Nakwadaz Wataha

"Savages! Are you astonished [...] that having set foot on land, you discovered savages? is there a land that isn't infested with them? But, [...] are these people, whom you call savages, worse than those on any land?"

—Jules Verne, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea (pt 1 cap XXII)

In game

Overall strategy

The oddest unit in Warbirth, Nakwadaz are in essence "naked" spearmen - they have lower armour, and thus lower resistance towards enemy missile units, in exchange for a very powerful and ferociously rapid attack. Nakwadaz are thus a form of elite unit, more than capable of defeating most Bronze Age infantry upfront. Only sword units or heavier units such as Assyrian Heavy Spearmen might defeat them, but they would do so at the cost of suffering horrendous losses.

Being naked and bereft of armour also can proffer the Nakwadaz another advantage - if things are not looking healthy, they can be run out of enemy territory fairly quickly to the safety of your borders, where they can be healed up and sent back out into the fight again. It thus goes without saying that Nakwadaz are best used when you are confident of replenishing their hitpoints. Ultimately though, they are probably a questionable exotic unit whose powerful attack coupled with low survivability who work best only if fighting cavalry civs such as the Iranians or Phrygians who often use melee cavalry. Nothing is more dangerous to mounted cavalry than a fast-moving anti-cavalry unit that can knock out horsemen in seconds.

History

Celtic invaders of the Roman empire were recorded to have fought in the nude. According to the Graeco-Roman historian Polybius, there were two reasons for doing so — to increase one's mobility, especially in wooded areas, and to intimidate the foe: only warriors of sufficient skill or zeal would have fought naked. Similar tactics were used by the Germanic peoples in the Roman era; depictions of Germans in Roman art often show them fighting naked.

References

• Wu, M; Fighting in the Buff: Did Celtic Warriors Really Go to War Naked?; Ancient Origins