An Actual Guide to the Alans [Total War: Attila]

(At least one of) you asked for it, and it's finally here! A beginner friendly, incredibly detailed guide to dominating the battlefield and campaign map the way the Alans were meant to be played: using nothing* but cavalry.
*and maybe an onager. You don't have to but it's more fun that way.
Like what I do? Consider supporting me on Patreon: / yrridian
Songs used:
Egmont Overture
Egmont Overture by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommon...)
Source: incompetech.com...
Artist: incompetech.com/
Not legally required to say this bit but this song is an absolute banger and I might end up using it in a future "how to play"
Village Consort
Village Consort by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons license (creativecommon...)
Source: incompetech.co...
Artist: incompetech.com

[@JRandCoKG]

Onager: "Technically not a horse" I loled so hard at that

[@LyricalDJ]

It's more of a donkey, really.

[@Bibitybopitybacon]

@@LyricalDJ a wild donkey even!

[@grooorglaserdeth8823]

It has a nice personality though

[@whatamidoingwithmylife4108]

@@Bibitybopitybacon Unappreciated joke. I love it.

[@Yrridian]

You know what, I’m just gonna go right ahead and stop promising release dates, because I’m comically bad at keeping to them. Really sorry for the wait, I’m going to stick to the usual style for the next few uploads and just focus on getting some more good shit out there.

[@lolrus321]

Keep making awesome stuff, I'll keep waiting

[@crazyreaper1760]

Fun fact my Name is Alan.

[@davidbecks81]

I love your videos it’s one of the few I look forward to all the time

[@thomasdenney8859]

take your time!! Qualitay over quantitayyyy

[@SwordEncarmine]

the white huns are also broken spam spet xyon archers

[@hazapples251]

Creative Assembly: NOOO YOU CAN'T JUST USE CAVALRY IN EVERY ENGAGEMENT IT'S NOT HOW YOU'RE MEANT TO PLAY Yrridian: haha horse go zooom

[@thefourthrome]

Zooom

[@xffh5115]

Haha horse archer arrows go brrrrrrrrr

[@АнтонВолков-д7л]

Meanwhile in Warhammer: Empire: NO! IDIOTS! YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY MAKE A CAV DOOMSTACK WITH A LIFE WIZARD! Brettonia: Ha-Wha Gwail Knights do Be-whe-whe!!

[@ekkovaan2261]

Ha ha horsy go clopity clopity

[@KevinMacku]

​@@АнтонВолков-д7л Yeah, but your lowest-tier melee cav with Bretonnia is...Questing Knights? I think what makes this strategy fascinating is that he's using cheap cav to punch way above its weight, and a Grail Knight doomstack is...not that. Making Repanse's early stack 17-18x Knights Errant though..? Might work, because she can recruit those on Turn 1.

[@GumshoeClassic]

The problem of riding faster than light is that you can only charge in darkness...

[@YenLoWangx]

Also when you arrive millions of years have passed and the battle is already over due to time dilation effect ...

[@retardcorpsman]

Genyosha Cant lose if you weren’t there to fight in the first place.

[@Nigel1Powers]

"dont recklessly yeet yourself into the enemy formation" - Sun Tzu

[@Nordicscholar]

"It's not my best work" "Now watch as I completely destroy the rock paper scissor combat system in Total War"

[@sonic234sonikero4]

Ragebrew Yeah, but dont play no this mode in online, plz.

[@dusk6159]

Ragebrew Coalclaw AI's* like anyone else does if he wants to cheese* New to Total War?

[@dabo5078]

Total war games since Rome 2 don;t folloow the rock paper system very much.

[@thedonkey6704]

@@dabo5078that’s actually when the rock paper system started happening lol. Spears beat cavalry. Swords beat spears. Missiles beat anything except horses. True this happened way before that but a lot less

[@lolasdm6959]

Look, it's how it was IRL, horses are too op

[@thespanishinquisition4078]

"Onagers are honorary horsemen." ~Genghis Khan. Probably.

[@phigu198]

Imagine: someone actually, for real, made a guide for Alans. Amaze.

