Armenia

[frogbeastegg]

This faction must be unlocked with game editing before you can play.

[Bhruic]

Armenia starts off in a mediocre situation. Only 2 provinces/cities, and only 1 of those can build a port (doesn't start with one). They are quite cash-poor, and the starting cities won't earn you much. And to top things off, your faction leader starts out quite old - he's died within the first 6 turns of the games I've played.

On the positive side, you start off with a decent contingent of horse archers. Learn to love them, as they are the key to any real expansion plans you may have.

The direction that you pick to expand in is going to determine a great deal of your strategy. My personal preference is to go after The Seleucid Empire. They usually get into an early war with Egypt, as as Egypt is quite strong, it tends to divert a lot of their resources. A quick trip to the south with the majority of your horse archers will net you another city, which has the benefit of splitting the Seleucid in two.

The Armenians are never going to have the army strength that some of the other factions have. Their infantry just isn't up to the job. Luckily, the AI is particularily inept against horse archers. I found that making a couple armies of a general plus a stack of horse archers was sufficient to win almost any battle. The only times I've suffered significant casualties was when the enemy had a large amount of foot archers - and even that can be dealt with.

The trick with horse archers is that you want to be on the attack (unless you are defending a city). The enemy loves to line up their armies and just stand there. Sure, they'll close to attack if you get too close, but horse archers don't need to be that close. I find the best strategy is to form up a semi-circle around the enemy position. This allows you to get shots coming in to the side of a unit, which will do a lot more damage than just frontal shooting.

If the enemy does decide to give chase, your response will depend on how many, and what types. Most of the units are slower than horse archers, so you can rely on skirmish mode to retreat them. Note: you can't rely on it for long term maneuvering, as it has a tendancy to flee towards the map border, and get stuck there. But for a short-term measure, it's usually effective. Against slow units, like most of the pike/spear types, skirmish should be fully effective. They just aren't fast enough to catch you. Most of the time you can pepper them full of arrows until they rout without being in any danger.

For the faster units, chariots, wardogs, fast foot, you'll want to keep a close eye on them. See if you can split your units, so that the armies are chasing only one of your units. Then, bring your other archers up and shoot into the rear. If the army turns, your other unit will then be shooting into the rear. Over time, this will wittle a unit down enough that they aren't much of a danger. If, however, you find that your units aren't behaving well, turn off skirmish mode and put them under manual control. It's not an ideal solution, as pathfinding can sometimes cause problems, but you should be able to get them away from the border, or blocking obstacles, and continue the fight.

For the really fast units, mainly light cavalry, you have a couple options. You can face them head on, after getting a volley or two off. It's going to cost you, but unless the enemy is mainly light cav, you should be able to take them, and still have enough units left to deal with the slower ones.

Or, you can use your general. Your general, with his heavy cav, is going to be able to beat the light cav, but, as always, you run the risk of having your general die. I tend to use my general most of the time, but one bad battle can cause lots of problems.

When attacking, keep in mind a simple fact - you aren't particularily interested in winning the battle. It's a hard thing to remember, as, in general, one fights to win. But the key with horse archers isn't about winning, it's about killing the enemy. If you need to spread the fight over multiple battles, do so. I've fought the same army 3 times in a row before finally winning. Each time, I withdrew my units when they ran out (or low) of arrows. The first two times I technically "lost", but I suffered 3 casualties, and killed over 400 men. Early in the game, no faction can afford losses like that on a regular basis and last long.

I mentioned that you want to attack with horse archers, except when defending a city. However, I should point out that although you can do a credible job defending a city with horse archers, you will do a much better job defending a city by attacking. The enemy isn't likely to have many, if any siege weapons built. In fact, it's highly unlikely the enemy can get into the city at all, on the first round. This is perfect conditions for skirmishing. The enemy army, even if highly mobile, won't be able to maneuver as fast as you can, by cutting through the city streets. The only important factor is to make sure they aren't right behind you when you go in through a gate. It's better to sacrifice a unit than to let them inside.

