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I think they would have been stuck further into Europe -- they were good on the steppes like the Avars, Magyars, huns before them, but get past the Carpathian basin and they'd be hit by mountains etc.

btw, do you know why the Mongols so badly wanted to attack the Magyars?

I was reading about their attack on Poland and that was just a diversion -- their real target were the Magyar and I dont know why

but get past the Carpathian basin and they'd be hit by mountains etc.

Not a problem. The Mongols rolled through Central Asia, the Altai and such, without even slowing down.

Central Asian mountains make those of Europe look itty-bitty.

They would have been somewhat impeded by the forests of western Europe, but had they been intent on conquest I don't think anything would have stopped them. Except the English Channel.

What really saved Europe, of course, was distance. Given their tech, it was a LONG way from Karakorum to Rome. They had an amazing Pony Express system, but no empire could hold together over such distances, and indeed their's started coming apart almost immediately.

I have no idea why the Mongols had a bug up their butt about the Magyar. Perhaps they considered them the greatest threat as horse archers?