Raiding Hemiolia - Kretai Toxotai
A hemiolia is a light and fast raiding ship developed in the 4th century BCE, favoured by pirates but also used by navies as a light patrol ship. It has one and a half rows of oars, making it faster and more powerful than earlier uniremes.(Cretan Archers)
As elite archers from the island of Knossos, the ancestors of these famed bowmen once served in the all-conquering army of Alexander the Great.
The 'one-and-a-half' or 'hemiolia' was a light galley which was much favoured by pirates in the ancient world. It developed from the bireme, a ship that had two full decks of oars along its entire length. The hemiola reduced the number of oars on the upper level, leaving roughly half the number of oars and rowers in the midship section. The smaller number of rowers had little effect on overall speed because the laden weight of the vessel also dropped. Because it used both oars and sails, and the crew could rapidly change propulsion method, it was an ideal vessel for chasing down fat, wealthy merchant ships. Boarding attacks were mounted from hemiolas; ramming was not a useful tactic as loot ended up with the fish rather than enriching the pirates! The speed and handiness of hemiolas made them useful as scouts, supply boats and vessels used to pick off damaged enemies at the edge of battles.
(Kretai Toxotai)
Although archery was not highly thought of as a military skill in Greece, Crete produced truly excellent archers who were able to sell their services to the highest bidder as mercenaries. Firing bronze-tipped arrows from their heavy self bows, Cretan archers tended to carry shields, indicative of some additional prowess in melee, which must’ve made them an even more enticing proposition for a general hiring mercenaries for campaign. Their finest hours came when Alexander the Great hired Cretans directly into his army to support its unbeatable phalanx. Commanded by Clearchus, 500 Cretans accompanied the Macedonian phalanx into battle at Granicus, off-setting the Persians' numerical superiority on the day and enabling Alexander’s subsequent victory. Whereas the Romans didn’t traditionally use archers in their forces, once they conquered Greece Cretan archers began to appear as auxiliary troops in their armies. Notably, they fought in Caesar’s campaign in Gaul against Vercingetorix, causing him to rally the best archers the tribes could provide to range against them.
Unit Name Raiding Hemiolia - Kretai Toxotai |
Main Unit Key Gre_Raiding_Hemolia_Crete |
Land Unit Key Gre_Marine_Crete |
Naval Unit Key greek_one_halfer |
Soldiers 80 |
Category Light Ship |
Class Missile Ship |
Custom Battle Cost 688 |
Recruitment Cost 688 |
Upkeep Cost 172 |
10 |
├ Missile Weapon bow3 |
├ Projectile bow3 |
├ Missile Damage 10 |
├ Missile Ap Damage 0 |
└ Base Reload Time 12 |
Accuracy 15 |
Range 175 |
Reload 28 |
Shots Per Minute 7 |
Ammunition 31 |
402 |
└ Ship greek_one_halfer |
Ship Speed 4 |
Melee Attack 17 |
7 |
├ Melee Weapon dagger2 |
├ Weapon Damage 7 |
├ Weapon Deadliness 0 |
├ Armour Piercing No |
├ Bonus vs. Cavalry 0 |
├ Bonus vs. Elephants 0 |
└ Bonus vs Infantry 0 |
Charge Bonus 8 |
41 |
├ Base Defence 15 |
├ Shield shield1 |
└ Shield Defence 26 |
8 |
├ Armour arm4 |
├ Armour Defence 8 |
└ Shield Armour 0 |
20 |
├ Man Entity light_medium |
├ Man Health 20 |
└ Bonus Hit Points 0 |
Base Morale 35 |
Abilities
Raiding Hemiolia- Row Hard 10
Increases speed for 10 strokes.
Ship speed
- Stamina (excellent)
Governs how fast the unit tires and restores fatigue, and is dependent on type of unit, weight and approach to combat.
Attributes
- Hide (scrub & forest)
This unit can hide in scrub and forest until enemy units get too close.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Raiding Hemiolia- Very poor hull strength
- Light crew
- Very fast speed
- Weak ramming
- Very poor boarding
- Poor missile combat
- Long range
- Fast rate of fire
- Good damage but low armour penetration
- Very weak in melee
- Poor morale
Faction Availability | |
---|---|
Grand Campaign | |
Macedonian Wars |