| “ | Burgundian unique infantry unit. | ” |
| —Age of Empires II description | ||
The Flemish Militia is the second unique unit of the Burgundians in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Lords of the West. It is an infantry unit somewhere in between the Halberdier and the Champion.
Behind the scenes, the Flemish Militia are three statistically identical units. However, there exist minor differences. The unit trained at the Barracks is a regular military unit, whereas the (two - male and female) units which replace the Villagers counts towards Spies, costs 50 food (for the purposes of score and some capture-age statistics), and is also available in a female variant.
Unlike the Villager it upgrades from, Flemish Militia cannot build or repair buildings or gather resources. Unlike other upgrades, the unit being upgraded (Villagers in this case) can still be created. It can be thought that the unit is not an upgrade of a Villager, but replaces Villagers at the same spot with same percentage hit points remaining.
Tactics[]
The Flemish Militia becomes available after researching the Flemish Revolution unique technology at the Castle in the Imperial Age. It provides an immediate military advantage, as it turns all of the player's Villagers (except those converted from other players) into military units. The obvious drawback is that Flemish Militia can no longer build structures, repair, or gather resources, so Flemish Revolution disrupts the player's economy for a long period of time.
Because of this, choosing the proper moment to research Flemish Revolution would, in most cases, decide the outcome of a game. A strong Imperial Age economy relies on a large contingent of Villagers, so Flemish Militia can quickly swarm the battlefield in a final push attempting to break a resilient enemy or a desperate last stand in hopes of an eventual turnover.
Fishing Ships, Trade Cogs, and Trade Carts, if present, will continue to provide resource income after researching Flemish Revolution. This can aid in rebooming if the game continues much longer. However, a high proportion of those units in one's economy will lessen the size and thus effectiveness of the resulting army of Flemish Militia.
With 1 melee armor advantage over the Halberdiers (as well as a greater Rate of Fire), the Flemish Militia has a decisive edge, combat-wise, against foot units (except Monks) and siege units. On the other hand, Halberdiers provide better value per resource spent, due to the heavier cost of the Flemish Militia, both in the case of future income lost from the Villagers and the cost of new units if one were to keep producing them. Contrasted with the Halberdier, with weak stats and a slow fire rate of 3, the Halberdier does poorly against all non-mounted military units. Flemish Militia are also NOT affected by the damage bonuses that are dealt against the Spearmen armor class, i.e., they are not weak against Elite Skirmishers, and are less afflicted by arrow fire from Arbalesters and Heavy Cavalry Archers.
The Flemish Militia shares the common weakness of infantry against siege units, archers and fortifications. It is also ineffective against Cataphracts, who absorb all their bonus damage. Samurai are also very effective, as the Flemish Militia is treated as a unique unit. Slingers and Hand Cannoneers also deal with them relatively easily.
Comparison with similar units[]
 Halberdier
|
 Flemish Militia
|
  Champion
| |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | 35 food, 25 wood | 50 food, 15 gold | 60 food, 20 gold |
| Melee Attack | 6 | 11 | 13 |
| Rate of Fire | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Melee Armor | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Pierce Armor | 0* | 0 | 1 |
| Armor class | Spearman | Unique unit | none |
| Attack vs cavalry | 32 | 8 | 0 |
| Attack vs camels | 26 | 6 | 0 |
| Attack vs elephants | 28 | 8 | 0 |
| Speed | 1 | 0.9 | 0.9 |
- * The Halberdier's pierce armor is deceptive since it regularly takes bonus damage from archer units and defenses.
- Since Burgundians lack Supplies and Gambesons, their Champions perform worse than most civilizations.
Further statistics[]
| Unit strengths and weaknesses | |
|---|---|
| Strong vs. | Skirmishers, cavalry, Spearmen, rams, Camel Riders, Eagle Warriors |
| Weak vs. | Archer units, Scorpions, Mangonels, Cataphracts, Teutonic Knights, Samurai, Organ Guns, Jaguar Warriors |
| Upgrades | |
| Attack |  Forging (+1) Iron Casting (+1) Blast Furnace (+2) Arson (+2 attack against standard buildings)
|
| Armor |  Scale Mail Armor (+1/+1) Chain Mail Armor (+1/+1) Plate Mail Armor (+1/+2)
|
| Speed |  Squires (+10%)
|
| Conversion defense |  Devotion (+1 min, +1 max) Faith (+4 min, +4 max)
|
| Creation speed |  Conscription (+33%)
|
| Regeneration |  Stronghold (30 HP/min when within 18 tiles square of a team Celts Castle)
|
Team bonuses[]
Armenians: Flemish Militia have +2 Line of Sight.- Bulgarians: Blacksmith upgrades are researched 80% faster.
