The Sipahi, even with the lords buffing the Hobelar, are just way more potent, and against full melee can be very dangerous as long as Ottomans have just a few spears again to serve as that front line buffer, further Sipahi range to really come in effective, and the Mehter can be the great equalizer to those lords.

Fishing can feel a bit of a trap in this matchup as it slows you down immensely, and the crossing distance is so low which is fantastic for House of Lancaster when it comes to those slow lords because you blink and all of a sudden they're on your gold.

Usually Lancaster comps lean into melee. So the melee armor is insanely valuable because a Hobelar is a lot of base damage horsemen anyway. So percentage-wise, you're crippling more of their DPS. It's a pretty powerful aura when you then add in the healing.

Forcing an early barracks out of Ottomans in this matchup just doesn't feel good for them. Especially because you would rather avoid going spears early on as Ottomans here because until that Hobelar count becomes oppressive, you don't really need them that much. The Sipahi will do more than fine against them and the lords.

The Abbey of Kings on the front side of the base can top off heavily injured spearmen, and they'll heal way faster than the Imams do.