Help with the nomads

[icydawgfish]

Hi, I've been thinking about starting my 1st campaign with a nomadic faction (Saka, Sarmatae, Pahlava) and I have only tried once before with them. My problems are money and I'm not used to thier style of warfare. I was wondering if any of you nomad faction generals could help me out a bit on which faction is easiest, and also a bit of advice for starting out and playing them in battles.

[tapanojum]

BLITZ =]

[Soggius Chippius]

I just use mass horse archers (no infantry. They just end up routing anyway) and keep 3 or so shooting at the front of the enemy line while everyone else goes around behind and obliterates them front the back. Ridiculously efficient, since usually you end up with few to no casualties. Only problem is when the AI decides to be a bit clever and sends enemies in different directions. Then it calls for a bit more micromanaging, but still quite winnable.
Ironically, the very worst enemy to face is horsearchers (with foot archers a step down on the list) since they nullify your agility with their blasted arrows.
(only problem is sieging. Usually you'll have to starve them out, especially if they're stone walls/oppida, but waiting for a reinforcing enemy army is just as easy usually anyway, since you can use your horsearchers in the field)

[MerlinusCDXX]

agree with chippius...may I suggest Pahlava as the nomad faction of choice...they get great units (if a little expensive), I also like how you can play them as a "nomad transitional" faction, able to easily exploit settled areas by building the reformed governments in Achaemenid (Persian Imperial) core provinces, access to the untold wealth of the Achaemenid Persians, and Heavy Cataphracts (Grivpanar- the late period ones, EXPENSIVE, but I've nener had more than 2 or 3 of them die in a single battle- and I do charge spearmen/ phalanxes head on in some situations).

anyway, on the use of pure horse archer armies, with the "front line" Chippius suggested, I use the "noble" or other armored version, they usually end up taking most of the arrow/javelin fire from the enemy army. against other horse archer factions...just have more/better armored HA's...HA's with shock/melee capabilities can help here also (Dahae Nobles; +Arm ++Shk +Sta, Parthian Noble Cavalry ++Mel +Shk, Armored Horse Archers ++Arm +Shk, Dahae Riders ++Fast ++Shk -Arm +Sta) -these examples are Pahlavan, since that's the only nomad faction i've played to date.

KEY
- somewhat deficient
+ decent
++ good
Arm=armored
Shk=shock (good charge)
Mel=melee capable
Sta=good stamina
fast=self explanatory

[gurakshun]

as the Hay, I think in the future my armies will be heavily HAs, with 2 or 3 units of catas (+an FM and his bodyguard, number of catas will depend on the nature of the enemy i'm fighting - nomads, you need more catas, successor/infantry based, not so much. catas are very expensive.) also have a small contigent of 4 or 5 of the armenian medium infs (depends on the nature of the battle and the nature of the enemy, again...if i'm fighting phalanxes, you need these to pin. also they are much preferred than cav in sieges) and 2 armenian noble inf (my in game rule, these are absurdly good at guarding flanks and springing traps on enemy cavs).

Fill the whole stack with that - with 2 or 3 catas, 4 or 5 medium infs, 2 noble infs, 1 FM, and the remainder armored HAs. In the battle, hide the infs in forests (if possible), then fight like a nomad faction, skirmishing away and causing havoc and splitting up the enemy army.

Also assassinating the enemy FMs (using HAs to lure them and your catas/FM to charge, intercept and surround them), is first priority, since killing the enemy general/captain will make breaking the enemy later much easier, as they suffer a large morale drop from losing their gen. Also, since your infs will sustain a much higher casualty rate than your cavs (who should be practically zero), due to their very nature, you want to give your infs as many advantages as possible to avoid casualties and break the enemy as soon as possible, as the infs are the only ones who can carry out speed sieges, so you want to keep their strength up.

Then, for the heavily armored infs/annoying enemy HAs/remainder enemy FM bodyguards, lead them to chase your cavs into the forest where your infantry jump and slaughter them.

If there are no forests, just keep the infantry far back from the action, placing your cav all in the front. Then as the battle progresses split the enemy armies and "catch" the remaining units by trapping them with the infas (who will be fresh compared to an exhausted enemy).

Hay is really the ultimate faction with one of the best troop selections and one of the best (if not the best) infrastructure and starting position (once you're powerful enough to not be intimidated by the AS later in the game).

[mrtwisties]

Strategically, the key to success as a nomad is to pick on a weak settled faction. I recommend picking on the eastern Seleukids.