2.3 Swordsmen.

Swordsmen are the bread and butter unit of most medieval armies. They are inexpensive and not very exciting; they are also very reliable and acquit themselves well against most other units with the sole exception of cavalry. Cavalry is the bane of swordsmen, just as swordsmen are the bane of spear and pike units. Swordsmen can take down cavalry under certain circumstances but generally it is inefficient and a last resort in desperate circumstances. If you have to take on cavalry with swords you should try to find a wood to place them in as the cavalry receive a significant penalty for fighting in trees, this gives the swords a fighting chance. You should also try to attack the horsemen with several units to gain the advantage of numbers and inflict the morale penalties for being flanked on the cavalry. If at all possible you should have a more capable unit, like spearmen, stand and receive the charge before sending your swords to attack the cavalry in the rear. When you have no choice but to receive a cavalry charge with swordsmen you should put them in four or more ranks and on hold formation, this gives them a larger chance of surviving the charge and fighting back. If a thin line of swordsmen is hit by a cavalry charge they will be swept away with massive casualties, often the unit will break and run almost immediately.

When you use swordsmen against anything other than cavalry you should deploy them in two ranks, this allows the formation to wrap around the enemies flanks when combat is engaged and this in turn allows the swordsmen to do much more damage. It also adds a morale penalty to the enemy. If you do not deploy your swords so they can wrap around at least one flank they can struggle to fight as effectively as you might wish. This two rank deployment is especially important when you charge a unit of spears as they will hold their formation together for much longer if the swordsmen cannot attack from the sides, the longer the spears hold formation the more damage they can do to your swords.

Swordsmen have no spectacular bonuses against other units – even when facing spears they gain a simple +1 to attack and most of the swordsmen are not armour piercing, neither do they have a significant charge bonus. This can lead to them looking rather unimpressive in combat unless you watch closely – it may take them a while to kill but they do it steadily and reliably, in fact reliable is the key word with swordsmen – they are nothing if not reliable. Most swords units have very good morale and elite or disciplined status, this combines with their ability to hold their own in almost any situation to create a unit you can rely on to hold the line and do damage in a hard fight. Spearmen can hold your line reliably but it is often the swordsmen who plug the gaps, lead the charges and generally do most of the killing. Together these two unit types can chew through more foes than you want to count, all that is really missing from this combo is the ranged support and a unit or two of cavalry to mop up routers. Because of their reliability and versatility swordsmen make excellent units for your reserve as they can go into a fight you are loosing and keep fighting until you either win or they are decimated.

Sword units are best at: killing spears and pikes, combating other sword and axe armed units, providing a unit that can fill any gaps in your line, being a reliable set of men to send into difficult situations, being a strategic reserve.

M12

Image M12: This picture was taken one second after the swordsmen’s charge hit. As you can see they have wrapped around the spears right flank completely, the left flank is only partially wrapped. The spears are losing their formation because of this pressure and their situation will only get worse as the last few swordsmen reach the battle. This is why you want your swordsmen in long, two rank deep formations.  

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Byzantine infantry.
Charge 3 Attack 2 Defence 2 Armour 3 Speed 6, 10, 11 Morale 0 Cost 200 Support cost 62

Byzantine infantry are disciplined and deadly. They have a large shield that protects them from missiles and adds to their defence in combat. The real reason why Byzantine infantry is so deadly is not apparent from the stats listed above – their strength is in their numbers. Unlike most swordsmen there are 133 men in each unit, a significant increase over the usual 80 men. This means that Byzantine infantry are able to do more damage even though statistically speaking they are one of the weaker sword units. They are also able to take on cavalry far more effectively than most other swords; this is because they can outnumber the cavalry by more than two to one. Byzantine infantry will make up the front line of most Byzantine armies regardless of the period.

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Feudal men at arms.  
Charge 3 Attack 3 Defence 2 Armour 3 Speed 6, 10, 11 Morale 2 Cost 175 Support cost 45

Feudal men at arms are elite and have large shields to protect them. They are very solid swordsmen and they will serve well until they eventually become outdated with the advent of the chivalric men at arms. Even after their successors appear feudal men at arms can be useful for budget armies and a unit of feudals with high valour will continue to strike terror in the foes hearts.

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Chivalric men at arms.
Charge 3 Attack 4 Defence 3 Armour 4 Speed 6, 10, 11 Morale 4 Cost 250 Support cost 52

Chivalric men at arms are elite and have large shields. They replace feudal men at arms as the deadly Catholic infantry and they do a solid job on the battlefield. The shield only has a 0.5 modifier.

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Feudal foot knights.
Charge 3 Attack 5 Defence 2 Armour 3 Speed 6, 10, 11 Morale 8 Cost 275 Support cost N/A

Feudal foot knights are elite and have a large shield, they are much more capable then their plain feudal men at arms counterparts. Knights also possess sky high morale – they will not break until most of them are dead. There are drawbacks however, firstly there are only 53 men per unit and this does reduce their potential significantly as they cannot deploy in a long enough line to wrap around their foes flanks without stretching perilously thin. Secondly, and perhaps most troublesome, is the fact that you can only get feudal foot knight by dismounting a unit of feudal knights at the deployment phase of a battle. Feudal knights can only dismount in siege situations so it is very rare for you to control a unit of feudal foot knights, but when you do let the carnage begin! Because this unit has heavy armour keep them out of the desert or they will become exhausted in a matter of minutes. (Note: If you have the VI add-on you can get large units of feudal foot knights whenever you wish by dismounting Druzhina cavalry)

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Gothic foot knights.
Charge 4 Attack 5 Defence 6 Armour 6 Speed 4, 8, 9 Morale 8 Cost 475 Support cost N/A

Gothic foot knights are elite and have armour piercing two-handed swords that chop most units into tiny pieces. Once again you can only get these foot knights by dismounting gothic knights, fortunately gothic knights can dismount during the deployment phase of any battle, not just sieges. There are only 53 men per unit and they are very slow because of all the heavy armour they wear, once combat is joined they will begin hacking away and do plenty of damage. Let these armoured behemoths march straight at the enemy and attack from the front, let other, faster units worry about flanking. The sky-high morale of this unit means that they will march onto the field and continue fighting until victory is yours or your army is so badly crushed that there is no dishonour in fleeing. The gothic knights armour is so effective they can walk into a hail of missiles and take very little damage unless those missiles are armour piercing. Once again keep this unit out of the desert!

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Hospitaller foot knights.
Charge 3 Attack 5 Defence 5 Armour 6 Speed 4, 8, 9 Morale 8 Cost 400 Support cost N/A

Hospitaller foot knights are elite and have a large shield. They are also very slow. As with all knights these men will win the battle or die trying. This is the second best unit of swordsmen as far as plain stats go; once again there are catches. In addition to the small unit size (53 men) and the need to dismount a unit of Hospitaller knights in battle there is the problem of getting the unit of Hospitallers in the first place. You can only get Hospitallers from a crusade, this also means you cannot retrain to improve equipment or replace losses. If you can get this unit they are great but the chances are you will not be able to get many of them and when you do get them you will probably hoard them as a treasured reserve. Despite being crusaders they still have too much armour to handle the desert comfortably. The shield has a 0.0 modifier which means it provides no bonus at all – it is just for show.

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