What to do with AUM

[Maeda Toshiie]

For the first time ever I've kept a game going long enough to actually get some SAP. Now I had always read here that these were some serious infantry.

This coincided with the big orange empire deciding to pick a fight with me. Whenever this has happened in the past I have always found AUM to be pretty much indestructable, but now, surely, I would be the master, right?

Wrong. Admittedly I was giving away three command stars to the Almo general (they seem to have about 200 6 star generals) but it was the same story as before. Even with AUM pinned in front of one unit of SAP, and charged in the rear by another, they took an awfully long time to die. (Die they did, but not before wiping out an entire unit of pikes)

Whats going on here? Are they the best infantry unit or what? I am playing as the Russians so I don't even have much decent cav to run them down with though a boyar sandwich would probably give them pause for thought.

No, vanilla AUMs are mostly harmless to SAP (note the two qualifiers, vanilla and mostly). Stats on AUMs from FBE's guide.

"Almohad urban militia.
Charge 3 Attack 3 Defence 3 Armour 4 Speed 6, 10, 11 Morale 2 Cost 200 Support cost 37

Almohad urban militia are very similar to the Catholic feudal men at arms. They have a shield and a sword, just like the men at arms and they have the same number of men in each unit (80). As far as use goes they should be used like men at arms; put them in two ranks and on engage at will before marching them at some spears or other infantry and letting them charge into battle. Almohad urban militia don’t really need to flank so you can use them to hold a good front line against infantry attacks. You should always endeavour to keep them far away from cavalry or they will die very quickly. If you have no choice but to fight cavalry with this unit put them in three or four ranks, try to find some trees to put the cavalry at a disadvantage and mob the cavalry with as many units as possible. This is an extremely solid unit and is a steal for its price. The militia’s shield only has a 0.5 modifer."

They are slightly weaker than CMAAs. However, valour and wep/arm upgrades would make it different case. Take a look at how many little flags the unit is flying. Chances are, they do have wep upgrades from the iberian provinces.

[Kommodus]

Like all swordsmen, AUM are only truly weak against cavalry. Remember, swordsmen easily defeat spearmen, and can also have some success against pikemen (although with equal valor/upgrades, SAP should still easily defeat any sword unit in the game). Differences in valor, weapons, and armor can upset this balance. As the Almohads, I fought the Swiss once, and noted that AUM can do alright against SAP, as long as I support them and use flanking attacks against the enemy.

Thus, use the best cavalry you have. Try polearms as well; as long as you don't let them get flanked or isolated, even halberdiers should do well against AUM. Reserve your pikemen for more worthy tasks, like destroying cavalry, and keep them away from armor-piercing missiles.

[English assassin]

Almohad urban militia are very similar to the Catholic feudal men at arms.

I've read this in a few places but speaking from my own experience its not really true, they are way, way better. I don't think I have EVER taken out AUM without sticking two units at least onto them. Sometimes more. I guess a lot of them come either with the v1 from Grenada or with weapon upgrades from elsewhere in spain. They don't exactly rout easily either.

maybe its the upgrades but they are better than CMAA IMHO

[Kommodus]

I've read this in a few places but speaking from my own experience its not really true, they are way, way better. I don't think I have EVER taken out AUM without sticking two units at least onto them. Sometimes more. I guess a lot of them come either with the v1 from Grenada or with weapon upgrades from elsewhere in spain. They don't exactly rout easily either.

maybe its the upgrades but they are better than CMAA IMHO

What happens when you send cavalry against them? Even boyars should do OK in single combat against them, although I've never tried this. I don't know if the Russians have anything heavier than boyars, but if they do, use it.

You should try playing as the Almohads; you'll quickly find out that AUM are not the elite killing machines they become when the AI uses them. They do have decent morale, and if you're playing on expert, the AI gets such a big morale bonus that their troops are super-tough to rout. When playing as the Almohads, though, you'll quickly find out that their army is not that strong; AUM are really their only strength. They are rather weak against cavalry (Nubians and Muwahids are not good spears), they have no good heavy cavalry of their own (Ghulam cavalry are quite fragile), and they have no elite killers like JHI, SAP, VG, or elite knights. They have no polearms and are weak against armor; the only effective anti-armor tactic I've found is to pin an armored unit with something while pelting it with javelins.

I'm guessing the only thing making them hard for you to beat is the valor bonuses they are getting from their generals. In an even fight, the Almohads are at a disadvantage.

[katank]

as Russians:

a) you got good generals to match them. russians start with a 5* or 6* king and each generation shoudl get better.

b) Druzhina are 60 men cav available with horse breeder and armorer.

dismount em and you get FFK which should match even v1 AUMs in melee but have 4 higher morale matching the expert level AI advantage in that area so they break at the same time.

c) heavy cav like boyars can definitely dominate them using arrows or charging

d) combination of arbalests and javs with some help from mtd. x-bows or HAs in hit and run should distract those AUMs and get them shot up. once they are tired and decimated, they are easy kills.