View Full Version : Question About Unit Names
Gebeleisis
04-29-2008, 22:05
I didnt see something like this related so i think ill post it
I see all units have their hellenic/celtic or w/e name in the mod
what i ask is,which of the units names really existed in history,and which are made by the EB team?
ex:
we know that Hastati or Pezhetairoi were terms surely used in those times
counter ex:
the pheraspidai, or now the makedonikoi peltastai
Elmetiacos
04-29-2008, 23:38
Nobody really knows what Gauls or Britons actually called their troops. Unit names are therefore guesses made from known or conjectured Celtic roots. See the thread Materia Celtica for some alternative names and a short discussion (often about axes...)
blitzkrieg80
04-29-2008, 23:45
considering the fact that they did not have contingents of single weapon armed soldiers used in specific tactical formations, yeah, there isn't a native word. in this vein, i have drawn from later traditions and generalized (as in common usage, rather than specific oddities) names that are pretty artificial Germanic but less so than all the possible combinations... like 'Rider' which appears in later Ritter(Knight) tradition. the hardest thing is justifying a simplistic and inaccurate RTW system of generic clone units, but we do our best... it's kind of nice to know that civilized nations don't even have recorded names for everything... it's just a sad fact that ancient peoples didn't record their military systems elaborately for the sake of recreation in a video game ~:doh:
Olaf The Great
04-30-2008, 00:00
Like the Thuerophoroi and its variants, "Theurophoroi" basically meant anyone with a flat Celtic influenced shield(The Theuros) in a Greek army, like Peltastai. Thorakitai's name is mostly made up per-se, correct if I'm wrong but it means something like -Heavily armoured man- but the unit in EB represents the maile clad variant of Theurophoroi. Now units like Hastati, Hoplites, Pezhetairoi etc are most likely their historic name
Thorakitai shows up several times in Polybios and I believe in a number of inscriptions.
Pheraspidai (old name and wrongly declined, should be Pheraspides) was based on the former concept that the unit was Hypaspistai in assault gear and translated roughly to "assault shield-bearers". In actuality, they were a separate unit or the elite pikemen in assault gear. It's complicated, but the rundown is that it is based off of some Antigonid inscriptions that state the equipment and role of Peltastai. We added Makedonikoi as an adjective to describe the fighting style and not necessarily the ethnic makeup; however, I suppose in the East the unit could be composed of Makedonians, Greeks, Thraikians, etc if they were wealthy enough.
Expect the Peltastai Makedonikoi to look a bit different in EB2.
Gebeleisis
04-30-2008, 08:35
aha,well thx for your answers guys :)
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