Spanish Jinettes

[eXoMagus]

Okay I've never played as the Spanish before but I'm going to start using them next campaign in SP. One question I have is how to use the Spanish Jinettes effectively, since when I fought the Spanish with other factions, the AI just tries to play skirmish with me with their Spanish Jinettes and I whoop them like crazy with my archers. Can someone pls give me some tips on how to use them, and are they really good for charging at the enemy's flanks?

[LadyAnn]

The jinnettes are hard to play with. I would only use them the way I use naphta thrower: in protected enclosure of front spears. That is to place them behind wall of spears, let the spears lock on enemy line, march jinette up and throw the javelin.

It is a big mistake to use them as a harassment unit the way you use horse archers. Range is not far enough and archers/arbalester/xbow would kill the jinette from miles.

Also, these guys are good against knights, if you could manage to throw 3 volley of javelin at them.

Annie

[Beelzebub]

Use their speed to flank, an enemy unit that's engaged, then start unloading javelins. When you run out, charge in.

I find them hard to use against a battle line, because if you leave them on skirmish mode, they will run away all the time before they fire, and if you take it off, the CPU usually charges you with spearmen or whatever and you can't run away. This is useful for breaking up their position, but I think the AI is stupid for doing that. Like a against a person, he wouldn't chase the jinettes with guys from his main line, especially if he saw you have heavy calv and infantry behind them, just waiting to pounce on an opening. So Jinettes could be more useful like that in multyplayer, they either force the player to break up his line, draw out his reserves, or do decent damage unloading their javs.

Also Jinettes are ok as light cavalry. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they are the only fast cavalry in the west (hobis aren't fast, neither are sarg's), so they are good as routers, and chasing down archers quickly.

[Exile]

Set them to 'Hold Formation' instead of skirmish, or they will run before the target is in range 90% of the time. This is a helpful hint for using javelin units that I picked up from the members here.

[Beelzebub]

Yeah I use that, but then the prob is most foot units can catch them in javelin range, because if you see the guys they are shooting at charge them, then you tell them to run backqards quickly, they will turn around, form up, and then start running, unlike in skirmish mode where they all just take off. and they also require too much micro managerment in hold formation

[Spino]

Javelin hurling aside, Spanish Jinetes possess virtually the same statistics as Hobilars and Mounted Sergeants except they are faster (24/26 run/charge vs. 20/22) and are markedly inferior when charging (2 vs. 6 and 8 for Hobilars and M. Sergeants respectively).

For obvious reasons I would refrain from using Jinetes to charge the enemy's flanks unless absolutely necessary. However, once engaged Jinetes fight just as well as the other light cavalry of the West. Basically there is no other cavalry unit in the West that beats the speedy Jinetes for sheer harrassment value. With Jinetes you can safely distract enemy cavalry that would otherwise be used to charge into your flanks. Or if you're feeling rather bold you can send your Jinetes on a high speed adventure behind enemy lines to massacre artillery and missile troops. Finally, thanks to their high speed Jinetes are the perfect candidates for massacring routed units and rounding up prisoners.

When playing the Spanish I find it impossible to fight without at least one or two Jinete units present in every battle.

[Foreign Devil]

I too, have found that Jinettes are not well suited to harassing out in front of my main force- the range is just too small. I normally use Jinettes as light flanking cavalry- much like hobilars. The only time I use thier javelins is when an enemy unit is already engaged with one of my units. If you are on the flank or rear of the enemy, it makes it that much easier to run then down when they rout, which a unit will do easily enough if you chuck a few volleys of javelins thier way.

Jinettes are effective in the desert, which helps against the Almohads, and later the Egyptians.

[Cousin Zoidfarb]

I use them as any other mounted missle unit. Try to manouever to the opponent`s rear. This will split up the enemies lines. If the opponent is aggressive it often leaves foot missile units prone to a rear attack.

[Cazbol]

Once I took Spain in my Danish campaign the Spanish Jinettes became a must in all my armies. I find them of excellent value. Each army of 16 units had 1 unit of Spanish jinettes and the jinettes ALMOST ALWAYS had by far the greatest number of kills and captures, the total usually being between 150 and 200. Most of these obviously come from chasing routers but I find them to be lifesavers in battle.

If the opponent brings artillery the jinettes can usually destroy it without being engaged by other units.

If the opponent brings archers, then wait until the infantry engages, leaving the archers behind and then smash the archers with jinettes. Works every time for me.

The AI rarely gives horse archers support from other cavalry. Spanish jinettes are much faster than horse archers and will drive them off the field in no time. Just don't use the javelins. Charge the horse archers and they're gone for good.

The javelins are also of good use against marching infantry if the infantry isn't properly supported by archers or cavalry. If the infantry is marching at a normal pace the jinettes will have time to throw the javelins and retreat especially if you come in on their flank since it'll take the infantry a little time to turn and face you. I've also had great luck getting infantry to follow my jinettes and thus lead them away from the main force. I recently diverted 300 spearmen in that way which meant that my infantry had numerical superiority against the rest of the force. If the infantry charges, the jinettes can retreat and try again. If the infantry keeps charging they'll be close to exhausted when they get to your infantry line which is an even greater bonus for you. You should be able to score at least 20 kills against unsupported infantry without engaging in melee.

The greatest value of the jinettes is when chasing down routers. The money they bring in through ransom of prisoners is excellent.

Finally I recommend you don't deselect skirmish. If you want to engage in melee use the Alt-click. That way they'll still avoid trouble after didsposing of their target.

In general Spanish jinettes are among my favorite units. I really miss them in my current game.

[Kraxis]

I have come to believe that the Jinettes were made to counter the AUM for the Spanish. They are perfect for killing AUM. Nothing else can make them run as fast as Jinettes.

I too don't think Jinettes are good alone. They need someone to hold the enemy, if not the enemy need to be slow (Halbardiers and Hospitaller Foot Knights)... Also they need to be off Skirmish, but after I heard (long before the game was out) that ranged units don't like to be in Hold Formation I always choose Engage.
But you don't always need to go to the flanks to throw the javelins, they are just at their best there. You can move the Jinettes up behind you main units and throw from there, quite effective.

[solypsist]

hate to break up the party.
extensive info on Jinettes in the Table of Contents page.
check it out.