Samnites (Hannibal at the Gates) Melee Ship

Harpax Hexareme - Italian Swordsmen

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.

(Italian Swordsmen)
Before Rome controlled the whole of Italy it shared the peninsula with others, such as the Etruscans and Samnites. These various petty kingdoms, cities and tribes often fought each other, but also united against common external threats. It was as the Etruscans waned and Greek influence fell away that the Romans began steadily accumulating land and power. After three wars against the Samnites, Rome finally became the dominant power in Italy, and extracted pledges of loyalty and military aid from the 'Socii Latini', its Latin allies. There were further rebellions against Rome’s dominance, the most significant being the Allied War of 90-88BC, when many of the Socii turned on Rome. Clearly, this gave the Romans pause, as the peace settlement after was surprisingly generous: it gave the Socii the right of full Roman citizenship, giving them a stake in Rome's continued survival and effectively uniting the whole of Italy under their rule.

Unit Name Harpax Hexareme - Italian Swordsmen

Main Unit Key Ita_Sword_Six_Lft_Aft

Land Unit Key Ita_Sword

Naval Unit Key roman_harpax_six

Soldiers 160

Category Heavy Ship

Class Melee Ship

Custom Battle Cost 1300

Recruitment Cost 1300

Upkeep Cost 260

Missile Damage 32

├ Missile Weapon rome_javelin_precursor

├ Projectile javelin_prec

├ Missile Damage 20

├ Missile Ap Damage 12

└ Base Reload Time 15

Accuracy 5

Range 40

Reload 0

Shots Per Minute 4

Ammunition 2

Ship Health 1206

└ Ship roman_harpax_six

Ship Speed 4

Melee Attack 34

Weapon Damage 35

├ Melee Weapon rome_gladius

├ Melee Damage Base 30

├ Melee Damage Ap 5

├ Armour Piercing No

├ Bonus vs. Large 0

├ Bonus vs Elephants 0

└ Bonus vs Infantry 0

Charge Bonus 10

Melee Defence 45

├ Base Defence 20

├ Shield thureos

└ Shield Defence 25

Armour 60

├ Armour chest

├ Armour Defence 25

└ Shield Armour 35

Health 50

├ Man Entity rome_infantry_heavy

├ Man Health 40

└ Bonus Hit Points 10

Base Morale 45

Abilities

• Row Hard 30
  Increases speed for 30 strokes.
  Ship speed

Attributes

• Hide (forest)
  This unit can hide in forests until enemy units get too close.

Strengths & Weaknesses

• Very good hull strength
• Heavy crew
• Slow speed
• Strong ramming
• Exceptional boarding

• Good attack
• Average defence
• Average damage but low armour penetration
• Normal morale

Faction Availability
Grand Campaign	Etruscan League Latin Rebels
Samnite Wars	Italian Rebels (Samnite Wars) Samnites (Samnite Wars)
Hannibal at the Gates	Etruscan League (Hannibal at the Gates) Latin Rebels (Hannibal at the Gates) Samnites (Hannibal at the Gates)