Countdown to Open Beta - Swêbōz

[The Stranger]

awesome, they rock. i would even only play this faction for it's units.

[Birka Viking]

Great work again EB. Can't wait for the open beta....

[Ellesthyan]

Something I've noticed is that the arms of the axemen are pretty strange; from the shoulders to elbows they are muscular, but from elbows to hands a girl with anorexia would barely come close. I hope the team will look into it

Very cool stuff! Though I think they need some more cavalry..

[Meneldil]

All that is so pedantic and elitist
What is this swêböz name I have never heard of before ?
Oh well, that sucks


Seriously, great work as usual. I don't really like the germans, but these are sure better than vanilla ones :)

[TheTank]

Great update Khelvan, All units are cool but i like especially the Mêrjōz unit.
Mêrjōz look really dangerous.
EB did it again
I have one question why are many germanic shields unpainted...
If the shields are unpainted it is easier for a enemy to hit the shield on a weak spot.
If you hit a shield just on the spot where to pieces of wood join each other you can easily break the shield.
Paint makes it more dificult for the enemy to detect the weakspot of the shield and paint protects the shield from the weather a bit....




PS: On the last unit action shot I you look carefully you can see a new Gallic unit, the guys are naked and i think there are the geasata warriors!

[Moros]

dam those units are cool and those Wōdánáwulfōz's just rule!

[SaFe]

I have one question why are many germanic shields unpainted...

While the gauls painted their shields, the germanics took their lands and wives.

Just a joke - i see Psycho unsheating his weapon - just a joke

[TheTank]

While the gauls painted their shields, the germanics took their lands and wives.

Just a joke - i see Psycho unsheating his weapon - just a joke

And enslaved the gallic warriors to paint the shields for the germanics....

[Eucarionte]

Just don´t like barbarians, but good work EB!

Next Faction: Allied Hellenes ok?

(I´m wondering how will I ever be able to see the difference in battle between that mjordz and suojnadamj stuff... suppose i´ll switch to the old way: "guys wielding scary axes" or "hairy dirty warband" )

[Dago]

Because the primary weapon of the Germanics was the framea, a thrusting/throwing spear. We're not going to give them a lot of swords when swords were very hard to come by.

Khelvan, the framea was in use by the Franks between III and X century AD.

[khelvan]

Khelvan, the framea was in use by the Franks between III and X century AD.

Well, thank you for this piece of trivia! I'm not clear though; since our campaign ends in 14 AD, did you mean that as some sort of counterpoint?

[Sarcasm]

Yeah but not in the same role as they once had. They were no longer the primary weapon of the Germanic warrior. Saxons were notorious for their swordsmen, the Franks used a lot of axes (not to mention the francisca) and some tribes even used pikes as their main weapon (guess CA got the period wrong for the german "phalanx"). Also, the ammount of armour worn by the germanics tend to become higher and higher as the Western Empire goes down.

[Proper Gander]

you truly set an example for CA.

[Dago]

You can treat that as an advice.It will be good if you correct the descriptions to make the mod as historicaly accurate as possible.

[cunctator]

Great as always. I will love the crush Swêbōz with my legions.

[The Wizard]

The framea as a throwing weapon changed. It became the angon, the famous throwing spear used by the Francii, Alemanni and other neighboring tribal confederations. Meanwhile, as the Roman influence increased in the area (and the Celtic influence diminished), or the Roman frontier broke down (the latter happened later on, mind you), access to Roman arms was easier. The framea used for throwing evolved into the angon, a weapon remarkably similar to the pilum, which had grown out of use within the Roman army.

Why it was used less? It was a prestige weapon, because it was hard to make. It is hard to make a javelin where half of the weapon is iron, especially when the great Roman fabricae no longer produced anything similar. The Germanic smithies, where the smiths and their apprentices worked on a much smaller scale (albeit they made items of much more individual quality), took longer to produce weapons, especially such hard to make weapons as angons and swords.

In conclusion: the weapon you speak of may have existed and have been in use by the Francii and their neighbors, but it did not exist in the form you speak of in 270 BC. What the Germanic tribes of those days used is more akin to an Irish dart, to make a somewhat blunt comparison.



~Wiz

[TheTank]

Are the Ridōhárjōz the only horse based unit that Swêbōz gets ?!
And want about slingers and warriors with chainmail and helmets ?!

[Sarcasm]

Hold your....ehum....horses . This is a preview, which means, not only it doesn't show *all* the units, but also that the units presented here might be WIP.

So, don't sweat it.

[Lord Tomyris Reloaded]

True, there are 18 Germanic units in total.

[jerby]

. nice preview. what abotu this weeks preview. you still owe us one...




Just kidding, dont ban me, dotn send in teh eB-hit-squad, i dont wanna die!

and i didnt see the hidden naked soldiers!....

[Big_John]

and i didnt see the hidden naked soldiers!....

you mean these hidden naked soldiers?

[jerby]

yeah, those. they look a lot like the Milnaht (whatever you spell it) and the Belt they were looks weird: completly nude, but they do have a belt...(i know its for there swords)

its kind of a waste actually, to give a sword to a naked man...

[Big_John]

its kind of a waste actually, to give a sword to a naked man...

i should think a naked man would need it most...

[jerby]

maby an armored soldier with a greater lifespan has a better use for it.
naked man would want to keep other away, for they woudl chop his balls of. i'd go with a spear if i were to fight naked... this is pointless....

[Big_John]

i bet ranika would have some input on naked maniacs..

[Aymar de Bois Mauri]

The belt was to hold the Celtic longsword's scabbard, guys...

[bodidley]

If we're going to have gaesatae, wouldn't it help to give them some woad and tattoos to make them more accurate (unless EB has concluded that they didn't actually do that) and draw attention away from *ahem* their second weapon?

[Aymar de Bois Mauri]

Celts did not use tatoos. And just to ease your mind about accuracy...

[bodidley]

Yep, I've seen that picture before (I own the damn book )

But I've read that the gaesatae often painted themselves with woad before battle, and the Romans often asserted that as well (not that I trust their tall tales )

Perhaps I'm being a prude, but this is a case where I would rather not observe the anatomy of my animated army

Meh, I'll get over it.

[The Wizard]

Perhaps I'm being a prude, but this is a case where I would rather not observe the anatomy of my animated army

That, my friend, is exactly the entire idea!