Well, it's been a long time since I last played this game, but as soon as I open it up, I remember what a tight spot I'm in. I consider the possibilities with the army at Düsseldorf: I can move to attack a town next turn, or I can use it for defense. In general one needs to expand all the time in AW to have a fighting chance, so my preference goes toward attacking Almarikh. However, I really have very few units available, either to attack or to defend. There will be little use in razing Almarikh if we're going to lose our own towns. I have 3 pikes in the vicinity, which isn't nearly enough. I do have some spearmen, but I'll need to upgrade those first, and then get them into position. The offensive will have to wait just a bit.
Turn 120 - 150BC
I rush the barracks in Heidelburg. I use the army to kill the 4hp eMDI on our FP hill.
IT
With the shift in our defenses, and the army gone near Düsseldorf, the Mongol troops decide to turn around.
Turn 121 - 130BC
Upgrade a few spears and move around units. Roading crews are moving forward, as is our FP settler. Just 1 attack this turn.
IT
Lots of units move towards Düsseldorf, mostly Mongol.
Turn 122 - 110BC
There are 7 French rHorses next to Düsseldorf, and 1 vKeshik. We have a pike and spear inside. We do have 2 extra pikes nearby, and a few MDIs that can attack, as well as 5 trebs. With the armies nearby, I have the flexibility I wanted. MDIs and a knight kill 2 horses and retreat 2. Armies kill 4 Mongol attackers in the future-FP-town forest.
IT
The Mongols start splitting their forces! They are still a bit away from us, so for now this is a good thing. I'll be able to pick and choose more battles. Our forces are also slowly growing, so an advance should be possible in the future. The Egyptians land an LB near Frankfurt.
Turn 123 - 90BC
Found Verbotene Stadt, start walls. There are a lot of Mongol troops around, but now our own situation isn't too bad either:
We have 3MDIs, 2 swordsmen and a wounded knight... And a couple of armies.
Trebs go 4/6, and I start by killing that spear furthest up north. Armies and a sword thin out the stack in the forest until one 3/4hp LB remains.
IT
The wounded LB attacks our roading crew on the IT, but dies on our vPike. Things are definitely looking up now.
Turn 124 - 70BC
Things are much more quiet now. I don't think I attacked this turn, just shifting units.
IT
We lose a pike in Düsseldorf. The problem is that Keshiks can move in across the mountains. I'll see if I can block them. The western Mongol stack moves past Heidelburg. The Mongols start Copernicus'. And their first crusader shows up.
Turn 125 - 50BC
Gain 2 elite MDIs cleaning up units around Düsseldorf. I don't have nearly enough artillery near Heidelburg though, so I still can't move an army out.
Turn 126 - 30BC
I redline and kill the crusader, and take position on one more mountain at Düsseldorf. I also decimate the stacks on the flat land near Heidelburg. As soon as the roading crews are ready, I'll be able to finally move on Almarikh. I'm using the opportunity to take Berlin off settler duty and produce our first university. There are no attacks during the following IT, but there are a lot of units around again.
Turn 127 - 10BC
18 healthy French horses can reach Verbotene Stadt on the IT. I kill some of them, and hope for the best. There's still an army in there, so they should move past it.
IT
It turns out they do. The French aren't really a factor, and I'd actually rather have them attack for a higher efficiency. Unfortunately, the Mongols get in the way of such a plan. They no longer attack Düsseldorf, but are amassing a lot of strong units there now. Flexibility just went down again. I'll have to keep the armies tied up on defensive duty.
Turn 128 - 10AD
I need some leaders now. Knight count is up to 11, and I have 4 MDIs, and more units are being built of course. I move the army from Heidelburg into Düsseldorf. I expect to see some Mongol dancing again. The army in Verbotene Stadt is injured slightly, but there are only 8 horses left, and they're all injured too.
IT
The Mongols land a spearman near Frankfurt, and move towards München in force. That puts them on better land for me to attack, and because of the forests between München and the other frontline towns, it also means I can reduce defense there. But Düsseldorf and Verbotene Stadt still require armies in place.
Turn 129 - 30AD
At the start of the turn, this is the stack I have to deal with:
Luckily, there aren't many other units around, and we have plenty of trebs available. In the end, two 3/4 Keshiks remain, and the 3 LBs. We incur no losses, but our units and armies are still severely injured.
IT
We kill 2 units on defense, and are lucky that there aren't more attacks. It's strange sometimes how the AI decides to attack against the odds in isolated cases, but then doesn't press on.
Turn 130 - 50AD
This turn, I'm just killing units that can strike next IT. Other troops aren't used, not for lack of targets, but because some healing is required. The last turns saw some attacks with injured units. I've been lucky it hasn't turned out too bad (yet).
That concludes a long overdue session. A view of the current status at the front:
And the military stats:
As you can see, the situation still isn't very good, but it's slowly improving. The horsemen are elites that I want to promote before upgrading. Besides, I don't have the funds to upgrade right now. One of them is in the north to handle landings, but I'll try to replace him with a knight when the situation allows. Or rather, I'll try to add a knight or two, because landings are bound to become stronger.
The single settler on hand is waiting in Düsseldorf. I'm hoping to free up an army very soon now to expand again. I've also taken a look at Mongol city names, and I notice that Almarikh is their fourth town. That would put our front very close to their core. If that is true, it may be an especially good idea to start in their direction as soon as possible.
There are five cities building knights right now, yielding an average output of 0.57 knights per turn. I may take Berlin off settler duty if Heidelburg can produce enough. In that case, I expect to obtain 0.76 knights per turn. I'm producing only 0.1 pikes per turn in two cities. For now, I do have enough defenders though. Eight cities are producing 0.4 trebuchets per turn, which is sufficient for now, and that number should increase drastically very soon. When the FP comes in, I expect to have better numbers on troops as well.
I see I forgot to put a research update in the pictures: Gunpowder will come in in 4 turns at +4gpt and with 17g in the kitty. I'm beelining to cavalry of course.
. And then again a few turns later; even 
Good luck!
.
. Luckily, on the IT our settler defenders are able to hold on, but only barely.
