| Botroas (Celtic Sword Infantry) | |
|---|---|
| |
| Unit type | Sword Infantry |
| Base cost | 50  Food, 30  Metal
|
| Ramping cost | 1 Food, 1 Metal
|
| Creation time | 10.6s (160t) |
| Hit points | 130 |
| Line of sight | 6 |
| Movement speed | 25 |
| Attack strength | 20 (25t) |
| Attack range | 0-0 |
| Armour | 6 |
| Population cost | 
|
| Created at |  l 
|
| Prerequisites |  Military 3 (Physical Conditioning)
|
| Upgrades from | none |
| Upgrades to | none |
| Available to |    
|
The Botroas is a light Celtic swordsman, and is the backbone of the Celtic armies. While not well-armoured, melee infantry such as him are fairly cheap and plentiful and thus ideal for raiding and for countering missile units, although in pitched battles with heavier units, they may not survive for long.
So while they may not have as much armour as other units, particularly the Celtiberian or Roman ones do, they are still ideal as a horde unit for attacking from the flank where their fast attacks can cause the most damage. In addition, they also have a decent amount of armour, so they can also be used to draw archer fire in the absence of cavalry units, giving your more valuable units such as Arjoi or Teceitoi a better chance of gaining a breakthrough and routing an enemy host. What they cannot expect to be used for is to attack an enemy heavy infantry formation head-on - again, if you are playing a Celtic nation, use units such as Gaelaiche, Cemmeinearn or Teceitoi to do this.
Because they are often raised in larger numbers than most other sword units, particularly Greek or Roman ones, it is often better for a Roman or Greek player to use ranged assault infantry or cavalry, rather than more valuable infantry units to intercept these warriors, especially since as mentioned before, they will most likely be used as a flanking unit.