What's your favorite M2TW faction?

[Zasz1234]

hafta say Hungary. They have nice starting spot for having interesting enemies. Catholics, Orthodox, and muslim all at the same. plus awesome cavalry.

[ASPER THE GREAT]

England Crusading, Long Bows, it's a merry old island !!!! Spain was cool too the Moors take Africa & work your way into Europe . I have not tried Russia sounds good next round .

[Hosakawa Tito]

I like Spain. Great starting position, with Muslim Moors and a weak Portugal to beat up on. Excellent Naval units with the best position to invade the New World. Not to mention my favorite calvary unit that are useful early and late in the campaign, Jinettes. "The lances in Spain fall not too gently upon the plain." Team them up with an all cav army including Knights of Santiago and Crossbow cav, they can take on just about any army.

[zstajerski]

But still a hint for all who hanent tried it yet:
play Russia on VH/VH, or maybe it was coinsident that at both times i played Russia I got the whole first imapact of both invasions Mongols and Timurids, so that made for a heck of a problem :)

But also their units beat ass, although there is no infatry unit (without upgrades) which has defence over 16 :(
They still kicked all asses that came across in the game, when used with a little tactic abillity

[HoreTore]

Actually, reading this thread has changed my mind....I just started a moorish campaign, but I'll scrap that and have another go at Ze Germans!

Didn't like it the last time I played it tho, as I was finished by turn 50...Won't play it offensively this time tho...

[Darkarbiter]

sticky anyone?

[AliAS]

HRE - because i played with them first and it is "old-school" medieval catholic faction.

moors - Because it is great opposite of HRE . And i love camel gunners
And i want try wti Turkey (i player with them in EUII )

[455trt43trg]

England.

[Gen_Lee]

Portugal only.
Luckly with a mod done by Portuguese that corrects a lot of historical inconsistencies of vanilla map.
Portvcale v1.1b

[danfda]

Russia. I love camping and letting the rest of the world develop, and Russia is great for that. They get absolutely terrific units (cossack musketeers are panzers in sheep's clothing) and have a wide array of foes to face. Mongols, Timurids, Catholics, Orthodox...Games as Russia are never boring. Plus, it's just fun to conquer rediculously huge, empty provinces.

[Tristrem]

so far my favorite faction has to the mongols. I downloaded a mod that lets me play as them, I forgot the name, and they are my latest campaign. I rp'ed the starting force as one of the small nomadic tribes of the stepp. When the real horde arrives, I will unite my tribe with theirs, and create a glorious empire that reaches to the new world. Plus the mongols fulfill my need for large horse archer armies. Happy hunting!!

[Frankmuddy]

Russia- Russia seems to be designed for those of us that like to turtle and take the campaign slowly. You get a nice position in the corner of the map, and can generally avoid contact with just about everyone if you don't go too much further than Kiev (don't take it either). The only ones who start wars are the Poles, but peace treaties with the Poles are always economically benificial.

Once you hit your late game units, you become really powerful.

My campaign went just the opposite of that. Within ten turns I found myself swamped with agressive polish armies and spent the next two hundred years fighting continual wars with the Poles, then the Danes, and then the Hungarians, one after the other with only brief pauses. Still, it is a lot of fun, and I think the Russians excellent balance of infantry and cavalry archers is about the only thing that's allowed me to fight back effectively. It's also a lot of fun to use woodcutters to ambush knights and enemy generals.

[Lorenzo_H]

Spain all the way! I love them because by the late Medieval Age - Rennaisance they were the Worlds superpower at the time and I really am enjoying playing as them as well as reading their history. Habsburg Spain, the Reconquista, the Conquistadores (Cortes - what a legend) I love everything about the Spanish.

[FrauGloer]

Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation - that's the HRE if you haven't guessed it yet.

The name, the color scheme, the great unit roster, the challenge, it all fits. Plus, I'm German, so I guess a bit of patriotism flows in as well...
England and Scotland tie for second place and third is Denmark.

With a bit of modding to make DIKs (oops... read every letter individually please ) on par with Dismounted Feudal Knights - which they should be anyways - and modding DGKs into the campaign, the HRE has an amazing unit lineup, lacking only decent archers.

Very solid Infantry: DIKs, DGKs, Zweihander, Armoured Sergeants
Amazing Heavy Cav: GKs, IKs, Teutonic Knights
Perfect Artillery: Serpentines, Basilisks, Cannons
Useful Missile Troops: Pavise Crossbows, Mounted Crossbowmen, Arquebuisers
plus the later availability of Landsknechts and Swiss Pikemen

Once you have secured your starting territory, the sky's the limit. West, East, South, or North, you can go anywhere.

