Almohads

[katank]

knights being hit by naptha is good policy.

murabitins are awesome due to all of what ah_dut mentionned but also their 4 morale means they work better than most other javs.

I still advocated pumped saharans as with v2, they have 4 and are actually better shock troops than the rather mediocre ghulam cav they only have less defense. However, this isn't that much of an issue as you shouldn't really be charging the medium cav type ghulams head on anyhow.

24/26 for saharans mean they actually maneuver faster and better.

ghulam cav are too high tech to be worthwhile for their stats.

ghulam BGs are still awesome but their cost in support is prohibitive.

I hate royal BGs as part of regular army except for royals and heroes. their support costs make them merc like in expense.

keep level v2 saharans can already beat them.

[RollingWave]

Not to meantion saharan tend to lvl up in valor really fast when you win since they'll always take 100+ prisoner if they survive in one piece:P ... with their dirt cheap cost pretty soon u'll have a stack or 2 of v3 v4 saharan cav and almohads start with by far the best generals anyone else except the byz gets....

[frogbeastegg]

ah_dut, I have edited your summery into the first post of this topic. Thank you for your hard work

[ah_dut]

thank you Froggy sorry it took ages and i've got school

[Doug-Thompson]

Thanks for the mention in your post, ah_dut. It's nice to see somebody name a source in a forum posting. It's unusual on other forums.

Thanks again.

[ah_dut]

I always, give credit, avoids flaming. It also lets people know, the people in the know in the TW community (ie not me)

[Grand Duke Vytautas]

Hi, fans of MTW . Yes sir, the Almohads is one of my favourite factions, their troops are cool and unique and can kick Catholic ass easily , if you use them well. I agree with, the fact that the Spanish must be conquered as soon as possible, otherwise they become a real pain in the ass later on with Crusades. After I finish up with Spanish, then the Rebels must be destroyed, later the aragonese. Then I secure my kingdom, build up economy for a while, build fleet, prepare defences and march into Egypt.
My favourite structure of an Almohad army:
1. infantry-swords: of course the backbone is Almohad urban militia (these guys rock on the battlefield!); Ghazi infantry is super-fanatical infantry and can make the enemy army flee in seconds, if you place them on the edges and then flank quickly, when the front is engaged (excelent morale!). Arab infantry is useful in desert, place them on flanks. I don't use urban militias at all - they are GAMECUBE units (bad morale and combat rating) And of course peasants as usual sit in garnison (you don't want them in battle, do you?)
2. infantry-spearmen: a good unit is Muhawid foot soldiers, I place them in the center. A good substitute for MFS is Militia sergeants, but the flanks must be defended, cause MS have low morale. In desert I use the Negrospearmen, they are a good disciplined unit.
3. infantry-ranged: archers in Europe, desert archers in desert, Murabitin infantry is very cool in defence (while the skirmish mod is set-off and they're behind spearmen); Hashishin is definetely the best archers of Almos and maybe the best in the game. BTW one unit of Naphta Throwers is also great (when defending especially); In High and Late period when you have gunpowder, you'll have some gunmen .
4. Cavalry: The backbone of cavalry is Ghulam Cavalry and bodyguards (especially in Europe); Saharan light cavalry and Bedouin Camels (poor poor Western Knights in desert ) in deserts (they rock if you use them wisely). Also Berber Camels is a unique unit, which can be later used with Faris.
5. Siege and artillery depends on everyones personal taste, but gunpowder artillery is definetely the coolest and I can't wait for High period.

Good luck with Almos, mates ! Let's teach those "fellow" Christians.

[Age]

What are these people and where in the modern world do they live?Thanks.

[RollingWave]

Basically they were Moors IIRC, which is a north African people in modern day Morroco Algeria Tunisia ?

At the height of the Muslim expansion they crossed from Africa to the Iberian across the Giberatal and established their kingdom ther.

[Don Corleone]

I think they also moved into Sicily, Malta and Naples at various times.

