Horde Strategy

[Procrustes]

Be careful of those routers - the Horde troops are sturdier than the ones you are used to, I've gotten slaughtered a couple of times when I left my positions to chase routing GH warriors only to have them turn around and eat my men alive. Also note that many of their troops have bows.

I also follow the advice that was given above. ILI are great troops but have some heavy swords ready as GH warriors will chew them up if they make contact. I use halbs whenever I can against the horde - they are armored and very effective against their cav and their heavy infantry. Get some arbelasts if you can. Fight defensively - use elevation and especially woods - they will try to pepper you with arrows, draw you out of position, and will eventually charge. Woods will protect you from arrows and take the advantage away from their cav.

[weegee]

When they first appear, do they show their entire hand (i.e. their whole army) or do units continue to trickle on the board over several turns. I'm trying to gauge when to strike because ideally I'd like the Byz to take the first brunt (so far they have been retreating without a fight), that way both Horde and Byz are weakened, and then I come in and swoop the provinces. So I'd like to make an estimation of how far they can progress before Byz will start to turn the tide, but I want to make sure I know what I'm going up against.

[desdichado]

When they first appear, do they show their entire hand (i.e. their whole army) or do units continue to trickle on the board over several turns. I'm trying to gauge when to strike because ideally I'd like the Byz to take the first brunt (so far they have been retreating without a fight), that way both Horde and Byz are weakened, and then I come in and swoop the provinces. So I'd like to make an estimation of how far they can progress before Byz will start to turn the tide, but I want to make sure I know what I'm going up against.

if it were me I wouldn't want to know. prefer the surprise.

[Kommodus]

When they first appear, do they show their entire hand (i.e. their whole army) or do units continue to trickle on the board over several turns.

I believe that it's their entire army that shows up at once. If any new units enter the board, their numbers are insignificant.

So I'd like to make an estimation of how far they can progress before Byz will start to turn the tide, but I want to make sure I know what I'm going up against.

It's unlikely the Byzantines will ever turn the tide; in fact, they may never commit significant forces to fighting the Horde (strategic AI can be stupid like that). However, the Horde is unlikely to conquer the whole Byzantine empire either, since it doesn't know how to properly deploy its forces for both conquest and occupation. Frequently, one big Horde army will move about illogically, leaving few soldiers (if any at all) to occupy new conquests, and opening the door to peasant revolts and loyalist uprisings. In this way the vast numbers of Horde troops can dwindle slowly over the years, while the Horde's conquests stagnate.

The one thing I'd like to remind you of is this: you have little reason to fear the Horde. If you follow the tactical advice others have given (armies of halbs, arbs, ILI, and a few cav using high ground and forests), your armies will crush the Horde without much trouble. Be prepared for some frustration when attacking, since MHA can be quite difficult to pin down, and you will face a lot of them. Also, guard the flanks of your units extra-carefully, since a cavalry-based enemy can more easily threaten you from multiple sides, and a morale collapse will be disastrous for you.

Happy Horde hunting!

[Procrustes]

I have often ended up in the "half-square" formation when facing those heavy, mobile hordes - especially if the province I'm defending isn't very forested. Looks for a copse of woods with a little elevation.

[weegee]

I played a handful of turns last night and just to update you guys, my strategy ended up working out quite well. I sent a bishop to offer an alliance with the horde and to my surprise they accepted with this note: (paraphrasing) now is the time for us to attack mutually or something like that.

So I poured troops into Const. from Greece to hit the Byz. While hitting end year, the Horde feinted light attacks at Wallachia and Bulgaria from Moldavia, tying up any reinforcements the Byz may have sent to Const.

The battle for Const was a slaughter and about 500 men retreated to the Citadel. Meanwhile Bulgaria lay ripe for the taking, so I poured troops from Siberia and whatever else I had left in Greece. I hit end year and now I see the Horde coming to join the fun as well. I had a much bigger army, so I wasn't worry about losing the province. I deployed for battle and the Byz were set up on a long hill. I waited for the Horde to come up, baited the Byz and then let the Horde go in and take all the casualties. Byz and Horde went at it for about 5 minutes and eventually the Horde general fled (coward). But they did enough damage where my ILI and Fuedal Knights could clean up and take the victory.

So now, the year is about 1260 if I remember correctly. Spain controls western France, Iberia, N. Africa and much of middle east. I control pretty much the middle of map including eastern France, some of the former HRE provinces, a lot of eastern Europe, and all the Medit Islands. Poland has got a handful of provices, as do the Horde. France actually still lives on in Scotland The English have a few provinces and Turkey, Eggys and Byz are down to their last 1-3 provinces each. Looks like it's me against Spain for a big show down. The funny thing is once one of us strikes our economies are going to go to crap because all our ships are interlaced throughout the seas, so it's basically going to turn red and cut off all our trade.

[Deus Ex]

dumb question...

Does the Horde always show up/start in the same province?? (I think it was Khazar in my game)

thanks

[CherryDanish]

Every game I've ever played the horde showed up in Khazar, but on some campaigns, it also showed up in as many as 4 other provinces as well.

[ajaxfetish]

Before going to war with Spain try taking awhile to build up your navies massively, especially where he has ships concentrated, and then pounce by land and sea at the same time. If you have sufficient naval superiority you should be able to mop up most of his ships in just a few turns, leaving you with mastery of the seas.

Naval combat isn't one of the most exciting features of the game, but it's one where it pays to plan ahead.