I played an Eggy SP campaign and quickly learned the value of the camel; they easily defeated all the Turks horses. Quite handily.

But I grew a bit contemptuous of the AI. In my current game (French, Early, GA), I have set out to build my Krak Shack in Tripoli. By around 1135 I have ships all the way to the Mid East. I'm ready to launch a crusade. My admiral reports that Tripoli is lightly defended by a few peasants and camels. Antioch and Palestine are swarming with camels, augmented by 3 archers, 2 nubian spears, 1 ACH, 1 UM, and 2-3 napthas. There were, in all, about 25 camels in the area.

Well, in the typical european fashion, I snubbed my nose at the desert filth and launched my crusade. It consisted of 1 crusader knights (don't remember which the Froggies get), 2 foot knights, 5 feudal sarges, 2 FMAAs, 4 archers, 6 mounted sarges. As soon as I set foot on the shores of tripoli, the desert scum fled to their castle, just as planned. One turn later, the Eggys attack with everything listed above, just as planned. Oh, wait a minute! Where did that 8* (yes, EIGHT) general come from? My admiral failed to mention him. My 2* general tries to hide his sudden panic attack so as not to worry the men. Well, retreat is not an option, so I line my spears up on a hill, place my archers behind, put my FMAAs on either side of the spears and my mounted sarges on flank. My knights stay in the middle so they can support either flank.

For the first time since I've been playing MTW (which ain't that long), the AI actually played smart. I can remember the as if it just happened yesterday. Oh, uh, it did happen just yesterday. The Eggys sent 1 ACH and 3 cams around my right flank, 2 cams around my left, and engaged my center with archers, peasants, nub spears, napthas, and more cams. Obviously, my right flank was the most threatened, so off goes my knight/gen; he takes 1 spear, 1 FMAA, 1 archer, and 1 mounted sarge with him. Well, while I was dealing with my center and left flank, thinking the Eggys were still marching around my right, they quickly turned and charged (unbeknownst to me). My left and center fully engaged, I turned my attention to my right flank- oh horrors of horrors! The ACH went straight for my FMAA and 1 cam for my mounted sarges (both of which are starting to rout), with the other 2 cams in reserve. My knights quickly swing around to charge the ACH from the rear, knowing full well it would leave them fully exposed to those camel reserves. What valiant men! My spears charge the cams that have pinned my mounted sarges while my archers rain arrows of death on the reserves- after they slammed into my knights.

Things were looking bleak to say the least. My FMAAs routed; my mounted sarges were down to 9 effectives; my knights were only 7 strong. But the right held- by the skin of my teeth. My spears were steadily chewing through the enemy's center- but at a horrible cost. It's amazing the amount of damage peasants will put up with when led by an 8* general! But alas! The Eggys made a fatal err. Their general (UM) moved to my left flank to support his camels! He was now exposed and vulnerable. I threw everything I could spare at the scoundrel and soon had him surrounded, then killed. Then the spineless currs ran for the hills, the remainder of my cav in pursuit.

To make a short story long, I withdrew 4 of my more devastated units and called in my 4 fresh mounted sarges while the second wave of camels came pouring over the hill. I quickly reformed the line and gasped in despair at how few men were left. I put all my cav on my right flank, hoping it would draw the camels like stink on camels. It worked! The foul beasts charged at my cav, which began to "retreat," allowing me spears to quickly swing around and fall upon their exposed flank. The second wave of camels were slaughtered, but at the cost of two fresh groups of mounted sarges and even more spears. I reformed the ever-diminishing line and awaited the third wave of camels.

They crested the hill and saw the field of battle covered with heaps of their brothers' broken bodies and fled. The righteous army of God won a great victory- pyrrhic though it was.

I was left with a total of 4 knights, 9 mounted sarges, less than 300 spears, about 150 archers who had run out of arrows and had to be used as inf. Had I been playing vs a human, I wouldn't have had a single man standing. The camels chewed threw my cav and inf, and took a toll on my spears. Praise to the camel!