The purpose of this guide is to explain the units of each faction in Medieval 2 Total War in terms of time progression so as to provide insight into the playing styles of each army. The developers of the game have attempted to represent one of the periods of greatest social and military change and done great job while providing a balanced game. Hopefully after reading this guide you will appreciate the nature of each faction more and come to appreciate their individual styles.

The time period that the grand campaign covers is from 1080 to 1530 and spans a significant period of European history. At the start of the period, most of Europe is composed of petty kingdoms leftover from various events: the collapse of the western Roman Empire, the Muslim conquest and Turkic incursions into the Middle East. The only place of stability is the Byzantine Empire, a continuation of Greco-Roman civilisation amongst a sea of change.

In the west, France and the Holy Roman Empire are the descendents of Charlemagne’s Franks the progenitors of the Knights. Iberia is a swirling conflict between Christians and Muslims, although the lines blur as personal interests take priority over piety. The north east is dominated by horse riding peoples, a forebear of what is to come. The middle east is a melting pot of the old and the new: Byzantines, Berbers and Turks with no love between any of them. Italy shows a sign of what is to come - merchant cities with communal militias instead of the military class.

As time progresses we see western Europe perfect nobility based militaries which then get supplanted by professional armies from cities, with very different styles of warfare. In the east we see more civilised armies initially react to the knightly armies while their military elite begins to shape the modern army. The end of the period is the beginning of the Renaissance which saw large conflicts fought with professional armies by large nation states.

During this period, some great rivalries were forged with each party having great influence on the other. In the game, these are represented in the units that each faction has. Scotland vs England, England vs France, Spain vs Portugal vs Moors, Italian states vs Holy Roman Empire, Turks vs Byzantines vs Venice, Turks vs Egypt, Russians vs Polish vs Mongols. Each faction description will highlight the units that represent these conflicts.

Factions can be grouped by their core similarities, however each has its own nuances, generally across different eras. Each faction is generally shaped by its neighbours so sometimes there will sometimes be great similarities to a faction in a different grouping. Ultimately the issue comes down to how the faction develops cavalry and so there are two major groupings: Knightly lancers and Horse Archer factions. Finally, there are a few factions that did not fit nicely into either category and are handled under Hybrid factions.

These are all the Catholic factions: England, Scotland, France, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, HRE, Milan, Venice, Sicily, Hungary and the Papal States. All are united by the the fact that they can recruit Feudal Knights (Norman Knights in the case of Sicily). These factions also can obtain religious order buildings that give access to Knights that are stronger than Feudal Knights, useful in the early game or for cavalry weak factions like Scotland.

All of these factions start of with some local nuances, but as time progresses, the Catholic militaries normalise around powerful knights in castles. However, just as they reach their peak, the cities start to provide credible alternatives in the form of stronger economies to provide counter units in a quantity to beat the quality of the knights. As the knights wane we see cities producing the bulk of the armies and some of the largest aggregate forces in the period. Gunpowder revolutionises warfare and we get to experience the decline of nobility to early modern armies, much as what happened to the samurai in the 1800s, culminating in what we call pike and shot warfare.

This progression did not happen within a bubble and those factions on the edge of Christendon will adapt to the enemies they face, especially the horse hordes of the Russian, Turks and Mongols.

This period is everything up until the advent of Feudal Knights from Fortresses. Local nuances colour the early game and these need to be used to advantage. These factions generally head towards a similar style though, which is massed knights with supporting peasant infantry. In some cases you can have all cavalry armies. Missiles and spears are not expected to carry the day, although during this period we see some armour on the peasants as well as armour piercing crossbows. Strong melee infantry is rare until the arrival of Dismounted Feudal Knights which represents the knightly class adapting to the increased prevalence of sieges of stone castles.

Castles are the core recruitment centres and provide knights directly without requiring further buildings. To provide more support, barracks, bowyers and siege buildings can be built, but these are optional. Cities for the most part provide lesser equivalent supporting troops, and have slow recruitment, but the fact that they can typically provide spears and missiles in a single building is useful for volume in a time of crisis.

