Rufats' Campaign Strategy Guides
First of all, I’d like to thank Dave for his amazing work. And without his encouragement, I wouldn’t write these guides.
For all of you who are new to my guides, I do not claim that this is the only way you can win the campaign. But it is close to the best winning strategy.
I will give a detailed script for the first 10 turns. Usually, 10 turns is enough to survive initial attacks and establish your economy for upcoming expansion. There are exceptions though.
Note: I reserve an option for myself to edit the guides based on mine or other players’ experience (thanks to your feedbacks).
England
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
This guide was written for KGM 3.6, so I will need to re-write it for 3.8.
Overall Early Strategy:
The turns when you're besieged by Irish or attacked by Welsh will vary. But it shouldn't affect your main actions. Also, in the first turns, you'll need to transfer units back and forth in Ireland to upgrade their armor.
Also, do not sally. Let the Irish build the siege equipment and assault. These assaults are easy to repel if you meet them in the breaches. And if you have a unit of cavalry (you should have generals quite early in both, Dublin and Wexford), send it from the other gate to attack them from behind.
On a contrary, your Longbowmen are best in the open field.
Turn 1
Build Markets in York, Gloucester and Rennes.
Trade is the foundation of your economy. And Amber is its main resource. Merchants have no upkeep, they just bring you the cash. High level merchants are worth many hundreds, if not thousands, florins. For this reason, you'll need to risk them by attacking the weaker ones to gain experience. 40% chance is high enough.
Town Guard in Wexford.
It's a must if you want to retain your Irish possessions. Besides that, Wexford's recruitment pool has a faster refreshing rate than Dublin (don't ask me why)
Practice Range in Nottingham.
This is the obvious choice. Longbowmen are the backbone of your army. With the money left, you get to build one Practice Range. And it has to be close enough to York AND Gloucester.
Move William from York to the center of the Scottish border and build a Watchtower.
It's worth every penny.
Recruit:
A unit of Town Militia in Exeter.
Dublin - every unit you can (it's Town Militia and Spear Militia, if I'm not mistaken) and a Merchant.
You'll put him on the Silver resource the very next turn.
Wexford - Town Militia.
London - Diplomat. You're going to send him to Portugal to sign the alliance treaty.
Transport your Cardinal to Flanders (he'll travel to Palanga) and return the fleet to London.
Get 2,000 florins form the King of France for trade rights and map information and send the Diplomat to the Northern voyage.
Your merchant moves on foot towards Arhus (Amber).
Send your Mailed Knights and Longbowmen from York and Nottingham to Lancaster.
Levy Spearmen from Nottingham and Militia Archers from London move to the London port.
The whole garrison of Exeter moves to Gloucester.
You have to show the Welsh that you protect your lands from the very beginning.
Send the Feudal Knights from Caen to Rennes.
Don't spend any more money because…
Turn 2
Build City Watch in Dublin.
Again, this is your only Irish range unit barrack in the beginning. And it's vital.
Accept trade rights from Scotland.
Most of the time you'll get a 1,000 florins for trade rights and map information from, practically, everyone. This is not the case.
Transport Militia Archers and Diplomat to the continent.
Archers head towards Rennes, Diplomat towards Portugal.
Move your Levy Spearmen to the London port.
Keep moving your Merchant, Cardinal and other Diplomat.
Also, keep recruiting everything you can in Ireland (on every turn) and hire Mercenary Crossbowmen.
Recruit another Diplomat in London (you'll send him to Rome).
Turn 4
Build the Practice Range in Caen. The sooner the better.
Transport your Levy Spearmen and Diplomat to Normandy and send your fleet to the Irish sea.
Recruit 3 units of Holk in London.
Turn 4
Fight the assault (if there's any) in Ireland.
Turn 5
By this time, your Markets are ready. So, start training Merchants in London (all three of them).
Build Town Guard in Rennes.
And, you guessed it, keep recruiting and retraining in Ireland.
Turn 6
Your Merchant is supposed to arrive to Arhus.
Turn 7
Build Knight's Stables in Caen and Leather Tanner in Wexford.
Turn 8
In Lancaster and Nottingham, build Knight's Stables.
Keep recruiting in Ireland.
