Winnebago Warriors (ETW Unit)
Armed with tomahawks, these warriors give no quarter in hand-to-hand fighting.
Overview
The Winnebago are not the most forgiving of tribes, and do not forget a transgression easily. On the battlefield, they are fearsome fighters in a melee whenever they are allowed to close with enemies. The thrill of battle is their strength and joy.
Away from the battlefield, many an envoy has met the wrong end of a tomahawk or ended up in a Winnebago’s belly after mistakenly thinking they could be bargained with or bought.
By 1665, a series of misfortunes caused the Winnebago’s numbers to dwindle to five hundred: there was a disastrous storm, and an epidemic decimated the tribe. The remainder starved as they were too weak from disease to harvest their crops. Seeing the Winnebago so depleted, their former Illinois enemies sent them food and warriors as an act of goodwill. The newcomers were welcomed, and then killed during a celebration feast. The vengeful Illinois waited until they had an opportunity to attack, during the Winnebagos’ winter hunt and almost wiped them out. Only at the end of the Beaver Wars was the tribe restored by intermarriage with Algonquin refugees.
Details
Winnebago Warriors are a unique unit available only to the Plains Nations in the Warpath campaign. They are a strong Melee unit and are able to defeat most other units in combat which are lesser trained than them. Their high melee statistics and good hiding abilities, means that they can set up deadly ambushes with other units. This combined with their high morale means that they can be relied upon in the heat of battle. However the Winnebago Warriors should not be used like European infantry as they will likely be gunned down before they can get into melee by the Europeans superior drill.