When is 'abandon province' a good idea?

**Zarax** · 07-14-2005, 07:45

Originally Posted by Roark

Veterans: What's he supposed to do against the 4 units of HA???

Find some tree cover and wait until they run out of ammo.

Also, as the muslim armies are quite cav heavy it would give him a nice terrain bonus.

**Roark** · 07-14-2005, 07:54

@ Zarax: Sounds sensible (given the bonuses/penalties), but I find that fighting with your entire army in forested area is just like wearing a blindfold. Just total chaos for a n00b like me... Also, from memory Trebizond doesn't have a wealth of foliage. Correct me if I'm wrong...

@ EatYerGreens: I have to say, all things being equal (valour, command etc), I think you're a dead man... But good luck! Waste them Turks.

**Zarax** · 07-14-2005, 07:58

Originally Posted by Roark

@ Zarax: Sounds sensible (given the bonuses/penalties), but I find that fighting with your entire army in forested area is just like wearing a blindfold. Just total chaos for a n00b like me... Also, from memory Trebizond doesn't have a wealth of foliage. Correct me if I'm wrong...

@ EatYerGreens: I have to say, all things being equal (valour, command etc), I think you're a dead man... But good luck! Waste them Turks.

Place at least part of your inf behind the trees, you have to negate the enemy cav advantage.
The HA will have a limited impact as most Byz units got decent armor.

If you can survive the Ghulams, your dismounted druzhina will cut trough anything else the enemy can throw at you

**Crusader4thepeople** · 07-14-2005, 09:15

A tip for horse archers is to attack them with two horse units, mayb your szeselky could do that, as they only retreat from the unit theyre firing at. use dismounted druzhinas (feudal foot knights) against the spearmen and the cats and spears vs the ghulams. The rest of the army ( artillery, naptha, um and peasants will flee if you take out the king and a large chunk of army. Try to stop these fodder units from joining combats and run the napthas and artillery down with the szelkys

**Joshwa** · 07-14-2005, 12:18

As long as you have a good mix of troops, you can win almost any battle.

EDIT: About abandoning, my rule of thumb is NEVER! Battles fought as desperate last stands are way cooler than fair fights

**Advo-san** · 07-14-2005, 12:53

I would suggest that if you r a freshman you let your 8star general earn his money. Even though.....if you dismount the szelkys to intercept enemy inf. and have your BIs and MUs supporting them, use your spears to intercept the GC and your Kats to flank them as your TAs pouring the HRs from an elevated position you could achieve a sound victory.

P.S. I 've experienced the devastating power of TrebArch Vs Turkoman Horse. One TA has routed 2 TurkHors by shooting from an elevated position and took absolutely NO damage.

**antisocialmunky** · 07-14-2005, 13:28

Hiding in the woods for 30 minutes is pretty much the only effective way to fight a missile heavy army of the same speed or faster. That or you could try my mongol strategy.

Against the Mongols, I ususally like to have a massive amount of Trebizond Archers(more than one stack) and I just rotate them out when they run out of ammo so I have about 30 minutes of sustained missile fire.

However, in that situation. Hide in a forest. Um... And survive, their spearmen won't be a huge problem, its going to be the UMs since they don't get screwed in forests. I'd set up the spearmen to be fodder. Then I'd use the BI and Trebizonds to flank.

If you can kill the King or capture him, it won't be nearly as tough since all his guys are low moral units.

The Skezlys will be one of oyur most valuable units. They are worth exponentially more than Turcomans. Put them really far out and have them harass the enemy(turcomans are a good target). Make them chase your horse archers and then use your HA to charge theirs and rout them because your's are better..