2.10 Heavy cavalry

Heavy cavalry are the lesser brothers of the knights. While the knights may be more powerful on the charge and have higher morale, heavy cavalry are not automatically worse. Heavy cavalry are easier to control because they are not impetuous or in possession of the knightly arrogance that can lead to disaster. Some units of heavy cavalry are disciplined which gives them another advantage over the unruly knights. Heavy cavalry are armed with a wide variety of weapons, unlike the knights who, barring a handful of exceptions, have lances. This gives them a wider range of roles than the rather one trick knight. Some heavy cavalry use axes and maces and this allows them to pierce armour, making them deadly when used against knights and other heavily armoured targets.

Heavy cavalry can defeat knights if you keep your head and use tactics. Charge the knights from the rear or flank after pinning them with another unit. Where possible target tired knights with fresh heavy cavalry as this makes your job easier. In many ways heavy cavalry is your best bet for taking out knights with mounted units if you do not have camels. However you should try to use spears or polearms to take out knights and save your heavy cavalry for what they are best at – pounding vulnerable infantry.

Like knights, heavy cavalry are the bane of sword and ranged units, also like they are vulnerable to spears, pikes and polearms. In many ways it is easiest to treat heavy cavalry as more fragile knights – the same tactics are relevant and the pitfalls you should avoid are identical. Just remember that their morale is often lower, that they are not always as tough in a fight, and that their charge is not as devastating and you will do fine.

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Armenian heavy cavalry
Charge 8 Attack 3 Defence 3 Armour 4 Speed 9, 20, 22 Morale 4 Cost 300 Support cost 60

Dismount: In a siege for feudal sergeants.

Armenian heavy cavalry is elite and has a large round shield. The horse is barded. While their charge is devastating their combat abilities are a little underwhelming, therefore you should charge and keep pulling back and charging again until the enemy break. This unit should not be left in a melee for very long as it just wastes its potential. Always try to flank with this unit.

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Gendarmes
Charge 4 Attack 3 Defence 5 Armour 7 Speed 9, 20, 22 Morale 4 Cost 375 Support cost 70

Dismount: Anytime for chivalric men at arms.

Gendarmes are elite and have a large shield; the horse is barded for added protection. Gendarmes use swords; this lowers their charge power but makes them reasonable in a melee. More importantly they are heavily armoured and blessed with a high defence. This enables them to sit in a melee and fight it out better than many other cavalry types. The shield only has a 0.5 modifer.

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Early Ghulam bodyguards
Charge 8 Attack 3 Defence 4 Armour 4 Speed 9, 20, 22 Morale 6 Cost 300 Support cost 62

Dismount: In a siege for Saracen infantry.

Early Ghulam bodyguards are elite and have a large shield. The horse is completely unarmoured and therefore rather more vulnerable than you may like. Ghulam bodyguards are the Muslim answer to royal knights. They are the unit your king and his heirs serve in and the numbers are made up with well-equipped and well-trained men. There are just 20 men in each unit, 21 if the unit belongs to a king or heir. This small number makes them vulnerable to being swamped in a fight and cut to pieces despite their skills, this means you should always be careful and keep them away from situations where they may become heavily outnumbered. Ghulam bodyguards are not as good as their western counterparts as they are statistically weaker. Since they are not knights your Ghulam bodyguards are more controllable so it is less likely your important royal will charge into the fray without orders and die before you can extract him to a safe location. For best results use this unit for surgical strikes, attacking carefully chosen targets from an advantageous position.

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High Ghulam bodyguards.
Charge 8 Attack 3 Defence 5 Armour 5 Speed 9, 20, 22 Morale 6 Cost 350 Support cost 62

Dismount: In a siege for Saracen infantry.

High Ghulam bodyguards are elite and have a shield. The horse is unarmoured. This unit is a slight upgrade of the early Ghulam bodyguards and should be used in the same way.

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Late Ghulam bodyguards.
Charge 8 Attack 3 Defence 7 Armour 7 Speed 9, 20, 22 Morale 6 Cost 425 Support cost 62

Dismount: In a siege for Saracen infantry.

Late Ghulam bodyguards are elite and disciplined. The horse is once again unarmoured. Despite the lack of a shield and slightly improved stats this upgrade of the early Ghulam bodyguards should be used in the same way.

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Ghulam cavalry
Charge 6 Attack 3 Defence 3 Armour 4 Speed 9, 20, 22 Morale 4 Cost 275 Support cost 70

Dismount: In a siege for Saracen infantry.

Ghulam cavalry are elite and have a shield. The horse is unarmoured. Ghulam cavalry are a bit lacking in the stat department for heavy cavalry; while their charge is effective the rest of their stats are a little too low for them to function as traditional heavy cavalry. For best effects you need to add in a pinch of light cavalry tactics when using this unit – only ever attack engaged and vulnerable units. Only attack from the flanks or rear. Always make sure you can support your Ghulam cavalry and don’t let them fight alone.

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Golden horde heavy cavalry
Charge 6 Attack 3 Defence 6 Armour 7 Speed 9, 20, 22 Morale 6 Cost 525 Support cost 50

Dismount: Anytime for Golden Horde warriors.

