Historical myths

[Steppe Merc]

Yes, Timur was quite a character, though I think he was primarily Turkish, and certaintly didn't have any componctions against fighting his Mongol overlords.

And Kraxis, you are probably right. In the end, it was often far easier to raid settled people than trading with them, and easier to force those peoples to pay tribute than herding horses for a living. But the Mongols were quite fearsome, and they and their enemies both encouraged that reputation.
But one thing is that I'm not sure how new they were. I mean, the basic warfare style was around for over a thousand years before them, and you think that their enemies would have learned how to have fight nomads (China, Persia and Russia all had long experience).

Conon, that is sort of what I'm talking about. How much of that really happened, and how much is the sort of exageration that has always gone on about steppe peoples, from the Scythians to the Huns to the Mongols? And another common idea is them being devils, from the Huns to the Mongols.
I'm not saying they were very nice, or that they didn't sack cities pretty ruthlessly. But it is all to easy to justify a defeat by saying how horrible and numerous the Mongols were (when they were often either equally numbered or out numbered).