Kingsdom Description

Medieval 2: Total War
Unit Guide
Version 3.0
Author: Forlornhope aka Trueforlornhope, Forlornhop3
Welcome to my guide for Medieval 2: Total War. This guide covers every unit in M2TW, and
how to use them, tactics for using each class of unit and how to defeat them. This is one of
the first versions of this guide and will probably have quite a few errors. This guide will
eventually encompass the entire M2TW series including all expansions. Please pm me,
Forlornhope. (with a period) to report errors and give suggestions. All fixes and corrections
will be credited.
Glossary
CA: Creative Assembly, the development team that created the Total War series.
Counter Fire: Fire directed at missile units by a missile unit, as most missile units themselves
have poor armour and are easy prey for missiles.
Flank: The sides of a unit. Charging into the flank is much, much more effective than
charging directly into the front. It is also a verb meaning to flank a unit i.e. going around their
side.
Focus fire: Targeting all missiles at a particular unit, or group of units to weaken them
HA: Horse Archers
Line Infantry: This is a generic term for any infantry than can take and hold the enemy and
fight them in melee, thus forming your battle line. It also means troops youll use to form the
bulk of your army and thus your line. Spearmen and swordsmen are line infantry. Line
infantry are usually well armed and armored as they will be in the middle of the fighting. They
will often take the most casualties as well.
M2TW: Medieval 2: Total War
MTW: Medieval: Total War, the second game in the series. M2TW is a remake of this game.
RTW: Rome: Total War, the previous game in the series
Skirmish: A unit firing missiles and staying out of melee. Skirmish mode, which all missile
units have makes them run back to avoid melee if the enemy gets close. Units with javelins
are usually called skirmishers.
TWC: Total War Centre a cool forum and TW website where I host this guide and Im a
member of.
Differences between RTW and M2TW

Despite the obvious changes in mechanics form Roman times to medieval times, RTW and
M2TW share the same engine, as M2: TWs engine is a heavily modified Rome one. Thus
there are some hangovers from Rome, but there are things that are noticeably different even
if base mechanics are the same.
Battle speed: The most immediately noticeable thing in M2TWs battles is that they are much
slower. Units move much more slowly than RTW and tire faster. Melee is slower and
because units have much higher morale it takes a while for the winner to be decided. There
is allot more blocking in M2TW meaning it takes longer for a solider to kill his enemy and
soldiers stagger and are realistically stunned from hits they failed to block that didnt kill
them, slowing melee down. Cavalry is also a lot slower and their charge is really toned down
this time around
Impetuous trait: Some units in M2TW are impetuous. This means they generally have good
morale and the death of a general doesnt affect their morale as much, only elite or religious
troops have the impetuous trait with a few exceptions. You can rely on these units. The trait
can make them charge without orders however. If you are moving them past a melee, say to
flank, sometimes youll see them just charge into the melee even when you didnt tell them
to. This is caused by the impertutious trait and its most common with elite units like knights.
Disciplined: Some units, usually tough elite ones are disciplined. This means they resist
morale shocks; like the general dying or an attack in the rear, losing less morale when these
events occur and are therefore much more stable units. Disciplined troops will take allot
more to rout than normal ones and are very good units to have.
Death animations: In M2TW a units solider count goes down after the dying man has
finished his death animation. Until then the causality doesnt affect morale. This is different to
Rome where as soon as a man died, before he even hit the ground he was considered dead
with the effects that went with it. This means that units may take a second or two more to
rout or otherwise react to something.
Morale: In M2TW units take much longer to rout. Elite units have very high morale and the
last ten or so men in a unit will sometimes fight to the death. Even weak units like Spear
Militia have good morale and wont rout until half the unit is dead, if they are just in a normal
melee. Even units like Peasant Archers have quite good morale compared to RTW. This is
considered a straight fight however. Situations like being flanked and outnumbered and
especially shot by gunpowder will still greatly affect a units morale, but causalities and losing
a melee affect it much less.
More effective fodder: Because of the raised morale, kills by missiles besides fire or
gunpowder have little effect on morale if the unit isnt in melee. A unit of Spear Militia being
killed by arrows will stand their ground as long as the archers stay back until about 20 guys
are left, meaning the enemy will have used up plenty of arrows. Using cheap units as fodder
is much more effective this time around. This is rendered mostly ineffective by gunpowder
however, as being hit by gunpowder applies a huge morale penalty and that along with some
other small penalty like casualties will be enough to rout the unit.
Less Armor: Compared to RTW there are far more unarmoured or lightly armoured troops,
especially early in the campaign. Plan accordingly.
General unit notes

Combat animations
A large change in m2tw is the use of proper combat animations and the fact that a solider
must hit his enemy with the animation of a sword swing or whatever to actually stagger or kill
him. There are also new animations for units getting hit but not killed, like staggers or
stumbling. While these animations are happening a unit cannot block. This leads to allot of
blocking but the upshot of this is units that are seriously outnumbered will spend allot of time
getting hit and staggered making it harder for them to hit back against the enemies. A unit of
knights getting attacked by twice the number of peasants will have a hard time killing them
quickly as they will be getting hit so often and staggered unless they block a hit. Hits that are
blocked sometimes cause the blocker to counter attack with a swing that often kills the
attacker. While the knights are attacking they also can not block, so while they are busy
hitting somebody, they may be hit and killed themselves. This looks funny sometimes, as
youll see a solider start a death animation then get killed during it and his victim still die.
To take advantage of this you should move your melee units in huge mobs or send in
weaker units along with your stronger ones. If you send in say peasants and knights the
peasants will attack and stagger enemies giving the knights a chance to finish them off
without risk and the enemies will attack the peasants and leave themselves open to attack
from your knights. With massed melee troops like highlander axemen you can hit so often
the enemy wont be able to do much before dying if you have enough. This is an important
tactic to grasp in m2tw and a big change from RTW.
Force melee: If you are using a unit with missiles, like archers or Javelinmen, holding alt and
right clocking on an enemy unit will force them to charge straight into melee. This is useful
for forcing archers to stop skirmishing and fight back.
Unit Ranges: Archers: 120 Horse Archers: 120 Crossbows: 120 Javelins: (foot and
mounted) 55 Naffatun: 40 Bombard: 325 Grand Bombard: 375 Ribault: 150 Culverin: 425
Mortar: 300 Cannon: 380 Serpentine: 450 Basilisk: 450 Ballista: 180 Catapult: 200
Trebuchet: 280
Unit ammunition: Archers: 30 Crossbows: 30 Javelins: 8 Naffatun: 5 Bombard: 30
Serpentine: 36 Elephant cannon: 20 Basilisk: 30 Ribault: 108 Culverin: 30 Cannon: 30
Catapult: 30 Trebuchet: 30 Ballista: 50
Negative morale effects
Casualties: None, to moderate, depending on number. Less effect on morale than losing a
battle. If a unit has taken a lot of casualties, but starts winning a melee they will often stay
and fight. This has far less of an effect on impertutious units like knights.
Flank attack: Moderate. Getting attacked in the flank will cause quite a lot of casualties, so
this can rout lesser units
Rear attack: High. Getting hit in the rear will cause a truckload of casualties and, coupled
with the penalty for the rear attack will insta-rout even tough units.
General/Captain death: High, to moderate depending on discipline. The general dying is how
many a battle will end and become a slaughter fest, though the higher morale in M2TW
makes this not quite as devastating as it was in RTW. The generals death has a huge effect
on morale at first, often causing a mass rout; the effect is largest close to the general and
radiates out losing intensity, at the time of his death. You could call it a shock effect and then
that effect slowly decreases over time till it affects units to a much lesser degree, if they
havent routed off the field yet that is.
Routing friends: Small. If a unit can see friendly units routing, they will take a morale drop tho
its low.
Gunpowder weapons: Extreme. Gunpowder has to cause a causality in the unit for it to
affect morale but it has a very high effect: a few gunpowder hits will rout even the steadiest
units like knights along with the penalty for causalities. Its morale crushing effect is one of
gunpowders biggest advantages.
Positive effects
Proximity to General: Moderate to very high. Units close to your general receive a morale
bonus, depending on how good a general he is and what traits he has, you can tell because
their morale state will say (Sprits lifted by the generals encouragements). Thus it is good to
keep the general close behind fighting units, especially with low morale troops.
Winning a melee: Moderate. Just the opposite to losing a melee, being on the winning side
of an ongoing melee will encourage your troops to keep fighting. Elite units like knights dont
seem to care if they are losing a melee or not. It barely affects their morale. Thats knightly
arrogance for you .
Routing enemies: Moderate. If a unit can see routing enemy units they will be happy and get
a morale bonus.
Generals Rally: High. The generals rally special ability greatly raises nearby unit morale for
about 30 seconds and can put units from wavering to steady.
Ready Status: If a unit is stationary and an enemy comes close enough, youll see an
animation where the unit will prepare, they might raise their swords/spears and shields or
skirmishers will raise their javelins, ready to throw them, if they are not on fire at will. The
units state will change from Idle to Ready when this happens. In this state, units resist
charges better and you should always try to have your troops stationary if youre going to
receive a cavalry charge with units not suited to it, like swordsmen, if you arent counter
charging.
Abilities
Loose Formation
Spread out men! We might be able to live longer that way!

A unit in loose formation spreads out into a looser formation, with space between each
solider. This helps the unit resist missiles, as the space in the formation means there is a
chance missiles may harmlessly hit the ground between men instead of hitting one of your
soldiers. The formation doesnt actually have any hard coded effects, like raising defence or
the like; it simply works on a physical level: by reducing the chance a missile will hit one of
your soldiers. The formation is useless in melee however, as men tend get into melee slower
and when the unit charges there are less people impacting with the initial killing zone of the
charge. The unit is also very vulnerable to cavalry charges as the less rigid formation lacks
weight to resist the charge and stop it like a solid wall of men can and allows cavalry to ride
right into their ranks and flank individual soldiers. Only use this formation when youre under
fire. Loose formation is also good for fodder - units stood around solely to absorb missiles to allow them to survive just that little bit longer. It comes in handy also for light cavalry trying
to catch horse archers, as they can cover more area and it makes it easier to catch the
horse archers and force them to commit to melee.
Circle and shoot
Ashes, ashes, they all fall down!

This formation is allot like the Cantabrian Circle from RTW. Just like that formation the
cavalry ride around in a small circle in front of the enemy, launching their missiles, their
constant movement limiting damage of incoming missiles and enabling them to skirmish
back quickly as they are already moving. While the chief users of this formation are horse
archers, in M2TW javelin cavalry are very effective in this formation. In M2TW javelins pierce
armour and with the formations quick skirmishing and constant fire they can decimate heavy
infantry and avoid covering archer fire. This is especially effective against two handed
weapon units, as their lack of a shield makes them easy to hit.
Fire Arrows
Death has never been so pretty.

Fire arrows are an ability of all shortbow and longbow archers. Crossbowmen do not have
this ability, nor do Horse Archers (they have circle and shoot, crossbows have none) Fire
arrows can set fire to siege equipment and lower morale of units hit by them, but the effect is
low unless their morale has already been lowered by other factors. Fire arrows cannot
actually be aimed at siege weapons themselves, so just shoot at the crew and your arrows
should hit the siege weapons as well. A siege weapon hit by a fire arrow has a chance to be
set on fire making it unusable by its crew and destroying it when its damage reaches 100%
Fire arrows fire much more slowly than normal arrows. Normal arrows take about 5 seconds
to fire from the time the archer starts nocking the arrow. Fire arrows take 15 seconds, which
is much slower. If you are trying to kill men use normal arrows, as you can fire more of them
in less time. If you are trying to get a unit to rout, use fire arrows.
Spearwall
When spearwall works it can be effectiveunfortunately it doesnt often.

The spearwall is a formation used by pikemen and some polearms. It causes the unit to
tighten up its formation and the first three ranks to extend their polearms forward, creating a
wall of pointy death. This is meant to be effective against cavalry and work as a wall against
infantry, much like a phalanx. Unfortunately it is buggy and often when an enemy touches
the pikewall the pikemen will switch to their swords, ruining your defense against cavalry and
making themselves very vulnerable; as polearms/pikemen do not have shields they die quite
quickly in melee. When the spearwall works though, it will stop cavalry and their charge
momentum dead, killing many of them and preventing them from attacking. When using a
spearwall if you use rightclick+drag to make a formation with multiple units selected, you will
notice there are gaps between your units. This makes it easy for enemies to sneak in though
the pikewall and attack the pikemen in melee. If you can it is more effective to drag each
units formation out making sure they touch with no gaps. This will form a solid wall of pikes
with nowhere for enemies to get in until the unit suffers bugs or enough pikemen die to
weaken the wall.
Schiltrom
Also known as artillery magnets.

A schiltrom is a tight round formation in which spearmen arrange themselves in a circle,
spears pointing outwards. This lets them protect themselves from all directions at once and
they cannot be flanked, as in game terms the entire outer edge of the unit counts as its
front. This is a useful formation for defensive situations when you have to hold an open
area. Since the unit is facing all directions soldiers will not move to fight enemies unless they
are directly near them, so the unit cannot attack as effectively as it could if it was in standard
formation as only some of the unit will be in combat while the rest stay in formation.
Schiltrom is a very specialist formation; it is really only good when defending an immobile
position, like a cities central plaza or when you are constantly being attacked from all
directions. In standard battles there is no reason to use schiltrom as it will just lessen your
units capacity to attack, as ideally you shouldnt be getting flanked at all. While in this
formation the unit can march, but not run and while moving they do not have their weapons
ready, so make sure to halt them quickly, as they need a second to redress the formation
after halting. Most spearmen can form schiltrom.
Wedge Formation
If you want to make your charge completely impotent, wedge is for you!
A wedge is a narrow triangle formation that can be formed by heavy cavalry. The leader of
the unit is placed on the point of the triangle so he will be first into the enemy. This is not a
good idea with captain led units, as the captain will be first into the enemy and at risk of
being killed. A wedge formation is meant to increase a units ability to charge but it doesnt
matter because with a wedge only a few men hit with their charge bonus and the men at the
back are wasted, as less men get into the killing phase of the charge and so less enemy die
on the charge. It also results in the men at the front of the wedge being isolated from the rest
of the unit and usually killed. The men at the back also take a while to get into melee
because of the depth of the formation, so the unit cant focus its attacks properly and fights
very infectively. Given all this it is not worth using wedge at all, just stick to standard
formation.
Medieval 2 Total War

After emerging from the Dark Ages, Europe is brimming with new ideas,
new technology and new threats. Both old and new foes to be fought
and old scores to settle. Take control of one of the great powers of this
time and steamroll your enemies, taking their land and riches and rewrite
history the way it should have been...
Spearmen
And take heart men, for we have sharper pointy things than them! Oh yes! Much sharper!
Spearmen are the backbone of almost all M2TW armies. They are cheap and very easily
trained; the early ones need almost no buildings in castles and cities, as they can be trained
in both. Spearmen are used to add bulk, fight the enemy, especially other spearmen, hold
them in place so you can flank and protect archers as a meat shield while the archers shoot
the enemy. They are especially useful for crossbowmen and gunpowder infantry as these
units need to stay still to have time to shoot. Spearmen arent the best killers: they never
really cut their way through the enemy quickly, unless they are facing cavalry and even then
they will take a little while. They do kill, but they tend to be more defensive; able to stay alive
in melee and keep the enemy occupied, making them the best troops for holding units so
you can flank them. They also are great for receiving charges as spearmen resist charges
much, much better than other infantry and will take far fewer losses. You should make loads
and loads of spearmen: early on your entire army will consist of spearmen, archers maybe
some light cavalry and a general, so get used to using them. Spearmen are effective against
cavalry as they get a bonus and even the starting Spear Militia can wreck generals
bodyguards if there is enough, as generals are far weaker than in previous games. You
always need spearmen and should have at least 4 units of them in any army. Later on you
can phase some out for swordsmen when you can make them quickly, but you should
always have some spears
Spearmen get +8 attack vs. Cavalry.
Defeating spearmen
Spearmen are slow as they are infantry, usually lightly armoured or unarmoured and poor
against infantry without help. The best way to kill off spearmen is to attack them with
swordsmen or axemen. Both these troops are good against infantry and the spears low
attack and poorness against infantry means you can cut them up very easily, unless they are
elite spears, who should still suffer against your troops. Their usual lack of armour makes
massed missile fire effective against them, especially against the Moors, as they have allot
of unarmoured spearmen who will die very quickly. Crossbows are also effective. Spearmen
tend to have average morale so a cavalry charge into their rear will either rout them or kill
allot. Spearmen are very common units so youll be fighting allot of them.
Azabs
Attack: 5 Charge: 2 Defence: 4 Armour: 0 Cost: 190 Upkeep: 100
Factions: Turks
Azabs are weaker versions of Spear Militia. They have less defence, but otherwise the same
stats. This means you must use more of them to have any hope of them defeating the
enemy who will have stronger Spear Militia early on. Always use 2 or more of these units to
attack most other factions basic spear units. Keep them far away from swords and archers
unless youre using them as fodder. Needless to say armour upgrades are useful.
Armoured Sergeants
Factions: Milan, HRE, England, Venice, Sicily, Milan, Papal States
Armoured Sergeants are simply an armoured version of Sergeant Spearmen. They are
much better than basic spearmen and will serve well in the normal spearmen roles. Their
morale isnt much higher than Spear Militia so keep them supported. They can form
schiltrom.
Berber Spearmen
Factions: Moors
Berber Spearmen are the Moors basic spear unit. They are quite superior to militia
spearmen, with better morale and have the same stats as Sergeant Spearmen. Use them to
form your line, fight other factions spear units and as fodder. They still have no armour so
they will die quickly to missiles. They get a bonus in deserts and can form schiltrom.
Byzantine Spearmen
Factions: Byzantium
Byzantine Spearmen are the same as Spear Militia so use them in the same way.
Dismounted Arab cavalry
Factions: Moors, Egypt
These dismounted cavalrymen make good spearmen; they have a good attack for spears
and more defence than most. Use them to fight tough cavalry and hold your line.
Dismounted Heavy Lancers
Attack: 12 Charge: 4 Defence: 13 Armour: 5 Coast: 560 Upkeep: 160
Factions: Mongols
Dismounted Heavy Lancers are some of the toughest spearmen in the game. They have a
very high attack for spearmen and their defence lets them take quite a bit of abuse. When
fighting the Mongols use flanking cavalry charges, armour piercing attacks and swordsmen
against these spearmen.
Dismounted Light Lancers

Factions: Mongols
While not as tough as the Heavy Lancers with quite a bit less attack, Light Lancers are still
tough, dangerous spearmen with a high attack and decent defence. Deal with them in the
same way as Heavy Lancers.
Dismounted Polish Nobles
Factions: Poland
These men are tough and can be relied on to hold your line and cut up cavalry, tho they
dont have the attack of some other spearmen they have good defence and armour making
them useful meatshields. They are just like Armoured Sergeants except cheaper. Despite
being nobles their morale is average.
Dismounted Sipahi Lancers
Factions: Turks
The Turks elite spearmen. They have very good defence for spearmen and are well
armoured, with high morale. They can dish out hurt with their good attack and take quite a
while to start taking serious causalities. If you need spearmen as the Turks these men are
up to the task.
Dismounted Tuareg
Factions: Moors
The Moors toughest spearmen; they dont have the defence of other elite spearmen, as they
are still not armoured but still have a good attack and high morale. You should use these for
demanding spearmen tasks but dont rely on them too far. As with all Moorish spearmen
keep them away from missiles.
Italian Militia
Factions: Milan, Venice, Papal States, Sicily, Milan, Papal States
Italian Militia are tougher than normal Spear Militia that non Italian factions have. While they
are equal or bettered by many other spearmen, the strength of Italian Militia and Italian
Spear Militia is that they are available very early on, only needing a Town Guard to be
recruited and they have the stats of Sergeant Spearmen and Armoured Sergeants
respectively. This means for the first dozen turns or so the Italian Militia will be facing normal
Spear Militia and other weak spearmen and can easily crush them, making it very easy for
the Italian states to expand quickly. Its better to make the superior and armoured Italian
Spear Militia than this unarmoured version, but both of these units are excellent early on and
stay useful later in the game. Use these units well.
Italian Spear Militia