[@cynicalpsycho5574]

Hey man they made a protective case for the nokia back in the day...

[@andresolmos8639]

@@cynicalpsycho5574 It was for the floor

[@isolex_]

HE'S BACK. OUR LORD HAS RETURNED TO BLESS US WITH THIS CONTENT.

[@thefourthrome]

Get the f### out weeb

[@isolex_]

@@thefourthrome Nah I'm good.

[@kekw9676]

All hail to the god of horse

[@gabrielwollen6236]

Hallelujah

[@serpentine8124]

@@thefourthrome how old are you to censor the word fuck lol

[@TheDAWinz]

gods of the afterlife, spare my arese!

[@antonxuiz]

This is made me lol

[@cannedpiss5178]

@@antonxuiz i can hear it so clearly in that rough, stereotypical barbarian accent they do. too funny

[@Garangus]

My time is better spent feasting and hunting..........

[@Garangus]

GIVE US YOUR GOLD, AVOID THE EVIL IT BRINGS

[@coloneldickens9031]

I DROPPED EVERYTHING FOR THIS LETS GOOOOOOO

[@maturon570]

Nearly 30 minutes, the master speaking, all the memes.. well worth the wait!

[@Zombie1Boy]

Guide to Alans: 1. Settle down in Hispania 2. Tech up to Cataphract Horse Archers 3. Blot out the sun with arrows

[@AzoiatheCobra]

"go straight to spain" *conquers lisbon* me a portuguese: "listen here you little shit..."

[@Loispealz34]

I mean, portugal didnt exist back then. Neither did Spain but hey. I am portuguese btw.

[@davidtarara6728]

@@Loispealz34i believe it was called lusitania back then no? funnily enough love of portuguese culture is called lusophilia

[@Loispealz34]

@davidtarara6728 that sounds like what you get if you eat too many pasteis de nata and bifanas

[@davidtarara6728]

try going to my country and eating too many 'mici' will have you saying that it's called Dacia and not Romania 🌝

[@woefulfisher]

Portugal is not a real country anyway. You are just fishermen separatists. Viva la España!

[@aljosapecilj3183]

Omg it actually happened

[@PontficateArtok]

THE SAVIOR HATH RETURNED!

[@napoleonbonaparte7723]

The moment I received the notification, I knew I needed to watch this

[@lorddervish212quinterosara6]

You're doing God's work, my good man

[@Uruharushia228]

*girlfriend is calling me to her home* *Yrridan releases video* Sorry babe, I'm too busy

[@directrulefromgamerchair3947]

"Babe I'm in a fight with onagers and aux paltina" *immediately mounts horse and flank attacks"

[@bryndel]

Bro you are 99% of the reason i got back to these "Old" titles. Got so caught up in the warhammer things that I forget how interesting and engaging these games were, thank you for that! You are a Legend!!!

[@lemmonboy6459]

I only bought this game because of this video lmao I’m playing an Easy Rome campaign and I have no idea how this man completed this on Legendary…

[@madkoala2130]

​​@@lemmonboy6459you know what is even more astonishing is that HE DIDNT ABANDONED ANY SETTLEMENTS. I only managed to beat WRE on hard without abandoning any settlement, but legendary only way i can see is with metric tone of patience, because you are going to fight every battle manually for first 50+ turns and most of them are same and followed some kind of economy path that will still stay even if your entire empire is burning. Edit: i did Legendary WRE by abandoning everything except Islands and peninsula (so basically Legendoftotalwar way)

[@robertterry3834]

He speaks, the lord's voice brings us wisdom to us peons. A mighty lord.

[@Rixardgcsp]

Me at the beggining: Wat? 28 min Yrridian video? Me at the end: LOOK AT MY HORSE, MY HORSE IS AMAZING

[@miroslavantonin9354]

Auctally .. it is really made video and i didnt mind that it took so much time to wait ... and your vocie is good for listening .. so dont be afraid do more videos with comentary keep up your good work man :)

[@pmmm712011]

Now I know how the enemies of the Mongols felt... This is probably how actual Mongols fought as well, feigned retreats, disrupting and isolating enemy units as they chase, then swarming on one enemy as the opportunity arises. This type of strategy in Total war can be pulled off easily because of our God-vision and perfect control, but the Mongols could do this when their only communication is shouting and flags, that is why they were the terror of the world.

