Steppe Lancers
These are hard, almost-fearless shock cavalry, bred for war on the harsh steppes.Developed from the cavalry skills of their ancestors, the steppe lancers of the Scythian, or Saka, tribes and the Sarmatians were a type of heavy cavalry comparable to their Hellenic counterparts. They wore scale armour to protect themselves and their mounts, and used a long lance known as a kontos. This enabled them to deliver devastating charges in a fashion comparable to the Alexandrian Companion cavalry. The scale armour was made from horn, or later metal, and allowed the wearers to run down their western counterparts. They were still vulnerable to dense pike or spear-armed formations. Archery provided a solution: sustained volleys from skirmishing foot and horse archers were used to thin and spread out the enemy. At the Battle of Carrhae in 53BC, the tightly-packed Roman infantry were forced to spread out by Parthian archers, which enabled their cataphracts to charge and break an overconfident Roman force four times their number.
Unit Name Steppe Lancers |
Main Unit Key Ste_Lancers |
Land Unit Key Ste_Lancers |
Naval Unit Key barbarian_transport_small |
Soldiers 90 |
Category Cavalry |
Class Shock Cavalry |
Custom Battle Cost 410 |
Recruitment Cost 360 |
Upkeep Cost 70 |
Melee Attack 30 |
31 |
├ Melee Weapon rome_lance |
├ Melee Damage Base 16 |
├ Melee Damage Ap 15 |
├ Armour Piercing No |
├ Bonus vs. Large 10 |
├ Bonus vs Elephants 12 |
└ Bonus vs Infantry 0 |
Charge Bonus 41 |
28 |
├ Base Defence 28 |
├ Shield none |
└ Shield Defence 0 |
27 |
├ Armour cloth |
├ Armour Defence 27 |
└ Shield Armour 0 |
105 |
├ Man Entity rome_infantry_medium |
├ Man Health 55 |
├ Bonus Hit Points 10 |
├ Mount rome_scythian_horse_lance_m |
├ Mount Entity rome_horse_medium_shock |
└ Mount Health 40 |
Base Morale 40 |
Abilities
Steppe Lancers- Trample
Charges are more effective for an extended time.
Charge bonus
Exertion: fatigue
Attributes
- Hide (forest)
This unit can hide in forests until enemy units get too close. - Resistant to Cold
This unit tires less quickly in snow.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Light Transport- Very poor hull strength
- Very slow speed
- Weak ramming
- Average charge
- Low damage but average armour penetration
- Weak in prolonged melee
- Poor morale
Faction Availability | |
---|---|
Grand Campaign | |
Imperator Augustus |