Factions: Milan, Venice, Papal States, Sicily, Milan, Papal States
See above for how useful these units are. They are the same as Italian Militia but are
armoured making them even more useful. These should be the backbone of your armies.
Lamtuna Spearmen
Factions: Moors
Lamtuna Spearmen are like Dismounted Tuareg, except that they are disciplined, are highly
trained rather than trained and can form Schiltrom. The disciplined tag means they will take
a heck of allot of misfortune before they rout, as morale shocks like the general dying
doesnt affect them and they will hold formation better with the highly trained tag. Use them
in the same way as decent spearmen with decent stats. These are the Moors best
spearmen and elites, tho again they are unarmoured, but youll at least have some smith
buildings by the time you can recruit these to give them some armour.
Levy Spearmen
Factions: England, Mongols
Levy Spearmen are the same as Spear Militia. Use them in the same way.
Nubian Spearmen
These men are just like Berber Spearmen, except they dont get a bonus in deserts and they
cant form Schiltrom
Pavise Spearmen
Factions: Hungry
Pavise Spearmen are Sergeant Spearmen with large pavise shields. This gives them good
defence against missiles, though they arent as invulnerable as youd imagine. They will still
take causalities from missiles, but it will take a long while for causalities to add up. Use these
men as your line infantry for Hungry, as they have very good defence for spears and will
serve well.
Saracen Militia
Factions: Turks, Egypt
Saracen Militia are much like Italian Spear Militia except with slightly more armour. These
troops should be used the same way: attack your neighbours early and overwhelm them with
your powerful early troops while they are stuck with their lesser troops
Sergeant Spearmen
Factions: France, HRE, England, Venice, Sicily, Milan, Papal States
Sergeant Spearmen are superior to the standard militia spears as they have better attack
and defence. They also have better morale, tho they are still not armoured. Use them like
the militia spears, just remember they are tougher. It is still better to use Armoured
Sergeants when you can, as they are just like this unit except they wear armour which helps
them out greatly and they are only a tiny bit for expensive. Keep this unit away from missile
fire, unless they are fodder.
Papal Guard
Factions: Papal States
Exclusive to the Papal States, Papal Guard are elite spearmen with a very high attack for
spears, huge morale, tied for highest in the game and are the best defended spearmen in
the game. They are the best spears in M2TW and when fighting the Pope youll want to kill
them with AP weapons as fast as possible, as they will wipe out other spearmen and some
swordsmen in melee.
Slav Levies
Factions: Hungry
Slav Levies are exactly like Spear Militia and should be used in the same way,
Spearmen
Factions: Russia, Poland
This imaginatively named unit is Russias spearmen of the line. They have good stats for
spearmen, a lot like other factions later spears and can easily form a line or fight cavalry.
Spear Militia
Factions: Spain, France, England, HRE, Poland, Byzantines, Egypt, Russia, Denmark,
Moors, Portugal, Hungry, Timurids, Mongols, Scotland, Turks, Portugal, Poland, Mongols
Spear Militia is by far the most common unit in the game, especially early on. Spear Militia
can be created at just about anywhere and every faction has it. They are one of the weakest
spearmen units in the game, but you will use loads of them early on, as will every other
faction. Use them as your do everything troops early on, to fight the enemies troops, hold
enemies in place so you can flank or hit them with missiles, as one big mass to rout the
enemy, in a mass to kill the enemy general and just as basic soldiers. These troops, Town
Militia and Peasant Archers will be most factions early troops.
Town Militia
Attack: 5 Charge: 2 Defence: 7 Armour: 0 Cost: 290 Upkeep: 125 (Spain, France, HRE,
England, Timurids, Scotland, Moors, Turks, Denmark, Mongols)
Attack: 5 Charge: 2 Defence: 4 Armour: 0 Cost: 160 Upkeep: 100 (Poland, Hungry)
Town Militia are exactly like Spear Militia except they cant form Schiltrom. You dont really
need to worry about that formation too much so use them exactly like Spear Militia. Another
version of these spearmen is weaker like Azabs and you should use two of them to attack
enemy Spear Militia if you want to win.
Pikemen
Even when defending a gate pikemen are largely useless as they get pushed back fast
Pikemen are almost useless in M2TW. They are bugged to high heaven and completely lack
cohesion or realism. The problem with pikemen is they switch to using their swords almost
instantly after they are attacked in melee. Instead of using their pikes, maintaining the
spearwall and stabbing the enemy with their pikes, they change to swords and become
useless weak swordsmen with next to no defence. This makes them essentially useless, as
they cant really do anything that swords or spears cant, except actually stop the momentum
of a cavalry charge and kill a few of them if they throw themselves on the pikes. Since they
are usually very cheap they are good fodder to use to hold troops while you flank them or
shoot them with gunpowder or arrows, as it doesnt matter if the cheap pikemen get hit as
well. They never have shields as they wield the two handed pike so they are very vulnerable
to archers, especially since they usually lack armour. The buggy pikemen are a real problem
for Scotland, as they make the most use of pikes. They also look really cool in formation so
its annoying they are useless.
All pikemen get 8+ attack vs. cavalry when using the pike. The sword gives no bonuses.
This is why its important to try and hold the spearwall as long as possible.
Pikemen are best left on spearwall as this lets them hold their pikes at least for a little while.
Guard mode helps as well, as it forces them to stay in formation and not engage when an
enemy comes close.
Defeating Pikemen
Pikemen basically suck at everything, but the best way to kill them is with missiles. They are
slow in formation and they usually have little armour and no shields, so shoot them with
archers or crossbows or javelins if they are armoured and they will die quick. A cavalry
charge into the rear should rout them easily too.
Adventuros
Factions: Portugal
Adventuros are, by far the best pikemen in the game. The Tercio Pikemen might be famous
but they are no match for these pikes. Adventuros have a huge attack, great defence for
pikemen, are well armoured and have massive morale, more than some knights! They will
beat any other pikemen in melee and fight well in the spearwall or out of it. They are
impetuous but it hardly matters as they wont be charging anywhere in spearwall. These
pikemen make a great partner for Portugals powerful Aquebusiers or Musketeers. Also try
these pikemen with upgraded armour, as they look really cool if you upgrade it, with a unique
unit model.
Heavy Pike Militia
Factions: Scotland
These pikemen arent quite as good as their noble brethren but they are tough for militia and
have good morale. They have the stats to hold on for quite a while in melee and their morale
makes them good for holding back enemies while dishing out their own kills.
Highland Pikemen
Factions: Scotland
Highland Pikemen are much like the normal non militia pikemen but exclusive to Scotland
and impetuous. Use them in the same way. Being impetuous, they will take a lot of
misfortune before they rout. They can only be upgraded to bronze armour, so their defence
against arrows will almost be nonexistent.
Noble Pikemen
Factions: Scotland
Noble Pikemen are tough pikes. They have a high attack for pikemen and better defence.
This means they are useful, as the unit has a lot of staying power with their very heavy
armour and sky high morale they can fight well when the spearwall collapses and they are
much more versatile than most other pikemen. This unit is not as highly trained as some
other pikemen so remember it will take slightly longer to get back in position and redress the
formation with these pikes.
Pikemen
Factions: France
These pikemen are not militia and thus have better stats, but they are still very weak and
have almost useless defence. Use them like Pike Militia and get them some armour! Their
armour cannot be upgraded as far as Pike Militia. They have superior morale to Pike Militia
and can hold for a long time.
Pike Militia
Factions: Spain, France, HRE, Venice, Sicily, Milan, Portugal, Papal States
Pike Militia are the weakest pikemen in the game. They have a low attack and because of
the bugs above they use their swords which, with their complete lack of armour and
nonexistent defence get them killed very quickly. They are extremely cheap however, just a
bit more than peasants so you can pump them out as fodder or garrisons and they do stop a
cavalry charge. This unit can have its armour upgraded a long way and they can go from
unarmoured to partial plate, giving them better defence against archers, tho a lot will still die
from them. Always endeavour to get them as much armour as you possibly can to offset
their awful stats. Their morale is better than youd think and they can hold for a while.
Scots Pike Militia
Factions: Scotland
This unit is exactly the same as Pike Militia including its morale. Use them in the same way.
They cannot have their armour upgraded as far as normal Pike Militia: only silver rather than
gold.
Tercio Pikemen
Factions: Spain
Spains elite pikes, Tericos have MUCH better attack than most other pikes so they can fight
well with pike and sword, except that again their defence is just awful, which is odd for elite
troops. Use them like Pike Militia but much more aggressively, taking them off spearwall and
letting them charge with their swords if necessary. Make sure to get them some armour
upgrades. They have very high morale and it will take a lot for them to rout. Very cheap too
for their stats, so use them off spearwall as flankers and put their high attack to work. They
are excellent as flankers, as their high attack lets them kill very quickly and when they attack
from the flank their low defence is offset by the fact they arent the targets of the enemies
attack so fewer will die. They are also cheap for such a powerful unit so make a lot.
Swordsmen
Its not the size of the sword, but how you use it.
Swordsmen combine with spearmen and archers to produce the typical M2TW army. They
tend to have good attack and morale and either very good or bad defence.
They are used(with exceptions) for charging in aggressively, doing most of the killing and
working as steady, strong troops wearing down the foe in straight melee, flanking the enemy
and protecting other units. Swordsmen tend to kill more quickly than spearmen; their
weapons have greater kill chances. They are most effective against spearmen but can fight
any unit. Use swordsmen as your average aggressive attacking troops: they are versatile
and can do anything required besides catch archers and horse archers. If you are using
swordsmen to fight other infantry put them in two or three ranks as this allows them to get
the most men into the charge killing more enemy on impact so less survive to cause
damage. Swordsmen do not work well against cavalry: they take time to kill them and suffer
from head on charges. If you are forced to use them to face cavalry put them in five ranks.
This will let them absorb charges somewhat better, their ranks adding resistance against
them and halting the charge sooner so they can get the cavalry in melee and kill them. A
powerful charge by heavy cavalry will kill a LOT of swordsmen though; up to half the unit
with really powerful cavally. Its much better to let spearmen take the charge, and then
charge your swords in to help the spearmen kill the cavalry. A deep formation will also cause
them to die slower as men gradually get into melee and die gradually, which is useful if you
dont care about kills and just want them to hold their position against the enemy for as long
as possible.
Defeating Swordsmen
The best way to deal with swordsmen is a cavalry charge with a powerful cavalry unit like
knights or lance wielding heavy cavalry. They cant resist charges without spears.
Crossbows and javelins work as well against swordsmen as any other unit, as do axemen.
Swordsmen are versatile tough units and they dont die easily to anything besides cavalry
charges.
Armoured Swordsmen
Factions: England
Armoured Swordsmen are not knights but they are heavily armoured and have a very good
attack and have knight level stats and morale. Use these men as foot knights as they are the
same as knights and will cut up most opposing infantry.
Battlefield Assassins
Factions: Hungry
Battlefield Assassins are elite units of just 60 soldiers. They can hide anywhere. They have
excellent attack and very good defence. Because units in medieval 2 start further apart than
the closer armies of RTW they are actually useful this time, unlike Arcani in Rome: Total
War. They have tons of morale and wont rout until more than of the unit is dead. Use them
to fight tough units face to face as they have very good stats, or keep them hidden from sight
and then suddenly fall upon the enemies artillery, or archers from behind. Keep them hidden
till the enemy line has passed and battle has been joined. This can be a very useful unit
when used correctly. These troops take experience to use well. They are also excellent in a
straight fight: little can match them. Remember that if the unit is led by a captain they cannot
hide, as the generals/captains unit cant hide. They are also lightly armoured and vulnerable
to missiles. Remember they have swords and thus do not pierce armour. Try to send them
after small units or lightly armoured foes to prevent them getting into a large melee, where
their small numbers will get them outnumbered when the enemy moves in reinforcements.
Or just charge in from behind where the enemies armour hardly matters and cut them to bits.
Byzantine Infantry
Factions: Byzantium
Byzantine Infantry are the rank and file for Byzantium. They wield their swords well, are well
armoured and have very high defence for such a cheap unit. They serve very well as
aggressive infantry, able to last a long time in melee and dish out the hurt too.
Dismounted Broken Lances
Factions: Venice, Sicily, Milan, Papal States
Broken Lances may look like knights but their morale is not up to the knightly standard.
These men are men at arms and have an average attack but high defence and are covered
in armour. They are like a stronger version of Swordsmen Militia and can dish out the hurt
and are good at soaking up punishment. Just use these as general assault troops and they
will serve well.
Dismounted Byzantine Lancers
Factions: Byzantium
These men are exactly like Byzantine Infantry except they have better stamina and cost a
little more. Use them in the same way.
Dismounted Christian Guard

Factions: Moors
Christian Guard are the Moors elite tough swordsmen. In contrast to most Moor units, this
unit is heavily armoured and has a huge defence. They are incredibly skilled attackers and
they are an incredibly tough unit, disciplined and highly trained. They are cheap for their
power, and as the Moors you should recruit as many of these units as possible and use
them along with Camel Gunners as your late game army.
Dismounted Conquistadores
Factions: Spain, Portugal (Only trainable in the Americas)
Dismounted Conquistadores are oddly exactly like Christian Guard. They can only be
recruited in the Americas from captured Aztec cities, if the city has the building required.
They are absolutely devastating against the Aztecs: they have very high stats and great
morale making them incredibly useful troops. You should use these and Musketeers as your
forces to wipe out the Aztecs as Conquistadores will kill them incredibly easily since the
Aztecs mostly lack armour they are easy prey for a sharp sword in a strong hand.
Dismounted Latinkon
Factions: Byzantium
While not as powerful as some other elite swordsmen, Dismounted Latinkon are more than
able troops with a very good attack and strong defence. They will slice up a lot of enemies
and serve well mixed with the Byzantines other powerful swordsmen. They have high
morale.
Dismounted Men at Arms
Dismounted Men at Arms are powerful swordsmen much like knights. They have an average
attack, the same as Sword Militia but are heavily armoured with very high defence. They will
chew though enemies by attrition, even though their attack could be better and can soak up
allot of punishment. Their morale however is nothing compared to knights and they will run
much more easily. Use them like knights but be a bit more careful and dont throw them into
obviously morale crushing situations.
Forlorn Hope
Factions: HRE
No I am not named after this unit! Look up the military term Forlorn Hope up on Wikipedia to
see where my name comes from. The Forlorn Hope are heavily armoured troops with 2
handed swords. 2 handed swords arent bugged, but they lack shields so they die quickly.
Despite the huge attack, this unit has just 48 men in it on huge unit sizes and that along with
their lack of shields gets them killed. This unit is not worth its cost or its huge upkeep.
Hashashim
Attack: 16 charge: 3 Defence: 21 Armour: 6 Hit Points: 2 Cost: 840 Upkeep: 250
Factions: Moors, Turks, Egypt
Hashashirm are like an uber version of Battlefield Assassins. They can also hide anywhere
and there are just 60 men in the unit. They have amazing stats and are well armoured. They
are very deadly in melee because they are very skilled in fighting rather than relying on
much armour for protection: this unit can chop up AP units just as well. Basically use this unit
like Battlefield Assassins but remember they are a lot tougher and can really slice up any
units that arent heavily armoured. They have huge morale and often will die rather than
break. They are also disciplined. This is definitely one of the best units. Just watch out for
missiles and crossbows.
Highland Nobles
Factions: Scotland
Highland Nobles are pretty good troops able to crush spear units and weaker infantry and
cavalry easily. They have a big attack but their light armour and lack of a shield makes them
highly vulnerable to missile fire and their low defence makes them rather useless vs.
powerful well armoured troops like knights, as the swordsmen find it difficult to damage the
armoured foes and die in droves. Use these men against pikemen and spearmen but avoid
heavy swordsmen and axemen, unless you flank them since any hit to the back of a solider
usually kills that man, enabling them to cut up heavy troops if they can hit them in the rear.
Noble Swordsmen
Factions: Scotland
Noble Swordsmen are the Scots elite infantry. They are very powerful troops just like
Dismounted Chivalratic Knights. Their stats are the same and they provide a very solid core
of late tough infantry to the Scottish.
Norse Swordsmen
Factions: Denmark
Norse Swordsmen are just like Swordsmen Militia below and should be used in the same
way. Swordsmen arent very useful for Denmark because they have superior AP Huscarles.
Swordsmen Militia
Factions: Spain, Portugal
Swordsmen Militia are useful swordsmen, as they have quite good attack and great defence
for a militia unit since they start off with partial plate armour. They have good enough morale
and can last a good long time in melee against most things. You should make loads of these
units and use them for your main battle line and general assault troops or garrisons. They
are great for their cost. As above with highland nobles dont try to attack heavily armed
swordsmen with these swordsmen, unless youre flanking.
Sword and Buckler Men

Factions: Spain, Sicily
Sword and Buckler Men are late Spanish swordsmen with light armour and shields. They
have a great attack for swordsmen and can soak up quite a bit of punishment. They have
huge morale and are powerful units with staying power for Spain. When you have access to
them they come in very useful.
Urban Militia
Factions: Moors
Urban Militia, much like the MTW version is a powerful early sword unit very effective for
filling your army up with good reliable troops. This unit has good attack and excellent
defence so they can fight very well despite being called militia. Use this unit as the Moors
tough aggressive infantry, complementing their many lighter troops.
Zwei Hander
Factions: HRE
Zweihanders are slightly better armoured versions of Highland Nobles and should be used in
the same way.
Polearms
Ha! Wheres your advanced technology now, invaders?

Polearms are an almost completely useless class of unit in M2TW. The problem is that the
last patch for M2TW fixed the shield bug (which caused units with shields to receive negative
defence for their shields rather than positive.) that has plagued the series since Rome and
this unbalanced the game towards units with shields, as the games balance was originally
designed for units with the bugged shields. This is coupled with the fact that polearms have
very slow attack animations and they can be blocked just as easily as one handed weapons
so polearm troops spend a lot of time slowly attacking, getting blocked and having to start
their slow attack animation over again, all the time getting attacked the by one handed
weapon units fast attack animations, getting stunned by the fast attacks and flinching rather
than attacking back over and over and then dying. Polearms are very cheap, probably
because CA realized the bugs and rather than fixing them they just made them very cheap
to compensate for their crapness. Polearms are only useful for fodder and holding the
enemy in place as they die. They have a huge attack and a good charge for infantry, so a
flanking charge will hurt but they will still be just as useless in melee. The huge attack ratings
of these units doesnt matter at all when they attack so slowly they can be ripped to pieces.
Defeating Polearms
Polearms are complete crap and can be defeated by just about anything. Send spearmen or
swordsmen against them and watch them die.
Billmen
Factions: England
Billmen are bugged as described above and thus suck. Dont use them. Even if they were
not bugged their awful defence would render them useless. The huge attack is meaningless
Bill Militia
Factions: England
Bill Militia are weaker than Billmen, Not that it matters.
Halberd Militia
Attack: 5 Charge: 2 Defence: 1 Armour: 0 Cost: 300 Upkeep: 150(Hungry, HRE, Sicily,
Poland, Hungry, Papal States)
Attack: 7 Charge: 3 Defence: 8 Armour: 5 Cost: 510 Upkeep: 150(Timurids, Turks, Egypt)
Halberd Militia regardless of who owns them are useless, like all polearms. The Islamic
factions version is marginally better however.
Heavy Billmen
Factions: England
Heavy Billmen suffer from the same bug as regular Billmen and are no use whatsoever
except for fodder, as they can take a beating with their heavy armour.
Heavy Bill Militia
Factions: England
These are exactly the same as heavy Billmen with the same stats despite being militia. The
only difference is they are trained in towns.
Janissary Heavy Infantry
Factions: Turks
JHI, a mainstay of Medieval Total War armies and one of the best units in the previous game
is an embarrassment here. Due to the bugs they cant even beat Feudal Knights and they
have really lousy defence. Despite their awesomeness in the last game, JHI suck this time
around and make it rather pointless to play as the Turks. They are disciplined and highly
trained, like it matters.
Obudshaer
Factions: Denmark
Elite Danish polearms that are of course no use. They can form spearwall.
Swiss Guard
Factions: Papal States
One of the toughest polearms and one of the Papal States unique units, youll fight this unit if
you attack the Pope. They are still bugged so they will be cut down easily. They can form
spearwall and are disciplined and highly trained.
Sword Staff Militia
Factions: Denmark
While tougher than some Polearms, the bugs still make this unit useless for anything
besides fodder. They can form spearwall.
Voulge Militia
Factions: France
This is another unit of useless polearms except it has more defence than halberds. They can
form spearwall.
Skirmishers
Its raining death! Hallelujah! Its raining death!

Skirmishers are much like skirmishers in RTW, but far more effective. Skirmishers are
missile infantry armed with throwing javelins and a sword. They always lack armour.
Javelins are effective against armour in M2TW and will cause causalities to even heavily
armoured troops like knights. Vollies from two units of elite javelins like Almughavars can kill
30 Armoured Swordsmen in one volley, which is great when you think that youre defeating
some of the toughest troops in the game.
Javelins have quite a low rate of fire: the troops throw them slowly and there is a delay of a
few seconds between vollies. They also have a very limited range. This means that javelins
are vulnerable to enemy counter charges or missiles. Javelins need another unit to act as a
pinning force to hold the unit in place so the javelins can do their work. Cheap Spear Militia
is good for this as by the time the Spear Militia have been whittled down you should have
slaughtered most of the unit being pinned. Make sure you take them off skirmish mode to
stop them pulling back when positioned close behind the pinning unit. Their range is so short
they will sometimes pull back before throwing and they take a while to fire so you dont want
them wasting time running around.
Javelins only have 8 missiles per man, but the unit fires slowly and seem to fire in a
staggered way with some of the unit firing them the rest and so on. This means that their
missiles last longer than youd think. They do have swords and some Javelinmen have good
stats to fight as light infantry after their missiles are gone. Javelins never have armour and
are very vulnerable to archers or cavalry changes. Some javelin units are expensive so try to
keep them safe.
Defeating Skirmishers
Skirmishers are only effective if they arent engaged directly. Since their range is so short
and they fire slowly they need to be left alone to throw their missiles without being pulled into
melee. If you see skirmishers, focus on them first if possible or hit them with cavalry to crush
the unit quickly. If you cant do that hit them with archers as their range and rate of fire
disadvantage and their lack of armour will see them killed quickly. Just dont ignore
skirmishers as that what the enemy hopes you will do.
Afghan Javelinmen
Attack: 13 Missile attack: 10 Charge: 3 Defence: 14 Armour: 0 Cost: 640 Upkeep: 125
Factions: Timurids
Afghan javelins are some of the best javelins in the game. They have a very good missile
attack and are very capable in melee for missile units. They lack armour so they wont last
too long but they have good defence skill and large shields to help therm. They are very
vunriable to missiles like all javelins. Get them some armour. When fighting them in the
campaign use archers or cavalry charges and lots of them as they have great morale
Almughavars
Factions: Spain
Almughavars are the best javelins in the game. They have a huge missile attack letting them
cause many losses to heavily armoured units and can back it up with some very good melee
skill, making them excellent for charge from the flank as they wont be focused on and cut
down if the enemy is already engaged.. If youre Spain you should always use these troops
but remember they still lack armour and are expensive, so try to keep them out of missile fire
as much as you can. They can have their armour upgraded the farthest out of the javelin
units in M2TW.
Kurdish Javelinmen
Factions: Egypt
Kurdish javelins are good javelins as they have good melee ability besides their average
javelin skills. Dont be shy about charging from the flank.
Javelinmen
Factions: Spain
Javelinmen are just basic javelins. They will still cause damage to heavily armoured units
and are perfect for parking behind your battle line and tossing their missiles over your mle
units heads. Try to keep them out of missile fire. Their morale is low so take care of them.
They are available very early on from the start of the game for Spain giving them a good
advantage in attacking armour
Lusitanian Javelinmen
Attack: 8 Missile attack 8 Charge: 2 Defence: 7 Armour: 0 Cost: 330 Upkeep: 100
Factions: Portugal
While Portugals unique javelins cant stand up to Spains, they are still clearly superior to
most other javelins. They have a good missile attack to cut down enemies and they can fight
ok in melee, again from the flank is best. Their morale is higher than javelins but only about
half the Almughavars.
Sudanese Javelinmen
Factions: Moors
Sudanese Javelinmen arent amazing javelins but they are still useful as all javelins are and
will definitely help the mostly lightly armoured Moorish army fight armoured units. Make good
use of them. Again they have low morale.
Turkish Javelinmen
Attack: 6 Missile attack: 6 Charge: 1 Armour: 0 Cost: 300 Upkeep: 100
Factions: Turks
Turkish Javelins are another unit of average javelins ready to rain sharp death on armoured
units for the Turks. Same morale as Sudanese Javelinmen
Axemen
Axes: thick, heavy and when used properly cracks open peoples heads like an eggshell!
In M2TW there are two kinds of axemen: One handed axemen that use a shield as well and
two handed axemen using a large two handed axe. The two handed axemen are broken like
polearms and are of no use except fodder, one handed axemen work fine however.
All axemen in this section are AP. There are some units in M2TW that use axes as
secondary weapons such as archers that dont pierce armour with them and some that do.
The units in this category use axes as their primary weapon.
Axemen are best used somewhat like swordsmen in that they are aggressive attacking
infantry. The difference with axes is that they pierce armour so even tho some axemen stats
might look weak they can cut down much tougher units like knights. Always send axemen
after the heavy enemy units if you can and leave lighter ones to other troops. Axemen excel
in flank attacks on armoured units, especially spearmen but most are tough enough to attack
from the front. You should deploy axemen in thin long formations like swordsmen to get the
maximum amount of men into the killing zone hitting with their charge bonus as possible.
The more men in the melee the less chance of soldiers being cut off and dying. Axmen are
far more useful than swordsmen as they can take on both unarmed and heavily armoured
units and are versatile.
Defeating Axemen
Axemen are allot like swordsmen when it comes to killing them, except that they will shred
any heavy infantry sent at them, unless its overwhelmingly strong. Get them with cavalry
charges and crossbowmen to whittle them down; just dont stay in melee with them for too
long if you want your horsemen to stay alive. Two handed axemen are a joke and can be
killed by just about anything or wiped out easily with missiles as they lack shields.
Berdiche Axemen
Factions: Russia
Broken axemen.
Croat Axemen
Factions: Hungry
Croat Axemen are another unit of broken axemen.
Dismounted Boyar Sons
Factions: Russia
Dismounted Boyar Sons are one handed axemen with good stats and armour. They are
great for cutting up armoured units as they are about equal to knights as mentioned above.
They will also annihilate spearmen and weaker swordsmen and come in very useful vs.
Catholic armies. They cost quite a bit so try to keep them alive. They are well worth the cost.
They have knight level morale, so they have plenty of staying power.
Dismounted Druzhina
Factions: Russia
These axes are exactly the same as Boyar Sons and are just as useful.
Dismounted Huscarls
Factions: Denmark
Dismounted Huscarles are again just the same as Boyar Sons and should be used the same
way.
Highlanders
Factions: Scotland
Highlanders are early axemen with a good attack but terrible defence. Their low defence
means that if they get caught in a protracted melee they will be cut down quickly since most
hits will kill them. They are also very vulnerable to missiles. Use Highlanders as flankers or
send them into a melee with other troops to stop them being focused on and crushed. They
have average morale, but are impetuous so they will take allot of abuse.
Norse Axemen
Factions: Denmark
Another unit of broken two handed axemen.
Tabardariyya
Factions: Egypt
Broken axemen whee!
Varangian Guard
Factions Byzantium
Despite extremely good stats and insane morale and the highly trained tag these axemen
are still two handed broken ones. Pathetic.
Venetian Heavy Infantry
Factions: Venice
Venetian Heavy Infantry are some of the best infantry in M2: TW. They wield AP one handed
warhammers, large shields and are well armoured. They have excellent stats and good
morale and along with their AP weapons this makes them utterly devastating to anything
they reach melee with! VHI are the units you charge in from the front with: they will do a ton
of damage and cut their way though even knights with their AP weapons and stats. This unit
is probably the best infantry in the game and are very, very useful units, which is just as well
as Venice needs them to survive. Use them, love them.
Viking Raiders
Factions: Denmark
Viking Raiders are weak one handed axemen. Their attack is good but their low defence and
lack of armour often gets them killed before they can dish out much damage, especially
against tough troops like knights. These axemen cannot stand up for long in melee so use
them as flankers or against weaker units like Swordsmen Militia and spearmen and try to get
them armour upgrades as they can be upgraded all the way to gold level armour making
them more effective.
Woodsmen
Factions: Russia, Poland
Woodsmen are utterly useless axemen. Their nonexistent defence coupled with the 2
handed bug makes them completely useless. They arent even good for fodder as their
defence is so low. As cheap as they are dont even bother with these men.
Archers
Archers are an essential part of any army, especially early on.

