Saladin...

[Rowan11088]

Wow...Been playing the little Saladin Historical Campaign, and the first two battles were fine, just using light cav effectively and tiring out those crusaders. But the third battle, Acre? Impossible I've only played it once, but from what I could tell it's a massacre. Not only are you stuck with a load of peasants and crappy units against a fully stocked crusader army, but they start RIGHT in front of you, so you can't even wait for them to start tiring out as usual I don't even have time to evacuate my peasants before the knights hospitaller and templar absolutely cream them. How do I stop this frontal onslaught, anyone who has played it? Even my valor 5 Late Ghulams eventually routed (along with Sally himself) against the combined might of the knights templar and 100 http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif Late Royal Knights at who knows what valor.

[Brutal DLX]

Yes, I've played it a couple of times. Needless to say that if you don't use pause there you hardly have a chance to win this, because you need to issue complex orders right at the start. The key is moving your peasants out of the way, keeping the enemy king and his right flank (your left) busy while you gain the edge on the right side with the Khwariz and Saladin himself. Saladins unit is the key factor to winning, and you need to free a fast unit to chase the enemy ranged units before they can inflict a mass rout.

[frogbeastegg]

I've got a replay of that battle that I made to help someone else who was having trouble. If you get really desperate post your email address (or send me a PM with it if you prefer) and I'll forward it to you. It's hardly froggy the tactical genius, but others have found it helpful.

For me the main keys were attacking right from the start instead of trying to grab the high ground. Also sending a unit or two of cavalry around the left flank to sweep up most of the crusader's second line and prevent them from wading in. Finally I sacrificed a few units to hold up and wear down the big bad knights. As Brutal says liberal use of pause is required, no way to do this without it.