Calling ALL CAVALRY COMMANDERS !

[Death is yonder]

Thanks for the welcome guys.I agree with u Czar Alexander that infantry are basically quite useless while playing Russia and Byzantine,well,until you get the heavier infantry for the Byzantines.The only job term i have for infantry is... cannon fodder.I just use them to hold the other calvary/infantry in place till i charge them in the rear.

[Czar Alexsandr]

I use Infantry as Russia, I just prefer to use cavalry. I have several all cavalry armies but most of my armies are missile units, infantry, and cavalry. With infantry + cavalry armies you just gotta position the cavalry and infantry right and plan for them to strike around the same time. I take the speed of infantry in mind when planning my strategy and have my cavalry run behind the enemy a distance I think they can close and do the same with my infantry. When my infantry gets close, I have them charge, have the cavarly charge , and the infantry and cavalry often find themselves surrounded by a routing army.

[marrow]

I have to admit that all-cav armies worked best with my Polish camp.
Loved Russia too, but it's the sheer punch of polish nobles that makes all the difference.

I would personally recommend Poland as possibly the most involving campaign there is for cavalry commanders. Russian camp is much fun too, but the starting position is very secure compared to Poland and allows for both quick expansion and turtling strategies, whereas the poles are forced to pull their socks up from the word go to make world domination feasible.

Polish nobles and strzelcy are available right from the start and both are excellent units although demanding some patience and skill. In right hands tho, both units will butcher quite a ridiculous amount of men in early wars against HRE. After the first 20 turns my initial stack of 6 strzelcy and 4 PN + 2 generals have gone up to 1 - 2 silver chevrons on average. And it's certified that they eat boyar sons for breakfast, tried and tested both in my Russian and Polish campaigns.

The cream gets a bit too thick later on though, once you start producing Hussars. I have tested it numerous times and a stack of 1 - 2 generals, 6 strzelcy, 4 polish nobles, 4 Hussars and 4 polish knights/guard (same stats anyway!) is a bit too far on the jedi side I'm afraid. Hussars are just too good for their own good. Maybe it's just me, but I smashed through Russians, the Byz, the Turks, Egyptians and the Mongols without much effort. I have found I have to impose limitations on my expansion because no one can stop that single stack! I saved that campaign some few weeks ago and I actually don't fancy coming back to it as I had already started auto-resolving battles...

Seriously tho - give polish cav a try and prepare to be amazed.

[Fisherking]

Marrow, hear-hear!

I totally agree that Poland is a cavalry powerhouse.

And if you liked it so well the next challenge is Hungry.

They do not have the depth of Poland but they do have the Hussars and Hungarian Nobles. HNs are an excellent unit even though a bit expensive. It is harder hitting as an archer but not armor piercing.
But for dismounted archers they have nice pavise crossbows that can lay down a base of fire giving your horse a free reign to envelope and flank the enemy.

They are both wonderful factions to play. Poland seems the easier to me...

[marrow]

I have given Hungary a go in the past, but then I had a system rebuild and lost the savegame, it was going quite well tho so I will definitely come back soon, cheers bro!

BTW, not sure if this has been covered this far, what is the benefit of barded horses? Some units (polish knights/guard) seem to ride barded steeds but they have no advantage in stats, does that extra bit of armour have any impact (speed, survivability and such).

[Czar Alexsandr]

Poland and Hungary are excellent Eastren European nations as well. The Eastrean European factiosns are great Cavalry centered factions. Poland has the Polish Knights, Polish Guard, Lithuanian Cavalry, Strelzky, and the mighty Polish Nobles at it's disposal. All excellent units. Although I must admit.. the Lituanian Cavalry, although a fine horse archer, is nothing like my Russian Horse archers. My Cossacks are a much bettern unit in my opinion. And the Hungarians, with their Hungarian Nobles, Magyar Cavalry, Hussars, and Royal Banderium is also a very good cavalry faction. But no javelien cavalry! With Russia I have the fleet Cossacks and the versitile Dvor and the Boyar Sons. Russia has a very nice selection of Cavalry late game. (I admit it takes forever, but I personally enjoy making a medeival Soviet Union. XD ) The super Heavy Tsar's Guard is the best fighter in the heavy cavalry arena hands down. (Although the charge is a bit low.) The Dvor fires it's arrows with a very high attack rating. (It's like a T-80.) The Cossack is speedy and well balanced. Nothing makes me happier then seeing my Cossacks are still just as energetic at the end of the battle as they were when it started. (This is after all arrows have been fired and they've coomited to melee and routed the enemy.) Boyar Sons are good. Though not as good as Polish Nobles, they are still very good. And with the Dismounted Dvor, Cossak Musketeers, and Basilisks to provide long ranged support for your cavalry... Well... let's just say Russia's a pretty good faction.