Archers are a vital part of any army in M2: TW. Their ability to strike from a distance and
cause causalities and lower morale before the inevitable melee to tip the odds in your favour
or ease an already sure victory makes them most useful units indeed. Every enemy killed at
a distance by an archer is one less your melee forces have to worry about killing or being
killed by. They are especially important when you are facing counter units to your army such
as axemen when you have heavily armoured infantry as you want as few of them to reach
you as possible.
Archers use either longbows or shortbows, although the overwhelming majority use
shortbows. Only a few units use longbows. Both types are used to shoot approaching
enemies, as this will cause causalities and demoralize them before they reach melee with
your front lines.
Archers are also great for parking behind a melee or basically anywhere they can stay out of
melee and constantly whittle down the enemy and kill them without suffering any losses.
When used this way archers can kill many, many troops when they are distracted and held
by melee troops.
Shortbow archers are ineffective against armour. They cannot pierce it and units like knights
or heavy infantry will take little causalities from waves of arrows hitting them. Use standard
archers against lighter troops. Spearmen, militia level troops and two handed weapon troops
are prime targets for archers. Skirmishers and other archers are also good targets.
Longbows are exclusive to the English, with two exceptions (French Scots Guard and
French Mounted Archers use longbows). They are AP archers and fire at the same rate as
other archers. This makes longbows very deadly, as they fire just as quickly as other
archers, yet crush armoured units, their extremely long range, far more than most archers
makes them very deadly as well. Always target armoured units especially infantry with
Longbowmen.
Archers cannot work alone, unless they are in such numbers or there are few enough enemy
troops that they can be broken with missile fire alone. Archers need a melee unit to protect
them, as they are usually poor in melee, though there are some that are good in it. They also
need their targets still or moving slowly, this means units held by other troops like spearmen
are much better targets for archers.
Most archer deaths will be caused by cavalry charges, make sure you either have infantry
units in front of your archers or a cavalry unit right behind or to the side that can intercept
charges at the archers. In situations like this you should take the archers off skirmish so they
dont move and instead keep shooting.
Most archers can be upgraded to light mail armour or better and you should always upgrade
their armour if you can, as they are highly vulnerable to missiles themselves.
Defeating Archers
Archers usually are easy to beat if you can get close to them. Its when they are behind other
units slaughtering you with their arrows that they are a problem. The easiest way to defeat
archers is to hit them with a cavalry charge. They usually have little or no armour so a
cavalry charge will kill tons. Light cavalry make good archer hunters, as they are cheap,
expendable, fast and strong enough to rip up archers. Heavy cavalry can kill archers easily
as well, but they will tire themselves chasing them. It is a waste of their power attacking such
light troops.
Archer Militia
Attack: 2 Missile attack: 5 Charge: 1 Defence: 1 Armour: 0 Cost: 220 Upkeep: 100(England,
Russia, Egypt)
(Byzantium)
Archer Militia are exactly like Peasant Archers. See that section for details on using them.
The Byzantines Archer Militia are better at melee with far more attack and slightly more
defence.
Bosnian Archers
Factions: Hungry
Bosnian archers are decent in melee for archers but shoot badly. Use them in great numbers
to compensate for their weakness and dont hesitate to use them as flankers if needed.
Byzantine Guard Archers
Factions: Byzantium
Byzantine Guard Archers are very tough archers even together than retinue Longbowmen.
They have more missile attack than even the Longbowmen but they are not effective against
armour or have as long a range they can however really mix it up in melee. They have
excellent melee stats for archers and are well armoured so they can definitely act as medium
infantry to support friendly units in need and even storm walls in sieges or fight spearmen
very effectively. They also have very high morale. Byzantine Guard Archers are some of the
most versatile troops in M2TWand you should use them well. They are worth every penny,
but try not to throw them away.
Desert Archers
Desert Archers are quite good for early archers. They are clearly superior to the crappy
Peasant Archers most Catholic factions have early on. They shoot well and they can fight in
melee much better than most early archers, though they are best left out of it. They do lack
armour like most archers but their attack is quite good for an archer.
Dismounted Archers
Factions: Mongols
These are tough for archers as they have a very good missile attack and are disciplined. Still
they are far less intimidating than other Mongol troops and they will fall easily to a cavalry
charge.
Dismounted Dvor
Factions: Russia
Dismounted Dvor are ridiculously multiskilled archers. They have an immense missile attack
letting them shred anything lightly armoured, They have a great attack and are well
armoured and have an AP axe for a melee weapon as well as a shield, so anything too
heavily armoured for their bows can be cut open like a can opener. These troops should be
your main line as much as possible as Russia as they are truly do-anything versatile troops.
Just watch out for cavalry charges, as Dvor are very expensive.
Dismounted French Archers
Factions: France
Due to an apparent bug Dismounted French Archers are not in the grand campaign. They
can be used in custom battles and online however. These archers are strong in melee and
shoot well. They are also well armoured so they are versatile.
Dismounted Heavy Archers
Factions: Timurids, Mongols
These badass looking archers are tough. They have high missile attack and high melee
attack for an archer, decent defence and are well armoured. They are also disciplined and
highly trained with high morale. This archer is deadly at range to lightly armoured troops and
can cut down many foes in melee. When fighting the Mongols run these archers down with
cavalry charges to kill them quickly.
Dismounted Lithuanian Cavalry
Factions: Poland
These archers have a high melee attack and are as good at shooting as most other archers.
Despite their decent defence they lack armour which makes them vulnerable. Just use them
like normal archers but use them as flankers or support if needed. They are cheap for their
versitilty.
Highland Archers
Factions: Scotland
Highland Archers are poor archers and weak in melee. Remember you cant upgrade their
armour far so they will always be vulnerable to missiles.
Janissary Archers
Factions: Turks
Janissary archers are some of the best archers in M2TW. They have a great missile attack
for archers and very good melee stats but they are handicapped by having no shields and
only wielding knives in melee. They are best used as pure archers as much as possible as
knives dont really cut it in melee, despite the fact they are both disciplined and highly
trained. They can plant stakes.
Lithuanian Archers
Factions: Poland
These archers are poor shooters but can fight somewhat in melee. Dont bother recruiting
them to use as archers as they really are no good at it and only serviceable, not great as
light infantry as they lack armour. They can plant stakes in front of their position.
Longbowmen
Factions: England
The basic longbowman is a very, very useful archer as your expect. Their missile attack
looks low but they will still put a serious dent in armoured or unarmoured units. They arent
completely terrible at melee but with a unit like this you really want to keep them out of it if
you can help it. Remember however they use an AP hammer in melee so they are effective
against armour whenever shooting or in melee.
Mongol Foot Archers
Factions: Mongols
Mongol foot archers are by far the weakest Mongol unit. They suck critically in melee as they
have the same stats as Peasant Archers. They shoot decently however. When fighting the
Mongols one good cavalry charge should finish these.
Mongol Infantry
Factions: Mongols
Mongol Infantry are much like Byzantine Guard They are equally good in both distance and
melee combat and have shields so they can be a real pain to kill as they can do anything. Hit
them with heavy cavalry charges to wipe these dangerous troops out as fast as possible.
Muslim Archers
Factions: Sicily
Muslim Archers are some of the best archers for a Catholic faction as they are equal to the
best archers for factions that rely on them like the Mongols and make great support for
Sicilys commonly infantry heavy army. They arent bad in melee either.
Noble Highland Archers
Factions: Scotland
Noble Highland Archers are better than Highland Archers. They are better in every stat and
work well for supporting your units in melee as well as shooting, as they are good in both.
Don't expect them to outshoot must other factions archers however.
Norse Archers
Factions: Denmark
Norse archers are another tough archer unit that can do double duty as light infantry as well
as laying down some good missile fire.
Nubian Archers
Factions: Egypt
Nubian archers arent very good in melee as their defence is too low but they are good
enough at shooting and maybe as very light flankers.
Ottoman Infantry
Factions: Turks
Ottoman Infantry are amazing infantry. They are equal to the best archers in stats but are
vastly better as they have good melee stats and pack swords and SHEILDS which they take
off their backs when in melee, a trait which no other archers in M2:TW have. This makes
them by far the most versatile and best shortbow archers in M2TW. They can rain death
down with their excellent missile attack and can more than pull their weight in melee with
their excellent stats (for an archer) and weapons especially against weaker troops like
spearmen. Ottoman Infantry are some of the most useful troops in the game and they will
come in incredibly handy for the Turkish player.
Peasant Archers
Factions: Spain, France, England, Venice, Sicily, Milan, Russia, Turks, Egypt, Portugal,
Denmark, Poland, Hungry, Mongols
Peasant archers are the first archers you get for most factions and are the weakest in the
game. They have a poor missile attack and are hopeless in melee, with useless attack and
nonexistent defence. Use them early on for whittling down armies from a distance as they
are very easy to train, requiring simply a bowyer and as a last ditch melee unit. When using
Peasant Archers its a very good idea to get them some armour as soon as possible to
increase their survival.
As weak as Peasant Archers are they are likely to form the mainstay of your normal armies
along with Spear Militia. They are quite capable of taking down unarmoured or lightly
armoured troops en mass like Spear Militia and they are so cheap its easy to have lots of
them to cut down enemies before the inevitable melee, so you take less causalities. They
also make good fodder and distraction forces with their hails of missiles, as clouds of
incoming pointy things tend to get peoples attention regardless if they are accurate or not.
Scots Guard
Factions: France
Scots Guard are elite Scottish Longbowmen in French employ. As youd imagine they are
extremely powerful troops, as they are the only non English longbow unit. They can rain
death on armoured and unarmoured troops from far away and they also are heavily
armoured and armed with swords for melee. Scots Guard are a bit like Ottoman Infantry and
do well in melee even although their lack of shields will cause them to take quite a few
losses. They are right up there as one of the elite most versatile units.
Sherwood Archers
Attack 16 Missile attack: 13 Charge: 3 Defence: 9 Armour: 0 Cost: 510 Upkeep: 250
Factions: England
Sherwood Archers are pretty ridiculous looking English archers there are 60 men rather than
the standard 120 for archer units. They have the highest missile attack for a longbow in
M2TW and they are very powerful in mle against light troops with their high attack but their
smaller numbers means they tend to kill less than standard longbowmen and their lack of
armour and small numbers gets them crushed in melee by any decent troops. Despite what
their description says Sherwood archers cannot hide in any terrain only forests like everyone
else and they really arent worth using over larger normal longbow units. Their small number,
complete lack of armour and limited volume of fire makes them inferior.
Sabadar Militia
Factions: Timurids
Another unit of tough archers, youd be hard pressed to tell these are militia without their
name. They are like Mongol Heavy Archers but even better defended as they are better with
their shields. Sabadar Militia are deadly archers and when fighting the Timurids youll want to
take them out quick with a cavalry charge.
Trebizond Archers
Factions: Byzantium
These archers have a great missile attack and somewhat passable mle stats, making
them useful archers in the archer laden Byzantine Empire.
Turkish Archers
Factions: Turks
Average archers they have a decent missile attack and can be used as light infantry to flank
enemies.
Retinue Longbowmen
Factions: England
Englands elite archers, Retinue Longbowmen are well armoured longbowmen with better
stats than the Yeoman Archers. Their good missile attack coupled with the AP power of their
longbows allows them to unleash a fearsome storm of pointy death on any enemies and they
can handle themselves in melee and work well as light infantry as they wield swords. They
still arent going to beat cavalry and unlike the other longbowmen their melee weapon does
not pierce armour so dont rely on them too much in melee. But if your meleeing with
longbowmen theres something wrong as they shoot extremely well and can coat the field in
the dead.
Venetian Archers
Factions: Venice
Venetian Archers are another unit of very useful archers, they have the same high missile
attack of eastern faction archers and are heavily armoured enabling them to shrug off quite a
bit of counter fire. They work well with Venetian Heavy Infantry to wipe out the enemies of
Venice, of which there are many.
Yeoman Archers
Factions: England
Yeoman Archers are basically Retinue Longbowmen without the armour. They can fight in
melee better than standard longbows and shoot better, but their low defence gets them killed
quickly. Keep them protected and let them shower the enemy with death or use them as
flankers putting their good attack to good use. Remember they also carry an AP hammer in
melee allowing them to fight heavy infantry more effectively than youd think.
Crossbowmen
Crossbowmen are some of the most versatile troops in M2TW.

Crossbowmen are a very important troop type in M2: TW: they will be useful in almost every
battle. They are the first available troops, besides maybe javelins that will allow you to pierce
armour for most factions and are very common mercs and are easily trained. Crossbows fire
slower than archers, but their missiles have more power and they will usually kill men they
hit and go through armour. Crossbowmen should be deployed in front of your troops or on
higher ground because they are horrible at arcing their shots and youll kill very few.
Crossbowmen and Spearmen will likely be the bulk of your early army. Crossbowmen are
equally good against lightly armoured targets as well, as they have a high missile attack and
will kill them easily. This makes a large force of crossbows more versatile than archers, as
they can hold their own against both light troops and heavy ones. The weakness of
crossbowmen is they fire more slowly than archers and need to stay still to get the most
effect because of their slower weapons. They also tend to be bad skirmishers because of
their long animation cycles. Dont use crossbowmen against archers if you can help it. They
may win but usually they wont and will take a lot of causalities unless the crossbowmen are
clearly superior or well armoured.
Pavise crossbowmen are crossbowmen with a large shield on their back. They use this
shield to shelter behind while reloading They are largely impervious to arrows while
reloading, tho the fact you cant control their reloading cycle makes it difficult to get them to
reload and shelter themselves when the enemy fires a volley Their pavise also protects them
from rear missile attacks as they will take few casualties when hit in the back. Note that AP
missiles like longbows or gunpowder weapons somewhat ignore their shields and will still
inflict casualties. When they fire they will often get killed by incoming fire.
Defeating Crossbowmen
Crossbowmen are deadly if not taken out quickly. They have much the same vulnerability as
archers: just charge them with cavalry to massacre them with the charge. They are overall
usually worse than archers in melee and they shoot somewhat slower, so massed archer fire
will hurt them.
Aventurier
Factions: France
Aventuriers are the most powerful crossbowmen in the game. They have a huge missile
attack making them very deadly to armoured units as long as they are protected and are
heavily armoured to protect them from archer fire. They are very expensive troops for
archers so keep them in a secure position, especially given the crossbows slowness and let
them snipe away relentlessly at the foe. They can fight well in melee if the need arises.
Crossbowmen
Factions: France, Denmark, Hungry
The basic crossbowmen are actually a rather uncommon unit compared to Crossbow Militia
and have the same missile attack. They are well armoured however and can fight better in
melee. Their stats are still nothing amazing and they are best kept in a secure spot to fire
away.
Crossbow Militia
Attack: 2 Missile attack: 9 Charge: 1 Defence: 1 Armour: 0 Cost: 220 Upkeep: 100 (Spain,
France, Portugal, Denmark)
Attack: 6 Missile attack: 9 Charge: 1 Defence: 8 Armour: 5 Cost: 330 Upkeep: 100 (Moors)
Attack: 6 Missile attack: 9 Charge: 1 Defence: 7 Armour: 4 Cost: 300 Upkeep: 100 (Russia,
Poland)
Crossbow Militia is some of the most useful militia in M2TW. They have a very good missile
attack for missile unit militia and are still quite capable of seriously hurting armoured units.
Their cheap cost and effective missiles makes it easy to have many units of them to create a
hail of fire that is very effective for defending settlements or killing heavy infantry. Use allot of
these units especially as garrisons.
Genoese Crossbowmen
Factions: Milan
Genoese Crossbowmen are Milans elite crossbowmen and are much like Adventuriers but
with slightly less armour and less melee ability. They still have a very powerful missile attack
and a Pavise shield
Genoese Crossbow Militia
Factions: Milan
Genoese Crossbow Militia are an unsurprisingly weaker version of standard Genoese
Crossbowmen. They have worse stats all around and lower morale but are still some of the
best crossbowmen in the game and far above most other militia. They pack a powerful
missile attack, a pavise shield, good armour and ok melee ability making them extremely
useful.
Pavise Crossbowmen
Factions: Spain, Sicily, Portugal, Papal States
Pavise crossbowmen are much like normal crossbows except for the large shield on their
back. Use them like normal crossbowmen and take advantage of their pavise as said in the
unit class intro.
Pavise Crossbow Militia
Factions: Venice, Sicily, Hungry, Papal States
Even though these troops are militia, their stats are the same as normal Pavise
Crossbowmen, except their upkeep is slightly less for the same unit. Use them in the same
way.
Peasant Crossbowmen
Attack: 7 Missile attack: 12 charge: 1 Defence: 4 Armour: 0 Cost: 400 Upkeep: 100
Factions: Portugal, France, Venice, Milan, Moors, Portugal, Papal States
Peasant Crossbowmen are exactly like Crossbow Militia except they are recruited from
cities. Use them in the same way. Except for the moors that is. Moorish peasant
crossbowmen are very different to the catholic version with a ridiculously powerful missile
attack for peasants and far better melee. Their defence is better too, tho they are best kept
out of melee so they can work their ranged magic. Used properly Peasant Crossbowmen
can make the Moors a nightmare to face, as long as you keep them out of counter fire.
Gunpowder Infantry
Guns: more fun than firing a bow!

Ah gunpowder. They sure are fun to use; filling the air with smoke and fire as they send
rolling thunder echoing across the hills, loosening the enemys bowels.
The first thing to remember with gunpowder infantry is they arent meant to run around and
skirmish like archers. Gunpowder is a slow unwieldy weapon and units that use it fire slowly
and take time to get into formation. When using gunpowder you want to let the units get set
up, leave skirmish off and not move them until you absolutely have to, so they can volley fire
uninterrupted and as quickly as possible. It doesnt matter how close the enemy gets, the
closer they are the more devastating their vollies will become.
The second thing to remember about gunpowder is that it scares the crap out of the enemy.
Any enemy that take casualties from gunpowder units suffers a large morale penalty and
they will rout quite easily. Gunfire also inflicts great damage on armoured and unarmoured
units alike as it goes stight though armour. Muskets are deadliest at this as they can pierce
any armour in M2TW. Arquebusiers are less powerful against Armour than Musketeers but
still far better than most things, and handgunner bullets are the weakest armour piercers.
Massed heavy infantry are exactly the sort of target gunners should be used against as they
are slow to reach the Musketeers and heavily armoured.
When using gunpowder you can and will hit your own troops. They cant arc their fire like
archers and if you fire into a melee with your gunners behind your own troops youll hit your
own and because of gunpowders morale penalty you could easily rout your own men. That
said you usually have to accept a certain amount of friendly causalities when using guns as
their tactics usually have them behind something else.
Gunpowder infantry should be deployed in two ranks. This way they can bring the maximum
amount of guns to bear on the enemy and they reload very quickly. In three rows the front
gunners wait until the previous front rank has moved to the rear and started to reload before
they fire. In two ranks the front rank simply steps to the side moving directly to the back and
reloads while the front fires. Then that row moves and so on. The guns will stay far more
organised and will fire much more quickly in two ranks. In more than three rows less men are
firing at once and the third rank and ones further back will not shoot, making their volume of
fire less than it could be and wasting their potential. You should only deploy gunpowder
infantry this way when they are firing into a narrow frontage.
Gunpowder infantry use a revolving fire style where the front rank shoots and then reloads.
They then run to the back and the front rank fire and the cycle repeats. The front rank
usually will not shoot until the previous front rank is in position at the back and facing the
front, which is why two ranks are best. This takes a few seconds, which is why gunpowder
must be kept still.
Gunpowder, because of its slowness and setup time must be used with another unit to
protect them, unless you have so many gun units you can shoot the enemy to pieces before
they even get close. Pikemen are the classic choice for this, together Musketeers and
pikemen for the infamous pike and shot formation. In M2TW however, its better to have your
pikemen behind your Musketeers. If youre facing slow infantry this gives the gunners an
unobstructed view of the enemy and removes the possibly of friendly fire. If you are facing
fast cavalry have the pikemen in front of the Musketeers. Or just to the side to intercept their
charge. If you are facing a lot of archers, you shouldnt even bother with gunpowder as their
slowness and lack of armour and bugs make them almost useless and they will take too
many causalities. Musketeers are exempt from this rule as they have such a huge range and
kill morale so they can rout archers before they can do much damage. Any infantry that can
hold a line, like heavy swordsmen, spearmen or even knights can be used instead of pikes.
Having cavalry on the flanks to intercept them is a good idea too.
(Thanks to cottontail for this idea, said in his words) For the Turks, Janissary Musketeers
and archers are a deadly combination. First, you let the Janissary archers deploy stakes,
and retreat them behind your main battleline. Then, you move your Musketeers up to the
stakes, where they can fire upon the enemy without any fear from any cavalry. This makes
up for the fact that the Turks do not have any pikemen. The combination of deadly arrowfire
and demoralizing musketfire should rout the enemy even before they reach your battleline.
Same with the English, only with longbows and Arquebusiers instead.
It is important to keep Arquebusiers and Musketeers out of counter fire. There is a bug in
M2TW that causes Arquebusiers and Musketeers that get hit with missiles to get stuck in
reforming or just keep shifting men around uselessly instead of just shooting. This is
lessened if they are in two ranks but it still sometimes happens. Hand gunners do not have
the fire_by_rank attribute that the other gun units have and thus dont suffer from this
problem. Try to use some other unit to draw fire. This again isnt much of a problem for
Musketeers because of their huge range. A hilltop is perfect for Musketeers, because they
get an even longer range and its harder for archers to shoot back at them. Always deploy
your gunners on a hill if you can.
All Musketeers have a huge range compared to other missiles and a big missile attack.
Musketeers have the longest range in the game and from the beginning of the battle the
enemy are almost always in range and they will start blasting away at them. Musketeers are
also the most accurate gun unit and piece armour very easily. They suffer from the
gunpowder bugs as stated above and can sometimes be useless because of them. When
they work however there are few things deadlier, as long as they have support as
Musketeers are also weak in melee, though their stats vary.
Hand gunners are not meant to stay back and shoot like the others. Handguns have a short
range and they have a much better attack and defence: Attack: 11 Defence: 13 Armour: 7
compared to Attack: 6 Defence: 3 Armour: 0 for both Musketeers and Arquebusiers and they
are best used to fire a volley or two into the flanks or rear of an engaged unit or simply as the
unit approaches to wreck their morale from the gunpowder attack, then charge into the
enemy, where their good stats and the enemies lowered morale from their gun attack will
help them triumph. Against already engaged units this will almost certainly make them rout.
Note that often its better to use crossbows than gunpowder. Crossbows have no bugs, they
shoot faster and they pierce armour too, just not as well as guns. Crossbows are a more
reliable set of units.
Defeating gunpowder
Gunpowder are very easy to defeat if you can charge them with cavalry, the problem is
getting close enough without your units fleeing in terror. Rank fire gun units take a long time
to charge direction and get set up for a volley so flanking them with cavalry should ensure
they get caught by the charge if you enemy leaves them unprotected.
Archers are good too, as the bugs with gunpowder mean the incoming fire will disrupt them
and stop them from shooting. Artillery can also disrupt them for a time giving you time to get
closer. Long range archers like longbows are great against guns.
Arquebusiers
Factions: Spain, France, Venice, Sicily, Milan, Russia, Poland, Hungry, Papal States
Arquebusiers are the common gunpowder unit for most factions. They have a much shorter
range than musketeers but they still rip up armour. They are very vulnerable to archers
because of the bugs with the unit, their short range and the fact they have horrible defence
and no armour, their morale is also quite low for such advanced units so keep them out of
melee.
Cossack Musketeers
Factions: Russia
Cossack Musketeers are very powerful musketeers; only bettered by Janissary Musketeers.
They have a huge missile attack, the huge musket range and a big melee attack for a missile
unit, but their defence is lower and their lack of armour or shields tend to get them wiped out.
Make sure archers dont get too close.
Hand Gunners
Attack: 11 Missile attack: 13 Charge: 2 Defence: 13 Armour: 7 Cost: 650 Upkeep:
150(Spain, Venice, Sicily, Milan, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, Papal States)
Attack: 11 Missile attack: 13 Charge: 3 Defence: 13 Armour: 5 Cost: 850 Upkeep: 150(Moors
Turks Timurids)
Hand gunners are very different to the other gun units. They have a lower missile attack and
much less range. But they make up for it with vastly better defence and being well armoured
with a good melee attack. Handgunners can handle melee quite well, especially against
spearmen and should be used to fire a short range volley or two into the enemy then charge
into the melee with their swords. The huge morale penalty from gunpowder will help them
break the enemy after a little melee. They are also good for firing into a melee to make the
enemy rout much faster. Just dont use them entirely at range because they arent as
effective as other gun units and are less accurate The Islamic version of this unit has far
more morale than the Catholic version, has slightly more charge and less armour
Janissary Musketeers
Factions: Turks
Janissary Musketeers have the best missile attack in the game for non artillery (except for
Naffatun) with the same huge musket range and are extremely lethal as long as they are
working right. They fight well in melee too. They are disciplined and highly trained. If you are
the Turks youll want lots of these.
Musketeers
Factions: Spain, Venice, Milan, Portugal
Musketeers are the basic musketeers and are the worst in melee. They have the lowest
missile attack for a musket but are still deadly at range and have the same huge musket
range. If used correctly they come in very useful.
Sudanese Gunners
Attack: 9 Missile attack: 16 Charge: 3 Defence: 7 Armour: 0 Cost: 570
Factions: Moors
Sudanese Gunners are better than Arquebusiers in melee but should still stay far out of it.
They have the same range as Musketeers, but with an even better missile attack.
Portuguese Arquebusiers
Factions: Portugal
Portugals Arquebusiers have better stats all round: they have the same missile attack as
Musketeers, so their vollies are devastating and they can also fight in melee decently as they
have good attack and defence, far better than standard Arquebusiers.
Naffatun
Its hard to have knightly arrogance when youre burning alive.

Naffatun is a one of a kind unit in M2TW. There are 40 men in the unit on huge unit sizes.
The men are armed with Naffatun grenades: pots of lethal fiery chemicals that explode into
fire when they hit an enemy. They have a tiny range, the smallest in the game and 5
grenades per man. These grenades are utterly devastating. They hit with area affect
damage ignoring armour and killing even heavily armoured troops like knights incredibly
quickly. One Naffatun grenade will kill anyone it hits regardless of how much armour or
hitpoints they have. Even generals with their many hitpoints will die from one Naffatun
grenade. Two units of Naffatun volleying at once can kill half a unit of foot knights in a few
seconds they have a huge effect on morale and can just devastate units incredibility quickly.
All Naffatun need to be effective is a pinning unit. They are small units and take a few
seconds to throw their grenades and have a very small range. First thing is to take them off
skirmish. Their range is only slightly more than the one that triggers the skirmisher reaction
to pull back. If you dont turn it off they will just run away. Next you need a cheap unit to hold
the enemy, like spearmen. The pinning unit might get hit as well so dont use something
expensive. Charge the enemy with your fodder to make sure they get stuck in a melee with
them and run the Naffatun up. If there are any archers around kill them with your cavalry.
Then target the pinned unit with your Naffatun. They will throw their grenades into the enemy
causing terrible damage ripping the enemy apart in seconds. The enemy will break in
seconds no matter what they are and will be utterly destroyed. Anything from Generals
Bodyguard to Feudal Knights. Naffatun is deadly like no other unit if you use it correctly.
They are cheap for how effective they are.
Even tho youll usually be using them at a distance, remember that Naffatun has very high
morale and they are powerful in melee as they have a high melee attack and good defence
and have some armour. They will always be very outnumbered in a melee however.
Naffatun
Factions: Timurids, Turks, Egypt, Mongols
These are the only Naffatun using unit in the game and should be used as outlined above.
Thy have all round great stats.
Cavalry
Cavalry are mounted troops used for charging into enemies to cause causalities and panic,
chase routers and kill missile units and for support for other attacking troops. They are much
faster than infantry and come in several classes depending on how well armoured they are.
Knights and some heavy cavalry have the most powerful charge bonuses in M2TW and are
great for pounding vulnerable infantry like swordsmen or missile troops. More details are
found on those classes descriptions.
You should always have some lighter cavalry to kill off enemy archers to stop them hitting
your slow infantry which are often unable to catch them and for wiping out dangerous enemy
artillery before it can bombard your troops
Use heavy cavalry to flank and charge into units your infantry are fighting to rout them
quickly. Charging from behind or a flank does a LOT more damage.
Cavalry in M2TW sometimes have pathfinding problems and they dont seem to do too well
against infantry in melee. Cavalry attacking infantry will often just sit there with their nose
against the infantry instead of trotting past to attack. They sometimes just sit there and dont
strike at them or other cavalry and are generally sort of buggy. Dont charge cavalry head on
against infantry unless they are powerful, as light ones will just die.
All Cavalry get -6 defence/attack in the trees and will be largely useless in them. Keep
cavalry out of the woods.
Light cavalry
For when you just dont want arrows in your face.