[@novideoshereable]

I know you only infrequently post here, but you unironically taught me how to play Total War with this video. I was so bad before I regularly lost battles as the Sasanids. After watching this video, I ran my first successful Total War game ever as the Alans. Thank you very much! You transformed an insignificant peon and zandik into a horse -lord- lady who could take on forces three times her size and win. It made me appreciate this game that I had always wanted to love, but couldn't. I even beat up and bullied Attila the Hun until he died. Thank you!

[@Yrridian]

Thanks for the kind words, I appreciate it a lot! This video took a whole lot of time and effort to make, and I had doubts about it while I was working on it, but when I read comments like this I know it was worth it. Good luck with your future conquests!

[@dalikunsmith7938]

Hearing Yrridian’s voice for the first time I was 99% sure he was a fellow Aussie, but then every now and again he’d sound Canadian or English....now I don’t know what to believe. Edit: I now believe he is a Horse in Human form

[@0xlamon]

6:02 - Is he trying to fight of a horse with a... gilded broom?

[@reidf8506]

Mr Scapegrace Roman Standard Bearers are just janitors change my mind

[@vexn3699]

Ah, the tactical broom! Though dated, the strategically sound choice against centaurs. Sadly it only unleashes it's destructive power on a 90° degree forward angle. Some would look for the tactical mop to solve the issue, with a 360° degree angle for tear wiping

[@TeaTime]

Our King has returned

[@trimstinyventurez]

CA: YOU CANT JUST TAKE DOWN AN ENTIRE EMPIRE WITH ONLY BRETONNIA CAVALRY Our horse God: Haha horse go nyoom I expect a bretonnia campaign when you next go back to warhammer. Good day you glorious sir.

[@tacticalsine9005]

add the free knights exploit and your golden

[@gabrieleseveroni]

@@tacticalsine9005 the WHAT?

[@tacticalsine9005]

@Gabriele Severoni it’s possible to get two different knight vows on top of each other makeing knights free. You have to unlock the knights vow manually and then disband the lord. Once your chivalry level is high enough for your lords to start with that tier of knight vows you recruit the lord again with him having the same tier of a vow twice resulting in free knights for that lord.

[@gabrieleseveroni]

@@tacticalsine9005 Thx, I'll have to go play bretonnia now, for science

[@KaguroDraven]

@@gabrieleseveroni The Free vow you get is always the top option of the three you get, so make sure to get the second or third option for the Knight and Questing vows, the ones the exploit works for.

[@BearOldcastle]

Oh shit good to see you alive!

[@brigwilson1297]

I literally just started playing Attila two days ago(Big Rome 2 fan) and every tutorial on hordes made me want to pull my hair out. This was very entertaining while also very easy to watch. Great editing skills and great commentary.

[@duckboy7407]

I don’t even play any total war game but I still enjoyed watching this guide

[@TheStaniG]

Ohhhhh a new Yrridian videoooo! Time to crack open the good Single Malt, its Total War time. Will you ever make a video in Shogun 2? I can see the memes already.

[@Yrridian]

Don't have plans for one any time soon, but I'd love to make one at some point. Haven't played it much (couldn't run it at the time it came out) but I've only heard good things.

[@TheStaniG]

@@Yrridian I hold it up there with Rome 1 and Medieval 2 as one of the best total war experiences out there but theres plenty of ways to meme your way to victory (fire bomb throwers anyone?). And I mean ninjas and samurai, cmon ;)

[@PhilipCripe]

@@Yrridian you can use medieval units to destroy Gatling guns and British Marines :)

[@TheStaniG]

@@PhilipCripe Yeah adding on with Fall of the Samurai expansion... theres a literal endless goldmine of good times.