I have to try Poland and Hungary in earnest though, although of course my favorite faction is Russia. (It'll be likely to stay that way. Me and my Russians have some history.. )

By the way.. has anyone seen that there's a Calling all Infantry Commanders thread now? O_o? Any cavalry guys play Multiplayer? I'd like to see thosse Infantry nuts put in their place once and for all!

Them Us

[Shahed]

WELCOME ABOARD to those who just joined us !

Alex, Thanks for keeping this thread & this association alive ! and .. HAHA ! YEAH ! I saw the Infantry thread, thought that was funny, in a way, but I think the original poster meant well.... BUT gentlemen this is not a "us vs them" thing. Respect where it's due, all round.

It's 2 different playstyles.

We're all in here to enjoy the game, and share our passion for a pastime.
If others feel differently than us, that's fine ! Hell that's exactly what makes us different !

Perhaps we'll learn something from them ? Who knows ? Hell they sure learnt a LOAD from us, Just look at how much an average player learnt about how to deal with HA & Combined Arms All Cavalry Armies from Hunters All Their Lives by Doug-Thompson. We gave, (thank you everyone for what I learnt from you), to this community over the years and we continue to give.

Had a brief game tonight as Teutons in the Kingdoms expansion, definetly not a great cav faction, although they have some BAD BAD BAD MEAN looking cav. And the map itself, not much of a cav map. It is do-able but be ready for lots of hills and trees. HOWEVER, LOADS & LOADS of infantry to utterly annihilate. Careful of woodsmen and other 2 Hander peasants-types they can do damage. I'd like to give a shot as Novogrod in this campaign, that should be fun! LOADS of Inf to shoot up (something the Teutons lack till Mounted Xbows & I have'nt seen those yet).

I did a few hours as Egypt the other day (Kingdoms) and WOW ! now that's defintely an ALL cav faction.

Will try Poland too...

MOUNT UP !!! WE RIDE ON !!!

[Mete Han]

Poland and Hungary are excellent Eastren European nations as well. The Eastrean European factiosns are great Cavalry centered factions. Poland has the Polish Knights, Polish Guard, Lithuanian Cavalry, Strelzky, and the mighty Polish Nobles at it's disposal. All excellent units. Although I must admit.. the Lituanian Cavalry, although a fine horse archer, is nothing like my Russian Horse archers. My Cossacks are a much bettern unit in my opinion. And the Hungarians, with their Hungarian Nobles, Magyar Cavalry, Hussars, and Royal Banderium is also a very good cavalry faction. But no javelien cavalry! With Russia I have the fleet Cossacks and the versitile Dvor and the Boyar Sons. Russia has a very nice selection of Cavalry late game. (I admit it takes forever, but I personally enjoy making a medeival Soviet Union. XD ) The super Heavy Tsar's Guard is the best fighter in the heavy cavalry arena hands down. (Although the charge is a bit low.) The Dvor fires it's arrows with a very high attack rating. (It's like a T-80.) The Cossack is speedy and well balanced. Nothing makes me happier then seeing my Cossacks are still just as energetic at the end of the battle as they were when it started. (This is after all arrows have been fired and they've coomited to melee and routed the enemy.) Boyar Sons are good. Though not as good as Polish Nobles, they are still very good. And with the Dismounted Dvor, Cossak Musketeers, and Basilisks to provide long ranged support for your cavalry... Well... let's just say Russia's a pretty good faction.

I have to try Poland and Hungary in earnest though, although of course my favorite faction is Russia. (It'll be likely to stay that way. Me and my Russians have some history.. )

By the way.. has anyone seen that there's a Calling all Infantry Commanders thread now? O_o? Any cavalry guys play Multiplayer? I'd like to see thosse Infantry nuts put in their place once and for all!

Them Us

The Polish, Hungarian and Russian and Byzantian (i doubt i spelled that right) HA units seem to have better stats than Turkish HA units. Especially the mediocre discipline and stamina of the Sipahis seems like a problem. However the advantage of the Sipahis is that their upkeep is much lower than their rival HA's. Only Cossack's have lower upkeep but then they are untrained and their pony is not heavy type as the Sipahis and also they do not have armour. So in the end there are two HA units that really can be the core unit of an army for you can use them in mass with thanx to thier lower upkeep: Sipahis and Cossack Cavalry. Sipahis are more meely oriented while the Cossacks are more manouverable. THe upkeep difference between Vardartorai (also the Dvor) and the Sipahi is 75 florins per turn. so in ten turns it makes 750 and if you have 20 unit it adds up to 15000 florins. With Cossak's the difference is even higher. So I would go for Cossack and Sipahi every time. THey will get the job done.

Apart from these the range of the camel gunners hurts you a lot in a battle especially if you are in the desert (which is usualy where you fight them) and get tired chasing them. Must be fun to use them against the Elephants.