XL guide-Volga-Bulgars (edited)

This is the edited version of this thread.
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...=Volga-Bulgars
Most of this text is mine but some additions were made as a response by others.

(from xl's unit stats)
I will not mention UM, spearmen, Viking and slav units and most other regional units as most are known or are to far out of the way.

Unit roster
Unit Name Charge Melee Defence Armour Morale
infantry
Melee
Kursybays 5 0 2 3 4
Bashkorts 5 HS 1 2 1 4
Kazanchis 2 *3 2 3 6
Varangian Swordsmen 4 *4 4 3 8

The first thing that you should notice is the great infantry this cav based faction has. When it comes to infantry the Volga-Bulgars can rival with any faction in early and can still be decent in high.
Kursbays are their shield wall. They are very sturdy spearmen comparable with feudal sergeants (better melee, worse defence and armour), armoured spearmen ( worse morale) and rus spearmen ( better attack). Only the rus spearmen are better at their role.
Bashkorts are an interesting unit. They can do two tasks reasonably well. With their defence stats and anti-cav bonus, they can form the main battle line more cheaply than kursybays. An added bonus are their missiles which can wipe out a royal knight unit, make a serious mess of mongol heavy and send all others fleeing. They are, however smaller in numbers than Kursbays and very vulnerable to missiles.
They can also be used as flankers. They are however not your typical flankers (high attack, catastrophic defence) but rather the opposite (low attack, decent defence). Why should you still use them? First of all you don't have any other melee unit until you've teched up to Kazanchis (I'm not counting slav warriors as they are just above peasants). Secondly, their heavy spear. They can be compared to handgunners in this way: Flank, fire, charge. These men aren't fire and forget troops, they will survive when highlanders, ghazis and others perish.
Kazanchis are just a dream for every general. A unit comparible to billmen (worse melee, better defence) or Swiss Halbardiers (better defence, less armour, better morale) avalable in early. Agreed, they need some teching up but by the time most other factions get their hands on those new pole arms, your troops will have painted theirs red with the blood of hundreds of soldiers.
Varangian Swordsmen are in everyway better than chiv men-at-arms except in the armour rating. But when you think about it, this is an advantage as the varangians have a better defence with less armour (desert here we come).

Special
Hashishin 2 6 5 2 12

I've never bothered with Hashishin as they're IMHO to much trouble for wath they're worth. Sure you can ambush the enemy general or pull of a surprise flank manoeuvre but I have enough micro management with my HA. If anybody can put them to good use, bravo to them but I can't.


cavalry
Light
Steppe Cavalry 6 2 1 3 3
Murabitin Horse 6 3 2 2 4
Chernye Klobuki 8 3 2 1 4
Wallachian Mercenary Cavalry 6 3 1 3 5

Steppe cav isa very cheap, more than decent light cav unit. You'l be using them a lot in the earlier stages to get rid of archers, HA and routers. In these tasks they perform satisfactiory, just don't ask them to fight their way out of anything.

MH, Chernye and Wallachians are to be seen as upgrades to your SC. MH can only be trained in North Africa and should only be used in the desert as SC that can take just a little more. But by the time you train them that little more may be to little. I think higher of Chernye. They can do more than the tasks of light/medium cav. Chernye are lightly armoured lancers. Their speed combined with their charge can mean a mass rout when comanded effectively. just remember that they aren't heavy cav, most melees will spell death on them.
Superior to the steppe cav, Wallachian Merc cav (only in Wallachia) can add to the diversity of your troops as good light cav. Chernye Klobuki are, however, superior.

Missile
Horse Archers 2 -1 0 2 2
Steppe Heavy Cav 6 3 4 5 6

I've already expressed my surprise about the troops with the infantry, let me do the same for HA. As good as the inf is as bad are the HA. HA are not used for their killing power but for their ability to disrupt the enemies formation. To be able to do this you've got to be able to evade everything your opponent uses against this, in other words fast HA. SHC isn't a bad unit, it just can't be used as your typical HA. If you use them as HA ,you will sooner or later get caught up by royal bodyguards or knights and lose the fight without being able to use even half of your arrows (if your lucky). I use them as a very mobile archer unit that can easily strike if necessary or can duel with other HA and win.
Their ranged attack also makes it a good general killer as their missiles are AP.
What is available than for the useful HA task? Nothing more than the vanilla HA. Which only means one thing: you can isolate troops, you can encircle troops but charging those battered and tired troops will still be very costly. My advice: only charge in the best of situations (or in the most desperate ones) and make them valour up quickly.

