Cyrenaica Missile Ship

Pursuit Trihemiolia - Egyptian Javelinmen

Fast, relatively powerful pursuit ships, well able to hunt down pirates and other seagoing scum.

The javelin is a simple, deadly weapon, even in the hands of a peasant.

It is thought that the Rhodians, a significant naval power in the eastern Mediterranean, developed the 'trihemiolia' or 'two-and-a-half' as a vessel for pirate hunting. Given that Rhodes is an island entirely reliant on the sea and shipping this is a believable theory. Pirates used the hemiola, a handy little vessel developed from the dieres or bireme, a ship with two rows of oars; it makes sense that pirate hunters would think of taking a trieres, or trireme, with three rows of oars and modifying it in a similar fashion. A trihemiolia still had three rows of oars on each side, but the top row was reduced to only half the number of oars, positioned midships. The result was a faster, handier vessel that provided a height advantage over a hemiola for any archers on board. There was also a strategic benefit to the Rhodians, who could only draw on the manpower of one island: they could have six trieres warships with full complements of rowers, or seven trihemiolias for the same number of men. The useful design was soon adopted by other maritime powers around the Mediterranean.

(Egyptian Javelinmen)
Native troops supported the Greek phalanxes of Ptolemaic Egypt. Brave and proud warriors, Egyptians fulfilled several roles, but were most commonly used as peltasts, skirmishers on the flanks of the phalanxes, or as non-phalanx infantry in difficult terrain. Although the Ptolemies adopted all the trappings of the Pharaohs and their religious infrastructure, there was still much unrest among the native population long after the succession. This was due mainly to the way the Greek overlords used the traditions of the Pharaohs to fill their coffers at the expensive of ordinary people. The core of Ptolemaic armies was always Greek until the Battle of Raphia in 217BC, when they faced such a large Seleucid force and Ptolemy IV was forced to muster some 30,000 native Egyptians for the first time. Need overcame the suspicion of the disenchanted natives; the performance of the Egyptians in battle eventually led to a greater proportion of native troops in the Egyptian army and, in time, more diverse roles for those men as they gained the trust of their Greek commanders.

Abilities

Pursuit Trihemiolia

• Row Hard 10
  Increases speed for 10 strokes.
  Ship speed

Attributes

• Resistant to Fatigue
  Fatigue has less of an effect on this unit.
• Hide (scrub & forest)
  This unit can hide in scrub and forest until enemy units get too close.
• Resistant to Heat
  This unit tires less quickly in the desert.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Pursuit Trihemiolia

• Poor hull strength
• Medium crew
• Uncatchable
• Weak ramming
• Poor boarding
• Average missile combat

Egyptian Javelinmen

• Short range
• Fast rate of fire
• Very good damage and armour penetration
• Very weak in melee
• Very poor morale

Cyrenaica Units
General (3)
1.African War Elephants
2.Egyptian Cavalry
3.Egyptian Pikemen
Melee Infantry (2)
4.Egyptian Infantry
5.Mob
Missile Infantry (4)
6.Egyptian Archers
7.Egyptian Javelinmen
8.Nubian Bowmen
9.Egyptian Slingers
Pike Infantry (1)
10.Egyptian Pikemen
Spear Infantry (3)
11.Nubian Spearmen
12.Levy Thureos Spears
13.Thureos Spears
Melee Cavalry (3)
14.Camel Spearmen
15.Egyptian Cavalry
16.Citizen Cavalry
Missile Cavalry (2)
17.Camel Archers
18.Skirmisher Cavalry
Elephant (2)
19.African Elephants
20.African War Elephants
Fixed Artillery (4)
21.Greek Giant Ballista
22.Greek Polybolos
23.Greek Bastion Scorpion
24.Greek Scorpion (Fixed)
Field Artillery (6)
25.Greek Bastion Ballista
26.Greek Ballista
27.Greek Scorpion
28.Greek Heavy Onager
29.Greek Bastion Onager
30.Greek Onager
Admiral (2)
31.Tower Penteres - Egyptian Archers
32.Heavy Tower Octeres - Egyptian Infantry
Melee Ship (4)
33.Heavy Tower Octeres - Egyptian Infantry
34.Assault Octeres - Egyptian Infantry
35.Fire Pot Dieres - Nubian Spearmen
36.Assault Dieres - Nubian Spearmen
Missile Ship (6)
37.Tower Penteres - Egyptian Archers
38.Missile Penteres - Egyptian Archers
39.Raiding Hemiolia - Egyptian Javelinmen
40.Pursuit Trihemiolia - Egyptian Javelinmen
41.Scorpion Trieres - Egyptian Slingers
42.Missile Trieres - Egyptian Slingers
Artillery Ship (2)
43.Light Artillery Penteres - Greek Ballista (Ship)
44.Artillery Penteres - Greek Onager (Ship)