[@remembertotakeshowerspleas355]

@@TheStaniG Fall of the Samurai is made for meme runs. My fondest memories with this series are of my traditional/spear levy only runs, routing borderline WWI era armies with my dumbass stick wielding peasants and the odd yari cav.

[@stefan_wsl3398]

The tonal dissonance between what's being said and whats on screen is so perfect 👌

[@InfiniteLegoWorks]

"Technically not a horse" That's what they want you to think It's just a slow wooden horse that yeets big rocks at the enemy

[@Eagleeye1192]

Legendoftotalwar eat your heart out, Yrridian is the true legend of total war!

[@Dr.CaveCurinas]

"It's not my best work" Bro this is amazing

[@shadowwarriorshockwave3281]

Ahh so pleasent snow and ponies

[@JRandCoKG]

Yrridian: *make a viable Religions sheet* . . . Minor Religions: "Am I a joke to you?" Yes, yes you are

[@sven6809]

"HE'S BACK" ... I read this evey time under ur Vid

[@tomthecat9546]

A very interesting watch , even for a person like me who doesnt really play Total war. Keep it up dude! Quality is and will always be better than quantity ! :)

[@chancy667]

hey I just wanna say I translated these tactics to three kingdoms, and I just smashed 3 full stacks with just 12 units of cataphracts and 4 crossbows. Its unbelievable man thank you! it's so much fun!

[@yeetusbeetus8133]

Do more of these voiced tutorials, the memes with the good info given by voice over is perfect.

[@maxter328]

This guy is keeping Attila alive for me. This guy, and that cool Medieval mod for Attila

[@dickorange3404]

King Théoden: "where is the horse and the rider?" Alans: hold my beer

[@ahmadtarek7763]

Everytime I start to forget, our and Savior Yrridian blesses us with video. Keep'em coming my man .

[@WalrusWinking]

Celebrates 50K I S G O N E 5 M O N T H S. (Happy to have you back!)

[@tanmaytripathi8358]

what a wonderful display of power my lord , this land is yours to command ...

[@22bach64]

what happened in half year of Yrridian's disappearing ? The WW3 came close Fire in Australia Corona virus TW: TK is death So pls, keep uploading ur videos for the sake of this world

[@nicegye0091]

this is the "I exploit the one strength these units have and nothing else" in a pure form state that I adore. very impressive, very well done, and I give you props to making a guide of how to use cavalry, even applicable to a normal run of the game.

[@s.mrakibulhasan2731]

Clicked the thumbnail so fast so hard broke my screen

[@vladdietheladdie7345]

I expected a 3 minute video. Wasn't disappointed

[@juliusschmitt3483]

The Alans or how I stopt worrying and love the horse

[@RebelHound]

a Total War vet with a couple of thousand hours in total divided among the franchise, with a good 400 in Attila. a hint for horse archers: horse go vroom. it’s archers with the speed of horsemen. enemy horsemen can be countered by kiting, isolating and showering in arrows. quantity > quality. also, kite. lots of kiting. since infantry will never be able to keep up with a horse, you can distract them with a unit up front, and then have your horse archers shoot at them where their shields aren’t pointing. on a last note, enjoyed the voice content. cheers

[@apariciones2138]

i'm sure this guy has a lot of fun while editing, really i can understand him, shitty jokes such as: 16:39

[@Boatfornicator]

Missile cavalry is ridiculously OP, it can just pulverize about any unit especially if all of them focuses on one unit, even if they're just the starter Hunnic horse archer. My favourite tactic too.

[@Nat11us]

Explain guide with normal way : ❎❎ Explain guide with meme : ✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅

[@borisradojkov7051]

Mr Pinufla and now Yrridian Saturn has blessed us well!

[@HR-pl7yy]

OMG,is it a dream? How many time I waiting? I was young.

[@tomthestone1470]

I actually played a campaign with this guide, and it works. It really works. I went against a couple Egyptian armies of just spears and won. All of my faction leaders died of age, and I stopped playing because it got really annoying losing horses on ships. Also warhounds are surprisingly effective, especially in sieges as the AI don’t realise they exist until they’re one inch from their face.

