Calling ALL CAVALRY COMMANDERS !

[Shahed]

Fellow Soldiers, Sipahi, Knights, Fursan, Guards, Cavalrymen and Women !

This is a roll call.

Answer this call if you:

• Often command all cavalry armies.
• Favor Missile Cavalry or any Cavalry over all else.
• Love Cavalry and everything about it, ingame and historically.
• Have a great affection for horses.

It's been a few years since I last did this roll call (2003 IIRC was the last call). I'm doing it again so all of us know who the other cavalry commanders are. Many have left but a great many have arrived. The benefits are primarily so we know each other and can help each other out with tactics, discussion, lists, orders of battle etc. It will also allow us greater ease of co-ordination for community projects, initiatives. Consider it an association of commanders.

Please note you do not have to play all cavalry, all the time, if you do appreciate all cavalry armies, this is the place for you. if you appreciate discussion on all cavalry armies, this is the place for you.

"We cavalry men who had already been in touch with the enemy and had seen something of war, were envied by the men of the other armies."
Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen (Killed In Action: April 21, 1918.)
Ulanen-Regiment Kaiser Alexanders des III. von Russland (1. Westpreußisches)

If you wish to be part of this association, please state this clearly in your post !

STAND UP & BE COUNTED ! SALUTE !

Associates

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

llewellyn
Doug-Thompson
Whacker
King of Kings
Monsieur Alphonse
Valdimir
Kobal2fr
IrishArmenian
gibsonsg91921
Tambarskjelve
PseRamesses
God's Grace
Caelus
Tristan de Castelreng
Odin
rvg
Eng
Czar Alexsandr
Tristerm
Orda Khan
Labareda
Quillan
heisme
Guru
greaterkhaan
Gabicho
Zenicitus
Buckers
Betito
s_tabikha
Valdincan
Cras
Mete Han
Subedei
Jason X
mambaman
phonicsmonkey
Tiberius maximus
The Turk
Mangudai
Lord Ovaat
Gray Beard
edyzmedieval
Fisherking
Death_is_yonder
marrow
Dragunija
LadyAnn
Sinan

Honorary Associates
For outstanding service & achievement in All Cavalry Arms since Shogun Total War.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Orda Khan
Kanuni
Jochi Khan
MagyarKhan
Doug-Thompson
CBR

Please remind me if I forgot someone.

[llewellyn]

enemy army my cav

[Doug-Thompson]

[TeutonicKnight]

I like cavalry. I often bring barbecue sauce for when I am roasting them on my pikes.

Heavy Infantry ftw. :P

[Vladimir]

Answer this call if you:

Like being defeated by my combined arms armies.

[Whacker]

What this guy said

Normally a heavy cav person, but still loves me Cataphract Archers from RTW.

[Shahed]

Welcome aboard Gentlemen !

What is/are your absolute favorite cavalry unit/s ?

LOL TK ! A TeutonicKnight without a horse ?. (joke!)

[Doug-Thompson]

What is/are your absolute favorite cavalry unit/s ?

Mameluk Archers: Lots and lots of them.

There are better units man-per-man, but building requirements are low, making them easy to mass. Nice melee too.

[Vladimir]

Let me clarify. I'm rather apathetic about cavalry in M2. I do like the charges but the Jinettes and missile cav seem softened now. The more disorganized grouping leads to inefficiency and I can't stand that. I want my Jinettes to charge to a unit, form up, unleash their javelins as fast as possible, and get the hell out of there (I love them too much to loose them to arrows). As it is now I have to manually form them up in order to get a decent kill rate.

I'm just experimenting now with armies in M2 but in MTW I had approximately 33% or my army on horseback. The thing is that those 33% did about 90% of the combat. You just can't beat the combination of heavy horse and mounted missile units, but to micro-manage an all cavalry army?!?! GAH! I would use 2-3 units of mounted crossbows per army and turn them into Marine snipers . I love fighting the French, they're so great for target practice.

The thing is that you can't depend solely on them. Playing the Cumans in XL my reliance on horses made it extremely difficult to fight decent battles west of Poland. You need a solid infantry core and a base of fire from that core to form a combined arms army. Missile cav depletes vulnerable units and draws them out (hopefully running a few archers down in the process) where your heavy cav wait, then your infantry core cuts their heart out. All cav armies are a pain. The Mongols got lucky in Europe and didn’t always fair too well down south.

So in the and anvil strategy I'm more than anvil so maybe I'm in. The point is that if you specialize, and you face me, you die .

Again, still experimenting but I go for any fast horse with javelins, mounted x-bows are second. Heavy cav can't kill me if they can't catch me .

[Whacker]

Vards!!!

