One of my best games ever: Early Turks

[caravel]

Yes, in my extremely biased opinion the Turks are the best faction in the game and can be one of the most challenging.

For the early campaign the strategy is simple: Wipe out the Egyptians ASAP and ignore the Byzantine for a while. The latter should not attack for many years which will give you the time to work on removing the former - which doesn't take too long. The Byzantine will never accept an alliance at the start of an early campaign, whereas the Egyptians may do. This means precisely nothing and the likely result is that the Egyptians will stab you in the back at the first opportunity.

After I've removed the Egyptians I tend to establish my power base from Rum to Egypt, the first defensive choke point and avoid treading on the toes of the Almohads for a while - and maybe train some Bedouin Camels! There is much potential for trading in that region and the income will allow you to build decent armies. Fleets should be established to protect at least all of your coastlines and cover the Byzantine coastlines.

My early Turkish armies are usually made of a backbone of Saracen Infantry, Futtuwa and Turcoman Foot supported by Armenia Heavy Cavalry, Ghazi Infantry, and the invaluable Turcoman Horse. I usually have a system of invasion where my attacking force (cavalry based) invades the province and takes it, then falls back and my main defensive force (Saracen and hybrid based) moves in.

In general terms the Saracens and hybrid units act mainly as a defence force, which is needed when the Horde arrive. In offensive battles the Turcoman Horse and AHC are much more important. The Turcoman are used to wear the enemy down and break their morale. The AHC then charge and destroy the broken enemy force. Timing and the taking up of flanking positions is important as if you don't tire, demoralise and wear down the enemy force first you will likely lose a lot more men or worse still lose the battle.

Once you're strong enough you should hit the Byzantine before they get any stronger. I usually go for Trebizond, Anatolia and Lesser Armenia first (cutting off Georgia) then dig in and get ready for some counter attacks. This is where the Saracens come in. Without them to absorb the Kataphraktos charges and the Ghazi to charge them in the flank you will struggle to hold onto these provinces and take huge losses. It is a good idea to attack these three provinces at once as it usually causes the Byzantine to divide their forces and delivers a blow to their income. The next move is Nicaea and Georgia - the second and arguably most important choke point, though holdng on to Trebizond is more important. If you were to lose it again at this point the Byzantine can walk through your internal provinces including Rum and Armenia. Once Nicaea is yours it's a matter of delivering the final push for Constantinople the final choke point. Once this province is taken you have a strong defensive region with a good income controlled by three choke points.

In the high era once Janissaries are available, Janissary Infantry can replace your other hybrid units. Janissary Heavy Infantry can also replace units such as Ghazi as flankers and Saracens when attacking cavalry. Though you may still need to train/keep some Saracens as a low cost "spear wall" for defensive battles (you don't want your expensive JHI up front as cannon fodder being shot at).

[Martok]

Yep, the Turks in Early are absolutely one of the more challenging factions in vanilla MTW/VI. I don't play as them very often, but they're usually pretty tough when I do. Since you have no choice but to go to war with the Eggies and/or the Byz if you want to expand, it definitely makes for an interesting campaign.

(I've just never been that fond of them due to their large number of mounted missile units. I should probably just get over it, but some habits are hard to break. )

[caravel]

Yep, the Turks in Early are absolutely one of the more challenging factions in vanilla MTW/VI. I don't play as them very often, but they're usually pretty tough when I do. Since you have no choice but to go to war with the Eggies and/or the Byz if you want to expand, it definitely makes for an interesting campaign.

(I've just never been that fond of them due to their large number of mounted missile units. I should probably just get over it, but some habits are hard to break. )

Ahem, they have Turcoman Horse, Sipahis of the Porte and vanilla HAs. That's the only mounted missile units they have. In fact they've been condemned as ahistorical in the past for not having enough mounted missile units and too many foot units. It is quite possible to play the Turks without relying too heavily on THA and HA. In Early you can make use of much the same units as the Egyptians with only a few exceptions.

[Martok]

Ahem, they have Turcoman Horse, Sipahis of the Porte and vanilla HAs. That's the only mounted missile units they have. In fact they've been condemned as ahistorical in the past for not having enough mounted missile units and too many foot units. It is quite possible to play the Turks without relying too heavily on THA and HA. In Early you can make use of much the same units as the Egyptians with only a few exceptions.

Yeah, I know that's all they have for mounted missiles....but it *feels* like a lot when I play them.

That, and it seems like that's about all you can train at first, and so I wind up with relative hordes of them early on, which bugs me to no end.

[bozewolf]

The only "problem" imo with the Turks is that despite their fun and challenging starting position, once you destroy the Egyptians and have the Byzzies on the back foot, it's pretty much smooth sailing from there. Like Caravel said, you have a strong base with many potential high income provinces completely sealed off by only three regions and a strong fleet. You can sit on your butt for two hundred years, so to speak.


Out of the three Muslim factions the Turks are definitely my favorite, though. I always thought they have more character. Their unit roster appeals to me as well.

[Roark]

Caravel's hit the nail on the head. Turks dominate.

My recommendation for decent Turk players is to solidify Asia Minor, then go on a "tour" through Christian Europe in the High era with your Elites just for fun, razing and moving on. You get to face the best that Christianity has to offer and demonstrate the superiority of the mighty Turcoman Horse whirlwind. The Armenian Heavies and Ghazis break 'em, and the Muwahids and Turcoman Horse can sweep them up.

[seireikhaan]

Eh. For whatever reason, I find the Turks to be relatively easy. Taking the eggies out early is not a difficult task at all; indeed, if you wish to be cheap, the game sets you up for an easy sultan-ransom in the first few turns of the game. The Byz can give you trouble, but that's what saracen infantry+ribats are for. They can take a boatload of punishment, giving plenty of time to gang up the Kataphraktoi with your cheap as hell ghazis. Of course, by the time you're taking the Byz on, ideally you'd have a navy set up to extend far enough to take the byz navies out completely, and ideally stretching a little further, into the adriatic, so you can still pull in a nifty trade income. So you should be able to span camels, ghazis, and saracens like crazy and "horde" the byzantines better(and better commanded, in all likelyhood) troops, with some decent generalling. Of course, this could get horribly screwed up if the byz backstab you before you can set yourself up properly, but as long as the eggies are out, you should be able to focus you're full might on them and wear them down.

Once I get the "big triangle"-aka Georgia, Constantinople, and Egypt(though I generally like to take Greece and Bulgaria if possible as well, even if it means I have an extra province to defend), its ridiculous. The income is so insane, its not even funny. Not to mention that having the magic province(Constantinople), seems to ensure you're royal line can easily become insanely powerful. I had one memorable game in particular where my royal line was literally a manufacturing line for 7, 8 and 9 star generals. So, to avoid getting bored, I'll intentionally load up my eastern provinces just to try and get the Golden Horde to hit my harder.