The Moors - Faction Guide

**Astaroth** · February 08, 2009, 12:11 PM

The Moors

Table of Contents
Introduction
I. An Overview
- The Moorish Empire
- Religion
- Jihads
- Trade
- Sea Trade
- Advancing Technologically
II. The First Step
III. The Next Move
IV. The Moorish Army
V. Conclusion

Introduction

The Moorish empire.

After Mohammed's death, the newly founded Muslim Caliphate kept expanding rapidly. Within a few decades, the whole Middle East was conquered and in 711 AD even northern Africa and the biggest part of the Iberian Peninsula became part of the empire. However, the unity did not last long and soon the Caliphate began falling apart and was slowly divided into smaller Muslim kingdoms and Sultanates. Whilst, the Christian rulers in northern Spain began pushing south in order to drive the Muslims out of the Iberian peninsula. Both sides won battles but slowly the Muslims in Spain who became famous as "Moors" were losing ground. In the late 11th century they had lost control over many parts of the peninsula and only managed to keep the Southern parts of Iberia. However, while their military strenght was diminishing, their intellectual and cultural power grew steadily. Moorish doctors and scholars had spread their knowledge all over Spain and many universities and hospitals had been built, along with beautiful palaces such as the Alhambra. The Moorish cultural heritage will undoubtedly live on forever but a great ruler might also be able to restore the army's former power. It will not be easy to exchange luxury and palaces for cold steel and tents again but it is the only way which the Moors can go if they wish to return to their old strenght. Pick up your scimitar and fight for victory, for eternal glory!

I. An Overview
The Moorish Empire:

The Moorish towns on the Iberian peninsula, next to Portugal and the Spanish kingdom.

Before we begin making plans for our future wars and conquests we have to muster our troops and to inspect our towns! At the beginning of the game, the Moors own 4 towns, two of them in southern Spain (Cordoba and Granada), the other two in north-west Africa (Marrakesh and Algier). Furthermore, you control three agents, (one diplomat, one spy and one imam). The Moorish lands in Spain and Africa are divided by the Straits of Gibraltar. In the north, they border the kingdoms of Portugal (white/ blue) and Spain (yellow/orange), in the west the Moorish kingdom reaches until the Atlantic Ocean and the Sahara is the southern and eastern border. In Africa the closest neighbor is Egypt (yellow/black) but many miles lie between the borders of the two empires. However, Sicily is close to the African coast and Norman knights (gray) might decide to conquer parts of Africa.
In the beginning, Spain will most likely pose the biggest threat to you. Their kingdom is quite strong already and will grow quickly as well. However, you should not worry about Egypt nor about Sicily as neither faction is going to attack you within the first few dozen turns. Portugal is usually rather weak as well since its two regions are divided. The Portuguese tend to be busy fighting for their surivival and should not bother you.

Religion:

As opposed to their Christian neighbors in Spain, the Moors are Muslims. They do not have a pope and imams are their equivalent to Priests. Religion can affect your game majorly as the population will want to be ruled by a king of their own faith. Therefore conquering Christian regions will result in low public order and converting them with Imams might be necessary. By converting as many Christians and Pagans as possible, your Imams' piety will rise. Since there are neither a Muslim pope nor Muslim cardinals a high piety is not really a high priority, though. However, converting might be necessary to improve the public order and Imams with high piety also have the advantage of being able to launch Jihads which takes us to the next point already.

Jihads:

While the united Muslim caliphate has ceased to exist a long time ago already, there are still certain advantages of being Muslim. Every Imam with a piety of four or higher can launch a Jihad - the equivalent of the Christian crusade - on a non-Muslim town. Every general with a sizeable army from every Muslim faction can join such a Jihad. One of the advantages is that an army does not cost any upkeep while it is on a Jihad. Furthermore, you can buy mercenaries cheaply and new ones become available as well. Moreover, armies that joined a Jihad have much more movement points which means that you can reach your goal very quickly. Yet another advantage is that Jihads can be a good source for good traits for any general who joins them. Increased piety is only one possibility. On top of that, when you call a Jihad another Muslim general might join it. That can result in getting strong support from your Muslim brothers. However, one thing to keep in mind is that armies which are on a Jihad currently can not attack other Muslims. That can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. Other Muslims that are on a Jihad will not be able to siege or attack you but same applies to you which can be annoying. Last but not least there is another downside of joining a Jihad. Jihading armies will have to approach their goal quickly every turn and if you fail to do that, some of your units might desert. Therefore, be careful not to join a Jihad when you are not ready yet. In conclusion Jihads are generally a great way to gain good traits for your generals, experience for your troops and money by saving upkeep. It is adviseable to launch Jihads whenever you can and to join them as soon as possible. However, joining a Jihad at the wrong time can also be a disadvantage so you have to think about it carefully. Last but not least, the Moors have the advantage of being very close to many Christian factions which opens up plenty of possibilities for Jihads.