Heavy
Bulgarian Royal Cav 8 3 4 5 8
Avar Nobles 6 3 5 7 6
Khwarazmian Cav 8 3 5 7 7

BRC is your run of the mill, standard royal bodyguard. Good to have in your army but maybe other troops could do a better job. SHC is only slightly worse than BRC (better charge, better morale) but has an AP ranged attack. The charge can be performed by Chernye Klobuki that have the same charge but are a lot faster. Then again If you want something 'knightly' before Khwarazmian cav, BRC is the way to go.
Avar Nobles have worse charge, better defence, are more armoured, less morale than BRC. I wouldn't call them superior to the BRC. Charge rating is the most important stat for heavy cav and here are the Avars lacking, they will however survive a melee longer (just don't match them up against AP troops). Everything depends on your personal use of heavy cav: pure 'hammer and anvil' => use BRC, a more 'hack and slash' use of cav => use Avars. IMHO, a prolongued melee is a waste of your cav that's what you got infantry for. Still I would be tempted to opt for Avars when money is thight but the teching up can negate the economical advantage.

Khwarazmian Cav is the heavy cav you use outside the desert in later stages. This cav unit is your closest thing to chiv knights and all that follows them on the tech tree.

Proposed army
My standard Volga-Bulgarian army in early
Two groups of vanilla HA's (as teched up and valoured up as possible). Their task in defence is to disrupt the enemy formation as much as possible so the attackers arrive peace-meal and somewhat fatigued. Favorite targets: heavy cav and heavy inf. On the offence they'll try to draw out enemy units or keep their missile troops busy while my army can attack unharmed.

Three Kursybays as spearwall with Kazanchis on the flanks and Bashkorts behind them, ready run around the flank and spear the enemy in the back. I'll have to add Varangian swordsmen as main infantry killer.

I don't use vanilla archers in my standard army as their task is taken up by the steppe heavy cav. A good allrounder in my army: AP missiles, good mobility and they can fight there way out of most things. Only disadvantage: quite expensive.

I also try to use Chernye Klobuki to chase away HA, take out isolated skirmishers/archers and chase routers (your typical light cav stuff). I do however use them to great succes in hammer and anvil tactics. They can get everywhere on the map within reasonable time, charge a fighting enemy and be off before a counter measure can be put in place. Just don't let them fight melee unless there is no other choice.

I don't use BRC except maybe as general (princes and ex-princes). Their tasks can be done by other troops that are more suitable or more polyvalent.

Opening moves a.k.a. the rebel blitz
I've started a campaign early/hard/GA. My unit size is medium. If you use a smaller unit size, your rush may be delayed which can cause the loss of some of the rebel provinces or an early war with one or more of the other factions.

This is what your royal family will see of the world in the first couple of years.

https://img299.imageshack.us/img299/...litzzq9ly8.jpg

You start with one province, an army of HA's and steppe cav and a reasonable king (3 stars and authorian). The aim is to forge a decent size khanate for yourself without upsetting any of the neigbouring factions. If all happens according to plan you'll end up with at least 7 provinces, a good heir to the throne and as many alliances as you wish with whom you wish.

Gather all available troops under your kings command and attack the rebels in Muscovy. Don't worry about loyalty in Volga-Bulgaria, it won't drop under 100%. Train units of 133 men for a few years to subdue the newly conqured lands.
The rebels will flee to their fort. Although the siege will only last one year, you must attack the fort immidatly. Losing time means that other factions can conquer the other rebel controled provinces! (waiting one or two years will lose you smolensk to the Lithuanians and possibly Ryazan or Chernigov to the Kievians or the Cumans) Besides no rebel soldier can match your kings (dismounted) bodyguards. Still, be careful not to waste to much men as you'll need as many as possible to keep provinces from rebelling.

