Camels are strange things. On the battlefield they trot around looking so
careless making very peculiar sounds. They are slow for mounted units and they
look plain ridiculous when they run. In the desert they manage to look vaguely
respectable but in lush grass or temperate climates they stick out like a sore
thumb and look very unhappy. So what, apart from cheap laughs, can you get from
camels? Dead horses, very large piles of dead horses at little cost in florins
or lives that’s what. After polearms camels are the number one horse killers
and they really help the Muslim factions deal with all those fancy and very
deadly knights.
Camels stink; their strange odour scares horses making it easy for the camel
riders to kill their opponents. In more game oriented terms camels get a +2
bonus to attack and all horsemen are at a –4 penalty to their own attack stats
when trying to kill a camel. In the desert the camels will get a bonus for the
terrain type to the tune of +1 to attack, camels also fatigue slowly in the
desert unlike all horse mounted units with an armour stats above 5 (cumulative,
it includes armour bonuses from armourers etc in the calculations) so they often
face tired horsemen. All this adds up to a bunch of dead horses. When facing the
more advanced and powerful types of cavalry like chivalric knights you should
try to mob them with a couple of units of Bedouin camel warriors or absorb their
charge with spears and flank with your camels. The reason lies in the stats –
even with all their bonuses camels are a bit weak in a punch up brawl when
compared to the awesome power and defence of the advanced cavalry. If you take
on a unit of chivalric knights one on one with camels you will lose, however if
you outnumber them 2-1 there is going to be a sudden demand for new warhorses
back in the enemy homelands.
Camels should never leave the desert as they lose the +1 attack for terrain and
get a –1 attack instead. They also lose the fatigue advantage. So while they
still have some advantages they lose a lot of their sparkle and you are better
off using polearms or something else.
Because they are mounted troops camels will receive the same bonuses as horsemen
when attacking infantry. This is not exactly advisable though; both camel units
have horrible melee stats when not facing horses. You can make use of the
Bedouin’s good charge from time to time but you cannot copy the knightly
tactic of charging into the rear of a vulnerable unit, pulling back and charging
again. Camels are too slow to pull back reliably and they are too vulnerable to
safely leave the fight, knights are protected by their heavy armour as they turn
and pull back but camels have very little armour and turning their back on the
foe kills them.
Camels present a large (and strangely shaped) target for missiles so try to keep
them away from anything with missiles. In addition to being a big target camels
are never armoured so they are very vulnerable to any kind of missile.
Camel units are best at: killing horses, raising a laugh in dull moments between
fights.
M24
Image M24: Camels fulfilling their one purpose – killing horses. One unit of camels has engaged the knights from the front; the second unit has quickly (well, as quickly as camels can) flanked the knights and charged into their rear. The knights are being cut to ribbons. If this was a fair fight with one unit of camels and one of knights then the camels might lose the battle after inflicting significant casualties. Because there are two units of camels the knights don’t stand a chance. With camels numbers really do count.
Bedouin camel warriors
Charge 6 Attack 2 Defence 0 Armour 2 Speed 9, 14, 16 Morale 0 Cost 125 Support
cost 40
Dismount: Anytime for Muslim peasants.
Bedouin camel warriors have a shield and a lance. This is the main unit of
camels so just use it as described above.
Berber camels
Charge 2 Attack 0 Defence 0 Armour 2 Speed 9, 14, 16 Morale 0 Cost 300 Support
cost 30
Dismount: Anytime for desert archers.
Berber camels have a shield and a bow. Honestly I can’t really see much of a
point to this unit as they are too slow to act as missile cavalry and the
Bedouin camels do a much better job in a melee. Redundant.