Crusade FAILS!!! How bad can it be?

[Game Over!!!]

Started a new game playing HRE for the first time. (Early/Expert) I also started my first crusade(EVER) and it looks like its gonna fail...had over 2000 men in crusade before it broke in Cordoba, it was headed for granada. I only have about 200 men in crusade now...which is stalled in Castille. When the crusade army disappears in about 5 or 10 years how much of a 'hit' in loyalty or influence can I expect being the HRE?
I was excommed about 10 years ago...didn't think I could still have a crusade while being excommed. The HRE is always in trouble regarding loyalty anyway so am I in REAL big trouble or what? Should I KILL my present king now before the crusade totally fails...so I won't be excommed anymore or just tough it out? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Also what HRE unit should I strive to produce. First time playing the HRE so any help would be greatly appreciated...by the way the year is 1165 or so.

[cutepuppy]

Maybe you can send reinforcements (by sea), that should be the only way to save your crusade.
Not only you can't have a crusade when excomm'd, you also can't have a crusade while there's one on it's way.
Killing your present king isn't a good solution for two reasons: you can't start a new crusade before your active crusade fails or succeeds (as mentioned above) and also, your new king will take an influence hit when your original crusade fails, probably leading to civil war.
The best thing you can do is sending reinforcements to Cordoba (once again, by sea, not by land), at the same turn move your crusade to cordoba, try to beat the army in cordoba (or make the retreat, which is even better) and then attack granada (don't siege/assault cordoba).

Good german units:
swabian swordsmen (swordsmith's workshop, swabia, early only)
mounted crossbows (horse breeder, all periods, all provinces)
gothic knights (master horse breeder, master armourer, baronial estates, late era only, all provinces, bonus in Saxony)
gothic sergeants (baronial estates, all provinces, late only)
if you hold switzerland, you can build:
swiss halbardiers (town militia, high and late)
swiss pikemen (county militia, late)
swiss armoured pikemen (county militia, master armourer, late)

[Game Over!!!]

One thing I forgot to mention about Cordoba...The Elmo's have 6500 troops there with Ghulams, AUM and desert archers. Having to fight 8 Ghulams, 11 AUMs and too many to count desert archers was too much for my crusade. I have boats going from the Baltic sea all the way into the Straights of Gibraltar, so going by sea isn't a problem for reinforcing but having to clear Cordoba out is too much for my army to do at this point. Should I just let the crusade fail and then next turn kill my king?
I do have one question: Can FMAA take on AUM? all things being equal Those Ghulams are a lot harder than I remember also...2 units of RK's and 36 UM falling to 20 Ghulams was an eye opener.

[Imperial Buffoon]

Do you hold Castille? What about everything between Castille and your homelands? If you do, you may want to try to tech it up a bit...

cutepuppy's idea to reinforce your attack to Cordoba is a great suggestion, but may not work faced with 6000+ Almos. Getting them to attack Castille may be better.

If you hold castille, it sounds like you have enough sea power to open a lane from there to Grenada. If you manage to get a large enough force there, you'll make them retreat.

Otherwise, just letting the crusade fail may be better.

All things equal, I don't think FMAA can deal with AUM, AUM's are armoured and have OK defense, so they'll hold their own better. At best you'll have a long hand-to-hand but if they have superior cavalry and firepower, you're the one likely to be flanked.

In my current Aragonese campaign, AUM around 1150 were a major threat, and I would have a hard time engaging an army with more than 3. If you can afford to concentrate on them, having them flanked with UM's while attacked with FMAA it may just work. I used javelinmen to good effect agaist them once they're pinned down, but don't know if you have any.

The other thing you want to do is make them run if you can, as they will tire faster than your own troops

[Game Over!!!]

