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Class: heavy · Category: cavalry · Men per unit: 30

Reforms: Becomes a newer unit with A New Man: Gaius Marius (switched off)

While the Roman infantry is rightly famed till the present day, the same cannot be said about their cavalry. Though the citizen cavalry is often unfairly judged, there can be no doubt that Rome profited from the horsemen traditions of many of its Socii. According to Polybios (V, 26, 7) the allies had to contribute three times as many horsemen as the Romans themselves - one third of these were designated as Extraordinarii, while the rest were the 'normal' Equites represented by this unit. Another comment from Polybios gives us an interesting insight into where the Equites came from (for the year 225 BC): He lists 4000 Sabine and Etruscan Horsemen, 5000 from among the Latins, 7000 Samnites, 16 000 Iapygians and Messapians, 3000 Lucanians, 4000 from the Marsi, Marrucini, Frentani, and Vestini and a further 6000 Socii riders of unspecified origin and an unknown number of cavalry from the Umbrians, Sarsinates, Cenomani and Veneti, while the Campanians are already listed as part of the 23 000 Roman horsemen (Polyb. II, 24).

Its secondary attack is the stronger one: 13 against 11.

	Primary	Secondary
Attack	11	13
Charge bonus	31	24
Type	melee · blade	melee · blade
Damage	piercing	slashing

	Primary	Secondary
Total	37	—
Armour	15	—
Defence skill	18	—
Shield	4	—

Hit points	1
Mount	heavy horse
Ground: scrub / sand / forest / snow	-3 / -1 / -8 / -1
Charge distance	40
Formations	Square · Wedge

Technical stats

Time between blows (primary / secondary)	2.5 s / 2.5 s
Extra fatigue in hot climates	4
Spacing between men: close / loose	2 × 4.8 m / 3 × 7.2 m
Default ranks	5

In battle: Good stamina

This unit cannot be recruited from any building.