Boyars Boyars Boyars

[Alrowan]

well after playing with the russians on multiplayer recently, i have discovered that boyars are the most cost effective cavalry out there.. They are quite versitle, abl to hold thier own in mele and have the added ability of archery and speed. I now am able to field very succesful russian armies, based arround boyars.

I wonder how many other units there are out there that i need to learn how to use properly now... id imagine quite a few more.. but anyway, i think ill go give my russian princes a run on the battlefiled again

[Kensai Achilles]

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif glad i'm not alone, I used boyars and pronois in my ... Turkish campaign ... think I yapped about it somewhere.

[Leet Eriksson]

yea boyars are pretty good at everything,sadly its the only useful russian unit http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif atleast they have halberdiers and bulgarian brigands

[Alrowan]

well ive been working on my russian strat, and im beginning to find that if you use boyars in conjuncion with milita sergeants you can work wonders. Just be sure to keep those sergeants from routing

sadly though russia tends to fall behind in the later game

[HopAlongBunny]

Russia is my favourite faction so far (SP).
I found the Boyers could stand up to pretty much everything; upgrades from Swedish iron mines is a must though. Never went for world domination, just carved out the USSR + East Bloc + Sweden + England (stayed out of the Balkans). One of the few games where I did not end up at war with everyone (all at once)

Now for The Peoples Republic of Novgorod http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Naagi]

Hmm I'm a fan of the horse archer, so boyars sound cool. Too bad Novgorod is so low on the list of factions, I seem to be playing them alphabetically and am only at the Byzantines. The Danes will be a challenge, guess I'll wait some more to do a crusade.

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

[Exile]

I have yet to play Novgorod in the game, but I know that Boyars have routed my armies several times in the early part of the games. They are one of the strongest units available early on, but the faction seems to be at a disadvantage later in the game, same as the Byz.

[Magyar Khan]

Boyars in mp are crap unless u play against one of teh noobs, then they will be fun...

[Zauba'a]

I highly recommend the Novgorods. Their line of heirs is second only to the Byzantine in terms of command ability. I'm talkin around seven generations of heirs with over 6 stars http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif . I stopped the Golden Horde at Khazar with my Novgorods (with a little help from a five star assassin http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif )

[HopAlongBunny]

hehehe

I didn't stop the Horde. First turn they appeared I was ready with a princess to marry off to the Khan and a emissary to "chat". The Byz and I watched the Horde race through Lithuania-Poland-Prussia-Silesia-Pommerania...they were a lil weak by the time they got out that far http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

I claim good luck...NOT good strategy as my saviour on that one http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

[Zauba'a]

Also meant to add that the only downside to the Novgorods (and Russians for that matter) is the drastic shortage of capable units. Vikings, Boyars and Halbardiers are about all you have to work with (and that gets pretty boring).

[Alrowan]

Quote[/b] (Magyar Khan @ Dec. 27 2002,13:45)]Boyars in mp are crap unless u play against one of teh noobs, then they will be fun...
i actually beg to differ. In 1v1 russians are useless in MP, but in the bigger battles, a russian faction with boyars is deadly support for thier allies.. i have a few replays to prove that not all were against newbies either

[All_the_Sultan's_horses]

hmmm. i've always had problems using boyars. they have a mediocre attack, a poor charge compared to lance cavalry and are expensive. as the russians, i've always used steppe cavalry instead for the shock role.

[Ligur]

I fell in love with the wacky Turcoman horse-archers a few days ago. After getting slugged in Outremer as the English, I swapped tactics and started fielding as many horse archers in the first wave as possible, something like 50% of the forces (note: this in the Early Period Crusading times)...

Oh my God...

What beats raining arrows, harassing flank units and running down siege engines while the enemy is just trying to get your fortified main position? Nothing The Turcoman guys get hurt by arrows pretty badly themselves too but they are cheap as hell and easily worth some casualties as all the enemy units will be more or less reduced, tired and in disarray when they get to your infantry. When they start forming for an attack just run three Turcoman units behind them and release a few volleys. When you run out of arrows, withdraw and you have fresh troops to fight the actual battle. You can also neutralize enemy archers totally vs the AI. I love it. I understand Boyars are the best unit in the game for this type of action, yes? If so, I can easily believe they totally rule.

I've yet to try them out in a major attack but can't wait.

[Kraxis]

Welcome to the family Ligur... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

I too love the Turcomans. They can be a pain in some battles but in others they shine through, while that isn't exacly a stable unit I love it anyway.
The best battle I remember was a desperate defense against the Egyptians in Edessa very early in the game. I had some asorted infantry and two units of Turcomans, facing me were a massive army of camels with Desert Archers in support.
Ok, camels are not formidable foes but they had a very good general commanding them and I had nothing to help me in terms of terrain.
Those two units of Turcomans devastated the camels and killed the archers in melee... and with the last few arrows they felled the general as well.

[Alrowan]

the one thing i love about all nits of horse archers is thier ability to force ones opponent into changing thier position. Ive done it on MP manny times, and SP in nearly every battle.