Byzantium

[Zortanius]

Posting again after a 5 year hiatus =)

I am a Byzantine and general med/ancient history obsessive. Time Life book by Philip Sheridan (props to Sir Robin for mentioning this), John Julian Norwich's trilogy, have all fired my purple imagination down the years.

The Byzantine campaign on the hardest level, although engrossing and somewhat challenging, is eminently beatable and very accomplishing once done so. It's very stressing at times on account of low money, few troops and multiple fronts, but the joy/sense of achievement, after victory is sweet indeed.

I did the following within 50 turns (100 years) and I think it's fairly standard:

- Conquered all of Egypt, Asia Minor, Middle East (including Tibilisi and Yerevan), Balkans (including Budapest and Vienna), Poland, Livonia, Kiev, Italy (except Genoa), Cagliari, North Africa and Sicily.
- Eliminated Sicily, Venice, Hungary, Poland,
- Reduced Milan, Egypt, Turks to one or two provinces (places like Jeddah, Sarkel, Ajaccio)
- Reduced Papal states to merely the pope's army and few inquisitors.
- Put HRE and Moors firmly on the back foot.

Eventually the Mongols showed up but despite some initial losses, I had consigned them to scraps after 20 turns.

Now I am waiting for the Timurids, with the entire map, except, Spain, Britain and Timbuktu, in the purple.

Notable family features:

- Anna Comnena managed to marry Istvan, the Hungarian heir, early and add him to my family. This gave me a decent general to 'open up' the Balkans with.

- Istvan conquered and defended Sofia, Bucharest, Budapest and Vienna. I was convinced his potential sons would continue the royal bloodline but he died in battle against the Poles, outside Thorn, childless but glorious.

- Alexius, emperor and an excellent general, conquered Smyrna, Iconium, Ceasarea, Adana, Antioch, Aleppo, Damascus and Edessa; all the while beating back multiple Turkish and Egyptian armies.

- His son and successor John continued the Eastern onslaught, adding Mosul, Baghdad, Damascus, Jerusalem and Gaza. John's adopted sons, Manuel Cerularius and Athanasios Branas, brought Tibilisi, Yerevan, Trebizond; and Egypt; respectively, back into the Byzantine fold.

- John's brother Isaac was entrusted with defending the Adriatic coast against Papal, Milanese, Venetian and Sicilian invasions. Despite lacking adequate man power and the support of a navy, he gave better than he got and after beating of annual invasions from the aforementioned factions, secured the eastern flank by conquering Zagreb and Venice while stabilising Durazzo and Ragusa. He was then sent North to subdue and defend Vienna and Budapest while Istvan and Isaac's adopted sons, Constantine Dragas and Nikephorus Melissenus pressed north of the Danube.

- The youngest brother Andronicus, mopped up the Balkans behind Istvan and Isaac befire strengthening at Bran and then wheeling North East, annexing the southern Russian Steppe, Iasi, Kiev and Halych. Although always victorious against the Russians, despite always being outnumbered, his only defeat came in his last battle. Sallying against the Grand Duke Miloslav's double stack army outside Kiev, he met his match and was felled by two corps of Druzhina, having decided to flank the Russian besiegers but getting caught in their midst.

- Thanks to Isaac's stellar work in tying down the eastern front, later generals like Athanasios Glykys, Leo Phocas (no better name pedigree) and John Bryennius were able to launch successful invasions of Naples, Sicily, Tripoli, Tunis and Cagliari. All the while allowing other family members to push down on Northern Italy while trapping the Pope in a pincer movement.

Campaign features

- I had no navy to speak of with my few ships always getting mopped up and flung to the far reaches of the Mediterranean. This explained the multiple invasions on multiple fronts on an annual basis.

- Since everyone attacked me right at the outset (except the Turks, whom I attacked), I had no trade income and my yearly margins were always red.

- So, I constantly sold cities to HRE, Poland, Papal States, Milan and Egypt before immediately conquering them back and sacking them. This windfall, although reducing the building level in the city gave me instant cash. In addition the troops and generals got various experience, looting, engineering, attacking and dread bonuses.

- I started using spies and assassins in bulk, this allowed me to conquer cities quicker and increased my emperor's dread, authority and public law attributes, generally making my empire more loyal.

Military features

- Byz Spear, Militias and peasants make great garrison troops. The former can even hold off some decent siege forces especially when cramped in a choke point. Spearmen and Militia can even hold off an enemy for a while on the open battle field, allowing cavalry to encircle the enemy and charge home.

- Skythikon are unsung heroes, Byz Cavalry even more so and together their movement, missile attack and charge are excellent supplements to the general's bodyguard and Vardaratoi.

- Spread your cavalry out, flank and encircle the enemy at every opportunity. Once arrows are used up, tight formation, switch off skirmish mode and charge.

- Whenever possible, sally, even if you are unable to break the army, the losses they take will ensure that their assault will be weak.

- The Byz, with a decent general, can more than hold their own against the Mongols. Be positive, micro manage, move and be dogged.

- Byz infantry and dismounted lancers, are excellent against Western Infantry, especially with a couple of experience chevrons.

Tips

- When selling a settlement, always ask for an outright payment over tribute, always barter by raising the amount in small increments.

- Even if they cannot buy it, give it to them as a gift. The cash bonus from sacking the settlement will more than compensate the loss in income for a turn or two.

- Train assassins by killing rebel army generals on an annual basis.

- Place your missile cavalry behind the enemy general. While you skirmish and wait for his army to attack, his corps of bodyguards will be weakened or wiped out completely. This is especially useful for the Mongols. Once the general dies, the morale and experience bonuses disappear and his troops are quite beatable.

[kaloioannis]

I cant personally understand why everyone has so much trouble wity the mongols im so teched up by the time they arrive and have a massive economy that they dont seem to be that difficult to defeat. The varangian guard, byz guard archers, vards & archontopoulai seem more than a match for anything that comes into Roman territory from this lot. I always weight for the Turks & Egyptians to weaken both empires against this lot before sweeping all before me in the middle east.

[oz_wwjd]

I don't find dismounted lancers to be reliable in battle,as mine always seemed to break quickly when I used them to hold a position while my archers rained death on the enemy. I found myself using a mix of Byz inf and varangian guard instead,as they are more reliable in my opnion at least and easier to retrain as well.