The Romuvan Hordes

[Shian]

Started a game with Poland and set my first goal as obtaining Poland de Jure lands. The first step would be to take over Pomerania before the HRE feels like grabbing it, but I kind of like having my land borders attached. I declare war on the Tribe of Pomerania with the goal of obtaining Stettin...

... and witness a 3PM Tribe field an army comparable to pretty much the entire levy Poland can muster. After the initial shock I beat them back and proceed to rout them around the area for the next year or so, finally getting around to sieging and stuff. In the end the desired province has been obtained.

After waiting a while for my vassals to stop complaining about me using their troops (which have been sitting comfortably in their respective home provinces for quite a while before the last discontent noble decided to stop nagging me ), I set my eyes on Wolgast. I declare war, start mustering troops... And see a nearly 6k army march into Poland and proceed to beat the living carp out of everything in its way.

My question is this - is it WaD for pagan tribes to field armies so large the HRE is afraid to approach them?

 

[fenwayb]

My question is this - is it WaD for pagan tribes to field armies so large the HRE is afraid to approach them?

yup

 

[unmerged(392218)]

Heheheheheheheh... always funny seeing people underestimate the armies of the Pagans!

(A good tip from me, is to actually wait for HRE to attack, and then attack as well, quickly place a army on each county and so when HRE has killed the Pagan army that has arrived on their land. he will help you siege the pagan land, and you gain more land! )

Of course, you also have the possibility of buying mercs, but honestly, be careful with the pagans, they are some scary bastards, especially if their religious allies join them! (Mecklenburg has a doomstack of 5.5k! (learned the hard way with Denmark!)

 

[Raventhefuhrer]

Otherwise the pagans would be eradicated even quicker than they are now.

The only guys who can beat pagans at the earliest start date with just levies is the HRE. If you want to 'blitz' them, then just be prepared to hire mercenaries.

 

[Sir Garnet]

It's all about motivation.

War with the Pagans isn't just the legal nuance of whether feudal lord A or B will rule - a change of coat of arms, really. The Romuvans know you are out to destroy their gods, their country, their very way of life - pillage their women, despoil their villages (or vice versa) , and take their "freedom"! So, in traditional tribal fashion, they will be able to muster in arms an unusually large fraction of their male population.

BTW the Emperor has enough vassal levies to conquer them should he wish to do so, at little risk to his own troops.

 

[Shian]

So, Poland starts squeezed in between the HRE, Hungary, Turov (with its amazing ability to pull 1.5k-2k stacks out of seeming nowhere) and a bunch of Pagans fielding approximately 950 people per province.

No wonder the Piast dynasty got 60000 points

 

[Agnstar]

If you declare Holy War for a duchy, I believe the fellow tribal nations will either be called into war or will receive a casus belli which THEY WILL take up in arms against you. The Baltic pagans have a special building which gives them a crazy amount of levies, for the previously stated purpose of surviving constant invasion. It seems better to fabricate a claim on the county which you wish to
conquer, as it seems no religious defenses will occur. If you do declare holy war, be sure to bring in a close ally such as the HRE, Turov, Hungary, etc.

 

[Shian]

When the game starts poland is 70 years after embracing Christianity, so I'm quite surprised its eastern parts are not busy razing their women to the ground, burning their livestock and kidnapping their homesteads.

 

[Shian]

It seems better to fabricate a claim on the county which you wish to conquer, as it seems no religious defenses will occur.

Seriously? Sounds almost too good to be true.

 

[Alerias]

Pagans have extra troops because of a unique building but theres no excuse for a player-run HRE not to overrun them within a few years if you so desire.

In one of my first demo games, I conquered all the Pagan tribes all the way to Finland in the first decade, sometimes DoWing 4 or 5 simultaneously to minimize lost time (as you must disband the Imperial levies to be able to DoW more)

Poland and Denmark WILL have a harder time and will likely have to hire a merc company or two to tackle large amount of pagans.

 

[Alerias]

Seriously? Sounds almost too good to be true.

Its not. Religious defense only triggers when you declare Holy War or Crusade as CB. Conventional wars only trigger conventional alliances. Ie, inter-marriage-based alliances.

 

[Xihu]

the only downside to using fabricated claim CB is that you only can get 1 province per war... but it might very well be worth it.

 

[Shian]

Well, if it were some mega-alliance against the flaxen-haired, prominently moustached invaders from the southern forests, I wouldn't even bother posting here.

My amazement stems from the fact that these armies come from the tribes fighting on their own. So far they haven't forged any alliance I'd have to deal with.