You'll note, after reading this, that I spent a lot more time talking about horse archers than I did any specific starting strategy. There's a good reason for that. The Armenians are only going to be able to expand in one direction at the beginning of the game, they don't have the money to field multiple armies early on. While I recommend going south, because it tends to pay off better in the long run, going east or north are both options, and they'll both work. The randomness of the game will determine how successful you are going to be along the way.

The only thing I'll say about 'direction' is that going north is likely the poorest choice. Large provinces that are underdeveloped means that your armies will be travelling more than fighting. That's the advantage of south and south-west. More tightly packed provinces mean more territory faster. But the flip-side of that is more enemies, and harder situations to defend.

I'll leave with a final bit of sage advice: Don't give up. You'll often find that your small army is attacked by much larger ones, especially if you get close to the Egyptians. Remember, by whittling down armies over multiple fights, you can do a lot more damage than army numbers would suggest. I was besieged in a city by Egyptians, and my ~350 men were facing over 900. The first battle I lost 80, and killed 600. The next I lost 40, and finished them off. So don't despair if you constantly find yourself outnumbered, it's not as big a deficit as it appears.

Bh

[Bhruic]

After playing Armenia a few more times, I thought I'd give some more tips on playing them effectively.

First off, some details: The two starting cities you get have really poor farming. This means that they will grow extremely slowly (if at all). You'll likely want to keep governors in them so that you can take advantage of slaves.

Also, Armenia can't build anything higher than roads, so movement around your territory will be slower than you are used to if you mainly play the Roman factions.

The way that Armenia is situated makes it a tempting target for Parthia. Although it is relatively easy to make an alliance with them early, they don't tend to stick by it. The same is true of the Pontus. The only one who you will likely be able to ally with is the Seleucid, should you choose not to attack them, as Egypt usually goes to war with them, so they desire all the help they can get. I found the Sythians to the north often go to war with Armenia, but they rarely actually attack. Even when I'm the only one they are at war with, they almost never send in armies.

The trick in RTW, I've found, is to limit the provinces that border enemies. With that in mind, I've changed my recommendation about the first attack to the Parthians. They are likely to attack anyway, so you aren't gaining an extra enemy. And because they border the edge of the map, you don't increase your chances of attack from others. For example, I tried attacking Pontus first. It worked, I managed to beat them. But I then ended up fighting Egypt and the Greeks. Eventually you'll have to fight both, but early game isn't the best time.

The other advantage to an early strike against Parthia is that you divide their empire up. Once you take the two cities to your immediate east, they have a really hard time fielding any armies against you. This gives you a great deal of breathing room to work with.

The one thing to keep in mind is that Egypt is going to become the dominate power in the east. Letting them build up for too long will lead to a very costly and prolonged war down the road. Once you have taken care of Parthia (I recommend letting them keep their northern province, they won't be in a position to do any harm), going to war with Egypt is a good call. Others in the region (specifically the Seleucid) are very likely to be at war with Egypt as well, so look for alliances. You don't even need to plan on keeping any territory from them immediately, a raid or two to pillage and burn down their buildings will keep them in check. It will also give you Denarii that you'll likely need to attack anyone else. Pontus is probably the best faction to eliminate next, as they are pretty small, and shouldn't be too challenging.

Once you've got a decent sized empire, it's time to go for the knock-out blow on Egypt. You'll likely be in for a tough fight, as the staple of the Armenian army, the horse archer, has a tough time facing the various archer units of the Egyptians. Especially the Pharaohs Bowmen and Chariot archers. Hopefully by this point you've built up a city enough to be able to make Cataphracts. They are quite powerful horse units, and are armoured enough to be able to withstand arrow storms (you can use Cataphract archers as well, but their melee stats aren't as good).

