I've recently rediscovered the Hashishin in my latest Almohad game. I was doing fine with the combo of AUMs and Ghazis, but it was getting kinda boring. So, I decided to make an army with Hashishin as its core troops. In my previous experiences, they did not impress me much, being too fragile and whatnot.
Anyhow, this time around I made a dozen of Gold Weapon/Gold Armor Hashishin (thank goodness for iron rich Iberian provinces), and sent them to fight it out against the French.
A dozen of zero valor golden Hashishin UNITS led by a zero star general wiped the floor with the regular French army led by a 5 star general (your usual mix of swordsmen, sergeants, archers and knights)... From this point, I started throwing the Hashishin against tougher and tougher odds, and they just kept winning.
I did eventually have to throw in a few Pavise Arbies as insurance against those pesky Mtd Xbows and enemy Arbies, but other than that, the Hashishin slaughtered everything the came against, AND they gained valor like crazy. The ultimate test in melee came when they faced a full army of MHC (mostly heirs + Mongol Khan) ... Mongols fled after losing half of their troops. Hashishin did take some casualties, but they weren't severe.
Next came the English with a bunch of Billmen, Gallowglasses and Highlanders along with a bunch of Chiv Sergeants. This is one instance where Hashishin took more casualties than expected. NUmerically they were outnumbered about 7 to 1, but they came through and carried the battle anyway, even though a couple of units stood at 5 men (from the original 12). In short, yes, Highlanders die in droves, but they do manage to hurt the Hashishin somewhat.
Finally, I decided to try the Hashishin in Castle assaults. Loaded up my army with a bunch or Demi-canons and siege cannons, and went of the castle/citadel assault spree vs the Mongols in Russian steppes. Verdict: Castle assaults are a good way to valor up your green Hashishin. Most of the casualties came from the castle defences as the Hashishin approached the breached walls. Note: before sending in the Hashishin, I would pount the citadel with 11(!) units of cannon, concentrating mostly on walls and ballista towers. Then I'd send in 5 units of Hashishin (a total of 60 men), who would slaughter the remaining 350-400 defenders.
Final word: Hashishin RULE.
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