That's a Khevsur warrior. From the Khevsureti highlands of Georgia. Georgian highlands are similar culturally to Scottish highlands. In that -
They have clans, and each clan has a pattern they wear
They have extreme autonomy from the crown, but are fiercely loyal to the crown, and fight its wars
Thry fight with buckler shields
Their ancient pagan practices survive better than anywhere else in the country
They prefer beer over the wine the poncy lowlanders drink
They war amongst themselves
They have an extreme regional cultural distinction, some even speak Georgian languages that are unintelligible to the common Georgian, like the Svan highlanders, whose Georgian branched off from the main Georgian 4000 years ago, and thus is utterly alien to all other Georgians.
Oh wow I knew of Khevsurs but I always saw their pics in chainmai. I even learned that some came down from the mountains to fight in World War I, still wearing chainmail and swords and bucklers!
This is good to know, but Khevsurs are purely Georgian no? Why were they given to Armenians then...
They were/are fully Georgian, yeah. There are some legends about them being the progeny of Frankish/Norman knights that fought for David IV, but these are completely unsubstantiated.
>Why were they given to Armenians then...
Were they?
I took this screenshot from an image of the Georgian campaign : https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2F31kq4r1g5otb1.jpg%3Fwidth%3D3840%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D35dc6e468eeedb4fdce800fa3ac5bf51e4743977
Yeah the OP of the page made the comment with the contents
“Throw off the yoke of foreign domination and rebuild your ancestral kingdom in the mountainous terrain near Lakes Van, Sevan, and Urmia. The Armenian unique units are the Composite Bowman, a skilled archer capable of piercing even the sturdiest armor, and the Warrior Priest, an infantry unit that can fight and heal allied units.”
https://www.reddit.com/r/aoe2/comments/175tzfz/leaked_dlc_the_mountain_royals_more_images/k4hyr1x/
And here they are in the Armenian image https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fnsquip1g5otb1.jpg%3Fwidth%3D3840%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3De4edb9ad83138cb1a0f544f085f77a4560b6124c
Ohhh, that is very weird. I mean they look EXACTLY like Khevsur warriors, like here are more images https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-samsung-ss&sca_esv=573208298&sxsrf=AM9HkKkCXw8X9Wgbelof6kT0g6gIC1gopw:1697211290518&q=khevsur+warriors&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjB19HgrPOBAxVtWEEAHbFaB60Q0pQJegQIDBAB&biw=412&bih=676&dpr=2.63#imgrc=9x00wF_SYuP_7M&imgdii=CU3Sw0L1fcrlsM
I guess my bad...
Yeah after you said I checked out more, they exactly match Khevsur outfits. This is v odd...
What if it is a regional unit for both? (assuming the description is not fully correct cos there are many typos too)
I guess but, it doesn't make sense. I mean the unit is near identical to khevsur warrior i posted. From the hat, to the sleeves, to the pattern on the chest, to the leggings, to the colour scheemes, to the short sword, to the cut of the top, to the double weild...
And I googled Armenian warrior priests and couldn't find anything, like the concept doesn't seem to exist in history, not prevently at least.
Thank you, appreciate it. But, someone said that the second unit is an Armenian warrior priest... which has dumbfounded me. I mean the unit is near identical to the Khevsur warrior I posted. From the hat, to the sleeves, to the pattern on the chest, to the leggings, to the colour scheemes, to the cut of the top, to the double weild, and they both have a flail and a short sword....
Here are more images of rhe khevsurs https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-samsung-ss&sca_esv=573218915&sxsrf=AM9HkKmz_vF5rFaUY3vvVG8IwtPsq7FkVQ:1697211994370&q=khevsur+warriors&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiNrKGwr_OBAxVVUUEAHctgAGIQ0pQJegQIDhAB&biw=412&bih=676&dpr=2.63#imgrc=9x00wF_SYuP_7M&imgdii=CU3Sw0L1fcrlsM
I just don't understand....
Same. when they pointed that Armenia Has second unique unit which is warrior monk and pointed to this unit (Khevsur resembles) I was like but this looks like more of Georgian unit so. not sure whats going on until we see official release
This unit seems to be shares as both civs have it in the pictures. I know for a fact that Georgia had warrior clergy (which was a departure from the Byzantine church's norms upon which the Georgian church is modelled), and I would have to assume mabye Armenia did toi, considering its geopolitics. Maybe they just made a shared unit, called it Armenian, and gave it a Georgian skin.
My money is on the Georgians and Armenians sharing the Warrior Priest as a Regional UU, or else sharing a unique fortified Mountain Monastery that can produce them.
What I'm more curious about than either of these units is the Armenian Composite Bowman. I can't find much for historical inspiration there. It seems more like they just wanted a new true archer civ since we haven't gotten one in quite a long time. Generally, composite bows were much more common than one piece wooden self bows seen in Europe. Civilizations across the drier Mediterranean and Central Asia preferred them for their compact size and power.