Repeat the battle/assault strategy through smolensk, Chernigov, Ryazan and Khazar. If you're lucky, Giorgia might still be rebel. Start pumping out slav warriors in Muscovy asap with the same goal as your training program in Volga-Bulgaria, namely for garrison and assault purposes.

Your heir will mature just a year (or two) before your king receives his 4th star. A shame really, but you can still make sure your heirs skills are based on 4 stars. Small battles are easy, so if you plan and execute your battles with care you can earn your king a good attacker virtue. Make sure you attack the year your heir matures and he'll be based on a 4 star king.

If you aren't playing on hard or expert, you might consider bribing the rebel general in Khazar rather than fighting him. Good generals are hard to come by so early.

During the first few years, you will be bombarded with alliance requests from almost all neigbouring factions. I would exept them all. Peace is very important in these upcoming years where start to organise your khanate. You don't need to keep a faction neutral to be able to attack it later on. War will come to this region soon enough and then you can chose your alliances more in purpose of your next victim.
The whole region will be more or less in one big alliance. So if you just attack a faction, you'll end up only being allied to Countries that can't attack you. It'll end up in a multiple front defence which your economy can't sustain.

You'll have to wait for the right time to take new rebel provinces or to attack a weakened faction which most/all other factions turned their backs on.

When blitzing or in the opening of your campaign in general, you have to be very aware of your economy. The revenue of steppe provinces are in no way comparable to the revenue of the lush West-European provinces, nor do they have the trade potential of the Mediterranean provinces. Ignore your economy in the first ten years and you'll be the weakest eastern faction for a long time. And believe me Novgorod, Kiev and Bohemia are just waiting for a chance to enlarge their territories unpunished.

To strengthen your economy you’ll have to start sea trading. This can be done by attacking Novgorod and opening up the way to the Baltic sea or attacking the Cumans and settling on the shores of the Black sea. Both have their merits but I doubt you can do both at the same time. Novgorod will attack you sooner or later so overwhelming them when you have the chance is not a bad choice. The Cumans may be weak or spread out thin which makes them an easy target.

V-B's in High Era start

I've just started a campaign as the VB's in the High Era and wanted to share my feedback. I'm playing on Expert difficulty as well, so keep this in mind.

Well, to start off the VB's are in about the worst possible predicament I could imagine. Right next to the ticking time bomb that is the GH arrival, they begin in Volga-Bulgaria with a Castle and good troop production facilities, but little else.

Your starting army is pitiful, barely enough to act as a garrison and certainly not enough to conquer anyone - even the neighbouring Rebels.

Your leader is a 2* General, and is producing heirs like crazy which is nice - you certainly need the troops.

Money is also VERY tight. Your single province brings in about 500 florins on max tax.

A few things are important to note right off the bat:

1. You will never hold off the Horde in Volga Bulgaria, don't even try.
2. Your lack of funds will resrtict both your army size and what you can do in conquered teritories.
3. Ryanzan is to the west and Kazar is to the South. Both are rebel held and could therefore give some decent ransoms. unfortunately, ryanzan is prone to rebellions, and has almost no infrastructure so little or no plunder and almost no value. Kazar is probably quite well garrisoned. It has some infrastructure in place and might be worth the trouble of taking if you can do so, but bear in mid you'll be abandoning it soon when the GH arrives.
4. Your only offensive infantry of note are the Kazanchi's. Good Halbard troops that have a good AP attack so can fight pretty well against other mainstream infantry. They are VERY expensive though and have a whopping 70 florin upkeep.


The situation is dire to say the least. Your only hope is to get out of the way of the GH once it arrives and hope it goes after someone elses holdings. Ok, but where to go? There are two choices - South west into the Cumans in Lesser Kazar, or up into Muscovy - held by the much strionger Russians.

I chose to take Muscovy for a couple of reasons - 1. good income. 2. well developed, will serve as a good base once VB falls to the horde. 3. to get to it from VB you need to fight a river battle so good to defend from once the Horde take VB.

The Russians have much better troops than you - Arbalesters, Halbardiers, Boyars etc. and more of them, plus you'll need to fight a bridge battle to get there.

