Roxolani Shock Cavalry

Steppe Armoured Lancers

Developed from the cavalry skills of their ancestors, the steppe lancers of the Scythian, or Saka, tribes and the Sarmatians were a type of heavy cavalry comparable to their Hellenic counterparts. They wore scale armour to protect themselves and their mounts, and used a long lance known as a kontos. This enabled them to deliver devastating charges in a fashion comparable to the Alexandrian Companion cavalry. The scale armour was made from horn, or later metal, and allowed the wearers to run down their western counterparts. They were still vulnerable to dense pike or spear-armed formations. Archery provided a solution: sustained volleys from skirmishing foot and horse archers were used to thin and spread out the enemy. At the Battle of Carrhae in 53BC, the tightly-packed Roman infantry were forced to spread out by Parthian archers, which enabled their cataphracts to charge and break an overconfident Roman force four times their number.

Unit Name Steppe Armoured Lancers

Main Unit Key Ste_Armoured_Lancers

Land Unit Key Ste_Armoured_Lancers

Naval Unit Key barbarian_transport_small

Soldiers 80

Category Cavalry

Class Shock Cavalry

Custom Battle Cost 550

Recruitment Cost 550

Upkeep Cost 100

Melee Attack 40

Weapon Damage 25

├ Melee Weapon rome_lance

├ Melee Damage Base 14

├ Melee Damage Ap 11

├ Armour Piercing No

├ Bonus vs. Large 10

├ Bonus vs Elephants 10

└ Bonus vs Infantry 0

Charge Bonus 57

Melee Defence 16

├ Base Defence 16

├ Shield none

└ Shield Defence 0

Armour 35

├ Armour spolas

├ Armour Defence 35

└ Shield Armour 0

Health 85

├ Man Entity rome_infantry_heavy

├ Man Health 40

├ Bonus Hit Points 15

├ Mount rome_scythian_horse_lance_h

├ Mount Entity rome_horse_heavy_shock

└ Mount Health 30

Base Morale 50

Abilities

No Ability

Attributes

• Hide (forest)
  This unit can hide in forests until enemy units get too close.
• Resistant to Cold
  This unit tires less quickly in snow.

Strengths & Weaknesses

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

• Good charge
• Low damage but average armour penetration
• Weak in prolonged melee
• Average morale

Requires Buildings
Lv. 0	Bronze Workshop (barb_artisan_bronze_2) Level 1 Bronze Forge (barb_artisan_bronze_3) Level 2 Bronze Furnace (barb_artisan_bronze_4) Level 3

Garrison Buildings
x 2	Stables (barb_agriculture_horse_3) Level 2 Horse Ranch (barb_agriculture_horse_4) Level 3

Faction Availability
Grand Campaign	Dahae Khorasmii Massagetae Massagetaean Nobles Massagetaean Secessionists Thyssagetae Aorsoi Roxolani Roxolani Nobles Roxolani Secessionists Siraces Budini Catiaroi Nomadic Rebels Royal Scythia Royal Scythian Nobles Royal Scythian Secessionists
Imperator Augustus	Dahae (Imperator Augustus) Alani (Imperator Augustus) Aorsoi (Imperator Augustus) Iastae (Imperator Augustus) Iazyges (Imperator Augustus) Roxolani (Imperator Augustus) Siraces (Imperator Augustus) Nomadic Rebels (Imperator Augustus)