EB NEWS - Friday, April 15

[Urnamma]

EB news - Friday, April 15th

Greetings, Europa Barbarorum fans!

I'm giving you this news post because Khelvan is taking a well deserved vacation for the weekend. Everyone wish him a good time!

This week has been a momentous one for EB. We've begun (and nearly finished) compiling what we hope to be our last internal version! The latest version includes most of our concepts and nearly 95 new units. We hope to bring that number up to 200+ (nearly half our units) before we send it off as an open beta!

Since we've come very close to completing this, I've a present for all of you. More screenshots!



Aymar du Bois Mauri is busy integrating units and making some info pics as part of this proces. Here is the Mala Gaeroas! Prometheus did a wonderful job on the unit as well.



Spartan_Warrior has been taking a bit of time off to do some celts, like the Goidilic hammer troops, shown here. Ranika has been working overtime researching these wonderful units!



Another unit of the Goidils, the spearmen! Also by Spartan_Warrior!



As you can see, the Britons have been getting a lot of attention as of late. Our new unique buildings are really taking off, thanks to the man who has been doing all the work on them, Teleklos Archelaou!

Here is the new Briton faction symbol, done by Parmenio!



I'll showcase some of my own work next, in the unit descriptions for some Hellenic units:

Ekdromoi Hoplitai:

Descriptions => Ekdromoi (Outrunner) Hoplites are a special version of the Hoplite soldier. They fight without armor and heavy equipment in order to be fast enough to catch and kill skirmishers and especially peltasts, who were the bane of the heavily armored Hoplite. Their short spears carry a nasty punch for the usually lightly armed skirmisher and are able to outrange the better armored Peltast. They carry large shields in order to make up for some of this disparity, but they are not a type of soldier meant to do prolonged melee combat with standard Hoplites. Their light weight leather armor is soft and layered with bronze plates and cloth in order to retard the missiles of the troops that they would likely be fighting. (Greek ‘brigandine’ armor) Their purpose is to serve as a professional light infantry that can neutralize the effect of missiles on the heavy infantry. The combination of light armor and speed makes this infantry a great counter to pesky missile troops. They are not particularly useful against heavier infantry or even equivalent light infantry, due to their specialized nature.

Historically, these hoplites evolved almost overnight in response to large scale use of Peltasts by Thebes and Athens after the reforms of Iphikrates. Their armor evolved as well over the years. They were originally armored with linen, but this was changed due to the fact that the linothorax was vulnerable to missile fire. The layered leather was developed after a period of trial and error and functions much like modern tank armor does against projectiles. It intersperses hard and soft layers to dissipate the effect of missile weapons. This armor, while exceedingly useful against missiles, is only marginally effective against most melee weapons, due to its lightness and the concentrated force of the arm behind the melee weapon. Once the initial force of a missile weapon is dissipated it falls away harmlessly, once the initial force of a melee weapon is dissipated its user pushes harder!

Thureophoroi:

Description => Theurophoroi were a new class of Hellenic infantry that was designed to both augment the phalanx and provide a type of soldier in between the Phalangite and the Peltast that was able to skirmish and fight in melee. They are an extremely mobile force that can hit hard with their heavy javelins then rush in to flank pike units. They are well armed and armored for the task, having stout bronze helms, linen armor, an almond shaped theuros shield, heavy javelins, and a stout spear. They are highly versatile infantry, akin in spirit to the legionaries of Rome. They are usually Pezhetairoi, middle class property owners with voting rights. As such, they are well able to devote time to training and practice. They have good morale and are highly disciplined. They were often described by Latin writers as copies of the legion. It is debatable whether they were developed with knowledge of warfare in Italy or not, they are a highly effective force of heavy infantry that is in the forefront of Hellenic military know-how.

Historically, Theurophoroi were used as harassing and flanking troops by the successor states. There seemed to be a lot of confusion as to how to utilize these new soldiers, since they were deadly in the extreme to the less mobile phalanx units. Most of the successor states used them conservatively, except for the Seleucids, who took to these new soldiers quite well. The city-states of Greece used them even more frequently against the armies of Macedon, and were often able to hold the more powerful kingdom at bay. Still, their uses were limited in scope and not as widespread as their versatile and deadly role would have indicated. This is the fault of period commanders, however, and any more astute or innovative commander might have realized their potential in conjunction with the more static Phalanx.

And a pic of the Ekdromoi, just for shits and giggles:



Brought to you by Spartan_Warrior!

Hope you enjoyed the post!

Next week we'll begin our 'Countdown to the Open Beta', where we will begin showing off our factions with full sets of units and descriptions. The Ptolemies are up first!

As always, if you have questions or comments, the best place to post them would be here:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=70

Or here:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/index.php?showforum=60

We give special thanks to http://www.imageshack.us who provide us with a simple, foolproof, and free way to show you all these pictures each week.

