the fighter of battles"), and the Almohad movement slowly subverted their efforts and attacked them in Africa. The Almoravids were destroyed as a dynasty in 1147 and replaced by the Almohads, who took over their works and organization of state. These felt they were - literally - a godsend for the poor embattled Muslims in al-Andalus. So they struck back at the Christian states in the north with fresh religious and military vigor and actually drove them back for a while. They also established a new Caliphate, making the Calipha count three again (besides Baghdad and Cairo). Originally, Islam was supposed to have only one Calipha, but at the time of M:TW, there were the Almohads in Iberia and Morocco, the Shiite Fatimids in Egypt, and the Sunni Abbasids in Mesopotamia.

To summarize: The "Almohads" we play in M:TW are actually at first, Umayyads, a bit later, Almoravids, and only from 1147 on they're proper Almohads.


Edit: This post probably belongs in the monastery... Sorry for that, but the question came up.

[caravel]

Great post Empirate. Similarly the Turks are at first the Seljukid Empire and (much) later the Ottomans. CA defined them as simply "the Turkish" not a dynasty or particular empire but a generic ethnic group. Similarly the Almohads should probably have been called "The Moors", which in M2TW they will be. Another faction having a similar problem are the Spanish. In reality Castilla-León. It is a simple matter to rename these. The worst is Egypt, that sounds so wrong, in many ways.

[The Wizard]

The Almohads should have two names, one for the Early age and one for the High: al-Murabitun (Almoravids) and al-Muwahhidun (Almohads), both religiously fanatic movements that grew into large regional powers.

Historically, the Murabitids went further South (they grew into a powerful military organization on the banks of the Niger), while the Almohads went the furthest West (taking Tunisia).

Therefore the setup of the Early Almohads is incorrect -- they are too far West. No matter; from a gameplay point of view (strategical considerations) it makes little to no difference for them to control only Morocco or all the provinces up to Tunisia, save perhaps a bit more concentration upon mopping up rebels to deny the Egyptians a chance to advance deeper into Africa.

As far as strategy goes, I'd advise you to move quickly. Don't concentrate on trying to contend with the Egyptians; they can wait. A far more acute danger eminates from the Christian kingdoms to your North, who, left unattended, can easily build large armies of units that overpower your own -- at least until you come into possession of the feared Almohad Urban Militia.

So attack one of the organized factions (rebels right off the bat) within the first five years, and make sure to make full use of the qualities of your army (skirmish-based). Take care not to get surrounded in any province (Castile is especially prone to this, with multiple enemies coming in from all sides).

Once you're in control of the entirety of Iberia, as you should be, your power is far more secure. You only need two or three potent garrisons, two for the Pyrenees and one for North Africa, to be able to adequately react to any potential invaders. With such low upkeep issues you're free to build a formidable trade empire and start picking off fools at your leisure.

[PaulTa]

As any muslim nation I would suggest creating a sub-group that has the honor of being the "general killer". If you can keep the other forces occupied long enough for an elite team consisting usually of a pinning unit, an AP unit, and a cav unit to kill the enemy general, you're a leap closer to routing the army... Once the enemy army starts routing, your muslim mobility becomes a truly remarkable asset.

[caravel]

There is a wikipedia page on the Almohads (Al-Muwahhidun), to give anyone a general idea of them. I have been looking for some decent books but haven't found anything any good as yet.

[doctrellor]

Yeah I agree with many posts here

KILL the Spanish!!

I took Valencia, then Portugal.. then Castile, and then Finally Aragon in that order..

I would build Watch towers, Mosque, town guard for happiness and those superb AUM's

for my troops, I crank out Desert archers, Murabitin Horsemen and AUM's

Once I controlled the Iberian Pen, the English attacked, and I had 3 5* gens with full stacks and I hit them hard and took the English out of Europe in 2 years..lol

Then I sat and waitied, and slowly built up growing my Navy and Econ...

The Eggys attacked, and I took Egypt/Sinai where the Front is now

The French had attacked the English & Germans and appeared VERY, VERY weak in France.. so I attacked them and took Brittany, Normany, Il De France, Flanders in 2 years as the French holdings in HRE fell due to civil war, and so I marched to Tulouse and took that after a smal seige

So at 1150, I control, Spain, France and All of North Africa...with a navy that protects my coasts..although I admit, I could of had them literally 30 years earlier but my econ would of been far worse.

One thing I dont have.. allies..:(

[Alouette]

I just looked at the unit stats for AUM.