Trade:

There are many possible ways of earning money, such as plundering towns, building ports and roads or simply via taxes. However, there is also another option - utizilizing merchants. When you put a merchant on a resource, he will trade and earn money for you every turn. After some time, his trading skills might improve and he will earn even more money for you. Merchants are especially useful for the Moors since Africa and Spain are full of valuable resources. There are several important resources next to your starting towns in Spain but the most valuable ones are certainly down in Africa, especially in the area south of the Sahara. It is adviseable to send merchants down south early on, as you can find some of the most valuable resources there, including ivory. The Holy Land is another great place to find valuable resources. While it is rather far away, it might be an option to establish a base there in case a Jihad is launched against a town in the area. Aside from those possibilities there are of course plenty of others and the more your empire expands, the more regions will become easily accessable for your merchants. However, enemy merchants can be a problem as they tend to steal your resources often. Using assassins would be one way to deal with them.

There are lots of valuable trade resources in Africa.

Sea Trade:

In the beginning, the Moorish towns are relatively far apart from each other and there aren't many neighbors to trade with either. Therefore, building roads will not be a huge source of income. But there are other options. Sea trade is such an example. With your towns located close to the rich Mediterranean Sea, building and upgrading ports everywhere can be highly useful. Once your empire expands, sea trade becomes an even better source of income. If you conquer the regions east of your starting realm, new trade routes to Italy will open up. Furthermore, it is possible to conquer several islands in the Mediterranean Sea, establishing a trade empire with the whole world. Corsica, Sardinia and Crete and Cyprus later on would be excellent for that. In order to protect your sea trade empire it is necessary to have a strong fleet which will be expensive. However, having a strong fleet will also give you even more power and makes it possible to weaken your enemies' economy considerably by blocking their ports.

Advancing Technologically:

While some factions are weaker early on, others are stronger in late game. That applies to the Moors as well of course. While their early roster is not really weak, their later one is much stronger in comparison. Therefore, it might be adviseable to invest lots of money into advancing technologically, in order to gain access to your powerful lategame troops, most notably the camel gunner. The Moors are in a perfect position for that as they have few neighbors and thus not many fronts to defend. One possibility would be to conquer the whole Iberian peninsula early on and to use the Pyrenees as a natural border against Europe while developing your economy. That time should also be used to advance technologically in order to gain an advantage over the rest of Europe. Fighting heavy knights with your generally rather light troops can be quite a problem early on but once you get access to your stronger troops the tide will turn.

The Alhambra, a great example of Moorish art in Spain.

II. The First Step
After this basic overview, we should decide on our first steps to global domination! However, in order to avoid making mistakes, we should have a look at our closest neighbors first of all. A general who wants to be succesful has to know his enemies thoroughly. Knowing both their strenght and their weaknesses is the only way to figure out a way to beat them!

Tunis, Sardinia, Corsica and the Sicilian kingdom in Sicily and southern Italy.

In the south and east of your empire there isn't much to be found. No other kingdom is near and the cities such as Tunis are ruled by filthy rebels. In the east, the closest kingdom is the Sicilian one. While it is pretty far away from our borders, it might be worth it to have a look at the it anyway - just in case. The Sicilians do not only own the island of Sicily but also the city of Naples and thus the whole southern part of Italy. While some water lies between them and us they might decide to invade us anyway once our empire expands. Even if they don't, they can become a good target later on so knowing their strenghts and weaknesses can only help. The Sicilian kingdom is a typical Christian kingdom which was founded by Norman invaders not long ago. Therefore, they field strong, heavily armed knights, both on foot and on horseback. Furthermore, due to the fact that the Arabs owned the island for several centuries, the Sicilians have access to light Muslim archers which supplement their other troops rather well.
Sicily can be quite expansionist at times and might decide to conquer the nearby islands such as Sardinia and Corsica. Therefore, it might be adviseable to gain these islands before them. However, on the other hand expanding into their direction might result in war. Considering that we have two enemies - the Spanish and the Portuguese - at our northern border already, it might not be very wise to upon up yet another front. On top of that, the early Sicilian units are rather powerful whereas the Moors tend to field lightly armored infantry and cavalry. As a result, battles might be bloody and a war against them could become rather expensive. Not to mention that taking Naples will bring you dangerously close to the pope and other Christian nations which might decide to attack you as well.
In conclusion, it might be best not to come too close to Sicily until later in the game. The longer you wait, the weaker they will get as their troops will no longer be up to par in comparison. Whilst, your own technological advantage will only increase. Therefore, Sicily and the rest of the Mediterranean east of the Balearic Islands are the perfect target for later on.

