Friendly Basileus needs help against the Mongol heathens!

[Ramses II CP]

Yes, it works just fine with a ballista. The ram will push it back into the gate and get hung up, unable to reach it. Even if you can't pull the crew out in time the gates won't open for them with the enemy too close.

[phonicsmonkey]

The ram will push it back into the gate and get hung up, unable to reach it.

lol, nice work

god I love exploits

[Czar Alexsandr]

Patience is the best tactic to deal with the Mongols. In my personal experience the long slow and steady approach of attrition and death from old age is the best tactic. In the first Medival I would hide in the woods with my Halbrediers ready for the offensive absorbing the deadly Mongolian fire.. it was tragic... and sad to watch my massive armies suffer initial losses but after the Mongolians had fired all of their arrows the battle was mine. In Medival 2 I try to gain the advantage of height by choosing a hill or mountain pass as my defensive position, or a defend a bridge or river crossing. It's slow, ardous, tedious, and effective. I can not stand the sight of my troops getting killed so I do everything in my power to keep them alive and not to loose my advantage. With the Mongols it's very easy to enter the battle as the weaker force.. something I'd rather do with some sort of advantage such as a bridge, terrain, etc. As the Byzantines I would reccomend a strict policy of attrition and the gradual and potentially slow destruction of the Mongols. I have fought the Mongols in battle and won on the open field. No gimmicks, just me and my all cavalry-archer army and a good amount of luck. After the battle so many men died, I decided not to do it again in my campaign against the Mongols. I simply couldn't retrain thosse troops fast enough for another attack. I won the battle but the war wasn't looking all that good. Lossing so many good cavalry was a major setback. On a side note, my Grand Duke earned a good number of scars and authority from his wounds earned in battle. Overall though, I reccomend sticking to a doctrine of attrition. But... when you get bored.. sally forth! Lead the men to a glorious battle and show thosse Mongols how to ride!

[moonshiner57]

Antioch fell, of course. When the Mongols assaulted, the brought FOUR armies to the field simultaneously, something I've never seen before. Only 2 ladders and 2 towers, so I felt pretty confident to hold them on the walls and at the gate - until my men saw the 2 trebuchets and the 2 rocket launchers on the other side of the city.

A desperate charge by the Alans and the Emperor himself managed to destroy the trebuchets, but the rocket launchers broke down the walls nevertheless. I held the breach with 2 spearmen for quite some time... but in the end they were overcome and the Mongols swarmed into the city.

The assault on the main gate by 3 Mongol armies was successful as well, altough with terrible losses for them... the Byzantine Spearmen held long, the Trebizond Archers on the walls killed hundreds upon hundreds and countercharges by Dismounted Byzantine Lancers brought down even more - still, in the end every man defending Antioch was slain, including the Basileus himself in a last countercharge. A very "Constantinople 1453ish" moment :)

After that, the real war began, though. I recruied mostly Byz. Spearmen and Trebizond Archers, with what Trebuchets I could manage. With that mix I held them at the bridge north of Antioch and slowly ground their numbers down. When they didn't want to attack any more, I took the offensive... losing the battles but killing them on a almost 1-1 ratio. After 50 years in 1263 (1.5 years/turn in the LTC mod) Antioch was retaken by the Empire.

Now they only have 3 full size armies left, mostly high quality troops. Their dreaded leaders all fell in battle so I feel confident that I'll be able to destroy them.

I found the slow Spear/Archer/Artillery tactic very useful. These troops are easy to replace and even though I a lot of battles were 'lost', the massed ranged damage inflicted made it feel like a win. It's true what other posters here said - if you kill a silver chevroned Mongol Light Lancer at the cost of 2 Trebizond Archers, you will win in the end.

I also tried one or two battles with a pure cavalry force - and it didn't go well. Controlling 19 horse regiments, all of whom are inferior to their Mongol counterparts, was a major hassle. I was getting cornered, charged and skewered left and right... too many things were happening too fast and kill rates at the end were atrocious - too expensive for me. It seems I need to upgrade my horse handling skills before I try that again.

Now the only thing I am concered about is the inevitable Timurid invasion - it seems I'll never have peace in the East an dit also seems like I'm the only one fighting for Europes survival. Bloody Egyptians betrayed our alliance too and declared a jihad on Constantinople. They will be crushed of course.

So thanks all for your opinions, the Empire will live on thanks to its very capable advisors :)

[Czar Alexsandr]

So thanks all for your opinions, the Empire will live on thanks to its very capable advisors :)

Least we could do. ^_^

It's good to hear it went well. I'm fighting the Mongols myself, I am whittling them down with the slow and steady strategy. Which I see you used as well! In the begining it's just to hard to take the offensive don't you agree? It's much eaiser to defend than it is to attack them. The Siege of Antioch sounds like it was handled well to. A loss but at the same time a noble efoort. When you lose a battle to the Mongols sometimes it's not really a loss at all. If you killed a good number of them... you won something. The goal is just to remove them all from the map anyway you can. I have to remember that when I fight them cause a battle with them can go bad pretty easy. If I lose I just try to remember that overall I'm still winning. And noble Basileus died in battle, a glorious end for a noble emporer. A very 1453 moment indeed! In my game recently Ivan, the man who should have been Grand Duke, died in battle. Tragic end but also a glorious end for a man named Ivan the Hounorable. My Russian empire spans from Thorn, Krakow, and Bran to Bulgar and down to Yerevan and Edessa. I'm currently holding the bridge down there and have a lot of good generals down there like my 60 yr old Grand Duke and his brother in law along with some other good young generals. Just keeping the Mongols at bay and preparing for their eventual destruction. Not nearly finished yet and looks like there wll be some difficult battles ahead of me.