The Khergit Khanate feature

Army Composition

The Khergit Khanate, as one expects, fields almost only cavalry. Nevertheless, any experienced Khergit lord knows that randomly sending a bunch of horsemen at the enemy isn't enough to achieve victory. The Khergit cavalry force is divided into several types, some of which are purely ranged, others focused on combat, or a mixture of both. Combining them efficiently is the key to victory.

A typical Khergit army will consist mostly of lancers and horse archers. The horse archers are meant to stay far away while the lancers are more suited to charge and retreat tactics. Warbringers and War Riders are respectively heavier lancers and horse archers, with more staying power but lower speed, which makes them particularly useful in situations where speed isn't as helpful, for example against opponents that field a lot of cavalry or in sieges. Finally, the Khergit infantry, albeit inferior to its counterpart of other factions, is specialized in siege warfare and is quite useful in those situations.

The bulk of a Khergit army (tiers 4 and 5) is divided in 6 different troops :

1. Veteran Riders : These are the Khergit bread and butter troop. They are particularly fast with both horse and bow and can deal easily with enemy infantry, as it is unable to reach them. They are particularly vulnerable in melee against troops of the same tier, so you shouldn't use them if you expect your enemy to field a lot of light cavalry.
2. Lancers : The most common Khergit melee unit, they are remarkably fast for their tier and will easily catch up the heavy cavalry of other nations. Their horses are lightly armored however, which makes them pretty bad in a prolonged fight against infantry. They should therefore retreat immediately from melee combat after having charged and then charge again. Their speed also makes them particularly good against enemy archers, both mounted and unmounted.
3. Warbringers : Heavily armored lancers, they are much slower but also have the staying power to survive in a prolonged fight against both infantry and cavalry. Unlike lancers, they lack a shield, which, combined with their slowness, makes them particularly vulnerable to enemy archers.
4. War Riders : These horse archers sacrifice speed for a heavier mount and armor, as well as a polearm that's much more efficient in melee combat. Their bow is particularly slow but is very powerful and has a bonus against shields, making it ideal against heavily armored, shielded troops. Unlike Veteran Riders, they lack a shield, making them quite vulnerable to ranged fire. Their lower speed also makes them harder to maneuver.
5. Dawn Guard : These heavily armored infantry troops are specialized in siege warfare and are usually used to defend the walls or to take them. They carry a shield to protect them from arrows and sometimes have a crossbow as well. Despite being better than most Khergit troops at dismounted combat, they're still inferior to most infantries of their tier.
6. Skyblazer : These halberdier / archer hybrids are both useful as castle defenders and protection against enemy cavalry. In field battles, they can be useful to protect your horse archers from light cavalry that might be faster than them while still peppering your opponents with arrows.

Strengths

• The best cavalry available
• High weapon proficiencies
• Flexible units that can offer an answer in most situations

Weaknesses

• Very terrain dependant (mountaineous terrain is a pain to fight in)
• Most troops are below average in sieges
• Armors tend to be a bit lighter than their Swadian / Rhodok counterparts