Dealing with the Byzantines

Playing the HRE on expert difficulty with the XL mod, starting in early.

Currently I have been very successful. Swabia, Switzerland, Brandenburg and Saxony are my ‘Imperial Troop Centers,’ are led by the princes and emperor, and a few high-ranking non-royal generals, and are supported by local militias and special troops, such as Slavic warriors. The Empire stretches north to south, from Scandinavia to Naples, from Ile de France in the west to Bohemia in the east.

Recently a large storm has been brewing over eastern Europe. The Byzantines have ravaged the countryside, displacing the Hungarians (but not destroying them utterly) and nibbling at Serbia’s borders. They have forged a pact with the Poles and now have mounted a joint strike against the Holy Roman Empire: The Polish at Brandenburg and the Byzantines at Austria and Bohemia. The Polish are not a problem, however the Byzantine ‘special ’troops are especially irksome. It is only through brilliant defensive tactics, the high command rating of my generals and the high valor of my veterans of my many campaigns that I am able to defeat Byzantine Infantry, Kataphraktoi and Trebazond Archers. However it is not enough, for attack and counter-attack by both sides have been launched; I managed to forge a marriage-alliance with the Hungarians and the Serbians, but they are weak and for the moment merely a distraction for both sides. Austria and Bohemia have been taken and re-taken twice already; my veterans are wearing thin; already most of their ranks have been swelled by raw recruits. For example one unit of Swabian swordsmen, at the end of my last campaign but before the war with the Byzantines, had a total of six earned valor and 98 men in the unit. After the first counter-attack the unit had seven valor but only 13 men due to a Kataphraktoi charge at the wrong moment. After re-fit it had 120 men and only 2 valor.

What am I to do? I have the numbers but they are slaughtering my men on a regular basis about 3:1. This cannot go on, both of our empires have the resources nessesary to go on for a long time, I do not want a war of attrition.

Are you in a position where you could launch a naval invasion of Constantinople? If so, you should strike them at the heart of their power -- one of the Byzantines' great weaknesses (at least in the game) is that their capital is permanently in a strategically vulnerable position.

Attack each with your best counter. A unit of 60 Swab Swords should be the equal of a unit of 100 Byz Infantry. Mounted Crossbows can take out Treb Archers if you flank them in open terrain. Pummel Kats with Slav Javs after you’ve pinned them with spears and make it a point to kill their generals. I believe that you can Crusade against the Byz, so you might hit them in Constantinople as Martok advises. The Byz are also on the tour list of the Golden Horde, so if you can hang on, they’ll eventually be in deep doodoo.

Now that you mention it, Martok I have been building a trading fleet in Venice... I think I may be able to launch an amphibious assault. Thanks for the tips.

Another problem has arisen, though. How do I keep the papacy down? How many men would I need to keep in Italy to ensure no regular uprisings or if there are I can deal with them handily?

If you have eliminated the pope, then no number of men will keep a reemergence from occuring. He will come back, and it will be nasty. Also, you can't crusade. If the pope is still hanging on, then always make sure that you slightly outnumber him with non-missile troops in all of your provinces that share a border with him. You never want to tempt the pope to attack you, because you can't fight him without getting ex-communicated.

As for your defensive Byz battles, try throwing a couple units of mounted crossbows into your starting line-up (substitute them for whatever cavalry you would normally use). Before the battle, deploy your main army near the edge of the map, and place your mounted crossbows way out front and off to one side. This gives you the opportunity to take potshots at the K-tanks during their whole march across the map. You won't actually kill very many of them, but if you're lucky, they'll chase you all over the map, and they wear out quickly. As they get close to your main formation, you can withdraw your xbows and bring in your regular troops, or you can set up behind your lines to finish off the xbow ammunition. This is also a good way to learn the basic use of mounted skirmishers for when you decide to play steppe or muslim factions in the future.

Heed Gunslinger's advice. Annoy those Kats into charging your light missile cavalry and lead them on a merry chase.

As for Varangians, well... cheap Slav javs are the answer. You might also need a high morale low armour unit to take a beating while you impale the Varangians.

Byzantine infantry are decent enough all-round to be annoying, but because of their unit size, they tend to have big wide flanks that stick out and beg for a cavalry charge.

Concerning the Pope, it may be better to live in peace together. The Pope will always reappear no matter of troops you have.
If you will allow him to live in peace with you, you will be able to use crusades. So next time when Pope will emerge, simply leave (without battle) from these province(s) and allow the Pope to take it. He will be neutral and you can crusade against Byz. Not to count that you can use the troops from Papal front to fight somewhere else.

Many of the Byzantine units are armoured! Use this to your advantage with armour-piercing skirmishers! Wear down their units in chases and then strike with fast guys (like gallowglasses or woodsmen) that you don't care about, but will do decent damage if the flank (or attack from the rear) on armoured units!