The arrival of Feudal Knights (and their Dismounted brethren) begins somewhat of an arms race. Firstly, the Knights keep getting stronger, and more specialised often to counter the increased armour. Secondly, we see the arrival of armour piercing urban troops, such as halberds, bills and voulges, that means that knightly armies need to be more thought out. Local flavour is less noticeable but begins to take the shape of city vs castle, knights versus peasants depending on what that part of world was doing at the time.

Castles will be less numerous but produce singularly powerful units that will work with cities armies. Specialisation of stables, barracks, and bowyers to achieve the highest level of units will result in recruitment centres that feed into army assembly areas thanks to the development of roads. Cities can provide a reasonable proportion of armies, and some local flavour begins to show these middle tier city units.

Huge Cities usher in the start of the Late period, generally in conjunction with the discovery of gunpowder. It culminates in City recruited infantry armies which make up the main striking element of the forces and cavalry is often professional and plays a supporting role. However, we do see the disruption that existed in this time before pike and shot became uniform in the 1600s. Cannons begin to be integrated into field warfare to counter the pike blocks.

Castles become almost redundant however the fact that the Citadel is reached before huge cities allows them to focus on shipbuilding and cannon forging while the cities produce the troops. Huge cities often open up new building chains which bring further professional troop types. Units become more cost efficient compared to the previous period, so this period sees more armies overall. They also have three recruitment slots so your cities will be pumping out armies much quicker than castles were in the Middle Period, especially with the economic boost.

This faction has a lower cavalry recruitment pool than other knightly factions and their pinnacle knights are anti-cavalry oriented. They eschew crossbows in favour of longbows and maintains this preference until the advent of arquebusiers. In parallel with this, the bill, a more offensive weapon is preferred over advanced spears, polearms and pikes. To counter this, the longbowmen can plant stakes giving defence to cavalry charges. They get a greater pool of late knightly infantry including anti-armour foot troops. In the early renaissance, they get nimble cavalry from Cities in Demi Lancers.

This faction never progresses beyond Feudal Knights and has a low pool of cavalry. Scotland never gets gunpowder infantry and their best missiles are castle recruited armoured archers. However, they are the earliest adopters of pikes and can recruit them from Castles and Cities, leading to pike and bow formations. Their early infantry is some of the strongest in the game, armed with axes and two handed swords and their early and middle period archers are also axe armed for dual-role. They essentially have no late game development so will have to utilise mercenaries and military orders for expertise.

This is the prototypical Knightly faction. Their cavalry progresses to the best in the west, the Lancers and they have one of the largest recruitment pools. In the later half they get some of the best dual-role infantry in Aventurier and Scots Guard. Their peasant polearms are decent and they have a normal pike progression. By the late game the recruitment balance between City and Castle is not skewed in either direction. Renaissance cities can produce “Ordonnance” companies: Mounted Archers and Gendarmes.

Spain becomes a strong Knightly faction in the Middle period with some of the best knights complemented by excellent skirmisher cavalry in the Jinetes. Jinetes can also be recruited in Cities and have several armour upgrades making them useful deep into the game. Missile units are prototypical but progress to musketeers, the best gunpowder units in the west. Their weakness is spears and Castles provide javelin infantry from barracks which means that early and middle armies will not have a traditional spear core until the pikes of the late game. Almughavars are dual-role javelin/light spear units with strong morale but are hard to use well. Spain favours swords and continues this into the late castle units instead of polearms in both Cities and Castles. In the late period, their Cities produce some of the best armies in the game with Tercio Pikemen, Gendarmes and Conquistadors in the New World meaning that Castles almost become redundant.

