Incidentally, peltasts and suchlike were responsible for the defeat of a force of Spartiates, and indeed the capture of 120 of them... nothing quite like being reduced from the most feared soldiers in Greece to a cowering PoW by a peasant with a few pointy sticks... In the rocky terrain of Greece, they proved far more useful in the Peloponesian war than the hoplites ever did.

In game though, they're pants. Unless they're Illyrians, in which case they can act like poor quality legionnaires... Javs are handy to disrupt a formation for a brief while, but unless they can follow up... nah. Archers can inflict casualties over range for a longer period of time. One's a steady battle winner, one might swing the occasional result.