Golden horde heavy cavalry is elite, disciplined and have a large shield. The horse is fully armoured. This cavalry is excellently protected and it takes a lot to kill them unless they are attacked by armour piercing units. This unit can charge into the fray and hold out in the subsequent melee better than many other heavy cavalry units. Their best use is still charging into vulnerable infantry though.

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Kataphraktoi
Charge 8 Attack 3 Defence 5 Armour 7 Speed 9, 12, 16 Morale 4 Cost 375 Support cost 105

Dismount: In a siege for Byzantine infantry.

Kataphraktoi are elite and disciplined, the horse is fully armoured. Two things are obvious when looking at this unit, firstly it is a tank (Kataphraktoi are sometimes referred to as katatanks! ) and secondly it is slow. Kataphraktoi are faster than infantry but for cavalry they are snail like. Therefore you are best off treating them as speedy infantry and slamming them into the enemy rather than trying to pull off fancy manoeuvres. Let them charge into something and slug it out; as long as you keep them supported they will win through.

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Khwarazmian cavalry
Charge 6 Attack3 Defence 5 Armour 7 Speed 9, 20, 22 Morale 4 Cost 375 Support cost 70

Dismount: In a siege for Saracen infantry.

Khwarazmian cavalry is elite and the horse is fully armoured. A rose by any other name may smell as sweet (that is Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet for the philistines out there! ) but a Kataphraktoi by another name is not so sweet! Khwarazmian cavalry are Kataphraktoi with a weaker charge and normal speed. Wearing this much armour in the desert will barbeque anyone, this unit is just begging for foreign service as the factions capable of building this unit all start with hot provinces. Send them abroad or use them sparingly.

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Lancers
Charge 8 Attack 5 Defence 7 Armour 9 Speed 9, 20, 22 Morale 8 Cost 850 Support cost 85

Dismount: In a siege for chivalric foot knights.

Lancers are elite and uncontrollable. The horse is so covered in armour it clanks as it moves! When speaking of lancers it is hard to know where to begin. They have the same stats as late royal bodyguards but there are 53 men per unit rather than 20. This makes them the best heavy cavalry in the game and quite possibly the only unit of heavy cavalry capable of beating knights at their own game. Lancers will crush most infantry with their charge (as long as they don’t have spears or pikes) and they are more than equipped to fight in a melee if they don’t break their target. Their morale is so high they can lose over ¾ of the unit and keep going. Like knights they are impetuous and prone to charging without orders, this is perhaps their only flaw. People play as the Turks solely to use Janissary heavy infantry; people also play as the Spanish and Aragonese solely for lancers.

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Mamluk cavalry
Charge 4 Attack 2 Defence 3 Armour 4 Speed 9, 20, 22 Morale 4 Cost 275 Support cost 70

Dismount: In a siege for Saracen infantry.

Mamluk cavalry is elite and armour piercing; they also have a small shield. The horse is unarmoured. At first glance Mamluk cavalry seem unimpressive, that is until you spot the armour-piercing bonus. Mamluk’s are equipped with an axe and this allows them to make a good job of killing armoured units. Your best bet is pinning an armoured unit with another unit and charging your Mamluks in from the rear to cut them up. With the aid of some simple spears Mamluk cavalry can and will destroy fancy units of knights and other heavy cavalry in this way. Mamluks don’t handle unarmoured targets very impressively, there are often many better units to send after the lightly armed targets.  

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Ottoman Sipahi
Charge 4 Attack 2 Defence 3 Armour 4 Speed 9, 20, 22 Morale 2 Cost 200 Support cost 65

Dismount: In a siege for Turcoman foot.

Ottoman Sipahi have a small shield. The horse is completely unarmoured. Ottoman sipahi are equipped with swords, this is why their charge is so low. This unit is rather weak for heavy cavalry but they can still get the job done. Just make sure you attack from a flank or something.

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Pronoiai Allagion
Charge 6 Attack 4 Defence 3 Armour 5 Speed 9, 20, 22 Morale 8 Cost 425 Support cost 125

Dismount: In a siege for Byzantine infantry.

Pronoiai Allagion are elite and have a large shield. The horse is barded for partial protection. Pronoiai are the Byzantine version of feudal knights, they share the same high morale and equipment. There are only three differences: The first is in the weapon; while feudal knights have lances the Pronoiai only have spears. The second is that Pronoiai have a single point more armour. The third is that they are not impetuous. You can use this unit in the same way as feudal knights and they will perform well, however they will take a few more losses and do a tiny bit less damage when compared to their knightly cousins.

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Teutonic sergeants
Charge 4 Attack 3 Defence 5 Armour 6 Speed 9, 20, 22 Morale 4 Cost 375 Support cost 40

Dismount: In a siege for Order foot soldiers.

Teutonic sergeants have a shield and a sword. The horse is unprotected. This unit has very good defences and a tolerable charge and attack. For best effects you should charge them into the rear of an engaged unit and let them hack it out in the melee. The shield only has a 0.5 modifier.

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