Light cavalry are lightly armed fast cavalry. They usually have low defence and armour but
most of them are at least decent in melee. They are best used to attack enemy archers and
perform flanking attacks on weaker foes. They are also the best unit for catching routing
enemy units because of their speed. Dont use light cavalry in a head on brawl with melee
infantry or heavy cavalry, they arent designed for a head on fight and will quickly suffer
causalities.
Javelin cavalry are much like light cavalry but have the advantage of AP javelins as well. If
you can you should always get the more versatile and useful javelin cavalry over light
cavalry.
Arab Cavalry
Arab cavalry are good in a fight for light cavalry. They have good attack and their defence is
good for this class of unit. They will still lose to heavy forces head on, but are perfect for
decimating lighter troops with a flank and missile units with a charge. They are quite
expensive.
Border Horse
Factions: Scotland
Border Horse are weaker light cavalry but they still pack a good attack. Their defence is low
however and they will suffer in a serious fight. Just stick to the light cavalry uses outlined
above. This unit can be useful to support Scotlands pikemen and wipe out archers shooting
the slow moving pikes.
Byzantine Lancers
Factions: Byzantium
Byzantine Lancers have good defence for light cavalry and have an ok attack and are
disciplined. They have a better charge than some other light cavalry, so crashing them into
the back of a flanked unit is a good idea.
Hobilars
Factions: England
These light cavalry are one of the original ones from mtw and are still useful for chasing
routers and running down missile units. They are too weak to be much use in a serious fight
though you could charge them into the back of engaged enemies, dont expect them to last
too long.
Militia Cavalry
Attack: 7 Charge: 3 Defence: 10 Armour: 4 Cost: 320(Byzantium)
Attack: 7 Charge: 3 Defence: 11 Armour: 4 Cost: 350(Russia)
Militia Cavalry are weak light cavalry. They have a low attack and their defence is nothing
special though it is higher than some other light cavalry. Their morale is poorer than other
light cavalry. Only use these troops for chasing routers and attacking weaker missiles. Even
tough archers can cut this unit up. They arent too good as flankers because if the enemy
hold they will turn around and destroy them.
Mongol Light Lancers
Factions: Mongols
Mongol Light Lancers as youd expect are quite tough and have some of the best stats,
though other units beat them in invidual stats. These troops are the small fry of the Mongol
invasion compared to the other units the Mongols have. They still can be annoying but they
are easy enough to kill with heavy cav or spearmen. They have huge morale as much as
elite troops and are also disciplined. Zero upkeep.
Mounted Sergeants
Factions: France, Venice, Sicily, Milan, Papal States
Mounted Sergeants are common Catholic light cavalry. They have good stats for light
cavalry with good attack and decent defence. They come in handy to screen the usually
infantry heavy armies of catholic factions and stop them getting picked apart by missiles.
Scouts
Factions: Denmark
Scots are another unit of weak light cavalry. They are about the same as Militia Cavalry and
have the same low morale. Use them in the same way.
Stradiots
Factions: Venice
Stradiots are elite light cavalry. They have the best attack for light cavalry and a good
charge, huge morale and they are fast. They are very useful light cavalry to flank and chase
missile units and their morale and speed makes it easy to use them to support your main
force and smash into the rear of enemies. These are the most useful light cavalry. Try not to
use them too recklessly as they are expensive for light cavalry.
Heavy Cavalry
They may not be knights but heavy cavalry are still a wall of shiny, pointy death.
Heavy cavalry are heavily armoured cavalry that are not knights. They are usually just like
knights in other ways, since they all have heavy armour, usually great morale and powerful
weapons along with a good charge. Read the section on mounted knights and apply the
same tactics to heavy cavalry.
Broken Lances
Factions: Venice, Milan, Papal States
While not Knights, Broken Lances do a good job as they are very heavily armoured, sharing
their armour rating with few other units and a good attack. Their charge is devastating and
combined with their massive armour its clear this unit is meant to charge into the enemy
repeatedly to smash them apart. They can fight well enough in melee if you prefer to leave
them there however.
Cavalry Militia
Factions: Venice, Sicily, Milan
For a militia unit this unit is tough indeed as they are as armoured as Feudal Knights and
have an ok charge. Their attack is lower than most cavalry but they are still well suited for a
flanking charge with their heavy armour and come in handy for chasing missiles because
they can resist them with their armour and have a good enough attack and charge to cut
them down fast. Just watch their morale as it is only militia level.
Christian Guard
Factions: Moors
Christian Guard are very powerful heavy cavalry as they have a great attack and can soak
up damage with their armour, their charge is also devastating. This unit is the perfect
companion to the Moors other light troops and will do its duty well indeed. They are
disciplined and highly trained.
Demi Lancers
Factions: England
Demi Lancers are high tech troops England gets late in the game. They have a very high
charge and fight well in melee with their knight level attack and armour but their lack of a
shield makes them rather vulnerable in melee. There is no real reason to use this unit over
Englands excellent English Knights since they just get a basic sword for a secondary
weapon and not an AP axe.
Druzhina
Faction: Russia
Druzhina are more like medium cavalry than heavy cavalry. They have a good attack and
defence and their secondary weapon axe is AP. If youre facing armoured units charge
normally since they wont use their secondary weapon in the charge then alt+click in melee
to get them to use their axes to cut down armoured foes.
Famiglia Ducale
Factions: Milan
Famiglia Ducale are incredibly heavily armoured cavalry. They are tied for highest armour in
the game and can soak up punishment like knights. They are still perfectly vulnerable to
crossbows, gunpowder and spearmen, but to just about anything else tho they are wrecking
balls with a massive charge bonus to shred infantry. Their attack is very good and with their
armour they are perfectly suited to crashing into the front of foot knights and the like to crush
them. They lack shields so their defence is less than some but their immense armour and
their charge should see them killing a lot of enemy. Just remember they are very expensive.
Granadine Lancers
Factions: Moors
Granadine Lancers are weaker than some other cavalry and despite being called lancers
they dont have the bone crushing charge units like Famiglia Ducale do. They also have less
armour. They still come in handy for flank charges and will still kill quite a lot from the front
and they do quite well in melee.
Huscarls
Factions: Denmark
Huscarls are axe wielding medium, cavalry with all around good stats and very high morale.
They are better left in the melee, as their axe gives them a low charge bonus. Send them
and their AP axes crashing into heavy cavalry or heavy infantry flanks and watch the
slaughter.
Hussars
Factions: Poland, Hungry
Hussars, some of the most famous cavalry in history are elite medium cavalry with morale
higher than knights. They have a powerful knight level attack and good defence and are well
armoured. They are perfect for chasing missile units, flanking and acting as general purpose
cavalry as their sky high morale and strong attack make them very useful. They are
expensive however.
Latinkon
Factions: Byzantium
Latinkon cant compare to knights but they are still quite powerful as they are well armoured
with a good attack and can still take allot of punishment. Their high charge makes them good
for smashing infantry too. They are impertutious.
Men At Arms
Men at Arms are tough with good defence and very heavy armour, they can take allot of
abuse before dying. They arent so good at dishing out pain, as their attack is low for heavy
cavally. They can handle themselves in melee but you might want to consider pulling them
back and charging over and over as they have a good charge.
Mamluks
Factions: Egypt
Mamluks are elite Egyptian cavalry armed with a spear and an AP mace. They are well
armoured, disciplined and highly trained but their charge is weaker because they do not
have lances. Send Mamluks against heavy cavalry and use Alt+right click to have them
change to their maces which will let them cut them up.
Merchant Cavalry Militia
Factions: France, Spain, Scotland, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, Hungry, England
Merchant Cavalry are basically Feudal Knights without the skill. They may look like knights
and act like knights but they are much weaker and have very poor charge, less than most
infantry and much, much lower morale. Take advantage of their heavy armour and use them
to take out archers and chase missile cavalry, since they will take less damage from non
armour piercing missiles. They are ok for flank attacks as well because of their good
defence. They are much cheaper than knights for this purpose too.
Mongol Heavy Lancers

Mongol Heavy Lancers are weaker than you might expect from the Mongols. These are
heavy cavalry with better stats than them as they are basically weaker versions of hussars.
They are still very powerful and annoying to kill in the campaign because of their experience
level, morale, fact they are disciplined and highly trained and the Mongols very skilled
generals, but they arent as deadly as you might expect. They do however have an AP mace
for a secondary weapon so watch out in melee.
Norse War Clerics
Factions: Denmark
Norse War Clerics are pretty tough heavy cavalry armed with AP maces. While their charge
is the worst in the heavy cavalry class (besides Merchant Cavalry) because they have just
maces rather than lances they can soak up damage with their high defence and very heavy
armour. It takes a lot to kill these horsemen and they will serve well. Its best to leave these
men in melee as they can dish out damage far better than they can with their weak charge
stat.
Royal Banderium
Factions: Hungary
Royal Banderium is a powerful unit with great attack for heavy cavalry and they have good
defence and very heavy armour. Their charge is high and they have insane morale. They
can handle melee and repeated charges with equal ferocity.
Polish Guard
Factions: Poland
Polish guard are exactly like Royal Banderium except they have 1 more point in defence.
Use them in the same way.
Polish Retainers
Factions: Poland
Polish Retainers are the same as Latinkon and should be used in the same way.
Conquistadores
Factions: Spain, Portugal (America only)
Conquistadores are powerful troops that are only traininable in the Americas when you can
travel to the new world. This means they will mostly be fighting the weak Aztec troops and
will utterly crush them. The Aztecs are mostly weak and the Conquisdores great stats and
sky high morale will let them sit in melee when they are vastly outnumbered and take down
loads of enemies. They are excellent at charging the Aztecs too as none of them are well
armoured and they will die in droves from a charge even though the Conquistadores charge
isnt anything special. Take full advantage of these units when you have the opportunity but I
think the dismounted ones are even more useful as they have better stats.
Kataphractoi
Faction: Byzantium
Another MTW unit, Kataphractoi arent as good as some other heavy cavalry as their attack
is lower and they share their defence and armour with several others. They are still powerful
units especially since they are disciplined but not the best. Just use them for the general
heavy cav tasks.
Lancers
Factions: France
Lancers are very powerful heavy cavalry for France. They have a strong attack for cav, a
bonecrushing charge and an insane amount of armour the most of any unit. They are also
impertutious. They are like spike covered wrecking balls; carving great holes in enemy units.
Their charge is deadly and they fight very well in melee. They may be expensive but this is a
great unit and some of the most powerful cavalry.
Qapukulu
Factions: Turks
Another powerful heavy cav unit this is better than most with very high defence and heavy
armour. Their attack is high like some other heavy cavalry, although their charge isnt that
good. This cavalry is best used to charge once or twice then left to fight it out in melee,
especially since they have an AP mace.
Royal Mamluks
Factions: Egypt
While these cavalry arent as heavily armoured as some they are tied for best attack in the
game and with 14 attack can tear enemy units apart. Their defence is still high even though
they have less armour. This is an excellent and powerful cavalry unit and will come in very
handy in the Egypt late game. They have an AP secondary mace.
Sipahi Lancers
Factions: Turks
Sipahi Lancers arent the greatest heavy cav but they still have enough attack to pack a
punch. They are best left in melee because; despite being lancers their charge is weak.
Gendarmes
Factions: Spain, France
Gendarmes arent the greatest heavy cavalry but they are tied with Lancers for having the
most armour. Their advantage is they can be trained from cities, the only heavy cavalry that
can be. While they are weaker at melee than most heavy cav they still have the crushing
charge and heavy armour to fall back on. Repeatedly drive this cavalry into vulnerable heavy
infantry and they will be worth their cost.
Knights
Cavalry Knights
Quick men while they are distracted by our shiny helmets!

Knights are elite heavy cavalry. They are usually very heavily armoured and have very high
morale the highest in the game besides the Great Cross and the like. Knights will take on
terrible odds with no problems and will fight in a losing melee for a long time. They usually
have very good attack and high to very high defence. The thing that makes knights special
though is their devastating charge and their huge morale. Knights have a massive charge: a
unit of Santiago knights charging into a unit of dismounted Feudal Knights will kill half the
unit and they will almost instantly rout. Mounted knights can fight well in melee but the best
way to use them is to keep pulling back, allow them to redress the ranks by dragging out a
formation and charging them in again to kill another load of enemy. Knights can do this
because their heavy armour stops them getting killed while they pull back and their morale
lets them pull back without it turning into a rout. The best targets for mounted knights are
swordsmen, as they dont really have any defence against the charge and will suffer many
losses. The only drawback to this style of fighting is the micromanagement required. Even
Im guilty of commonly leaving my knights in mle and doing something else.
Defeating Knights
Knights are vulnerable to spears just like other cavalry. Even Spear Militia can defeat knights
and stop their charge without too many deaths, if you have enough though they will take
major losses in the ensuing melee. A solid wall of spears is the best way to kill them.
Crossbows and javelins work very well as the more knights you can kill before they reach
melee the better. Gunpowder works well against knights as well. Pikemen are expendable
and can stop their charge if they are in spearwall formation.
Chivalric Knights
Factions: Spain, France, Sicily, Denmark, Hungry
Chivalric knights are the generic powerful knights for factions that dont have a unique unit of
them. They share their stats with quite a few other units of knights and have a high attack
and defence as well as typical heavy knight armour. Their charge is devastating so crash
them into swordsmen and light infantry to crush them. This unit can handle itself well in
melee.
English Knights
Factions: England
English Knights seem somewhat weaker than other knights at first glance, but thats until you
see they have AP axes as secondary weapons. The combination of a powerful charge, very
heavy armour and an AP weapon lets them absolutely crush other knights and heavy troops.
They go though enemy knights very quick and are very useful indeed. Make good use of
these knights.
Knights of Santiago
Factions: Spain, Portugal
These knights are all around good units similar to other knights and are recruitable only in a
province with a chapter house dedicated to this knightly order.
Knights Templar
Factions: France, Venice, Sicily, Milan, Scotland, Denmark, Poland, Hungry, Papal States,
England
These are just like the Knights of Santiago
Knights Hospitalizer
Factions: France, Venice, Sicily, Milan, Scotland, Poland, Hungry, Papal States, England
Again just like Knights of Santiago
Mailed knights
Factions: Spain, France, Venice, Sicily, Milan, Scotland, Portugal, Papal States, England
The first knights most factions get, Mailed Knights are the weakest knights in the game
especially their low charge and armour. They are still quite powerful however and have the
same high morale. Be a bit more careful with these knights and consider charging into the
flank or rear of units engaged with your infantry for best effect.
Norman Knights
Factions: Sicily
Norman Knights are a slightly weaker version of Chivalric Knights; they have a surprisingly
low charge. They are available early in the campaign however and replace the Feudal Knight
for Sicily. They still have the same attack as the later knights and the same armour as
Feudal Knights so they are a powerful unit for Sicily. They are impertutious.
Feudal Knights
Factions: Spain, France, Venice, Milan, Scotland, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, Papal States,
England
Feudal Knights are the most common knights and for the time you get them they are
powerful and are strong enough to crash into the front of a unit and do major damage with
their charge but are best used to hit the flanks or rear. They are impertutious.
Noble Knights
Factions: France
Noble Knights are just like Norman Knights except they have a more powerful charge. They
are very tough cavalry like most knights and fight equally well in melee or charging
repeatedly. They are impertutious.
Polish Knights
Factions: Poland
Polish Knights are the same as Noble Knights except slightly more expensive. Use them in
the same way.
Portuguese Knights
Attack: 10 Charge: 8 Defence: 16 Armour: 8 Cost: 700
Factions: Portugal
The Knights of Portugal are exactly like English Knights except they have a sword rather
than an AP axe for a secondary weapon making then allot less useful, but still serviceable
troops.
Dismounted knights
Dismounted knights can rip up most troops in melee.

Dismounted knights, as you have probably guessed are knights without their horses. They
fight on foot. They have slightly less morale than their mounted version and none of them
are impertutious when some of their mounted versions are, but their morale is still up there
with other elite troops like Terico Pikemen. Some foot knights use polearms and thus are
bugged and suck.
Dismounted knights are best used as elite heavy infantry. They usually have swords and are
very well armoured and have shields, so they can take a lot of punishment and take few
causalities from most units. Use dismounted knights as the centre of your line to hold the
enemy and cut their way though and as an anchor for your army to work around. A mixed
force of foot knights and cavalry knights is a difficult one to stop indeed and footknights will
always be very, very useful. Just watch out for crossbows and artillery; footknights are very
slow as they are covered with armour and will be crushed by massed crossbow or longbow
fire. Javelin cavalry are also deadly to foot knights, as they are too fast for the knights to
catch and their javelins pierce armour. Knights work best with your own ranged support or
light cavalry backup to kill missiles shooting the knights.
Defeating foot knights
Foot knights are slow and have no way of attacking from a distance, so the best way to deal
with them is armour piercing missiles: use your crossbows to soften the knights up. England
has the easiest time of it, since their longbows have a huge range and are devastating to
armour. Javelin cavalry is very handy too, as it can stay out of melee and use its AP
weapon to whittle down the knights. Artillery can also help thin their ranks and cavalry
charges into the rear will still kill a lot. Since they only have swords, cavalry with powerful
charges; like other knights and any other cavalry with 7 or greater charge will cause a ton of
causalities, as the sword wielding knights cannot resist the charge. Whatever you do, kill as
many as you can before they make it into melee. If they make it to melee, good quality
axemen like Dismounted Druzhina will rip them a new one very quickly as they pierce
armour.
Dismounted Chivalric Knights

Factions: Spain, France, Denmark, Hungry
The common generic knight, they can soak up damage like a sponge with their armour and
dish out the hurt as well. They serve well in the foot knight role of shredding enemy units in
melee. They are only very slightly better than Feudal Knights as they have one more point in
armour.
Dismounted English knights
Factions: England
While these knights are great mounted, they are no use on foot because they use bugged
polearms. Their stats are lopsided because they lack shields so they arent as good at
holding the enemy like other knights are. Dont bother with them.
Dismounted Feudal Knights
Factions: Spain, France, HRE, England, Venice, Milan, Scotland, Portugal, Denmark,
Hungry, Papal States
Feudal Knights are the standard knight for catholic factions and all of them have it. They are
almost exactly the same as Chivalric Knights and excel in being your front line to cut up the
enemy and hold them in place. Most factions will be using these most commonly for their
foot knights.
Dismounted Imperial Knights
Factions: HRE
These troops look weaker than the other dismounted knights, until you see they use armour
piercing maces. This means they will slice up other knights and heavy infantry in melee,
which makes them very useful indeed. They have less attack for dealing with lightly
armoured foes, but their good defence makes them hard for unarmoured troops to damage
as they tend to have light weapons. Just watch out for axemen, as the Imperial Knights cant
kill them as easily as other knights because of their lower attack and they will die quickly to
them.
Dismounted Noble Knights
Factions: France
This is another useless bugged knight and is no use at all.
Dismounted Norman Knights
Factions: Sicily
These knights are exactly the same as Dismounted Feudal Knights and should be used in
the same way.
Dismounted Polish Knights

Factions: Poland
Polish Knights are just the same as Dismounted Chivalric Knights and should be used in the
same way.
Dismounted Portuguese Knights
Factions: Portugal
Another useless bugged knight, dont even bother with them.
General
Sometimes you just have to get down and bust a few heads.
Much like generals in RTW your general is the soul of your army. While the men are the
body, the general is their soul that keeps them fighting. Over dramatics aside the quality of
your general has a huge effect on how your troops fight and their morale. An army can suffer
from a bad general as much as it can benefit from a great one. A general will almost always
be better than a captain for a leader.
There are too many traits to go into here that generals can get but here are some tips on
moulding a good general.
Start young. As soon as a guy comes of age give him an army and send him off to conquer.
The sooner you start getting him command stars and positive traits the better and the longer
he has to improve and serve your faction before he dies from old age.
Get the general involved. While generals bodyguards are not as devastating as RTWs, they
are still powerful units and are more than capable of contributing to a melee and hacking
troops apart themselves; getting the general involved personally is a great way to get him
good traits.
Keep an eye on your general. Watch the melee closely. If your general is cut off from his
bodyguard or is bloody and surrounded by people hitting him, pull the unit back to get him
out of the danger, if hes behind his bodyguard and bloody but not actually getting hit you
can risk leaving him there a bit longer. If you cant see your general, pause and find him: his
distinctive armour makes him easy to spot. Some of the most useful traits like the scarred
traits (that increase your generals hitpoints, so it takes more hits to kill him) are gained by
surviving a battle but being badly injured. If a general loses most of his hitpoints but survives
a battle he will often get a scarred trait. It is a fine line to keep him in mle long enough to
get good traits and getting him killed. Dont be afraid of throwing your general into the thick
of things.
Regardless of his traits all generals have a heavy cavalry bodyguard. The size of the
bodyguard depends on the importance of the general and his skills. High command star
generals get larger bodyguards, while faction leaders and heirs always get very big ones.
Traits about security, like about being paranoid about assassins and such give even more
bodyguards. The only faction that doesnt have a heavy cav bodyguard is the Aztecs, as
they lack cavalry. In one historical battle the English have a heavy infantry bodyguard for
their king.
Bodyguard
Attack: 13 Charge: 6 Defence: 17 Armour: 8 Cost: 860 Upkeep: 250(Timurids, Mongols)
Attack: 14 Charge: 5 Defence: 18 Armour: 7 Cost: 900 Upkeep: 250(Moors, Turks, Egypt)
The early bodyguard for these factions pack good stats indeed and are more than capable of
tuning a battle with a charge or in melee and protecting the general. They do not have the
AP weapon of the later bodyguard but still serve well.
Late Bodyguard
Factions: Moors, Turks, Egypt
The late bodyguard for these factions has slightly less attack and more defence and armour
but they also pack an armour piercing mace rather than a sword for a secondary weapon.
This makes them more useful, as they can cut up tough units in mle with their great stats
and AP attack.
Generals Bodyguard
Attack: 13 Charge: 8 Defence: 16 Armour: 7 Cost: 820 Upkeep: 250 (England Spain,
France, Venice, Sicily, Milan, Scotland, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, Hungry, Papal States)
Attack: 14 Charge: 5 Defence: 18 Armour: 7 Cost: 820 Upkeep: 250 (Russia)
The average Christian bodyguard is a powerful unit, able to turn the tide of a melee with
good all round stats comparable to knights. Russias bodyguard is even more powerful with
great defence and very strong attack for a cavalry unit. Take full advantage of this if you are
Russia.
Khans Guard
Oddly these cavalry based factions dont have the best generals bodyguard as they have
lesser stats than some. They do pack an AP mace for a secondary weapon which helps
them along. They are disciplined which most bodyguards arent.
Late Generals Bodyguard
Attack: 13 Charge: 8 Defence: 17 Armour: 9 Cost: 870Upkeep: 250(England France, Venice
HRE Spain Sicily, Milan, Sicily, Milan, Scotland, Portugal, Denmark, Poland)
Attack: 13 Charge: 8 Defence: 18 Armour: 9 Cost: 910 Upkeep: 250 (Russia)
While these bodyguards have some better stats they have some worse ones too like Russia
losing attack. They also do not have AP secondary weapons unlike most late bodyguards.
They are still more than capable of protecting your generals however, with great stats all
around.
Tsars Guard
Factions: Russia
Tsars Guard are the toughest generals bodyguard in the game and they guard the faction
leader. They have powerful stats with the best defence out of the bodyguards and a powerful
attack. Their charge isnt very good, so its better to leave them in melee.
Javelin Cavalry
Theres nothing like finding a javelin in your neck to get a sleepy head up and about.
Javelin cavalry are very useful, versatile troops. They are light or medium cavalry with good
stats and throwing javelins. Their javelins are AP and are devastating to slower infantry and
cavalry chasing them. They have the same staggered firing style of infantry but their much
greater mobility makes it far easier for them to shred armoured units under a hail of metal
death. They all have skirmish mode so they can pull back from charging infantry while hitting
them with their deadly missiles, they are also fast enough to skirmish away from heavy
cavalry. Like the infantry version, javelin cavalry work best when they can fire into the flank
or rear of a unit bypassing their shields. Use cheap spearmen or the like to hold the unit or
use the javelin cavalry to unbalance a melee in your troops favour by hurling javelins into
their flank as they try to fight your troops in melee. Almost all of these cavalry are good in
melee so so dont be shy of charging into a flank especially with the powerful Boyar Sons
and their AP axes.
Boyar Sons
Factions: Russia
Boyar Sons are useful jav cav able to function well as medium cavalry as well as whittle
down armoured targets. The axe they use in melee is AP as well so they can charge into
armoured units and cut down the weakened survivors after the javelin deluge. They have
good morale. This is, I think the best javelin cavalry and one of the most useful units since
they can launch AP missiles before following it up with an AP melee weapon.
Desert Cavalry
Factions: Moor, Egypt
Desert Cavalry are the weakest javelin cavalry in the game, but they still pack the same
punch with their javelins as most others but will quickly suffer in melee.
Granadine Jinetes
Factions: Moors
These javelin cavalry are weaker than most others but not by much and they still serve very
well as jav cav as they still have a good missile attack.
Jinetes
Factions: Spain
Jinetes are slightly stronger than their Moorish brethren in attack, scroll but weaker in
defence and have the same missile attack. They should be used in the same way
Polish Nobles
Factions: Poland
Polish Nobles are the toughest jav cav; they can fight well in melee as they have better stats
than some knights and very high morale. Dont hesitate at all to use them as heavy cavalry
with the added bonus of throwing AP missiles. They have high morale as well.
Horse Archers
Horse archers rule the desert.

