The Russian Rampage

By Alman155.

This guide is here to tell people about the constantly overlooked armies of Russia. In fact, Russia has one of the best armies of the game. This strategy is for 20,000 florin game during the late period. This army selection I have created has won me a large amount of battles I have played with it except for one notable ocassion. On that occasion I played against a very cheap player who had an all elephant army. Otherwise this is a very good strategy, but you may not want to use it against the Timurids.

This strategy is very flexible as you may take away one unit here and put in something different in its place to see if it works better to your style. Anyway, your unit roster should be something like this:

  • One Late Period Gen Bodyguard
  • 3 Tsar’s Guards
  • 4 Dvor Cavalry
  • 4 Cossack Musketeers
  • 4 Dismounted Dvor
  • 2 Berdiche Axmen
  • 2 Basilisk
A view of the troops.

First I place my 4 units of Cossack musketeers in a front line with one unit of Berdiche Axmen on each side. Then I take my four units of Dismounted Dvor and place them directly behind my musketeers. I disable the skirmish mode on my Dismounted Dvor so that they stay and fight in the event of a full frontal assault by the enemy, since they are dependable infantry if need be. Behind the main infantry line a place my cannons and my Tsar’s Guards cavalry. The cavalry is there to respond quickly to any area that is breached by enemy infantry. I place my general’s bodyguard behind the cavalry. Now this is where u can mix it up. You can either put all your Dvor missile cavalry on one flank which is good for people not used to using missile cavalry, or u can put two on each flank and attack that way. An example of this is above where the squares represent the Cossack musketeers and the dismounted dvor. The diamonds are my cannons, the octagons are my tsar’s guard cavalry, and my plaque shape thing is my generals bodyguard. Finally, the ovals are my dvor cavalry, but they can be rearranged to fit your fighting style.

A view of the formation.

To start the key to this strategy is not to move your main line. If the enemy is out of range wait for them to come they will in time. Now you should probably aim you cannons towards the enemy’s artillery. If the enemy doesn’t have any then aim it at the enemy’s cavalry, this brings us to the key part of this strategy, destroying the enemy’s cavalry force. Bring two dvor cavalry to use their arrows on the enemy’s archers as they can be a nuisance later on. The other two should be harassing the enemy’s cavalry. Don’t be afraid if your missile cavalry take some loses or if they engage in hand to hand combat as they are more then capable of handling themselves. With the constant horse archer harassment and cannon fire your enemy begins to get annoyed and therefore becomes reckless. Most likely they will try to send their remaining cavalry at your musketeers underestimating their combat skill and the fact that dismounted dvor can own some infantry. When they send there cavalry they usually go strait on in a desperate attempt to kill your cannons. This is the time when you take your berdiche axmen from the flanks and hit them from the back. Their cavalry is dead. Now, run your berdiche back to their original positions as most likely the enemy infantry is on its way. Your horse archers should still be harassing the enemy infantry and by the time they reach your missile/infantry line their forces should be depleted significantly. Your line should hold, but in the event that it doesn’t this brings the time to bring out your big guns, Tsar’s Guards. These cavalry units are amazing; with 14 attack and 18 defense without upgrades they can take down most if not all enemy cavalry. Charge one at the breach in your line and the unit should panic and rout and so should the rest of their army. If they don’t simply take your cavalry around your flanks and hit them from the back, you most likely have now won. If no simply take your cavalry and chase down the routers. Remember your general unit is near the main line so that if one of the units routs he can rally them. Those factions most likely to defeat this strategy are the Timurids, Mongols, and England. This is because Timurids have elephants, Mongols may have a superior cavalry and cavalry archer force, and England has powerful archers that may destroy your horse archers which is a key part to the strategy.

Thanks for reading this article and hope you find it useful.