[kalifah of watton]

greetings my almohad brothers.peace be upon you.im currently playing a game with them and i agree with most of the advice on this thread.its 1190 and i rule from southern france to arabia.whacked the spanish as soon as i could then turned on the egyptians.had huge navy defending my coastline.then attacked the byzantines in arabia.so far so good but then my ships started getting blitzed by those decadent greeks.this was followed by me losing eygpt and cyrenacia to amphibious assault.so i scorched arabia and sinai and pulled my armies back to retake those lost provinces.revenge was sweet.dont know what will happen next,probably a ruinous war of attrition with the byzantines.
a little note on tactics which i have used recently with both catholic and muslim factions.pin the bulk of the enemy with your aum or whoever and then group your ghulams/knights into a super unit of 4 or 5.charge it round the flank and go for the enemy general.one or two of your cav may get pinned by enemy spears but i find most get through and wreck havoc.its not very sun tzu and you may take heavy casulties but the enemy usually rout pretty quickly and you can make up your losses from ransom money.im keeping a chronicle of this game which i will post when its finished.i dont usually have access to the internet so dont hold your breath.all comments and constructive critisim welcome.
ciao
the kalifah of watton

[British Mutt + Viking]

My experience with this game says that the best way to win Almohads is to settle on choosing one route to expand. You can go east, taking Egypt and Sinai, while fortifying cordoba, or you can expand into the Iberian Peninsula and try to conquer all of it and make a new border ose Aragon and Navarre. Once you have done that, launch no more offensives, just fortify those three border regions you will have, and start expanding your trade links, mining the gold in North Africa, and trying to be the Muslim buddy to Europe. Crusades might come after you, and if you occupy Iberia, the French or whoever rules France at this stage, will try to force you out of Aragon and Navarre, but overall, you will be at peace. The best defence against amphibious invasion is a navy, so build one quickly as possible and in as many provinces as possible, build shipyards! Also, a strong deterrent to attacking you is to instantly wipe out their navies if they attack you. That way, once peace is re-made, they will be less likely to attack you again.
Invading Iberia is the more profitable route, but also by far the more dangerous and difficult. It is more of a "gamble" but the pay-off is greater. I always go this route if I am up to putting myself to the challenge, but the Spanish and Aragonese are tough and the French or English can rarely resist a chance to interfere. But as long as you are bold and don't hesitate to attack, attack, attack, you will be victorious and give yourself the perfect platform to start conquering whatever you want. In Iberia, you will find iron to give your Muslim troops armour, which will give them the survivability they lack by default, tradable goods to rival Egypt, and perhaps you can afford to bribe El Cid.

[N0valoco]

So far, I've taken the Iberian peninsula completely, have a good stable relationship with Egypt, have France stuck between me and the Germans in Europe and am going to start on Sicily due to some rather good assassinations from them.

So far, these guys are working for me. :) Never forget, fight a one-theater war if at all possible against one opponent at a time. Build up the gold and silver mines along the southern Med and then run rampant through Europe.

So far, nobody's been able to Crusade me due to well-placed spies.

I am so glad I got this game! :)

Cheers,
N0valoco

[KhaderKhan]

What are these people and where in the modern world do they live?Thanks.

Correct me if am wrong but I think they were Berbers, they at present from what I know live in North Africa.

(A famous French footballer is a Berber, Zinedine Zidane)

[Sea Warrior]

This is my first post on this forum,
so, hello to all.

The first time I conquered the map was with the Almohads,
so they hold a special place in my heart. I was well over
200 g's in debt, but I didn't care. The last campaign I had
well over 2 million banked, and a Fortress in all but one of
the provinces (again with the 'mohads).

One trick that I have'nt seen and I came across quite by
accident. Capture the Spanish king instead of Killing him.
If the spanish decide to ransom him back, it will be a big shot
in the arm to your early economy, and pretty much cripple
theirs.

[KhaderKhan]

Am pllaying the Almohads at the moment and at present am on the verge of capturing the entire map but there's one blip. Ireland has no ports so therefore I can't seemed to land an invasion force on Ireland and complete the game. Does anyone know a way around this?

[KhaderKhan]

Problem solved. Captured the entire map under the space of a 100+ years, how's that for a record...

[Byzantine_Fury]

Whewn playin as the Elmos is there any difference in the way you handle the Argonese compared to the spanish?