[@FiestaFanLok]

This may be a weird question to ask here, but I've been looking for the wallpaper you've used in "How it feels to play Lizardmen" and have had no luck finding it. Any dice in linking it?

[@BECTHNK119]

You were the chosen one! It was said that you would destroy guides, not make them! Bring balance to montage, not leave it in darkness!

[@alecsis882]

Me:sees notification Also me:(in oversimplified voice)OOOOOOHHHHHHH

[@sterlingstaranchuk3714]

Holy shit, you returned. You just made my and a lot of peoples 2020 a little better. Please keep it coming, I won’t stop watching that’s for sure!

[@khalaenas8208]

“How to zoom through Europe” There, fixed the title.

[@sakshampandey7342]

Brilliant work, sir. I figured out similar principles in my Rome 2 Campaign where I conquered *EVERYTHING* with a Royal Scythia Horse Archer spam build.

[@juyver11]

I have played total war for many years, and my play style has always been that of fast hard hitting units either with light infantry such as skirmishes strong enough to engage in hand to hand combat or cavalry. As much as I love skirmishers and light infantry I have always had an almost spiritual connection with cavalry. I seldom ever create an army without a strong cavalry contingent and in many of my victories it’s always been my cavalry that carried the day. With that being said; the fact I just got total war Attila and played it only once in custom battle with the first faction I touch being the Alans and now you give an entire guide on them is brilliant. This will greatly help me when I start their campaign and as always I love your content. But this along with your last stand against the Suebians has to be one of my favorite videos. For that you’ve earned a life time subscriber my friend, keep up the amazing work! :D

[@awepen1596]

This is Undoubtedly one of the most entertaining tutorial vid i've ever seen... and the beginning is also very cool...

[@danielfraiz74]

Tips for missile cav. I love missile cav. They're my favorite by far in Attila. I have a white huns campaign where I've razed the whole world cause it was really fun. The key to use them is bring 4, 6 or 8 units (or even more you know but if you win out of ammo it's gg) spread them in 2 groups, and use them to shoot from both sides. If their cav goes for you, spread both groups, and just run till they die, kiting whenever it's possible. If you want to take down infantry, put one group in front, without fire at will so they don't waste ammo, and the other behind, so that they can shoot and not get blocked by shields, once you see which unit they're attacking, start to isolate it and put your other units in that group on the sides of that unit that you want to kill, so they can shoot from the back. And that's pretty much it. The same as melee cav, spread and isolate. With the alans for example, whenever I have a horse archer unit in my garrison I know the ai won't be able to capture that city, cause I just kill their cav, cause as many casualties as I can, and then I run, and I repeat till they give up

[@christophmahler]

Arguably one of *the most memorable illustrations of **_'manouvre warfare'_* , online...

[@maddlarkin]

Honestly one of the most informative Total War tutorials I've ever seen, a lot of them tell you the how without doing the why, you've got the theoretical and the practical which is so much more useful (Guilliman would be proud) than a lot of tutorials which just go, 'do this it works' even though I only in the main play Warhammer Total War 2, I can still see elements I can transfer to enhance my own cavalry use in that game as the theory transfers. Cheers really impressive for a first voiced vid

[@Nilhulus]

I picked up and read a book on warfare and fighting techniques in the ancient/medieval era recently, and in the chapter dedicated to cavalry it just had a link to your channel. It was nice to finally get a book with some actual well sourced historical accuracy!

[@readyyourbreakfast6537]

first pinufla returns out of nowhere, and now you're back as well. praise the gods!

[@moritztabor7804]

I thought he had forsaken us forever. But after 5 long months... Finally. HE HAS RETURNED!!!

[@AnaxofRhodes]

I kept telling people in Total War Arena that cav hard countered spears but no one believed me. Thank you for vindicating me.

[@victor0309]

Dude, please...For the love you have for your mother, do one of these of the WRE. I love you

[@jacobp.4593]

A bit late to the party, but this is by far one of the best tutorials for any of the total war games I have seen.

