Pontic Cavalry

[Luis Sera]

My pontus game has been quite successful but im usually utilising a hammer and anvil system in battle. Problem is i dont have great cavalry. I have the choice between Medium Eastern Cavalry, Cappodacian Cavalry and Hellenic Medium Cavalry but nothing heavier. Sure im not expecting cataphracts but is there something you can recommend?

btw, galatian heavy spearmen and pontic heavy infantry are really effective, use them on my flanks a bit. Recommend them for anyone who prefers a more fluid battle style

[Fluvius Camillus]

The 3 heavier groups of cavalry that Pontus has at her disposal:

- Galatian Heavy Cavalry, very costly but sturdy cavalry. They charge with underhand short spears.
- Kinsmen Heavy Cavalry, also very costly and are almost the same as Pontic early bodyguards. They charge with two handed lances.
- Bodyguards, both early and late charge with two handed lances.

~Fluvius

[Megas Methuselah]

Invest in the Pontic Thorakitai, ensuring that you modded the game to give each unit the same number of men as legionary cohorts.

[Luis Sera]

Dont have access to Kinsmen cavalry which would be my preference (dont have the provinces). Would Scythian noble cavalry be a good alternative?

[Brave Brave Sir Robin]

Yeah Scythian Nobles are good. Pontus has a wide array of troop types, including cavalry but nothing that is pure elite in the sense of Kataphracts or Hetairoi.

[gamegeek2]

Scythian Nobles are excellent, 2600 mnai only - much cheaper than kinsmen

[WinsingtonIII]

Yes, I would argue Scythian Nobles are better than Kinsmen. 800 mnai cheaper. Same morale (13), discipline, and training. Almost as much armor (12 instead of 15), which they make up for with a shield of 3, making them better against missiles as well. They also have a high-lethality longsword as a secondary, which is better than the AP mace of the Kinsmen. Their only downside is a slightly weaker charge, but their upsides make up for it.

They're the most cost-effective heavy cavalry on the Pontic roster (other than bodyguards of course), the only problem with them is their AOR, as shipping across the Black Sea can be annoying.

Also, don't completely write off Cappadocian medium cavalry. Don't use them as shock cavalry, they don't have the charge for that, but they're pretty fast and quite good in prolonged melees against other cavalry because they are well armoured and carry an axe. I like to use them to distract and tire out enemy heavy cavalry, and then once I pin the enemy heavies with my own heavy cavalry, the Cappadocians can easily outmaneuver and take them down with their axes. I think they are a bit overpriced for what you get though, as they are more expensive than Scythian Nobles.

Plus, you need something you run down routers, and by the end of a battle Royal Kinsmen are about as fast as heavy infantry...

[Luis Sera]

i use asiatikoi hipposkontistoi to chase down routers. Yes the AOR is a little restricting but until i seize edessa and karkiokerta (sp?) im using them. Kinsmen should provide me with the real brutal punch ive wanted. Money is no real issue considering ive given 300k to the saka to keep them pushing on a sauros (keeps them distracted from me).

[Brave Brave Sir Robin]

300K to the saka! You're out of your mind! They're going to sweep across the steppes and you'll be facing down hordes of HA's and cataphracts on your borders.

[WinsingtonIII]

i use asiatikoi hipposkontistoi to chase down routers. Yes the AOR is a little restricting but until i seize edessa and karkiokerta (sp?) im using them.

Well yes that's definitely a much more cost effective router chasing solution, but the Cappodocian mediums are still worth using in some situations where you need a faster cavalry force that can also hold in melee for a bit against other cavalry.

[anubis88]

In order to continue with my shameless advertisement of our new mod , i can tell you that you'll get at least 2 Catapratchesque (is that even a word by a long shot?) cavalry that will be recruitable by Pontos from their starting territories :) Both the Scythians and the Kinsmen will fear them :).

But i agree on how good the Scythians are. And they look awesome as well; one of the best units in EB imho...

[Luis Sera]

add 'esque' or 'ish' to a word and it becomes a real word. I only employ one army (probably why im avle to give money away so freely) with several silver chevrons but its a hammer and anvil (to fight the successors in the east) so cavalry is hard to come by. Shipping scythian nobles isnt really a problem, i ship bosphoren archers across to maintain a multi-cultural army (seems a very pontic thing to do, that and they are extremely good for me). Asiatikoi hippiskontistoi are some of the best cavalry out there, dont knnow what i would do without them.

Personally i dont understand why pontus and hayasdan are considered so hard. Small principalities that are easy to manage given that you are patient before they blossom into an empire. Recruitment roster of pontus rivals baktria in diversity, all it really lacks is true 'elites'.

However, since my game seems like ive rushed, i might start again to try and maintain pace with the rest of the game (im a perfectionist)

[Moros]

Invest in the Pontic Thorakitai, ensuring that you modded the game to give each unit the same number of men as legionary cohorts.

And why would you want do that?

[Rahl]

Why they should have the numbers of the cohorts I dont know, but I understand to modify them, compared to hellenic Thorakitai they are to weak. But thats because most short-sword troops seem a bit weak.