Armed with javelins and a bronze axe, and armored with a sturdy round shield and scale leather, these fast, hardy troops from the northern Getic tribes are best used in ambushes, hit-and-run attacks, or flanking manoeuvres, yet are fierce enough to stand in the battle line if necessary.

Impetuous
Hardy
Expert at Hiding in Woods

Combat traditions vary across the Getic tribes, and those on the northern and eastern sides of the Karpathia are an excellent example. The two most powerful tribes of this region, the Karp and the Kostobok, are also among the most powerful of all the Getai. But aside from occasional wars among themselves or against their more settled neighbors to the south, these tribes are hardened by frequent war with both the nomadic Skythians, and the newly arrived Basternai, a migrating people ferocious in hand-to-hand combat. The battle-line warriors of the Karp and Kostobok tribes, aside from their large contingents of Drapanai, are the Pelekuphoroi, wielders of bronze axes and sturdy round shields. Even after the arrival of the iron age among their people, their warriors continued to show a preference for bronze axeheads, which, while having neither the weight nor reach of a falx, could still be devastating against armored opponents, and was more readily available among the komatai class. Their scale leather is meant at least as much to protect against Skythian arrows as against Basternai spears, and will do little stop a heavy, curved falx blade. These fast, hardy troops are best used in ambushes, hit-and-run attacks, or flanking manoeuvres against heavier warriors, but are fierce enough to stand in the battle line if the situation demands it.