[Umbramortii]

I love the Almohads, they're my favourite faction, though I tend to play all three Muslim factions. I just prefer Muslim armies, they are more quirky, require more thought to use and so are more fun than Catholic armies.

I used to be immensely frustrated with Ghulam Cavalry and how weak they were compared to Catholic knights... until I realized the truth. Ghulam Cav aren't meant for squaring off against knights, that was never their intended purpose. They are best used to break infantry with flank charges. Nowadays I use about two Ghulam Cav per army in that way, leaving knights to Muwwahids and Murabitin. Oh and Ghulam Cav are also great in pursuit, but way less fragile than Saharan Cav.

[Geezer57]

Am pllaying the Almohads at the moment and at present am on the verge of capturing the entire map but there's one blip. Ireland has no ports so therefore I can't seemed to land an invasion force on Ireland and complete the game. Does anyone know a way around this?

Just to answer your question in case someone else hasn't figured it out: you don't need a port in your target province to invade. You need a ship chain, and a port, in the province(s) from which you launch the invasion.

[John XVI]

I started my Almo Campaign on early,and first instinct was of course to build up my armies. I was surprised how easy the spanish were to crush,but then again I had hundreds of Nubian Spearmen and AUM. I didn't want to go to war with Egypt,so i made an alliance with them and staged massive army on the border just so that they won't stab me in the back. Anyway,I wiped out Spain and Aragon without any pain at all and created a navy that could easily transport my troops from Africa to Southern Germany. The italians try and send a crusade in Cordoba,but they can only wipe out Aragon(what can I say,I had only peasants there and main body of my troops were pillaging France.),before my not-so-shiny troops wear the crusade down and recapture the province that was left to the rebels. I was able to proceed all the way to Switzerland with the troops that I had sent through Spain and with those shipped from Africa. . But my joy was cut short when I had to format my hard drive and I lost the saves :/.

[acesman]

I downloaded the XL Mod, and the game for the Almohads is a little different, with a well-armed Portugal, and a more agressive AI. I just started with the Almohads in this mod, and wondered if anyone had any thoughts on their different experiences with the Almos in MTW and the XL Mod.

[SCRIBE]

any good tips for ransacking the Castillians in the early prd of the Almos?

I currently have my king and 1 of his sons with an army of over 900 or so soldiers consisting of AUM, Ghazis, Nubian spearmen, and DAs.
While the Castillians have spearmen, jinettes, feudal MAA and their Royal Cav.
Also their king is in Navarre, and some upstart weak son of his is commander of the armies in Castille, should I attack these guys now?

[Empirate]

On the historical questions laid down here: The Almohads were originally Berbers, that's right. But they're not historically defined as a people but as a religious reform movement.They developed out of a revival of pure Quranic Islam that took place in the 11th century in Morocco and Algeria. AFAIK, they were the first to build Ribats - withdrawal places of religious learning, often producing powerful, tight-knit groups of "holy" warriors (as is reflected in the game with Ghazis). Their forebears, the Almoravids (another religious reform movement, holding to slightly different tenets), had taken over the southern Iberian peninsula after the decadent lot of the Umayyad Corduban Caliphate and the Iberian taifa kingdoms (smaller Muslim city states) had gradually lost a lot of ground to the early phases of Reconquista. They called for help from their Muslim brothers in Morocco and Algeria, and the Almoravids came. They weren't overly successful against the military genius of the Aragonese King Alphonse I. "el Batallador" (meaning, "the fighter of battles"), and the Almohad movement slowly subverted their efforts and attacked them in Africa. The Almoravids were destroyed as a dynasty in 1147 and replaced by the Almohads, who took over their works and organization of state. These felt they were - literally - a godsend for the poor embattled Muslims in al-Andalus. So they struck back at the Christian states in the north with fresh religious and military vigor and actually drove them back for a while. They also established a new Caliphate, making the Calipha count three again (besides Baghdad and Cairo). Originally, Islam was supposed to have only one Calipha, but at the time of M:TW, there were the Almohads in Iberia and Morocco, the Shiite Fatimids in Egypt, and the Sunni Abbasids in Mesopotamia.

To summarize: The "Almohads" we play in M:TW are actually at first, Umayyads, a bit later, Almoravids, and only from 1147 on they're proper Almohads.


