Deuteroi
Spearmen Infantry(0.6.7)Side / Back
Short description
These levies did not receive the usual training of Macedonian phalangites, but they can still hold the centre of your battle line.
Description
The word Deuteroi means "the second ones" in ancient Greek. There is no safe evidence for the application of this name to the levy phalangites of Epeiros, but it will be familiar for many RTW players from many mods, and while it has not always been used in the right context, the Epirote army really did have phalangites that were Deuteroi in the actual sense of the word. When Pyrrhos landed in Tarentum in the spring of 280 BC, he had the local militia trained as phalangites and equipped with white pelte shields (Dion. Hal. XX, 1, 2). These Leukaspides ("White Shields") formed part of his army until his eventual retreat to Greece. There, he levied new phalangites to increase the size of his army, and so did his son Alexander II upon the death of his father in 272 BC.
Since these men are an actual levy, they have not received a year of training as most professional phalangite soldiers did. However, despite being less armoured, too, they are still Macedonian pikemen, the most feared soldiers of the Hellenistic world, and an experienced general will use them well.