Halberdier (Age of Empires II)

"Stronger than Pikeman. Medium infantry."

- Age of Empires II description

The Halberdier is an infantry unit in Age of Empires II: The Conquerors that can be trained at the Barracks once the Imperial Age is reached. The Halberdier has a huge attack bonus against cavalry, particularly War Elephants. They are weak against almost anything outside the cavalry section, but make up for it by being one of the cheapest military units in the game. Additionally, no gold is required to train them, making them "trash units".

Tactics
Like its predecessor, the Pikeman, the main purpose of the Halberdier is countering cavalry units. They can be paired with siege units and protect them from melee cavalry attacks. They become a lot more valuable in the late Imperial Age since at that time gold is usually running very low, often resulting in "trash wars". There, Halberdiers hold advantage against the Hussar, the Magyar Huszar, and they even are valuable against Skirmishers despite the fact that Skirmishers deal bonus damage to them, because they have a minimum range the Halberdiers can exploit. Genitours also receive huge bonus damage from Halberdiers, but they can hit-and-run them, probably making them the best choice against Halberdiers in trash wars.

Halberdiers need to be massed in order to be effective, but they are cost effective against all cavalry units, even Cataphracts. Ranged cavalry like Cavalry Archers or certain unique units like the Mameluke can handle them, though, when micromanaged properly.

Civilization bonuses

 * Burmese: Halberdiers have +3 attack. Researching Faith is 50% cheaper.
 * Byzantines: Halberdiers are 25% cheaper.
 * Celts: Halberdiers move 15% faster. Halberdiers can convert herdables even if enemy units are next to them.
 * Chinese: Technologies that benefit Halberdiers are 20% cheaper.
 * Goths: Halberdiers are 35% cheaper and have +1 attack against buildings. With Perfusion researched, researching Tracking, Squires, and Arson is 100% faster.
 * Japanese: Halberdiers attack faster.
 * Magyars: Forging, Iron Casting and Blast Furnace are free.
 * Slavs: Tracking is free.
 * Spanish: Blacksmith upgrades that benefit Halberdiers don't cost gold.
 * Vietnamese: Conscription is free.

Team bonuses

 * A team containing Berbers: With Kasbah researched, researching Conscription is 25% faster.
 * A team containing Goths: Halberdiers are created 20% faster. Researching Tracking, Squires, and Arson is 20% faster.
 * A team containing Teutons: Halberdiers are more resistant to conversion.

The Conquerors

 * Halberdiers have +16 attack against Camels and ships.

The Forgotten

 * Halberdiers now have +17 attack against Camels and ships.

The African Kingdoms

 * Arson introduced.
 * Malians: Initially can train Halberdiers. With patch 4.8, it is removed from their technology tree.

Trivia

 * The Spearmen line units are the cheapest of all military units, tied with the Skirmisher line, costing only 60 resources and no gold.
 * Halberdiers deal bonus damage against the cheat unit Saboteur (since The Conquerors) because it is in the same unit class as ships.
 * The Spearman line units are the only trash units and also only common infantry units that don't have any base pierce armor.

History
''The Halberd was a pike weapon invented in the Middle Ages for use against armored men, especially on horseback. It consisted of a six-foot shaft with an axe head at the front, a spear point at the top, and thin point at the rear. The spear was used to ward off cavalry. The thin rear point could be chopped down on an armored man to penetrate the strongest armor. The axe head brought down with both hands could chop through armor, arms, and helmets. Wielding the Halberd left the soldier exposed momentarily, so it was best used in formation with other men at hand for protection.''