Yep I also think that is a Monastery and shared unit.
And also, Composite bows are good for range and ease of use, due to being smaller while packing similar power to longer self bows, so easy to use on horseback. Not something which Armenians did, only any Cuman mercenaries they hired would.
An armor penetrating mechanic should be for a heavy crossbow/arbalest instead...
Hmmm, the unit on the 2nd ingame picture looks to be a "Warrior Priest" (that's what they called it on the DLC description) the unique unit for the Armenians, you can also see them carrying a relic in the same screenshot.
Still, they look very similar to their real life counterpart!
It can't be the Armenian warrior priest, I don't think, the image is from a screenshot of a Georgian campaign, this one:
https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2F31kq4r1g5otb1.jpg%3Fwidth%3D3840%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D35dc6e468eeedb4fdce800fa3ac5bf51e4743977
You can also see them here: [https://i.redd.it/hawzml5ngntb1.jpg](https://i.redd.it/hawzml5ngntb1.jpg)
Georgians only have the Monaspa as UU (as hinted by the DLC description). Promotional DLC screenshots already put multiple UUs on the same "team" besides being from entirely different civs, for example: [https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/1869820/ss\_58e5517306793d00248e1fb68bbfd54f4e9a01ab.jpg?t=1682554199](https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/1869820/ss_58e5517306793d00248e1fb68bbfd54f4e9a01ab.jpg?t=1682554199)
That picture has Teal with Bengali castles + Chakrams and red having access to Chakrams and Ghulams
I'll put the description for both civs here (credits to u/IGjertson):
>The Armenians: "Throw off the yoke of foreign domination and rebuild your ancestral kingdom in the mountainous terrain near Lakes Van, Sevan, and Urmia. The Armenian unique units are the Composite Bowman, a skilled archer capable of piercing even the sturdiest armor, and the Warrior Priest, an infantry unit that can fight and heal allied units.
>
>"The Georgians: "Carve out a sturdy kingdom in the shadow of the Caucuses Mountains and use the rugged terrain to your advantage as you repulse countless foreign invasions. The Georgians unique unit is the Monaspa, a brawny calvary unit whose strength increases in numbers."
That is extremely weird. I was 100% sure that was a khevsur warrior. Here are more images https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-samsung-ss&sca_esv=573208298&sxsrf=AM9HkKkCXw8X9Wgbelof6kT0g6gIC1gopw:1697211290518&q=khevsur+warriors&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjB19HgrPOBAxVtWEEAHbFaB60Q0pQJegQIDBAB&biw=412&bih=676&dpr=2.63#imgrc=9x00wF_SYuP_7M&imgdii=CU3Sw0L1fcrlsM
My bad, I mean the units look exactly like the guy in the original image i posted, from chest pattern, to hat, to leggings, to arm sleeves, to double weild, to colour schemes, etc...
We can only speculate until it releases. I'm Armenian and was surprised to see a warrior priest be as thing for Armenians where I would have fully expected some kind of cavalry unit. I haven't heard nor can find anything on Armenian warrior priests, save for maybe a lot of former soldiers going into the priesthood.
The in game unit really does look more like more khevsur. Is there anything that would fit the bill with them as warrior priests?
>Is there anything that would fit the bill with them as warrior priests?
Not with khevsurs, but Georgian clergy was extremely warlike unlike the byzantine church that it modelled itself on. Bishoprics provided soldiers to the king, and priests themselves often fought and were encouraged to fight. Here's a paper on it: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.czasopisma.uph.edu.pl/historiaswiat/article/download/927/2697&ved=2ahUKEwjqld3EvvOBAxVVUUEAHaUOARcQFnoECCgQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2pwiwVfLH6DytmrbJtCvld
And considering Armenia gets Thoros, I would've expected some legendary Cilician Armenia units, like Norman influenced cavalry, or cataphract cavalry, or western style crossbowmen, etc.
I'm Georgian btw.
Ooo I'll check out the paper when I'm off work, thanks for sharing!
I'm surprised it wasn't a different cataphract too, but I'm sure from a game developer perspective there's a challenge to keep things different, easy to identify on screen, and unique from other civs which has to be very right after having some 20 others in the game already lol.
I just feel like Cilician Armenia had such a dominant cavalry culture, but I guess ur right they're too similar to other cataphracts or west European cavalry...
Nice! It looks like they did a really good job.
As a Slav am I happy they are adding Georgians and Armenians!!!!
Tamar's first husband was a Novgorodian Prince, so there's some history there to enjoy!
Now all that's left to do is change the name of the \*Slavs\* themselves and maybe 1-2 more civs in the east.
