Peasants (M2TW Unit)
In times of war peasants are forced from their farms and drafted into levies. Good cannon fodder.
Overview
Life at the bottom rung of medieval society is not easy or healthy. In times of war peasants are forced from their farms and drafted into levies, and if they are lucky, given some kind of simple weapon to fight with. Unsurprisingly, peasants are undisciplined troops who are better at fleeing than they are fighting.
A extremely weak unit, they will lose to everything except other peasants... keep them away during battles unless for cannon fodder.
Details
Peasants are available for every faction, but they are quick to flee and won't fight a superior unit for long. Boosting nothing but sheer numbers this is one of the worst units in the game, but they are available right at the start of a campaign and are cheap to build, and sometimes any unit is helpful.
They are useful to absorb missiles and as fodder, and when under a decent general they can tie up enemy infantry so they have trouble attacking other troops. They can be especially useful behind the walls, and sometimes simply having a lot of men will frighten the enemy. On the other hand if they are placed under too much pressure they will quickly break, and this will demoralizing allied troops, especially if they are also Peasants or Militia.
European Peasants have far better stats than Middle Eastern Peasants, but are still very weak.