[TW Guide] RTW: Armenians

[Garbarsardar]

Author: WILHELM_II
Original Thread: Not Available

RTW: Armenians

Overview

- Armenia has some good troops, and their only real unique unit is a Cataphract Horse Archer. One of the most useful units in the game. An Armenian army should always have about eleven of these, and you should make these as soon as you can make them. Armenia has Cataphracts too, good all-round units, good support for your Cataphract Horse Archers. The Legionaries are good too, and are the main-line infantry unit for Armenia. They've got some good early-stage units too, and the army they start with, is a good one for conquering. Heavy Spearmen are also a very good allround unit, with a phalanx. Armoured well, good attack, nothing wrong with this unit.

- Armenia's situation is quite good. They do not need to fear Scythia, as they don't travel that far. Parthia isn't much of a problem, just put 3 peltasts in Artaxarta and you'll be fine. Just try to make an alliance, and you're OK. Pontus is weak at the start, as they Pontic Heavy and Light Cavalry, can't match up against your Horse Archers. You do have some mountain problems in the start, so it's a bit difficult to really travel far at the start.

- Armenia's economy is one of the best in the game. You do start quite low, yes. But capture the two Pontic cities (shouldn't really be difficult) and you've got a huge trade boom. Sinope and Kotais will have a good sea trade, and both will be bringing in about 600, even on VH/VH. Mazaka will support Sinope with land trade too, so that will bring in some. Artaxarta will support Kotais with land trade too, just as Mazaka does with Sinope. Also, the Black Sea is a sort of big mini-Aegean sea. And it's Armenia's first goals to conquer that area.

Conquering

Well, Armenia's conquests are easy, especially at the beginning. Send ALL of your troops, including one family Member, to the Pontics. Hire Sarmatians, to have something to break the Pontic Heavy and Light cavalry, in case they want to go in melee with your Horse Archers. Take Sinope first, as it will enable you to build more Horse Archers early on. Get Mazaka too.

Now, defend your territory for a couple of turns, build some more Horse Archers, and focus on economy. Get some money until you have 10000, and take Hatrawith about 7 Horse Archers. Shouldn't be too difficult, against those weak Seleucids. When you have Hatra, use it as a buffer against Egypt. Build up more, and capture Tarsus. Also with some Horse Archers. Use this as a buffer against Egypt too.

Now, Pontus has had time to build up near the Greeks (mainly in Nicomedia) but they are too weak now to pose a real problem, so use them as cannon fodder for your Horse Archers, to let them gain experience. If they DO pose a problem (IE, they use their Pontic Light (and possible Heavy) Cavalry as hand-to-hand cavalry, rather than missile cavalry) Sarmatians will be your solution. Somehow, Pontus is very weak against Sarmatians, so use this to your advantage. At this stage you should have all provinces of Turkey, including your original towns, except Sardis, Halicarnassus, and Pergamum. Take Sardis with some Horse Archers, and Eastern Infantry, to deal with the last remains of the Seleucids. I usually bribe Halicarnassus, and install some peasants. Or you can just conquer it if you want. Pergamum might pose a problem, as Greece will very often make lots of military droppings there (I mean with ships, I'm not talking about things that come out of someone's anus) so try to kill the Greek fleet, before taking Pergamum. By this time, you have a booming economy, and right at this point, Egypt will attack either Tarsus, or Hatra. Now, make peasants in all Anatolian towns, and send ALL you're worthwile troops to the danger area. Make some troops in Artaxarta, Kotais, Sinope and Mazaka. Make them breed hordes of Horse Archers.

I usually have two armies of 20 Horse Archers standing by once I am offensive against Egypt, just in case, becouse Egypt is a real backstab faction. The only thing they do in the game is backstab. I've experienced it as Seleucids, Numidia, Parthia, and as Armenia too. So, have these Horse Archer-only armies standing by, to crush these Egpytians. Conquer the remains of the Seleucid empire. And conquer the large Scythian town, so you can start surrounding Parthia, and start attacking them. Parthia has Horse Archers too, but at this stage, you should have Cataphract Horse Archers. Really good troops against the Parthians, your treatment for those nasty Parthian Camel Cataphracts, or Persian Cavalry. Just try not to fight, just lay siege, and hope they don't break out. If they do, spread out your units, and keep all non-mounted units in the back. When you have the Middle East, make a HUGE offensive army and swep over Egypt. Use Horse Archers now as your main unit, rather than Cataphract Horse Archers, becouse of the Desert Cavalry (The most irritating unit in the game). Get Memphis first becouse of the Piramids. Get Siwa and Cyrene.