What the hell? I mean seriously, what in Allah's name are stats that high doing on AUM?

Therefore I propose the following strategy:

-Prereq AUM in an iron prov.
-build AUM (don't stop, ever).
-Armor/attack upgrades until gold/gold.
-Add your general's unit and 2 comps of Saharan v2 cav for mop up duty.
-Walk forward. (don't stop, ever).

Seriously, nothing is going to stop those guys. Nothing. I was anticipating Viking-esque stats, not Janissary-esque stats.

[Alouette]

Currently trying an Almo game since the Danes conquered the world.

Seems pretty easy so far, the Spanish reemerged in Leon (I let it go rebel after I killed the Spanish king there), I just make AUM and then let them chew on things. I have Cyrenacia reqqed for Saharans, Granada prepping for V1 AUM, and a trade fleet building in Cordoba, Castile, Algeria, and Cyrenacia.

I bribed Cid in the 1110's to get a general who wasn't an heir to take the Cordoba star. I have two 7 star heirs though so I need to grab Ireland once I have a fleet to spec out whichever one doesn't ascend. The Spanish went over without much of a fight; AUM with desert archers makes extremely quick work of cavalry.

[caravel]

The Almos have some good units, albeit few unqiue ones. The berber camels are a half decent stand in for HA's, AUM need no description and the Saharan Cavalry available in the region are good for chasing down routers. The desrt archers are also a bonus as they're better and faster moving than vanilla archers.

[Timsup2nothin]

One thing not mentioned here is the diplomatic game for the Almohads. The list of powers that are important to them early is Sicily, Italy, and Egypt...and they are all usually included on the Byzantine enemies list fairly early on. So my cardinal rule is NEVER ally with the Byzantines, or anyone who has allied with the Byzantines, even though they can be counted on to show up and offer an alliance fairly early on.

In fact my second rule is: attack the Byzantines ASAP. Since Tunis builds better boats set out on turn one to get them going. Fort/keep/port/shipwright takes twenty years, which is long enough to get things settled in Iberia, then nine years to build three boats. In year thirty if the Byzantines are still in Naples you should be too. If someone already kicked them out look to Crete or Greece. Greece is nice but can be tough to hold. Naples is more of a pain than it's worth generally because a significant garrison aggravates the Pope and the Sicilians, but a weak garrison begs an invasion. I like grabbing the islands because the Byzantines are way to busy to do anything about it and no one else seems to care other than being glad you're in the anti-Byz mode. Whether you keep your gains from the attack or not isn't really important, either way you forge a unified Islamic front that can really go to work on the Christians.

When you attack the Byzantines it is almost a dead certainty that within five years you will get an alliance offer from the Turks, followed promptly by Egypt, and it's an alliance they will likely keep for the long haul if you've done right by them. Doing right by the Egyptians means NEVER posting an army on their border. Keep a strong deterrent force in Tunisia, and train them by quelling rebellions in the desert, but always withdraw immediately. If you don't build anything there the Egyptians feel little inclination to invade it. Since the Egyptians don't feel compelled to post the bulk of their army in Egypt and glare at the border they don't get cornered, because they beat the stuffing out of the Byzantines and will usually reach the Balkans, putting the bulk of their troops far away from you.

On a good day the attack on the Byzantines will also get you in the good graces of Italy and/or Sicily, but they may have some bad memories relating to former allies in Aragon or Spain. Even if they forgive that the Pope will probably be nagging them so they aren't very reliable in the long term, but they need you a lot more than you need them. Establish the Egyptian ports in the Eastern Med as your trade outlet, while the Italians and Sicilians need your ports or to get through Gibralter, both of which shut down on them if they attack you.

Eventually that unified Islamic front gets hit in their not quite unified Islamic rear by the Mongols. Being the loyal ally, when the horde rushes the rest of the faithful just continue mopping up Europe and let the Egyptians and Turks pull back to deal with it. Generally makes for a good 'division of the spoils'...good for you anyway.

[Master Young Phoenix]

I'm fighting a strange early-hard GA campaign with the Almohads at the moment.

I quickly and steadily conquered the Iberian Penninsula, got some alliances and prepared my attack on Egypt.

On my Northern Border, the English kept their peace against everyone while the French started a quite succesfull war against my ally the HRE. Best not to interfere for the moment. I started building a big trade based around Cordoba, Tunisia and Tripoli.