Turn 9
Recruit 3 more Holks in London.
By this time, you should have three Merchants in London. Embark on the existing fleet of Holks and send them towards Scandinavia. Your first stop is Amber in Adger. Also, the remained two should be placed later on the island (Visby) and Stockholm. Don't bother with Kenigsberg - the place is a crossroad, and your merchant won't survive there for long.
Keep shuffling and recruiting in Ireland. Send John to build a Watchtower in the middle of the island.
Turn 10
Build:
Watchtower and return to Dublin.
Port in Wexford.
Blacksmith in London.
Milan
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Overall Early Strategy:
Well, what to say here? You have money and best early city units. And, at least, two greedy neighbors. Luckily, Pope likes you quite a bit and hates HRE and Venice.
France is a remote threat, Sicily as well. Your goal is to develop your settlements as fast as you can and kick the Germans out of Italy.
Small notes:
a) I do not convert Ajaccio to town (as some of the KGM veterans suggest) for one simple reason – taking out Sicily will be much easier if you have a castle close by.
b) Forget about Cagliari for the time being.
Turn 1
Buid:
Blacksmith in Milan and Genoa.
Milan was an armor capital of Europe in Middle Ages. Let’s not let history down. On a practical side, the sooner you upgrade your Spear Militia the better.
Leather Tanner in Ajaccio.
You have little to build there for now. This is a perfect opportunity.
Keep your taxes at “normal” in Florence.
The faster it develops, the more money you will make.
Recruit a Merchant in Genoa.
I’ll give you a tip. Two best resources for you now are skiver mines in Sardinia. Two Merchants placed there can bring you around 400 florins each.
Diplomat in Milan.
You are a trading powerhouse – you need to obtain trade rights from everybody.
Spy in Milan.
You’ll detect many spies from Bologna and Venice from the very beginning. Be prepared.
Priest in Genoa.
Good relationship with Vatican will preserve you from being excommunicated.
Send your Cardinal to Belgrade or Sophia.
Trade Rights and Map Information from HRE for 1,000 florins.
Your Merchant is waiting for his partner on a ship in Genoa.
Put your Spy on a Milan – Venice – Bologna border.
Turn 2
Build Communal Farming in Florence.
Continuing development.
Your newly recruited spy can move towards Provence or stay in Milan.
Trade Rights and Map Information from Venice for 1,000 florns.
Now both of your Merchants are sailing towards Cagliari.
Second Diplomat leaves for Rennes.
Turn 3
Alliance with France.
You effectively provided yourself with peace on your Western border for a long time.
You have this opportunity when their Diplomat approaches you, don’t miss it.
Alliance, Trade Rights and Map Information – they will happily accept.
Recruit priest in Genoa.
Start building Watchtowers: first on your Southern border (Florence), Western (Genoa), and Northwestern (Bern). I built them a little away from roads, reserving places for forts in the future.
Start recruiting soldiers, it’s time to show everybody who’s the master in Northern Italy.
Genoese Crossbow Militia and Italian Spear Militia in Milan.
Italian Spear Militia in Genoa.
I don’t bother with Italian Militia at all, simple waste of money and population. Spear Militiamen, on the other hand, is the backbone of your army now.
Merchants are generating money, at last.
Relax and enjoy the cash flow.
Turn 4
Build Communal farming in Ajaccio.
Do you want to build normal castle there or not?
Continue recruiting every Genoese Crossbowman and Spear Militiaman in Milan and Genoa.
When I go to war, I don’t touch Florentine garrison at all.
Another Spy in Milan won’t hurt you at all.
Recruit priest in Ajaccio.
Priest goes to convert Moors in Valencia.
Fleet returns to Genoa.
Turn 5
It’s time to build Armourer in Milan.
This is going to be the last nail in HRE’s coffin.
Communal Farming in Genoa.
We are sticking to the development plan.
Another Watchtower North of Milan.
All those watchtower will prove being useful very soon.
Recruit two units of Mounted Sergeants in Ajaccio.
They’re going to be your cavalry support for now.
Retrain everything in Milan.
Secure an Alliance with Pope.
Same formula: Alliance, Trade Rights and Map Information.
Turn 6
Your Duke marches towards Bologna.
