I was looking forward to playing them and now I think I'll play the Byzantines.
First of all, the Russians weren't even known as Russians back then. The latin "ia" was added to "Russ" by Tsar Peter the Great in the early 18th century as part of his move to westernize the country (ever wonder why Russia and Iberia have the same latin endings while Russia is in the east?). The Russians were a slavic tribe known as the Rus back then. There were no Ukranians or Belorussians or Russians proper just a very large tribe called the Russ. So why not call them the Russ in the game?
The medieval period, in which the game starts, before the Mongols invaded was known as Kievan Rus. It wasn't called Novgorodian Rus because Kiev was the the more important centre. Novgorod was a city state and never came to prominence until after the Mongol invasion simply for the fact that it was the only city left standing! You should start as Kiev as that was where the grand prince resided and all the other princes nominally pledged their allegiance to him - including the prince of Novgorod. Kiev was also the centre of Orthodoxy and the city from which the religion spread.
The Rus did fight amognst themselves and didn't unite even in the face of the Mongols. But why not start the game as The Kievan Grand prince and unite the Rus in time to fight the Mongols? it's kind of like playing the Byzantines and stopping the Turks. Now if you are to start a game in the late medieval period (as in MTW) then you should play as the Prince of Novgorod and have to deal with the Mongol Horde (which conquered all the Rus' lands to the east) and the Tuetons and Catholic Poles from the west (sounds hard but fun!).
Now some of you will think I'm nitpicking, but I have a hard time getting into a "historical" game that seems to have Russian history as an afterthought. It makes more sense to start as Kiev, consolidate your power over the Russian lands (ie war with rebellious princes) , deal with or fight Constantinople, the Poles and raiders from the steppes, then to start as Novgorod and conquer Kiev. Novgorod never invaded Kiev and could not have pulled that off, ever.
The military units available to the Russians also seem to be way off. I don't know a great deal about specific unit types in medieval Russian history but I know that Cossack regulars never made it into the Russian military until the 17th 18th century. I also know that Russians didn't have heraldry and I see chevrons on the boyars sons. The cavalry looked decidedly western circa the 9th century minus the long shields. I also wasn;t aware that "axemen wearing greek deathmasks" is a historically accurate unit. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Anyway, sorry to ramble on, I just had to get that off my chest because I love Total War and was hoping for something more for the Russians.![]()
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