[Kraggenmor]

Spain for me too.

A starting position with plenty of non-Catholic territories to cut your teeth on.
Easy access to ocean and sea.
And - IMO - the best voice work in the game. All the Spanish voices are perfectly done. Listening to the same speeches done in the different voices just doesn't sound as good. ;)

I also lived there for a few years while in service so, I feel a bit of attachment that way too. I need to get back there....

[Lorenzo_H]

Spain for me too.

A starting position with plenty of non-Catholic territories to cut your teeth on.
Easy access to ocean and sea.
And - IMO - the best voice work in the game. All the Spanish voices are perfectly done. Listening to the same speeches done in the different voices just doesn't sound as good. ;)

I also lived there for a few years while in service so, I feel a bit of attachment that way too. I need to get back there....

Hey nice one I used to live in good old Espana as well!

[alex9337]

Too difficult to answer, from my point of view.

I have played as Scotland, England, France, Spain, Denmark, Russia, Turks & Egypt so far and have thoroughly enjoyed them all.

Each had their own "good points".

France I found challenging because everyone attacked me.

England was great because I love longbowmen and the Sherwood Archers.

Scotland was a blast taking a small nation without gunpowder units and conquering everything.

Denmark was great because I focused on cities and wealth because I could build Norse Cleric cavalry in cities.

Spain because of their excellent units and different starting location.

Egypt because they can roll over just about anyone.

Russia because of their units and starting position (can turtle if you want to)

I found the Turks to be the most challenging because I am having difficulty getting any economy going while holding off the Byzantines.

I think I'll pick Scotland, just because it was so challenging to win.

[Skott]

I chose Denmark but its really a tie between Denmark and HRE for me. I've played more Denmark campaigns so I used that as a tie breaker since we can only choose one.

[Lorenzo_H]

Scotland was a blast taking a small nation without gunpowder units and conquering everything.

Excuse me if I'm wrong, but Scotland are not completely without gunpowder - I once acquired a few cannons and a mortar as them.

[Carl]

I once acquired a few cannons and a mortar as them.

Those are seige, not units though. He was a bit unclear but he meant actual units of men with firearms like Muskteers, Hand Gunners, Camel Gunners, reitiers e.t.c.

[Sapper]

I don't recall us having had a poll on this. Please give reasons.

France - Because I have an overwhelming desire to repeatedly send my hugely expensive massed knights and nobility up against English longbows. I can do this either on horseback or dismounted trudging exhausted through the mud over the bodies of earlier attacks and all the while be historically accurate! It just doesn't get any better than this!

[Fookison]

Scotland all the way......."Where's the fight?"......Love to wipe out the English and Danes and then I head south and east.............Scottish Pikes....Deadly........

[Shahed]

Turks.

Speed, mobility, firepower, decent all cavalry armies, horse archers (!), Jannisaries, versatility in mid and late game towards balance of all cavalry and mixed armies.

Hey Timurids and Mongols should be added to the poll. IMO a reasonable candidate for a sticky too.

[-Amon-]

Turks.

Speed, mobility, firepower, decent all cavalry armies, horse archers (!), Jannisaries, versatility in mid and late game towards balance of all cavalry and mixed armies.

Hey Timurids and Mongols should be added to the poll. IMO a reasonable candidate for a sticky too.

I agree..My vote has gone to Turks....

[Artorius Maximus]

I voted Sicily because they have great melee units; Sword and Buckler Men, Norman Knights, and of course, Arquebusiers ,a gun powder unit!

I like Venice too though for their Heavy Infantry, and Spain for their Javelin Class units.

[hippo]

Hungary. Mostly because starting position and early horse archers. Later units are not so important as my early units still make the backbone.
Starting position you ask?
Well I can take venice and bologna without getting in war with HRE. With venice, bologna, zagreb and budapest I have enough money to do virtualy what ever I want.

[Whacker]

Always been partial to England. They have a great starting position with which to consolidate and then expand. Not the best units though, and you face the problem of expanding against catholic neighbors with the pope breathing down your neck.

[Lord of the Isles]

I'd like to say Scotland for patriotic reasons but while they are fun, the best factions are those with challenges (and variety too):

-- Venice and HRE for their awful starting positions
-- Russia and Turkey for intersting troop mixes and the Mongol/Timurid threats

With the winner by a short head being Turkey.

[Tora]

Is the poll malfunctioning?
A couple of posts flying the flag for Hungary yet no votes registered for them in the poll!?

[Doug-Thompson]

As of the time of this post, notice that England and Scotland — the British Isles — make up 23 percent.

Just an observation.