Feudal Knights and Upgraded Crossbowmen remain in Milan.
Hire Mercenaries and recruit/retrain as many troops as you can in Milan and Genoa.
Retrain those Mounted Sergeants you brought from Corsica to Genoa.
Turn 7
Build Brothel in Florence.
There’s nothing else to build in town. Besides that, it will help you catching Sicilian spies.
Continue recruiting.
Turn 8
Assemble the army near Bologna.
I had: 1 unit of Duke’s Bodyguards, 2 Mounted Sergeants, 6 Italian Spear Militia, 3 Mercenary Spearmen, 3 Genoese Crossbow Militia, 3 Mercenary Crossbowmen. I had a Catapult as well (as a reward in a recent mission).
Recruit a Diplomat.
You’ll start negotiations with the HRE very soon.
Turn 9
Besiege Bologna.
This is it. All your efforts were channeled to do it.
Bring the last unit to fill your army stack.
And build as many rams as you can.
Turn 10
Attack Bologna.
Here your Chainmail upgraded Spearmen will prove to be the tiebreaker against Padded Leather of Bolognese garrison. Those Feudal (both Mounted and Dismounted) Knights will give you a little headache, but nothing special though.
Sack it and build a Blacksmith.
Mines in Genoa.
That’s it. After regrouping in Bologna and Milan, go for Bern. I had a big battle every time I approached it. The biggest was against 3 ¾ stacks plus one 1/2 stack armies.
Occupy the Castle to start recruiting right away. Propose HRE a Ceasefire, Trade Rights and Map Information in exchange for Innsbruck. Start recruiting and building there as well. Enjoy a couple of quiet years and march for Venice.
Battlefield Strategies
As I wrote before, Italian Spear Militia (Armourer upgraded) is the backbone of your early armies. Them and Genoese Crossbow Militia. In many battles, I had Mercenaries routed, while even 7, seven Crossbow Militiamen kept fighting.
So, basically you harass the enemy with missiles, hit with spears and charge their flanks (if needed) – nothing special. Except for the good morale of your troops: two units of Italian Spearmen and one of Genoese Crossbow Militiamen were holding their own against a unit of Feudal Knights, another one of Feudal Dismounted Knights, 2 Armoured Sergeants and Peasant Crossbowmen while I was dealing with others.
Norway
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Overall Early Strategy:
Ironically, winning in this campaign means to lose, at the very beginning, one of your settlements.
You aren’t a great trading power like England or Denmark are, so you’ll need to cut on your expenses. Thus, it’s fairly obvious that the Scottish expansion isn’t your goal at this stage, because it’s poor (even Edinburgh doesn’t make up for it) and your Wick castle bring you a meager ~300 florins. Castle Town isn’t a “must keep” either, for very soon its “income” will go below zero, thank to many Irish and Welsh landing armies. Add to that the necessity to maintain a large garrison, well you see the point. If you can hold on it though, it will help you to take surrounding lands later on. I chose this way, and it worked for me.
After all, you realize that it’s Scandinavia that you should conquer first.
Turn 1
Build Stables in Oslo.
It, really, isn’t a big decision. To be able to beat the Danes, you will need good cavalry more than infantry. It’s a matter of maneuvering and speed.
In Castle Town, build Leather Tanner.
As I explained earlier, I decided to keep it. So, in order to do that, I have to upgrade the armor.
Train:
Norse Swordsmen, Viking Raiders and Svennir in Oslo.
Norse Swordsmen and Viking Raiders in Wick.
It’s an easy choice, for these are your best options. Plus, you have four units (combined) of Norse Archers, so don’t bother with Peasant Archers’ recruitment.
Diplomat and Merchant in Adger.
Another easy choice. You’ll need every penny at this stage, and trading resources with trade rights are the way. With sacking the conquered towns, of course.
Move:
Fleet from Wick towards Agder.
Transporting both, Merchant and Diplomat to Europe will require ships. So…
Bring the fleet from Castle Town to Wick.
Beware of a Scottish ships right after the land bridge between Eire and Scotland.
Spy returns to Wick.
I don’t remember if having spies on enemy territory costs you money, so I was cautious. Besides that, he will play quite a major role in the near future. AND we forfeited on Scotland, remember?