Horse Archers are mounted troops with bows. This combination of missiles and mobility
makes them the perfect troops for harassment as they can kill enemies with their arrows
then withdraw before the enemy can catch them. Almost all horse archers use bows and
their missile attack tends to be lower than foot archers to represent the lessened accuracy
from horseback archery. The best way to use horse archers is to ride around to the rear or
right flank of the enemy so you can hit them in their unshielded side or weakly armoured
back so youll kill allot more with their arrows. Attacking from the front with horse archers is
much less effective as they have a usually low missile attack and many shots will be blocked
by the enemies shield or absorbed by armour, unless they are firing at unarmoured targets
like Spear Militia Always move to the flank or rear with them and make sure to keep skirmish
mode on unless you have them in a secure position you dont want them to leave. Make sure
to keep horse archers out of melee, as with a few exceptions they are weak in it and are
usually lightly armoured or unarmoured with weak weapons. Foot archer and gunpowder
are also strong against horse archers, as the horses are a big target and usually lack armour
and have less missile attack. If you are facing infantry missile troops besides javelins with
horse archers charge them and fight them in melee but remember that some archers are
quite tough and will beat horse archers in melee.
M2TW also features a few units of mounted crossbowmen and one longbow equipped horse
archer unit. Mounted crossbows should be used much like mounted gunpowder except that
they dont cause a morale penalty. Take advantage of their ability to crush armoured units
and try to keep them out of counter fire.
Byzantine Cavalry
Factions: Byzantine cavalry
Byzantine Cavalry are poor shooters but they arent bad in melee and work quite well as light
cavalry for charging into a flank, though their horrible charge bonus and light armour
handicaps them, their defence is good., Their morale is low so be careful with them.
Cossack Cavalry
Factions: Russia
Russias famous Cossacks, these HAs shoot well and have good attack for such light
cavalry and a good charge for horse archers, so they can charge into a flank and use their
decent melee stats to fight for a while. They will die quickly however because of their lack of
armour. They have very high morale; the same as knights.
Dvor Cavalry
Factions: Russia
Dvor are strong horse archers, the best in the game! They have a powerful attack and great
defence for horse archers as well as an AP axe for melee. They shoot very well and have
very high morale making them very versatile. This unit can shoot at light units from a
distance to cause causalities and charge home and fight then well, or charge heavily
armoured troops their arrows are ineffective against and crush them using their AP
secondary weapon. These are some of Russias most useful troops and you should use
them tho they are expensive.
French Mounted Archers
Factions: France
French Mounted Archers, like Dismounted French Archers are not available in the grand
campaign as they do not appear. This is a crying shame because they are remarkably
deadly troops. The thing that makes this unit so powerful is they are armed with
LONGBOWS with the power and armour piercing ability that comes with them, as well as
possessing the mobility of horse archers. This makes them very deadly vs. slow heavy
infantry and other armoured units. Im not sure why England doesnt get a mounted longbow
unit but sadly you can only take advantage of this unit in custom battles and online
multiplayer.
Granadine Crossbow Cavalry
Factions: Moors
As one of the few mounted crossbow units in M2TW these are very useful. They are quite
well armoured for missile units, tho they have weak defence and you still should keep them
out of melee. They can take some counter fire and well beat horse archers. Its much better
to attack the armoured units such as foot knights however.
Hungarian Nobles
Factions: Hungry
Hungarian nobles are like weaker Dvor. They can fight in melee just as well as shooting their
defence lets them take damage and dont hesitate to charge them into a flank if needed after
showering the enemy with arrows.
Kazaks
Factions: Russia
Kazaks are basic Russian horse archers. They have a weak missile attack, poor melee and
their defence is very low, as they lack armour. Just use them for shooting lighter troops like
spearmen and keep them far away from melee.
Mamluk Archers
Factions: Egypt
Mamluk archers are another tough unit of horse archers wielding secondary AP maces as
small shields making them very handy in melee they have good melee stats which coupled
with their AP weapon makes them useful tho they are good shooters as well.
Magyar Cavalry
Factions: Hungry
Magyar cavalry are lightly armoured horse archers but their defence still sucks. Besides
their armour they are the same as Kazaks and should be used for shooting and kept out of
melee.
Mongol Heavy Archers
Mongol heavy archers are exactly the same as Mamluk archers including the secondary AP
mace. This unit has no upkeep so the Mongols dont go bankrupt.
Mongol Horse Archers
Attack: 8 Missile attack: 8 charge: 4 Defence: 6 Armour: 0 Cost: 590 Upkeep: 0
Factions: Mongols
These horse archers have better melee attack than some, tho they have weak defence so
are best kept out of melee. Being Mongol they unsurprisingly shoot very well. Zero upkeep.
Turkish Horse Archers
Factions: Timurids, Turks
Turkish horse archers are just like Kazaks and should be used as basic horse archers and
kept out of melee.
Mounted Crossbowmen
Factions: Venice, Milan, Portugal, Denmark, Papal States
Mounted crossbows are far weaker than their infantry counterparts but are still great against
enemy armour as they can skirmish away from enemies and can fire on the move. Their
missile attack is low so they wont really be all that effective against unarmoured units
compared to archers so target the armoured enemies with them. They are tolerable as light
cavalry in melee too
Sipahis
Factions: Turks
Sipahis are yet another unit of HA just like Hungarian Nobles. Use them in the same way.
Skythikon
Attack: 6 Missile attack: 6 Defence: 3 Armour: 0 Cost: 380 Upkeep: 175
Faction: Byzantium
Again these HAs are just like Kazaks.
Lithuanian cavalry
Factions: Poland
Despite not having armour Lithuanian Cavalry are ok in melee since they have a great attack
for horse archers and just about excusable defence. Their missile attack is low but they can
be used as light cavalry as well as shooting.
Strzelcy
Factions: Poland
Strzelcy are mounted crossbowmen that should be used much like the normal mounted
crossbowmen.
Turkomans
Turkomans are another basic horse archer unit. They have better defence than some as
they pack a small shield but should still be used purely to shoot.
Vardariotriotai
Attack: 10 Missile attack 9 Charge: 4 Defence: 17 Armour: 5 Cost: 800
Factions: Byzantines
This is another very useful unit of horse archers able to fight well in melee and function as
light cavalry if required. Dont hesitate to throw them against weaker units or into a flank.
Camels
Armour is for pussies anyway!

Camels, much like RTW's camels are made for one purpose and that is killing off cavalry.
Camels get +2 attack vs. cavalry and at the same time cavalry get -4 attack vs. camels,
giving the camels a huge advantage. Camels get -4 against elephants like horses however,
so keep them far away. Camels are never armoured and will suffer greatly at the hands of
infantry. Keep camels far away from infantry, except weak missile units and focus on hitting
the cavalry with them.
Tuareg Camel Spearmen
Factions: Moors
The only recruitable unit of camels in M2: TW, Tuareg give the Moors a big advantage over
their Christian neighbours. The only other camel units are mercenaries.
Elephants
Dont call him dumbo.

Elephants are well known as devastating units: they were deadly in RTW unless properly
countered. In M2TW they are toned down and incredibly rare, but still remain rather
dangerous. Because of the much better morale of units, elephants have a hard time routing
them quickly like in RTW. Very tough units like knights will just sit in melee with the
elephants and steadily wear them down. For best results crash into the rear with elephants
and use them in an attack with other units unit at the same time.
Elephants
Factions: Timurids
The basic elephant; they have good stats and hitpoints and serve well for charging into the
enemy and scaring them. They have Arquebusiers on their backs and the morale crushing
fire from these help the elephants to rout enemies. The Arquebusiers are very accurate
compared to foot Arquebusiers and can really put a hole in an enemy unit given a minute or
two. This unit cannot skirmish. Note that these units upkeep is zero so the Timurids dont
bankrupt themselves keeping it around.
Elephant Artillery
Factions: Timurids
Elephant Artillery, historically accurate or not are normal elephants with small serpentine
type cannons mounted on their backs rather than guys with arquebuses. The cannons have
a small area of affect, but since there are 15 elephants in the unit they can unload a hail of
lead if you have a few units of them. A volley from two units of cannon elephants basically
covers the area in front of them to a good distance with shells. If a unit is caught in there
they will usually suffer 1/3 causalities in one go. 2 or 3 vollies will crush that unit so firing
them into a mass of troops will kill tons and they will rout very quickly. Dont underestimate
the power of elephant artillery. If enemies make it to the elephants they wont have an easy
time in melee since they are elephants and it will take a while for elephants to start dropping.
If youre unlucky enough to face this unit; use your own artillery, any long range archers and
swamp them with melee troops...and pray. They are very, very expensive by far the most in
the game so losing the unit will be very bad for the Timurids. This unit also has zero upkeep.
Artillery
Artillery works somewhat better than suicidal peasants ramming a gate on the bigger walls.
Artillery are large siege engines designed for bashing down walls and indirect fire on troops.
They usually have a long range and an area of effect attack
Standard artillery includes all non gun artillery. All artillery is inaccurate and you have to be
lucky to hit a unit directly with their missiles, and even if you do it wont kill that many.
Artillery are all different and more information can be found in the unit descriptions.
One thing common to all artillery is they need another unit of infantry or cavalry nearby to
intercept cavalry charges and stop the artillery crew getting dragged into melee. Artillery
crews are small and while they are surprisingly good at melee as they have some armour
and knives a cavalry charge will slaughter them and they will be cut down in melee with
anything tougher than peasants as they are far outnumbered.
Artillery isnt the crushing deadly force you might expect it to be. They are more a constant
low level barrage of missiles chipping away at the enemy and killing some now and then
from the safety of behind your lines. They can kill some in a battle but never rely on your
artillery to win you a battle, unless its a siege.
Gunpowder artillery can destroy stone walls very easily, as their shots have a lot of power.
The ultimate example of this is the Turkish Monster Bombard that can destroy even the
biggest of walls in one shot. Gunpowder Artillery is very useful for destroying towers to make
the assault less costly for your troops.
The Rocket Launcher, an amusing artillery weapon used by the Mongols fires a huge
barrage of 36 rockets which are very inaccurate and land over a large area and are flame
weapons. They are excellent for weakening masses of troops and for firing at enemy artillery
since the many fiery projective gives them a good chance of hitting an enemy artillery piece
directly and destroying it outright or setting it on fire, making it useless.
An annoyance of artillery is the fact is has a minimum range. If you tell a unit to fire and its in
range but the unit wont shoot, that means the enemy is too close to target. Only large
cannon type artillery have minimum ranges, Ribaults do not. Use fodder and other troops to
keep enemies far enough away from the artillery so it can fire, or target more distant enemy
troops.
Ballista
Attack: vs. troops: 55 vs. buildings: 10 Charge: 0 Defence: 8 Armour: 4 Cost: 370 Upkeep:
150
Factions: Spain, France, Timurids, Venice, Sicily, Milan, Scotland, Byzantium, Russia, Turks,
Egypt, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, Hungry, Papal States, Mongols, England
Ballistae are common artillery and every faction has them. They fire large arrow like bolts
and have a longer range than archers, though its short ranged for artillery. They are mostly
useless vs troops. In both flaming missiles and normal mode they will kill 1-6 per missile, as
the missiles pierce though men and will often kill the line of men behind the first man it hits if
the unit is lined up and marching. While much more effective than RTWs version, ballistae
arent really going to make a dent in an army themselves, though they are ok for sitting
behind your lines and constantly hitting the enemy with bolts for a constant low level
barrage. Ballistae are effective against wooden walls, but stone ones will take allot of hits to
destroy and the ballista crew will get killed by wall defences before they can do much.
Basilisk
Factions: Russia, Portugal, Poland, Hungry
Basilisks are the most advanced cannons in the game, needing a ton of buildings and a very
advanced city and only few factions get them. They are overwhelmingly not worth their cost.
They are seemingly just as inaccurate as the previous artillery and have the same ability to
fire solid or exploding shot. They have a huge range but otherwise arent really better than
cannons.
Bombard
250
Factions: France, Spain, Timurids, Sicily, Milan, Scotland, Byzantium, Russia, Turks, Egypt,
Portugal, Denmark, Poland, Hungry, Papal States, Mongols, England
Bombards are the first gunpowder artillery you can make and are very powerful at smashing
down walls for their cost. While highly inaccurate and needing a high level city to produce
they can decimate walls in a few shots and big ones will fall quite quickly. They are too
inaccurate to be used against troops, but a hit will kill quite a few. You might as well disband
your other arty besides trebs when bombards come along.
Cannon
Attack: vs. troops: 63 vs. buildings: 250 Charge: 0 Defence: 8 Armour: 4 Cost: 870
Factions: Timurids, Sicily, Russia, Turks, Egypt, Denmark, Poland
Cannon have just a tiny bit more range than bombards: 380 vs. the bombards 375. They are
the later version of bombards and are very powerful at smashing walls.
Catapult
150
Factions: Spain, France, Timurids, Venice, Sicily, Milan, Scotland, Byzantium, Russia, Turks,
Egypt, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, Hungry, Papal States, Mongols, England
One of the first siege engines youll use, catapults have a rather short range but can fling
large rocks at walls causing much more damage than ballistae. They work well against walls,
but large walls will take quite a long time to bash down with catapults. You should use allot
of theses early on for your siege needs, but when you can you should switch to trebuchets
as their longer range and more powerful missiles make them much better. Whenever you
need a wall beat down though catapults are a fine and easily accessible engine that, given
enough time, can bash anything down.
Grand Bombard
250
Factions: Spain, France, Timurids, Milan, Russia, Turks, Egypt, Portugal
Grand Bombards are larger versions of the normal bombard cannon available soon after
bombards by constructing the next building in the gunsmith line. They do a bit more damage
to buildings and have quite a bit more range. They are worth building instead of bombards,
but not really enough to disband your current bombards if you cant replace them easily, as
youll be moving onto canons soon.
Culverin
250
Factions: Spain, France, Venice, Milan, Scotland, Portugal, Papal States, England
Culverins are much better than bombards. They are more accurate vs. walls and can knock
down stone walls in a few shots. Having them for sieges is very handy. They also have a
much longer range than bombards
Monster Bombard
Attack: Vs troops: 63 Vs buildings: 1000(!) Charge: 0 Defence: 9 Armour: 4 Cost: 1900
Upkeep: 400
These massive cannons are the ultimate siege guns, able to breach the biggest of walls in a
single shot. They are slow to fire, but there is no other gun more suited to sieges. As youd
imagine this gun isnt a good one to use against troops as its just too big and inaccurate.
They have very high morale, more than other artillery crews so they wont break. Note that
this gun doesnt have a reloading animation unlike the other artillery. When the gun fires it is
pushed back and slowly rolls forward again, then the barrel moves forward slowly as well.
When the animation finishes, the gun fires again. It has about the same rate of fire as
smaller guns, despite its size.
Mortar
Attack: vs. troops: 63 Vs buildings: 150 Charge: 0 Defence: 8 Armour: 4 Cost: 520 Upkeep:
250
Factions: Scotland, Sicily, Venice, Papal States, England
Mortars are different to other artillery as they fire high into the sky and land on walls rather
than being fired at them. This means they can easily arc over walls to hit troops inside
settlements and behind obstacles.
They arent very accurate however and not that good at actually destroying walls as thye
dont dish out that much damage and their range is shorter. They are cheaper than even
basic bombards. They work ok as cheap artillery, but cannons are better.
Ribault
Attack: vs. troops: 63 Vs buildings: 5 Defence: 8 Armour: 4 Cost: 400 Upkeep: 250
Factions: Spain, Venice, Sicily, Milan, Scotland, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, Hungry, Papal
States, England
Ribaults are a collection of small tubes mounted together on a carriage. They are fired as
one, shelling the target with multiple projectiles. The repeated gunpowder hits wreck morale
very quickly and they are quite accurate; usually getting at least a few hits every volley.
Ribaults have a small range and you should position your troops to the side of a Ribault
unless you want them to get nailed when it fires, as they cant arc their shots. Ribaults are
the most effective artillery against troops and are cheap.
Rocket Launcher
Attack: vs. troops: 63 vs. buildings: 10 Defence: 8 Armour: 4 Cost: 1100 Upkeep: 250
Rocket Launchers are powerful artillery pieces that are unfortunately only available to
unplayable factions. They fire a barrage of flaming rockets over a wide area, causing great
damage to units caught in the area. Because they fire a collection of projectiles there is a
good chance of scoring multiple hits and the flaming nature of the missiles further lowers
morale because of the fire attack. A good hit from the rocket launcher will kill 10-20 enemies
and drastically lower their morale, making them one of the most effective artillery.
Remember that this artillery has no minimum range and they are useless against walls, as
they do no damage.
Serpentine
Factions: France, Denmark, Poland, Hungry
Serpentines have a huge range despite their small size. They are designed for use against
troops rather than buildings, as they have a tiny building attack and a decent troop attack.
They are notably more accurate than other artillery and their shots will hit in a smaller area,
rather than the wide random damage area of larger siege guns. If you want to use artillery
against troops this is the gun to use.
Trebuchet
Factions: Spain, France, Timurids, Venice, Sicily, Milan, Scotland, Byzantium, Egypt,
Portugal, Denmark, Poland, Hungry, Papal States, Mongols, England
Trebuchets, the most advanced non gunpowder artillery is unique as it has three firing
modes. Besides the normal fire mode and flaming missiles it also has the ability to fling half
a rotting cow at your enemy. The cow stays on the ground after firing and any enemy troops
walking over the cow become sick, signified by their banner flashing green. This lowers their
morale threshold. While they may still look like they are on eager morale, after a mle starts
or they are otherwise subjected to morale pressures their morale will fall much more quickly
than normal while they are affected by the cow. Anyone who walks over the cow remains on
the battlefield will become sick, including your own men if you move them too close. Firing
cows is best used on defence where you can fire a few cows in the enemies path so they
walk over them before the clash with your front line, which will make them rout much more
quickly. Just dont let your men chase them over the cow if there is more fighting to be done,
otherwise you men will become sick and youll be at a disadvantage.
As for the more normal modes of the treb it is much more powerful against buildings than the
catapult and can tear down walls quite quickly, although large walls will take some work. Not
really accurate enough to be worth using against troops, except for cows.
Native troops
No they arent pyjamas...

These troops are the Aztec factions army. They dont really fit anywhere comfortably, so
they get their own section. All Aztec units have little or no armour and all of them are
vulnerable to missiles. Aztec units are weak and their advantage is their great numbers as
they will always far outnumber you. Individually Aztec units cant stand up to any of the other
more advanced factions.
Arrow Warriors
Arrow Warriors are a javelin unit, tho they do not pierce armour so their missiles arent a
threat and even tho they use a spear like javelin in melee they dont get a bonus vs. cavalry.
This is another unit you should, mop up with little effort, particularly with swordsmen since
they use spear like weapons.
Aztec Archers
The Aztecs archer unit, these are weak archers that shoot poorly, but arent bad in melee for
archers. By the time you can reach the Aztecs youll have loads of heavily armoured,
powerful units that will render these archers mostly useless.
Aztec Spearmen
These spearmen are the Aztecs only anti cavalry unit. They are very weak with an average
attack, but very poor defence and will die very quickly in melee with just about anything.
They will do some damage to cavalry, but will die quickly to anything else, especially
missiles, as they completely lack armour.
Aztec Spear Throwers

This unit is remenisant of RTWs skirmisher units as they throw javelins that are not armour
piercing, have next to no defence and are cheap disposable fodder. That is exactly what
these troops are; they are not a threat at all and will die in seconds. Their missiles are almost
harmless.
Aztec Warriors
Aztec Warriors are the rank and file of the Aztec armies with decent attack and good
defence for the Aztecs. They have average morale and are no match at all for most units
from Europe. Engage them with knights or swordsmen and they will die in droves.
Bodyguard
This unit is the personal bodyguard of Aztec generals who are of course on foot for this
faction. Since the Aztecs lack armour this general is far more vulnerable than any other, so
use archers and crossbows to whittle down his guard or just charge it with strong cavalry as
they just wield macana clubs and will take a lot of losses from a cavalry charge. You should
have no problem killing this general, even tho his bodyguard have good stats.
Cuahchiqueh
Cuahchiqueh are the same troops as the ones used for the bodyguard and they should be
dealt with in the same way: massed missiles either AP or not and powerful cavalry charges
as they are annoyingly good in melee, have very high morale and are impertutious
Coyote Priests
Coyote Priests have the ability to chant like RTWs druids, raising the morale of units in the
area. They also frighten enemy infantry that are close to them, which is all the more reason
to kill them as quickly as possible with missiles or cavalry charges. Try to take out the priests
first if you can to remove their morale bonus. They are just as tough as Cuahchiqueh in
melee.
Eagle Warriors
Attack: 20 Charge: 5 Defence 9 Armour: 4 Cost: 340
Eagle Warriors are a step above normal warriors in the ranks of the Aztecs, but in M2TW
they are worthless as they are two handed weapon users affected by the bugs. Their two
handed macana clubs act like polearms, which makes them little more than fodder. They
have great morale so it will take a while to rout them.
Jaguar Warrior
Jaguar Warriors are the Aztec elite, but suck as they use two handed macanas and thus
suffer the 2hand bug, just like polearms.
Peasants and non-combatants
No, its MY run down village!

This category has the peasant type units of factions and other units where combat isnt their
primary use. Peasants, much like the previous games are weak and useful for fodder and as
just more bodies to throw at the enemy. M2: TWs Catholic peasants are surprisingly strong
however.
Carroccio Standard
Factions: Venice, Milan
The Carroccio Standard is a cart with flags guarded by a small unit of spearmen. These
spearmen have very high stats and will never rout. They will fight to the last man no matter
what to protect the standard. The standard projects a morale boost around itself, making any
troops in its vicinity harder to rout.
The spearmen only have 60 men and while they are very tough they will not hold on long if
attacked as they are greatly outnumbered by most units. Keep the standard safe. If you
alt+right click on an enemy the spearmen will leave the standard to fight and from then on
can be moved around normally. If you click on the standard they will reattach to the standard
and begin pushing it again. If they are attacked they will detach from the standard to fight.
Aztec Peasants
Factions: Aztecs
Aztec Peasants are the toughest peasants in M2TW: they have the best attack for peasants
and good defence. They will of course fall very quickly to your invasion force.
Catholic Peasants
Attack: 4 Charge: 1 Defence: 4 Cost: 110 Upkeep: 90
Factions: Spain, France, Venice, Milan, Poland, Hungry. Russia, Byzantium
Catholic Peasants are actually tough for peasants. They have a low attack but not totally
useless and enough defence to take a few hits. Their morale, despite being the lowest in the
game keeps them in melee till of the unit is dead as long as they arent flanked or anything
and they come in handy for fodder or as decoys as they cost virtually nothing. Dont sell
peasants short: early on they can have a place in your army as line troops and later they still
come in handy as fodder.
Muslim Peasants
Factions: Moors, Turks, Timurids, Egypt
Muslim Peasants are virtually useless units. They are for whatever reason far weaker than
catholic peasants and are very weak. Use them for arrow fodder and to push siege
equipment, they are also good for holding troops while you hit them with naptha although
tougher yet still cheap troops like Spear Militia would be better for that as they will stay alive
long enough to finish your movement or attack.
Highland Rabble
Factions: Scotland
Highland Rabble are even weaker than Catholic Peasants, but they have allot of morale for
peasants and the impertutious trait which means moral shocks have less of an effect on
them and they will hold for a long time, even when taking terrible causalities. The
combination of great morale and extreme cheapness make these the perfect fodder, able to
stay in a fight and hold the enemy, even while getting massacred.
Transylvanian Peasants
Factions: Hungry
Transylvanian Peasants, who are army volunteers would you believe are very different to the
majority of peasants. They wield armour piercing polearms but have horrible stats and no
armour. They have more morale than most peasants and will hold till a lot of them have been
cut down. This unit wont actually kill many enemies because of the fact polearms suck and
their stats are terrible, but they can serve as cheap fodder, able to hold an area and dish out
some kills of their own for a little while. They are cheap enough to make lots of.
Religious troops
Crusade troops
Religion makes people do funny things...

