Greek militia cavalry

[Publius Quirinus]

I used them as expendable flanker and excellent rout-chasers in vanilla, but in XGM there are usually similar (but better) AOR units... also, for a skirmishing unit, their maneuverability is about the worst I've seen this side of a bag of bricks. Since they don't have the durability of a bag of bricks, this usually results in them dying very quickly when accidentally drawn into melee before I can pull them out. Ah.

I've never found out how to properly use javelin cav, and they are virtually worthless in melee so... ugh.

Do you use them in XGM, and if you do, how?

[Spartan198]

No, I don't usually use skirmisher cavalry in my armies (regardless of which faction). I've been making quite a lot of use of Nubian cavalry in my current Ptolemy campaign, but aside from that I usually make more use out of conventional cavalry and tactics relating to it.

[gaius_caesar]

anti-elephants usually but I use them for defending a town and large town...

[C-Rob]

i never use javelin cavalry when it's a faction starting on the pelopenessus region(macedon/greek) unless its eastern heavy cav. Those can actually do some damage- and for greeks... easy to get from pergamum, eastward. Usually i dont' use them with the greeks at all mostly because I dont' need them. I'd much rather spend the money getting slingers and peltasts to skirmish, saving up and using that money to get light cav for flanking duties while tied with the generals, and of course, router-hunters. THough I find great use with them when I am the seleucids, which have such vast territories to traverse, and I need support fast. They are great at being able to charge to where the fires are.

[Maraxus]

I like to have at least 1 unit of Militia Cav in every stack, they are great for hunting routed Generals, they are faster than bodygaurds and can hurl those Javalins while pursuing to pick off that pesky Faction Member before he gets off the battlefield.

[Dog Fart]

I have about 2 in every stack when fighting in Europe. 3 or 4 when fighting in Asia/Eurasia to counter massed skirmisher cavalry. In europe, I put them just behind each flank of my infantry line. That's the only use I can get out of their javelins. When they've run out of javelins I have them chase down enemy skirmishers that were thinned out by my archers and then give aid to my heavy cavalry. Maraxus is right about using them to chase down generals. The best unit for that as the general himself often runs as fast as milita cav.

[Lobo Solitario]

I like to have 3-4 units of Greek Militia Cavalry in my early armies, and sometimes a half-stack or so of pure jav-cav to wear down the enemy or besiege enemy towns ahead of my main army. Roles depend very much on the enemy they're facing, but mainly I use them to take out key units in the enemy line (elite phalanxes are nice targets for jav-cav) before a clash, to draw away key units from the enemy line before a clash, to kill enemy generals (either by hail of javelins or by pulling them away from their troops and then blobbing them with all of the jav-cav at once, plus my own general if possible), to run down routers (they're excellent at this) and as general sacrificial troops.

Unless they're harrassing a slow unit like a phalanx, you will generally have to micro-manage them, as skirmish mode tends to mess up against faster units. Sometimes they'll get caught by an enemy - when that happens just click like mad somewhere else to pull out as many survivors as possible, and leave the trapped skirmishers to their fate.

The defining aspect of Greek Militia Cavalry for me is expendability. They're easy to retrain at pretty much any town, so never be afraid to throw them away in order to pin an enemy unit for a few extra seconds, or in charges to the rear of enemy units.

[Scutarii]

2-4 in the early game (Light Cav suck so I don't recruit them at all...).After that.. Max 2, but usually Heavy Cav. Of course, as Carthage, Numidian Cav are godly at killing Romans. 4 Min in each full stack from Africa.

[Vae victis]

In battle I rush them right away, straight at the enemy. Drag-click right in front of, but not touching, the enemy army. The cavalry milita should rush in, scare off enemy missles, fling their javelins, and withdraw if the enemy pursues. I mainly use them like this to tie up and scare enemy missle troops while my infantry advance. Even when throwing at the front, the javelins can do some damage, and they can help chase routers after the battle.