Your Diplomat moves towards Lund.
You need to squeeze whatever you can before the inevitable clash.
An Army of Huscarls, Viking Raiders and Norse Archers sets off to Skara. Catapult follows them alone (due to its low speed).
In short, every soldier, except for two units of Swordsmen and your King is on the move.
If it’s possible, include your Bishop in that army.
Two reason for that:
a) Skara is highly pagan
b) To prevent your army form rebelling
Crossbow Militia form Agder towards Skara.
You shouldn’t be expecting any visitors there at this point, so there’s no need of heavy defenses.
Turn 2
You’re in debt. Simple as that.
You shouldn’t read much into it, just keep moving.
Army under command of Prince Magnus with the Spy sets sail for Scandinavia.
I left three units of Swordsmen behind in hope to hold on Wick as long as possible (yeah, right). Keep in mind that Scottish fleet will pursue you, so move quick and chose the shortest way to Skara shores.
Diplomat and Merchant travel (via sea, of course) towards Edinburgh.
You’ll need to secure a ceasefire and trade rights sooner than you wish.
Lay siege to Skara.
Your Diplomat and Crossbow Militia keep moving.
Don’t forget to move those newly recruited soldiers in Oslo.
Turn 3
Welcome the Scottish army in Wick.
Obtain trade rights from Denmark.
They won’t pay you, don’t even try.
Assemble all troops around Skara and attack.
Sack the crap out of it.
Your Diplomat lands near Edinbourgh.
Don not try to talk to the Scots, they just won’t listen, no matter what your proposal is.
Merchant sails to Flanders.
Textile is one of the best resources you can lay your hands on now.
And of course, don’t forget to keep bringing Magnus back home.
Turn 4
You lost Wick.
I almost got away with it, but my Captain was killed and it was over.
Magnus, finally, arrives.
From now on, his destination is Kalmar.
Ceasefire with Scotland.
Here’s the trick: they don’t have enough money to give in one payment, so your line is: Ceasefire, Trade Rights and Map Information for 1,250 florins for 2 turns. You’re welcome.
Retrain your Raiders in Oslo.
Crossbow Militia enters Skara. The rest of your troops there marches towards Stockholm.
Catapult, as usually, alone.
Diplomat passes by Kalmar.
He is your spy as well.
Turn 5
Besieging Stockholm is a good idea at this point.
Build as many rams as you can in one turn.
Send your retrained units from Oslo to join with Magnus.
He, of course, doesn’t stop to wait for them.
Move the fleet that brought your Scottish army to Kalmar.
You’ll need them there.
You Merchant is finally sending you money from Flanders.
Send ships that got him there to Ireland.
Diplomat approaches outskirts of Dublin.
If you have money, train Spear Militia in Agder.
Upkeep is free and it will keep your public order there.
Turn 6
Trade rights with England, move to meet the Irish in Donegal.
I did not succeed to sign an alliance treaty with the English at this stage. Never.
Retrain in Castle Town.
Start with the Spear Militia.
Assault on Stockholm.
I don’t need to remind you to sack it, do I? Oh, build Market there.
Send as many troops as you can to Kalmar.
Recruit Priest in Oslo.
It’s time to convert those pagans.
Turn 7
If the Danes are already laid siege to Kalmar, just wait.
They weren’t be able to take it all those six times I so them there.
Trade rights with Ireland.
Your Merchant’s goal now is to get to Europe.
Bring the fleet to Dublin to make it possible.
Your other admiral approaches the East coast of Scandinavia.
That will keep Teutonic Order away from Kalmar.
Turn 8
If you didn’t adopt anyone beforehand, it’s time to. King leaves Oslo and marches towards Skara.
Recruit Town Militia in Stockholm.
It’s free of upkeep and frees your regular army from patrolling the streets.
Turn 9
Besiege Kalmar.
This is the turning point of your early campaign, so take it right away. Its garrison is exhausted of fighting Denmark. And you know what to do – sack it.
Diplomat meets the Welsh.
As usual, obtain Trade Rights.
King continues his march to Kalmar.
All troops from Oslo (except for the general) move southwards.
Turn 10
Take Visby.
I had it as a mission, so hitting two birds wit hone stone is a bonus.