The two southern Moorish towns in Africa. There aren't many other towns in this area of the continent.

Whereas neither the west, nor the south, nor the east of your empire are particularly interesting, the north certainly is. Not only are your towns on the Iberian peninsula dangerously close to the quite powerful Spanish kingdom (yellow/red), but there is also yet another potentially strong nation right at your doorstep - the Portuguese (white/blue) one. To begin with, we shall have a look at Portugal. The kingdom has not existed for long and was founded just recently. However, it already owns the important town of Lisbon right next to the Atlantic Ocean, an undoubtedly important harbor. On top of that, the Portuguese king also controls the strong fortress of Navarra in northern Spain, right at the border to France. However, there lies Portugal's problem as well - the kingdom is divided into two parts. Its only castle is located up in the north east of the peninsula while its only city lies south east, right next to the Spanish kingdom. Not only does this weaken the Portuguese considerably, it also makes conflict with Spain quite likely. And that is of course quite an advantage for the Moors.
Portugal and Spain field similar unit rosters, consisting of some heavy cavalry such as knights, mainly light infantry, skirmishers and light skirmisher cavalry. Neither faction has an amazing early army but both have rather powerful arsenals in lategame. Your early troops should stand a good chance of beating both Portugal's and Spain's. It will be a rather even battle.
In the east of the Spanish kingdom, several rebel towns - Saragossa and Valencia- can be found. Portugal and Spain will most likely try to take them but you can of course make an attempt to capture them as well. However, especially Valencia is rather well defended so make sure to mount a sizeable force before attacking.

In conclusion, there are many possible ways to expand with the Moors. You could try to expand in Africa first of all which is probably your best bet since the rebels in Tunis are not particularly strong. Taking Valencia might be an option as well. Attacking Spain or Portugal early on is probably not such a good idea, though. What you could do is conquering rebel settlements while waiting for Spain and Portugal to begin fighting each other. Once they are busy with each other you can launch a surprise attack and take their cities. Sometimes it is possible to take out Portugal fairly early if Spain takes the northern Portuguese castle and if Lisbon is almost defenseless. Either way, conquering the Iberian peninsula is definitely a must. Once Portugal and Spain are gone, your empire will stretch to the Pyrennes and you will have a strong powerbase on the peninsula.

There are several advantages in expanding into that direction. First of all, Spain is extremely easy to defend due to its natural borders. On three of four sides, the sea surrounds the peninsula and the mighty Pyrennes are the only connection with the rest of the European continent. Therefore, all you need to do is fortify your nothern border with forts and strong garrisons. Furthermore, Spain is full of valuable trade resources and has many harbors and several fertile regions which makes it a very lucrative country. Last but not least it also has the advantage of being very close to the Americas and far away from the Mongol and Timurid invasions which will be a big advantage in lategame. Therefore, I highly suggest to make taking the Iberian peninsula your main priority.

The Pyrennes form a perfect natural border for your empire once you have conquered the Iberian peninsula.

III. The Next Move
After uniting the peninsula and expanding into Africa there are many possible options. One would be to expand further north, repeating the Moorish invasion from a few centuries earlier. Another one would be to expand east along the African coast in order to reach the riches of Egypt and the Middle East. However, your best bet is probably to concentrate on taking some of the Mediterranean islands first of all. Corsica, Sardinia and later on even Sicily and possibly Crete. Not only will you avoid facing strong enemies like that but you will also strenghten your sea trade empire. The problem with expanding north into France is that you will have to face many strong Christian kingdoms. France, Milan and even England might become your enemies soon. Even a crusade might be called against you which could become quite a problem. Therefore, it is not adviseable to expand beyond the Pyrennes - which provide a perfect natural border - early on. Expanding into Africa is not exactly viable either. The towns are far apart from each other and not very lucrative. Furthermore, the Middle East is quite a dangerous area anyway due to the crusades and the Mongol and Timurid invasions later in the game. In conclusion, focussing on the Mediterranean islands early on would indeed be your best choice. Taking southern Italy along with Sicily might be possible as well since the Sicilian kingdom is not that strong. On top of that it is not that hard to defend Naples and Palermo against invasions from northern Italy.
Later in the game, your bases all over the Mediterranean will open up even more possibilities. Once your economy has grown considerably, conquering Italy will become a viable option. Milan and Venice will be busy with their wars in Europe anyway so taking out their core cities in northern Italy is very well possible. Those cities tend to be rather developed so they will provide a good boost to your economy. Last but not least, the Alps are also a perfect natural border so defending those cities after conquering them is not impossible. However, you have to keep in mind how strong especially Milan is and that the pope might call a crusade to take Rome back. Therefore, be prepared and do not attack until you are able to take on several opponents at once.
After the fall of Italy you will have two massive spearheads - the Italian and the Iberian peninsula - pointing right at Europe. Both are rich, powerful and easily defendable and thus the ideal bases for any future conquests. Henceforward you have almost unlimited possibilities. Concentrating on France, conquering Illyria and Greece or even taking on central Europe - nothing is impossible. Another option would be to build up your economy instead, prepare your armies and eventually launch a massive invasion into Europe. The sky is the only limit!

