Horseman

"Day was the grandeur that was borne before the horse as he galloped,
 the eastern ocean gave it birth;
 night was the grandeur that was borne behind him
 and its birth was from the other waters."

—The Upanisads

In game

Horsemen — Vital statistics
Horseman	Light melee cavalry, cheap to create and capable of good speed and flexibility Strong versusmissile infantry, missile cavalry Weak versus cavalry, melee infantry
Prereq:	Build time	HP	LOS	Attack	Attack speed	Movement speed	Upgrades to
Level 3: Heraldry and Code of Honour Military	11.9s (175t)	59	3	8	3s (45t)	34
Cost			Created from	Armour	Weapon range	Specialty
Base	Ramp	Pop
: 50; : 10	: 1	1		None	Melee	Bonus damage versus light infantry. Bonus damage versus light infantry. Attack penalty versus camels, elephants. Defensive penalty versus heavy infantry.

Overall strategy

The very first true cavalry unit you will receive, Horsemen are in effect warriors that ride on horseback. Unfortunately in the early stages of Warbirth, horses reflect their early Bronze Age counterparts - they are fairly weak, and suffer from poor attack speed, thus they work only against very light units with almost no armour. Chariots are far more useful as they have the same speed, yet have better offensive strength, but if you are planning to upgrade later in the game to Javelin Cavalry, it isn't a bad idea to raise a vast number of Horsemen early on and to keep them alive as a defensive force against light melee and ranged units.

Some factions, however, do have some proficiency with mounted cavalry, but do not train Horsemen. For instance, the Arabs are capable of raising Camel Warriors instead of Horsemen, while the Phrygians can raise Phrygian Horsemen, which are trained more quickly and run faster.

Unit summary

• Float Like A Butterfly, Sting Like A Bee — Scout Cavalry are meant to make quick and fast strikes on unarmoured foes.
• Keep Away From Sharp Sticks — The bane of Scout Cavalry units are spear-armed units such as Spearmen and Lancers — if you see any, run away!
• Alforrats — Catalan scout cavalry can be raised as mercenaries by the Sicilians, costing Wealth instead of Timber and Food and with a higher recruitment speed.

See also

• Horse Raider
• Balkan Horseman

Notes

• Greek - "briefs" with simple leather helmet.
• Middle Eastern - wrap tunic, with fillet.
• Chinese - just a robe. Shared with Europe.
• Egyptian - well, Egyptian.

History

It is not known how horses first began to be used for locomotion and riding, but the current consensus so far was that horses may have been domesticated in Central Asia around 3500-3000BCE. Even so, these animals may have been tamed and bred solely for food, not transport. Fossil horse teeth recovered in Kazakhstan show wear patterns consistent with the use of rope or leather bits, proving perhaps that locals had attempted to tether horses for the purposes of riding or transport as early as 3500BCE.

Even so, these first horses were not very large, and thus not powerful with regards to speed or stamina so they could not operate as true cavalry. Rather, they may had been used either on short-distance travel like donkeys, or more likely as draught animals to carry baggage or haul chariotry. It would take centuries of careful breeding and husbandry by humans before horses that were sufficiently large to be ridden could emerge.