Portugal start similar to Spain except with a lower pool of cavalry and their pinnacle unit, Portuguese Knights barely improving upon Feudal Knights. Early missiles are prototypical though their javelins are slightly better than Spains, and progression goes all the way to musketeers. However the Portuguese Arquebusiers are excellent dual-role gunners and combine well with Aventuros for hard-hitting pike and shot formation that do not need melee support. Spears are a weakness like Spain and cities produce sword militias, while the best pikes come from Castles meaning the late period will utilise both settlement types.

This faction is prototypical in the first half owing to its Frankish ancestry. However its relationship with Italy shapes its progression and leads to an all round capability as opposed to clear specialties. Cavalry is strong and middle to late units (Imperial and Gothic Knights) have maces to give them an anti-knight strength. Their Reiters are a lethal combination of gunpowder and shock cavalry which represents Renaissance innovation. Only Castles produce cavalry. Missiles units are typical and progress to Arquebusiers. Spears follow the usual progression to militia halberds and pikes without any elites. Foot troops incorporate two handed swords in the middle and later period. There is little late period progression other than Gothic Knights and Reiters as historically this region became synonymous with mercenaries armies (Landsknechts) and you will get your best troops that way.

This faction follows a typical Knightly Castle progress to Feudal Knights when Cities begin to take over. In the Middle period they have the well-armoured but inferior Men At Arms from castles and useful Cavalry Militia from Cities while in the Late period Broken Lances and Familia Ducale from Cities. Milan has excellent crossbow units which come from Cities and Castles, the latter ones being almost melee capable. Gunpowder units progress to Musketeers. Spears from Cities are match for those from Castles meaning this faction does not require Castles as much. Knightly foot units are some of most heavily armoured in the game representing the armour technology in northern Italy at the end of the game’s period. They do not have the capability of later western knights however but they are cost effective. Late game City armies will comprise Pike Militia, Musketeers and Familia Ducale.

Another Italian faction with strong City militias and Castle Men At Arms. In the Middle period they have the well-armoured but inferior Men At Arms from Castles while Cavalry Militia replace militia polearms and in the Late period Broken Lances from Cities. Late Castles recruit Stradiots, a Renaissance era Albanian unit type that is very fast anti-cavalry. Missiles are prototypical until Venetian Archers which are dual-role from Castles, while gunpowder progresses to Musketeers. Spears are similar to Milan. Melee infantry includes the powerful Venetian Heavy Infantry which couple with the archers to make Castles important for this faction in the Late period.

Prototypical Italian Knightly faction with the exception of category leading spearman, Papal Guard, and polearms, Swiss Guard.

Prototypical Knightly faction in the Early period with the exception that when everyone else gets Feudal Knights they get Norman Knights which are a level above. They get no City cavalry. They get Muslim Archers instead of Peasant Crossbows which are an excellent early archer unit, otherwise progression is typical to Arquebusiers. Spears are strong due to Italian city militias and progress through halberds to pikes. Melee troops include Men At Arms and the Late period Sword and Buckler Men.

Low cavalry recruitment pool and slower progression beyond Feudal Knights. Huscarls from Castles and Armoured Clergy from Cities provide strong melee cavalry. Missiles are typical with the inclusion of early dual-role Norse Archers and progresses to Arquebusiers. Does not have Early spears and in the Middle period recruits some of the best spearwall polearms from Cities and Castles. Melee infantry is very strong axe-wielding, anti-armour through all periods.

In the Early period, this faction has light and medium horse archers instead of light horse and Mailed Knights but ends the period with Feudal Knights and progresses close to prototype Castle Knights. Late period Cities can recruit fast lancer Hussars. Foot missiles progress typically to Arquebusiers. Spears are moderately lighter early but normalise to armoured spears in Castles and Halberd Militia in Cities. Melee infantry provides some variation with Early light axemen, Middle period halberd peasants and Battlefield Assassins.