The key is artillery - lots of it. Build a Siege Engineers Workshop (make Bashkorts while it's building) then build Catapults, you want 5+, preferably more. Once you've built the Siege Engineer Workshop, build an inn so you can make a few Chernye Klobuki and recruit any extra useful troops that become available. You particularly want Siege Engines (especially Organ Guns (you can leave these to garrison Volga Bulgaria and make the mongols really pay to take the stronghold, or take them withyou into muscovy and use them later to defend the bridge) and catapults) and long range archery troops like Arbalesters or Halbard units if they have a good upkeep.

Once you've ammassed a bunch of artillery, some steppe cavalry and a bunch of Bashkorts, take your whole force bar a garrison unit or two into Muscovy, preferably when most of the Russians are away.

Set up all your artilleryclose to your side of the bridge, but out od arrow range from the other side. The enemy will form up on the other side of the river but not be able to reach you with their arrows. They won't corss the bridge, so you can start pounding away with your Artillery. This should net you a bunch of free kills and enable you to weaken key units like Boyars and Halbardiers. once you are out of ammo, withdraw the artillery and bring up more combat tropps then fight your way across the bridge. You can send some troops over any secondary bridges available as well to foce them to split their defenders. From there it's a straight forward battle that you need to win.

One other idea is to walk a junk unit down to the waters edge and just leav them there to become a pin cussion hopefull the Russians will exhaust many or all of their arrows on him leaving them with what amounts to very weak cavalry troops and a couple of key units.

From here is all about reinfocing Muscovy. Take the castle by siege if necessary and then start pouring troops onto it for the inevitable defense.

When the Golden Horde arrive, leave a garrison unit or two in Volga Bulgaria and sell everything there that isn't nailed down except the castle. Force the GH to take it by force if possible than bleed them as much as you can.

I'm currently defending Muscovy from the GH at the moment, an it's very tough, but I'm making them pay dearly for it. I don't think I'll be able to hold out against a determined assault much longer, and will probably ahve to restart the campaign now that I have a clear game plan in mind.

Ok, I've restarted after being worn down by the Horde at Muscovy.

This time I focused on getting Muscovy soleley and making it home. I did so, stripped Volga-bulgaria or everything but the Castle and spearmakers guild and left a token garrison of bashkorts to lure the Horde into attacking it and getting tied up in a siege or losing more men to a castle attack.

The horde arrived on time, but with only a small army (unless they moved the rest of their army immediately south so I didn't see it). they sent a couple of units to take Volga Bulgaria but, incredibly, the garrison of Bashkorts defeated them time and again! I should point out that this was solely because they only sent in one ot two units at a tiome rather than a determined assault. In any case, I now have a 3* general out of it so I'm happy.

After reinfocing and developing Muscovy I've built up an army and Taken Novgorod from the Russians as well, giving me sea access and trade opportunities. The growing Volga-Bular nation has since added Smolensk to it's holdings, and Lithuania is about to fall to my troops siege as well.

In addition to thisI have managed to bottle up the Russian Grand Prince in Livonia and will force him into battle this turn. He is only 16 and newly crowned following his father death to illness, so cannot have any hiers - this may be an opprtunity to end the Russians as a faction outright - an opportunity not be be missed, though the battle will be tough indeed as the Grand Prince is a 6* general against my 3* and his troops are well trained and equiped. I'll post more once the issue is reolved, but all going well, I will soon have 6 provinces under VB control - 3 with sea access. A good position to begin my plans for world domination!!

After a few major skirmishes I've now secured the Steppes, with the exception of Pereyaslavl, which has the remains of a Golden Horde Reemergence contained in it. It's a poor province that I'm letting them develop for me before I smash them. I control everything from Kazar, Moldavia and Lithuania make up my borders with Europe. I've recently taken Sweden, Scania and Denmark too, which I'm hoping will add a little money to the coffers and finally provide me with a source of Iron.

My next imperative is to marshall a sizeable invasion force and develop my navy into a real force. I don't need it to be massive, but I does need to be well concentrated. Your ships are weaker than the Catholic ones so can't stand up to a one on one fight.

