Assault Hexeres - Swordsmen
These magnificent ships are both intimidating and extremely dangerous.Curved swords do terrible damage in these warriors' hands.
As centuries passed, naval tactics and needs changed across the Mediterranean. There was a move towards larger ships, partly as an expression of national or dynastic power: the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt were particularly fond of large ships to show their wealth and influence in a physical way. These 'polyremes', a term meaning many oared, were not suitable for ramming work in battle. In practice many of them had no more oars than smaller ships; what they had were more rowers per oar than smaller ships. A Roman hexareme or Greek hexeres would have a couple of banks of oars with three men per oar, and appear to be an over-sized version of a smaller ship. Even so, thanks to being tremendously heavy and strongly constructed, they were slow moving, and hardly capable of the quick turns needed to take advantage of enemy mistakes. Instead the large ships made use of their wide decks and plentiful carrying capacities and became fighting platforms for infantry and artillery. Boarding or long-range bombardment were the methods to be used to defeat the enemy; naval warfare had come full circle in terms of fighting methods, even if ships had grown significantly.
(Swordsmen)
Although some historians use Aethiopia to refer to all of the sub-Saharan regions of Africa, it was commonly used in reference to regions in the south of Egypt that became the Kingdom of Kush. The skilled swordsmen from this area followed a long tradition of elite troops from the south that begun under the Egyptian and Nubian dynasties. Although they went into battle wearing only simple cloth armour, the Aethiopians did employ Greek thureos-like shields. These sported a central handgrip, and offered greater protection than the hide-bound wicker or wooden shields of the sub-Saharan tribes. They also used a form of khopesh-like sword that would eventually evolve into the shotel used by the later warriors of Aksum. This had a forward curving, sickle-like blade designed to reach around an opponent’s shield, either to hook it away or pierce his vital organs.
Unit Name Assault Hexeres - Swordsmen |
Main Unit Key Aet_Sword_Six |
Land Unit Key Aet_Sword |
Naval Unit Key egyptian_six |
Soldiers 160 |
Category Heavy Ship |
Class Melee Ship |
Custom Battle Cost 1180 |
Recruitment Cost 1180 |
Upkeep Cost 130 |
34 |
├ Missile Weapon rome_javelin_precursor |
├ Projectile javelin_prec |
├ Missile Damage 19 |
├ Missile Ap Damage 15 |
└ Base Reload Time 40 |
Accuracy 5 |
Range 40 |
Reload 0 |
Shots Per Minute 2 |
Ammunition 2 |
1206 |
└ Ship egyptian_six |
Ship Speed 4 |
Melee Attack 28 |
30 |
├ Melee Weapon rome_generic_sword |
├ Melee Damage Base 26 |
├ Melee Damage Ap 4 |
├ Armour Piercing No |
├ Bonus vs. Large 0 |
├ Bonus vs Elephants 0 |
└ Bonus vs Infantry 5 |
Charge Bonus 13 |
64 |
├ Base Defence 27 |
├ Shield oval |
└ Shield Defence 37 |
60 |
├ Armour cloth |
├ Armour Defence 27 |
└ Shield Armour 33 |
70 |
├ Man Entity rome_infantry_medium |
├ Man Health 55 |
└ Bonus Hit Points 15 |
Base Morale 40 |
Abilities
Assault Hexeres- Row Hard 30
Increases speed for 30 strokes.
Ship speed
- Frenzy
Improves a unit's charge and weapon damage for an extended period.
Charge damage, Weapon damage
Exertion: fatigue
Attributes
- Hide (forest)
This unit can hide in forests until enemy units get too close. - Resistant to Heat
This unit tires less quickly in the desert.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Assault Hexeres- Very good hull strength
- Heavy crew
- Slow speed
- Strong ramming
- Very good boarding
- Very good attack
- Average defence
- Average damage but low armour penetration
- Good morale
Faction Availability | |
---|---|
Grand Campaign | |
Hannibal at the Gates | |
Imperator Augustus |