Ghorids Vs. the Ghaznavids...

[Antiochos VII Sidetes]

I am the Ghaznavids, and my buddy that I am playing a hotseat with is the Ghorids. Now, he has more provinces, but I out-tech him by far (got my first citadel, have 2 forts, while he has only one fort [outside his AOR, HA!]). However, he has somehow cobbled together an army consisting mostly of war elephants, and declaring war on him could be bad for my health.

Should I? (I'm also at war with Khwarzem, but I am mauling them and so they are not really a factor)

[kabeast]

Kill! Your Ghaznavid forces thirst for blood!

More seriously, how do your armies compare? I honestly can't remember if the Ghaznavids have javelins, but stock up on them (thru mercs if necessary) to make the elephants a total nonfactor. Really, elephants are sitting ducks for even the weakest javelins. If he's relying on them, u shouldn't have much difficulty taking down his armies.

So my advice is build up some armies and get some javelins especially and go for it, unless he has some nice armies beyond the elephant one u mentioned.

[Antiochos VII Sidetes]

Well, he has several full stacks of mid-quality Ghorid ghulam-dudes, but I have MORE stacks of BETTER ghulam-dudes, even if mine are spearmen.

I can do the javelins...guess I will use my Daylamis for that, since that axe of theirs is pretty handy as well.

Still, his Elephants are in Rajput territory mopping up the remnants, so....

A quick strike isn't out of the question.

[Kip]

Try to get some mounted Javelins, they are murder to elephants. There are plenty to recruit as mercs out of Punjab, assuming you own a settlement there. Or else you can just recruit them as the army invades the territory.

[Antiochos VII Sidetes]

Eh...I might have to do some hard fighting to get to the Punjab...

He's moved his capital to Lahore, which I forgot to mention trains those Emir's Ghulam guys, which are some of the few troops that can actually match my spears.

He also has castles all along my border...

I gave some 30000 florins to his enemies...(heh, I am funding them behind his back, he still doesn't understand where they get all the troops from) Also, my heavy cavalry isn't really up to scratch yet, as I cannot train anything in my citadel yet (still retraining). How do I negate his crazy swords? Just mass spears?

[The Count(er)]

how much of the the Rajput's area and Sindh's area does he have?

even weak cavalry can murder swordsmen on the charge just retreat the cavalry out after the charge to do another one before the swordsmen kill all the horses

[Antiochos VII Sidetes]

He has all of Sindh except their capital, ditto for both Chauchan and Solanki Rajputs. He has vassaled Chauchan, and is trying to to do the same to the Solankis.

Cavalry-wise, I guess I will use Ghaz. Light Lancers, since they seem to do decently.

[The Count(er)]

well with all that land it is possible to hire I believe 7 elephant mercs in 1 turn watch out for that aside from that if he's smart he'd have a masjid in every settlement allowing him to train thousands of Ghazis but the elephants wont last 1 minute under constant javelin fire

[Antiochos VII Sidetes]

I know, that is the problem...he just got 5 of the damn elephants last turn! It's not fair...He doesn't even have to fight for his territory...since the elephants THROW javelins, the Solanki General's Guard is just death waiting to happen.

And, he DOES have a masjid in every city...

The Ghazis are especially annoying. He just has so many of the damn things...I have comparatively few elite units, even if mine are better.

[The Count(er)]

well thats the problem with fighting the ghorids every city can get 4 ghazis in 1 turn and every castle can get 6 so he can get an enormous amount of troops quickly when threatened and it may only be a matter of time before he attacks you although the Ghorids have no spearmen and archers so if you can get heavy cavalry you could beat him

[anaztazioch]

just get merc Kypchak auxillas from Bukhara region (never played as Ghazni), a single such auxilla takes out even highest tier elephant in like 2 waves.

Even bigger killer - get your archers to shoot flaming arrows. Elephants run amok very fast when under flaming fire.

[Antiochos VII Sidetes]

Hmmm...I might just do that.

[Antiochos VII Sidetes]

Yes, but he is actually gonna sail some boats over to Oman and attack them...I might take them, and by then my power base will be strong enough that I can kill him with large numbers of mid-range to good troops, I hope.


Best I REALLY have access to are Light Lancers, though I have a few Khurosani cavs floating around somewhere.

[The Count(er)]

it's likely that ghazis will make up most of his army and they have very high morale which means their not going to run and increases the chance your men will and their good against armor which is why I like them in my ghorid campaign

actually a naval invasion into his eastern front will allow you to get some elephant mercs and he won't see it coming, maybe even better intercept the boats on their way to Oman when starting the war to kill a few armies and fleets giving you an advantage when starting this war

[Kip]

Even medium cavalry will massacre Ghazis....do you have access to Ghaznavid Light Lancers yet? They're absolutely lethal and are very swift, and even though they aren't super heavy you can expect most to survive repeated charges against the non-spear-armed Ghazis.

[The Count(er)]

he already said he could get those so that seems like the way to go for the bulk of your force

[eggthief]

Aint there a chance of him viewing this forum? By that I mean this section and this thread.

[Aurion]

Aint there a chance of him viewing this forum? By that I mean this section and this thread.

Good point, and it's not exactly sporting to be polling the forums for advice.

[frontier-auxilia]

Yes do a unconventional cavalry feint, people usually expect horse to be on flank. Place your cavalry at the back of your line but when the army nearly engage, send your infantries to the enemy's flank and rush your cavalry into the middle of their line. Without any quality spear, your cavalry will rip their main battle line to shreds with a thunderous charge. After wards you can use your infantry as a mobile anchor for your cavalry as they repeatingly hammer the ghorid line. Or you can move your cavalry back as flank or rear guard while the dalaymi go in and finish off whats left .

If they refuse to move, make them with your ghulam infantry or horse arhcers. One of the best thing about the ghaznavids is that they can always make enemies fight on your term with superior missle troops. Make them come to a place of your choicing while a detachment of crack cavalry repeatingly charge their line. Let them come and make sure they pay in blood for every inch they move. Hopefully afterwards their force would be weaken enough that it won't pose such a threat to you

[Kavhan Isbul]

If I know that I have to fight the Ghorids eventually and their spam armies of ghazis, I will surely try to do it before the Mongols arrive.