Have a wonderful day!

Sincerely,

-the EB team

[Dooz]

...the Goidilic hammer troops.... left my mouth open... literally... that's never happened before... my sweet lord...

[Big_John]

yay, i've always been fond of hammers. you guys got this out early today.. maybe urnamma should take over the news posts from khelvan from now on.

love that unique building too.

edit: hey urnamma did you mean to use the "url" tag instead of the "img" tag on the unique building image? also, the twcenter post doesn't have that image or link at all (where it should be is text reading, "user posted image"). just fyi.

[TheTank]

Wow... those irish celts look really cool but also the new hellenic unit are very good and they don't look gay

PS: The Mala Gaeroas new shield looks even better than the old one !!

[The Stranger]

:eek: is the only thing i can say

[Colovion]

I had no idea that that wall even existed! This is what I like to see.

:drool:

[Birka Viking]

wow great job again EB. Can´t wait to play the open beta..

[Ranika]

Goidils used hammers in many forms, mostly as a religious type of weapon. The highest Goidilic god was Dagda ('Good God'), and he used a large hammer, so, some more fanatical warriors imitated him. They'll be small units (amassing fanatics isn't exactly easy), with a highly specialized purpose. A large hammer is a relatively poor weapon; large and slow. But it'd smash shields and armor. Later Gaels still used hammers. The hammers were probably also used in constructing camps and what not (a large hammer is pretty handy for pounding pikes into the earth), and had a pick on the back for killing lame horses (and potentially could be used to kill horses in battle). Some older versions of Celtic stories, before they were Anglicized, feature numerous champions wielding large hammers, including Cu Chullain in some versions. While those legends are myth, one also has to keep in mind, Celtic legends are pretty much universally based on actual events; even weapons had real life counterparts. Their gods, even, are based on actual people (that's probably why they had so many war gods, they were fond of combat heroes, so a good champion could quickly become a local god in only a few decades after his death).

Later on, Dal Riatans used the hammers (they were actually used mostly by the grouping of Goidilic clans in Ireland that generally used such hammers; those clans eventually settled Dal Riata). They were more practical then though, a bit lighter, and usually used by more elite soldiers or nobility, to kill other nobility, due to their heavier armors. The Irish Gaels still used hammers, but only smaller, single-handed hammers, in addition to numerous other types of clubs, cudgels, and maces, though the hammer was definitely preferred, as it doubled as an effective tool for establishing defenses. This was, likely, also a factor in iron age Goidilic warhammers; they were effective tools, and they'd smash something's head open, regardless of armor.

[Divinus Arma]

Would units with hammers be of a large size? If their primary purpose is to kill heavy infantry, why not shrink them down to 1/2 or 1/4 unit size? (kind of like beserkers in Viking Invasion)

It seems that a unit of speedy, light armed, hammer swingin fellas would be small in order to suit their purpose of specialized support.

Besides, was there really armies of hammer swingin bubbas? or was it more of an integrated thing, with hammers being used by various individuals here and there but in small numbers?

Jus' kurius.

Looks good EB. Can't wait for the beta.

[Divinus Arma]

They'll be small units (amassing fanatics isn't exactly easy), with a highly specialized purpose.

Ya. That too.

[Ranika]

I don't quite understand. I thought I'd already answered that. Or did your second reply imply that I had answered that? My English can be a bit poor sometimes. They wouldn't be 'integrated' into another unit of men, at least, not dispersed through them. Celts usually arranged their men into 'blocks' of weapon types (skirmishers in a block, spearmen in a block, etc.). These men, as small in number as they are, probably would be a single line at a forefront, to absorb the blow of heavier infantry, or to make a first move toward heavier stuff. They will be sufficiently small in number (probably no more than 20 men at most, maybe less, 16 perhaps).

However, if they were using a smaller, easier to attain hammer, the unit would likely be of normal size, but the need for lighter infantry is already filled in that regional area, and the model is being shared with some other stuff anyway, so we figured, even if they were tiny in number, the model is already there, and the unit space is available, so it's an interesting regional.

[Big_John]

cool, nice info ranika. but i have a question now (yes, it's my turn!!):

where the hammer heads actually that large? that seems crazy big! i'm familiar with medieval war hammers, and the heads on those are 1/2 the size of the goidilic ones, at most. from what i understand, sledgehammer sized heads like that would be terrifically unwieldy. what would the time be on a recovering swing? the size of the blunt face seem odd too, i mean for a war hammer. wouldn't it make more sense to have a smaller face to provide more pressure on the blow? does that have something to do with not being a dedicated war hammer (i.e. used in camp construction etc.)

also, on a wooden haft, it seems like such a heavy head would snap off pretty easily without reinforcing langets. ok, thx in advance!

[hannibal_barca]

Aren't we due a EB News post today?