Bh

[Vulgarius]

Armenian Campaign Notes. 1

I have started a game as the Armenians. I got some quick income from a foray into the Crimea. I was setting up trade and made some good alliances. That’s when things got interesting. The Ponts and the Scythians made a sudden alliance which raised an eyebrow. The next turn a huge Pontic army enters my territory and simultaneously, a medium sized Scythian army shows up at Chersoneses. Hmm. I was forced to evacuate my Horse Archers and Peltasts and send them back home. The Pontic fleet ambushed them and laid siege to my Eastern city (?). My Crimean Army managed to land minus a few ships and I bypassed the besieging army and combined them with troops from my capitol. The result was a slaughter of the flower of the Pontic military as they were trapped between the skirmishers who were sallying from the city and a combined army of 8 family members, Horse Archers and my Cataphracts. I learned a good tactic which I applied in the next few turns. I retired my troops to the cities and hastily retrained. My family members Heavy Cavalry units regenerate on there own and seem to grow with retinue members (I could be wrong on this). I had a 1 turn respite before Scythia besieged the Crimea and a second huge Pontic army appeared up the coast highway. I let them siege again and repeated the sandwich resulting in the same slaughter of a slightly less lavishly equipped army. I hastily repeated my retraining once more just as a third half stack showed up. This time I was a little ticked and since I was a little more confident about my cavalry tactics I decided to view the coast road as MY bowling alley! I subsequently steamrolled over a dozen units in various sized stacks in detail until I rolled out on to the Central Turkish Valley where Sinope and Mazaka lay. As I entered the region it seemed that the Ponts had been very busy and my offensive was very timely. Sinope was at maximum troop capacity and smaller stacklets were scattered on the plain. I ran down each stacklet and then decided on Sinope just as the faction leader divided his army in half and came after me with scraps coming in from all sides. It was a rough battle, having troops coming from all directions but the superb independent skirmishing ability of Horse Archers allowed me to concentrate my family members and Cataphracts and isolate the Pontic cavalry into kill zones and then move on to isolate infantry units in detail. I was forced to hire Mercenary units for sapping and then Besieged Sinope. Sinope fell soon after a vain attempt by the garrison which had been robbed by the faction leaders attempt to trap my army. But Sinope was well worth the campaign as now I can build Cataphract Archers....Just as an Egyptian army appeared at my Southern pass fortlet.

[HopAlongBunny]

These guys are dirt poor.

The only thing keeping my faction afloat is my traveling salesmen. I have sold map info to just about everyone on the map...and some twice. I am early in the game and sacked Susa; 9k for extermination giving me almost 5k clear (ran deep into debt)

You will likely need to use diplomats to sell anything that someone will buy. I might even sell Susa to finance a war against Pontus (my allies) just because they have some nice towns that might make some money

[Paul Peru]

I started by taking Phraaspa/sumtin while it was rebel, beating the Parthians there by sending my town garrison instead of the field general. The Parthians then lurked around my territory for a while. I got an alliance with the Scythians, which they have kept (and I got them into two wars by keeping my ship next to theirs )
After I attacked the Seleucids at Hatra, the Parthians soon sieged one of my towns. It was not long before Pontus started sending huge amounts of EI crap at me. Neither Pontus nor SE would have anything to do with a ceasefire, though I proposed attacking the SE's Egyptian enemies. Pontus insists that I "learn the value of peace"/sumtin, which I have learned from senselessly slaughtering so many of their inf.
After I got all of Parthias southern territories, Egypt attacked me as well. By then I was "largest faction". Not likely to be most advanced, though. Initial towns are poor and hard to get to grow, so get some richer cities to the south. Cavalry rules, HA, CA and the versatile general units. Parthians have similar units, but until chariots and elephants start appearing en masse, casualties against the southern and western enemies are likely to be extremely low.
My family members hardly breed. I don't know if it's because I keep bribing Pontic ones. (My economy has actually gotten off the ground at last. Being able to kick derriere with comparatively small armies helps.)

[dAbY()]

Overview

- Armenia has some good troops, and their only real unique unit is a Cataphract Horse Archer. One of the most useful units in the game. An Armenian army should always have about eleven of these, and you should make these as soon as you can make them. Armenia has Cataphracts too, good all-round units, good support for your Cataphract Horse Archers. The Legionaries are good too, and are the main-line infantry unit for Armenia. They've got some good early-stage units too, and the army they start with, is a good one for conquering. Heavy Spearmen are also a very good allround unit, with a phalanx. Armoured well, good attack, nothing wrong with this unit.

