Mount&Blade/Khergits

The Khergits are a cavalry focused faction, with no dedicated unmounted units. This makes them fast both on the world map and on the battlefield, allowing them a lot of control over their enemies. Their biggest weakness is a lack of infantry. From Skirmisher onwards, all Khergit troops are mounted. Their cavalry focus makes them very powerful in open battles, but they are at a severe disadvantage on either side of a siege.

Overview
The main feature of the Khergit lineup are its mounted archers, to which no other faction has a counterpart. Though not as skilled as Vaegir Marksmen and with accuracy being lowered while on a moving horse, a group of Veteran Horse Archers is great for harassing enemy forces. Their horses allow them to be relatively safe from infantry as they can stay out of melee range, and they are also able to stick close enough to cavalry to hit them easily (and perhaps best of all, they won't slow you down on the world map). Their main flaws aren't with their traits so much as their AI. Horse archers tend to do strange things, such as charging in with their melee weapon drawn or getting close to the enemy and not shooting. When using them it is important to make use of commands. Ordering them to stand their ground will make them function much like a line of regular archers, and having them follow you is also a good way to prevent them from running off and getting killed. In Warband, it is advisable to put them in a command group separate from your regular cavalry.

Khergit Lancers are fast and pack a punch, capable of quickly taking out both infantry and cavalry. However, they are not as powerful as other factions' highest level cavalry, and they are likely to lose their fast but relatively fragile Coursers. Despite their speed, the heavy cavalry of other factions is largely preferable to Lancers in the original Mount&Blade. However, in Warband, Lancers have been significantly buffed. They are much tougher, do more damage and now have tougher horses, but have lost their chance of having a ranged weapon. They are now better than other factions' light cavalry, but are cheaper than heavy cavalry. They still don't have as much power as Knights, but are a good choice for warlords who can't afford other factions' top-tier horsemen.

The Khergit's dedicated infantry unit, the Dismounted Lancer, is exclusive for bot use in Warband's custom battle and multiplayer modes.

Against infantry
Against a force of infantry, Khergit have a large advantage. Khergit horsemen and lancers should make short work of most infantry. Unless you are heavily outnumbered, there is no need for tactics beyond simply charging them until there's no more. Against Nord or Rhodok infantry and greater numbers, however, it's better to use some strategy. Having your Lancers charge along the flanks of the enemy's formation is often a good way to inflict casualties without sustaining too many of them.

Against cavalry
Your cavalry should charge if the enemy is lighter armoured, but against knights do not send in tribesmen. Khergit lancers, horse archers and veteran horse archers, however should be able to unhorse the foe or, even better, unfoe the horse.

Against archers and mixed forces
Lead your army using the F2 (follow) command on an angle towards the archers. If terrain permits, try to put a hill between yourself and the archers. Just try not to start a battle going uphill. If you have a choice between leading the archers up a hill to save yourself some shafts and keeping them on level ground, give the hill a miss!

Against ranged horsemen
Only the veteran horse archer gets access to coursers, meaning that if the enemy force consists mostly of regular horse archers your best bet is to send in your fast lancers and yourself on a spirited courser. If however the force consists mainly of veteran horse archers, who also have coursers, your best bet would be to fight in a valley or at the edge of the map, since their ability to move away from your cavalry is their main advantage. The poor AI quite often gets its mounted units trapped against walls, making them that much easier to kill.

Units
(Attributes given are base stats only, actual in-game attributes will be randomly higher by an amount dependent on the troop's level.)