3.2 New Swordsmen

Arab infantry
Charge 2 Attack 4 Defence -2 Armour 1 Speed 6, 10, 11 Morale 4 Cost 125 Support cost 45

Available: Medieval campaign.

Arab infantry are an attempt to match the Catholic men at arms. They have a small shield and a sword. While they are not as tough as their Catholic rivals Arab infantry can fight in the desert with few problems. It is extremely worthwhile getting them some armour upgrades if you are not going to use them in the desert as this improves their lifespan. If you are going to use them in a desert leave them as they are – they will be able to beat the cooked, heavily armoured units with ease. Another advantage of their lower armour stat comes into play against armour piercing units. While the well equipped Catholic men at arms will take a serious beating at the hands of armour piercing units these lightly equipped Arab swordsmen will have a much better time of it.

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Berserkers
Charge 9 Attack 6 Defence 4 Armour 1 Speed 6, 12, 13 Morale 12 Cost 375 Support cost 7

Available: Viking campaign and medieval campaign.

Berserkers are crazy! They have a large shield and they are elite and impetuous. There are precisely 12 men per unit on large unit sizes. They will slaughter vast hordes of enemies and path the field in dead. It all sounds a bit contradictory, doesn’t it? Small units generally get pulped, impetuous units generally run off after the wrong targets and no unit could kill half an army on its own, could it? Well, as long as you target the correct units you can rely on berserkers to kick seven shades of hell out of the enemy and live to tell the tale! Target spear units, peasant type units and anything without a lot of armour. Berserkers are not armour piercing so they are best used against lightly armoured targets. Don’t let them run after cavalry, even though they are fast infantry they will not be able to catch up reliably. However if the cavalry is already engaged or is so close they will not have time to move before your berserkers catch up with them then by all means let your berserkers collect some dead horses. The only major don’t for this unit is missiles – don’t let them get shot up, these guys go into battle wearing nothing more than a pair of trousers and that doesn’t make for the best in missile protection! While this unit can charge headlong into many things and still do plenty of harm you are better of using them smartly so try to flank, use the high ground and you will get much better results. Because there are just 12 men per unit berserkers tend to go up in valour very quickly, let low valour berserkers kill their way through a few levels worth of peasants and simple spearmen before unleashing them on tougher units.

Since I have seen many requests for help in killing berserkers I thought I’d add a line or two on what to do if you find yourself fighting against berserkers. Firstly shoot them! Concentrate missile fire of any kind on them, bow fire is preferable because it allows you to stand a long way away. Even a single berserker killed by missile fire is a big gain for you and you should be able to kill at least several. Eventually the berserkers will get close, send in the heavies and engage them in combat. Use heavily armoured units wherever possible as berserkers have a harder time killing well-protected men. The key to winning the melee is numbers – don’t just send one unit to fight the berserkers, send several and surround them on all sides. This will enable you to contain them, demoralise them and attack from all angles with the requisite bonuses. Expect to take a lot of losses, just as when you attack a royal or general. Above all be persistent and don’t let them get away to regroup – there is nothing quite so mortifying as having a unit of previously routed berserkers regroup and attack your army in the rear and start a chain rout of your own worried warriors.  

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Celtic warriors
Charge 4 Attack 5 Defence -3 Armour1 Speed 6, 10, 11 Morale 0 Cost 125 Support cost 25

Available: Viking campaign and medieval campaign.

Celtic warriors have a small shield. They come in large groups – 133 men on large settings, and this aids them considerably. Celtic warriors die very quickly in battle, probably because they insist on walking around in just their trousers, so having large numbers does help them do damage. Armour upgrades are almost required with this unit, especially when you are using it to take on huscarles and Vikings. Because they have the unfortunate combination of low morale and high casualty potential you will also want to upgrade their morale wherever possible. If you cannot improve their morale then you can expect them to rout quite quickly. To improve their chances use them against weaker enemies, mob tougher enemies with as many people as possible and gain advantages by tactical manoeuvring.

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Dismounted Faris.
Charge 2 Attack 4 Defence 0 Armour 2 Speed 6, 10, 11 Morale 4 Cost 150 Support cost 10

Available: Medieval campaign.

Dismounted Faris are elite, disciplined, and have a small shield. Their defence is terrible but they wield their swords well. Let them attack spear units rather than targeting units they don’t get a bonus against. Always try and use advantageous positioning to offset their low defence and armour stats. Remember that you cannot build dismounted faris; instead you must (you guessed it) dismount a unit of faris!

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Swabian swordsmen
Charge 4 Attack 4 Defence 3 Armour 3 Speed 6, 10, 11 Morale 4 Cost 325 Support cost 45

Available: Medieval campaign.

Swabian swordsmen have a large shield, and have an armour piercing attack. This is a premium unit of swordsmen. They have better statistics than the feudal men at arms and are on a par with chivalric men at arms. Use them whenever you have the chance. The shield is not used in a melee, it guards only against missiles.  

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Slav warriors
Charge 5 Attack 0 Defence -2 Armour 1 Speed 6, 12, 13 Morale 0 Cost 100 Support cost 37

Available: Medieval campaign.

Slav warriors have a large shield. They are basically a cheap, expendable unit like the barbarians and peasants mentioned earlier in this guide. Point them at the enemy, let them charge in, leave them to do damage and then wait for the inevitable rout as they flee the field. Thankfully their routing will only affect non-elite, non-disciplined units so don’t worry about them too much unless you have an army full of normal status soldiers.

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Viking Carls
Charge 3 Attack 3 Defence 1 Armour 3 Speed 6, 10, 11 Morale 2 Cost 150 Support cost 37

Available: Viking campaign and medieval campaign.

Viking Carls have a large shield. They are an incredibly solid unit in the Viking campaign although they are less strong in the medieval campaign. Use them against the multitude of spear types you will face in the Viking era campaign.  

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