These troops are available only when you create a crusading army.
Flagellants
Flagellants are two handed club users so they wont be killing much of anything, though they
have better stats than the other peasant crusader fodder. They have huge morale and are
disciplined, so they will take allot of punishment before routing
Pilgrims
Pilgrims are even weaker than Catholic Peasants stats wise, but at least they have a knife
rather than a pitchfork. These men come in huge numbers, as they are very cheap and there
are usually a lot of them available for recruitment when you go on crusade. They are
excellent for using to push siege engines and to tie up enemies, as well as charging in a
huge mass to lower enemy morale with their extreme numbers. They are extra useful on
crusade because you cant afford to lose too many crusade troops and you can keep more
crusaders alive to use after the crusade. They are deceptively useful and you should have at
least some in your army and use them to fill spare army slots.
Crusader Knights
Crusader Knights are just like Chivalric Knights, except only recruitable though the crusade
and much, much cheaper. They have more upkeep however which will make them very
expensive indeed to keep around after the crusade.
Crusader Sergeants
Crusader Sergeants are the same as Armoured Sergeants that Catholic factions can
normally recruit and thus make good filler for a crusading army. Almost every army needs
some spears and these men do their job well.
Religious Fanatics
Religious Fanatics are very cheap troops. They use two handed clubs and have no armour
and nonexistent defence, but they have a ton of morale and are impetutous so they are
almost unroutable. Their two handed weapons makes them pretty useless at actually killing
because of the 2hand bug, but their extreme cheapness and their staying power makes
them some of the best cannon fodder in M2TW as they can sit in a melee for a long time and
hold the enemy, while dishing out their own few kills and they are good troops to fill a stack
when you join a crusade
Jihad troops
These troops can only be hired on a Jihad and thus only if you are Muslim
Ghazis
Ghazis are just like the MTW unit of the same name. They are AP axemen with a good
attack but no armour and low defence, so they will kill fast and die fast. They are very, VERY
cheap and are best used as flankers, as hitting the enemy from behind lessens the chance
the ghazis will be focused on and killed. They do a good job vs. spearmen and the like, but
can also cut up armoured troops. You should always get these when you go on a Jihad as
they are very cheap and very useful. They are impertutious and have high morale so they
wont be routing anywhere.
Mutatawwia
Mutatawwia are one of the cheapest units in the entire Total War series. They are just like
Religious Fanatics except they are Jihad troops instead, so hire them if you have some
spare space in your stack as they also possess huge morale and are impertutious
Mercenaries
Missiles
Bulgarian Brigands
Locations: Centre of map
Bulgarian Brigands, another returning MTW unit are pretty tough archers; they can handle
themselves in melee very well for archers and have some armour. Their lack of shields gets
them killed quickly, but they work well as high risk archers on the front lines that will see
some melee, as they can shoot well and survive some melee action.
Balkan Archers
Locations Centre of map
These crappy mercs are Peasant Archers with another name. They are very cheap and
decent early on but hardly worth the cost except for fodder later. Still massed missile fire is
useful, so dont sneer at then if you have some free space.
Catalans
Locations: Greece, Venetian lands.
Catalans are strong javelin infantry with all round good stats and a powerful missile attack.
They will come in very useful against armoured targets and they can mix it up well in melee
with lightly armoured foes. They are the only javelin troops in M2TW to have armour without
upgrades, so they can take more abuse than the other javelins. They have insane morale,
higher than knights so they will do their duty.
Free Company Longbowmen
Locations: England, Italy
While quite rare and hard to find, the fact they are Longbowmen make these very useful
mercs indeed. They come in incredibly handy for any faction for combating heavy troops and
should always be hired. See the archer section for more information on Longbowmen.
Mercenary Crossbowmen
Locations: Everywhere
Mercenary Crossbowmen are common mercs and youll find them all over the place. They
are great early on as their wide availability gives you quick access to AP missiles and it can
take a little while to get settlements up to where they can start producing crossbowmen.
These are always good fillers for an army, as they have a higher missile attack than most
recruitable crossbows, though you should keep them out of melee, as they will die very
quickly.
Mercenary Pavise Crossbowmen
Locations:
These are just like recruitable Pasvise Crossbowmen. See the archer section for more.
Needless to say these are very useful mercs.
Armenian Archers
Locations: East of Constanople.
Armenian Archers are decent archers: they pack a good missile attack but their lack of
armour and defence means they should be kept far away from melee.
Irish Kerns
Location: Ireland only
Irish Kerns are javelin infantry with all around terrible stats. They have average aim but their
melee stats suck severely and you should keep them far away from melee if you want them
to stay alive. They are available only in Ireland, so you wont be using them much.
Cavalry
Alan Light Cavalry
Alan Light Cavalry are quite powerful for light cavalry: they have good attack for their class,
good defence and are lightly armoured. It hardly matters though, as they are extremely
expensive and have ridiculous upkeep, as much as knights! Dont bother with these units as
their cost isnt worth it.
Bedouin Cavalry
Locations: South East of map
Bedouin Cavalry are very light cavalry with a decent attack but no armour and low defence.
They are ok for chasing routers and attacking archers and missile units, but too light to be
useful for anything else. They arent really worth their cost.
Armenian Cavalry
Locations: East of Constantinople.
Armenian Cavalry are heavy cavalry, tho their attack isnt anything to shout about. They
have average defence and armour and cost a stupid amount in upkeep. This is another merc
that isnt that great as even knights are cheaper and isnt worth its cost. They can fill the role
of heavy cavalry adequately if you need it however.
Serbian Hussars
Locations: East Europe
Serbian Hussars are powerful medium cavally. They have a great attack equal to knights
and the same huge morale; though they arent impetuous they are like slightly less durable
knights, despite being more expensive. If you are a faction that doesnt get knights or you
need powerful cavalry these will be very useful. They have huge upkeep so dont leave them
standing around.
Mercenary Frankish Knights
Locations: Spain
Merc Frankish Knights are exactly like Feudal Knights and should be used in the same way.
Mercenary German Knights
Locations: Central Europe and England
Merc German Knights have a low attack for knights, though their defence is average for
them. Their morale is also much lower than most knights: the same as most trained troops: 5
compared to the knights 9 or 11. They are still very expensive despite the fact they are
weaker than most knights. This is balanced however by the fact they use a secondary AP
mace making them powerful against other knights and heavy cavalry. Despite this, their
lower morale is a major weakness.
Serbian Knights
Locations: Eastern Europe
Serbian Knights are powerful with a great attack and powerful charge, their defence is the
norm for knights and they are heavily armoured, making them everything a knight should be
and very useful cavalry. They are however the most expensive knights in the game and their
high upkeep also doesnt help. Only hire these knights if you are rolling in money.
Spearmen
Flemish Pikemen
Regions: Central Europe in French lands.
Flemish Pikemen actually have armour unlike most pikemen and have a decent attack,
though their defence is still very low and with the pike glitches they really arent worth
recruiting except to fill stacks.
Mercenary Spearmen
These are basically the mercenary version of Armored Sergeants and as a result are always
handy. You always need spearmen in an army and they are cheap, so hire them before you
attack. They have good morale and will hold until most of them are dead, unless they are
surrounded.
Slav Mercenaries
Locations: Centre of map
Slav Mercs are exactly the same as Spear Militia and should be used as such. Their price is
hardly any different either. They are not great fighters but serve as good filler for stacks,
giving you more numbers and expendable troops.
Welsh Longbowmen
Locations: England
Welsh Longbowmen are just as useful as the English basic longbow and its nice as other
factions can get access to their power, but they are terrible in melee, featuring the same
stats as Peasant Archers so keep them behind a nice line of spearmen.
Welsh Spearmen
Locations: England
Welsh Spearmen are like slightly stronger Spear Militia and have low stats and no armour.
They have the same morale as Sergeant Spearmen and serve well as filler like Slav
Mercenaries.
Infantry
Galloglaich
Locations: Ireland only
Galloglaich are broken 2 handed axemen and shouldnt be used.
Free Company Men At Arms
These men are effectively knights and are very powerful indeed. Their upkeep is quite cheap
for how strong they are, so hire then when you see them.
Sudanese Tribesmen
Locations: South of map in desert provinces
These mercs are just another unit of swordsmen. They have a very good attack, but their
defence is low so they will die quickly, particularly since they have no armour whatsoever.
Use them as flankers and keep them far away from missile fire.
Tlaxcalan Mercenaries
Locations: The new world only
Artillery
Mercenary Monster Bombard
Attack: vs. troops: 63 vs. buildings: 1000(!) Charge: 0 Defence: 9 Armour: 4 Cost: 1900
Upkeep: 400
Locations: East Europe (rare)
Merc Monster Bombards are just like the Turks Monster Bombard and are thus incredibly
useful to have at a siege since the biggest of walls crumbles uselessly under their onslaught,
they are EXPENISVE however (do they fire solid gold cannonballs??) as they have a
ridiculous upkeep and their hire cost is very expensive indeed. If you can afford to keep them
around they will be worth their weight in gold in sieges. Just make sure to protect them well.
You never really need this unit as sieges are possible with any artillery or just with a wall
assault, but Monster Bombards are fun, so hire them if you want them.
Missile cavalry
Akinjis
Locations: South east of map
Akinjis are very basic horse archers that are weak in melee with very low defence and no
armour. They are only average at shooting but are useful for factions that cant recruit horse
archers. They are impertutious, so even tho their morale is low they have much more staying
power than their morale would indicate. They are very expensive for a pretty weak unit, so
only get them if you really need them or are rolling in money.
Cuman Horse Archers
Location: North East Europe
These are exactly like Akinjis and should be avoided unless needed. They cost more in
upkeep too.
Mounted Crossbowmen
Factions: Everywhere
Mounted Crossbows are very useful mercs, as mobile armour piercing missiles are always
useful. They are cheap too.
Turkopoles
Locations: All along the south of the map
Turkopoles are better than some weaker horse archers in melee, though they should still be
kept far away from it as they will die quite fast. They shoot averagely and cost allot of money
for a weak unit, so again stay away from them unless you really want them.
M2: TW: Kingdoms

Britannia campaign
It is 1258AD. The isles of Britannia are rocked by conflict, rebellion and war. Rebellion
comes from every comer for the English as the Scottish fiercely maintain their independence
and the Welsh seek to strengthen their position before Englands invasion of Wales,
Englands war in Ireland is still ongoing and she faces rebellion from within as Englands
own barons rise up against the established order. Each faction is poised to take control of
Britannia and is prepared to die for the cause. Who shall prevail?
Britannia, one of the new mini campaigns in kingdoms focuses on Britain and its internal
struggles. New playable factions include Ireland and Wales. There is a nice smattering of
new units. There are a lot of AP units in this campaign and there are also new gunpowder
troops, which are much better than the old ones. The new culture troops feature adds to the
diversity of your army and each of the factions provides a radically different experience. Note
that full advice about each unit class is given in the Medieval 2: Total War guide earlier in
this document. Please read the class descriptions in that for advice on how to use them. The
other guides in this document focus on changes from M2TWs units. Enjoy!
Spearmen
Armoured Sergeants
Factions: England, Barons Alliance
Armoured Sergeants are tougher than their M2TW version with better defence but for some
reason actually have less armour. This means they are slightly tougher in melee to an
extent, but will still die very quickly from missile fire. Always have some light cavalry to kill
archers shooting your sergeants. They have high morale this time around and will stand firm.
Cliathairi
Factions: Ireland
These useful spearmen will be Irelands early game spears. They have good stats and do
well, but their lack of armour gets them killed quite quickly. Make sure to keep them out of
missile fire. They are Irelands only spearmen so you will use lots of them.
Levy Spearmen
Factions: England
Levy Spearmen are just like Spear Militia and should be used in the same way.
Meirionnydd Spearmen
Factions: Wales
Meirionnydd Spearmen are just like Cliathairi, except with a bit of armour. They are very
tough for early spearmen and are very important to protect Wales vital longbowmen from
cavalry.
Morgannwg Spearmen
Factions: Wales
Morgannwg Spearmen are very tough spears for Wales late game. They pack very high
attack for spearmen and high defence with a great charge for infantry. These spearmen
excel against cavalry, but will hurt just about any enemy and are perfect for defending your
many archers against cavalry. Make good use of them and use lots. They have high morale
and are highly trained, making them a strong unit.
Spear Militia
Factions: Norway, Scotland
Spear Militia are quite different from their M2TW versions as they have much better stats,
especially their defence, while they are still the same price. This makes them more useful
and even though they are the weakest spearmen in the Britannia campaign; they are
capable in battle for all the normal spearmen tasks. They will be much rarer in Britannia as
only two factions have them
Town Militia
Factions: Norway
Town Militia, unlike the M2TW version has worse stats than Spear Militia and is just very
slightly cheaper. This makes them mostly useless and you should always use Spear Militia
rather than these units, as they are better all around for virtually the same price.
Pikemen
Armour envy.
Pikemen are better in Kingdoms. They hold their formation better and seem to use their
pikes for longer and they do a good job when their pikes are out. They take longer to change
to swords if an enemy is close and are all round better troops. Their lack of shields and
armour means they will get whooped by melee oriented troops, like swordsmen or axemen,
but they do a good job vs. spearmen and cavalry. They work best against low defence
troops like Billmen, as then they walk forward, stabbing with their pikes and as long as they
keep killing the weak enemies with their pikes they wont get close enough to draw their
swords. This lets them kill off the first rank or three of a unit before getting bogged down into
a melee. Pikemen are still cheap too. Only Scotland gets pikemen in Britannia.
Heavy Pike Militia
Factions: Scotland
Heavy Pike Militia is just like the M2TW version and is a decent enough unit, but youre
much better off with Highlanders
Highland Pikemen
Factions: Scotland
Highland Pikes are again just like M2TW and are quite weak all around. They have good
morale and are inpertutious so will they hold for quite a while, making them good fodder.
Noble Pikemen
Factions: Scotland
Noble Pikemen are the best pikemen in kingdoms with high morale and stats and will serve
well for stopping cavalry and as general solders for Scotland. You are better off with Noble
Swordsmen and Spear Militia to absorb charges however.
Scots Pike Militia

Factions: Scotland
The weakest pikes, they are better than the M2TW version but still of limited use except for
missile fodder and stopping cavalry charges.
Swordsmen
Its not the size of the sword...wait yes it is!

One handed swordsmen in Britannia are much like M2: TW, but two handed swordsmen this
time around pierce armour making them much, much more effective. With their huge attack
and AP ability, two handed swordsmen rip though opponents in melee very quickly and they
are far more useful than they once were, as now they are not outclassed by heavily
armoured units who in M2TW could resist their attack and take advantage of the two handed
swordsmens lack of defence and shield to kill them easily. Two handed swordsmen should
be used whenever possible and excel in charging into a melee along with fodder so they can
attack and have less chance of having their hits interrupted by blocking as the fodder helps
take attention away from them. They also have a devastating charge for infantry. Two
handed swordsmen are more than capable of fighting alone, although their defence is still
often low and they die from missiles.
Armoured Swordsmen
Factions: England
Armoured Swordsmen are good swordsmen with good stats and high morale able to cut
their way though spearmen and the like but they are outclassed by most other swordsmen
and two handed ones. Use them as the core of your English army but back them up well with
longbows.
Gotland Footmen
Attack: 18 Charge: 9 Defence 14 Armour: 5 Cost: 640 Upkeep: 150
Factions: Norway
Gotland Footmen are devastating two handed swordsmen. They have excellent stats, huge
morale, frighten nearby infantry, pierce armour and are just badass and look awesome in
every way. They shred every other unit in the game including generals bodyguards. Just
keep them away from cavalry charges and massed missiles and they will crush everything in
sight.
Gwent Raiders
Attack: 7 Chagre: 2 Defence: 5 Armour: 2 Cost: 310 Upkeep: 155
Factions: Wales
Gwent Raiders are all round bad swordsmen that are rather useless for anything but fighting
spearmen, acting as standard infantry for keeping attacks away from your longbowmen and
taking walls if youre forced to assault fortifications. They are weak with low attack for a
sword unit, horrible defence and next to no armour. They are cheap and have good morale
and are impetuous, so even though they might take huge causalities they will stay in battle
for quite a while.
Highland Nobles
Factions: Scotland
Highland Nobles are good two handed swordsmen with a big attack and a powerful charge
and decent defence. High morale but they arent impetuous. They come in handy as strong
assault infantry, especially against armoured targets. They are no match for Gotland
Footmen.
Muire
Factions: Ireland
Muire are late era swordsmen for Ireland with a strong attack and high defence. They have
huge morale are disciplined and are highly trained making them a fierce unit indeed. They
are excellent infantry and are great for your core heavy infantry force for that cuts their way
though enemy lines. They also have a tiny upkeep cost.
Noble Swordsmen
Factions: Scotland
Noble Swordsmen are again tough heavy swordsmen used for forming your core force and
slicing your way through heavy enemy formations. They arent as good attackers as
Highland Nobles are, since they dont pierce armour and have weaker attack. They have
much better defence however. Same morale as them too.
Norse Swordsmen
Factions: Norway
Norse Swordsmen are, like M2TW rather useless as Norway has very effective axemen
instead. They are decent enough for holding a line and fighting other infantry, but axemen
are more useful.
Ostmen
Factions: Ireland
Ostmen are quite balanced swordsmen. They have good attack and defence as they have a
very high shield value, making them very good at parrying in melee despite their low armour.
They have good morale and are also impetuous, so they will stay in combat for a long time,
even while taking nasty losses.
Ulster Swordsmen
Factions: Ireland
Ulster Swordsmen are weaker than the other two handed sword units with much lower
morale but are still decent enough, tho their lower defence means they die quite fast They
also put a dent in most units in a hurry with their large attack and the fact they are AP and
work well as flankers or general assault troops. Just dont except them to crush all and,
mostly ignore losses like the other two handed units can.
Polearms
Attack with courage guys! We suck less now!

Polearms seem to be somewhat better in Britannia. They seem to kill a lot more than before
instead of getting parried all the time and if they outnumber the enemy they can actually
defeat units like Feudal Knights as they will get quite a few kills when men hit knights that
are distracted by other soldiers in the back or side where they cannot parry. Weaker
polearms arent very effective, but the class of unit as a whole is somewhat more effective
than before. They will still take allot of causalities and youre better off with axemen. When
using polearms; keep them in the spearwall formation, if they have it. This lets them brace
their polearms, so when the enemy charge the first rank of enemies will impale themselves
on the AP polearms and many will die. Keep spearwall polearms in guard mode too as
polearms, like pikemen kill quickly when in formation. Non spearwall polearms should be left
with guard mode off. In a melee they are still decent, but their lack of a shield can get them
killed.
Billmen
Billmen are much better than in M2TW. They are the weakest polearms and in a straight
fight their defence and lack of armour means they die too quickly to dish out any serious
damage, but with their huge attack and great charge for infantry they are deadly flankers,
able to cut up armoured units quickly. They will still dish out some damage when attacking
head on and they are very cheap, so they are easily replaced. They narrowly lose to Noble
Pikemen, who cost much more than Billmen and should annihilate weaker troops. Their lack
of armour is a serious weakness however and youre better off with Heavy Billmen.
Heavy Billmen
Heavy Billmen are just like Billmen except armoured. Their armour really helps them stay
alive longer and they do a good job vs. most armoured units. They barely lose to Noble
Swordsmen but lesser troops should be cut up handily by them, which is very good when
you consider their cost!
Sword Staff Militia

Factions: Norway
These polearms have decent stats, are well armoured and can form spearwall. This lets
them get some more kills in at the beginning of the melee, as the chargers impale
themselves on the polearms and as long as they keep formation they will do well.
Axemen
Typical, highly tactical, Scottish strategy.

Despite polearms being somewhat fixed, two handed axemen still suck and should not be
used. Even against spearmen they take about as many causalities as they dish out.
Ceitherne
Factions: Ireland
These axemen are all around average and will die quite quickly with their low defence and
attack but are useful cheap filler for an early army and their AP ability lets them do more
damage than youd think These men are very cheap and have low upkeep, so use loads of
them and charge them in a big mass and they can defeat stronger troops. They have low
morale.
Highlanders
Factions: Scotland
Highlanders are you stereotypical fierce axe wielding Scottish infantry wearing nothing but
kilts and are inpertutious. They scare enemy infantry. They have a good attack but low
defence and no armour, so they kill fast and die fast. You will use loads of them as Scotland
as your line troops so try to get them armour upgrades and attack in one huge mass to
overwhelm the enemy with their numbers. They can stay in a melee for a long time, even
while taking terrible causalities because of their inpertutious trait and are useful at any period
in the game. They are one of my fave units. I like to use 10 or more units of them and order
them all together as a huge mob, they are very effective this way and last a long time when
told to attack together.
Dismounted Huscarles
Factions: Norway
These units are the line infantry and main unit of Norway. They will have loads of them as
the AI and youll make many of them yourself. They have well balanced stats and do a good
job at dishing out the pain to pretty much any enemy. Use loads of them as Norway.
Rhyfelwyr
Factions: Wales
Broken two handed axemen
Sami Axemen
Factions: Norway
More broken axemen.
Viking Raiders
Factions: Norway
Viking Raiders are essentially lesser Huscarles. They have less attack and defence and no
armour but still have AP axes. They really arent much cheaper than Huscarles when you
consider how much weaker they are, so just use them early on when you dont have access
to Huscarles and as dependable garrisons and army filler.
Welsh Militiamen
Factions Wales
Welsh Militiamen are weak axemen with all round low stats, but they are very cheap and can
be recruited with few buildings making them useful to make loads of and use them in a huge
mass to break the enemy with numbers and their AP attacks. Lots of them will die but they
are cheap and useful.
Skirmishers
*insert joke about getting shafted here*

Skirmishers in Britannia are just like M2TWs version.
Deisi Javalinmen
Factions: Ireland
Deisi have high morale and good stats making them useful skirmishers. Their melee weapon
is not AP even tho it looks like it might be.
Welsh Skirmishers
Factions: Wales
Welsh Skirmishers have less attack then Deisi but they have an advantage against cavalry
as they also use a javelin in melee that counts as a spear and gives +4 attack vs. cavalry
like normal spearmen. Make sure to put this to good use when you can.
Archers
Longbowmen are every bit as deadly as they were in M2TW.

Gaelic Archers
Factions: Ireland
Irelands only archers are ok as archers go; they are average shots but they are better in
melee than most and use AP axes, so they can fight in melee better than youd think..
Helwyr
Attack: 5 missile attack: 7 Charge: 2 Defence: 7 Armour: 0 Cost: 310 Upkeep: 100
Factions: Wales
These archers are nothing compared to Wales longbowmen as they just use shortbows.
There is really no need to use these units when you have the powerful longbows, except as
garrisons.
Highland Archers
Factions: Scotland
Highland Archers are the main archers for Scotland and are all around weak as Britannia
archers go, as they have the worst missile attack in the game. There are many archers
better in melee, though these archers also pack AP axes. Every faction needs archers in its
army but dont expect miracles with Scotlands.
Longbowmen
Factions: England
The mighty longbow is again a force to be reckoned with in Britannia. While there are fewer
heavily armoured troops, the longbows extreme range lets them severely weaken troops
before the clash, particularly since there is a lot of infantry in Britannia. Make sure to keep
them out of melee with a melee unit close by so they can keep shooting. They are somewhat
effective against armour in melee, since they have AP hammers but longbowmen should be
used at range; they are too valuable to throw away in melee.
Noble Highland Archers

Factions: Scotland
Noble Archers are much better than Highland Archers in all ways. They shoot better and are
far better in melee, able to dish out some pain and take some abuse with their defence, AP
axes and light armour. Use these well and replace highland archers with these when you
can make them in large numbers.
Norse Archers
Factions: Norway
Norse Archers are well balanced archers, as they shoot well and fight very well in melee for
archers; they pack a good melee attack and a shield. Despite what the game says about
their bows they are better than or equal to all archers in Britannia, besides longbowmen.
Peasant Archers
Factions: Norway, England, Scotland
Peasant Archers are a little better than their M2TW version, with slightly better melee stats.
They still have lousy missile attack and with the abundance of new, stronger archers in
Kingdoms these units are of little use and will be killed quickly. Use them if you must for
garrisons. They are very cheap at least.
Retinue Longbowmen
These tough armoured longbowmen are the same as the M2TW version. Their armour still
isnt enough to protect them for long against missiles, so try not to get into an archer duel as
their expense means you dont want to waste them. They are decent in melee with a high
attack for an archer, but youre still better off attacking from the flank or with support so they
arent focused on and killed. They also do not have AP melee weapons, just swords.
Saethwyr
Factions: Wales
For the creators of the longbow you think Wales would have stronger longbow troops than
England, but they dont. Wales relies on its longbows, as most of its other infantry is just too
weak to fight enemies directly and you need to use masses of longbowmen to weaken the
enemy and support your forces in melee. You should focus your entire army and economy
around longbows and getting more longbows and attack from a distance as much as
possible. Make loads of these troops and use a steady wall of spearmen or infantry to
protect them as they unleash their storm. They have little armour, so they will suffer from
counter fire. Make sure to use cavalry and longbow fire to silence enemy archers. They are
better than youd think in melee since they pack AP hammers.
Yeoman Archers
Yeoman Archers are a lesser version of Retinue Longbowmen. They are a solid
improvement over the standard longbows, with better stats all round. They should still be
kept out of melee, but obviously this isnt a problem for a unit with the range of longbows.
Again they have AP hammers.
Crossbowmen
A little known fact is that crossbows could fire arrows too.

Exclusive to Norway except for mercenary crossbows, crossbowmen work well against any
enemy, much like M2TW. They still pierce armour and will shred any armoured units given
time. Park them behind some melee troops on a hill or just in front of some so they can
charge though to stop enemies attacking the crossbows and let them snipe away at the
enemy. They are weak compared to longbowmen however.
Crossbowmen
Factions: Norway
The basic crossbows, they shoot well and should be kept far away from melee.
Crossbow Militia
Factions: Norway
Crossbow Militia are just like Crossbowmen except they lack armour making them even less
use in melee. They are cheaper than crossbowmen and both suck in melee. It is better to
just get lots of Crossbow Militia, since you save money and their lack of armour doesnt
matter.
Mounted Crossbowmen
Factions: Norway
Mounted Crossbowmen are again available only to Norway like all crossbows and are very
useful for their mobility and AP missiles. Use them like mounted gunpowder troops.
Gunpowder
Happiness is a warm musket.

