10 Historically Accurate AoE2 units 

"FRANKLY" A LITTLE ABSURD LMAOOOOOO

Nothing you say Mr.Spirit say can hide the fact our boi the Teutonic Knight is the most historically accurate unit ever.

Honorable mention goes to the Janissaries: Elite units of the Ottoman Empire, who DO have firearms as a weapon. The in-game models, however, have beards which, around the time of AoE2 representation, were not allowed to have facial hair. I'd rate about 9 out of 10 forcibly captured slaves.

Fun Fact about the Flemish Militia's weapon, the "Goedendag": The reason it's called "Goedendag" (literally meaning "good day" as a greeting) is because Flemish revolutionaries would travel around carrying these weapons and casually greet people they met... And if the person replied with a French accent, the revolutionaries would attack them. It was a test to try and sniff out all of the French to drive them out of the country by vibe-checking them.

The power of the turtleship, being an unboardable ship, was compounded by 2 things. First, the Japanese at the time did naval battle near exclusivly by boarding. And the fact that korean warships were cannon and range specialized. Thus, a ship, that was unboardable, but could keep japanese warship out of range of the korean warships, was an extreemly deadly combo. It was basically the naval equivalent of a tank taunting the raid boss/hoard, while the rogues, spellcasters and rangers killed the boss/hoard from range.

4:25 missed opportunity to say rat-tan out of ten

3:45 That is one jacked basket weaver, Jesus.

Turtle ship is my favourite, they look awesome and most importantly, they're even more broken irl. lmaooo

10 strongly worded PETA letters! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

The Virgin AOE: "Flemish revolution is so controversial!" The Chad AOE3: "Let's have Mexico have revolutions inside their revolutions!"

As someone who grew up in Kortrijk (where the battle of the Golden Spurs was fought) it always makes me proud to see it mentioned.

- The Obuch in game is similar to a Bec de Corbin. A hammer side to knock out/down heavily armored foes. A pointy side to hit them in a armor weakspot once they were down or even while still standing. - The Battle of the Golden Spurs is a classical example of french knights "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory". By being arrogant glory seekers. The Flemish were way too focused on anti-cavalry and slowly loosing to the infantry. The knights wanting glory called back the infantry and charged in - to their defeat. - the Romans tried using burning pigs against pyrrhus war elephants, among many other early ideas.

I went to highschool with a guy from Cambodia. I was reading the AoE wiki page for Ballista Elephants and he saw it and proudly mentioned how they were used by the Khmer. To this day, they're still my favourite civ. *LONG LIVE BALLISTA ELEPHANTS!*

13:18 the irony of Spirit of the Law including a picture of Lucy Lawless...

The Romance of Three Kingdom mentions the effectiveness of rattan shield ("vine armor") when Zhuge Liang attacked the southern barbarian King Meng Huo. His soldiers armed with vine shield were impenetrable against arrows and bolts. Zhuge Liang eventually resorted to fire attacks since the shields were hardened by oil.

Honorable mention to the Magyar Huszar. Not only dressed mostly like in the game, its bonus also kinda make sense, as they were highly used to break castle sieges in the 16th century.

8:48 Those events are somewhat referenced in the Montezuma (Aztec) campaign. In the 3rd scenario Quetzalcoatl you need to capture 20 horses from Spanish. In the 5th scenario The Boiling Lake you can convert found horses into Xolotl Warriors (Elite Tarkan before DE) and Trade Cards into Bombards. This is why unit looks Aztec.

"Elephant Monk" Don't worry guys, Age of Empires 3 got us covered for that one.

This made me think about the inclusion of Tlaxcalans in aoe, it would be interesting to have a meso civ that also can access to European units like cavalry and gunpowder, probably after a unique tech to symbolize their alliance with the Spanish.

3:55 Historically, Vietnamese beside using rattan to make shields to increase pierce armor. Rattan can be made into rattan rod to strike fear into Vietnamese children by the Vietnamese Moms.

Rattan shields and bamboo sticks are still used as riot gear.

To the obuch point, I mean it is only the unit coming out of the castle (one might say nobility) that carries the hammer

12:43 fun fact: Duarte Barbosa was a member of the expedition who traveled around the world alongside Elcano and Magallanes (Magellan)

As someone who was greatly interested in the Khmer Empire even before the announcement of Rise of the Rajas, I knew all about the Ballista Elephant and was not surprised at all by its gimmick, which is one of the most accurate gimmicks in the game.