[@gabrielfurtado1334]

I saw this video yesterday and decided to tryout. Man, it works in a enormous way. I may consider myself a hunnic advanced player, but I never really try the Alans... Until this week (and I have constantly fail). Now I don't fail anymore, thank you. My brave king Respendial have died in battle, so RIP.

[@gabrielfurtado1334]

English is not my mother language, so I really hope I don't mess up

[@ScabiousGarde]

Love this, hope you do more, I hardly ever comment on videos but it's important I throw my hat in for more great tutorials like this

[@FlyingFlumpasaurus]

The best Total War Attila KZbinr. Okay, the only Total War Attila KZbinr, but the point still stands.

[@samwisegamgee8318]

I don't care about how long it takes to make these and neither do most of us. We will really enjoy then when you get to them, no rush!

[@DatDragish]

An absolute master class in editing and visual gags, kudos to you dude. If there's one thing I love above all else in your videos, it's how amazingly well-edited it all is, especially when it comes to syncing on-screen actions to background music.

[@kurtpiiep5467]

I've never believed that someone would take on the Alans... this dude got'em balls

[@zackbolla1657]

"Sir, it appears that they've surrounded our calvary with spearmen, those poor bastards."

[@Mutila236]

Pro tip: fake charging and enemy unit tends to make it brace, stopping them. Just make one of your cav units charge the enemy unit that is moving in towards the fight. Before contact, cancel the charge, moving your cav unit away. Repeat for prolonged effect

[@draconianwarking]

I also love the other side, slow pike squares with archers, they can't flank you if you don't have a flank ;)

[@padmister123]

Highly recommend a hun campaign! Economy and public order is super streamlined (in Attila terms). I love going around causing chaos in the big established empires by sacking and razing. Horse archers are the most potent i’ve experienced them in a total war game. As soon as you run towards missile units they leg it and then you just leg it too while shooting them with parthian shot. You can just kite melee cav and melt them with fire arrows and decimate infantry with heavy shot. You can beat entire stacks with no casualties. Spet Xyon archers for white huns are just out of control.

[@marchobute4281]

Faction ennemy : How many cavalry you fight against my army ? Yrridian : Yes

[@lucasbeck1391]

Cavalry not calvary

[@ivanandres6828]

I was just watching your videos playing as rome and the alans and I said when is this dude gonna release something, my prayers came true

[@Puzzl3man]

Smooth edits, sexy voicework, a lot of effort clearly went into this. 10/10 neighs.

[@jacksons9546]

I thought this was an old vid being recommended but NOPE. Holy SHIT the king is back

[@robertcrick5322]

Holy hell. Your chaotic ways give me so much anxiety. I love it though.

[@aidanmcginley4343]

No joke, your voice is perfect for this kind of content. It's very clear and you accentuate well.

[@wasteitonme544]

In our time of need yrridian has delivered.

[@thegasing]

I was never expecting this, but was I glad it came

[@oesophagus5614]

if you look at the morale bar in unit info, you can see the effects affecting them. cav spam is useful because units get a morale debuff while 1. attacked by cav, 2. attacked in the rear, and 3. attacked in the side. so the best most efficient way to reduce cav loss when fighting a isolated infantry is to have 3 cavs, 1st feint a charge to the front, 2nd do a rear charge, and the last charge in on the side. once the enemy turns to fight the 2nd cav, you may as well charge the 1st one in also. also the general is a shock cav, perfect for the 2nd role mentioned above.

[@wolliveryoutube]

It makes me happy to hear that I'm not the only one who has no idea how to use horse archer units. The AI kicks my ass with them, but I've never been able to make them useful, let alone more effective than any other unit I could have used in its place.

[@MrEpic325]

Memes aside this is actually very smart and very enjoyable to watch you break down the strategy, provide commentary, and show it in action

[@Froltzz]

Sure It's late, sure it wasn't the best video that's come off this channel... But it had me smiling for 30 minutes straight...

[@Dontiva]

This video is great I feel like it can be used for any army using cavalry not just the Alan, Thank you so much!