- the late army
The campaign
- first turns
- diplomacy, friends and foes
- strategies for later on
- other idea for a campaign
The starting position in game
As you can see in the above screenshot the Portuguese start quite divided. With Lisbon in the far western corner of the peninsula and Pamplona in the east, you have a quite large front right from the beginning. The Spaniards are the main reason for you to not have a direct link to your capital. Luckily however Pamplona is already a castle so you can keep up with the Spaniards and the trade potential of Lisbon will prove it’s self in later years. As you can see you are bordering a nation with the Catholic Spain in the east and west, Catholic France in the north and the Islamic Moors in the south and south east of your lonely castle there are two rebel cities ready to be taken by you.
The Portuguese Army
The Portuguese army is quite diverse one. They start with the same kind of soldiers that once stood against the Romans with some additions, meaning a lot of javelin throwers and light cavalry but almost no solid infantry but they can get mailed knights in the beginning, but they end up with quite possibly the strongest army in the game with heavy knights, strong heavy infantry and musketeers. For this faction I’ve found that most of the time my MLS (multiple line system) doesn’t work as effective as with other nations. Strong infantry both with shields and two handed weapons are needed for this to effectively work and that is what the Portuguese lack in the beginning and until you can get the dismounted Portuguese knights I rely on other tactics which will become clear as I go through the three military eras.
The key to military success with Portugal lies in it’s cavalry. Even though the game titles France with the prestigious title of being the strongest cavalry faction of the west, I respectfully disagree and nominate Portugal and Spain for this. The early cavalry of these factions are only matched by the cavalry of the Muslim and Eastern Europe factions but none of it’s direct Western rivals have an effective weapon to counter them.
The Early Army
As you can see the Portuguese have seven units of whom only two are melee units. You have two regular missile soldiers in the form of peasant archers and peasant crossbowmen, the other three are spear throwers. They all have a decent to excellent melee stat but every time they stand in my front line I lose. Just as with men armed with two handed weapons, they are not meant to be put up in the front line. For that position the eternal spear militia remains, who are surprisingly more effective there then the Almughavars I found. The mailed knights and the two peasant missile units don’t need explanation but the three javelin throwing soldier units do.
You’ll have Lusitanian javelin men, Almughavars and their mounted brothers, the Jinetes. You can agree with me or not when I say that I think that spear throwers do the most “relative damage” of all the missile units next to gunpowder units. Their biggest setbacks are their very short range and the amount of ammunition they have at their disposal, however in large numbers they can destroy anything that moves. This goes up for the infantry styled javelin men.
When we look at the Jinetes we see one of the best units in the game, these guys are the only guys I know( apart from the other javelin throwing cavalry in the world) who can effectively take on the elephants of Timur!!!! Their moving speed allows them to quickly move to the rear of an enemy army and create havoc there, they are also very useable in the role of assassins, as the armor of a general is quite vulnerable to their javelins. On top of that they are cavalry so that gives them an extra advantage as they charge, however if that charge doesn’t proof to be one hit rout then pull them back as they are quite vulnerable in a prolonged melee. All in all these guys are superb and can be used throughout the game, even smaller cavalry armies composed of nothing but 7~10 Jinetes can take on full stacks.
My early Army composition: 1 general, 5~7 Jinetes(number determined by the number of mailed knights I use), 2~4 mailed knights, 2 spear militia, 6 Almughavars/Lusitanian javelin men, 2 peasant archers/crossbowmen.
As you can see I use a lot of cavalry but they are so strong that it’s only logical, the only reason for mailed knights to be in my army is that they are good early heavy cavalry who can destroy those who survived the Jinetes’ attack, the two spear militia I put in a very stretched front line so that the missile units can cover behind them whilst releasing their deathly volleys.
The High Army
By the time you get the above units available you need to ask yourself a simple question, was my early army effective? If the answer to that question is yes then only have to replace the mailed knights with the feudal knights, the spear militia with the dismounted feudal knights and the peasant archers/crossbowmen with the pavise crossbowmen. If the answer is no, then you need to completely reorganize your army.
The dismounted feudal knights are your first heavy infantry and from now on until the late army they will always have a part in the new army, they can hold the line way better then the spear militia and are excellent in defending/taking the walls.
The feudal knights are simple step up from the mailed knights and this is the reason why I not always replace them. With only a better defense skill you can ask yourself if it’s worth those 50 florins? Plus I’m usually the first in the entire game to receive a fortress so I can’t retrain them on my campaigns unless I send them back which is a true time consuming process. Of course they look cooler but they are not necessarily better.
The pavise crossbowmen just own, these are the only guys who will remain in my army till the very end of the game. With four pavise crossbowmen I once took a city which contained 8 fully trained units of various soldiers but who refused to leave their plaza, easy pickings for these gunners.
