Anatolian Shepherds

"Suddenly, from another direction came the thwack, thwack of two stones fired in quick succession. They landed squarely on the [hyena]'s head and [it] dropped in its tracks."

— Jean M Auel, "Clan of the Cave Bear" (cap 14)

In game

Anatolian Shepherds — Vital statistics
	Very fast training, and very powerful, as a mercenary, owing to the use of iron tools to substitute bronze. Very powerful especially if pitted against armoured infantry and buildings. Strong versus unarmed units, siege weapons and missile units with low accuracy or rate of fire Weak versus military units, especially heavy cavalry.
Prereq:	Build time	HP	LOS	Attack	Attack speed	Movement speed	Upgrades to
31px Military	3.3s (50t)	50	5	12	1.3s (20t)	15
Cost			Created from	Armour	Weapon range	Specialty
Base	Ramp	Pop
: 20	: 1; : 1	1		None	3-13	Fast and cheap to create. Very poor accuracy. +1 splash damage radius. Not hindered by terrain.

Overall strategy

They can throw more stones at an enemy per turn, but at reduced accuracy.

This unit is shared chiefly between 3 factions - the Saka, the Greeks and the Persians. Generally,

• Spears, Slingers = Saka
• Spearmen, Axes = Greece
• Axes, Slingers = Parthia

In contrast to Age of Empires, Anatolians are recruited exclusively by Maedia, Phrygia, Lydia, Mitanni and Hatti.

See also

• Anatolian Warriors
• Anatolian Warchief
• Anatolian Axemen

Notes

These units should speak a mixture of Sumerian and Slavic (Russian).

They were originally assigned to Saka and Persia in an earlier version of Age of Empires but were ultimately removed.