Peasants
- Requirements: Fort
- Type: Militia
- Stats: Charge 4, attack -2, defense -4, armor 1, moral -2, speed: average for infantry
- Extras: +1 Valor if trained in Provence
- Size: 100 men
- Cost: 50 Florins, upkeep: 37 florins/year (3/8 florin per man)
Peasants are by far the weakest and most useless units availavble. They are completely worthless in battle and only serve to take up space and bulk up your army. In battle they will not be able to do any damage to the enemy and are likely to route at the first sign of things going badly.
Slav Warriors
- Requirements: Fort
- Eras: Early, High
- Regions: PRUSSIA,POMERANIA,POLAND, SILESIA, BOHEMIA, LITHUANIA, SMOLENSK, CHERNIGOV, MUSCOVY, MOLDAVIA, VOLHYNIA, KIEV, CROATIA, SERBIA, BULGARIA
- Type: Militia
- Stats: Charge 5, attack 0, defense -2, armor 1, moral 0, speed: fast for infantry
- Extras: Large Shield
- Size: 100 men
- Cost: 100 Florins, upkeep: 37 florins/year (3/8 florin per man)
Slav warriors are an alternative kind of peasant which can be raised in parts of eastern Europe. They are a big improvement over actual peasants and are even somewhat useful in battle. They are still weak and should not be used as your main troop, but they are fast and can be used to chase after routers or kill archers. They are cheap and expendable, useful as fodder troops or as garrisons.
Woodsmen
- Requirements: Fort
- Regions: LIVONIA, LITHUANIA, NORWAY, NOVGOROD, POLAND, SWEDEN, SILESIA, VOLHYNIA
- Type: Militia/Shocktroop
- Stats: Charge 8, attack 1, defense -1, armor 1, moral -2, speed: average for infantry
- Extras: Armor Piercing, +1 Valor if trained in Lithuania, 25% cheaper for Novogord
- Size: 60 men
- Cost: 75 Florins, upkeep: 22 florins/year (3/8 florin per man)
Woodsmen are tougher peasants from northern Europe. While still a weak peasant unit, they do have an armor-piercing attack and a very powerful charge. They are good for flanking heavily armored enemies, provided they are supported by other units to keep them from routing.
Highland Clansmen
- Requirements: Fort
- Regions: Scotland
- Factions: All Catholics and Orthodox
- Type: Militia/Shocktroop
- Stats: Charge 6, attack 5, defense -3, armor 1, moral 0, speed: fast for infantry
- Extras: Small shield, +1 Valor if trained in Scotland, Uncontrolled
- Size: 60 men
- Cost: 100 Florins, upkeep: 22 florins/year (3/8 florin per man)
Highland Clandsmen are a useful troop available only in Scotland. It is often worth invading scotland just for these troops. Since they can only be produced in scotland, all Highlands Clansmen start with +1 Valor. This is a unit with very high attack stats but weak defenses. They are very useful for flanking, killing spearmen or just serving as cheap expendable troops. Their upkeep is very low so they make excellent, capable garrison troops, even for front line provinces.
Jobbagy
- Requirements: Fort
- Factions: Hungarians
- Type: Skirmisher
- Missle: Javalins (4)
- Stats: Charge 4, attack -1, defense 0, armor 2, moral 0, speed: fast for infantry
- Extras:
- Size: 60 men
- Cost: 150 Florins, upkeep: 22 florins/year (3/8 florin per man)
Jobbagy are javalinmen unique to the Hungarians. This is not much of a coup, since Hungarians also have access to slav javalinmen in most of their provinces, and are fairly equal and have only slightly higher requirements. Javalins are short ranged, armor-piercing missles which can be quite devistating to slow, highly armored units. In Melee Jobbagy are weak and have poor moral and should only be used against other weak units, like running down archers and chasing routers.
Bedouin Camel Warriors
- Requirements: Fort
- Factions: Almohad, Egyptian, Turkish
- Regions: Egypt, Sinai, Arabia, Syria
- Type: light cavalry
- Dismount to: Peasants (all battles)
- Stats: Charge 6, attack 2, defense 0, armor 2, moral 0, speed: slow for cavalry
- Extras: Causes fear in horses, 25% cheaper for Egyptians
- Size: 40 men
- Cost: 125 Florins, upkeep: 40 florins/year (1 florin per man)
Camel Warriors are a cheap, easily available light cavalry. They are slow compared to horses, but are quick enough to be used for flanking attacks or to run down routers. Horses are afraid of camels, so camel warriors are good for attacking mounted units.