Now to reform your army if the answer was no to the question in the above, with the addition of knights to your infantry and cavalry arsenal you can reform your army to standard western European army with heavy cavalry serving as a hammer to grind the iron on the anvil that is your heavy infantry.
Army composition (answer was no): 1 general, 6 mailed knights/feudal knights, 6 dismounted feudal knights, 6 pavise crossbowmen, 1 ballista
Army composition (answer was yes): 1 general, 5~7 Jinetes, 2~4 mailed knights/feudal knights, 2 dismounted feudal knights, 6 Almughavars, 2 pavise crossbowmen.
As you can see the Lusitanian javelin men are gone, because by the time you have reached the high army I think you can get Almughavars in all your training depots and you should be able to retrain them to everywhere.
Another thing that might catch the eye is the addition of a ballista, where I usually left room for mercenaries I recently discovered the usefulness of these engines in battle after some battles fought in ETW with cannons, one shot of a ballista can take out an entire row of a man, and they are quite accurate imo.
The Late Army
Now we are talking about the possibly strongest army in the game, infantry wise you get aventuros which are a phalanx type of pike men and are just as effective as their Alexandrian predecessors. Dismounted conquistadores, elite swordsmen which sadly can only be trained in the colonies, swordsmen militia, strong light infantry which can be trained in your cities! And dismounted Portuguese knights who have strong two handed halberd type weapons.
For the cavalry you’ll receive Conquistadores, who again can only be trained in the colonies, Portuguese knights and mounted crossbowmen. The last one I always use as a replacement for the Jinetes, they are inferior but they have much more arrows to kill with and thus are able to kill more men, and that’s what war is all about.
In the missile department you will receive the “standard” musketeer unit and a little thing called Portuguese Arquebusiers, who has shorter range then the first one but does better melee and range damage.
With all of these men you can finally put aside your primitive yet effective way of warfare. When I get the availability of these men the Almughavars and the Jinetes are gone, though the latter do pop up as a policing force against rebels or small invading armies. The Aventuros are just excellent pike men and with these guys you can get some feel from RTW back with their pike wall/phalanx formation. For guys like these the hammer and anvil tactic was developed so use them for this. Dismounted Portuguese knights are excellent flankers and should be posted behind your left and right flank so they won’t be damaged before they do their lethal blow. And then the cream of your army: The conquistadores, they are excellent but come in small numbers as it takes forever for them to rebuild and you can only train them in the colonies of south and north America, I usually ship large numbers of these guys over to the mainland or I use a inferior yet good substitute in the form of swordsmen militia, these guys can be retrained in cities and are good, not excellent but good and with these guys you can still win battles.
With these units I can finally effectively use my MLS as I’ve now the dismounted Portuguese knights, strong heavy infantry and excellent cavalry.
Army composition: 1 general, 4 heavy cavalry(conquistadores, Portuguese knights), 4 mounted crossbowmen, 5 Aventuros/swordsmen militia/dismounted conquistadores, 2 Portuguese knights, 2 pavise crossbowmen and 2 musketeers/Portuguese Arquebusiers.
As you can see this army is far more various then any other army I’ve used so far but that is because many of the units that Portugal posses can do different roles on the battlefield, and that’s why I believe that the Portuguese army is one of the best if not the best army in the game.
The Campaign
The campaign of the Portuguese begins very interesting, with your lands divided by the Spanish you begin quite difficult, combined with the fact that the Spanish are always aggressive and want the entire peninsula for themselves you sometimes need to fight with your teeth to survive, France also likes to hop down at the south side of the Pyrenees which makes things even more hard and more interesting. The Moors on the other hand aren’t that aggressive, suffering from early Spanish attacks they will usually leave you alone which is good, as now you can build up. The location of Lisbon at the edge of Europe means it can only be attacked from one side and that it has only one side to sent soldiers to which makes it quite easy to defend and the places to attack quite logical, the rivers that cross through the peninsula are strong strategic positions and can be defended with less troops then you need in an open battle and helps save you money.
First turns
As you can see in the above screenshot I use the army at Pamplona to attack Zaragoza and from there to attack Valencia. Zaragoza should be a prime target as it makes sure that you control the only land border and with that the French and perhaps the Milanese won’t surprise you and take your only enclave in Eastern Iberia. I usually convert Zaragoza to a castle to increase it’s military effectiveness.
Where Zaragoza will be quite easy to get, Valencia is a other story, you can’t let your siege army rest at Zaragoza because you need to be quicker then Spain otherwise you’ll lose a very important trade city that you won’t get back until war with Spain is declared. So your army will be small and quite possibly on the disadvantage, so my advice is to wait the siege out! That El Cid character has quite a strong army. if you are so lucky that Valencia is yours then you should convert it to a city because in later years it will become a very rich trading port.