IV. The Moorish Army
The Moors are descendants of the Arab warriors which conquered half the known world a few centuries earlier. Therefore, many elements in their military are still closely related to the Arabs' style of fighting. They field light infantry and cavalry early on along with many spearmen. However, as opposed to their Arab ancestors they do not field many horsearchers. Instead, they use skirmisher cavalry, skirmishers and archers on foot and gunpowder troops later on. Generally, the Moorish army is based on a strong range of missile troops, supported by spear-wielding heavy infantry and powerful cavalry. While their late unit roster is generally worse than their middle and early one, they have some strong points later on as well such as camel gunners.
Due to their diverse roster, many different strategies are possible. But generally, it would be adviseable to form a main battle-line consisting of heavy infantry with some missile troops to lure the enemy into attacking you. When he tries to crush your inferior infantry force, use your powerful melee cavalry to charge him from behind will peppering him with javelins from your fast mounted skirmishers. The latter are also perfect for chasing routers and for making sure that the enemy will not regroup.

This is an early Moorish army. It consists of a main body of melee infantry, ranging from weaker militia units to professional spearmen.The four units of archers are supposed to decimate the enemy at range while the arab cavalry can be used for flanking or chasing routers. However, keep in mind that those horsemen do not have much armor so make sure to keep them away from heavy infantry and spearmen especially. On top of that, they will hardly be able to withstand heavier cavalry so do not overestimate them.

This is a middle Moorish army. Several things have changed compared to the early army. To begin with, the weaker spearman units got removed and were replaced by stronger ones. Furthermore, a few units of swordsmen were added in order to make the army more versatile. Last but not least, peasant crossbowmen now replace the archers from before. This is necessary because your enemies' soldiers tend to become increasingly well armored. Archers do not cut it anymore and crossbowmen with their armor piercing weapons are required.

This is a late Moorish army. At such a late stage of the game even better units become both available and affordable. The Moorish cavalry force now consists of only the strongest and most armored horsemen the kingdom can afford. Furthermore, we finally have access to gunpowder infantry which makes peasant crossbowmen and archers obsolete. But the best and most important addition to the Moorish army are certainly the camel gunners. Those strong gunpowder units on horseback are fast, deadly and will cause terror and confusion in the enemies' lines. While they are very expensive they are certainly worth their price. Being one of the strongest units in the whole game, they dominate the battlefield and can turn battles easily. Nothing can compete against them, neither heavy European knights nor any kind of infantry.

With so many different and strong units in all stages if the game, the Moors are certainly a force to be reckoned with. All kinds of tactics and strategies are possible, your own imagination is the only limit. You can rely on strong infantry, flank with your powerful horsemen or strike fear into the enemies' hearts with your fast and deadly camel gunners. Ambushes, flanking maneuvers, quick charges or missile hail - nothing is impossible. With such a versitale unit roster you have plenty of options, utilize them well and you will be victorious!

V. Conclusion
To sum it up, the Moors are certainly a very interesting faction to play. While they start the game in a rather safe location, playing as them can still become quite exciting and difficult. However, they are also extremely fun and versatile due to their interesting unit roster and fun starting location. Furthermore, the Moors are the perfect faction to change history with - stopping the Reconquista and turning the tide is undoubtedly a great challange. Beat the Christian armies, conquer the Iberian peninsula and face France to take revenge for the failure of 732! It will not be an easy task but a wise and worthy leader might manage to succeed eventually. Be that leader and lead the Moors to new conquests, to new glory! The Moorish kingdom shall rule Spain, Europe and the whole world!