- Goths: Flemish Militia are created 20% faster. Researching Squires and Arson is 20% faster.
- Lithuanians: Devotion and Faith is researched 20% faster.
- Portuguese: Upgrades that benefit Flemish Militia are researched 25% faster.
- Teutons: Flemish Militia are more resistant to conversion.
Changelog[]
Lords of the West[]
- Initially, Flemish Militia have +12 attack vs cavalry and +8 attack vs camels and ships. With update 47820, they have +8 attack vs cavalry and +6 attack vs camels and ships.
- Initially, Flemish Militia have +2 damage vs standard buildings. With update 50292, this bonus was removed.
- Flemish Militia cost 60 food, 25 gold, are trained at the Town Center, have 75 hit points, 12 attack, and 1 pierce armor.
Dynasties of India[]
- With update 81058, Flemish Militia cost 50 food, 15 gold, are trained at the Barracks, have 60 hit points, 11 attack, and 0 pierce armor.
- With update 81058, Flemish Revolution costs 200 food + 10 food per Villager converted and 150 gold + 5 gold per Villager converted.
Trivia[]
- The unit is armed with a goedendag, a weapon used by the Flemish army from the 12th century until the late 14th century.
- The weapon was cheap to make and was effective against cavalry. The weapon is most of the time confused with the flail or the morningstar. No goedendags have survived, only a few archaeological remains have been found and are displayed at the Kortrijk 1302 Museum.
- Most notable use of the weapon was in the Franco-Flemish war where the Flemish rebels led by William of Jülich and Guy of Dampierre assisted by Pieter De Coninck and Jan Breydel fought against King Philip IV of France. During the war at the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302, the Flemish infantry (wielding pikes and goedendags) inflicted heavy casualties on the French cavalry.
- Usually high ranking knights were captured and ransomed for large sums of money. But the Flemings had been given strict orders to spare no one. As a result, dead knights littered the battlefield and the Flemings found around 500 golden spurs on their corpses, giving the battle its name. Golden Spurs is also the name of the in-game achievement that can be obtained by transforming at least 50 Villagers into Flemish Militia by researching Flemish Revolution.
- The Flemish Militia's outfit appears to be based on the Osprey published book "French Medieval Armies 1000–1300".
- Both male and female Flemish Militia use the same icon, portraying the male version, unlike Villagers.
- The Flemish town militia was decently protected for its time, wearing knee-length gambison and knee length hauberk, chainmail chausses, mail coif and a cerveliere, giving them almost the same level of protection as Military order knights.
- The Flemish Militia is one of only four trainable land units to have multiple designs, the other being the Villager, the Monk, and the Trade Cart.
- The female Flemish Militia is one of only three regular female units in the game, the other being the female Villager and the Gbeto. However, the female version cannot be trained, and only comes from Flemish Revolution.
- The Flemish Militia is one of the only unique units that requires a unique technology to be unlocked, the other being the Flaming Camel with Timurid Siegecraft.
- Before update 81058, the Flemish Militia was the only military unit that could be trained at the Town Center.
- The Flemish Militia is the only unit upgrade to a regular unit which takes bonus damage from Samurai.
- Before update 81058, the Flemish Militia was the only unit whose creation speed could never be improved.
- Although there are female militias in the game, there is no historical proof or evidence that any women joined the militia.
- Although the Flemish Militia speaks French, it would be more historically accurate if they spoke Flemish.
- Since update 107882, the "grab your pitchforks" cheat code turns all of the player's Villagers into Flemish Militia.
History[]
In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Flemish cities became increasingly rich and attracted more and more people from the countryside. The cities were also beginning to organize themselves militarily and established city militias.
All able-bodied men could be called up to serve in the city army in times of trouble and the city government kept records of the names of the burgesses and craftsmen who were subject to military service. In the early 13th century they mainly organized themselves according to the neighborhood in which they lived, but towards the end of the century they grouped themselves according to the craft to which they belonged. The city provided equipment and weapons, but most people owned their own armor and kept it at home.
A city militia is divided into a number of folds. A fold is about 600 men strong and is proportionally composed of contingents of the burgesses (per district) and the craftsmen (per craft). The larger the own population group, the more warriors have to be supplied. The weavers traditionally form the largest group in a fold. In times of war, these folds are combined to form the militia. Depending on the size of the campaign, the city government can mobilize one or more folds. Bruges, for example, can deploy about 12 fold at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and is able to assemble a maximum force of more than 7,000 men.
The primary task of the urban militia is to defend the city walls against enemy attackers. The territorial monarch can claim the various city militias to defend his borders. However, he cannot deploy them abroad without the consent of the aldermen.
Gallery[]
Video[]
FLEMISH MILITIA vs EVERY UNIQUE UNIT - AoE II- Definitive Edition
