Say, here's one more vital matter in such games...fortifications!!!

Well placed fortifications can range from a simple wooden palisade to massive stone walls reinforced by fighting towers and various forms of artillery. They can prove very effective at either delaying or outright destroying an attacking enemy force. Always fortify your key areas of infrastructure if there's any chance of them being attacked. This is particularly effective in Age of Empires and even more so in Caesar III and the other games in that general series.

Keep a mobile reserve of troops handy behind the walls in case the attackers make a hole anywhere. I suspect your cossacks can build simple fortifications on their island, so go to it.

When attacking enemy fortifications, attack in one spot only, concentrate your forces and break through...don't waste lives attacking the whole fortified line when you don't have to...just break through in one place and set about destroying their rear areas behind the lines.

- LH