Viking Thralls
- Requirements: Fort
- Era: Early
- Regions: Denmark, Sweden, Norway
- Factions: All Catholics and Orthodox
- Type: Militia/Spearmen
- Stats: Charge 7, attack -2, defense -3, armor 1, moral -2, speed: average for infantry
- Extras: Large shield, Supporting rank bonus, +4 cavalry defense bonus, +1 cavalry attack bonus
- Size: 100 men
- Cost: 125 Florins, upkeep: 37 florins/year (3/8 florin per man)
Thralls are a weak peasant unit from scandinavia. They are superior to regular peasants, because they are spearmen and get all the bonuses that spearmen get though they are still too weak to be much use in combat. The usefulness of Thralls is limited, better viking units are available from the same provinces and there is no shortage of cheap garrison troops.
Vikings
- Requirements: Fort
- Factions: Danes, Novogord
- Type: Shocktroops
- Stats: Charge 3, attack 3, defense 0, armor 2, moral 4, speed: average for infantry
- Extras: Large shield, armor piercing, +1 Valor if trained in Norway, 25% cheaper for Danes
- Size: 60 men
- Cost: 175 Florins, upkeep: 37 florins/year (5/8 florin per man)
Vikings are a unit best used early, and in large numbers. For the first 20 or 30 turns of the early era vikings will dominate the battlefield and destroy or overwhelm anything other factions can throw at them. They require only a fort to train and can be built in any province and thus can be trained in huge quanities, making rapid expansion easy. Spearmen or militia units are no match for them and nothing will be able to stop them until Feudal Men at arms or other sword-armed infantry are available in significant numbers. Later in the age, once more advanced units come into play, vikings are still useful and can serve as cheap flanking units which can cause significant damage to armored troops.
Viking Landsmenn
- Requirements: Fort + Motte
- Regions: Denmark, Sweden, Norway
- Type: Shocktroops
- Stats: Charge 3, attack 3, defense 1, armor 3, moral 4, speed: average for infantry
- Extras: Large shield, armor piercing
- Size: 60 men
- Cost: 200 Florins, upkeep: 53 florins/year (7/8 florin per man)
Landsmenn are one of the oddball viking troops for requirements. They are the only unit in the game which requires a castle defensive upgrade before being trained. It is possible that the requirement is a typo since in the configuration files the Motte is "{Castle2}" and the designer might have meant for the requirement to have been a Keep, the second level of castle. As a result, the landsman has lower building requirements than the Carl, which is a cheaper, inferior viking unit. Landsmen are a small upgrade from the viking unit that Danes and the People of Novogord get, but are available to anyone who conquores a scandinavian province. They are very useful attack infantry and it is worth invading those provinces just for these units. Landsmenn have good moral and an armor piercing attack so they make excellent flankers against armored foes, they also chew up lesser units like spearmen and militias. The Danes themsleves may or may not want to use them over vanilla vikings, they have the same stats except one more point in defense, but are more expensive both in upkeep and training costs.
Urban Militia
- Requirements: Town Watch
- Type: Militia
- Stats: Charge 4, attack 2, defense -1, armor 1, moral 0, speed: average for infantry
- Extras: Armor Piercing, +1 Valor if trained in Tuscany, 25% cheaper for Swiss
- Size: 60 men
- Cost: 100 Florins, upkeep: 30 florins/year (1/2 florin per man)
Urban Militia are the next step up from peasants for most factions. They are noticably better in combat than peasants and during the early years of the era they can be used as attack infantry. They are still weak and will be slaughtered by more powerful units. Once swordmen become available they can still be useful for flanking armored units. They make capable garrison troops.
Archers
- Requirements: Bower
- Type: Missle
- Missle: Shortbow (28 arrows)
- Stats: Charge 1, attack -1, defense -2, armor 1, moral -1, speed: average for infantry
- Extras: 25% cheaper for English
- Size: 60 men
- Cost: 225 Florins, upkeep: 37 florins/year (5/8 florin per man)
Archers, often called Vanilla Archers, are the most basic missle infantry available and the standard by which other archers are judged. Vanilla archers have no special bonuses or abilities and are the weakest of all the archers available. Archers will always be needed for their ranged attack and their ability to demoralize and kill the enemy from a distance. They are rather expensive, and have a high upkeep for such a lowly unit and it is often a good idea to replace them with crossbows as garrison troops in the later eras.