The new gunpowder infantry is much better in kingdoms as the rank fire system works
properly. The front rank will fire and then reload and stay kneeled until the second rank has
finished firing. The first rank will then stand up and fire, while the second rank reloads and
kneels and so on. Ranks further back will not shoot, so deploy them in two ranks. Because
of the unbugged animations gun units work fine under fire and will keep shooting. Its still not
a great idea to keep them under fire, as gun units have weak defence and little armour. For
full details of using gunpowder troops see the section for them in the M2TW section.
Arquebusiers
Factions: Norway, England, Barons Alliance
Arquebusiers are still broken from M2TW and suffer the same problems when under fire and
randomly freeze when shooting. If you want to use them, keep them far away from missile
fire and off skirmish so they stay still and pour morale crushing rounds into the enemy. They
are obviously terrible at melee with that defence.
Calivermen
Factions: Ireland
Cavivermen are much, much better than Arquebusiers, as the bugs for them are fixed and
they will volley and reload properly even if under fire and never get stuck reloading or
reforming. They are extremely useful troops, though they come very late in a campaign and
its hard to get large numbers of them. They have a short range and arent very good in
melee, so keep them well protected. When Cavivermen are set up and shooting they will
break any enemy in short order. This is the unit Arquebusiers should have been.
Hand Gunners
Factions: Norway
Just like M2TW Hand Gunners dont fire in ranks and thus are bug free. They arent very
accurate and wont kill too many, but they still crush morale and their missiles are backed up
with decent melee ability, letting them unload a volley or two to wreck the enemies morale
them charge into melee to break them.
Magnelwyr
Factions: Wales
Magnelwyr are strong Welsh handgunners who are good in melee as they carry an axe and
a shield. Their missile attack is lower than normal Hand Gunners, handicapping them but the
shield gives them a better chance at surviving a melee. The axe they use is also AP like their
missiles.
Mounted Calivermen
Attack: 9 Missile attack: 16 Charge: 3 Defence: 9 Armor:4 Cost: 960 Upkeep: 130
Factions: Ireland
Mounted Calivermen are a cavalry version of the Calivermen unit and are utterly
devastating. The combination of morale crushing gunpowder and mobility makes them a true
force to be reckoned with. They are vulnerable to archers, but against heavy infantry or
cavalry they can kill an incredible amount of enemies while taking no causalities themselves.
Heavy Cavalry
That guy loves horses!

Demi Lancers
Demi Lancers are more useful in Britannia as knights are nerfed somewhat. They still dont
have the defence that knights have, but they have better attack, high morale and equal
charge making them great for smashing into non spear units to cause masses of causalities.
They are great at flanking charges too.
Norse War Clerics
Factions: Norway
War Clerics are tough heavy cavalry, only bettered by Chivalric Knights. They have all round
good stats and are well armoured. They have AP maces making them very useful against
armoured foes, but their charge is lousy so they are best left in melee.
Ridire
Factions: Ireland
These medium cavalry have a low attack, but enough defence to stay alive for a while. They
also have a poor charge, so they are best left in melee and work well against weaker troops
like archers. Their morale is decent, but nowhere near knight level. Their all round average
abilities makes them not worth their cost.
Teulu
Factions: Wales
Teulu are like a stronger version of Ridire; they have all round better stats and pack a good
charge for slamming into vulnerable infantry. Besides their good stats Teulu are disciplined,
highly trained and have high morale, so they will do their duty or die.
Light Cavalry
A peasant on horseback is still a peasant.

Border Horse
Factions: Scotland
Border Horse are one of Scotlands few cavalry units and are quite weak, their attack is
suitable only for killing archers; they have a poor charge and their defence sucks. Use
Border Horse to support your infantry, tie up enemy cavalry and run down routers and
missile units.
Hobiguir
Attack: 7 Charge: 5 Defence: 12 Armour 2 Cost: 660 Upkeep: 130
Factions: Ireland
Hobiguir are rather tough as light cavalry go with a good defence despite their very light
armour. Their attack is decent too and they serve the normal light cavalry tasks of supporting
infantry, attacking missile units and chasing routers. The big surprise with this cavalry is that
they are disciplined and have high morale. There are few light cavalry that can last as long
as these men can and they are excellent for sending in first to wipe out archers or attacking
artillery crews and other tasks that have a high chance of the horsemen getting attacked by
reinforcements and highly outnumbered or otherwise threatened, because they are fast and
have enough morale to finish what they are doing without routing. They are quite expensive,
but very useful cavalry.
Hobilars
Factions: England
Hobilars are extremely weak light cavalry with awful stats, lower than peasants. They will be
cut up by just about anything, but are very cheap for cavalry; the cheapest in the total war
series. They should be used only to chase routers, as anything tougher than Peasant
Archers will probably be too strong for them to kill. At least you can afford to have lots of
these units.
Mathrafal Horsemen
Factions: Wales
Mathrafal are another tougher than average light cavalry with better than average defence
tho their attack is average. Use them as normal light cavalry.
Knights
This heavy metal will rock you!

Knights are less useful in Britannia, as some of them have lower stats than they had in
M2TW and there is a huge amount of armour piercing units in Britannia that can kill knights
easily. They are far from the crushing behemoths they could be in M2TW. They still come in
handy as powerful infantry or heavy cavalry as long as youre more careful with them.
Chivalric Knights
Factions: Norway
Chivalric Knights are the best heavy cavalry in Britannia; they have strong attack and
defence, able to crush troops in melee and the armour to take missile fire. They also have
good charge for smashing into vulnerable troops. They are inpertutious
Dismounted Chivalric Knights
Attack: 11 Charge: 3 Defence: 18Armour 6 Cost: 570 Upkeep: 225
Factions: Norway
These knights are weaker than M2TWs version but still pretty good infantry and are more
than capable of holding a line and fighting off other infantry well.
Dismounted English Knights
With the improved polearms in kingdoms English Knights are better than youd think. They
can hold their own against units like Feudal Knights, though they will take almost as many
causalities as they dish out. They take a while to kill enemies and are vulnerable to missiles,
but for AP uses you have little choice as the English, since they lack axemen except for
mounted English knights, though their polearms can do the job too.
Dismounted Feudal Knights

Dismounted Feudal Knights are much like the M2TW version except with slightly less
armour. They still work very well as steady line infantry, but are vulnerable to cavalry
charges. Yes they do have more upkeep than the mounted version for some stupid reason.
English Knights
English Knights are still great units with all round good stats, though their attack is lowish for
a knight. They still have secondary weapon AP axes, so they can carve up armoured units.
Make sure you use ctrl+right click in melee to get them to use their axes
Feudal Knights
Despite the fact their stats are all around lower than M2TWs Feudal Knights these knights
are still decent enough heavy cavalry. They are impetuous.
Mailed Knights
Factions: Wales, Scotland
Mailed Knights are the weakest earliest knights, but still have decent enough stats with good
attack and ok defence. Their armour is much lighter than later knights so missiles will have
much more of an effect on them. Use them early on as your tough cavalry.
General
Forward lads to world domination! (This was taken at Irelands last city before I conquered
the entire map!)
Generals Bodyguard
Attack: 11 Charge: 7 Defence: 17 Armour: 7 Cost: 960 Upkeep: 55(Norway, England,
Barons Alliance, Ireland)
Attack 11 Charge: 7 Defence: 16 Armour: 5 Cost: 960 Upkeep: 55(Wales, Scotland)
All factions share almost the same general except Wales and Scotlands one has slightly
less armour which is normal for those nations as they have lots of lightly armoured or
unarmoured units.
Lords Retinue
Factions: Ireland
Irelands generals guard is halfway between the heavily armoured and the lighter armoured
generals bodyguard versions. They still do a good job protecting the general from anyone
and serve their purpose well.
Javelin cavalry
Its winter and the javelins are falling...

Horseboys
Attack: 5 Charge: 5 Missile attack: 9 Defence: 3 Armour: 0 Cost: 470 Upkeep: 130
Factions: Ireland
Horseboys are better in melee than Teulu but not by much and are best kept far away from
it. They have a very good missile attack and can really put a hole in armoured units.
Teulu Skirmishers
Factions: Wales
Teulu Skirmishers are standard javelin cavalry, except they are extremely lousy in melee
and should be kept far out of it. Their morale also sucks, but they are for some reason
disciplined so they have somewhat more morale than Spear Militia who they have the same
morale as.
Artillery
As boring as this picture looks its allot more exciting when youre being shot at.
Artillery in Britannia is just the same as M2TW with no real differences.
Ballista
150
The ancient ballista will get some use in Britannia but isnt really that effective. It can be
good vs. troops if it hits with a flaming missile as it will kill a file of troops, hurting morale but
its useless vs. any walls tougher than wooden ones.
Bombard
Attack: 55 Vs buildings: 120 Charge: 0 Defence: 7 Armour: 2 Cost: 610 Upkeep: 250
Factions: All
The Bombard is the first gunpowder artillery you can create after gunpowder is discovered.
While low compared to later cannons its building attack is powerful; blasting down walls in
rather short order. It is way too inaccurate to be used against troops except if they are in a
big mass.
Cannon
250
Factions: Norway
Cannon are the biggest guns in Britannia as the Basilisk and Monster Bombard dont exist.
They do a great job vs. walls, but are a bit too inaccurate to hit troops.
Catapult
150
The ancient catapult works much the same as every total war game: it throws big rocks that
crush walls and enemy troops. They work well again wooden walls and small stone walls but
big walls will take quite a long time to bust though. Still they have decent range and given
enough time will break though any wall. Their flaming missiles mode can wreck troops if you
land a direct hit, as it will kill many.
Culverin
Attack: vs. troops: 63 vs. Buildings: 230 Charge: 0 Defence: 7 Armour: 2 Cost: 800 Upkeep:
250
Factions: Norway, Wales, Scotland, Ireland
Culverins are like slightly smaller versions of Cannon. They still work great vs. buildings and
troops if they can hit them. Basically use them like Cannon.
Ribault
250
Factions: Norway, England, Barons Alliance, Scotland, Ireland
Ribaults, just like in M2TW fire a barrage of small shots hitting the enemy multiple times and
wrecking their morale killing multipliable enemies at once. They are great vs. massed troops
but no good vs. walls.
Mortar
250
Factions: Norway, England, Barons Alliance, Wales, Scotland, Ireland
Mortars arent that amazing when it comes to destroying buildings, as they have a noticeably
lower attack than cannons vs. buildings. They do the same damage vs. troops but good luck
hitting them with the high arcing shot of the mortar, unless they are in a huge mass. The
mortar does the job against walls but you still should use proper cannons. Mortars can be
useful for hitting troops and buildings inside settlements, as their shots arc high over the
walls.
Serpentine
Attack: vs. troops 63 vs. Buildings: 10 Charge: 0 Defence: 7 Armour: 2 Cost: 700 Upkeep:
150
Factions: Norway
Serpentines are small cannons which are designed for use against troops only. They are
quite accurate even tho they cant fire exploding shot. They are almost useless against
buildings, though they can blast down wooden walls.
Trebuchet
250
Factions: All
Trebuchets are just like the M2TW version and are the best non gunpower artillery. They
take down walls quickly and can also fling dead cows to sicken enemy units and lower
morale. See the M2TW trebuchet for more info.
Peasants and non combatants
Bar brawl or war? You decide.

Highland Rabble
Factions: Scotland
Highland Rabble are weaker than normal peasants but they are impetuous, meaning they
take allot of abuse before routing and morale shocks affect them less. This makes them
supreme fodder as they will take 60% losses and still keep going and they are dirt cheap to
recruit, so you can recruit hordes of them in a campaign. Send these guys in with your main
infantry to distract the enemy and let your infantry get the job done or just to ward off archer
fire, so your more valuable units dont get hit. Dont underestimate this unit as its very
useful. Its also allot of fun watching them kick enemy troops in the guts like they are in a bar
brawl.
Peasants
The faithful peasants yet again get their stats changed. Now they are slightly weaker all
around. They still serve the same purposes as arrow and sword fodder quite well and have
enough morale to stay in melee for a little while.
Culture troops
Having tough gunpowder infantry or javelin cavalry in conquered settlements makes life
easier!
A new feature of Britannia is when you take over a settlement that has the majority of the
population a different culture to yours, like if youre Wales and take over a Scottish city, you
can build some units you normally couldnt get, such as Highland Pikemen in Scottish
population towns as the Welsh. You need a certain percentage of the settlement the
previous culture that the settlement was before you conquered it to make each unit and have
some buildings. As you own the settlement for longer youll slowly convert the population to
your culture and eventually lose the ability to recruit the culture units, so get them while the
chance is there. Almost all of these units are based on a unit from the culture of the
settlement so I will simply list which unit it is based on as the stats are the exact same
except for a little hike in price.
English Mailed Knights
Locations: English pop settlements
Mailed knights
English Spearmen
Locations: English pop settlements
Armoured Sergeants
Galloglaich
Attack: 16 Charge: 9 Defence: 12Armour: 3 Coast: 450 Upkeep: 180
Locations: Irish pop settlements
Galloglaich
Highland Pikemen
Locations: Scottish pop settlements
Highland Pikemen
Highland Swordsmen
Locations: Scottish pop settlements
Noble swordsmen
Irish Squires
Horseboys
Irish Calivermen
Calivermen
Norse Archers
Locations: Norway pop settlements
Norse Scouts
These dont seem to be modelled after another unit, but they are very weak cavalry and are
only useful for chasing routers. There are lots of tough archers in Britannia who could even
defeat this unit.
Welsh Axemen
Locations: Welsh pop settlements
Rhyfelwyr
Viking Raiders
Viking raiders
Welsh Hunters
Locations: Welsh pop settlements
Helwyr
Mercenaries
Mercs are great for filling roles in your army that other troops cant.
Infantry
Highlanders
Locations North England
These mercs are just like Scotlands normal Highlanders, except very expensive.
Highlanders have low defence and die quickly, so spending more than the cost of knights on
a unit that will probably be decimated after one battle isnt a good idea. Steer clear of this
unit.
Welsh Spearmen
Locations: South Britannia
Welsh Spearmen are decent enough spearmen with a good attack, though their lack of
armour will get them killed quickly They have good morale however and will stay in a melee
taking major causalities making them a good addition to your battle line for when you just
need more melee troops.
Cavalry
Hobiguir
Locations: Ireland
Hobiguir mercs are just like the regular Hobiguir but a bit more expensive. Use them as
dependable light cavalry. Remember they have a secondary AP mace.
Mercenary Knights
Locations: South England
Mercenary Knights are surprisingly weak as knights go, with an attack more suited to light
cavalry and somewhat low defence. Their morale is much lower than youd think for knights,
even tho they are inpertutious and they dont have AP axes or any advantages like that.
They are also very expensive and cost allot in upkeep so I would steer well clear of these
knights unless youre rolling in money.
Missiles
Irish Kerns
Locations: Ireland
Irish Kerns are just like Ceitherne, except they cost quite a bit more. Dont expect miracles
from these axemen but use them to cut up armoured targets and fill gaps in your line. Keep
them out of missile fire.
Sherwood Archers
Attack: 14 Missile attack: 13 Charge: 3 Defence: 5 Armour: 0 Upkeep: 250
While these archers are powerful in melee they just wield swords and are not AP. Thye are
very deadly at range, with a huge missile attack and wielding a longbow. They are expensive
to keep and have useless defence and no armour, so any counter fire will crush the
expensive unit and a cavalry charge will kill many of them. They are also only half the normal
unit size, making it hard for them to kill enough to be useful because they fire less
projectiles. Really you are better off with normal longbowmen than these. Their upkeep is
just way too high for such a delicate unit.
Welsh Longbowmen
Attack: 5 Missile attack: 6 Charge: 2 Armour: 2 Cost: 1100 Upkeep: 185
These men are just like Saethwyr except they are a lot more expensive. Longbows can still
be worth the cost however if you need them.
Welsh Skirmishers
Just like the recruitable Welsh Skirmishers, this unit is great if you need to cut down some
annoying armoured foes. Their price is fine for how useful skirmishers can be, so dont
hesitate to grab them. They can be used as light infantry from the flanks too. They use a
javelin in melee that counts as a spear so they can defeat cavalry, although the skirmishers
will die en mass if charged directly. Let a proper spear unit take the charge, then send in the
skirmishers to help with melee when their missiles are gone.
Artillery
Mercenary Ribault
Attack: Vs troops: 63 Vs Buildings: 0 Charge: 0 Defence: 7 Armour: 2 Cost: 600 Upkeep:
250
Locations: South England
As the only artillery merc these are very useful for shredding enemy troops and their morale
and blasting though wooden walls. While they cant touch larger walls, their repeated
gunpowder hits will cause major morale problems for the enemy.
A merica
campaign
Americas notes
Americas is very different form the other campaigns in M2tw depending on whom youre
playing as. The southern native tribes, including factions such as the Aztecs and Mayans are
a powerful faction, even though their soldiers are very weak. They have low slats all round,
very limited technology and are outmatched in every way by invading European troops. They
also do not have cavalry, gunpowder or heavily armoured troops.
What the Natives do have is a lot of high morale, fast moving troops, huge population cities
and very cheap unit prices. This lets them crank out massive numbers of cheap weak troops
and overwhelm the enemy with them. Nobody can spam troops like the southern natives
can: they already have huge cities and a good eco, so you can pump out five stacks in short
order after a few turns of getting your economy going. This massive army lest you simply
overwhelm any enemy that dares attack you. Move you stacks together and just keep
sending them at the enemy until they are completely overpowered.
South native tactics
When using the Aztecs, Mayans and the like in battle you want to get into melee as soon as
possible. Their archers arent very good and their spear throwers are worse and dont pierce
armour so just select all your infantry and charge at the enemy. If they have muskets its
doubly important to charge and get in melee asap. Musketeers are terrible in melee and will
wreck your morale if they get to shoot, so its important to catch them with your charge and
rout them quickly. Tough units like New World Bodyguard and Conquistadores should be
swarmed with as many units as possible to overwhelm them. The Aztec Spearmen are quite
good so they will do much better than youd think against Conquistadores. While playing as
the Natives try to ignore causalities. You will take hundreds every battle, but it doesnt matter
because you can crank out more units right away and your troops are weak and fragile
anyway. Just ignore causalities and keep attacking. All the native infantry are fast, so you
can get into melee very quickly but they have a hard time chasing routers. Focus on killing
off routing musketeers more than anything else.
Try to outnumber the enemy as much as possible; this cannot be stressed enough when
playing as the natives. Try splitting up your force sending the elites like Jaguar Warriors or
just whatever straight to the enemy and once they are engaged flank with your other half and
they will rout in short order.
Apache tactics
The apaches use a different style of combat as most of their strong units are ranged. An
apache army should consist of a lot or archers, some braves to hold the line and provide
more missile fire and a war leader. Apaches are the only playable faction who can acquire
enemy tech so you should hunt down the French who appear next to you early in the
campaign and repeatedly kill them until you acquire muskets and cavalry. This will give you
a massive advantage over the other natives and you will be able to sweep the map.
Make a lot of units as the Apaches, as their upkeep cost is very low indeed and you can
make dozens of them even with their poor economy.
Spanish Tactics
The Spanish have a huge advantage over the natives in technogry as they have firearms,
cavalry and heavy armour. Their units are all very strong and a good army of sword and
buckler men or conquistadores can kill many, many natives even if outnumbered and their
cavalry can just shatter the lightly armoured natives with a charge, killing half a unit with the
charge alone.
Muskets also give the Spanish a huge advantage an you can keep the natives far away and
repeatedly break them with gunfire until they finally fail to rally if you have enough gunners.
Usually tho you wont, as Spains biggest disadvantage is the extremely limited numbers iof
troops they have to work with. You will have very few pure Spaniards in your army unless
you crank out a whole lot of expensive troops. You will sometimes receive shipments from
Spain but the really good troops like musketeers and germdares can only be received in
shipments, so they must be very well taken care of.
Spain instead will have the majority of its army made up of native mercenaries. These are
very similar to your enemies, so most battles will come down to a huge melee between you
natives and the enemies, while the Spaniards turn the tables with their smaller number of
strong troops. The best way to turn this in your favour is to shoot the enemies as much as
possible with guns as this will cause them to break quickly and you can slaughter them as
they retreat.
Unit abilities
Note that some abilities, like pikewall are just like m2tw and thus arent included here.
Chant
I want pyjamas like that.

Chant is an ability useable by the various native priest units. It raises the morale of nearby
friendly troops and lowers morale of enemies. This makes a real difference in battles and
troops bolstered by chanting priests will hold for much longer
longer than they would otherwise. At
least one priest unit should be standard for every army you create. They are especially
useful against European armies and their morale destroying muskets.
Spearmen
A primitive pointy thing is still a pointy thing.

Al Holpop Militia
Factions: Mayans
Ai Holpop are weak spearmen and arent a match for most factions spear units. Their attack
is lower than most, but they are armoured, unlike most spearmen. This unit can still defeat
cavalry and hold their own in a melee for a while, but support them well and use alot of them
as their morale is low and it wont take too much to rout them.
Aztec Spearmen
Factions: Aztecs
Aztec Spearmen have surprisingly good stats for troops that are low rank. They have a great
attack for spearmen and coupled with the generally low defence of most troops they do a
solid job even vs. infantry. They are fine to use as line troops early on. They are very
important to have when Spain comes knocking as they take down cavalry quick with their
high attack and are useful against other infantry as well. Dont overlook these troops and
make loads of them. Their morale is average
Chichimec Lancers
Factions:
Chichimec Lancers might sound like a cavalry unit but they are an infantry spear unit.
Lancers have a good attack and have no problems taking down cavalry but their defence is
the lowest among the spear units and in a protracted melee they will die quick. Keep them
away from infantry. They have no armour at all so watch out for missiles.
Chichimec Scouts
Factions: Chichimec tribes
Chichimec Scouts are unarmoured weaker spearmen. They also have no shield bonus so
their shield is actually just a decoration and doesnt help them in melee or against missiles.
These men serve decently against cavalry, but will get shredded in no time against other
infantry. Their morale is also low. You are better off using lancers.
Ondes Men
Factions: Apaches
Ondes Men are extremely powerful spearmen. They have truly ridiculous morale: 25. Most
knights in m2tw have 10 or 12 morale so you can imagine how ungodly brave these men
are. They will never ever rout from anything, they have ridiculously high attack for a spear
unit they have a good charge and they are armoured. These spearmen are some of the best
troops in the game and will destroy cavalry so quickly its insane. They will never rout and
you can rely on them to see many victories or die trying. They are highly trained.
Tarascan Spearmen
Factions: Tarascans
Tarascan Spearmen are tougher than most with a good attack and defence. They will defeat
most other spearmen in melee and take down cavalry quick. They are strong enough to hold
on for a while vs. infantry too.
Tlaxcalan Spearmen
Factions: Tlaxcalans
These spearmen are exactly like Tarascan spearmen and just as useful.
Pikemen
Organized or not pikemen can be useful.