When those two cities are yours, you have two likely targets, all the rebel cities are now yours so the only way to expand is war. As you have seen in the campaign screenshot you’ll notice that there is an army near Lisbon, that army has not seen battle yet and can be used against your next rivals. Recruit some mercenaries to strengthen it’s striking ability even more. Use this army to either attack Toledo or Cordoba. Toledo is the main troop producing centre of Spain whereas Cordoba is the capital and the moneymaker of the Moors.
Diplomacy, friends and foes
Spain,
The Moors.
France,
You are surrounded by enemies and potential friends. The reason why I say potential in front of friends is because you’ll be fighting them sooner or later. Spain and the Moors are both in the race to be the dominant power in the peninsula and so are you! However you can use them against each other. An alliance with Spain and a supportive war against the Moors will simply drive the Moors out of the continent and increase your relation with both the pope and the Spaniards. Whereas a conflict with Spain will result in a worsened relation with both the Spaniards and the pope, your friendship with the Moors will be better.
Even though I consider the Spaniards a bigger threat then the Moors you mustn’t forget that the Moors have a surplus of resources available(even though they tend to not use them), I remember that I once fought the Spaniards first and when I was ready to take on the Moors, they had greatly increased their military capacities and eventually took both Lisbon and Toledo leaving me with some small settlements. And when I got a crusade on me I was defeated(I was excommunicated during the Spanish war). Don’t forget that you can control the way Spain will expand but that you can’t do that for the Moors, just make sure that you are the one who grabs Zaragoza and Valencia and that you also take the Moorish settlements in Iberia, that way Spain can go no other way then attacking you or sail far away and take Caernarvon/Rennes(not kidding I once had the Spaniards besieging London whilst they still had two provinces). So the choice of waging war on the Moors and allying with the Spaniards in the beginning seems logical to me.
And then you have that big blue bob that is also known as France, even though a huge mountain formation separates us from them they sometimes feel like crossing the Pyrenees and meddle with affairs that’s none of their business. Nevertheless an attack from the “best cavalry faction of the west” on the Spaniards can be helpful in defeating them. Sending that beautiful princes you get in the beginning to the French and establishing a strong alliance by sending additional fees and such is something I do a lot in my games with Portugal.
So in short: Ally with the Spaniards against the Moors and protect yourself from attacks from the north by establishing a marriage alliance with France.
Strategies for later on
By now you should have a descent idea of what I do in my campaigns to be the sole ruler of the peninsula. Use the Spaniards against the Moors then backstab the Spaniards whilst maintaining a good alliance with France. When you have done this successfully you can look to your borders and what to do next. The Moors without Cordoba and Granada are a shadow of their former selves and will be fighting the Sicilians non stop as they tend to land in North Africa quite a lot.
Then there is that blue blob called France that will turn against you as time passes.
I tend to leave the Moors alone, they will be to busy attacking the Sicilians and you need a buffer against them. France is a unique situation, if they betray me before the war of the Peninsula is over I attack them once the peninsula is mine, if they leave me alone then I leave them alone to. So what option do I have left? Some say none, others(like me) go 400 years fast forward in time and attack the English, some may find this a surprising step but think about it. When the whole of England, Scotland and Ireland is yours you have a very strong base of operations from where to launch an attack on France(if they still haven’t attacked you then backstab them), you can now launch a steady two front war from the south and north and this will prove to much. Don’t underestimate the French though, they come in large and have a far greater potential then the Moors had. Expect a bloody battle though I doubt that you as a human player will be the loser.
Allying yourselves with some of France’s natural enemies will prove helpful but gives you another future competitor, but eh it’s called Total War for a reason. A helpful tip, take France river by river, take the rivers surrounding a city/castle so that your main armies can take that place unhindered whilst your supportive armies take on the main French armies.
When France is succumbed you should be powerful enough to take on everyone that faces you. Take on the bits and pieces that is known as the Moors and from there attack Sicily or perhaps go all the way to Egypt and take the Holy Land. I tend to leave the HRE, Denmark and the rest of Northern Europe alone, attacking those factions will result in massive infantry battles that cost much men and money and more importantly they cost time. If you are attacked then send in a occasional expeditionary force to plunder the enemy and it’s cities.
Other idea for a campaign
Something I once tried and enjoyed thoroughly: Give Pamplona to the Spaniards whilst you sit back and watch from your royal court in Lisbon how the world shapes up. As Lisbon is on the edge of Europe it has to be protected against the victor of the Iberian conflict but that shouldn’t be to hard. Strengthen the rivers and build forts along the borders and see how the world shapes up. 
August 05, 2009, 09:55 PM
/ [TW Guide] M2TW: Kallum's Guide To Unliked Factions - Portugal