By the turn 15, I conquered all of Scandinavia (Danes attacked Skara with almost a full stack, but after a ceasefire that costs them 7,500 florins, they boarded one of their fleets. You’ll see them soon enough, don’t worry).
I was, also, able to fight off all the attacks on Castle Town. One thing here: recruit one Diplomat in Agder and send him to constantly (thanks to their raids) negotiate with Wales and Ireland. You can get money out of it too.
Battlefield Strategies
At this point, you have to fight the absolutely similar to yours army. You won’t be able to match the quantity, so the only way is to beat them is quality (which isn’t the case with Lund) and speed.
I barely (only if I have no choice) use Norse Swordsmen in open battles, because they run very fast and very early. Padded Leather upgraded Raiders are a far better choice, in my biased, I confess, opinion.
Train Huscarls, as many as you can. Combined with your Plate Armor upgraded King and Prince, they are a very mobile and powerful force to reckon with.
And preserve those four units of Norse Archers.
One last thing.
When you besiege Lund, it has a strong garrison script. Wait until the other field army comes back to its aid and fight a defensive battle. It won’t be easy, but perfectly doable.
Good luck
Teutonic Order
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Overall Early Strategy:.
For the first 10 turns you have one and only goal – Palanga. Possession of that castle will give you strategical advantage over Lithuanians right away. They will have to bring their castle-recruited units from as far as Minsk. Which in its turn will give you time to defend your territory more efficiently AND slowly begin your expansion.
Important notes:
1. Do not try to sail to Visby and take the island. Denmark and Norway will arrive soon and you don’t want to get caught in the middle of a fight. Also, you won’t be able to hold the town – you can’t spare many of your soldiers and Lithuanians are very angry with you. So, don’t be an easy prey for the vultures like Denmark and, if you don’t play it right, Poland.
2. Preserve your small fleet that you get at the beginning at all costs. Lithuanians will have two/three-ship fleets cruising the Baltic sea or blockading your port. If it’s only one of them, you’ll have to gamble and protect your sea trade. Make sure that you end the turn in the port though. And retrain the crews. You’ll need it sooner than you’d think.
3. Your main advantage is your Order Spearmen. They worth their weight in gold.
Do not recruit useless units like Clergymen. And no Teutonic Knights - they’re just too expensive.
Turn 1
I’m an armor upgrade proponent, so start building Blacksmiths in both, Konigsberg and Malbork (Marienburg).
Some may argue that stables would be a better choice. I say that whatever cavalry you have will suffice for now, while you need your Prussian Archers to have protection.
Recruit Merchant and Diplomat in Konigsberg.
You need every penny you can lay your hands on. So, trade rights is the only way early on.
Recruit Order Spearmen, Prussian Archers and a Priest (I’ll explain why in a second) in Marienburg.
Combine you fleet in the port.
Your sea war is defensive at this stage.
Send your diplomat towards Poznan, Cardinal should stand on the crossroads on your South-Eastern border with Lithuania. Spy goes to the North-Western corner of your territories.
You won’t be able to spare your money for buildings like Brothel anytime soon. Thus your priests, additionally to converting the Pagans, will act as your spies.
Send your Christ Knights and Prussian Archers to Konigsberg.
The only units that will remain in the castle are your Hochmeister, 2 Clergymen and those 2 upgraded Order Spearmen. All the rest - to war. You’re here to conquer and convert those bloody pagans. So, do it.
Turn 2
Obtain trade Right from Poland.
“Trade Rights and Map Information for 500 florins” – that’s your proposal to Poland. They’ll counter it with just Map information from you for (numbers vary, but most of the time it’s 790-840 florins). Accept and move towards Magdeburg, i.e. West. Btw, don’t think that you’ll get any money from other factions for trade rights OR map information. Thaaat’s right.
Recruit Sword Brethren and Order Militia in Konigsberg.
Knechten in Marienburg.
Send your newly recruited Order Spearmen (remember, upgraded units stay in the castle) and Prussian Archers to Konigsberg.
Priest marches to spy, sorry convert the pagans, in Palanga.
New Diplomat sets for Rome, Merchant for small Slaves resource near Minsk – it’s the best you can do right now.
