Light Axemen

Then the axe was in his hand, whirling, spinning in the fury of battle as Eena fought beside him, thrusting fiercely with her spear.

— John R Dann, Song of the Axe (vol 1 cap 28)

In game

Light Axemen — Vital statistics
Light Axemen	Light melee infantry with slow but powerful attack. Ideal for attacking buildings, siege weapons and large units, especially war elephants, siege weapons and chariots. Strong versus unarmed units, siege weapons and missile units with low accuracy or rate of fire Weak versus melee units, especially heavy cavalry.
Prereq:	Build time	HP	LOS	Attack	Attack speed	Movement speed	Upgrades to
31px Military	8s (120t)	94	4	18	2.3s (34t)	25	Halberdiers
Cost			Created from	Armour	Weapon range	Specialty
Base	Ramp	Pop
: 20; : 10	: 1	1		1	Melee	Defensive bonus versus light missile units. Damage bonus versus buildings, siege weapons, elephants and chariotry. Damage penalty versus horse and camel cavalry.

Overall strategy

Axemen in Warbirth can be used in lieu of Swordsmen when the need arises, but are specialised in attacking buildings and large units. The power of their weapon means that it is usually foolhardy to attack them en masse, especially with heavy units, so axe infantry, while cheap, can be amassed in sufficient numbers as a means of deterring enemy chariotry and armoured units. Your only problem will be that they are fairly weak and susceptible to missile weapons, so keeping some skirmishers or Chariot Archers of your own would not be a bad idea. Note, however, that axemen take a longer time to hit their targets as opposed to normal spearmen, so it is best to use them offensively - use them to lead the way, then fill in the openings with spearmen to take advantage from the flanks.

Summary

• Kassite Axemen — None of the Middle Eastern factions can train Axemen. Instead, these units must be hired as mercenaries. Elam and Babylon can recruit these units as Kassite Axemen mercenaries.
• Anatolian Axemen — Recruitable to Lydia, Mittani, and Hittites, they eschew what little armour Axemen have for higher attack.

See also

• Swordsmen
• Militia
• Guardsmen
• Peasant Levy
• Greataxe Infantry

Notes

In Age of Chariots, Axemen are trainable by all factions.

In Rise of the Ancients, Axemen are restricted only to factions that appear in Age of Chariots - Chinese, Greeks, Babylonians and Aryans train them. But American civs and Malays do not.

Axemen are restricted in Age of Empires to the Germans, Dacians and Persians.

History

A lot of axes used in battle were just the peasantry using whatever farm equipment came to hand -- which might include pitchforks and billhooks too. A battle axe is an inconvenient weapon to use in close order formations because you need room to swing it, which is why the Romans used short stabbing swords. An axe is less expensive than a sword -- it's a very simple device, easy for a blacksmith to make -- and its chief benefit is that it can smash right through armor because it has a heavy head.

References

• Women in the Bible, Battle Axe – Ancient Bible Warfare