Chronicles of a Golden Horde - a Magna Mundi Strategy Guide AAR

Khan Ahmad II was born after the great war, so when the city of Astrakhan gives in to his siege, it’s the first time he visits the city. Thirtyfive years have passed since Golden Horde lost the city to Shirvan. The years passed have not been good to the city, trade seems to have declined and the size of the city has not grown. The largest difference is that all nomads are gone, they have either moved up north to Burtasia or settled in the city.

The work to integrate the new provinces begin and it’s a strange time. Everyone old enough to remember the times before the great war is happy to once again belong to the Golden Horde and pays respect to Khan Ahmad II, the grandson of the great Khan Sayyid Ahmad I. But the majority of the population was born after the great war and have grown up in Shirvan. Khan Ahmad II decides to raise six mingghans in the new provinces and leaves the integration work in the hands of the drill officiers. The Khan feels uneasy in the city of Astrakhan and after he has made the arrangements for our traders to return he leaves.

At the same time, in 1515, Crimea decides to attack Moldavia, which is joined by Teutonic Order. Crimea takes the early initative and occupy Moldavia’s single province, but the war is turned upside down when Crimea is attacked by Poland (has inherited Lithuania). Khorasan, Qara Koyunlu, Nogai and Sibir come to Crimea’s rescue and a large war begins. Enormous armies march through our lands and throw themselves at a fast diminishing Polish army that gun them down with muskets. Once again the war is turned upside down when Bohemia attacks Poland. Soon after, Poland sign a peace treaty with Crimea and gets Voronezh. Meanwhile, Teutonic Order has shipped an army down to the Black Sea and now occupy several provinces. Also, Genoa takes advantage of the chaos and attack Crimea. After a short and very costly war Genoa can claim Kouban in a peace deal. In a final twist of the war, Teutonic Order decides to attack Poland instead and signs a peace deal with Crimea that forces them to release the province Tula to the new country of Ryazan. A very favorable peace deal for Crimea. At least it does seem so at the time.








In 1525, Poland is in turmoil and Voronezh and Kursk defect to Ryazan. The new country is allied with Sibir and soon Crimea, done rebuilding their army, decides to guarantee the independence of Ryazan. Two days later, a mongol messenger from the distant country of Golden Horde reaches Sultan Ivan of Ryazan with a declaration of war.







Khan Ahmad II's tactics are the same as in the war with Shirvan, and actually the same as in the great war, to fight the decisive battles on your own ground. Only when you have beaten all the main armies of your enemies will you venture into their land. One important ascpect is of course to use the terrain in your favour, but Khan Ahmad II now feels so sure he will win any battle that his first priority is to make sure there is a battle. So when the first Crimea army (4/2) marches to Sarai, the Khan lets them enter the province first and then attacks them with his full army (8/4) and demolish them. Ryazan was moving an army (4/3) towards Sarai, but now turns around in Lugansk and moves back to Voronezh. The Khan attacks with his entire army and reaches them just before they cross the border. This is a move that violates the tactics, but rather fight them know than after they have linked up with reinforcements. This is a far more costly battle for us. It is a convincingly victory, but most of our army have to return to Sarai in order to rest, while 4 mingghans of cavalry intercepts the retreating Ryazan army in Voronezh and finish them off.

Then the winter comes and the war takes a rest. Crimea is raising new troops in every province and we assume Ryazan does the same. The scouts haven't seen any troops from Sibir yet, but it is a long march down here. When the winter is over, we can't see any big Crimea army, but we know they must have at least 7-8 units waiting. We guess they are waiting for the new units to finish. The Khan decides to move in on their territory and start to siege Lugansk. The scouts then discover a small Ryazan army (2/2) in Voronezh and our cavalry goes after them. The cavalry finish them off and discover that Ryazan now is out of soldiers. We offer them a white peace and they accept. At the same moment, a Crimean army (5/2) appears and moves on the sieging army (1/2) in Lugansk. We have the rest of our army in Voronezh and Sarai and to not scare the Crimean army away we let them first attack our siege army before the rest of the army storm in and totally demolish them.

In the next phase of the war the major part of the army besiege Crimean provinces and fights off stray units. The rest of the army fights off small Sibir armies that trickles down through Kazan with only 2 or 3 units per army. It takes several years to control the entire Crimea and when the Khan finally storms the city of Bessarbia, the war has taken him to the borders of Hungary and Ottoman empire. In the peace negotiations, we claim the provinces of Bogutjar, Lugansk and Kaffa.








The war ends 1531. The return of Bogutjar into the empire of Golden Horde is the final revenge for the defeat in the great war of 1478-1482. Khan Ahmad II has restored the honours to his father Baraq I and his grandfather Sayyid Ahmad I. To claim Lugansk was an easy decision, since it's a border province to Sarai and will benefit from our national focus. However, to also claim Kaffa is more of a gamble. It is totally cut off from the main land and we have no ships at all. It is such a prize though that we could not leave it. It is a rich province and it has a Center of Trade. Studying the map, there is only one solution to the problem.