Seriously, for 800 bucks you can't beat Vardariotai, except maybe with cheap stinky camel gunners. Awesome range, powerful arrows, and they can almost, almost, double as fast heavy cavalry!



And now for my impersonation of TeutonicKnight.

Ahem.



Thank you, that is all.



Edit - I do gotta admit, Vlad's got a point buried in there. Cav utterly stinks for sieges... OOhhh how I miss my dismounting.

[TeutonicKnight]

Welcome aboard Gentlemen !

What is/are your absolute favorite cavalry unit/s ?

LOL TK ! A TeutonicKnight without a horse ?. (joke!)

We are all foot knights now.

My horse retired after the M2TW charging issues. :(

[Monsieur Alphonse]

Its depends who I am playing. When I play the English I hate everything riding a horse. I use a lot of archers and prepare for a BBQ. If i play the Turks, it is HAs all the way. My field army consist then only of HAs and one General.

A true cavalry commander will have the attitude of captain Stark (look for Les Tuniques Blues, its a comic) (commander of the 22nd cavalry regiment). He does not speak to anyone who does not ride a horse. He is the true red blooded charger and knows only one command: ATTACK!!!!!!!!

[King of Kings]

CAV ARE THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!
well my fav units are kataphraktoi and any light missile cav i just hunt my enemy down with them.

[Doug-Thompson]

Re: disorganized grouping

Vladimir, do you mean the horrible straggling problem, where one would always get caught in melee, paralyzing the whole formation until that straggler got killed?

The latest patch fixed a lot of that.

Re: Charging

Clearly this frustrates a lot of people. One of the hottest threads on the forum after the patch came out was about cavalry charges.

(P.S.)

Re: Sieges

Q: What was the biggest change for cavalry players in the latest patch?

A: Rookie spies are nerfed. We can't get the gates open any more.

[Vladimir]

Edit - I do gotta admit, Vlad's got a point buried in there. Cav utterly stinks for sieges... OOhhh how I miss my dismounting.

Burried!?! Like in a heap of camel dung?

[Vladimir]

Re: disorganized grouping

Vladimir, do you mean the horrible straggling problem, where one would always get caught in melee, paralyzing the whole formation until that straggler got killed?

Sometimes, but that was in MTW as well. Mostly it's when I find a unit vulnerable on the wing I double-click for them to attack it. When I return I find the unit spread out over twice the distance it should be. They can't all get a clear shot and they take longer to fire all their javelins. It's counterproductive; I have them for the mobility and their tatics slow them down.

[Shahed]

Firstly, all discussion is welcome.
Secondly, always consider and respect the company you are in. This is a thread primarily for cavalry fans.

If you have questions we will help you.

I have identified these points of some misconception:

1. Cavalry cannot be used in sieges effectively.
2. All cavalry armies need excessive micromanagement. This is opinion but generally for the majority of the population is true. That is what differentiates an all cavalry commander from the rest. He does not consider it excessive micromangement. Of course there is micromanagement but this is not a deterrent.
3. All cavalry armies are inadequate in themselves and need infantry.
4. Charge mechanics make it hard to do a formed charge.

These are exactly the kind of points we can clear up for the community, and thereby make our small contribution.

First I would recommend reading Hunters All Their Lives, in the M2:TW Guides forum. I can clear further questions if there still remain any, after that. If I have time I'll try to answer them here later today if I can.

Monsieur Alphonse I understand you would you like to be added to the list ?

Welcome Aboard King of Kings !

Vladimir, I'm not 100% sure if your concepts qualify for this association, but I've added you anyway, in the spirit of goodwill. Welcome Aboard ! I hope with some explanation and support we can clarify some of the finer points on cavalry. If anyone has an objection to the addition of this member, please voice your objection now.

Salute !

[Doug-Thompson]

Sometimes, but that was in MTW as well. Mostly it's when I find a unit vulnerable on the wing I double-click for them to attack it. When I return I find the unit spread out over twice the distance it should be. They can't all get a clear shot and they take longer to fire all their javelins. It's counterproductive; I have them for the mobility and their tatics slow them down.

OK. Now I'm intrigued. And a pest.

Do you use a line (2-ranks deep) or a box formation (4 ranks), or something in between? I'm not implying that my javelin cavalry do any better. I'm just obsessed.

[Doug-Thompson]

Somebody call Quillan

[HoreTore]

[B]What is/are your absolute favorite cavalry unit/s ?

I'm still waiting for my dragoons... D'Artagnan leading his musketeers!

[Shahed]

I sent Quillan a message.

HoreTore do you have a favorite cavalry unit for M2:TW ?

[HoreTore]

Cavalry cannot be used in sieges effectively.

