

Germanic Pikes
A wall of pikes is an excellent defence, but is difficult to manoeuvre.Once use of the pike in battle had spread to the west, it was adopted by many of the barbarian tribes. As an extension of the popular 'shield wall' formation, emergent barbarian pike tactics had similarities to the phalanx combat favoured by the Hellenic states before the rise of Rome. However, tribal pike troops fought far more defensively than the Greeks, especially with the advent of heavy cavalry such as lancers and their supplanting of the more traditional barbarian infantry charge with brutal shock tactics. Gradually, pikes became a popular defensive choice all over northern Europe; the Norsemen used them in a similar, circular formation of around 1000 men in a tightly-packed mass, designed to stop enemy cavalry charges dead in their tracks. This also likely gave rise to the later ‘schiltron’ or ‘shield troop’ formation commonly used by Scottish medieval armies.
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Unit Name Germanic Pikes |
Main Unit Key 3c_Ger_Germanic_Pikes |
Land Unit Key 3c_Ger_Germanic_Pikes |
Naval Unit Key 3c_barbarian_transport |
Soldiers 160 |
Category Melee Infantry |
Class Pike Infantry |
Custom Battle Cost 400 |
Recruitment Cost 400 |
Upkeep Cost 80 |
Melee Attack 30 |
Weapon Damage 20 |
├ Melee Weapon rome_pike_levy |
├ Melee Damage Base 16 |
├ Melee Damage Ap 4 |
├ Armour Piercing No |
├ Bonus vs. Large 0 |
├ Bonus vs Elephants 0 |
└ Bonus vs Infantry 0 |
Charge Bonus 4 |
Melee Defence 15 |
├ Base Defence 5 |
├ Shield pikemen |
└ Shield Defence 10 |
Armour 40 |
├ Armour cloth |
├ Armour Defence 10 |
└ Shield Armour 30 |
Health 50 |
├ Man Entity rome_infantry_light |
├ Man Health 40 |
└ Bonus Hit Points 10 |
Base Morale 30 |
Abilities
Germanic Pikes- Pike Phalanx
The unit moves into a deep, close defensive formation.
Bonus vs cavalry, bracing
Limited speed
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
Transport- Very poor hull strength
- Very slow speed
- Weak ramming
- Average defensive unit
- Low damage but average armour penetration
- Weak attack
- Poor morale
- Very vulnerable when not in phalanx
Faction Availability | |
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Empire Divided |