- Armenia's situation is quite good. They do not need to fear Scythia, as they don't travel that far. Parthia isn't much of a problem, just put 3 peltasts in Artaxarta and you'll be fine. Just try to make an alliance, and you're OK. Pontus is weak at the start, as they Pontic Heavy and Light Cavalry, can't match up against your Horse Archers. You do have some mountain problems in the start, so it's a bit difficult to really travel far at the start.

- Armenia's economy is one of the best in the game. You do start quite low, yes. But capture the two Pontic cities (shouldn't really be difficult) and you've got a huge trade boom. Sinope and Kotais will have a good sea trade, and both will be bringing in about 600, even on VH/VH. Mazaka will support Sinope with land trade too, so that will bring in some. Artaxarta will support Kotais with land trade too, just as Mazaka does with Sinope. Also, the Black Sea is a sort of big mini-Aegean sea. And it's Armenia's first goals to conquer that area.

Conquering

Well, Armenia's conquests are easy, especially at the beginning. Send ALL of your troops, including one family Member, to the Pontics. Hire Sarmatians, to have something to break the Pontic Heavy and Light cavalry, in case they want to go in melee with your Horse Archers. Take Sinope first, as it will enable you to build more Horse Archers early on. Get Mazaka too.

Now, defend your territory for a couple of turns, build some more Horse Archers, and focus on economy. Get some money until you have 10000, and take Hatrawith about 7 Horse Archers. Shouldn't be too difficult, against those weak Seleucids. When you have Hatra, use it as a buffer against Egypt. Build up more, and capture Tarsus. Also with some Horse Archers. Use this as a buffer against Egypt too.

Now, Pontus has had time to build up near the Greeks (mainly in Nicomedia) but they are too weak now to pose a real problem, so use them as cannon fodder for your Horse Archers, to let them gain experience. If they DO pose a problem (IE, they use their Pontic Light (and possible Heavy) Cavalry as hand-to-hand cavalry, rather than missile cavalry) Sarmatians will be your solution. Somehow, Pontus is very weak against Sarmatians, so use this to your advantage. At this stage you should have all provinces of Turkey, including your original towns, except Sardis, Halicarnassus, and Pergamum. Take Sardis with some Horse Archers, and Eastern Infantry, to deal with the last remains of the Seleucids. I usually bribe Halicarnassus, and install some peasants. Or you can just conquer it if you want. Pergamum might pose a problem, as Greece will very often make lots of military droppings there (I mean with ships, I'm not talking about things that come out of someone's anus) so try to kill the Greek fleet, before taking Pergamum. By this time, you have a booming economy, and right at this point, Egypt will attack either Tarsus, or Hatra. Now, make peasants in all Anatolian towns, and send ALL you're worthwile troops to the danger area. Make some troops in Artaxarta, Kotais, Sinope and Mazaka. Make them breed hordes of Horse Archers.

I usually have two armies of 20 Horse Archers standing by once I am offensive against Egypt, just in case, becouse Egypt is a real backstab faction. The only thing they do in the game is backstab. I've experienced it as Seleucids, Numidia, Parthia, and as Armenia too. So, have these Horse Archer-only armies standing by, to crush these Egpytians. Conquer the remains of the Seleucid empire. And conquer the large Scythian town, so you can start surrounding Parthia, and start attacking them. Parthia has Horse Archers too, but at this stage, you should have Cataphract Horse Archers. Really good troops against the Parthians, your treatment for those nasty Parthian Camel Cataphracts, or Persian Cavalry. Just try not to fight, just lay siege, and hope they don't break out. If they do, spread out your units, and keep all non-mounted units in the back. When you have the Middle East, make a HUGE offensive army and swep over Egypt. Use Horse Archers now as your main unit, rather than Cataphract Horse Archers, becouse of the Desert Cavalry (The most irritating unit in the game). Get Memphis first becouse of the Piramids. Get Siwa and Cyrene.

