Holy Roman Empire

[Mek Simmur al Ragaski]

In my game, i decided to move into florence in italy, only to have a series of sieges that failed from the milanese. I am seeking revenge and am bringing my all mighty cavalry army to defend my emperor in florence while blostering to stone walls in the other italian city

[BetterDeadThanRed]

As a man of Italian decent, this campaign is making me hate my own guts. It seems near impossible to face down an army of their elite crossbow militia with nothing more than spearmen and mailed nights. Its about 30 turns in and my homeland is only now starting to build up economic momentum. I just received a Teutonic Knights house but its in Frankfurt and rather far from the frontlines with Milan and not really in a position to do me much good.

My question is, does anybody have any suggestions for tactics to defeat the Milanese in the early game? (other than simply spamming militia units and mailed knights)

[Vladimir]

Play it smart. Distract their armies while you target their cities. Bring a catapult and a good one-two punch will take them out.

[Ratwar]

Well, I tend to use a combination of Militia Spam supplemented by Mercs Milan isn't too bad.

[CrusadeAgainstYourEnemies]

I've played HRE several times and the Italians drive me crazy, so I've decided to try this:

Blitzkrieg Italy on VH/VH.

Take all my troops, except for 2 in each city and one archer in each castle down south with 3 generals, the two Sons of the Emperor and the Saxon. Bring all of them down to Italy for one decisive blow against Milan and Venice

I needed a big army to take Venice first with Saxon and the younger son. Henry, the Faction Heir, teamed up with Emperor Heinrich and his boys from Bologna to take out Milan.

So far I'm on about turn 10, been excommunicated and have taken Venice and in the process of taking Genoa and Milan.

I hate these two factions with a passion and thought "Why not just end it right now... F what the Pope says, F the rebel settlements."

I'm thinking if I end it quickly, buy back my way into the Pope's favor then I have the money making cities in Italy and then I can go take out the Danes.

I've allied with the French, Hungary and Poland. I just need them to behave for a while so I can crush Northern Italy and be on my way.

The way I see it, everyone decides to take out the North, by getting some rebel settlements and then moving onto killing the Danes.

But there's no real money in the North, and I'm not letting the Italians build up. I've done that before and while I won the campaign, it took forever and I ended up with a deep seeded prejudice against Milan and Venice.

Let me know if any of you have tried something like this and if you've got any ideas. It's tough so far, these Italians can fight and the Pope has got their back. Hopefully the Danes/Poles/French have their own crap to take care of before they focus on me, I'm counting on speed here.

[CrusadeAgainstYourEnemies]

I've played HRE several times and the Italians drive me crazy, so I've decided to try this:

Blitzkrieg Italy on VH/VH.

Take all my troops, except for 2 in each city and one archer in each castle down south with 3 generals, the two Sons of the Emperor and the Saxon. Bring all of them down to Italy for one decisive blow against Milan and Venice

I needed a big army to take Venice first with Saxon and the younger son. Henry, the Faction Heir, teamed up with Emperor Heinrich and his boys from Bologna to take out Milan.

So far I'm on about turn 10, been excommunicated and have taken Venice and in the process of taking Genoa and Milan.

I hate these two factions with a passion and thought "Why not just end it right now... F what the Pope says, F the rebel settlements."

I'm thinking if I end it quickly, buy back my way into the Pope's favor then I have the money making cities in Italy and then I can go take out the Danes.

I've allied with the French, Hungary and Poland. I just need them to behave for a while so I can crush Northern Italy and be on my way.

The way I see it, everyone decides to take out the North, by getting some rebel settlements and then moving onto killing the Danes.

But there's no real money in the North, and I'm not letting the Italians build up. I've done that before and while I won the campaign, it took forever and I ended up with a deep seeded prejudice against Milan and Venice.

Let me know if any of you have tried something like this and if you've got any ideas. It's tough so far, these Italians can fight and the Pope has got their back. Hopefully the Danes/Poles/French have their own crap to take care of before they focus on me, I'm counting on speed here.

Do not try this on VH/VH...

Took out Milan and decapitated Venice, but the world came crumbling down after that. The Danes invaded from the North, the French into Northwestern (Milanese) Italy, the Sicilians into Bologna, the Hungaraians took Sicily.

I got back into favor with the Church but it was too late. Now I'm under siege on every front and have shrunk to 4 provences: Innsbruck, Staufen, Milan and Genoa.

I restarted and chose to take out only Milan this time and go for the rebel settlements in the North.
Took Leopold and the bulk of the Vienna/Nuremburg garrisons to take Prague then eventually Breslin, took Saxony and the utmost northern army to take Hamburg, Magdeburg and Stettin.

Then I used the Emperor and the Faction Heir to take out the Milanese after taking Florence. Florence I gifted to the Papacy, then eventually gifted Bologna as well - was planning on only giving Florence but Bologna became too difficult to defend/build up against the Venetians.

Now I've eliminated Milan, had Venice excommunicated for attacking me and the Hungarians; ironically they went for Vienna instead of any of the Milanese holdings. Crusaded against Venice, toppled it and now my Hungarian allies are seigeing Zagreb while I blockade Ragusa. The Danes and Poles have kept to themselves, the Sicilians are blocked off from me by three Papal State holdings, the French are locked up in a war with the Iberian states and I'm about to take Bern and move into Antwerp.

The lesson is to blitzkrieg Milan, wait for a Venetian attack and collect as many rebel settlements up North in the process. I haven't teched much but that's next on the agenda.

***Quick tip, bring lots of priests up North as those settlements are low % Catholic and you can get a couple of Cardinals in the process***

***Quick tip 2, convert some Castles, especially up north into towns. I've got Magdeburg and Stauffen as my only two Castles at this point and I'm doing very well economically***

[Iavorios]

As the HRE the Pope doesn't like you from the start. So ally with him from the start, as wait anybody else. Form mariage aliances with Hungari and Denmark (it is quite easy by the way) and you will be free to concentrate on North Italy and France. Allays keap the pope hapy, and be pations .I personely capture North Italy after no more than turn 25.

[Stangler]

As a man of Italian decent, this campaign is making me hate my own guts. It seems near impossible to face down an army of their elite crossbow militia with nothing more than spearmen and mailed nights. Its about 30 turns in and my homeland is only now starting to build up economic momentum. I just received a Teutonic Knights house but its in Frankfurt and rather far from the frontlines with Milan and not really in a position to do me much good.

My question is, does anybody have any suggestions for tactics to defeat the Milanese in the early game? (other than simply spamming militia units and mailed knights)

Make sure you spread your spearmen out and use your family members. The more settlements you have the more family members you have so expansion is key.

You may need some mailed knights but not many. You can't match their crossbowman and you do not want a long fight so make sure you do your best to get you flank them ASAP.