Scutarii (RTW unit)

Scutarii (RTW unit)
Class	Light Infantry
Unit Size	160 men
Weaponry	Pilum Sword
Morale	4
Melee Attack	9
Ranged Attack	13
Defence	12
Charge Bonus	4
Accuracy
Range	35
Ammunition	2 per man
Region	Global
Recruitment Cost	430
Upkeep Cost	140
Turns to Build	1
Unit Limit	Unlimited
Building Requirements	Hall of Heroes
Technology Requirements	None
Attributes	Uses a missile before charging Can hide in forests

Scutarii are well-equipped light infantry armed with swords, shields and heavy javelins.

Overview

Scutarii are well-equipped light infantry armed with swords, shields and heavy javelins. They are called by the Romans because of their distinctive, large, oval shields (the Latin for shield being ‘scutum’). They fight with heavy javelins and swords, peppering the enemy with missiles before closing up for hand-to-hand combat. Centuries of feuding among the hill tribes have hardened the people so there is no shortage of tough and cunning warriors - they are quite handy when springing tactical ambushes on enemy units.

Historically, the design of the later Roman legionary sword (or gladius) was influenced by the blades carried by these men. The design was adopted after Roman armies had faced large formations of scutarii during the First Punic War.

Details

Scutarii are similar in weaponry and statistics to Roman Hastati or Principes, but these Spanish infantry show unique differences. Similar to other barbarian infantry, Scutarii have a higher attack, but lower morale and defense than their “civilized” counterparts. Only developed Spanish cities can recruit these units, and Spanish settlements mostly start pretty small, so they are not early-game units. To compensate, Scutarii are cheap to recruit and maintain.

They are useful on the attack and have a decent defense against arrows, but they are surprising fragile in a melee, because of terrible defense skill. 2 defense skill is terrible, worse than Militia Hoplites. They have to be wary around heavy cavalry, since both their defense and morale is weak a good charge is likely to break them. Compared to the Chosen Swordsmen of other barbarians they are unimpressive, but they are cheap and can do damage against infantry. If you try to use Sccutarii as a battleline against the Romans, especially after the Marian Reforms, you will stand no chance at all unless your cavalry can save them immediately.

Despite their mediocre stats they are a big upgrade to the terrible Iberian Infantry.

In the Campaign, a Spanish player should mostly stick with Bull Warriors, who are vastly superior. Scutarii should only be used if a Spanish player needs cheap infantry fast that is still decent enough and that can be retrained without the special Temple of Esus required for Bull Warriors.

Factions

Spain