War Wagon (Age of Empires III)

This article is about the unit in Age of Empires III. For the unit in Age of Empires II, see War Wagon (Age of Empires II).

War Wagon
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires III
Type	Cavalry Light cavalry Ranged cavalry Gunpowder cavalry
Civilization	Germans John Black's Mercenaries (Act II: Ice)
Age	Fortress Age
Training
Trained at	Stable Fort Galleon
Food	150
Coin	150
Training time	60 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	500
Resists	20% vs. Melee
Speed	6
Line of Sight	22
Population	3
XP train bounty	30
XP bounty	30
Melee attack
Damage	21
Multipliers	x3.0 vs. Heavy cavalry x2.0 vs. Artillery x0.5 vs. Villager x2.25 vs. Hand Shock Infantry
Range	3
Rate of Fire	1.5
Ranged attack
Damage	42
Multipliers	Same as melee
Range	16
Rate of Fire	3.0
Siege attack
Damage	30
Range	6
Rate of Fire	3.0

“	Hussite horse-drawn wagon outfitted with cannon.	”
—In-game description

The War Wagon is a ranged gunpowder cavalry unit in Age of Empires III that is unique to the Germans and can be trained at the Stable, Fort, and Galleon once the Fortress Age is reached. It is a horse-drawn wagon outfitted with two light cannons which functions similarly to Dragoons but are more powerful.

War Wagons are also available to John Black's Mercenaries in the Act II: Ice campaign.

Overview

The War Wagon functions as the German mounted counter-cavalry (light cavalry) unit. Just as expensive as the French Cuirassier, the War Wagon has strong single target ranged damage with medium range, longer than a Musketeer.

The War Wagon has a melee resistance multiplier that most other cavalry do not have. War Wagons enjoy the benefit of a 3x damage multiplier against cavalry, which allows them to shred cavalry intense armies with ease. Fully upgraded Imperial War Wagons can easily shred Imperial melee cavalry in 3-4 hits and take down Mamelukes and Imperial Gendarmes in 6-7 hits.

There are two unique traits that War Wagons have compared to other ranged cavalry. One is their unusually high health (an Imperial War Wagon has 900 hit points without any cards, while something like an Imperial Dragoon has half of that), which allows them to tank reasonably well against most sources of damage. Even though heavy infantry have bonus melee multipliers on them, the War Wagon's high health and 20% melee resistance can reduce the damage they deal onto them. The other unique trait is their extremely high ranged damage and higher range. An Imperial War Wagon deals 79 ranged damage without any cards, and with all cards (not including Native technology as it is not present in all maps), deals 88 damage instead. This allows War Wagons to function as ranged infantry just as well without suffering from the low health they usually have, as their damage is similar to that of Imperial Skirmishers, who are good against heavy infantry.

However, the War Wagon moves slowly and has a low turn rate when compared to most ranged units, as it shoots off light cannons and not from pistols. This can make it rather hard to perform hit-and-run attacks with them. War Wagons are also expensive, costing 150 food and coin, in addition to occupying 3 population slots. This will severely limit the variety in the player's armies if they train a large number of War Wagons for units to help defend them from enemy rushes. However, they are still good units to be shipped from the Home City to offset their high costs.

With all hit point improvement upgrades (Comanche) and cards (Indian and Russian allies), the Imperial War Wagon is the ranged cavalry with the second highest hit points, 1,175 which is next to Exalted Howdahs.

Upgrades

The War Wagon starts at the Veteran level by default, they can be only upgraded to Guard and Imperial.

If they are made available in the Commerce Age with the "TEAM Early Dragoons" Home City Card, War Wagons will be automatically upgraded to Veteran once the player reaches the Fortress Age.

Age	Upgrade	Cost	Effect
	Guard War Wagons	600 wood, 600 coin	Upgrades War Wagons to Guard (+30% hit points and attack)
	Imperial War Wagons	1,500 wood, 1,500 coin	Upgrades War Wagons to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack); requires Guard War Wagons

Civilization differences

• John Black's Mercenaries can only upgrade War Wagons to the Guard level.