That's a very common misconception, and fortunately, entirely false. Cavalry are extremely good in a siege, but you do need a spy. Their strength lies completely in their speed in a siege, not their charge power. First, you can attack all four gates almost simultaneously, allowing you to kill a large number of isolated units. Second, you can strike rapidly at the city center, which will cause the enemy to retreat from their walls, allowing you to kill them very easily as they will try to get to the center and wont stop to fight you, and so will die as they try to run through you. Having an infantry force attacking the main gate is very good, as they will be better at fighting the huge number of enemies in the streets there.

Having a full stack of 15 cav and 5 infantry is a very good army to siege with. Split the cav into 3, and send them to the left, right and back gates. The infantry will attack the main gate.

@Sinan: not really any favourite... But I guess if I had to choose one, I'd choose Famiglia Ducale. BTW, I'm not really a cavalry nut, except the russians and the turkish early period, I only use about 30% cavalry. I'm panicking if my army doesn't have a strong infantry core..

[Shahed]

Vards!!!

Check this mate.

[The Spartan (Returns)]

i the Pope am the Grandmaster of the Teutonic and Templar Orders.

my tactics with cav are as followed: neutralize enemy cavalry with my superior cavalry.(or neutralize any other way) engage enemy infantry with mine and charge the rear. enemy defeated.

i start with 6 or 8 Knights (mixed Teutonic and Templar)

i may vary tactics in different situations.

i hate facing HAs if i have none.

[Kobal2fr]

Its depends who I am playing. When I play the English I hate everything riding a horse. I use a lot of archers and prepare for a BBQ. If i play the Turks, it is HAs all the way. My field army consist then only of HAs and one General.

A true cavalry commander will have the attitude of captain Stark (look for Les Tuniques Blues, its a comic) (commander of the 22nd cavalry regiment). He does not speak to anyone who does not ride a horse. He is the true red blooded charger and knows only one command: ATTACK!!!!!!!!

Les Tuniques Bleues I believe is called "North & South" in English. Now get back on that horse and stop embarrassing the regiment, Blutch.


As for me... I'd say I like heavy cav, except I totally and utterly suck at commanding it. Which is why I favor the Way of the Pavise Crossbow whenever I can't rely on my usual Way of Having Thrice As Many Blokes You Do, Mate .

I do love to use small, captained all-HAs armies for raiding purposes though. Ride in, plink until quivers are empty, withdraw, repeat next turn. It's not cowardice if you can't win a direct confrontation !

[Caelus]

I’ve been in love with cavalry since Shogun (I’m an old Takeda player). Not to mention rampaging throughout Japan as he Mongols!!

The only problem I have with using all-cavalry armies is that I almost feel bad using them; the computer just doesn’t stand a chance.

[Shahed]

POP QUIZ

Whose slogan is this ?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Silent as the forest, Steady as the mountain,
Swift as the wind, ATTACK LIKE FIRE !

Without using Google Gentlemen !

[gibsonsg91921]

definitely i am one too.

i love using big ol' cavalry armies to chase down weak enemy armies and beat the everlovin' snot out of em. especially when the enemy king or faction heir or a general is all alone and i can surround and entrap his arse

[Vladimir]

OK. Now I'm intrigued. And a pest.

Do you use a line (2-ranks deep) or a box formation (4 ranks), or something in between? I'm not implying that my javelin cavalry do any better. I'm just obsessed.

This is more casual observation because I always use enveloping pincer movements (my favorite formation in MTW was the scorpion). Whenever I would get the Jinettes to where I wanted them on the flanks I would reform them in two lines, and single click on the closest unit. After making adjustments to the rest of the army (to ensure that all forces can impact at exactly the same time) I'll find them in ragged formations taking forever to expend their ammunition. This may be do to skirmishing, which I would then disable, and reform them in two lines and have them reengage. They'll launch their missiles much quicker and I can move the 'tail' closer to the claws.

I've read here that a square formation is best for missile cavalry but I want to avoid that. I want high accuracy and a high rate of fire; less danger for my boys, more danger for theirs. I suppose I have a more Byzantine philosophy on missile cavalry than a Turkish one. I really don't care for all that running around. I'd rather tease archers out where I can kill them than have my horses performing circus tricks.

[IrishArmenian]

Resident Sparapet (Supreme Commander of the Cavalry) reporting!
In M2TW, I feel I prefer the Rus for Cavalry. They have Cossack Cavalry (Good fast archers), Dvor (My all purpose units, great at shooting and getting close and personal with enemies) and Tsar's Guard (Their greatness is indescribable). I also like the Iberian Cavalry, especially the Jinetes!
The Byzantines are also great, with Vards, Latinkon and Kataphractoi.

For Mercs, I prefer Alan Light Cavalry (Possibly my favorite Mercs), Turcomans, and the more for nationalistic reasons but they can also hold their own, Armenian Cavalry.