Pikemen seem better in the Americas campaign. They hold their wall better, even if some of
the unit is in melee and they actually prevent enemies getting close while the wall is up.
Pikemen are stronger from the front, so make sure they arent flanked, or flank them
depending on who you are.
Pikemen
Factions: England, New France
Pikemen are decent troops this time around with good attack but they are still unarmoured.
They are highly trained.
Pike Militia
Factions: Spain
Spains weaker pikes, there is no real reason to use these except for fodder to hold the
enemy. You should have lots of money and Tericos arent that expensive. Pike Militia are still
good for filling stacks and using as a horde of troops to flank or something, but you are
better off with Tercios
Tercio Pikemen
Attack: 10 Charge: 6 Defence: 7 Armour: 0 Cost: 530 2 hit points
Factions: Spain
Spains elite pikes, these are much like they were in m2tw, except they can now actually
hold a pikewall and tie up the enemy. Tercios will hold infantry for a white and will shred any
cavalry you see. They ahev 2 hit points so they soak up punishment. They are also good
flankers, as they have high attack and low defence, so in a straight up fight they will kill and
die quite quickly. They are highly trained.
Swordsmen
Swordsmen are the rank and file of European armies. They all have great attack and
defence and will prove extremely effective against most native troops due to their superior
stats. They all have 2 hit points making them very tough and all have high morale so they will
stand for a long time against most enemies. Swordsmen only have 60 men per unit rather
than 120 so they are prone to be crushed by weight of numbers. Their power lets them hack
their way though legions of enemies,
enemies even with this number handicap however.
Dismounted Conquistadores
Factions: Spain
Dismounted Conquistadores are Spains
S
main tough infantry. They have a very high attack
and strong defence with enough armour to resist non AP missiles. They have extremely high
morale and it will take alot for them to rout. You should use these men as your main army
filler as Spain as they are absolutely devastating to the hordes of naive troops youll be
facing. For some reason they have a low mental state so morale
ale shocks affect them more
but it hardly matters as their morale is already so high.
high
New World Cuirassiers
Factions: England,, New France
New World Cuirassiers are exactly the same as Dismounted
ounted Conquistadores in all ways and
should be used and fought the same way.
Swordsmen Militia
Factions: Spain
Swordsmen Militia are just like the M2TW version and have high stats for a militia
m
unit. Their
morale is also surprisingly high. They make great garrisons and can more than hold their
own against the natives. They are strong enough to use in your main stacks too.
Sword and Buckler Men

Attack: 11 Charge: 3 Defence: 15 Armour: 3 Cost: 520 2 hit ponts
Factions: Spain
Sword and Buckler Men are like a weaker version of Conquistadores. They are lower in
every stat but still powerful and more than capable of carving a path though the natives.
General Infantry
Even the most advanced cavalry isnt much use against a thousand macanas.
The Americas campaign has a ton of infantry who use different weapons from clubs to
hatchets who all pretty much work in the same way.
way. Thus categories like my other total war
guides wouldnt make much sense. Here then
t
is all the other general infantry and units that
dont fit in one of the other categories. Easily defined troops like spearmen or archers will be
found in their section.
Aztec Warriors
Attack: 7 Charge:
harge: 2 Defence: 10 Armour: 2 Cost: 330 Upkeep: 116
Factions: Aztecs
The rank and file of Aztec armies, Aztec Warriors
arriors are balanced stats wise and can hold a
line and do damage quite well. They have some armour, but their attack isnt that great.
Youll be making many, many units of Aztec Warriors and they serve as the general body of
Aztec armies; the huge blob that you send in to cut up the enemys infantry. They are
severely outclassed by European infantry,
infantry like Conquistadores, so use as many of them as
you can get and rush them
m en mass. When you can create Jaguar Warriors
W arriors and
Cuahchiqueh in numbers you should forget about this unit as they are much better.
Apachean Scouts
Factions: Apaches
Apachean Scouts
couts are light axe infantry. Their axe does not pierce armour, but they have a
good attack and very high morale. Their defence is low and they have no armour,
armour so they
are best used as flankers, but their high
high morale ensures you can charge them straight and
they will hold for quite a long time,
time even taking heavy causalities. Use these to support your
Braves early in a campaign.
Batab Militia
Factions: Mayans
Batab
ab Militia are just like Aztec Warriors,
W arriors, despite being militia and should be used in the
same way.
Cuahchiqueh
Factions: Aztecs, Tlaxcalans, Tarascans
Cuahchiqueh are the elites of the southern native factions and have all round great stats and
the same insane morale that Ondres Men have: 25. They will never ever rout from anything
and you can fully rely on them. They frighten nearby enemy infantry so they work great as
shock troops to cause mass routs. When you can make these guys en mass you have little
reason to use anything else as these factions, besides spearmen. Make good use of these
troops and send them against anything.
Eagle Warriors
Attack: 17 Charge: 8 Defence: 12 Armour: 2 Cost: Upkeep: 112
Eagle warrior use two handed clubs and
Guachichil Warriors
Attack: 12 Charge: 3 Defence: 7 Armour: 2 Cost:
Factions: Chichimec Tribes
Guachichil Warriors are strong elite axemen with all round good stats. They are armoured
and have the same huge morale as Ondes Men. They are great flankers too because of
their high attack. They are impetuous.
Medicine Men
Factions: Apaches
Medicine Men are some of the toughest native troops and have huge morale and can also
chant to keep their fellow warriors fighting. They are still very cheap so you can make loads
of them, giving you a big morale boost as well as strong units. They lack armour so watch
out for missiles.
Nacom Warriors
Factions: Mayans
Nacom Warriors are just like Aztec Warriors and serve the same purpose as basic line
infantry for Maya.
Jaguar Warriors
Factions: Aztecs, Mayans, Tlaxcalans, Tarascans
Jaguar Warriors are elite, have high stats that are well balanced, have huge morale and are
still quite cheap. You should replace all your weaker warriors with legions of jaguars when
you can recruit them en mass, as they are strong units and their morale and the fact they are
disciplined make them nearly impossible to rout.
Tarascan Warriors
Attack: 7 Charge: 2 Defence: 10 Amour: 2 Cost: 330
Factions: Tarascans
Tarascan Warriors are just like Aztec Warriors and others and should be used as your basic
line infantry early on.
Temple Guard
Factions: Mayans
Temple Guard are just like Jaguar Warriors, except they are impetuous rather than
disciplined. You should replace as many of your normal warriors with these men as you can
when you can recruit them en mass.
Tlaxcalan Warriors
These men are yet another in the long line of basic infantry for the southern natives. They
should be used in the same way.
Zacatecos Raiders
Zacatecos Raiders are average axemen. Their defence are a bit too low to function as front
line troops even for native troops so they are best used as flankers. Their morale is high but
not as high as some other native troops. They are disciplined and highly trained.
Skirmishers
Who blunted our javelins???

Skirmishers work the same way as m2tw, but this time around they do not pierce armour, but
almost everyone in the Americas campaign has little or no armour anyway so this isnt much
of a problem. There is also far less cavalry in this campaign, so skirmishers have an easier
time staying alive.
Arrow Warriors
Attack: 11 Missile attack: 7 Charge: 6 Defence: 13 Armour: 2 Cost: Upkeep: 112
Arrow Warriors are versatile troops as they have a strong melee attack and decent ranged
stats as well. Their melee weapons count as spears, so they can defend themselves well
against cavalry as well so they arent as vulnerable to cavalry as other skirmishers.
Aztec Spear Throwers
Factions: Aztecs
These men are mostly useless spear throwers; they are unarmoured with weak all round
stats. Only if you do not have archers available and want ranged support should you recruit
this unit.
Apachean Braves
Attack: 9 Missile attack: 9 Charge: 4 Defence: 7 Armour: 2 Upkeep: 30
Factions: Apaches
Apachean Braves are the main infantry for the Apaches at the start of the game. They are
skirmishers but also have good melee and missile stats. Braves have pretty low morale and
it wont take too much to make them rout. They use spears in melee so against other infantry
such as axemen they will have a hard time winning. Always order your braves to throw as
many javelins as possible before the melee to whittle down the enemies numbers. Trying to
use them like pure melee troops against more melee oriented natives will just get your men
decimated.
Mayan Javalinmen
Factions: Mayans
Mayan Javelins are weak skirmishers with a low melee attack and missile attack. They wont
really be killing much of anything with javelins, as their lousy aim and lack of ammo mostly
castrates them. They are at least armoured unlike some other skirmishers but they are still
best used as fodder and battering ram pushers.
Tarascan Spear Throwers
Factions: Tarascans
These men are just like Mayan Javalinmen, except unarmoured. They really arent much use
for anything and youre better with just more warriors.
Tlaxcalan Spear Throwers
This unit is just like the Tarascan version and should be used only for fodder.
Archers
Its so much nicer without all that annoying armour!

Archers serve a much larger role in the Americas than the m2tw campaign,. All native troops
have very little armour, so arrows will completely devastate even the strongest native troops.
Elites units with high status mean less in America because the almost universal lack of
armour means elites die just like anyone else to a hail of shafts.
This means elite expensive units, like Koitsenkos will die just as fast and easily as rank and
file Apachean Braves. Battles in the Americas will sometimes just be two sets of archers
wiping everyone else out before shooting each other, since so many men will die from arrow
fire. Some factions, like the Apaches revolve around using archers and a large force of
archers will cause immense damage to enemies. You should use up to 25-50% archers and
at least have a few units of them in every army in the Americas, as they are a huge threat in
battle and will crush the strongest enemies if kept safe.
Aztec Archers
Factions: Aztecs
Aztec Archers are average archers. Their low missile attack isnt much of a problem since it
is shared with many other natives and since armour is rare they will still be able to dish out
many causalities to enemies. They arent much weaker than Aztec Warriors in melee, so feel
free to use them as support.
Chichimec Hunters
These men are just like Aztec Archers, minus the armour and will serve well for wiping out
other native troops.
Dog Soldiers
Factions: Apaches
Dog Soldiers are good archers with a better missile attack than almost all other archers in
Americas and better melee attack. Hordes of Dog Soldiers will likely be your armys
mainstay as the Apaches. Just watch out in melee because they have no armour and
horrible defence so they will drop very quickly. Counter fire is a major danger too, since
even the weakest archers will drop Dog Soldiers in seconds.
Holkans
Factions: Mayans
Holkans are another average archer unit able to crush natives if given enough time. Their
armour helps them along.
Koitsenkos
Factions: Apaches
Koitsenkos are elite archers, by far the best ones in the Americas. They have a deadly
missile attack that will decimate any enemy, native or not that comes into range. They have
a equally huge melee attack and they are armoured. Their defence isnt that great, they will
still drop to missiles and melee quickly, so do your best to keep them out of a protracted
melee or counter fire. The biggest problem with Koitsenkos is obtaining them. A script needs
to trigger to get them and sometimes it is bugged and they never unlock. They are also
expensive for the poor apaches.
Longbowmen
Factions: New England
Longbowmen are much the same as the M2tw version except with less morale. They still
pierce armour, although that is of little use against the natives. It comes in handy against
other European powers however. They still have a huge range which helps them against the
mostly infantry natives.
Mayan Archers
Factions: Mayans
Mayan Archers are just like other southern native archers except they are unarmoured. Still
use them in the same way.
Rabbit Boys
Factions: Apaches
Rabbit Boys are very weak archers, inept in both ranged and melee combat. Their morale is
terrible, their missile attack is almost useless, their melee is pathetic and they will rout very
easily. They are just awful troops, only saved by how powerful archers are in Americas. You
will probably end up using them, but dont rely on them at all in battle.
Tarascan Archers
Attack: 5 Missile attack: 5 Charge:1 Defence: 8 Armour: 2 Cost: 380
Factions: Tarascans
Another in the line of average native archers.
Tlaxcalan Archers
Attack: 5 Missile attack: 5 Charge: 1 Defence: 8 Armour: 2 Cost:
Ditto.
Zacatecos Archers
Zacatecos Archers are like a stronger version of Dog Soldiers as they have slightly more
defence but otherwise the same stats. Use them in the same way.
Crossbows
They might not fire bullets but crossbows are just as deadly as ever.
Crossbowmen arent so useful in the Americas because of the almost total lack of heavy
armour, but they will still dish out plenty of causalities to any units and also come in effective
against European forces.
Adventurier
Attack: 9 Missile attack: 14 Charge: 3 Defence: 9 Armour:
Armour 3 Cost: 540
Factions: New France
Adventuriers are the strongest crossbows in Americas by far and are just as powerful as
they were in m2tw. They
hey have somewhat less morale now, but its still very high for a missile
unit. When facing these youll want to swarm them with as many units as possible,
possible as they
are strong in both melee and ranged.
Mounted Crossbowmen
Factions: Spain
Mounted Crossbowmen
rossbowmen are somewhat less use than their m2tw version ass there are so few
armoured units.. They are still useful for shooting into hordes of natives and dish out their
own kills but they are best against other European powers, especially against powerful
heavy infantry. Mounted units are also effective for surgical strikes against units like priests
who are chanting or native Chief Bodyguards
B
as they will die quickly to sustained missile fire.
Crossbowmen
Factions: Spain, English,, New France
Crossbowmen are the bog standard unit of xbows.
xbows They still pack a punch at range and
sustained fire will put a serious hunt on any unit. They are lousy in melee however,
however so try to
keep them out of it.
Gunpowder
Give them some red coats!

Gunpowder is one of the Europeans
European main advantages againstt the natives. Musketeers are
in short supply and gun units are still bugged like in m2tw but they destroy native morale and
kill them very fast. The natives have no cavalry to quickly charge in and disrupt your
musketeers so a large line of musketeers with some strong infantry can be just about
impossible for the natives to combat as the musketeers will inflict great causalities on them
as they try to close and the repeated gunpowder hits will rout them often long before they
can get near you. They will then rally, only to be routed once they start getting hit by gunfire
again. This can often continue
nue until the enemy finally fails to rally if you have enough
musketeers to keep up constant fire.
fire. Musketeers can only be given to you in shipments as a
reward from Spain so be very careful with them as you will have few. For more details on
using gunpowder see my Medieval 2 Total
T
War unit guide for full details.
Aquebsuiers
Factions: Spain, English,, New France
Chichimec Gunners
Attack: 5 Missile attack: 14 Charge: 1 Armour: 0 Cost: 560
Mounted Thunder Braves
Factions: Apaches
These men are remarkably deadly to just about anything that gets within range. Their
mobility and devastating guns give them a huge advantage
advantage over their enemies letting them
shooting infantry down in droves and stay away from them allowing them to dish out insane
amounts of causalities. Just keep them far away from melee as they have horrible stats, low
morale and are expensive
Musketeers
Factions: Spain
Musketeers are going to be a battle winning force for Spain, as they can dish out a ton of
kills to the natives, who have no easy way to counter them. Musketeers suffer from the same
bugs as they did in m2tw so use them in two ranks and watch out for archer fire.
Spanish Dragoons
Factions: Spain
Spanish Dragoons are extremely powerful mounted gunpowder troops they have a
devastating missile attack and will rip up virtually anything left in their range. They have the
best accuracy for gunpower cavalry in the total war series and you can crush native armies
with them alone. They are even strong enough to serve as light cavalry as they have decent
stats and good armour. They are so rare and hard to get in the Americas campaign however
you should be very careful with them and use them solely as missile troops.
Thunder Braves
Attack: 5 Missile attack: 14 Charge: 1 Armour: 0 Defence: 1 Cost: 560
Factions: Apaches
Thunder Braves, who are obtainable by defeating European forces in battle enough, are a
huge coop for the natives, as they allow the apaches to fight fire with fire. Their combination
of mobility and very strong firepower lets them dominate other infantry based natives and
take virtually no casualties. They also come in very useful for defeating strong Spanish
infantry. Just keep them far, far away from melee as they will be shredded in seconds.
Cavalry
Headress vs cavalry sabre.

Cavalry are a big advantage for the European factions. Cavalry charges will decimate native
forces because of their lack of armour; even though cavalry in the Americas has a generally
lousy charge stat absolutely shredding them and insta-routing units Take full advantage of
your cavalry when playing as a euro faction. Cavalry are best used to charge,
charge as the often
huge numbers of natives
es youll be fighting can whittle down cavalry if they are left in melee.
Chichimec Riders
These native riders allow the Chichimec tribes to turn the tables on the invaders a little.
l
They
have a decent attack, tho their weak defence means theyy shouldnt be left in melee for too
long.. These cavalry are best used to charge into the flank or rear to support an allied unit or
to chase routers as they are not strong enough to charge into the front of units without taking
quite a few losses.
Conquistadores
Factions: Spain
Conquistadores are one of the main units youll be using in the campaign as Spain.
Spain They
have high stats and will decimate just about any native troops,, except spearmen,
spearmen their 2 hit
points helping them along greatly.
greatly They will still die if left in melee with a large force of
infantry like all cavalry and should be used for charging the lightly armed natives.
Gendarmes
Factions: Spain, New France
Gendarmes are strong cavalry with very heavy armour and a strong charge,
charge making them
perfect for repeatedly driving into native units.
uni The natives will have a tough time killing them
since they have such weak weapons, so feel free to charge them into melee as they will last
a long time.
Mounted Cuirassiers
Factions: England
These heavy cav are the same as Conquistadores, except with higher charge.
Generals and Bodyguards
Real generals dont need to ride around on an animal to look tall.

Generals Bodyguard
odyguard for native factions are completely different from European factions.
They are smaller units of elite infantry that are far, far more delicate than youd think
generals bodyguards would be from playing the previous games. Native bodyguard die en
mass
ss from cavalry charges and missiles thin them down real quick,
quick just like any other native
troops, so killing them will be much easier than usual. Also remember that since the general
is in an infantry unit its much harder to run him away from danger. Trying
Trying to run away while
the general himself is fighting personally is a great way for him to get hit in the back as he
turns to run and killed. Be much more careful if you are playing as a native
na ive faction and only
commit your general to combat against weak opponents
opponents or with other units supporting him,
him
otherwise he will die fast.
Bodyguard
Attack 12 Charge: 3 Defence: 12 Armour: 3 Cost: 500
Factions: Aztecs
This bodyguard is pretty tough
h for native troops but no match for European elites like
Conquistadores. They are also very vulnerable to missiles so dont except them to do much
except keep the general alive. They have 25 morale and are disciplined and highly trained
so they will win or die.
New World Bodyguard
Attack: 11 Charge: 5 Defence: 17 Armour: 6 Cost:
Cos 1090
Factions: Spain, England,, New France
The New World Bodyguard
odyguard is the bodyguard for all European generals and a tough unit it is
too comparable to European knights. They pack great attack and a good defence with
decent armour and 2 hit points.
points This unit will be very devastating against native infantry, but
watch out for spearmen. They can also still be easily overwhelmed if you leave them in a
large group of enemies, so dont
do except them to be invulnerable.. They are disciplined and
highly trained
ned and have very high morale so they wont be routing anywhere.
Supreme War Captains Guard

Factions: Mayans
Despite the name this bodyguard isnt supreme to other native bodyguards and should be
used the same way.
War Captains Guard
Factions: Tarascans
Another bodyguard just like the others.
War Chiefs Men
Attack: 12 Charge: 3 Defece: 7 Armour: 2 Cost: 450 Upkeep: 110
Factions: Apaches
This bodyguard is different to the others as they have zero shield stats so their shield is
simply a decoration and doesnt help them in battle. This makes them quite weak,
defenceless against missiles and they will die quick if the unit is focused on. When playing
as the Apaches you should be very, very careful about sending in your general to fight, as
their horrible defence and the fact they cant pull back quickly will put him in major peril.
Javelin Cavalry
The epic battle of long sticks vs. flying sticks!
There is one unit of jav cav in Americas and its just like the M2: TW version.
Jinetes
Factions: Spain
Jinetes are just like the m2tw version and are useful for showering native infantry with
javelins while staying out of melee to whittle them down
do n and charging into flanks. They arent
as useful as in m2tw as there are hardly any heavily armoured units for them to skewer but
they still serve well as general purpose cavalry.
Peasants and others
The battle for peasant supremacy!

While Spanish peasants are just like the m2tw version, Aztec peasants are very strong for
peasants, and its
ts worth using them to add bulk to armies or push rams as they can fight
quite well and much better than European peasants.
Aztec Peasants
Factions Aztecs
easants are surprisingly good at holding a line and actually arent
are
Much like M2tw, Aztec Peasants
too much weaker than Aztec Warriors.
W arriors. Its good to send them in just before or with your main
infantry blob to tie up enemies and take the hits so your better troops dont have to. They are
easy to train just about anywhere and nice and cheap. They are also good for the classic
peasant tasks of suicidally pushing battering rams and acting as arrow fodder. Dont
overlook these men.
Chichimec Shamen
Chichimec Shamen are just like the later priest units but lacking armour so you need to be
more careful with them. They have insane morale and will cut up other natives in melee so
use them well. Just watch out for missiles.
missiles They are impetuous
Coyote Priests
Factions: Aztecs
Despite being in this section because they are priests Coyote Priests are strong elite
warriors with all round great stats for native troops and very high morale. They will usually
fight to the last man rather than rout. They have a special ability to chant which raises the
morale of nearby troops and lowers that of enemies. This is an extremely valuable tactic with
the Aztecs as you will lose allot of men in most battles
battles and preventing mass routs is very
important. You should always have some priests if you can. They fight very well in melee
and are also good for sending in to relive a friendly unit or as shock troops,
troops but remember
that they will stop broadcasting the morale
mo
bonus when combat is joined.
Hornet Throwers
Attack: 5 Missile attack: 4 Charge: 1 Defence: 8 Armour: 2
Factions: Mayans
This no doubt historically accurate unit flings hornets nests at the enemy. This causes a
major morale penalty and can also kill some of them. These units are very useful to have
behind you battle line hurling their fear into the enemies ranks. Note that the hornets will
hang around in the area for a while after being thrown, so you can also affect your own
troops if you dont watch out, although hornet throwers themselves are not affected.
Mayan Peasants
Factions: Mayans
These peasants are just like the Aztec ones and should be used in the same way.
Peasants
Factions: Tlaxcalans, Tarascans
Again these are just like the other native peasants.
Priests of Kukulcan
Factions: Mayans
Priests of Kukulcan are just like Coyote Priests with the same chant ability and should be
used in exactly the same way.
Priests of Quetzalcoatl
Factions:
These are the same as the other priests.
Horse Archers
There is only one unit of Horse archers in Americas.

Mounted Apaches
Factions: Apaches
Mounted Apaches can only be obtained by unlocking them via fighting European forces
force and
defeating their cavalry.
y. They are very weak horse archers with all round low stats especially
missile attack which is hardly surprising given the very short time the apache would have
had to master horsemanship. They arent really that
that useful because of their low missile
attack and lack of melee strength,
strength but at least you can use them as harassment and to
chase routers much more effectively than you could before. They are more effective agsitn
natives as the Spanish are usually too heavily armoured for their weak arrows to kill many of
them. They have low morale so be careful with them.
Artillery
It doesnt get more unfair than this.,

Only European factions
actions get artillery in Americas unsurprisingly and it is quite uncommon.
uncommon
Still artillery is great for scaring the natives and smashing down their walls.
Basilisk
Attack: 63 vs. buildings:
ings: 330 Charge: 0 Defence: 7 Armour: 2 Cost: 1350
Factions: Spain
Basilisks are the best cannons just like m2tw and do loads of damage to walls.
Bombard
Attack: Vs troops: 55 Vs buildings: 120 Charge: 0 Defence: 7 Armour: 2 Cost: 760
Factions: Spain, England,, New France
The bombard is just like the m2w version and dishes out plenty off damage to walls.
Culverin
Attack: Vs troops: 63 vs. buildings: 230 Charge: 0 Defence: 7 Armour: 2 Cost: 1000
Factions: Spain, New France
The Culverin is strong against walls and
an does a good job.
Grand Bombard
Attack: Vs troops: 63 Vs buildings: 180 Charge: 0 Defence: 7 Armour:
Armour 2 Cost: 910
Factions: England
Exclusive
ve to England, the Grand Bombard
B
is better in all ways than the basic bombard
Mortar
Attack: Vs troops: 63 Vs buildings: 150 Charge: 0 Defence: 7 Armour:2 Cost: 650
Factions: England
The mortar isnt that great and is just like the m2tw version. Its high arcing shots are not
accurate and it doesnt do that much damage. It is good for hitting enemies inside
settlements however.
Ribault
Attack vs. troops: 63 Vs buildings: 5 Charge: 0 Defence: 7 Armour: 2 Cost: 500
Factions: England
The Ribault, just like in m2tw is a great weapon for wrecking morale: its repeated gunpowder
hits can rout troops very easily, tho it is less effective against the hyper morale native troops.
Mercenaries
This section is very incomplete and will be added to.
Arrow Warriors
Eagle Warriors
Native Archers
Native Mercenaries
Attack: 5 Charge: 1 Defence: 6 Armour: 0 Cost: Upkeep: 117
Native Warriors
Tlaxcalan Archers
Attack: 5 Missile attack: 5 Charge: 1 Defence: 8 Armour: 2 Cost 410 Upkeep: 75
Tlaxcalan Mercenaries
Version Info
1.0: 21 April 2009: First uploaded version of guide M2TW section done mercs missing
maybe a bit rough needs unit cards.29931 words, 83 pages.
1.0.1: 23 April 2009: Held back on uploading to fix more errors with guide before uploading:
missing pictures formatting few unit descriptions. This one is being uploaded 30,078 words,
88 pages
1.2 16 May 2009: Fixed many, many typos and grammar errors and added more mercs.
2.0: 27 June 2009: Finished Britannia section and fixed numerous minor things and typos in
M2TW section.
3.0: 20 June 2010: Finally got around to finishing Americas section except for some unit
upkeep and the mercenaries section. Will finish these next update, along with Teutonic
section. Numerous minor wording and typo fixes.
Credits
Pinkbeard of TWC for telling me how the size of Generals Bodyguards works
Slurricane of TWC for making the frames on my images. I didnt use them as there were
problems but he still tried.
Dafonts for providing great fonts for my guide.
Drpic for providing easy to use image tools, though now I use the GIMP.
The developers of the GIMP for making a awesome free Photoshop.

Kingsdom Description

Transféré par

Informations du document

Titre original

Copyright

Formats disponibles

Partager ce document

Partager ou intégrer le document

Options de partage

Avez-vous trouvé ce document utile ?

Ce contenu est-il inapproprié ?

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

Kingsdom Description

Transféré par

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

Medieval 2: Total War

Differences between RTW and M2TW

General unit notes

Spread out men! We might be able to live longer that way!

Circle and shoot

Ashes, ashes, they all fall down!

Death has never been so pretty.

When spearwall works it can be effectiveunfortunately it doesnt often.

Also known as artillery magnets.

Medieval 2 Total War

Dismounted Light Lancers

Italian Spear Militia

Dismounted Christian Guard

Sword and Buckler Men

Ha! Wheres your advanced technology now, invaders?

Its raining death! Hallelujah! Its raining death!

Archers are an essential part of any army, especially early on.

Crossbowmen are some of the most versatile troops in M2TW.

Guns: more fun than firing a bow!

Its hard to have knightly arrogance when youre burning alive.

For when you just dont want arrows in your face.

Mongol Heavy Lancers

Quick men while they are distracted by our shiny helmets!

Dismounted knights can rip up most troops in melee.

Dismounted Chivalric Knights

Dismounted Polish Knights

Horse archers rule the desert.

Armour is for pussies anyway!

Dont call him dumbo.

No they arent pyjamas...

Aztec Spear Throwers

Peasants and non-combatants

No, its MY run down village!

Religion makes people do funny things...

M2: TW: Kingdoms

Scots Pike Militia

Its not the size of the sword...wait yes it is!

Attack with courage guys! We suck less now!

Sword Staff Militia

Typical, highly tactical, Scottish strategy.

*insert joke about getting shafted here*

Longbowmen are every bit as deadly as they were in M2TW.

Noble Highland Archers

A little known fact is that crossbows could fire arrows too.

Happiness is a warm musket.

That guy loves horses!

A peasant on horseback is still a peasant.

This heavy metal will rock you!

Dismounted Feudal Knights

Its winter and the javelins are falling...

Peasants and non combatants

Bar brawl or war? You decide.

I want pyjamas like that.

A primitive pointy thing is still a pointy thing.

Organized or not pikemen can be useful.

Sword and Buckler Men

Who blunted our javelins???

Its so much nicer without all that annoying armour!

Give them some red coats!

Headress vs cavalry sabre.

Generals and Bodyguards

Real generals dont need to ride around on an animal to look tall.

Supreme War Captains Guard

insert joke about getting shafted here