Militia Battles

[HoreTore]

There's a difference between militia cav and merchant cav milita - the former is quite nice with a decent attack, the latter is horrible with an attack of 6 and charge 2...

Playing milan, there isn't anything you need from castles, except early cavalry(mailed knights). Everything else is available from cities, and the quality is good enough. Dismounted broken lances may not match dfk for example, but with the extra income you get from a city, you can afford a lot more of them(and everything else...)

[John_Longarrow]

Merchant Cav has one great use that they are very good at. They can form a quick response force that offers your cities a solid but unspectacular cav force that is FREE from upkeep. In my Scotland game, thats exactly what I use them for and I will disband a unit that can't get back home on the same turn. Its cheaper to call them up when needed and keep the ones close by on hand than to leave any cav force sitting around costing money.

If you use them this way against rebels you will soon learn to love the guys. Useless against a professional army, but two on one they can take on rebel heavy cav without breaking the bank.

[Doug-Thompson]

If you use them this way against rebels you will soon learn to love the guys. Useless against a professional army, but two on one they can take on rebel heavy cav without breaking the bank.

A no-upkeep anti-rebel force. Wish I'd thought of that. They could get "man of the hour" promotions, too.

[Caliburn]

Merchant cavalry are strong enough for most basic jobs as long as the infantry lines hold and the unit is supported well enough and doesn't engage in cavalry duels, but they're not too cheap to maintain. I like the look and the idea too much not to use them.

Italian Cavalry Militia is probably my favourite of all heavy cavalry, even if they don't always (esp in late) fare too well in the Maloresque Cavalry vs. Cavalry, but then again, in the late period your infantry line will be able to hold some Bodyguard charges... And there will be the nasty armour piercing light cavalry from your castles to take out the nasty high-grade knight units, not to mention the pavisares. I still love the Venetian unit roster, as it is somewhat weak on the cavalry side in the very early stages (their starting castle is somewhat far away), but they'll almost always get a Merchant's guild or two when everyone has started attacking them. And no heavy infantry from the cities either, though few factions get them anyway.

Hussars are absolutely incredible, together with Polish Nobles (anti-cavalry, anti-tank) they make mince meat out of any force. Still, the Polish Militia power is slightly limited by having no Pikemen unit, but the Halberdiers do a good enough job coupled with Arquebusiers and Handgunners against most enemies.

The Russians have an interesting axe militia unit, too sad its nothing compared to the basic High/Late axe infantry they have from the castles. Sometimes it feels like the game was originally planned for "early", "high" and "late" campaigns just like M1, but the format didn't give enough way for that, and some of the units will never see too much action.

Byzantines and the Spanish factions I haven't tried yet, but they seem interesting enough when it comes to militia forces.