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Even though there is peace with Crimea, the fighting is not over. The tribes in the claimed provinces of Lugansk, Bogutjar and Kaffa need to be subjugated. Furthermore, the administration needs to include the new provinces and the trade in Kaffa needs governing. Half our army remains camped in Kaffa, since the province it totally cut off from the main land. Communication with them is complicated and demands messengers moving secrectly through the land of Genoa and then by fishing boat over to Kaffa. The Khan Ahmad II is planning a war with Genoa to conquer Kouban and Azow. But first he needs to conquer the nomadic tribes.

In 1533, the Khan falls off his horse and breaks his neck during a campaign in Bogutjar. His twenty year old son Ahmad is elected the new Khan Ahmad III Genghisid. Just like his father, he is a fierce military leader. He became the leader of his cavalry mingghan at the age of eleven and his strategic thinking and movement is so fast and brilliant that he already is touted as a true heir to the great Genghis Khan. However, his leadership qualites and strategic thinking are not limited to warfare, he has a natural understanding of administration and he has a vision for the transformation of Golden Horde into a Golden Empire.







The ambition to turn the nomadic tribes more sedentary was originally started by the great Khan Sayyid Ahmad I almost a hundred years ago. The efforts were disrupted by the great war and have never really moved forward since then. Khan Ahmad III renews the efforts and with Astrakhan, Kaffa and the Georgian provinces already sedentary all that is needed is bold leadership. Khan Ahmad III declares:

“The horde era has come to an end. The age of Genghis Khan is over. It will always remain a glorious part of our history, but now a new era will begin and a new challange will face us, to leave the Golden Horde behind, to form a glorious future, to form the Golden Empire!”​

The process to transform the government takes several years and is helped by the emergence of the talented Statesman advisor Baraq Nasange. In 1538, Ahmad III is elected Khan of the oligarchic monarchy Golden Horde. A time of peace and prosperity follows. In 1547, the Russian Emperor dies. This means that Russia no longer guarantees Genoa’s independence. Genoa are allied with Savoy, Wurtemburg and Naples, and they are protected by the Emperor of HRE. The Genoese army is modern and well-armed with muskets. They have 8000 infantry in Azow. Khan Ahmad III has respect for their musketeers and also have no idea how large armies he will face. They will have to come by ship and land their armies, but there are coastlines in all of Imereti, Kaffa, Azow and Kouban. To prepare for the possibility of simultanious landings, the Khan raises 5 new mingghans of cavalry and 2 mingghans of infantry to a total of 20 (13/7) units.

In late 1548 we declare war on Genoa. Their allies join them, but the Emperor of HRE does not get involved. Genoa has split their army so that 5 units are in Kouban and 3 units in Azow. The Khan attacks Kouban with 9 cavalry and 3 infantry. The Genoese army seems totally unprepared for a lightning quick cavalry charge and they manage to fire just one volley that hits no one before they are slaughtered. The smaller army in Azow is disposed of just as easily. While the sieges begin an anxious wait for enemy ships begin. In the spring of 1549 a Savoian army (4 inf) lands in Imereti and their bodies are thrown back in to the sea. And that’s it, there are no more landings. In the winter of 1549 Azow and Kouban falls and we prepare for a long wait to claim the provinces without a peace treaty. To our surprise, just a month later a Genoese envoy arrives with a peace offer that would give us Azow and Kouban as well as 49 ducats. We agree to their terms. Azow becomes a core province since we had a mission from the people of Azow to rescue them from Genoa. At the same time, Crimean Tartar culture becomes accepted in Golden Horde. Also, the Ottoman Empire inherits Kazan...







Meanwhile, Ryazan is fighting Poland and is so busy that mongol revolters in Voronezh can overtake the province and defect to us! To manage all the new provinces the Khan develops a new and better Bureaucracy as a national idea. The Khan has more bold visions for Golden Horde and is already planning a new war when he one morning in the summer of 1552 won’t wake up. He is dead. His fifteen year old son Kuchuk becomes the new Khan Kuchuk Muhammad I Genghisid.










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The Polish war began in 1515 when Poland attacked Crimea and their allies. Poland had a large and modern army that was weared down by the endless hordes. Bohemia and Teutonic Order took advantage of Poland’s exposed situation and attacked them. Followed by Russia, Ryazan, Brandenburg, Pommerania, Crimea, Teutonic Order again, Ryazan again and also break-away Lithuania. For the last 38 years, Poland have been constantly at war. The result is a Poland divided into three separate parts. Another result of the Polish war is an eight province Ryazan. The Polish war still rages on, at the moment only with a Russia that occupies half their provinces.

The Ottomans have fought successfully in the Balkans and are within striking distance of Wien and Venice. They have also won a foothold in Italy with Siena. And also, they have just recently inherited Kazan. It will be interesting to see how they will manage such a wide spread empire.