Now, just sit back, and let money flow in. Be defensive, prepare to make an army to take Greece, and to overthrow the Scipii in Africa. The Romans are weak to Cataphracts, so make more Cataphract units, rather than (Cataphract) Horse Archers for a while. Just conquer away, let the Romans form testudo (computer rarely does it, but do try ) or not, and crush them. March onto Rome, or try conquering the world before taking on Rome, it's a lot more fun seeing a map with all provinces belonging to your Faction. Walk into Rome, be victorious. Drink some wine, amuse yourself with the Senate. Kill some Romans. Or eat them, like Hannibal (Lecter, not the Carthaginian one )

Buildings

What? Buildings? We live in tents.. why would we need buildings? Nah, you need them, especially ar Armenia. Your very first goal when having a town, is to obtain a Trade building (more of a route, but... never mind). They give a huge boast to land trade. And in some situations, it makes land trade a lot more profitable than Sea Trade. Having the Aegean Sea fully built with the best trade route, and Dockyards, even on VH/VH, some towns give 6000 revenue. Too huge for words. As for shrines and temples... I don't really care. I just randomly pick one for each town. As Armenia, shrines/temples aren't really my problem. Close your eyes, click, and see what temple. Done. With Armenia there is no real temple set-up. Well, you know your main goal, economy. But what about military? Hm, I'll give you some nice little towns, wherein you need to focus more on militray, rather than economy : Antioch, Memphis, Carthage, Athens, Campus Getae, and Campus Sakae. That's it. Boom your military there, and you will have good points from which you can build forces, to spread out, or to conquer with.

Fighting as Armenia

Hm, Armenian fighting isn't as easy as you think. You might think : Oh yeah, just let those Horse Archers fire, set them to Skirmish Mode, and I'll be okay... no. Basically, Skirmish mode means moving backwards... and when your Horse Archers get to the edge of the battle map... ýou get lots of Armenian blood on the ground... So, put them OUT of Skirmish mode, and learn a lot with Custom Battle, on how to maneuver your Horse Archers, to make them more effective. I usually let them walk in sort of zig-zag patterns, that usually works very well. Somehow it makes them VERY effective, espeically against enemy cavalry.

When being chased by cavalry, run away, and let another Horse Archer unit follow from behind. This way, the enemy cavalry will be fired on from two sides. Which breaks morale, and makes them rout faster. Armenia's infantry usually consists of Eastern Infantry, or Armenian Legionaries. Don't use Hillmen, they are very sucky units. Anyway, your main Infantry force is meant to be an anti-cavalry force. That's it. Enemy infantry won't even get a chance to fight, as your Horse Archers shoot them to shreds. Your infantry will cut up enemy cavalry, when surrounding. That shouldn't be too difficult with Eastern Infantry. They have good defence, so the can hold out long enough so that they can wrap around enemy cavalry. Don't use Peltasts or anything as Armenia, they're useless to Armenians. Stick to cavalry and infantry, and you're okay. USe your Cataphracts to punch a whole into enemy lines, Cavalry, Missile, or Infantry, they will nearly always win. Their charge bonus and armor will do their job. Heavy Spearmen can be used too, if you want. But the slow phalanx doesn't really fit in with the fast way of Armenian warfare. If you're going to use them at all, put them out of phalanx formation.

Here is a little addition from Muagan_ra:

"I find a good strategy for any Archer Cavalry (AC) nation; the 'eastern' nations with horse archers, and Pontus and Egypt, is to run your AC (HorseArchers or maybe CataArchers) down both flanks fo the main enemy formations, not so much to inflict casualties, but to break them up. Enemies will normally try to chase you off, and in this way, you can disorganise their formation, whilst at the same time you should be moving your main infantry line (Heavy Spearmen in Phalanx) forward in a single line (with gaurd mode off), and they should then be much better positioned to engaged the disorganised enemy (provided the AC distration worked.) Even if it dosn't work, the AC's will do casualties, and draw their attention from commanding at the front line.

Either way, Armenian legionarries should be used to flank around the Phalanx Line, whilst you're Cataphracts do the normal job of protecting your flanks from enemy cavalry and then swing around to envelop when the threats to your flanks are nuetralised."

It achieves a kind of "Cannae" style Double Envelopment, if you do it right.

