I was thinking about all those gladius versus spartha threads and all the talk about how ineffective a gladius is against cavalry, and I thought: shouldn't short swords be counted as "axes"?
The "axe" attribute is basically the opposite of the "spear" attribute. It gives the unit a bonus against infantry and a penalty against cavalry.
This makes sense with weapons like the gladius. They were excellent as anti-infantry weapons but terrible as anti-cavalry defense. Giving this to legionnaires makes them much more vulnerable against cavalry, which would be realistic.
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