I quickly overran Egypt in little over 8 turns, and just when I exterminated the Egyptian dynasty, the Turks attacked me in Palestine. With their little conquest of the Holy land, they held but 2 provinces (Syria and Palestine, the rest was byzantine). I first seized Syriah to cut their escape and then slaughtered them in Palestine with 2 field-armies I'd innitially sent as reinforcements.

After ascertaining that the Byzantines would keep their peace I moved my roving eye back to Europe.

Then my neighbour the French Kingdom errupted into civil war and I took Toulouse and Burgundy from the rebels in a frenzy of opportunism.
Burgundy revolted in the name of France, and I decided to fight them for the Territory and finally got an alliance with the English.
The war in Burgundy swept back and forth for several years, but thanks to my naval policy (from the North Sea to the Black Sea, there's Almohad trade fleets) I could sent in masses of reinforcements and soon overwhelmed the French in all of their remaining original provinces and Swabia... I think the Kingdom of France has now been reduced to Saxony, which is shielded from me by the HRE and rebel Friesland.

The Almohads now control all of Africa, the Levant and Middle-East (except for modern-day Turkey), Iberia and also Toulouse, Burgundy, Ile-de-France, Champagne, Lorraine, Swabia and Flanders. My treasury is stable between 10- and 20k and I'm surrounded by allies, but that time may end soon... however, I'm not in a hurry to conquer and I think I'll be content for a while with getting the Al-Andalus and Alhambra GA's, Inch'allah. If someone attacks me, I got 4 Jihads and numerous full-stacks ready to destroy them, inch'allah.

no one seems to listen to the pope, he called crusade on me 5 times but I've yet to see one come my way... There haven't been crusades at all and the 12th century is about half way. my dynasty is stable too and most messages of People's support, tech advancement, income and armed might are greatly in my favour.

as troops AUM's are my main arm, though Nubian spears have proved usefull too. I mainly use desert archers and AUM, saharan cavalry for the chase or archer-heavy armies (like the French). Don't use a lot of murabitin, 2 units per army at most.

oh, and do Vices like Blackmailer and Greed reduce income to your faction? Them corrupt kafirs keeping things instead of forwarding it to the rightfull owner which would be ME (or YOU)?

[Martok]

Sounds like you've got a nice campaign going there, MYP. :2thumbsup:



oh, and do Vices like Blackmailer and Greed reduce income to your faction? Them corrupt kafirs keeping things instead of forwarding it to the rightfull owner which would be ME (or YOU)?
Correct. Your governors are more likely to get these vices when your empire has grown large. :yes:

[Master Young Phoenix]

I thought so and acted on it (disband/murder) for a while. Sadly, the blackmailers and greedy b-tards are often my princes and top-generals...

My campaign is going okay. The English king died without heir (and just before I could marry his last princess) so the Angevin empire fractured into smalle factions, I began absorbing those rebel provinces as I was finishing of the last remnants of France.

as soon as the King of France bit the Dust, Byzantium invaded Antioch. I quickly counter-attacked with jihad's and a few armies from coastal provinces. I occupied Constantinople, only to find 3 full stacks in Bulgaria on the border... That's where I am now, I pile in extra stacks on my own and fought the battle like 3 times, but each time the battle is finished, the game crashes and so glorious victories are lost :(

[gollum]

That was a nice campaign route, usually i leave the Egyptians be and concentrate my efforts in the western Med. I pester the Catholics taking off Malta, Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia from whoever has them while aiming for Provence and toulouse and genova as well. Also provocatively punish the Pope in his home ground that makes any strong and pious ruler send a few crusades in the Iberian pen, that make for fun fights. Eventually the Egypts betray me and start a usually brief sand war. Sinai is a good border unless one wants to get all the way to Constantinople in which there's little scope before the Mongol Invasion settles to a new balance of power in the east.

Ah, yes and the best part, blitzing the Spanish and Aragonese out of existence at the start.

[oz_wwjd]

As I usually play the Byzantines I also like Berber Camels,as target practice for my archers. Nothing trains them up better than having a large target that it's impossible to miss. Nubian Spears are the second-best target in the absence of any camels.

[HopAlongBunny]

Probably one of the easiest (after you solve the Spanish); AUM spam is almost as good as viking spam, Ghazi give a good anti armor unit.
The only "waste" unit is Ghulam cav; no real point to having them or producing them, but they seem to "star" in your jihad's so have a way to repair them.
Great early spam units, and jihad's! It really does not get much sweeter than this :yes:

[Sendor Klegani]

I really enjoyed reading this comment Cheetah, you made me laugh several times. :)