Sicily (M2TW Faction)

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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

In M2TW, Sicily are quite a powerful faction in all periods, lacking in true elite troops in any area but being good all rounders.

They begin with a Castle at Palermo and a city at Naples, this means that to the north of Sicilian controlled lands, the Papal States rule, this is both a blessing and a curse, a blessing as its nearly impossible for another catholic faction to attack without crossing the papal states, likely angering the pope in the process, and a curse as it prevents land expansion for the same reason. Instead, to expand, Sicily should use her navy, the castles at Tunis, Aleppo and Calgari can be taken, if converted into cities, these can produce not inconsiderable source of income. Also thanks to this position, if the pope calls a crusade on a city in the holy land, armies from Sicily can travel by sea, shortening the journey considerably (but meaning the army will have to be larger from the outset as crusading mercenaries cannot be recruited at sea).

As an Italian faction, the Kingdom of Sicily has access to both powerful Italian ships (essential for success as its more likely to employ seaborne invasions than other catholic factions) and the very effective Italian Militia units. Some unique units augment this, Norman knights (both mounted and dismounted) chief amongst them, who replace feudal knights in Sicily's roster and are more than a match for most early knights, the dismounted version being especially powerful against other Italian factions in melee as the don't really gain a reply to them until later on in the game (though, remember, they have to get into melee first..). Sicily can also make use of its cosmopolitan populous and recruit Muslim archers, who are the most effective archers available to a (Southern European) catholic faction.

Unfortunately, Sicilian artillery isn't that impressive, this all combines to give the assumption that they are a very assault orientated army, with little patience for skirmishing, who would much rather fight over enemy walls then blast through them.