Invading an enemy territory is tough. Your best bet is to try and occupy defending forces with your spears while you manouver your Steppe Heavy Cavalry into a good attacking position. Likewise your Bashkorts, getting these guys into flanking posiotions and letting them throw javelins at anything in sight sparks routes all over the place and is probably your best way to win tough battles.

On the plus side, if you leave out the SHC, you are well set up for Desert fighting. Steppe Cavalry, Horse Archers, Bashkorts and Chernye Klobuki can all handle the heat well. If you can get into the arabian and egyptian teritories there's a lot opt options for you.

Have just completed the campaign and won via a 60% domination victory.

I didn't end up invading the Deserts, instead I was forced into confronting the French in Europe and bringing them to bay. Having now crushed the French and taken most of Europe I can say that the VB's have a tough time, but can certainly win against the other more powerful factions.

The secret to VB sucess is the Bashkort. This is the backbone of your army and your only real answer to te heavily armed and armoured Catholic troops.

Ranks of Bashkorts 2 or 3 men deep standing behind a good Spear Wall, preferably uphill of the enemy, allows them to pepper the incoming unit with Javelins while the spears hold them. Once the javelins have run out, put send the rear units into a Wedge and send them out to attack the flanks.

Being a Polearm unit, they get a +3 attack, +1 defense bonus against cavalry, which means they can be very effective against royal units or enganed cavalry. They are also fast, so can chase down Archers if necessary. They won't stand up to regular infantry in combat though, and even Fedual Men at Arms will overmatch them so once the javelins have run out, you're on the clock. You have to break the enemy fast, which is where your cavalry comes into the equation.

My prefered VB army goes something like:

2 Steppe Heavy Cavalry
2 Steppe Cavalry/Chernye Klobuki/ more SHC
2 Kursybays
2 Kazanchi's
8 Bashkorts

SHC are there to draw the enemy toward your lines, then run back behind the Kursabays and Bashkorts to act as your main archer unit. The Steppe Cavalry/Chernye Klobuki are there as your dedicated strike cavalry and Archer killers. While the SHC are standing behind the lines firing their arrows, these two units move into position out wide and will attack the enemy ranged troops or siege engines once their infantry/cavalry are committed. The main 2 SHC will join them in this once the melee is in full swing.

Your SHC and strike Cavalry units will start the enemy Rout. These are your key units and how you use them will turn battles either for or against you.

Your spears are there as a wall to keep enemy infantry off your Bashkoets while they throw their javelins. Bashkorts are there to thin out any units that approach your lines, particulalry heavy infantry like CMAA's and CS's, them move into fanking positions or prop up areas of weakness in your spear wall.

The Kazanchis are there ars your only real agressive infantry. 3 armour piercing attack is very good, as is Fast so they can get into position better but they lack defense and armour so head to head they will take heavy losses and Archers will inflict major losses. They are there as back up flankers and anti cavalry while the Bashkorts are firing.

Ideally a battle will go somethign like:

You set up on a hill with your spears up front in the centre and a unit of Bashkorts on either side. Kazanchis behind the side Bashkorts, backed up with another 4 units of bashkorts spread into 2 men deep for max accuract witht heir javelins. 2 more units of Bashkorts wait in reserve behind the line, as do the strike cavalry and 1 units of SHC. The other SHC goes out to find the enemy and lead them to the kill zone, picking a few off along the way.

All going well, the enemy will swarm up towards you and be met by a hail of Javelins from the ranks of Bashkorts. The survivors will engage the Kursabays and be held there while the remaining Javelins fly in. meanwhile the strike cavalry move out to attack the enemy archers and scatter them. SHC units move to the enemy falnks, while the strike cavalry double back and strike the rear while the SHC hit the flanks. the combination of heavy losses to javelins, local numeric superiority and charging cavalry hitting the rear and/or flanks will make most units Rout and start a chain reaction.

Bear in mind that Kazanchis are more effective for Routing good spear units than cavalry are so use them to do this. Cavalry rout sword/axe units best.

The biggest strength of the Baskort unit is the price though. 150 to build and only 22 unpkeep allows you to build them in big numbers - essential for the relatively poor VB's.