Best Way to Kill the Golden Horde ?

[Pyres Δt Varanasi]

Hello Guys i started a campaign with the Khwarazmian Empire and i getting crushed by the Mongols their armies are infinite and they keep spanning super generals from central asia which i cant kill with my assassins .

What can i do to stop them and turn the tide of the war ?

[yxele]

I have played several late era campaigns as the Kwarezmians on vh/vh and it's very hard to fend off the mongols, although it can be done.


I seldom fight open field battles against the mongols. I tend to try to defend some strongholds. Key cities are Alamut (build ballista towers), Kermanshah and if possible Shiraz. Also take and hold Ahvaz and Baghad (build ballista towers), and also take Basra, Sharjah and the other city on the east coast of the Arabian peninsula - they will provide valuable income. You can also make a stand i Damghan to kill some mongol staks, but it will eventually fall.


When defending a city I usually go for spearmen that can do schiltrom formation at the gate, and javelins behind them to hit their cavalry once the enter the gate, and infantry and archers on the walls, plus some Kwarezmian noblemen to charge at their siege machines. A mangonel or two and a trebuchet also come in handy.


Most of your other cities are doomed, and I only keep one unit in them. When the mongols lay siege on them, I sell all my city improvements for cash.


The mongols tend to use a lot of assassins, so have some in hand to counter them and to hit at their generals.


Call a jihad an one of the mongol cities. This will bring in other muslim troops to aid you in your fight.

[Pyres Δt Varanasi]

Ok , Ty alot.

[Hypomanic Crusader]

Im in the process of a Khwaz campaign right now and its going all right - see post your empires. Assassins are a need to have like the above said. Even if its 10% chance of killing a gen just go for it. I've already killed two mongol gens with only 10% chances. Horse archers are good against Mongols. If you notice any stacks that are predominately infantry and hv cavalry you can win a fight against them in the open with a half stack of horse archers as their infantry and armoured horses are soooo slow. When in an open fight have about 5 sets of saracen / turkish / persian mix of archers as theses destroy mongol horse archers and all the fights I've done in the open these men are the last to survive and clinch the fight in the end. Also shove in 2/3 siege weapons infront of the main force to break up mongol cav charges and see if you can get an odd pot shot at the enemy leader. Before combat happens you should be able to wipe out between 20-30% of the enemy before swords are drawn just from archer /siege fire.

I disagree about keeping it solely to siege assaults though. Having even one useful settlement besieged is a strain on getting useful troops to the front and given the territory the Khwaz's have its tough enough. Block up what mountain passageways with forts. Has been useful as you can keep all your men in the centre so as not to run and have archers to take advantage of the enclosed building terrain.

[Ichon]

There are many different strategies to use against Mongols... as Kwarezmians I build forts filled with cheapest units on several areas to slow them down while expanding west as quickly as possible. You should be easily able to expand past Baghdad before the main Mongol push arrives fill up the eastern cities with cheap units and just inflict as many casualties as possible. Usually hold at gate with 1/3 and in the square with 2/3.

Take the veterans from the western expansion and go up to Baku and across the Caspian after Mongols have penetrated a bit.

Spies are important- not only to watch Mongols but also put with all your field armies and in most of your cities to protect from assassins.

[Captain W. Handberg]

This page can be used as a General page for discussing tactics to defeat the Mongols.

[Vakko]

I'll post my suggestion since this is a FAQ especially for new people playing this game and it should be a 1st page thread at all times.

With catholic factions i setup on top of a hill if it is an open field battle and I don't come to play unless i have tons of archers to take down their horse archers.

DONT charge with heavy cavalry in the beginning. You will take heavy losses since 3/4 of a stack are archers. You will get kited if you chase light cavalry with slow heavy cavalry.

Once u take down the mobile archers the rest of the battle becomes SLIGHTLY easier. Use regular tactics to take down heavy infantry + foot archers.

However, their heavy infantry - Targhuts or whatever they're called have bonus dmg against armor. So don't assume you can just charge melee vs melee and think u can steamroll them. You WILL take losses when you engage them. Their archers have the best "quality" in the game. Highest dmg and accuracy. ---> This is the time to use your heavy cavalry.

I know alot of people that don't play online aren't accustomed to a well-organized full force charge but you have to charge hard and with full force. It's not a good strategy to just sit back and try to pick off every guy against the one of the best archery based factions.

Rinse and repeat a 1000 times and mend those wounds! Hope this helps!

[King of the Ring]

defend at passes with forts if possible ( i think there are 2 passing point down the mountains )

[Vakko]

defend at passes with forts if possible ( i think there are 2 passing point down the mountains )

Yup.. This is essential so u minimize multiple stacks attacking a settlement. I usually have a backup fort built with one unit so the fort doesn't disappear.

Bridge fights are great when you have artillery and long range archers but be careful that there's a small opening by rivers so the Mongols will take that route if there is nothing blocking it.

To see where the openings are just click on a unit/general and see where u can/can't go.

At the worst, it will be one stack that u can pick off. MINIMIZE STACKS!

[Highlander of Scotland]

use stakes at a bridge or gate...........
need I say more

[certoipus]

(...)

[certoipus]

Long time ago I played as Kwarezm. Early era.
Mongols crushed me.
Next time I've done like this (because I think "kicking with horse" is stupid):
Since 1150 expand north-west, through Ukraine to Novogrod. When Mongols come, I loose half of my kingdom, but still alive north-west. Than make peace with Mongols (1260), they focus on south-west (Bizantium, Egypt). When they spill lots of blood, you can start your Muslim reconquista or wait for Timurids, to do this

[Korsan82]

You can always use ab exploit:

The Mongols alwas break down the castle gate and as soon as it is broken their MOUNTED units swarm into this little bottle neck.
Now all you need is a stack of 1 archer unit that can deploy stakes. Deploy them right at the gate and watch the slaughter.
Using 2 or 3 stacks of stake archers of course help you more.

The AI brutally fails to recognise the danger and he storms in and dies. All that's left is some stacks of foot soldiers which are weak.

As Mongols are really strong and might break your game you might want to use this though it is a tactic very very close to cheating.

[Vakko]

You can always use ab exploit:

The Mongols alwas break down the castle gate and as soon as it is broken their MOUNTED units swarm into this little bottle neck.
Now all you need is a stack of 1 archer unit that can deploy stakes. Deploy them right at the gate and watch the slaughter.
Using 2 or 3 stacks of stake archers of course help you more.

The AI brutally fails to recognise the danger and he storms in and dies. All that's left is some stacks of foot soldiers which are weak.

As Mongols are really strong and might break your game you might want to use this though it is a tactic very very close to cheating.

Since the TW culture deems stakes at the front gate as "Cheating", you can setup two squads in schiltrom and an elite dmg unit and theyll chop down any light cavalry. Your general/cavalry will chop down any units that get through. I love it when they come through the front gate ..levels up my units!

Micromanaging archers on the wall are very essential as well. You have to maximize optimal trajectories. Auto-firing at units already in the front gate is useless and damages your own units if anything.

[Andytheplatypus]

If you like to play the game just to kill a lot of units and dont care about tactics or realism go for it. Gets old after a while.