Horse Archers (RTW Unit)
| Horse Archers (RTW Unit) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Class | Horse Archers |
| Unit Size | 108 (huge) |
| Weaponry | Bow, Sword |
| Morale | 4 |
| Melee Attack | 3 |
| Ranged Attack | 7 |
| Defence | |
| Charge Bonus | 5 |
| Accuracy | |
| Range | 120 |
| Ammunition | 40 |
| Region | Global |
| Recruitment Cost | 440 |
| Upkeep Cost | 110 |
| Turns to Build | 1 |
| Unit Limit | N/A |
| Building Requirements | Stables |
| Technology Requirements | N/A |
| Attributes | |
Horse archers are a speciality of the East: swift horses and expert marksmen make a deadly combination.
Overview
Horse archers are a speciality of the East: swift horses and expert marksmen make a deadly combination. They are armed with a powerful bow and a dagger for defence, but they are not armoured and should not be expected to fight other than to escape. Horse archers rely on the maxim that 'speed is armour' to keep them out of trouble. Infantry have no hope of catching them, but other cavalry may be able to chase them down. Wise eastern commanders know this, and deploy horse archers with other cavalry to act as a deterrent to over-ambitious pursuit by an enemy.
If horse archers have a weakness it is that of all soldiers armed with composite bows: these weapons do not take well to damp or wet weather, as the glues used to construct them become weakened. While this is seldom a problem in their home provinces, it can be in wetter climes.
Details
Horse Archers are the basic missile cavalry unit available to most eastern factions. The primary purpose of Horse Archers is to harass the enemy with arrows and avoid getting into as melee and these Horse Archers can perform that job admirably. The speed of these men means that they can get away from danger and then come back to start harassing the enemy again. The two main weaknesses of this unit is range and defence, these Horse Archers have a short range on their bows and therefore have to get closer to the enemy to fire, this means that a swift cavalry unit can likely catch them in a melee and this leads to their defence issue.
Horse archers have very low defences and no armor, this means that they can suffer nasty causalities from returning fire from the enemy but more importantly this means that Horse archers will disintegrate in melee combat. Going up against phalanxes will mean suicide for Horse Archers, this is not aided by a weak melee attack meaning they will unlikely to cause any damage. The best solution is to use the speed of the Horse Archers to avoid any situations like that. They can also be quicky thrown into melee against enemies who are about to break; preferably enemies that are already engaged. Often after they have used all their ammo they have severely weakened the enemy, to the point that a final charge will break them.
Overall the Horse Archers a good early game skirmishing unit that can use its speed to harass the enemy and get out of danger, their lack of defence however will mean they should always avoid melee combat when possible.
Factions
Parthia
Armenia