Mercenary Scythian Horse Archers

With raiding as a way of life for many tribes, mounted archery was established early in eastern culture, producing some highly effective warriors. While foot archers could carry long, powerful bows, a mounted archer was a formidable fighter thanks to his composite bow. Constructed from layers of wood, sinew and animal horn, the composite bow was a much more powerful weapon than its size alone would suggest. In the hands of an expert an arrow on target was entirely capable of piercing chainmail armour. It did, however, require strength and care to use: in particular, it had to be kept away from damp. Military campaigns were usually fought during the summer and autumn, so bows were used during arid months. Archers could rest their weapons during the winter, taking good care of them before the next campaigning season.

Unit Name Mercenary Scythian Horse Archers

Main Unit Key Mer_Scy_Horse_Archers

Land Unit Key Mer_Scy_Horse_Archers

Naval Unit Key barbarian_transport_small

Soldiers 80

Category Cavalry

Class Missile Cavalry

Custom Battle Cost 380

Recruitment Cost 280

Upkeep Cost 210

Missile Damage 40

├ Missile Weapon rome_composite_bow_horse

├ Projectile arrow_composite_horse

├ Missile Damage 36

├ Missile Ap Damage 4

└ Base Reload Time 12

Accuracy 5

Range 125

Reload 18

Shots Per Minute 6

Ammunition 15

Melee Attack 9

Weapon Damage 24

├ Melee Weapon rome_shortsword

├ Melee Damage Base 20

├ Melee Damage Ap 4

├ Armour Piercing No

├ Bonus vs. Large 0

├ Bonus vs Elephants 0

└ Bonus vs Infantry 0

Charge Bonus 4

Melee Defence 13

├ Base Defence 13

├ Shield none

└ Shield Defence 0

Armour 10

├ Armour cloth

├ Armour Defence 10

└ Shield Armour 0

Health 70

├ Man Entity rome_infantry_light

├ Man Health 40

├ Bonus Hit Points 10

├ Mount rome_scythian_horse_sword_l

├ Mount Entity rome_horse_light_missile

└ Mount Health 20

Base Morale 30

Abilities

• Cantabrian Circle
  The unit fires whilst riding in a circle.
  Harder to hit, reload skill

Attributes

• Resistant to Fatigue
  Fatigue has less of an effect on this unit.
• Hide (forest)
  This unit can hide in forests until enemy units get too close.
• Fire Whilst Moving
  This unit can fire when mounted and moving.
• Parthian Shot
  This unit can fire all around and not just in-front of itself.

Strengths & Weaknesses

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

• Long range
• Average rate of fire
• Fast moving
• Good damage but low armour penetration
• Very weak in melee
• Very poor morale

Empire Divided Mercenaries Pool

Mercenaries Pool
No.	Pool	Province	Region	Initial Unit Count	Chance To Replenish	Max Replenish Per Turn	Max Count
1	rom_province_pool_scythia	Scythia	Gelonus Samandar Sarai Siracena	1	0.15	1	3
2	rom_province_pool_bosporus	Bosporus	Panticapaeum Phanagoria Tanais	1	0.15	1	3
3	rom_province_pool_chorasmia	Chorasmia	Akhur Aktau	1	0.15	1	3

Grand Campaign Mercenaries Pool

Mercenaries Pool
No.	Pool	Province	Region	Initial Unit Count	Chance To Replenish	Max Replenish Per Turn	Max Count
4	rom_province_pool_scythia	Scythia	Gelonus Sarai Aktau	1	0.15	1	3
5	rom_province_pool_bosporus	Bosporus	Tanais Phanagoria Panticapaeum	1	0.15	1	3
6	rom_province_pool_chorasmia	Chorasmia	Kath Amul	1	0.15	1	3

Faction Mercenaries Pool

Mercenaries Pool
No.	Pool	Faction	Initial Unit Count	Chance To Replenish	Max Replenish Per Turn	Max Count
7	rom_faction_pool_scythian_saka	Buri (Imperator Augustus) Dahae (Imperator Augustus) Iastae (Imperator Augustus) Iazyges (Imperator Augustus) Budini Catiaroi Cimmeria Dahae Khorasmii Massagetaean Nobles Massagetae Royal Scythian Nobles Royal Scythia Thyssagetae	1	0.15	1	3