Desert Archers
- Requirements: Bower
- Regions: MOROCCO, ALGERIA, TUNISIA, LIBYA, EGYPT, SINAI, ARABIA, SYRIA, JERUSALEM, TRIPOLI, ANTIOCH, EDESSA
- Factions: Almohad, Turkish, Egyptian
- Type: Missle
- Missle: Shortbow (28 arrows)
- Stats: Charge 1, attack -1, defense -2, armor 1, moral 0, speed: fast for infantry
- Extras: Small Shield
- Size: 60 men
- Cost: 250 Florins, upkeep: 37 florins/year (5/8 florin per man)
Desert Archers are the same as regular archers except they are faster, have better moral and have a small shield. This makes them worth the extra 25 florins to train, but it is not big loss if they are not available.
Trebizond Archers
- Requirements: Bower
- Faction: Byzantine
- Type: Missle
- Missle: Shortbow (28 arrows)
- Stats: Charge 1, attack 3, defense -2, armor 1, moral 2, speed: average for infantry
- Extras: Disaplined, small shield, +1 valor if trained in Trebizond
- Size: 60 men
- Cost: 275 Florins, upkeep: 53 florins/year (7/8 florin per man)
Trebizond Archers are the main archers for the Byzintine Empire. If possible, they should be trained in Trebizond for the valor bonus, and if dedicated that province should be enough to train archers for most of the empire. Their upkeep and training costs are fairly high for archers, but the Byzantines can afford it. They are disaplined and have good moral, so they will not flee when undisaplined troops rout. Along with Byzantine INfantry, they will serve as the core of the army in any era. Treb Archers have a fairly high attack rating, better than the Byzantine infantry get, and can serve as light infantry once their arrows run out. Their defense is as bad as other archers, however, so they will die quickly if put into a bad situation.
Spearmen
- Requirements: Spearmaker
- Factions: All except Almohad, Egyptian, Novogord
- Stats: Charge 5, attack -1, defense -1, armor 1, moral 0, speed: average for infantry
- Extras: Large Shield, Supporting rank bonus, +4 cavalry defense bonus, +1 cavalry attack bonus
- Size: 100 men
- Cost: 150 Florins, upkeep: 50 florins/year (1/2 florin per man)
Spearmen, often called vanilla spearmen, are the most basic spear-armed infantry available and are the standard against which other spearmen are judged. Spearmen come in large 100 man units and are meant to be used on the defense, to protect other units and to fight off cavalry. They can hold off attacks fairly well but will not inflict many casualties themselves. Spearmen make excellent garrison troops and are useful in most armies, though other types of spearmen should be used if they become available. There are actually 2 versions of plain spearmen in the game, the square shield and the round shield versions, each faction will get one type.
Nubian Spearmen
- Requirements: Spearmaker
- Factions: Almohad, Egyptian
- Regions: MOROCCO, ALGERIA, TUNISIA, LIBYA, EGYPT, SINAI, ARABIA, SYRIA, JERUSALEM, TRIPOLI, ANTIOCH, EDESSA
- Stats: Charge 4, attack 0, defense -1, armor 1, moral 2, speed: average for infantry
- Extras: Small Shield, Disaplined, Supporting rank bonus, +4 cavalry defense bonus, +1 cavalry attack bonus
- Size: 100 men
- Cost: 175 Florins, upkeep: 37 florins/year (3/8 florin per man)
Nubian Spearmen are the replacement for regular spearmen for the north african factions. Nubian Spearmen have better offense and a small shield instead of a large one. They are disaplined and have higher moral, which makes them more reliable.
Rus Spearmen
- Requirements: Spearmaker
- Era: Early
- Factions: Novogord
- Stats: Charge 5, attack 0, defense 2, armor 3, moral 2, speed: average for infantry
- Extras: Large Shield, Supporting rank bonus, +4 cavalry defense bonus, +1 cavalry attack bonus
- Size: 100 men
- Cost: 325 Florins, upkeep: 62 florins/year (5/8 florin per man)
Rus Spearmen is an oddball unit in that it is an extreamly good spear unit with very low requirements. It is a much better unit than the armored spearman, which requires the second level of spearmaker. Rus Spearmen are also rather expensive, both in training and upkeep, while the People of Novogord are a very poor faction which will not likely be able to afford to train any of these excellent spearmen until late in the early era. This gives them very little room to be actually used in the game.
