The mongols, how does one beat them?

**Rpkmann** · 11-15-2006, 04:12

It's about 78 turns into the game and I hold antioch, acre, and jerusalem, however after recent bloody battles between myself and the egyptians and turks, my army is ill prepared to face a large force like theirs. Hordes have always been my weakest point, hence why it took me forever to complete B.I. I have no archers, a couple billmen, my general and some cavalry- yet the mongols will arrive in just a few turns...what should I do in order to whipe the desert floor with these guys? If there is anything that can be done at this point other than evacuate...

**Rpkmann** · 11-15-2006, 04:18

How does one******* beat them...sorry it's late, lol

**Darth Nihilus** · 11-28-2006, 15:36

In my Denmark campaign the Mongols invaded near Sarkel (sp?), but I had castles all over the place. So they simply bypassed them and went to the closest city I had, and that was Kiev. They laid seige with about 4000 troops (not all of their troops mind you). I had about 1100 troops garrisoned in my city with large walls. I had been smart and I had stocked up on crossbows, so I hav like 8 units of crossbows. They attacked with a few seige towers and rams, wich were promptly set on fire before they could reach my city. Needless to say I shot up about 500 or so of their army before they retreated (and they had attacked with a 10 star, 10 dread general).

The next turn they attacked again, and succeeded......kind of. I should have set a battle timer. They knocked down my gate, we had a big melee, then they retreated to the field and waited for me. Knowing that I would get decimated with all of my archers, I just quit the battle and lost the settlement.

**Orda Khan** · 11-28-2006, 18:19

Nice account JFC
An ambush like that is about the finest tactic to trap and destroy HA

......Orda

**Sir SillyDuck** · 11-28-2006, 22:02

A lot of Strategic things have been mentioned. Here's my 2 cents on Tactics versus Mongols:

From MTW I learned (and in STW and RTW it is practically the same), that it is the most non-western unit that is the hardest to beat. The Horse Archers. Don't get me wrong, their heavy cavalry is though as hell, but it can be beaten with Spears, Knights and even help from Archers (even more if you play England). Quite conventionally so.
The problem with their horse archers is that at 1st sight you have practically nothing to counter them with. Only perhaps Longbows or other missile troops, but you can't rely on archers alone (dont bring a bow to a horsefight

), not when u face an army that also has heavy cav and other troops to worry about.

There is only one thing to beat them with, and you have to beat them at their own game. Light Cavalry. Heavy Cav they outrun, and spears they go around. Everyone knows what their Horse archers do. They skirmish you to frustration and then when u don't expect it charge into your flanks. Only when u invest in large numbers of Light cav u can chase, corner and attack HA's. It takes a lot of maneuvring, and a lot of stress (the HA-LC battle is bound to take place in an area on the other side of the map where your infantry and Knights are), but if you go into the field without (enough) Light Cavalry, you can beat them in their own game. Taking a defensive stance in woods also helps, with Heavy and light cav on the flanks, as soon as they approach close enough, try to nibble off some of their archer units with cav attacks.

**Censor** · 11-15-2006, 04:29

Hole up in yer castles.

**shifty157** · 11-15-2006, 05:12

Originally Posted by Censor

Hole up in yer castles.

Actually thats a good plan. Seeing as how the mogols are cavalry heavey and especially with horse archers itll be very tough for them to work effectively in the confines of city streets where itll be easy for you to trap them into corners and let your superior infantry tear them apart. Thats of course assuming they manage to get past your walls in the first place.

**Subedei** · 11-15-2006, 09:50

Either get some decent bow men or x-bows and line them up on your city walls & pray.

Find a diplomatic way to solve the problem

....or just RUN!!!!!!!

**Orda Khan** · 11-15-2006, 10:04

Are they honestly proving to be that tough? If they are it's good news, it was way too easy to beat them in MTW

........Orda

**Stolpmeister** · 11-15-2006, 10:47

Billmen, general, cavalry? That's all you have? Sorry, but you're screwed. Those bastards come at you with about four full stacks of really experienced units - most of them having some sort of missile attack. Yeah, you could try to hold the walls, but your wall defenders (weakened by all that shooting) will probably be overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Your best bet is to get your general out of there, trade the regions for money, peace or alliances with other catholic factions, let the mongols take them, and then take them back when the pope declares another crusade.