Mercenary Armoured Horse Archers

With raiding as a way of life for many tribes, mounted archery was established early in eastern culture, producing some highly effective warriors. While foot archers could carry long, powerful bows, a mounted archer was a formidable fighter thanks to his composite bow. Constructed from layers of wood, sinew and animal horn, the composite bow was a much more powerful weapon than its size alone would suggest. In the hands of an expert an arrow on target was entirely capable of piercing chainmail armour. It did, however, require strength and care to use: in particular, it had to be kept away from damp. Military campaigns were usually fought during the summer and autumn, so bows were used during arid months. Archers could rest their weapons during the winter, taking good care of them before the next campaigning season.

Unit Name Mercenary Armoured Horse Archers

Main Unit Key Mer_Scy_Armour_Horse_Archers

Land Unit Key Mer_Scy_Armour_Horse_Archers

Naval Unit Key barbarian_transport

Soldiers 80

Category Cavalry

Class Missile Cavalry

Custom Battle Cost 580

Recruitment Cost 500

Upkeep Cost 370

Missile Damage 40

├ Missile Weapon rome_composite_bow_horse

├ Projectile arrow_composite_horse

├ Missile Damage 36

├ Missile Ap Damage 4

└ Base Reload Time 12

Accuracy 5

Range 125

Reload 23

Shots Per Minute 6

Ammunition 15

Melee Attack 37

Weapon Damage 34

├ Melee Weapon rome_steppe_sword

├ Melee Damage Base 30

├ Melee Damage Ap 4

├ Armour Piercing No

├ Bonus vs. Large 0

├ Bonus vs Elephants 0

└ Bonus vs Infantry 0

Charge Bonus 15

Melee Defence 15

├ Base Defence 15

├ Shield none

└ Shield Defence 0

Armour 35

├ Armour spolas

├ Armour Defence 35

└ Shield Armour 0

Health 75

├ Man Entity rome_infantry_medium

├ Man Health 40

├ Bonus Hit Points 15

├ Mount rome_scythian_horse_sword_m

├ Mount Entity rome_horse_medium_missile

└ Mount Health 20

Base Morale 45

Abilities

• Cantabrian Circle
  The unit fires whilst riding in a circle.
  Harder to hit, reload skill
• Precision Shot
  Improved missile weapon damage for an extended period.
  Missile damage
  Exertion: fatigue

Attributes

• Resistant to Fatigue
  Fatigue has less of an effect on this unit.
• Hide (forest)
  This unit can hide in forests until enemy units get too close.
• Fire Whilst Moving
  This unit can fire when mounted and moving.
• Parthian Shot
  This unit can fire all around and not just in-front of itself.

Strengths & Weaknesses

• Very poor hull strength
• Very slow speed
• Weak ramming

• Long range
• Fast rate of fire
• Fast moving
• Good damage but low armour penetration
• Very weak in melee
• Poor morale

Empire Divided Mercenaries Pool

Mercenaries Pool
No.	Pool	Province	Region	Initial Unit Count	Chance To Replenish	Max Replenish Per Turn	Max Count
1	rom_province_pool_scythia	Scythia	Gelonus Samandar Sarai Siracena	0	0.75	1	2

Grand Campaign Mercenaries Pool

Mercenaries Pool
No.	Pool	Province	Region	Initial Unit Count	Chance To Replenish	Max Replenish Per Turn	Max Count
2	rom_province_pool_scythia	Scythia	Gelonus Sarai Aktau	0	0.75	1	2

Faction Mercenaries Pool

Mercenaries Pool
No.	Pool	Faction	Initial Unit Count	Chance To Replenish	Max Replenish Per Turn	Max Count
3	rom_faction_pool_scythian_saka	Buri (Imperator Augustus) Dahae (Imperator Augustus) Iastae (Imperator Augustus) Iazyges (Imperator Augustus) Budini Catiaroi Cimmeria Dahae Khorasmii Massagetaean Nobles Massagetae Royal Scythian Nobles Royal Scythia Thyssagetae	1	0.75	1	2