Know your enemy

Ottoman Empire
The Turkish army is a huge conglomeration of different units with varying combat strength. The kapikulu units are the elite of the army, they are professional, well trained and well equipped, disciplined and often fanaticized soldiers. The professional cavalry grouped in the kapikulu corps is usually the blade of the axe that falls on the necks of the enemies of Allah. Professional infantry includes the famous Janissaries numerous and deadly (especially in close combat). However the kapikulu corps is only a small part of the sultans army and in addition they only appear on the battleelds during larger campaigns. The main element of the imperial army is feudal cavalry: the sipahi. This formation has excellent horses, it is well equipped and brave. Unfortunately as every formation of this type it is undisciplined, difficult to maneuver and prone to panic. The sipahi are supported by numerous light cavalry formations. Such units are good for reconnaissance and skirmishing but their combat value in a pitched battle is questionable. The whole Turkish cavalry is perfect for making frontal charges but usually will be unable to defeat Western type infantry. The Turks use azab infantry as cannon fodder, they are the worst kind of infantry recruited in the provinces: numerous but ill-equipped and poorly trained. A whole range of auxiliary units and contingents sent by conquered nations is the next element of the Ottoman army. They usually include organized contingents of Tatars, Wallachians, Moldavians, but also many auxiliary units recruited from the conquered nations. Artillery played an important role in the Turkish army it was numerous and included guns of large calibers. However its usage lacked nesse and it had poor commanders, as a result its potential was never fully utilized. Commanding such a diverse mass of units would give a headache even to the best commanders and Turks did not have good leaders. Turkish armies were usually led by men with little combat experience who made grave mistakes on the battleelds. The command structure was fossilized and much formalized. Units from different contingents did not cooperate and their commanders had a habit of questioning the orders of the commander-in-chief (excluding cases in which the army was led by the sultan or the grand vizier). The Ottoman army will usually have the advantage in numbers but it will be difficult to command.