[Abokasee]

Armenia... man its been a while since I played.
First thing: Build roads, throw away some of those peltasts they drain your income.
Second thing: Parthia is your friend in this campaign. Kill Parthia - land is far more valuable than a ally that will never turn up to a fight in RTW.
Third thing: No friends. By all means except those trade rights, but in the mean time make sure your expanding... pontus will probably try to slap you but you should be ready to take it to the ground quickly.
Fourth thing: Seleucid and Egypt must by conquered. These two are sizeably largey than you... the former is weak but can be a monster if you dont start going gladiator on its ass from turn one of your war with them. And the later is always a monster - has a pre-disposed habbit of massing armies mainly made up of low quality troops... about 5 stacks worth of them - so get those Heavy spearmen out early!

Remember these and you should take Turkey, Egypt and parts of Iraq/Persia with little trouble (other than you know, fighting 5+ stacks of Egyptian Peasants and Nubian spearmen). Once you have the entire income and man power of those lands no one can match you. Yes no one. Except maybe X vs Roman in Autocalc sieges where numbers are equal.

[ReluctantSamurai]

I went back and read through all of the posts in this guide. Lots of good ideas but a bit lacking on how to fine-tune Armenia to maximum potential. Many of the posts recommended going to war with Parthia early. While certainly a viable option, I feel that it only serves to make your campaign more difficult. My reasoning goes something like this:

1. The most difficult aspect of starting an Armenian campaign is money. Kotais and Artaxarta are poor, and you don't have a lot of starting cash on hand.

2. Going east against Parthia will net you two provinces exactly like the two you start with...poor. And now to make matters worse, you've doubled the amount of border you need to defend.

3. The only province the Parthians have that's worth anything is Susa. If you manage to take it, as well, you now have a very long border with the Seleucids and will very likely get drawn into a war with them soon. If they get overrun by the Egyptians quickly, then you will be into war with them very shortly. You want neither of these things to happen in the first 10-15 yrs. of your campaign as you simply will not have either the units, nor the money to compete.

Going north into Scythian territory is an even worse proposition unless you plan to go all the way around the Black Sea by taking all the coastal provinces. Takes too long unless you hop onto a fleet and cut across. The main drawback is that you are going in the wrong direction from your principal foe.....Egypt. The longer you take to get to them, the more difficult your campaign becomes. It's for this reason I reject the northern route.

Then there's the suggestions to take Hatra. But Hatra is a slow-grower in terms of population, and if you don't have Seleucia as well, it's difficult to defend. In addition, you will be at war with either the Seleucids or Egypt, or both. Not a desirable situation early in the campaign. You have neither the money, nor enough cities at 6k to begin cranking out Cataphract Archers, and will more than likely get swamped by Egypt.

Which leads us to Pontus, Anatolia, and beyond. This is where the main thrust for Armenia should be, and in subsequent posts I'll explain how to do it, and why this route presents the best opportunity for Armenia to become a dominant power in the Middle East in a relatively short period of time.

[Sacred Band]

Agree with about everything Samurai writed. Armenia starts off poor, expands into poor lands until you get to Egypt and to modern Turkey. Their starting troops are also crap (hillmen come on...) excepting HA. Also there is nothing to conquer in Scythia. Lots of land to cross, little money, poorly developed towns and always so annoying all HA armies.
When the CA and Heavy spearmen come to fray, Armenia's full potential is revealed

[ReluctantSamurai]

PART I

Before I begin to lay out my campaign strategy for Armenia, a look at their troop roster might be in order. Armenia has a very balanced roster if….. you can get developed to the point where your mid-to-high level troops are available.

At the start of the campaign, you will have horse archers, eastern infantry, and not much else. You begin with a heavy cataphract unit and it will be a long time before you can train any new ones, so use it wisely. There are several peltast units….I suggest you disband them immediately and never, ever, train any more. You are a horse archer faction, not a clan of spear-chuckers…foot-skirmishers are a waste of precious resources for Armenia.

You will have only Eastern Infantry early on. Three things can be said for these: they are cheap to buy, move very quickly over desert terrain…….and they die by the hundreds. But this will be all you have available until you can develop a city to 6k, when you then are able to build barracks for training Heavy Spearmen. Never, ever, train Hillmen. They have all of the disadvantages of Eastern Infantry (poor morale, weak attack/defense), and none of the advantages (mass and speed).

