Forlorn Hope (M2TW Unit)
These desperate men are armed with a massive two-handed sword and thick armour.
Overview
The 'Verlorene Haufen' or Forlorn Hope as they are known, are comprised of prisoners and volunteers desperate for glory. Their job is to lead the first and usually fatal charge used to break up enemy pike formations. The Forlorn Hope are heavily armoured and wield massive "zweihander" swords. These units are vicious assault troops who can chop a man into bloody pieces.
Details
The Forlorn Hope are a unit, which carry massive, two-handed swords, which can inflict serious damage on the enemy. They have high attack and charge and relatively low defence. They wear partial metal plate armour, providing them with some protection against missiles and melee attacks. While the Forlorn Hope have a notably higher attack than their counterparts the Zweihanders, they have only half the men. They are cheaper to recruit than the Zweihanders, but they have a much higher upkeep cost and they are not as disciplined. The Forlorn Hope are recruitable from cities, meaning you maintain the wealth of a civil settlement and still benefit from a high damage unit, which would normally require a castle.
Forlorn Hope unfortunately are a very poor unit for their cost. While the Forlorn Hope have excellent morale and a good attack and can do some damage on the charge; their defense is sorely lacking, especially with only half the men of regular infantry. Their slightly higher attack does not compensate for their far lower defense. Two handed swordsmen are already not the best units in vanilla Medieval 2, so with their small unit size Forlorn Hope become a terrible investment for their limited cost and will be mauled by regular Infantry units such as Dismounted Feudal Knights. The Dismounted Imperial Infantry are also better Infantry flankers than Forlorn Hope due to their armour piercing maces. The Zweihander are a much better unit overall, if you want to use a Two-Handed Sword unit.
However, in the Kingdoms Expansion Forlorn Hope are given better stats, 2 hitpoints, and armour piercing, and actually become an incredibly powerful unit. All 2 handed Swordsmen are given better stats and armour piercing in Kingdoms, but the Forlorn Hope in particular become far more powerful due to being given an extra hitpoint. They will serve the Empire well in the Teutonic Campaign.