Quote Originally Posted by Ludens View Post
BTW, what makes hippoakontistoi so great? They are good rout-chasers, to be sure, but I find their kill-rates somewhat low. They are lousy chargers, and their armour is too little to last in close-combat.
They're cheap. They throw javelins (if anything is lethal, it's a javelin); and they have got a Kopis sword.

That means: when in melee they stand somewhat better chance than comparabe skirmisher cavalry & they'll kill more/faster when pursuing enemies.

Also: nothing like (apart from chariots & co) a unit of those circling around the enemy lines throwing javelins in their back.

Being cheap means they are a great asset hunting down all those pesky Akontistai rebels that litter the countryside from Souther France to Northern Egypt... Also AS, Maks, Epeiros and KH get some pretty nice looking skins for very little money that way too...

And, for an early game the Hippakontistai are the cheap man's Hetairoi Aspidophoroi.

A unit which I, regrettably and admittedly very embarassingly for someone who uses those guys often, forgot to mention. So to give them their due credit: if you love Hippeis Tarantinoi and/or make good use out of Hippakontistai already ... you will adore those. Arguably among the most versatile cavalry. Not as heavy nor able to stand up against 'proper' hetairoi; but an awful lot faster than those as well and considerably more affordable as a unit. Combine them with a unit of Lonchphoroi and you will have a truly effective cavalry wing ready to dispatch much heavier opponents as well as succesfully catch & kill the abundant light horse types (even horse archers!) found nearly everywhere. Stick in a few Prodromoi for good measure too...

On the use of Brihentin: they generally fail to deliver in the hands of the AI, because they are by no means the nearly unstoppable tanks of the East. But in the hands of a human who does not mind to watch his timing as well as be a bit less reserved towards exploiting enemy stupidity they will make for a terribly effective cavalry force. Effective enough, at least to destroy whatever Romans can field 'natively'; as well as breaking Carthaginian cavalry (though you do need to make sure it's not the Brihentin on their own there...) more easily.

Also: they look awesome.