Scythian Noble Women (RTW Unit)
Scythian noble women are excellent and well-armoured horse archers, but they are vulnerable in close combat.
Overview
Scythian noble women are excellent and well-armoured horse archers, but they are vulnerable in close combat. Among the horse tribes of Scythia, it is expected that women of noble families will ride into battle alongside the men. These women provide valuable support to their male kin, softening up the enemy prior to the main battle with a deadly hail of missiles. They are excellent archers and riders, even by the standards of Scythian horsemen. They are armed with superbly accurate and powerful composite bows, but only carry knives for defence. The martial culture of Scythia is not discriminatory when it comes to battle: Scythian women who fall in combat are usually buried with their war gear in the same way as the men. Some young girls even have their right breasts mutilated with a hot iron so they don’t restrict their right arms or a bow string. Perhaps such practices are the origin of the stories about the tribe of fearsome Amazon warrior women, said to rule a city hidden somewhere on the steppes!
Details
Scythian Noble Women are superior horse archers with great archery skills and pretty good melee stats. Despite only wielding a knife, their charge is quite high so they are good for flank charges and excel at chasing down foot missiles. In melee or at range these ladies should have the edge against most other missile troops. They work very well when paired with Head Hunting Maidens who can protect them against enemies who are too heavily armored for arrows.