There are four Horse Archer factions: Egypt, Turks, Mongols, and Timurids, who are not as uniform as the Knightly factions, but have a strong theme. The Egyptians are one of the caliphates that existed after the Muslim conquest, largely of Berber (North African) background. At the beginning of the game the Turks have just arrived, and being competent horsemen begin to infiltrate other Middle Eastern militaries. These were multicultural factions incorporating Berber, Bedouin, Sudanese, Kurdish, Turkish and Afghan elements and the unit progressions represent these.

The crusades bring these cultures into conflict with Knightly armies and they adapt to fill weaknesses, but for the most part they have the edge in the early game due to better multi-role archer/melee cavalry. They develop lancer cavalry in the Middle period and end up with some of the strongest cavalry in the early Late game. Their cavalry often favour maces as a secondary weapon which means they are good anti-knight forces. Infantry is light and multi-role and they are expected to field mobile cavalry armies by and large up until the gunpowder period. Javelins are prominent in infantry formations and elite infantry are often bow-armed. Early militia is above average to represent the level of sophistication these factions had, especially in the large cities on the eastern mediterranean and these provide good spear units.

Generally speaking the eastern factions access gunpowder ahead of the west and have access to naptha throwers before gunpowder is discovered which can be a handy counter to massed heavy infantry.

In the early period, these factions have decent horse archers, both light and medium weighted that can perform melee duties, supported by light spear cavalry. Infantry plays a very light role, and is generally fast, unarmoured and not spear armed. Archers are generally above peasant level and could best western archers in melee. Militias are often the source of the best spear infantry. This period ends with the adoption of lancer cavalry, probably in response to the crusader knights.

The difference between Castles and Cities is not as pronounced as the Knightly factions and thanks to racing tracks, the cities can produce well rounded forces as they are generally more developed compares to the castles in the Levant. Castle walls provide good range, while the barracks tends to provide light troops. Ranges provide decent archers.

Fortresses bring lancer cavalry, not quite to the level of Feudal Knights initially, but effective nonetheless, however, the late castle cavalry is excellent and will best western Knights due to the maces they wield. In essence, this period in when these factions lose and then regain cavalry dominance as these factions become more militarily advanced. It also sees the rise of professional dual-role infantry meaning greater numbers of foot forces can be fielded in armies, and wall defence becomes a lot simpler. Cities produce decent cavalry and strong infantry which makes it likely that you will never need as many Castles as the Christian factions do.

Castles begin provide more professional looking recruitment: missile bearing infantry, rounded cavalry, strong spears. Specialisation is not as necessary as the Castle itself provides missile and lancer cavalry plus spears. Barracks give access to a range of units, none heavy, while ranges provide the better melee infantry (dual-role). Cities will provide the heaviest infantry and can provide the medium cavalry.

With the rise of Huge City walls, these factions get access to fantastic gunpowder weapons, however they do not develop the pike which can make combat with very late western armies challenging. However, even without gunpowder, the preponderance of good archery will take its toll on the lightly armoured late western troops and mobility remains important. Cannons do not evolve into anti-infantry tools and remain siege weapons.

Thematically, this faction’s units progress from Turks to Ottomans to professional Janissaries. They have solely missile cavalry in the Early period, getting good lancer cavalry in the Middle to Late periods. Cities produce light and medium horse archers. Early missiles light archers, progressing to excellent dual role Ottoman infantry in the middle period while the Late period Cities recruit dual-role Janissary Musketeers and Archers. Spears are better than western factions Early, developing to non-spearwall Halberd Militias in the Middle period. Dedicated melee troops are provided by the Janissary Heavy Infantry from late Cities.

Thematically, this faction’s units progress from Arab and Berber origins to include Kurdish, Turkish and Sudanese influences before the Mamluks take control. As a result, Early cavalry is a decent mix of light lancer and medium archers, before the arrival of lancer Mamluks in the Middle Period, developing into the heavy Royal Mamluks. Cities recruit light lancers and medium archer cavalry. Missile infantry is not outstanding, with not much progress past light archers and javelins until the Late period Sudanese Gunners in Cities. Spears are strong, acquiring Halberd Militias in the Middle period. Melee is limited to Late City 2-handed axemen.