Edit: This post probably belongs in the monastery... Sorry for that, but the question came up.

[caravel]

Great post Empirate. Similarly the Turks are at first the Seljukid Empire and (much) later the Ottomans. CA defined them as simply "the Turkish" not a dynasty or particular empire but a generic ethnic group. Similarly the Almohads should probably have been called "The Moors", which in M2TW they will be. Another faction having a similar problem are the Spanish. In reality Castilla-León. It is a simple matter to rename these. The worst is Egypt, that sounds so wrong, in many ways.

[The Wizard]

The Almohads should have two names, one for the Early age and one for the High: al-Murabitun (Almoravids) and al-Muwahhidun (Almohads), both religiously fanatic movements that grew into large regional powers.

Historically, the Murabitids went further South (they grew into a powerful military organization on the banks of the Niger), while the Almohads went the furthest West (taking Tunisia).

Therefore the setup of the Early Almohads is incorrect -- they are too far West. No matter; from a gameplay point of view (strategical considerations) it makes little to no difference for them to control only Morocco or all the provinces up to Tunisia, save perhaps a bit more concentration upon mopping up rebels to deny the Egyptians a chance to advance deeper into Africa.

As far as strategy goes, I'd advise you to move quickly. Don't concentrate on trying to contend with the Egyptians; they can wait. A far more acute danger eminates from the Christian kingdoms to your North, who, left unattended, can easily build large armies of units that overpower your own -- at least until you come into possession of the feared Almohad Urban Militia.

So attack one of the organized factions (rebels right off the bat) within the first five years, and make sure to make full use of the qualities of your army (skirmish-based). Take care not to get surrounded in any province (Castile is especially prone to this, with multiple enemies coming in from all sides).

Once you're in control of the entirety of Iberia, as you should be, your power is far more secure. You only need two or three potent garrisons, two for the Pyrenees and one for North Africa, to be able to adequately react to any potential invaders. With such low upkeep issues you're free to build a formidable trade empire and start picking off fools at your leisure.

[PaulTa]

As any muslim nation I would suggest creating a sub-group that has the honor of being the "general killer". If you can keep the other forces occupied long enough for an elite team consisting usually of a pinning unit, an AP unit, and a cav unit to kill the enemy general, you're a leap closer to routing the army... Once the enemy army starts routing, your muslim mobility becomes a truly remarkable asset.

[caravel]

There is a wikipedia page on the Almohads (Al-Muwahhidun), to give anyone a general idea of them. I have been looking for some decent books but haven't found anything any good as yet.

[doctrellor]

Yeah I agree with many posts here

KILL the Spanish!!

I took Valencia, then Portugal.. then Castile, and then Finally Aragon in that order..

I would build Watch towers, Mosque, town guard for happiness and those superb AUM's

for my troops, I crank out Desert archers, Murabitin Horsemen and AUM's

Once I controlled the Iberian Pen, the English attacked, and I had 3 5* gens with full stacks and I hit them hard and took the English out of Europe in 2 years..lol

Then I sat and waitied, and slowly built up growing my Navy and Econ...

The Eggys attacked, and I took Egypt/Sinai where the Front is now

The French had attacked the English & Germans and appeared VERY, VERY weak in France.. so I attacked them and took Brittany, Normany, Il De France, Flanders in 2 years as the French holdings in HRE fell due to civil war, and so I marched to Tulouse and took that after a smal seige

So at 1150, I control, Spain, France and All of North Africa...with a navy that protects my coasts..although I admit, I could of had them literally 30 years earlier but my econ would of been far worse.

One thing I dont have.. allies..:(

[Alouette]

I just looked at the unit stats for AUM.

What the hell? I mean seriously, what in Allah's name are stats that high doing on AUM?

Therefore I propose the following strategy:

-Prereq AUM in an iron prov.
-build AUM (don't stop, ever).
-Armor/attack upgrades until gold/gold.
-Add your general's unit and 2 comps of Saharan v2 cav for mop up duty.
-Walk forward. (don't stop, ever).

Seriously, nothing is going to stop those guys. Nothing. I was anticipating Viking-esque stats, not Janissary-esque stats.