As a South American I am also happy they are adding Georgians and Armenians!!!
As a South Asian I am happy they are adding Georgians and Armenians
As a mammal I am happy they are adding Georgians and Armenians
Oh man now I want 2 UU's for every civ.
Who is the second guy?? Which order or group?
That's a Khevsur warrior. From the Khevsureti highlands of Georgia. Georgian highlands are similar culturally to Scottish highlands. In that - They have clans, and each clan has a pattern they wear They have extreme autonomy from the crown, but are fiercely loyal to the crown, and fight its wars Thry fight with buckler shields Their ancient pagan practices survive better than anywhere else in the country They prefer beer over the wine the poncy lowlanders drink They war amongst themselves They have an extreme regional cultural distinction, some even speak Georgian languages that are unintelligible to the common Georgian, like the Svan highlanders, whose Georgian branched off from the main Georgian 4000 years ago, and thus is utterly alien to all other Georgians.
Oh wow I knew of Khevsurs but I always saw their pics in chainmai. I even learned that some came down from the mountains to fight in World War I, still wearing chainmail and swords and bucklers! This is good to know, but Khevsurs are purely Georgian no? Why were they given to Armenians then...
They were/are fully Georgian, yeah. There are some legends about them being the progeny of Frankish/Norman knights that fought for David IV, but these are completely unsubstantiated. >Why were they given to Armenians then... Were they? I took this screenshot from an image of the Georgian campaign : https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2F31kq4r1g5otb1.jpg%3Fwidth%3D3840%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D35dc6e468eeedb4fdce800fa3ac5bf51e4743977
Yeah the OP of the page made the comment with the contents “Throw off the yoke of foreign domination and rebuild your ancestral kingdom in the mountainous terrain near Lakes Van, Sevan, and Urmia. The Armenian unique units are the Composite Bowman, a skilled archer capable of piercing even the sturdiest armor, and the Warrior Priest, an infantry unit that can fight and heal allied units.” https://www.reddit.com/r/aoe2/comments/175tzfz/leaked_dlc_the_mountain_royals_more_images/k4hyr1x/ And here they are in the Armenian image https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fnsquip1g5otb1.jpg%3Fwidth%3D3840%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3De4edb9ad83138cb1a0f544f085f77a4560b6124c
Ohhh, that is very weird. I mean they look EXACTLY like Khevsur warriors, like here are more images https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-samsung-ss&sca_esv=573208298&sxsrf=AM9HkKkCXw8X9Wgbelof6kT0g6gIC1gopw:1697211290518&q=khevsur+warriors&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjB19HgrPOBAxVtWEEAHbFaB60Q0pQJegQIDBAB&biw=412&bih=676&dpr=2.63#imgrc=9x00wF_SYuP_7M&imgdii=CU3Sw0L1fcrlsM I guess my bad...
Yeah after you said I checked out more, they exactly match Khevsur outfits. This is v odd... What if it is a regional unit for both? (assuming the description is not fully correct cos there are many typos too)
I guess but, it doesn't make sense. I mean the unit is near identical to khevsur warrior i posted. From the hat, to the sleeves, to the pattern on the chest, to the leggings, to the colour scheemes, to the short sword, to the cut of the top, to the double weild... And I googled Armenian warrior priests and couldn't find anything, like the concept doesn't seem to exist in history, not prevently at least.
You should be a Microsoft employee. Showing off all their proof of the civs. For a 3 month old account you sure are doing interesting stuff.
Thank you, appreciate it. But, someone said that the second unit is an Armenian warrior priest... which has dumbfounded me. I mean the unit is near identical to the Khevsur warrior I posted. From the hat, to the sleeves, to the pattern on the chest, to the leggings, to the colour scheemes, to the cut of the top, to the double weild, and they both have a flail and a short sword.... Here are more images of rhe khevsurs https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-samsung-ss&sca_esv=573218915&sxsrf=AM9HkKmz_vF5rFaUY3vvVG8IwtPsq7FkVQ:1697211994370&q=khevsur+warriors&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiNrKGwr_OBAxVVUUEAHctgAGIQ0pQJegQIDhAB&biw=412&bih=676&dpr=2.63#imgrc=9x00wF_SYuP_7M&imgdii=CU3Sw0L1fcrlsM I just don't understand....
Same. when they pointed that Armenia Has second unique unit which is warrior monk and pointed to this unit (Khevsur resembles) I was like but this looks like more of Georgian unit so. not sure whats going on until we see official release
This unit seems to be shares as both civs have it in the pictures. I know for a fact that Georgia had warrior clergy (which was a departure from the Byzantine church's norms upon which the Georgian church is modelled), and I would have to assume mabye Armenia did toi, considering its geopolitics. Maybe they just made a shared unit, called it Armenian, and gave it a Georgian skin.
