SOS--MONGOLS!!!!!!

[ColIndyJackson]

Gents:

Good evening from Canada!! I hope this finds you and yours well. As for me, I could complain...yadda, yadda, yadda.

I'm playing as the Byzantine Empire, and I've just been attacked by the Mongols. My faction heir, Prince John, hasn't got the manpower to go against them, ergo, I'm over Niagara Falls without a canoe or a life preserver!!!!

1) How do I get rid of the Mongols? 2) How do I get help to Prince John? 3) How do I keep said Mongols from coming back?

Live long and prosper, take care and thank you kindly!!!

Sincerely yours always,

Indy.

[Askthepizzaguy]

We will need more information about your campaign, i.e. screenshots, date, regions owned, your territory, Mongols territory, your troops, their troops, etc. in order to help you.

Other than blanket general advice, there is nothing further to be added.

[ColIndyJackson]

Gents:

Good morning from Canada!!! I hope this finds you and yours well. As for me, I could complain...yadda, yadda, yadda.

My regions list as the Byzantine Empire goes as follows:

Thessalonica
Nicea
Tblisi
Adana
Rhodes
Smyrna
Durazzo

My campaign has been pretty quiet until Mongols showed up. I married off Princess into France. I just sent my Merchant to France Proper for trade. I sent my Diplomat for a powwow with the Egyptians. I just took over the aforemention Thessalonica from the Rebels. I'm planning to do the same with Constantinople. I believe it was the capital of the Byzantine Empire, and to top it all off, I'm at war with Venice and had to do in an important Scilian general.

Otherwise, things have been as quiet as a forgotten cemetery on Halloween.

As for the Mongols, they showed up out of the West out of the Fog of War, and so far, I count four armies of the little you know whats. As usual, any ideas, brainstorms, vague notions, etc. are gratefully received here.

In closing, is it just me or does anybody else think Tblisi is an odd place to put an heir to throne?

Live long and prosper, take care and thank you kindly!!!!

Sincerely yours always,

Indy.

[Quillan]

Umm, what exactly are you playing? In M2TW, the Byzantines begin the game with Constantinople, Thessalonica, Corinth, Nicaea, and Nicosea. Are you playing a mod here?

[Cheetah]

Indy there are at least a half-dozen threads about how to beat the mongols.

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=89385

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=93538

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=92604

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=90457

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=88887

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=79195

Also, I was wondering too, that how could you lose Constantinople and Thessalonica to the rebels? These are your best cities. Capture them ASAP!

[ColIndyJackson]

Gents:

Good afternoon from Canada! I hope this finds you and yours well. As for me, I could complain...yadda, yadda, yadda.

I've been reading all this advice, and I've come up with an idea. I've got army down in Adana, which is next door to Antioch from where the French just got their butts kicked. Adana's army is pretty healthy, but the unfortunate thing about all this is that it'll take 'em at least a couple of turns to get 'em to Tblisi. By then, I could have a faction heir who could be pushing up daisies, and Mongols tap dancing on his grave.

Needless to say, I really don't want this. As for the elephants, I'm wishing I had some of my own.

Live long and prosper, take care and thank you kindly!!!

Sincerely yours always,

Indy.

P.S. If marching my army from Adana doesn't work, I can always start from scratch! Oh, by the way, to the gent who suggested I recapture Thessalonica and Constantinople, I've already got Thessalonica, and I'm working on Constantinople.

[Galain_Ironhide]

P.S. If marching my army from Adana doesn't work, I can always start from scratch! Oh, by the way, to the gent who suggested I recapture Thessalonica and Constantinople, I've already got Thessalonica, and I'm working on Constantinople.

It will be a war of Attrition Indy, Hang in there!! Expect to take losses.

My advice, don't abandon your province, bolster up your defences as much as possible and tough it out. If that doesnt work, fight to the last man! DEATH, HONOUR, GLORY!

Looks like you have a really interesting campaign going, I would love to be in a situation like yours, good challenge! Good luck!

PS Taking Constaninople back will be the strategic and financial lynch pin to your empires recovery. Attacking ASAP will be essential.

[phonicsmonkey]

Byzantines are great against Mongols

Try an all-cav stack starting with fifteen of the best horse archers you can field.

(Skythions are not really up to it, but Byz Cav are surprisingly effective especially if you can get them an armour upgrade or two.)

Add a high dread general.

Then four of the best heavy cav you can find. Lancers will do, but try to field at least Latinkon and if you're playing Kingdoms: Crusades (I wasn't sure from your post) get some Archetopoloi out there, these bearded oldies really know how to skewer some Mongol.

Horse archer tactics are described in detail elsewhere (try Doug-thomson's excellent guide "Hunters all their Lives" somewhere on this forum), but generally speaking try to surround them and take out their missile cav, foot missiles, heavy cav in that order

don't let their general escape the battlefield - if you can kill him that's one step closer to eradicating the mongols

good luck soldier

[regor]

What phonicsmonkey said, but with more heavy cav.
You need them to take out their Mongol counterparts, plus they are much more efficient infantry killers, as they haven't got any spears.
You could go all HA, but they will be hard pressed to do everything.

Remember not to try and out shoot their entire army! It can be done, but you will suffer greatly.
Instead, skirmish your (supirior numbers of) HA against theirs, but once the hacking starts, counter heavy cav with heavy cav., and use your HA to destroy their unprotected archers. That will bring their HAs to the fight, and from then on it's only a question of getting their general. Once he's down, the fight is yours.

Succes is a matter of definition with the Mongols. It's not hard to beat them stack v. stack, but they have lots of full power stacks. My yard stick is roughly:
If one of my stacks can beat two of theirs (in two consecutive battles), and the said stack hasn't lost more than 2-3 units --> patt on the back for me.

Last bit of advice: respect the Mongols!
If you look at their unit's stats you might not be impressed, however keep in mind all those gold chevrons and the inevitable high stats general.

[ColIndyJackson]

Gents:

Good evening from Canada!! I hope this finds you and yours well. As for me, I could complain...yadda, yadda, yadda.

@Quillan: I'm playing Lusted's most excellent mod, LTC 4.0. This guy is sooo full surprises!!!! Having Prince John of the Byzantine Empire out in the boonies (read: Tblisi) was one of them.

Live long and prosper, take care and thank you kindly!!!

Sincerely yours always,

Indy.