Surprisingly good units

[Olaf The Great]

You know they would be good...



But not as good as they are.
They're main advantage is they're the ONLY unit that can have gold weapons, thats 17 attack right there(for the swords) and 22(17 for foot units 27 for cavalry) for the spears.
Also due to the temples to Tyr, they can get +3 to attack and defense.

So thats 30 attack vs cavalry fresh from the barracks, well able to destroy the western cavalry, and can destroy even the most powerful cataphracts.

They're also available as mercenaries for all factions.


I once used them in an town attack, the Gauls had 3 units of Teceitos, 2 units of Botroas, and 5 units of Lugae defending the gate.

I sent 3 units of the Hearthmen and they slaughtered the enemy force very quickly, suffering about 10 men(normal sized) to 220 gauls.

Afterwards the Gauls ran away, and gave me enough time to set up the battle line.

[Arminius Germanicus]

indeed Olaf, the Hearthmen are my secret weapon in my Sweboz campaign.
they are my core shock troops and i hire every single unit of them i can find, send them straight to my capital to get them their gold weapons and 3 copper chevrons xp and away they go to the front.

they are the only units that can stand their own against all the gallic uber-soldiers and are most effective against the roman elite infantry.

currently, after countless battles and constant merging depletet units with fresh ones, i have 4 units of them on level 6 (3 silver chevrons) and they are true weapons of mass destruction that can easily bind multiple enemy units and give them a good beating without dying much!

on the other hand i just don´t see mto be able to get them over 3 silver chevrons, no matter how many enemys they kill. training up true elites is quite hard in this game, isn´t it?

Now, for another suprisingly good unit: the Jungthiz germanic skirmishers.

they are cheap, can practically run forever, have a good amount of javelins to harrass the enemy and once they are somewhat experienced and outfitted, they make up for an extremely versatile light to medium infantry. perfect for flanking the enemy lines and attacking from the rear after they have drawn away some units.

even cavalry cannot do them much harm as long as you keep them spread out and in skirmish mode. so they are ideal to bind the enemy cavalry and draw them far away from the main battle.

also, as defenders on walls they are quite able. they can give the advancing enemy some good pelting with javelins, then hold the walls against everything but heavy infantry long enough to tire them out and whittle them down. and they are easy and cheap to retrain and maintain.

also very useful to take care of careless enemy archers and slingers, especially if you can manage to get them behind the enemy lines where the archers tend to linger.

all in all they might be one of the best overall skirmishing units next to thrakian peltasts and one of the most versatile and valuable early units for the Sweboz.