Lancers come in the Early period, while the heavier archer cavalry arrives in the Middle period, as well as heavier lancers and the Late period Khan’s Guard. Cities can recruit horse archers. Missiles are abundant with excellent dual-role Mongol Infantry and Dismounted Heavy Archers. Spears are poor and not plentiful, and there are no dedicated melee infantry.

This faction has only horse archers in the Early period, acquiring lancers and elephants in the Middle and Late periods. Cities can recruit horse archers. Missiles are light Early, but get the excellent dual role Sabadar Militia in the Middle period. Afghan Javelins are also decent dual-role troops, however the progression ends at Hand Gunners. Spears are poor but they get Halberd Militias. There are no dedicated melee troops.

These factions sit on the crossroads of strong influences without being indicative of either: Moors, Russia, Poland and The Byzantine Empire Their play style tends to be unique as a result. Generally they combine strong points of both styles without leaning one way or another and bringing their unique flavour.

Russian heritage is a combination of Viking, Slavic and steppe peoples. As a result, in the Early period, they have light horse archers, armoured javelins and mailed lancers. Middle and Late progression adds heavily armoured lancers and archers, two of the best cavalry units in the game. Cities only acquire poor militia cavalry. Missile infantry is poor until Middle period Dismounted Dvor which are the best dual role infantry in the game, and the Late period City-recruited Cossack Musketeers are also dual-role. Spears are passable and do not progress to spear polearms. Melee infantry are murderous axe-bearing units that come from Middle period Castles with decent support from two handed Axes from Late Cities.

Poland is a Catholic faction but has more in common with Russia than the Knightly factions although it does get order Knights. Early period cavalry is crossbow and javelin armed culminating in Retainers that are similar to Feudal Knights. Middle and Late progress is similar to western factions ending in fast lancer Hussars recruitable from Cities and Castles. Missiles are primarily archers and Lithuanian Cavalry are dual-role on horse and foot while Late Cities recruit Arquebusiers. Spears are typical, but Cities only progress to Halberd Militia. Melee infantry is not this faction’s strength only getting foot knights at the Citadel walls.

The Byzantine Empire is the remnant of the eastern Roman Empire and has been influenced by exposure to eastern cultures and the steppe hordes. As a result it has elements of organised infantry armies and mounted archery. Similar to the turks, they only produce horse archers in the Early period, light and medium including the dual-role Vardariotai. In the Middle to Late period, the get medium and heavy lancers that are a match for knights. Missile are competent archers, including the dual-role Guard Archers, but they do not get gunpowder units. Spears do not develop beyond the Early period, but the Middle and Late period melee infantry are strong and a match for Italian Men At Arms with 3 armour upgrades. As they do not have access to strong spear, crossbow or gunpowder infantry, they will rely heavily on mercenaries.

The Moors represent the Berber kingdoms of Northern Africa with Arab, Berber and Sudanese influence. They share similarities with the other two Iberian factions, and have no horse archers, on the whole not specialising in anything in particular. Early cavalry is light lancers and javelins, progressing to medium lancers and javelins in the Middle period. The late period brings the Christian Guard a match for knights. Missiles are decent with competent militia crossbows, progressing to excellent foot and mounted muskets. Spears are excellent and numerous, but do not progress to later polearms. In the Middle period, Cities produce decent sword militias and cavalry while Late Castles produce the best sword and shield unit recruitable in Europe: the Christian Guard.

The mercenary landscape is quite diverse and can be used to cover gaps in factions' recruitment roster. This is pertinent when leaving home territory either through expansion or crusade/jihad. The following section is a look at specific mercenaries with a view to which factions they are useful for. One key point is that the relatively unremarkable Byzantine roster is very well complemented by nearby mercenaries. Beyond recruitment, the upkeep costs of mercenaries are not exorbitant and may be within 20% of an equivalent non-mercenary unit, so these can be long term hires.