Spotlight on:   Kosala

Every few weeks or so HWE will feature a review of a different kingdom of Hyboria by players who have either won with them or done well enough that they might as well have.  These contain strategy tips, ideas, and a general direction to go for those interested in making the most of their bid for Hyborian dominance.  Crom is very interested in gathering in as many reviews as possible from veteran players, so don't be shy about sending them in!  

This week's review is by Snake, who sounds like he oughtta be playing Stygia, not Kosala!

Kosala: Whips of Yajur or Whipped of Yajur?

Introduction

    Kosala is considered by many players to be one of the most challenging positions in the game of Hyborian War, and rightfully so. It is an extremely difficult position wedged between three major powers of the Hyborian World. Playing Kosala will be a major test of your skills, your luck, and your confidence. Good luck.

Victory

    Your victory is based on your treasury and the economic strength of your kingdom. This means you should be very deliberate in your actions. Try to avoid paying tributes, keep your defenses up against raids, don't pay war faction bribes, and actively rule as much as you can.

Geography

    Your three provinces have an average wealth production of excellent. Well ruled, these provinces can help to keep your treasury around longer than many other kingdoms. Take care of these provinces. They don't levy very often, so you're going to be buying your troops, which makes that wealth much more important.

Military

    Your military is very weak. Your best troop is the Kosalan Horsemen, who are medium cavalry. Your medium infantry are among the worst in the game, and while your light troops are decent, they die too quickly to be of too much use to you. Maintain your maximums on your medium troops, even the infantry, because all of your enemies are tough ones.

    Your navy is pretty poor as well, so keep raising them and sending them out to try and wear down the seazones. Your best chance of taking any seazones will be to enter an undefended enemy seazone, rather than working against the NPKs. Nevertheless, try to get as many seazones as possible in the first set of warseasons, before the NPK levies put everything out of your reach. You'll need a general to help in that quest.

    In addition to the above problems, Kosala is one of those cursed kingdoms who takes 25 percent losses in open field battles. This kingdom is a military nightmare.

Court

    Your chancellor is a 0,3,3,2,0,1,2, and if you get a long set of warseasons, he's worth killing off to try for a superior diplomat or some better magic. Your adjutant is a 0,0,4,3,4,3,0. He's passable.

    Over time, I found that my diplomatic corps was one of the best in the game. Kosala starts off with a decent amount of diplomacy. Over the course of the game, I was a little light on intrigue and generals, but was heavy on diplomats, and had a few very nice wizards as well. Like Vendhya, personal combat seems to abound, though not necessarily in heroic form. For me, it was the priests and agents who were heavy on PC.

Strategies

    Your troops are not going to be of much help. You're never going to get a great kill ratio, troop vs. troop. I always lost more than my enemy, whether I was facing Vendhya, Iranistan, Turan, Khauran, Afghulistan, or the Ilbarsis. The closest I got to a one to one ratios were against the Southern Kozaki and Keshan.

    That being said, you're going to need to have more troops than your enemy in every battle you fight. Be careful with your treasury. You're going to need every single unit you can buy in order to maintain any semblance of a military campaign.

    Every battle you fight should be a set piece battle. Yet it seemed to me that the troops and generals wanted to fight open field battles. You're going to need every tactic, and every spare character, to make sure you get the set piece battles that you need.

    I want to mention peace treaties now. Every enemy touching you should be peaced off at all times. This includes the NPKs. One invasion could easily turn into an open field battle where your generals always play Brave Sir Robin, and even if it does not go open field, you're going to get clobbered on kill ratios. No battle should be fought on your territory.

    Your wizards are also going to come in handy. My first battles against Iranistan were aided by a firewall-casting wizard who single-handedly defeated Iranistan's provincial armies on several occasions.

    The first thing you are going to want to do is grab the Iranistan Steppes. Invade it as soon as possible, and then go after Yuetshi. The trade routes of the Steppes will help with your wealth, and I think it is the most important nearby province for you to own, because of its location and those trade routes.

    You'll be tempted to forget about your imperials to form a handy alliance or two. Do not do this. You need your imperial troops, and unless you're going to be getting quite a few superior gifts in exchange for them, there's no substitute for having them.

    The above-mentioned kill ratios changed considerably once I added my imperial troops. The average 1 to 3 enemy casualties per hour changed to 7 per hour in the desert when I had my pikemen lined up front. Kosala was suddenly a force in the game after that point, and I was able to take Zamboula and take out a highly ranked Keshan. A couple more turns and I'd have had the Gold Hills and Aghrapur.

Conclusion

    Kosala is certainly a challenging position, but I also found it to be one of my most enjoyable games. I had some problems getting the kingdom started, but once it got rolling, Kosala became a force. If only I'd had a more successful start in my game... Anyway, I hope this kingdom profile helps to change some attitudes about Kosala, and helps some Kosala players to a successful finish. See the map of my game 508 on Lloyd's HWE webpage for an example of a mildly successful Kosala.