Medieval 2: Total War Heaven

Ireland: Gameplay Information

Ireland of the middle ages was a damp dreary country dominated by bogs & huge forests. It was not particularly suited to campaigns by large armies and much of the trade was carried out by sea or rivers. This, along with the fractured nature of Irish clans, made guerilla warfare an obvious tactic for Irish forces at the time. Irish infantry is not suited to standing & fighting. Use Deisi Javelinmen to shower the enemy with deadly javelins. Gallogliach are excellent shock troops but using them to hold a line is a waste of their capabilities. Muire are possibly the most solid infantry available to Ireland but they only have half the manpower when compared to standard dismounted knights. Cliathairi & Ceitherne are best suited to garrisoning towns. Ostmen could possibly be used to hold a line but don't expect them to last long. Ulster Swordsmen are easily recruited but Gallogliach are better. The only archers available are the average Gaelic Archers. They are adequate enough for peppering the enemy with arrows. The Calivermen are considerably harder hitting but their rate of fire is slow and they are vunerable in melee. Irish cavalry starts off weak enough but an army of Horseboys is both powerful and very cheap. Later, you gain access to Lord's Retinue which are powerful melee cavalry able to match the best of other factions but the real icing on the cake are the Mounted Calivermen. These mounted gunners can destroy even armoured units and stay out of melee. The later cavalry units are expensive but very powerful and it is these that make Ireland a force to be reckoned with in both campaign games as well as online.

Table of Contents

• Campaign Overview
• Recruitable Units
• Constructable Buildings
• Back to Faction Information Page

Campaign Overview

In a slightly ironic twist, Ireland has a similar start to the English faction in the vanilla campaign: secure the island by removing one other faction before expanding further. The English forces are quite scattered & weak and can be taken without difficulty. Dublin has a tendency to rebel so that leaves only Athenry, Derry & the castle of Trim requiring capture. Then you are faced with a number of choices. An easy option is to cross the North Channel to begin annexing the lands of your fellow celts, the Scots as well as the Norse provinces of the isles. By landing in Cornwall, you allow yourself a strategically safe advance into the south of England and combined with an assault on Wales, it is possible to gobble up the entire south of Great Britain in a matter of only a few years.

Because culture plays a strong role in the game and is vital in maintaining public order, it will be necessary to exterminate a large number of the settlements you capture. Also, you will need to consider moving your capital east because the Scottish isles & further English territories become very difficult to hold otherwise.

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Recruitable Units

The following table contains all of the units that Ireland can recruit in Multiplayer and Custom Battles. For the Campaign, use the "All" period with the following corrections:

• Units in (Brackets) are mercenaries and therefore cannot be trained in campaign, although any general can recruit them in the field if he has space in his army and there are some available.
• Units in [Square Brackets] cannot be recruited in campaign, they are for Multiplayer and Custom Battles only.
• Units in Italics can only be recruited in certain regions (eg. The New World) or after a certain event (eg. The discovery of gunpowder).

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Constructable Buildings

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