West Seaxe Missile Ship

Sae Wylfing - Ceorl Javelinmen

For most of history the only way to move cargoes and people over long distances at any kind of reasonable speed was by water; this remained true until the invention of the railway. Trading vessels carried goods, following the coastlines for the most part, and up navigable rivers. The pattern of settlement and colonisation was almost entirely based on where ships could go. It was also considerably easier to move armies by sea than march them long distances. Trade ships were hired or requisitioned for such tasks, and this was an added incentive for generals to reach a quick conclusion to a campaign: war hurt trade, and used up ships needed for vital food supplies.

(Ceorl Javelinmen)
An individual known as a ‘ceorl’ or ‘churl’ had a very particular place in the stratified society of Anglo-Saxon England. Forming the basis of the free populace, they were neither noblemen nor slaves, ranking above the servile classes but below the nobility. A ceorl’s free status was marked by several factors, such as his attendance at local courts, his payment of dues directly to his lord or king, and perhaps most notably for the era, his right to bear arms. In fact, since many ceorls would have been tenants or even landowners, under Anglo-Saxon law they would have been liable for military duty in the fyrd, as was the case in Wessex.

Being freemen, ceorls would have had to provide their own weaponry. The throwing spear or javelin was one such genus of weapons they used, with the thrusting variety not always entirely distinct from the thrown variety. The advantage of the javelin thrower was the ability to potentially pierce through shields and armour from distance, but this was offset by the reduced range and limited output compared to standard archers, since there were only so many javelins a thrower could carry at any one time. Javelin throwing was certainly a unique skill, with the most skilful Viking warriors allegedly even able to catch spears in mid-flight to hurl them straight back!

Unit Name Sae Wylfing - Ceorl Javelinmen

Main Unit Key shp_eng_ceorl_javelinmen

Land Unit Key eng_ceorl_javelinmen

Naval Unit Key vik_sae_wylfing_mis

Soldiers 80

Category Light Ship

Class Missile Ship

Custom Battle Cost 150

Recruitment Cost 150

Upkeep Cost 40

Missile Damage 37

├ Missile Weapon vik_jav_levy

├ Projectile vik_javelin_levy

├ Missile Damage 28

├ Missile Ap Damage 9

└ Base Reload Time 30

Accuracy 33

Range 80

Reload 40

Rate of Fire 3

Ammunition 7

Hull Strength

└ Ship vik_sae_wylfing

Speed

Melee Skill 7

Melee Damage 9

├ Melee Weapon vik_dagger

├ Melee Base Damage 7

├ Armour-piercing Damage 2

├ Armour Piercing No

├ Attack Against Cavalry 0

├ Attack Against Elephants 0

└ Attack Against Infantry 0

Charge Bonus 2

Melee Defence 32

├ Base Defence 7

├ Shield vik_medium_wood

└ Shield 25

Armour 5

├ Armour vik_cloth

├ Armour Defence 5

└ Shield Armour 0

Health 100

├ Man Entity vik_inf_mis_very_light

├ Man Health 100

└ Bonus Hit Points 0

Morale 26

Abilities

No Ability

Attributes

• [[col:yellow]]Resistant to Fatigue[[/col]]
  Fatigue has less of an effect on this unit.
• [[col:yellow]]Hide (forest)[[/col]]
  This unit can hide in forests until enemy units get too close.
• [[col:yellow]]Snipe[[/col]]
  This unit remains hidden while firing.

Strengths & Weaknesses

No Strengths and Weaknesses