For many years the Scythians were thought of as a barbarian horde of mounted archers. The Scythian army that Alexander faced was typical of this. The Scythians were a very warlike people that were quite flexible, if not sophisticated in the art of war. Few armies ever fielded such a high percentage of cavalry in their armies. In the later part of the fourth century, the army under Satyrus consisted of Scythians, Greek Mercenary Hoplites, and Thracian peltasts as well.

His army had a very high percentage of cavalry, one horseman to every two infantry while his opponent (his brother Eumeles), had a one to one ratio of horse to foot soldiers.

The types of troops in the Scythian army went the full range as well. There were light horse archers as well as heavily armored cataphracts. The infantry consisted of light archers including peltast types and heavy armored infantry, not to mention the mercenary troops. Those wishing to field a Scythian army in gaming should follow the following guidelines for organization. Keep in mind that this is simply a guideline as there is insufficient data available to draw concrete conclusions.Army types and suggested percentages:

1. Scythian Horse Archers 25% to 80%
2. Scythian Unarmored Cavalry 10% to 20%
3. Scythian Armored Cavalry 10% to 20%
4. Scythian light bow armed infantry 10% to 30%
5. Scythian Peltasts 20% to 30%
6. Mercenary Hoplites 10% to 20%
7. Mercenary Peltasts 15% to 30%

TACTICAL UNIT AND MAJOR UNIT ORGANIZATION

The organizational structure of the Scythians was quite simply of tribal nature. Being so, it becomes somewhat difficult to portray this in a simulation with complete accuracy. It therefore becomes necessary to use some abstract rules to govern this. Tactical Units in the Scythian army shall be either eight or sixteen figures at the battle's beginning.

Major units of Infantry shall consist of at least four Tactical units but not more than ten at the battle's beginning. Major units of cavalry shall consist of at least two Tactical units and not more than ten Tactical units. Major units may consist of both cavalry and infantry but in this case, the

Major unit must begin with a minimum of two Tactical units of both infantry and cavalry and cannot have more than fifteen tactical units in the Major unit. In mixed Major units such as this, the total number of cavalry figures may never exceed the total number of infantry figures in the Major unit. As with most "Tribal" organizations, players should attempt to vary the number of Tactical units from one Major Unit to the other (perhaps four in one, five in another, seven in still another, etc...).

Mercenary Hoplites and Peltasts are organized into Major units as outlined in the Alexander module, 3.5 and 3.6.

Greek Mercenary Hoplites
Weapons Class	3 (long Spear)
Defense Class	Close Order Infantry
Morale Grade	80 ( Elites? No )
Base Mounting	Close Order Infantry
Formations Allowed	Column, Line, File/Road Column
Thracian Mercenary Peltasts
Weapons Class	4 (javelins)
Defense Class	Auxiliary
Morale Grade	76 (Elites? No)
Base Mounting	As Light Infantry
Formations Allowed	Column, Line, Extended Order File/Road Column

SCYTHIAN TACTICS

As with most armies, strategies and tactics varied from commander to commander. The Scythians would shower their enemies with arrows and retreat or pursue as dictated by circumstance. One favorite tactic was riding in circles round the enemy discharging missiles and riding away when threatened by the enemy. Eventually, after the missiles had been discharged, the melees were fought and hand to hand weapons were used.

The Horse Archer tactic is represented in Ancient Empires with the following rules. Unless specifically mentioned, all normal rules found in Ancient Empires apply as normal. Normally, Tactical Units of cavalry that adopt 'Attack Column' have a forty-five degree arc of fire as in the diagram above:

To incorporate the flexibility of the horse archer, allow the horse archer unit (Light Cavalry only) to adopt a "File" formation as shown in the below diagram with the two hundred and twenty-five degree field of fire shown. To shoot, each move stand must have at least part of an enemy move stand within its firing arc. This field of fire is determined at the end of movement as usual. Horse Archer units are not considered "Disordered" while in "File" formation except for melee resolution.

If a horse archer unit is charged by an enemy Tactical Unit(s) while in "File" formation, the attack is NOT considered a 'flank' or 'rear' attack as long as the charge begins from within the horse archer's 'arc of fire' (the previously shown 225 degree arc). If charged from a direction that is within this field of fire, the horse archer unit may opt to "Retire" as usual per Ancient Empires 9.641, IV maintaining his present formation and facing. In this case, simply move the horse archer directly away from the attacking unit(s) up to one half the unit's movement allowance.

If the charge is initiated from outside this arc, the attack is considered a flank attack as usual. In this case, the horse archers would have to take a morale check and if they elected to evade the attack, minuses' due to flank attack would apply. As long as the horse archer unit is in "Good Order" and the enemy attacks (ie.. charges) from within the horse archer's arc of fire, the horse archer unit is considered to be in "Extended Order" formation for purposes of evading the attack (see Ancient Empires, Evading and Opportunity Charges 9.8).

Horse archer units that adopt a normal column formation may shoot forward as normal and may shoot straight backwards to the rear at a one hundred and eighty degree angle from their front. In addition, the left most move stand of a tactical unit in column may shoot with a two hundred and twenty-five degree shooting arc, similar to stands that are in "file" formation. Individual move stands of a Tactical unit may never shoot through another move stand of their same unit.

Gamers may wish to employ this "Horse Archer" rule with horse archer units in other armies as well as allowing certain javelin armed cavalry (such as Moors and Numidians) the same option.

TACTICAL UNIT SPECIFICATIONS
Spec.	Scythian Horse Archers	Scythian Unarm Cav	Scythian Cataphracts	Scythian Bow Infantry	Scythian Peltasts
Weapons Class Defense Class Morale Grade Battle Status Elites? Base Mounting Formations Allowed	5 (short bow) Light cavalry 76 No Yes, for shooting only Light Cavalry Column, File/Road	3 (lance)* Unarmored Cavalry 80 Yes see below Unarmored Cavalry Column, File/Road	3 (lance)* Armored Cavalry 84 Yes see below** Armored Cavalry Column,File/Road Column,Wedge***	5 (Compound bow) or 4 (Battle Axe) Light Infantry 76 10% Light Infantry Column, Line, Extended Order, File/Road Column	4 (Javelins and/or BattleAxe)**** Auxiliary 80 10% Light Infantry Column, Line, Extended Order, File/Road Column
*Both Scythian Unarmored cav and Armored cav carried the bow besides their melee weapons. They may shoot with these weapons just like light cavalry horse archers, except tey are not "elite" for shooting purposes.
**20% of the total Scythian cav (total # of all light, unarmored, and armored tactical units and take 20%) may be "elite" status for melee. This total may NEVER exceed three units.
***Wedge Formation [11] is identical in all respects to the Macedonian Wedge in the Alexander modules, 2.4#3
****The spear was also used by Scythian infantry in combat,and players may opt to arm these troops with spear instead of javelin. Peltasts were usually armed with bow as well as other weapons, and may shoot as outlined in ancient Empires. If brought into melee using the bow, they are considered a defense class of "light infantry" for the duration of the melee.

NOTES

[11] Curtius, (VII.7.35) confirms the the use of the wedge formation by the Scythians.

More Scythians

Scythian History
Scythian Game Scenario
Scythian Army