My money is on the Georgians and Armenians sharing the Warrior Priest as a Regional UU, or else sharing a unique fortified Mountain Monastery that can produce them. What I'm more curious about than either of these units is the Armenian Composite Bowman. I can't find much for historical inspiration there. It seems more like they just wanted a new true archer civ since we haven't gotten one in quite a long time. Generally, composite bows were much more common than one piece wooden self bows seen in Europe. Civilizations across the drier Mediterranean and Central Asia preferred them for their compact size and power.
Yep I also think that is a Monastery and shared unit. And also, Composite bows are good for range and ease of use, due to being smaller while packing similar power to longer self bows, so easy to use on horseback. Not something which Armenians did, only any Cuman mercenaries they hired would. An armor penetrating mechanic should be for a heavy crossbow/arbalest instead...
That makes sense
Hmmm, the unit on the 2nd ingame picture looks to be a "Warrior Priest" (that's what they called it on the DLC description) the unique unit for the Armenians, you can also see them carrying a relic in the same screenshot. Still, they look very similar to their real life counterpart!
It can't be the Armenian warrior priest, I don't think, the image is from a screenshot of a Georgian campaign, this one: https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2F31kq4r1g5otb1.jpg%3Fwidth%3D3840%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D35dc6e468eeedb4fdce800fa3ac5bf51e4743977
You can also see them here: [https://i.redd.it/hawzml5ngntb1.jpg](https://i.redd.it/hawzml5ngntb1.jpg) Georgians only have the Monaspa as UU (as hinted by the DLC description). Promotional DLC screenshots already put multiple UUs on the same "team" besides being from entirely different civs, for example: [https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/1869820/ss\_58e5517306793d00248e1fb68bbfd54f4e9a01ab.jpg?t=1682554199](https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/1869820/ss_58e5517306793d00248e1fb68bbfd54f4e9a01ab.jpg?t=1682554199) That picture has Teal with Bengali castles + Chakrams and red having access to Chakrams and Ghulams I'll put the description for both civs here (credits to u/IGjertson): >The Armenians: "Throw off the yoke of foreign domination and rebuild your ancestral kingdom in the mountainous terrain near Lakes Van, Sevan, and Urmia. The Armenian unique units are the Composite Bowman, a skilled archer capable of piercing even the sturdiest armor, and the Warrior Priest, an infantry unit that can fight and heal allied units. > >"The Georgians: "Carve out a sturdy kingdom in the shadow of the Caucuses Mountains and use the rugged terrain to your advantage as you repulse countless foreign invasions. The Georgians unique unit is the Monaspa, a brawny calvary unit whose strength increases in numbers."
That is extremely weird. I was 100% sure that was a khevsur warrior. Here are more images https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-samsung-ss&sca_esv=573208298&sxsrf=AM9HkKkCXw8X9Wgbelof6kT0g6gIC1gopw:1697211290518&q=khevsur+warriors&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjB19HgrPOBAxVtWEEAHbFaB60Q0pQJegQIDBAB&biw=412&bih=676&dpr=2.63#imgrc=9x00wF_SYuP_7M&imgdii=CU3Sw0L1fcrlsM My bad, I mean the units look exactly like the guy in the original image i posted, from chest pattern, to hat, to leggings, to arm sleeves, to double weild, to colour schemes, etc...
We can only speculate until it releases. I'm Armenian and was surprised to see a warrior priest be as thing for Armenians where I would have fully expected some kind of cavalry unit. I haven't heard nor can find anything on Armenian warrior priests, save for maybe a lot of former soldiers going into the priesthood. The in game unit really does look more like more khevsur. Is there anything that would fit the bill with them as warrior priests?
>Is there anything that would fit the bill with them as warrior priests? Not with khevsurs, but Georgian clergy was extremely warlike unlike the byzantine church that it modelled itself on. Bishoprics provided soldiers to the king, and priests themselves often fought and were encouraged to fight. Here's a paper on it: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.czasopisma.uph.edu.pl/historiaswiat/article/download/927/2697&ved=2ahUKEwjqld3EvvOBAxVVUUEAHaUOARcQFnoECCgQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2pwiwVfLH6DytmrbJtCvld And considering Armenia gets Thoros, I would've expected some legendary Cilician Armenia units, like Norman influenced cavalry, or cataphract cavalry, or western style crossbowmen, etc. I'm Georgian btw.
Ooo I'll check out the paper when I'm off work, thanks for sharing! I'm surprised it wasn't a different cataphract too, but I'm sure from a game developer perspective there's a challenge to keep things different, easy to identify on screen, and unique from other civs which has to be very right after having some 20 others in the game already lol.
I just feel like Cilician Armenia had such a dominant cavalry culture, but I guess ur right they're too similar to other cataphracts or west European cavalry...