Assault Hexeres - Machimoi Epibatoi
A hexareme is a 40 meter long oared warship with two decks of oars, each oar powered by three oarsmen. Developed around 360 BCE by the Syracusans, this huge dreadnought is rare and mainly used as a flagship. It can even hold archer towers at each end of the deck.(Egyptian Marines)
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.
(Machimoi Epibatoi)
The thureos, a large oval-shaped shield, became common throughout the Hellenistic world from the 3rd century BC. Made from wood covered in hide, it differed from the earlier Greek hoplon in having a central handgrip, which was protected by a vertical spine running the length of the shield. This in turn could be further reinforced by the addition of a wide metal strip that protected the grip and the user’s hand. Inspired by the sub-rectangular and oval shields of the Celts, possibly through contact with the migrating Galatians, its usage seems to have spread through the Illyrian and Thracian tribes before it was adopted by the Greeks. Although large, the thureos was light in comparison to the traditional hoplon, and was adopted by heavily-armoured peltasts. Named after their shields, 'thureophoroi' could fight as common peltasts, skirmishing with javelins, but could also form up with their larger shields and longer spears in a similar fashion to a phalanx. The versatile and useful design of the thureos meant it was used by many armies, including the auxiliaries and cavalry of the later Roman Legions.
Unit Name Assault Hexeres - Machimoi Epibatoi |
Main Unit Key Gre_Assault_Hexareme_Egy |
Land Unit Key Egy_Marines |
Naval Unit Key egyptian_six |
Soldiers 160 |
Category Heavy Ship |
Class Melee Ship |
Custom Battle Cost 2062 |
Recruitment Cost 2062 |
Upkeep Cost 516 |
11 |
├ Missile Weapon prec1 |
├ Projectile prec1 |
├ Missile Damage 11 |
├ Missile Ap Damage 0 |
└ Base Reload Time 10 |
Accuracy 5 |
Range 80 |
Reload 0 |
Shots Per Minute 6 |
Ammunition 4 |
1206 |
└ Ship egyptian_six |
Ship Speed 3 |
Melee Attack 27 |
10 |
├ Melee Weapon gsword3 |
├ Weapon Damage 10 |
├ Weapon Deadliness 0 |
├ Armour Piercing No |
├ Bonus vs. Cavalry 0 |
├ Bonus vs. Elephants 0 |
└ Bonus vs Infantry 0 |
Charge Bonus 13 |
79 |
├ Base Defence 21 |
├ Shield shield6 |
└ Shield Defence 58 |
12 |
├ Armour arm7 |
├ Armour Defence 12 |
└ Shield Armour 0 |
24 |
├ Man Entity rome_infantry_very_heavy_slow |
├ Man Health 20 |
└ Bonus Hit Points 4 |
Base Morale 60 |
Abilities
Assault Hexeres- Row Hard 30
Increases speed for 30 strokes.
Ship speed
- Stamina (poor)
Governs how fast the unit tires and restores fatigue, and is dependent on type of unit, weight and approach to combat.
Attributes
- Disciplined
This unit does not suffer a morale penalty when the general dies. It can also rally after routing more often. - Hide (forest)
This unit can hide in forests until enemy units get too close.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Assault Hexeres- Very good hull strength
- Heavy crew
- Slow speed
- Strong ramming
- Very good boarding
- Good attack
- Average defence
- Average damage but low armour penetration
- Normal morale
Faction Availability | |
---|---|
Grand Campaign | |
Imperator Augustus | |
Macedonian Wars |