When a city reaches 12k, you will be able to build barracks for training Armenian Legionnaires. Not really sure if they are historical or just the game devs trying to compensate for the overpowered Roman legionnaires by giving access to them to several other factions. In any case, AL’s are roughly equivalent to the Roman Principes, and not as good as Early Cohorts. With armor and weapon upgrades, they can be a formidable unit on the battlefield.

Armenia gets a vanilla archer unit. I would suggest you use these only for city defense, where they are reasonably effective. Putting them into a field army is a waste of time and resources. You have a better alternative in Cretan Archers once you move into Anatolia.

Now to the real reason for playing Armenia…..horse archers!

At the start, you will have a weak, but very serviceable horse archer unit available. Three things to be said about these: skirmish…skirmish…skirmish! For anyone who has fought against a horse archer faction, you know what a pain-in-the-a$$ these units can be. Well here’s your chance to turn the tables. If you don’t like micro-managing units, then Armenia is not the faction for you. Due to their rather weak melee stats, you don’t ever want your early horse archer units engaging in hand-to-hand combat unless it's to run down routers. If they get backed into a corner or up against impassable terrain, they are dead. Avoiding this requires you to move each of your horse archers on the battlefield. Putting horse archers into a city defense is not to be recommended unless you have absolutely no choice. Horse Archers are all about mobility, the ability to ride around enemy unit flanks and rear while making pin-cushions of them. Narrow city streets negates this advantage. Likewise, using them to assault a city is bad for the very same reasons. They can be of use early in the game when most eastern towns have wooden walls that horse archers can shoot over. But once into the streets, they are vulnerable.

Once a city reaches 6k, you will be able to build barracks for one of the arguably best units available in RTW…..the Cataphract Archer. These guys are simply a joy to use, and use them you will have to in order to expand your empire. So what is so special about Cataphract Archers, you ask? Well, you get three very good traits all rolled into one unit: the ability to skirmish while making pin-cushions out of your enemy at the same time, heavy armor…which allows you to out-shoot virtually every other archer unit in the game, and the ability to go over to melee when necessary…due to the high defensive value, and good hand-to-hand stats. Cataphract Archers will quickly become the mainstay of your field armies once you can get your cities to 6k population.

The one shortcoming of Cataphract Archers is their rather low charge bonus of 3. Not good enough for breaking tough, heavily armored line infantry. So enter the heavy Cataphract. These guys are TANKS with a capital T. Very high melee stats for attack and defense, and a charge bonus of 15….one of the highest in the game. Heavy Cats will make you forget all about those high-priced Armored Elephants! Cats are faster, have a higher charge bonus, and better melee stats. Once you use these, ellies will become a thing of the past!

As for the navy, you get the standard biremes/triremes/quinquiremes for a port, shipyard, and dockyard respectively. I would suggest you not build any navy, whatsoever, until you have control of all of Anatolia. The principal reasons being your primary opponents ( the Greek Cities, Seleucids, and Egyptians) will have rather large navies to contend with, and you will most likely have a lack of funds to prosecute both a land war and one on the seas. This will change, later on.

The mercenary pool available to Armenia is quite good. Sarmatian heavy cavalry are available until you can start training heavy cats, Cretan archers will become a mainstay of your assault armies, Bastarnae heavy infantry are a good alternative to Eastern Infantry and Heavy Spears and seem to have a knack for killing enemy generals, elephants will be available once you move into the Middle East, as well as one of the best light cav units (IMHO) in the game….Arab Cavalry. I love these guys for their ability to run down routing enemy generals and cavalry…the only unit capable of doing so in desert conditions. Besides, scimitar-wielding maniacs have always been a source of enjoyment for me!

So there you have it. Armenia. Arguably THE best horse archer faction, with as balanced a roster as any faction you can play. In my next post I will cover battlefield tactics, the use of temples, and finally a campaign strategy that can have you becoming THE premier force in the Middle East before you set out to crush the Romans. The Pharoh had best start making preparations for walking the Paths of the Dead, right now!