Book 4, List 8
I have to confess that this is an army I have bought not because I like the history of the army, to be truthful I know very little, or for any other reason than it caught my eye whilst reading book 4; because of the odd pikemen really. I now know a little more of the history, but not a lot more than that contained in the army list description.
After deciding I wanted the army there was the small problem of figures, as far as I was aware no manufacturer produced a range to cover this army and whilst I felt that a suitable spearman could be found the Karwah (a wheeled pavise pushed in front of the spearmen) was another matter. (And I'm useless at scratch building things so that was out.) Fortunately for me a quick mail to the DBM list pointed me at Grumpy's Miniatures (with on line illustrated catalogue) who to my delight produced exactly what I needed and looked really good, a second mail to Grumpy (aka Vic) produced a UK contact for supply. Grumpy's figures now provide all the spearmen I have and the archers, whilst the mounted troops come from my generic horde of roughly suitable figures.
The army is built on a core of infantry spearmen who can be either Ax(X) or upgraded with karwah to Pk(X)/Pk(I) on a double base element. These can be supported from their rear by Ps(O) archers or these can be deployed as Bw(O) if you prefer. The infantry are then joined by a very useful mounted arm of Cv(O) and mercenary LH(S) with the option of 3 - 8 Reg Cv(S) Turkish Ghulams. The latter compulsory if more than 6 of the 2 - 24 LH(S) are taken. If the Cv(S) are taken the generals must be upgraded to Reg Cv(S) as well. Unless very low AP games are being fought the Reg option is almost mandatory and well worth the points as the infantry are so cheap.
The option to use the infantry as either Ax(X), Pk(X)/(I) or a mixture of both, supported by Ps, makes the army quite versatile, added to that a mounted force that cannot easily be swept aside makes this quite a formidable army, if not a killer. The downsides are that the infantry are not the best around, especially when fighting more dedicated close formation infantry, although against their historical enemies who have large mounted forces the Pk are very good. The Ax(X) pose a particular problem as they are (I) against a lot of opponents including those they are most likely to face in difficult going, however, the army needs them for such terrain. One option that can easily be overlooked in this list is the ability to take the archers as Bw(O) instead of Ps(O). Although the latter can support the spearmen these are already pretty good against a lot of enemies and the presence of Bw(O) amongst horse can really hurt an opponent. I would, however, always keep 6 or 8 of the archers as Ps for support purposes for critical places, or Ax(X) who are forced to fight mounted in the open.
In most games the mounted troops will be the arm that wins the game for you, especially if you have a large Pk contingent. This is mainly because the pikes are not fast enough or manoeuverable enough to win most games. However, as they are cheap and form up 2 ranks (plus Ps if used) they can cover a very large portion of the table - a moving terrain feature - allowing concentration of your mounted troops. The Ax will fight for the difficult terrain, although this may often be a holding action against superior troops; but remember they do not suffer so many PIP penalties as the Pk when manoeuvring and so can be used to get at flanks, etc. Against good foot armies the Ghurid spearmen will be at a disadvantage and clever use of Ps to slow the enemy is going to be the order of the day whilst the cavalry go for the flanks.
Finally one point not to overlook. The Pk(X)/(I) troops look very unusual and this alone can put you opponent off balance even though they are not a killer troop type.
ghurid500ap.txt - is a 500AP army in 3 commands.
ghurid400ap.txt - the same in 400AP.
ghurid500apmaxcav.txt - is a 500AP army with as much mounted as I could fit.
ghurid450apcomp.txt - an army I took to a competition. 2 draws due to lack of time to finish both games.
ghurid400apv2.txt - a v2.0 army list 400AP army. The list had no changes so the above are still OK.
ghurid400apv3.txt - the best 400AP version I've come up with. May not say much though.