Cuman problems!

**Crazy Zebra1998** · August 02, 2012, 04:13 AM

I'm playing as Novgorod at the moment and I'm struggling to combat Cuman missile cavalry, I have lost all my Pechenegs and to get more I have to send an army from Smolensk to Yaroslavl without them getting killed by Cumans. What should I do?

**MikeNice808** · August 02, 2012, 07:07 AM

Send them without getting killed then...

**Navajo Joe** · August 02, 2012, 08:12 AM

crazy zebra,

Well the bad news its going to get worse when Genghis and his friends arrive, so you best get some practise. Now I would approach one of two ways, recruit and hire as much Horse Archers as possible and meet them head on. You could also use your own Light Cavarly, so that when your Horse Archers, distract them, charge your light cavarly and break up their formation. My other tactic is whilst my Horse Archers are trading arrows with theirs, I will advance my Infantry and foot missiles up their line, when you start killing them, it will drag their horse archers back in, usually the AI cannot help its self but get involved, which ends in their defeat.

**Maltacus** · August 02, 2012, 11:13 AM

I often find that it's easiest to counter with foot archers and some infantry. Long, thin lines of tartar spearmen and foot archers works well against the Mongols in my Cuman (

) campaign and it will be the same for the Rus against the Cumans.

Cuman cavalry is notoriously lightly armoured so if you can just negate their advantage in range cheap foot archers an do massive damage. Stick to the woods and hide your army if attacked, until the enemy has come close enough for your archer to fire. There aren't many hills in nortwestern Russia but sometimes you get lucky of course and can use the heights.

Weak horse archers can often suffer catastrophically against better counterparts, due to low protection and range - they just get shot to pieces before they can get close enought to do much damage. Some companies are good to cover the flanks and surround the foe, driving the enemy horse archers towards your infantry lines.

**MikeNice808** · August 02, 2012, 01:47 PM

I actullay enhanced the Bekh Druzhina in my Kievan campaign so that they would give the Mongols are a hard time. Due to the severe lack of Cuman roster I made the Bekh the best Horse Archers in the game. Of course being Kievan-Rus that strategy backfired and I was actually relieved when the Mongols arrived...lol

**certoipus** · August 03, 2012, 12:23 AM

Dealing Cumans is really hard task. Bekh's are IMHO best early units in the game.
I advise to make alliance with Cumans in the beginning of the game and hold this alliance with all costs!
If you have safe back (east) than, you can conquer the West.

But, if you have to fight them, use foot archers, Novgorod has strong, and foot archers have bigger "fire power" then horse ones. This are often long, bloody battles, like in IWW

**Vissewalde rex de Gerzika** · August 03, 2012, 03:30 AM

How about making an army of whatever you want and just auto resolving? It dosent factor in that his horse archers can just run away.

**MikeNice808** · August 03, 2012, 02:42 PM

Yeah but thats like a cheap cop out....might as well enable cheat and auto win then...you just got to duke it out with them...the cool thing about pechenegs is that they are cheap so build alot...hit em on all sides...