Turn 3
“Alliance, Trade Rights and Map Information” to HRE.
They’ll accept. Which is good, because it’s quite hard to ally anyone early in the game. Then move North-West to Lubeck.
Keep moving your agent and assembling an army in Konigsberg.
Recruit another Diplomat.
By this time, several Lithuanian Diplomats arrive. If they catch one of yours, “Despicable Treachery” takes place.
Turn 4
Recruit Order Spearmen, Prussian Archers and Knechten in Marienburg.
You may get a couple of additional units for obtaining trade rights with someone. All of them are moving to Konigsberg.
Where you, of course, are recruiting more of Sword Brethren and Order Militia.
You Priest is finally near Palanga.
Your real spy moves to the Eastern bridge.
No more surprises from the Lithuanians anymore.
Your third Diplomat moves to sign a trade agreement with Russians.
All the rest of your Diplomats are moving too. One of them, only after trade right with the Danes though.
Turn 5
This is the time you start to catch Lithuanian and Polish agents.
Pay no attention to them. Just as you won’t pay attention to the small Polish armies traveling or ambushing on your territory. You have to keep the peace with them at all costs, so pretend to be blind.
Build Stables in Marienburg and Communal Farming in Konigsberg.
Upgrade anyone you can.
Peasant Archers are supposed to be the last ones. They also, shouldn’t participate in any action. They’ll have another task soon.
Keep moving your agents and place the Merchant on the aforementioned Slaves resource.
Obtain trade rights in Russia and move your Diplomat to meet the Mongols and, after them, through Steppe and Caucasus to the Middle East.
Turn 6
You do not forget to recruit every Order Spearman, Prussian Archer, Sword Brother and Order Militiaman right?
Up until now, you might have a couple of skirmish battles with Lithuania. The real fun begins the very next turn.
Turn 7
By now, you have no room in Konigsberg for your army anymore. It’s time to strike.
Assemble an army of Christ Knights, all Knechten, Order Spearmen, Order Militia and Prussian Archers from Konigsberg and march to Palanga.
Keep Sword Brethren and Peasant Archers in the city. It makes me sleep better, because they’ll be enough to defend it if some half-stack army arrives in Konigsberg. And I find Militiamen perfectly fit for doing their main work - cut Estonian Rebels to pieces. There are several small bands near the castle. They are your target. Attack them once and they’ll retreat closer to Palanga – that’s what you need. You need them close to but not inside the castle.
Turns 8 and 9
I combined these two, because it’s absolutely up to you how you’re going to take Palanga. You can defeat small bands that already come to the rescue and lay siege on their remnants in the castle. Or you can lure the castle garrison out and defeat several armies in one battle. But whatever you do, try to attack from the sea side. Somehow you get a small high-ground advantage in those dunes.
Turn 10
Palanga is yours.
It’s time to regroup and retrain. And if you were lucky enough, after the great battle for the castle, you were able to adopt a great captain.
If you don’t get Pope’s mission to build a small church there, build a Range for Prussian Archers.
This way, the only units you’ll need to send back to Marienburg are Christ Knights.
Very soon you’ll be ready to take a city that is ripe for conquest – Arensburg. That’s what you kept your Fleet and Peasant Archers for. And that’s why your Militiamen were the bulk of your army – to bring them closer and gain experience.
Which brings us to the Battlefield Strategy.
Early on, my most successful strategy is to uncheck the skirmish mode of my Prussians and put them in front. Lithuanians outrange them, so you want to get to the melee as soon as possible. But keep your missiles out of it until you have to commit them. And trust me, you’ll have to commit them. For one big reason – Lithuanian morale is way higher than yours. Well, except for your Spearmen. So, keep in mind that your army will rout sooner than theirs ..unless you outflank them with your Knechten. Do not underestimate those, they’re very versatile light cavalry. If you have to face an army with skirmish cavalry, you’ll have to sustain some damage with your archers while harassing them and only then send Knechten to finish the job.
Militia composes my center. It’s efficient to hold enough time, while my spearmen are dealing with Bajoria and move to crush the rest after that. At the times it won’t be enough, especially if Followers of Perkunas show up to have some fun. That’s when you throw the Archers and Knechten into melee.
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Originally Posted by Dave Scarface