Fyrdmen
- Requirements: Spearmaker
- Regions: Wessex, Mercia, North Umbria
- Stats: Charge 5, attack 0, defense -1, armor 1, moral 2, speed: average for infantry
- Extras: Large Shield, Supporting rank bonus, +4 cavalry defense bonus, +1 cavalry attack bonus
- Size: 100 men
- Cost: 200 Florins, upkeep: 62 florins/year (5/2 florin per man)
Frydmen are a leftover from the viking age in England which are available in the early era. They are equal in every way to the more common feudal sergeants but have the same requirements as vanilla spearmen. They should be used whenever possible, especially by the English before the French can build up to keep-level units.
Slav Javalinmen
- Requirements: Spearmaker
- Regions: PRUSSIA, POMERANIA, POLAND, SILESIA, BOHEMIA, LITHUANIA, SMOLENSK, CHERNIGOV, MUSCOVY, MOLDAVIA, VOLHYNIA, KIEV, CROATIA, SERBIA, BULGARIA
- Type: Skirmisher
- Missle: Javalins (4)
- Stats: Charge 1, attack 0, defense -2, armor 1, moral 0, speed: fast for infantry
- Extras: Small Shield
- Size: 60 men
- Cost: 125 Florins, upkeep: 22 florins/year (3/8 florin per man)
Javalins are short ranged, armor-piercing missles which can be quite devistating to slow, highly armored units. In Melee javalinmen are weak and have poor moral and should only be used against other weak units, like running down archers and chasing routers. Cheap, expendable troops available to anyone who has provinces in eastern europe.
Spanish Javalinmen
- Requirements: Spearmaker
- Factions: Spanish, Argonese
- Type: Skirmisher
- Missle: Javalins (4)
- Stats: Charge 1, attack 0, defense -2, armor 1, moral 0, speed: fast for infantry
- Extras: Small Shield
- Size: 60 men
- Cost: 125 Florins, upkeep: 22 florins/year (3/8 florin per man)
The Spanish version of Slav Javalin men. Identicle in every respect except they have better moral but no shield. This makes them better for flanking but more vulnerable to archers. Javalins are short ranged, armor-piercing missles which can be quite devistating to slow, highly armored units. In Melee javalinmen are weak and should only be used against other weak units, like running down archers and chasing routers.
Kerns
- Requirements: Spearmaker
- Factions: All Catholics
- Region: Ireland
- Type: Skirmisher
- Missle: Javalins (4)
- Stats: Charge 3, attack 2, defense -3, armor 1, moral 0, speed: fast for infantry
- Extras: None
- Size: 60 men
- Cost: 125 Florins, upkeep: 22 florins/year (3/8 florin per man)
Kerns are Irish Javalinmen. Javalins are short ranged, armor-piercing missles which can be quite devistating to slow, highly armored units. Kerns differ from other javalinmen by having a fairly good attack rating. Once they have used up their javalines they make good attackers against weaker enemy troops, like archers or spearmen. Their defense is weak, however, and expect to suffer many casualties against stronger troops.
Murabitin Infantry
- Requirements: Spearmaker
- Faction: Almohad
- Type: Skirmisher
- Missle: Javalins (4)
- Stats: Charge 2, attack 1, defense -2, armor 1, moral 4, speed: fast for infantry
- Extras: Large Shield
- Size: 60 men
- Cost: 150 Florins, upkeep: 37 florins/year (5/8 florin per man)
Muraitin Infantry are Almohad javalinmen. Javalins are short ranged, armor-piercing missles which can be quite devistating to slow, highly armored units. Murabitin are the most expensive version of all the javalinmen (except mercenary Almughavars), but they are still fairly cheap and expendable. They are very weak in melee and will get beaten by anything except peasants and archers. They have good moral, so are ideal for circling behind enemy troops and hitting them in the back with javalins.