Thanks for all the replies guys...alot of good ideas. The Iberian Peninsula is pretty much divided evenly between Spain and the Elmo's. Portugal, Cordoba & Granada is Elmo while the rest including Castille is Spain. As I said before, all the sea lanes from the Baltic to the Straights of Gibraltar are mine, so getting reinforcements are not a problem...the 6 stacks of Elmo's sitting in Cordoba IS.
I've got 30K in the bank so I could field a decent army to attack Cordoba in about 10 years...if the crusade will last that long. Question: What would a good army consist of that could make a stand against what's in Cordoba now; 6 Ghulams/king with 4 stars, 10 AUMs/1 armor upgrade, 9 desert archers, 6 Murabitin infantry, 4 militia sergeants, and the pre-requisite computer norm...3 stacks of peasants.
The year is 1166 and I can make UM/1 weapon & 2 armor, Woodsmen/1 armor, FMAA/1 weapon & 2 armor, Militia sarges/1 weapon, Mounted sarges/2 armor, Mounted crossbow/2 armor, Fuedal sarges/2 armor, and RK's/2 armor. These are the units I think would probably work best against whats facing me in Cordoba...What does anyone else think?
I know I could just wing it and see what happens but 2 or more heads on this is just plain better.

[cutepuppy]

Something I forget to mention in my first post: if you have VI, try to take the scandinavian lands and produce viking huscarles (swordsmith+armourer), they are the best infantry next to varangian guards, and in woods they should defeat any kind of early cavalry quite easy, and any other kind of infantry with ease. Also try to produce swabians (if you have VI, at least). I think they can beat AUM.
If you're good at horse archer skirmishing, use your mounted xbows to take out as much as possible from his heavy infantry and archers. If they are attacked by cavalry, use sergeants as a shield wall to retreat behind. AUM's have low basic morale, so that might be the point you have to work on: shoot them, lure them away from their strong position, concentrate on killing their general,...

[Blodrast]

Another suggestion: a quick easy and accurate way to figure out how efficient a unit is against another unit is to use Yas' unit comparison tool at Shogun's page
Check it out, it's really useful.

[katank]

AUMs and FMAA fighting frontally should draw.

AUMs have 4 defense and 1 shield while FMAA have 3 defense and 2 shield.

thus, slug fest is equal while FMAA is worse than AUMs when hit in the rear or flanks and AUMs are more vulnerable to armor piercing missiles

I would say use mounted x-bows all you can to drag them tired.

then, reinforce with swarms of woodsmen.

sure they might get slaughtered and routed but you can kill them with attrition.

woodsmen are more cost effective.

also, can you get highland clansmen?

they are great against archers etc. in chasing em down adn their huge attack can kill anything that they can flank.

gallowglasses from ireland woudl be good too for armourpiercing attack that can knock out kngihts.

for HRE, don't go for a single specialty build in early but focus upon spear/archers then switching to fedual troops if you can.

the exception is swabians but they are really not worth it if you cut up the danes and get huscarles which are better than swabbies.

using massed archers behind a nice spear wall is also doable.

try to have the spears just tie up the enemy and shoot them to bits.

have the spear wall anchored in forests or something and make it tight so they can't rool up the flanks and use hold hold as you aren't trying to kill but just to occupy their units and let your missiles do all the killing.

[Imperial Buffoon]

I think you only need to worry about the AUM and the Ghulams, and mounted Xbowmen is your best bet against those. Use mounted sarges to attack their archer line if it's bugging you but first make AUM and Ghulams run around.
If that weren't the AI, I would be afraid of facing an army with 4 ghulams, 6 AUM's and archers, but he won't do that so if you take his AUm's one at a time and try to get his gen with xbowmen you're in business

[Game Over!!!]

Thanks again for all the replies...I will not go to bed tonight until Cordoba is MINE (or until the wife says get ur @ss in bed) Unfortunately I do not have VI. One kid with braces, another in soccer, another in ballet class leaves all extra money going other places other than gaming.
Back to the topic: I do own Ireland but don't have it teched up enough for Gallowglasses...yet. I was going to bribe the rebel army in Scotland; 7 clansmen, but my crusade dilema has shifted my focus...my next target was the English Isles. I plain forgot that my mounted Xbows were armor piercing and FAST. That should help eliminate those nasty Ghulams or keep 'em busy. I do have about 4 units of vikings still around...they might help in a pinch.
Thanks again, back to work. Like we say in the government If it ain't broke, fix it til it is.

[ah_dut]

you might like good 'ol vikings to cause a bit of havoc on their lines. AUM are heavily armoured so you should get javs from Ireland or Huscarles from scandinavia as said before. The first wave of almos will be deadly, after that any n00b can beat them. they come in drips and drabs