Favourite cheap unit

[Oberhut]

Of course we all love the mighty behmoths of iron clad heavy cavalry, the versatile horse missiles, the hardy boys of the heavy infantry and the bad ass cannons - but what about the light troops that often have great value for money ratios.

Right now I am playing England in SS 5.1 - and must say that the Hobilars come in handy for the classical light cavalry jobs while being very reasonably priced.
There are of course a lot of other relatively cheap but good units in the game( x bow milita/peasants often give me the edge in open field battles in the early days of a campaign ) - so tell me about those you learned to love.

[TheJoker]

Hobilars, and mercenary Kerns. Those light Javelins, when used at the right time, can be brutally effective. I keep them handy behind my line until an important enemy hits my line, and run them behind to toss javelins into thier flank.

Spear Militia. I play as England a fair bit so I rarely actually use Levy spears as they're just Militia without free upkeep. We don't get anyhting else.. so Spear militia form an important part of my armies, though I recruit mercenaries whenever possible to fill the gap.

In the Britannia campaign (this NEEDS mentioning) the Irish Ridire are one of my favorite units. useful in a pinch, with AP secondary weapons, and a reasonable charge. One of my favorite cavalry units. Has some real flavour to it.

[Evolution]

Peasant

[Lost Crusader]

Spear militia, upgraded with heavy mail! They rock on the battlefield, have a free upkeep, and look nice.

[T-wester]

Peasant

imo no army are complete with out this unit

[Kahn]

imo no army are complete with out this unit [Peasants]

A lot of us seem to agree that the peasants can be some of the most awesome forces in the army. The AI simply cannot say no to a group of peasants milling about.

This is a powerful piece of knowledge to have.

[Druzhina]

Archer Militia. Keep them on your walls and they rain death. Their also very cheap.

[Oberhut]

Italian or standard?

Don't hesitate to mention units out of kingdoms or mods - I am also interrested in cheap yet effective troops from eastern Factions, as I have stayed with western ones since I got the game.

[Lost Crusader]

Italian or standard?

Standard. The Italian ones are better, but also more expensive.

[FuriousSpurius]

I have to agree with Joker, those Kern mercs that you can pick up in England are clutch. In my latest game I was playing as England trying to make those Scots my vassals (didn't work) and in the process they laid siege to Edinburgh about 6 times, and my Kerns would rain death from the battlements - very useful.

Otherwise I like Spanish Jinetes. Can't remember their price off hand, but they're still fairly cheap I believe.

Basically anything that whips a javelin is OK by me.

[Sher Khan]

Naffatun.

Hands down. Cheapest, most effective troops I've ever fielded.

[antaeus]

Naffatun.

Hands down. Cheapest, most effective troops I've ever fielded.

seconded.

they are mongol killers.

two on the wall next to a gate house, a couple of units of spearmen behind the gate and there's your mongol army broken.

[Zivica]

Denmark town militia, upgraded, they are just great in town defense

[James Cook]

viking raider ap ability 150 in a group, throw then in a few battles, and they
will shake the very ground of any battlefield.

[homefry]

Swordsmen militia for Spain.

Cost 400/100

Nice stats for the price.

[townie33]

Norse Swordsmen, 460/150 and when upgraded have stats to rival the best dismounted knights

[Bluice]

They're not cheap but I like the English Huscarls on SS mod

[Garnier]

Italian spear militia have free upkeep, and when upgraded are better than armoured sergeants. A full stack of those and genoese crossbow militia with a few cavalry units is superb.

[loquar]

Jinettes, awesome missile damage and when theyre out of ammo still useful for breaking light troops/archers and for running down routers

[Metellus]

Bulgarian Brigands make effective cheap mercs since they are archers and also decent infantry in a pinch or for a second assault wave.