Muwahid Foot Soldiers
- Requirements: Spearmaker
- Factions: Almohad, Egyptian, Turkish
- Type: Spearmen/Shocktroops
- Stats: Charge 7, attack 1, defense -1, armor 1, moral 4, speed: fast for infantry
- Extras: Large Shield, Supporting rank bonus, +4 cavalry defense bonus, +1 cavalry attack bonus
- Size: 60 men
- Cost: 225 Florins, upkeep: 37 florins/year (5/8 florin per man)
A more attack oriented unit of spearmen. Quick and high moral, good for flanking other spearmen or cavalry units. Will be slaughtered by anything stronger than spearmen, however.
Horsemen
- Requirements: Horse Farm
- Era: Early
- Factions: Danish, Hungarians, Polish
- Dismounts to: Spearmen (seiges only)
- Type: Light Cavalry
- Stats: Charge 6, attack 3, defense 0, armor 2, moral 4, speed: average for cavalry
- Extras: Elite, Cavalry Shield
- Size: 40 men
- Cost: 175 Florins, upkeep: 45 florins/year (1 1/8 florin per man)
A dark age cavalry unit which is still available early. Horsemen are typical light cavalry. Cheap, fast and expendable. They have good moral and attack and are excellent for flanking attacks on the enemy rear or for running down archers and routers. They will die if forced to attack infantry from a frontal attack, especially spearmen. They are not quite fast enough to run down mounted archers, which can be a problem. They also, strangely, are Elite. This means that they aren't bothered by lesser units routing, but it also means if they rout they will lower the moral of all the other elite units.
Hobilars
- Requirements: Horse Farm
- Factions: English, French, Burgundians
- Dismounts to: Feudal Sergeants (seiges only)
- Type: Light Cavalry
- Stats: Charge 6, attack 1, defense 2, armor 3, moral 0, speed: average for cavalry
- Extras: None
- Size: 40 men
- Cost: 125 Florins, upkeep: 40 florins/year (1 florin per man)
An extreamly cheap and easy to build light cavalry unit for the French and English. They have fairly balanced attack and defense and are useful for most light cavalry tasks, like killing archers or chasing routers. They are not fast enough to chase off mounted archers, however. Can be used for flanking in a pinch, but their attack stats and moral are not ideal for it.
Saharan Cavalry
- Requirements: Horse Farm
- Factions: Almohad, Egyptian
- Regions: MOROCCO, ALGERIA, TUNISIA, LIBYA, EGYPT, SINAI, ARABIA
- Dismounts to: Murabitin Infantry (seiges only)
- Type: Light Cavalry
- Stats: Charge 4, attack 2, defense 0, armor 2, moral 0, speed: fast for cavalry
- Extras: Cavalry Shield, +1 Valor if trained in Lybia
- Size: 40 men
- Cost: 125 Florins, upkeep: 40 florins/year (1 florin per man)
One of the fastest cavalry units around, fast enough to chase down even horse archers, Saharan Cavalry make excellent light cavalry. They are fairly weak in combat and moral, so should only be used against archers or routers.
Steppe Cavalry
- Requirements: Horse Farm
- Regions: MUSCOVY, VOLGA BULGARIA, KHAZAR, PEREYASLAVL, CHERNIGOV, RYAZAN, KIEV
- Dismounts to: Spearmen (seiges only)
- Type: Light Cavalry
- Stats: Charge 6, attack 2, defense 1, armor 3, moral 0, speed: fast for cavalry
- Extras: Cavalry Shield
- Size: 40 men
- Cost: 150 Florins, upkeep: 40 florins/year (1 florin per man)
Perhaps the best light cavalry around, Steppe Cavalry is available to any faction with provinces in the far eastern end of europe. One of the fastest cavalry units available, they are able to preform all the usual light cavalry functions like killing archers, running down horse archers and killing routers. It is often worth conquoring a portion of the steppes just to have access to these units.
Horse Archers
- Requirements: Horse Farm
- Factions: Byzantines, Hungarians, Turkish, Russians, Novgorod
- Dismounts to: Archers (seiges only)
- Type: Mounted Missles
- Missle: Mounted bow (28 arrows)
- Stats: Charge 2, attack -1, defense 0, armor 2, moral -1, speed: fast for cavalry
- Extras: 25% cheaper for Russians
- Size: 40 men
- Cost: 250 Florins, upkeep: 40 florins/year (1 florin per man)
Horse archers are the most basic of the mounted missle units, and the unit by which all others are judged. Horse archers are fast, armed with bows and are good at shadowing the enemy, peppering them with arrows and dancing away from trouble. Their moral is low, so great care needs to be taken to keep them out of trouble.