Further statistics

As War Wagons are unique to the Germans and John Black's Mercenaries, only technologies that they have access to are shown in the following table:

Unit strengths and weaknesses
Strong vs.	Heavy cavalry, Shock Infantry, artillery
Weak vs.	Heavy infantry, ranged infantry, light cavalry
Improvements
Hit points	Comanche Horse Breeding (+10%) Cree Tanning (+5%) Navajo Weaving (+5%)
Attack	Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+10%) Yoga (+5%) Smokeless Powder (+30% siege attack)
Range	Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+2)
Sight	Town Watch (+2) Ranged Cavalry Caracole (+2)
Speed	Comanche Mustangs (+10%) Apache Endurance (+5%)
Creation speed	Mass Cavalry (-35%) Cheyenne Horse Trading (-25%) Quechuan Diet (-25%)
Train cost	Mapuche Ad-mapu (-10% coin cost)
Other	Meritocracy (-20% upgrade cost)

Home City Cards

As War Wagons are unique to the Germans and John Black's Mercenaries, only their cards and other civilizations' TEAM cards are shown in the following tables:

Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the War Wagon

Green: TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team Germans Card Description Age HC level 3 War Wagons Ships 3 War Wagons +3 Uhlans 1 4 War Wagons Ships 4 War Wagons +4 Uhlans 1 TEAM Cavalry Attack Heavy cavalry, light cavalry, and Shock Infantry get +15% attack 10 Cavalry Hitpoints Uhlans and War Wagons get +15% hit points +2 Uhlans 10 Cavalry Combat Uhlans and War Wagons get +15% attack and hit points +3 Uhlans 10 Riding School Cavalry train time -40% +2 Uhlans 10 Spanish Riding School Cavalry get +10% speed +4 Uhlans 25 Indians Card Description Age HC level TEAM Shivaji's Tactics All units get +5% hit points and attack 25 Japanese Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cheaper Unit Upgrades Unit upgrades cost -20% 1 Russians Card Description Age HC level TEAM Cavalry Scouts Cavalry and Shock Infantry get +10% hit points and +4 LOS 1 Spanish Card Description Age HC level TEAM Inquisition All units get +10 LOS 10

Trivia

• War Wagons, when changed to Melee mode, will possess a melee attack with 3 range. This makes them one of the rarest units in the game which deal melee damage at range, like Meteor Hammers and Haudenosaunee Tomahawks.
• The Bohemians in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Dawn of the Dukes have a similiar unit, the Hussite Wagon. However, it has more in common with the War Wagon of the Koreans in Age of Empires II: The Conquerors, as both are expensive ranged cavalry units with high hit points and attack.

History

“

These fortified carts were used to great effect by the infantry armies of the Hussites, followers of the Czech religious reformer John Huss (Jan Hus), who was excommunicated and burned at the stake early in the fifteenth century. John Zizka lead the Hussite forces against the armies of Holy Roman Emperor, Sigismund. His army was largely comprised of peasants, and Zizka developed new tactics to suit the farm-grown sensibilities of his untrained soldiers. They armored farm wagons, used flails and pitchforks, and a number of howitzer artillery pieces. The armored wagons moved in trains and would circle up, forming an overlapping impromptu fortress from which they would fire their artillery baiting opposing armies into a response. The wagons could also be used in offense, charging into ranks of soldiers and knights, loaded with men firing into the groups of knights and infantry. When Zizka died, his skin was made into a drum used to summon Hussites to battle. The Hussite revolution, however, was eventually put down.

”

Gallery

A War Wagon guarding a strategic location in New England.

In-game stats of a Veteran War Wagon

In-game stats of a Guard War Wagon

In-game stats of an Imperial War Wagon

A in-game (Veteran) War Wagon

A in-game Guard/Imperial War Wagon

The War Wagon's history portrait

War Wagon concept art from the Age of Empires III standard manual