Unit Browser for RTR: Imperium Surrectum

Short description

These Celtic Skirmishers would pepper the enemy with their javelins, before joining in any general assault on them.

Description

Recruited from amongst the poorest in Celtic society, these skirmishers were armed with a clutch of javelins, a small round shield, and a typical Celtic long sword.

Lightly-armed skirmishers were not common in Celtic armies, which typically relied upon heavy infantry and cavalry to shatter the enemy in a ferocious assault. These men would skirmish-fire with the enemy, using their javelins, before joining any general assault using their secondary weapon, the long sword.

Known as "the Keltoi" or the "Galatae" by the Greeks, and "Celtae" or "Galli" by the Romans - they were one of the great barbarian peoples of Europe. Celtic tribes were found stretching from the Iberian Peninsula to the upper Danube, and in 279-76 some Celtic tribes settled in the Balkans (Scordisci) and even Asia-Minor (Galatians).

In the middle of the fifth century BC the Celts came to be dominated by the so-called "La Tene" culture. With its epicentre in the middle Rhineland and the regions north of the Alps, the La Tene culture was typified by a warrior dominated social system and a common material culture, with active trade connections with both the Greek colonists of the Golfe du Lion (esp. Massalia) and the Etruscans of northern Italy.

In c. 400 BC tribes of La Tene Celts migrated into the Po Valley, overran the Etruscans there, and the Boii, Insubres and Cenomani permanently settled northern Italy. At this same time La Tene populations spread east, through the Danube corridor, settling Bohemia and the middle Danube. In c. 390 a Celtic horde sacked Rome itself, an event that left an indelible mark on the Roman folk memory. La Tene influences were also transmitted into the Iberian Peninsula, and were found among the Celtiberians there.

Celtic society was made up of extended families or clans, that grouped together to form territorially-based tribes. These were ruled by a king or high chief, although by the middle of the first century BC some of the more urban Celtic tribes in the Rhone Valley had come to be ruled by elected magistrates. Tribes were dominated by councils of elders and popular assemblies of all the free men of a tribe. Cattle thieving, slave raiding and vendettas ensured a constant level of low intensity warfare between Celtic clans and tribes.

There was a strong heroic ethos in Celtic society, Celtic warriors favoured single combat, and the Celts would work themselves into a battle frenzy. The Celtic army delivered a ferocious mass charge; if this charge failed to break through the enemy line, its momentum typically weakened. In general, Celtic tactics favoured battle in open country.