Volga-Bulgarian ideal line-up

[Aenlic]

Phil, I've been playing the Volga Bulgars quite a lot recently in XL. I think you're on the right track.

But don't forget your bashkorts! They are amazingly cheap for what they can do. They have a better charge bonus than your kazanchis (5 compared to 2); and although they lack the armor piercing of the kazanchis and have lower melee and honor numbers, they have a much better defense bonus against cavalry (4, the same as the kursabays, as opposed to the 1 of the kazanchis). They're really wonderful troops, especially considering their having projectiles with the short throwing spears.

Money is always going to be a problem as the Volga Bulgars unless you can manage to take Novgorod. Novgorod is the richest of the steppe provinces and also gives you access to sea lanes for trading. As the VB, I always try to take Novgorod as soon as possible to have income. Even with that though, you're going to be hurting for cash until you can get some sea trade flowing and build up your farming in multiple provinces.

When the Mongol horde appears, it will mostly be in Khazar. Sometimes, there will also be smaller hordes in Armenia. I don't think I've ever seen them appear in Georgia; but if a horde group appears in Armenia, then you can bet they'll attack Georgia to link up with the Khazar group.

Another factor which seems to affect the horde appearance is the total number of troops fielded by the faction which owns Khazar. If you have fewer troops, fewer horde will appear. Once, I let Khazar rebel. The turn before the horde appeared, the Cumans, who had been wiped out, reappeared in Khazar which they briefly owned early in the game. The Cumand reappeared as a half stack against the rebel half-stack, and they set about besieging the rebels. So, when the Mongols appeared the next turn there was a brand new half-stack of Cumans with a half-stack of rebels in the fort. The grand total of the "vast" Mongol horde which appeared was 4 stacks.