Armoured Militia

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"You will find soon that swordsmen can be downed by untutored savages who would slice their fingers if asked to carve meat. And why? because the savage is willing. Worse, he may be a baresark."

— David Gemmell

In game[edit | edit source]

Armmilit icon.png
Armoured Militia — Vital statistics
Armoured Militia

Eastern infantry, mostly conscripted men but still kitted out with some armour and high-quality weapons, making the slightly more useful. Cheaper than normal Espadachines.

Prereq: Build time HP LOS Attack Attack speed Movement
speed
Upgrade of
  • Late Mediaeval Era [3];
  • Level 2: Mercenaries Military
7.3s
(110t)
120 8 18 2.1s
(32t)
30

Swordfs icon.png l Songinf rkc.png

Cost Created from Armour Weapon range Specialty
Base Ramp Pop
Timber: 40;
Food.jpg: 40
Food.jpg: 1
1 Barracks.jpg 2 Melee

Small defensive bonus versus missile infantry.

China.jpg Mongol.jpg Russians.jpg Magyarok.jpg Turks.jpg

Overall strategy[edit | edit source]

Despite having decent armour and weapons better than crude spears and shortswords, the general lack of training of Armoured Militia will not avail against the more professional sword-and-buckler men of the European factions, or even the surprising rigour of fully upgraded Muslim jundis. But then again, the near-primitive infantry armies of Asia and Eastern Europe are not known for generally concentrating on an individual's strengths, but in the ability of that individual being part of a group. And in this case, a larger group. Whereas European sword-and-buckler mean are meant to serve in the flanks or to fill in gaps, Armoured Militia however are the staple of most armies with a deficit in decent heavy infantry — simple amass them in quantity, then charge them into the foe.

Not all Asian factions, however, may train Armoured Militia. Due to the warlike nature of Japanese society, Japan trains a different medium infantry unit - the ashigaru. Ashigaru are special in that their abilities are similar to that of an espadachin, but do not require military research as a prerequisite. As for Mongolia, the factor requirements of the Armoured Militia also clashes with that of the Keshig Guard cavalry. Mongolia is better off creating its hardened cavalry units for versatility as opposed to sending human waves against its opponents.

Unit summary[edit | edit source]

  • Numbers Maketh Not The Man — Armoured Militia aren't meant to function as a single component, but as a supporting unit for other units.
  • Kharash Quandary — Although Mongolia can recruit these units, they are very weak and so a Mongol player should carefully weigh the pros and cons of producing these units for combat — Mongolia's strength lies in its cavalry, not infantry.


Notes[edit | edit source]

Depending on your faction, Armoured Militia have three distinct appearances:

History[edit | edit source]

The first few centuries of the post-Roman era were highly turbulent times for many communities throughout Europe, which often found themselves at the mercy of several different enemies, and it was thus natural that sooner or later a body of chosen men would be required to supply the strong arms which was needed to ensure survival. Unlike common conscripted levies which were called up only for a single campaign, militias were fulltime, semi-professional armed men who were supposed to be ready for combat at all times, even in peace. The most famous of these institutions was the Anglo-Saxon fyrd, which was first introduced by Alfred the Great, and which continued to survive in some form or the other well throughout the Mediaeval Era.

Swords were amongst some of the more popular weapons in the Middle Ages and enjoyed a level of importance akin to that of a revolver in our times. A good swordsman would have been able to cut off the arms or legs of his enemies with a single stroke and still keep going on in defeating many of his enemies in a short period of time. However, it required great expertise in forging a good sword, as well as to wield one so for most of human history swords were usually the weapons of an aristocratic elite, especially in Europe and the Middle East where there was a scarcity of iron for forging swords. So for this reason, swords weren't usually the weapons of the common folk. In contrast, it appeared that swords were commonplace weapons throughout Asia, owing to the friction between empires and princes alike, and vast amounts of iron that could allow nations such as China and India to allow for large bodies of men all armed with swords.