Now, just sit back, and let money flow in. Be defensive, prepare to make an army to take Greece, and to overthrow the Scipii in Africa. The Romans are weak to Cataphracts, so make more Cataphract units, rather than (Cataphract) Horse Archers for a while. Just conquer away, let the Romans form testudo (computer rarely does it, but do try ) or not, and crush them. March onto Rome, or try conquering the world before taking on Rome, it's a lot more fun seeing a map with all provinces belonging to your Faction. Walk into Rome, be victorious. Drink some wine, amuse yourself with the Senate. Kill some Romans. Or eat them, like Hannibal (Lecter, not the Carthaginian one )

Buildings

What? Buildings? We live in tents.. why would we need buildings? Nah, you need them, especially ar Armenia. Your very first goal when having a town, is to obtain a Trade building (more of a route, but... never mind). They give a huge boast to land trade. And in some situations, it makes land trade a lot more profitable than Sea Trade. Having the Aegean Sea fully built with the best trade route, and Dockyards, even on VH/VH, some towns give 6000 revenue. Too huge for words. As for shrines and temples... I don't really care. I just randomly pick one for each town. As Armenia, shrines/temples aren't really my problem. Close your eyes, click, and see what temple. Done. With Armenia there is no real temple set-up. Well, you know your main goal, economy. But what about military? Hm, I'll give you some nice little towns, wherein you need to focus more on militray, rather than economy : Antioch, Memphis, Carthage, Athens, Campus Getae, and Campus Sakae. That's it. Boom your military there, and you will have good points from which you can build forces, to spread out, or to conquer with.

Fighting as Armenia

Hm, Armenian fighting isn't as easy as you think. You might think : Oh yeah, just let those Horse Archers fire, set them to Skirmish Mode, and I'll be okay... no. Basically, Skirmish mode means moving backwards... and when your Horse Archers get to the edge of the battle map... ýou get lots of Armenian blood on the ground... So, put them OUT of Skirmish mode, and learn a lot with Custom Battle, on how to maneuver your Horse Archers, to make them more effective. I usually let them walk in sort of zig-zag patterns, that usually works very well. Somehow it makes them VERY effective, espeically against enemy cavalry.

When being chased by cavalry, run away, and let another Horse Archer unit follow from behind. This way, the enemy cavalry will be fired on from two sides. Which breaks morale, and makes them rout faster. Armenia's infantry usually consists of Eastern Infantry, or Armenian Legionaries. Don't use Hillmen, they are very sucky units. Anyway, your main Infantry force is meant to be an anti-cavalry force. That's it. Enemy infantry won't even get a chance to fight, as your Horse Archers shoot them to shreds. Your infantry will cut up enemy cavalry, when surrounding. That shouldn't be too difficult with Eastern Infantry. They have good defence, so the can hold out long enough so that they can wrap around enemy cavalry. Don't use Peltasts or anything as Armenia, they're useless to Armenians. Stick to cavalry and infantry, and you're okay. USe your Cataphracts to punch a whole into enemy lines, Cavalry, Missile, or Infantry, they will nearly always win. Their charge bonus and armor will do their job. Heavy Spearmen can be used too, if you want. But the slow phalanx doesn't really fit in with the fast way of Armenian warfare. If you're going to use them at all, put them out of phalanx formation.

Here is a little addition from Muagan_ra:

"I find a good strategy for any Archer Cavalry (AC) nation; the 'eastern' nations with horse archers, and Pontus and Egypt, is to run your AC (HorseArchers or maybe CataArchers) down both flanks fo the main enemy formations, not so much to inflict casualties, but to break them up. Enemies will normally try to chase you off, and in this way, you can disorganise their formation, whilst at the same time you should be moving your main infantry line (Heavy Spearmen in Phalanx) forward in a single line (with gaurd mode off), and they should then be much better positioned to engaged the disorganised enemy (provided the AC distration worked.) Even if it dosn't work, the AC's will do casualties, and draw their attention from commanding at the front line.

Either way, Armenian legionarries should be used to flank around the Phalanx Line, whilst you're Cataphracts do the normal job of protecting your flanks from enemy cavalry and then swing around to envelop when the threats to your flanks are nuetralised."

It achieves a kind of "Cannae" style Double Envelopment, if you do it right.