The Mongols

Hello!
I was just wondering when it comes to fighting the mongols what strategies do you use.
i.e What unit class do you find to be the most effective and why. How do you use them to your full advantage?

Or do you prefer to spare your men from being slaughtered and try to assassinate their generals!

When it comes to the point when the mongols lay siege to your castle ect, in your opinion, what do the mongols usually do, do they attack after the first turn of the siege or do they starve you out of it.
If they do attack what strategy do you find most effective?

Please reply and if you did, thank you!:egypt:

Dude, there is like a milion treads aboud this here, use the search thing on the top left of your screan.

have a look at this thread:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...hlight=Mongols

Look at post #5. One of the guys (Cheetah) went through the trouble of posting links for a lot of the solutions and strategies from other threads, etc, etc.

Best of luck against them, in m2tw vanilla they certainly make the game more appealling. :2thumbsup:

What has to be the absolute easiest way to crush the Mongols has to be to play as the Scots with pikemen's secondary weapon removed so they keep using their pikes, capture Anitoch or Kiev and build it up, recruit a lot of pikemen and a couple of archers and swords, and make a "V" at the gate to trap them. I just put 4 Mongol armies through such meatgrinder and destroyed them with recieving 300 casualties because after defeating the first wave of ladder climbers I didn't keep watch and the next army of Mongols sneaked up onto the walls and killed some of my men. Armored/upgraded spearmen will also work. You need to keep enough mass of men to push into the Mongols at the gate so that they don't push you back and open up the V too much. Even if you lose such an assault you should be able to kill every one of thier generals, since they always lead the charge, and you will destroy a very large part of their army.

For field battles, attack a single stack, if possible, with expendable cavalry with some fast cavalry (hire some Alan, if need be) and get some heavy cavalry (Hospitalers) with experience, if possible. Charge thier foot soldiers and destroy thier rockets and trebuchets. Be prepared to lose a couple of such armies. If you can get the cowards to attack you across a bridge, an army with a good mix of troop types can crush the Mongols - just don't let them expand a bridgehead. Don't plan on the Mongols routing, although they will; and don't pursue them prematurely when the route.

Have a well developed city and citadel nearby so that you can retrain your troops and send them back to battle as soon as possible.

Use flaming ballista to kill Timurid elephants and make them run amok amongst thier own men. Culverin and serpentine work well too.

Thanks for the info Old Geezer. I playing as the Byzantines and I'm up against 12 full stack armies! I lost Trebizond and plan to hold them at my fortress Caeresea.(excuse my spelling)

Irishboy, you might well consider using a few units of heavy or fast cavalry to charge out and smash some of their trebuchets (the rockets don't seem to do much to huge walls) so that they have to come through your gate(s). It helps to have a couple of archers to shoot flaming arrows at the siege towers - you may get lucky and roast one. I can't remember if the Byz. have good spears, but use the best you can and back them up with Varangian guard. near the gate or breach. Try and keep the Mongols under the boiling oil as much as possible. You can charge cavalry into the back of the jam of men at the gate (even though they won't actually be in any fighting) to help keep the Mongols from pushing their way in because of their huge mass.

I had Greek firethrowers on either side of the gates. As soon as the mongols entered they were toast..........Job done.:laugh4:

Had one of my most enjoyable battles yesterday as the English against the Mongols. Several full stacks were approaching my city in Anitoch so I sent out a junk army of peasent archers, levy spearmen, 3 longbow units and a singled unit of mailed horsemen unit over the river to the north into the hills.

The idea I had was to use these surplus troops, that wouldn't fit into my city when it got besieged, to inflict as many casualities as I could before their inevitable slaughter. Positive side would be that it reduced my troop upkeep bill.

Laying the sharpened spikes from the longbow men at the front of my army and waiting, the Mongols had stayed in front of my spikes and engaged in a shooting match with my archers (a bit of a 1 sided affair but oh well) when I was flanked by their heavy lancers and the tattered remains of my army routed. It was then that the main force of the Mongols decided to chase the routing troops by riding headlong into the spikes. Must say I was suprised at how many casualities these caused, including taking out 2 generals.

The Mongols laid siege to Anitoch and attacked after 1 turn, making 2 siege towers, 2 ladders and 1 ram. The ladders and towers are easy enough to defend against but once the ram opens those gates, the English spearmen just aren't enough to hold the masses of Monguls from their orgy of looting and pillaging.

Never had the Monguls siege for longer than 1 turn.

Your Longbows can place their stakes inside the city. The best place is behind the gate. They will kill at least one stack when two stacks are besieging you. The second stack has a tendency to march through the gate. Stakes behind the gate is the best plan for carnage.

I haven't run a m2tw campaign yet (will soon) but just from what I know of the Mongols in general, I would take an entirely defensive approach.

Cities, wooded areas, mountains etc...would probably be the best venues to do battle. There entire strength lies in their powerful cavalry and mobility. Choosing battle sites that negate this advantage would be textbook.

Comparing their cavalry to modern day tanks- you would obviously want to draw tanks into similar situations...where terrain and structure turn their advantage into a disadvantage.

Further, not that the AI is an example of reality but typically, a group with numerical superiority will be far more stubborn about things. As in- a target that has repeatedly given them fierce resistance, will become a focal point for them. Basically, if they hit it once and failed- they'll hit it again with even larger numbers. You can use this to your advantage by creating killing zones that the enemy will repeatedly feed with some of their best units/tactics.

Monsieur Alphonse, I have never been able to find a place in my cities to place stakes, it wont allow me because of the paving. Just like it wont allow you to use them over paved roads.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Evil Eddie

Monsieur Alphonse, I have never been able to find a place in my cities to place stakes, it wont allow me because of the paving. Just like it wont allow you to use them over paved roads.

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You need to place your longbows further away from the walls for it to work and the road should be clear rather than filled with your troops, as those may prevent placement too - permanently for the battle.
You can set stakes anywhere on the city roads if you can place your longbows properly. They do not need to be in wide formation for that.

You may have to make multiple attempts at placing them even in the relatively wide area behind the gate. Try adjusting the depth of the unit. I have often been unable to get some units to set up in streets even when the streets are straight, not very narrow, and the unit is in a very narrow column; often I just give up and set them up in the square and move them into the street once the battle starts.

Do the mongol still attack forts? One of the ideas I have read before was to place a fort (with one sacrificial unit) in their path of advance. Let them take over the fort , and then you move in with your army of archers, crossbowmen, siege engines.

a good commander doesn't need advice....lol jk
but i mean its kind of common sense here
mongols = horses
spear/pike men = dead horses

Not if you play unmodded M2TW. You can charge spears with horses frontally and beat them :tongue2:

oh...well it works for me lol, and i play unmodded (cause none of the mods work for me!!!!!argh)

You haven't tried mine then, because it walks you through step by step :tongue2:

If I can download and install a mod, any idiot can.