Spain (M2TW Faction)

Spain is one of the 5 factions in Medieval 2 Total War that is playable without having to be unlocked.

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Spain (M2TW Faction)
Name:	Spain
From Game:	Medieval II: Total War
Religion:	Catholic
Culture:	Southern European
Playable:

Overview

Spain's Starting Position.

Spain starts with 2 settlements:

• Leon (Capital) (Large town)
• Toledo (Castle)

Spain is in an interesting strategic position, located in Northern and Central Iberia. They are surrounded by the Moors to the South, the Portuguese to the South-West and North East, and Rebels to the South East. Valencia is a rebel strong settlement with El Cid, a great general. The French are not immediate neighbors, but are not too far away and will become neighbors before too long.

The first priority of Spain should be to unite the Iberian Peninsula. The easiest early path of expansion for the Spanish is taking out the Moors. The Moors start out with few units and a rather weak army roster, and the Spanish can attack them all they want without worrying about the Pope. Be aware though that if you take Cordoba, the Portuguese forces in Lisbon have nowhere to go except Spanish land. An alternative is to attack the Portuguese, who are the greater threat early on. The Spanish have to be wary of the Portuguese especially, they begin the game with considerably more forces than Spain does and can attack from multiple directions. The Spanish player should look for good opportunities to attack their settlements, especially Pamplona. Spain will also want to deal with El Cid at some point, but attacking him before you are ready could easily backfire.

Spain is one of the harder factions to play as it completely lacks spearmen in the early (and start of the high) period, except spear militia which are at best a sacrificial unit used to protect more important troops that cannot take a charge. This makes Spain quite weak when facing Catholic factions which rely on knights unless of course the Spanish crown buys some mercenary spearmen. In the late game, Spain lacks heavy armor piercing infantry, which will take its toll on Spanish armies fighting against other Catholic factions. However, as most of their troops have light armor and are used to fighting in hot weather, Spain has an advantage when fighting Muslim armies as well as the Aztecs. Spain also has an effective navy, being able to field grand carracks instead of the normal carracks. Iberia itself, is contested by 3 factions, and Spain is in the fairly weak position of having a Portuguese province either side of it and the Muslim Moors to the south. However, there are also great opportunities with nearby rebel provinces, and lots of nearby Muslim armies to fight in order to gain Papal favor.

Units

Spain is a well rounded faction; with many powerful units and few weaknesses. Their early game units are many of the standard Knights, except that they get access to Jinetes, a fast and very effective Javelin unit. They eventually get access to Chivalric Knights, as well as the unique Knights of Santiago, making them a very good cavalry faction. Thier early game infantry is mostly Javelin based; they can be effective but are more vulnerable to cavalry charges then Spearmen. This lack of early Spearmen is Spains biggest weakness, and it might rely on Mercenary Spearmen to fill this gap. Later on they get a number of good Sword units, including Dismounted Knights, Swordsmen Militia, and Sword and Buckler men. Their missiles are all good, if not spectacular, including Peasant Archers and Crossbowmen, Pavise Crossbowmen and Mounted Crossbowmen. They have good Militia units as well and can recruit Tercio Pikemen from cities, as well as Gendarmes, a heavy cavalry unit. Spain also has great artillery and is one of the few factions with access to Musketeers, who have excellent range and power. The Spanish also have the best late game ships, and can build Conquistadores in the New World. Overall, the Spanish have quite a strong and well rounded roster.

• Light Infantry
  • Peasants
  • Town Militia

• Heavy Infantry
  • Swordsmen Militia
  • Sword and Buckler Men
  • Dismounted Feudal Knights
  • Dismounted Chivalric Knights
  • Dismounted Conquistadores

• Spearmen
  • Spear Militia
  • Pike Militia
  • Tercio Pikemen

• Missile Infantry
  • Peasant Archers
  • Peasant Crossbowmen
  • Pavise Crossbowmen
  • Crossbow Militia
  • Musketeers
  • Hand Gunners
  • Arquebusiers
  • Javelinmen
  • Almughavars

• Heavy Cavalry
  • Merchant Cavalry Militia
  • Mailed Knights
  • Feudal Knights
  • Chivalric Knights
  • Knights of Santiago
  • Conquistadores

• Missle Cavalry
  • Jinetes
  • Mounted Crossbowmen

• Missile Siege
  • Ballista
  • Catapult
  • Trebuchet
  • Bombard
  • Grand Bombard
  • Ribault
  • Culverin
  • Basilisk

Infantry

Spanish infantry is average at best, until the high period, where Spain are one of the few factions that gain access to Sword and Buckler men, as well as Tercio pikemen, who are both effective and Tercio pikemen unique to Spain (Sicily also has Sword and Buckler men as well). They also have access to dismounted Conquistadors, who are trainable in the new world only, and are well suited to fighting its natives.

Cavalry

Spain make use of the average knights available to the other catholic factions, but also gain Jinetes, who can be trained in cities with a bullring. Jinetes are excellent light cavalry that can protect the main Spanish army from other catholics knights if used correctly (work in pairs, draw off units of knights from the enemies main army with the jinites' javelins, then charge into the rear of the unit, and if necessary, charge with the second unit of the pain, though this tactics will likely get your cavalry killed if the enemy have a good amount of effective missile troops) Spain is one of two factions that also get Knights of Santiago, who are a match for all other knightly orders. Spain also gets to use Gendarmes, which are professional heavy cavalry of the late period.

Missile

Spain make use of the average crossbow armed missile units available to all factions, but also used Javelinmen and Almugavars. At a stretch they can also enter melee and give a good account of themselves, however, neither is a match for true melee units.

Spain also uses musketeers, who, although weak in melee, have a long range and are quite effective at neutralising the foot knights used by Spain's neighbors.

Spanish artillery is also of the highest quality, with access to the fearsome Basilisk cannons

Conclusion

Spanish forces give the feel of commanding a light, fast, and flexible army that is well suited to ambushes and skirmishing against heavier catholic knights, however they also posses units that are capable at siege assault, as well as a powerful navy. Due to their ability to train cavalry in cities, its possible to take all of Iberia and defend it with only two castles, making the faction a potential economic powerhouse, especially when considering the relative closeness of Timbuktu and all the riches that province possesses. Spain are unfortunately a long way from the Holy Land, so any crusades will almost certainly have to travel by sea.

Although they rely on light troops, Spain should in no circumstances be underestimated as an enemy.

See Also

• Spain - Country and disambiguation page.

Medieval 2: Total War | Factions:
Aztecs | Byzantine Empire | Denmark | Egypt | England | France | Holy Roman Empire | Hungary | Milan | Mongols | Moors | Papal States | Poland | Portugal | Russia | Scotland | Sicily | Spain | Timurids | Turks | Venice | Rebels