On the Turtle Ships Panokseons are the Joseon/Korean Warships, while the Geobukseon or Turtle Ship is a different ship, the Panokseon has multiple decks that allows more cannons to be loaded which is the reason of why the Joseon Navy being superior than the Japanese Navy who mostly uses Archery, Arquebus and boarding tactics. Though sadly Admiral Yi Shun Shin would lose all of the Geobukseon, not in battle but because he was imprisoned by his own King and the one who replaces him loses some Geobukseon in battle and then scupper all the Geobukseon. The 13 Ship is during the Battle of Myeongnyang where 13 Panokseon and around 30 Scouting Ships fought and won against around 130 to 300 Japanese Warships.

Spirit of the Law gets 9 out of 10 points for correct pronunciation of nadziak. I was legit surprised how good it was.

The militia-line has a very nice touch : men-at-arms and longswordmen, it use a shield + a 1h sword. Then with the 2h-swordmen, the unit wears visibly more armour, a 2h-sword and no longer a shield. Which is what happened when armour became more advanced in Europe with plate armour, the armour was so good it made the shield redundant, so many ditched it an upgraded to a two-hands weapon, greatly increasing their striking power.

The 'frankly' pun and the bearded axe meme was just too good

fun fact from VNese here : in operation Linebacker 2 , 1972, when US air force bombing North VN, rattan hat and straw hat (both get heavily reinforced to 2 to 3 cm thick) provided to civilian against bomb's fragtures.

3 units are related to India alone, 1st Arambai......Manipur state, India. 2nd Flaming Camel......Used in battle at delhi 3rd Chakram Thrower.......weapon from Gujarat State, India ❤❤❤❤ Thank you spirit😊

None can stand against the Mangonelephant!

I liked seeing the comparisons between the Arambai and their irl counterparts, didn't notice the hats before.

I do posts & video consulting for channels on Mesoamerica: I'll expand on what you said with native use of horses further down, but I wish the unit was named Mazatl, over Xolotl: Mazatl is the Nahuatl word for Deer, and many Mesoamerican sources initially called Spanish horses "Large Deer": i've seen a fair amount of artists who do well researched, authentic art of Mesoamerican stuff come up with cool idea for Deer themed Mesoamerican calvary units for this reason (First in Kamazotz's alt history comic "Zotz", which inspired OHS688's piece, which then Mossacannibalis did their own version of), and I think that makes a lot more sense then naming the unit Xolotl, which seems random; or giving them Jaguar themed equipment: There are Deer themed ceremonial outfits even if not military armor, but IMO it'd have been fine to make hypothetical military versions. On that note, I want to go on a tangent about that "armor": Like a lot of media depictions of Mesoamerican stuff, AOE sadly depicts much of the clothing, equipment, and architecture as looking extra primitive or unrefined for no real reason: The Jaguar and Xolotl warriors look basically like cavemen, largely naked with a big Jaguar pelt hanging on their back, and crude bone/horn necklaces. The architectural set also has bare grey, worn looking stones, among other aesthetic issues/choices... In reality, by contrast, soldiers wore proper armor: gambeson tunics or vests; over which were warsuits and skirted tunics covered in a mosaic of iridescent feathers making patterns (Jaguar Spots, Geometric designs etc) to indicate rank and division; metal mail jackets; bamboo and wooden helmets and shields, too covered in mosaics or inlaid gold or gemstones, etc. In addition to Macuahuitl, weapons included spears, sorts of halbreds and glaives, axes (both stone and bronze), maces, clubs, and more. Outside of combat, men wore cloaks akin to Greco-roman togas; women with flowing blouses which with their hair buns and face paint evoked Japanese Geisha. Garments were covered with geometric, floral, etc designs, and gold, gemstone, and feather jewelry (not merely feathers put in things but again as mosaic coverings or as intricate 3-dimensional bouquets). For architecture, stone Buildings were covered in white plaster, with painted frescos and other architectural accents, in a style close to the Minoan palaces, with square rooms, flat roofs, and open courtyards surrounded by patios with columns. These palaces, temples etc were arranged around large plazas in city centers, often also with aqueduct and drain systems, royal botanical gardens etc. (And I didn't even get into the Venice like canals and suburban sprawls!). These were absurdly opulent looking cultures (Check out Scott and Stuart Gentling's paintings) and it's a shame they get made to look so dirty and unrefined in media. Anyways, so Indigenous use of horses! I think most people know that Cortes and his faction of Conquistadors made alliances with local city-states and kingdoms, who they relied on heavily for their success (and in fact, in many cases, local kings and officials like Xicotencatl II, Ixtlixochtli II, Xicomecoatl, etc were actively manipulating Conquistadors to further their own political interests... it was really mostly that sort of political opportunism that made those alliances happen, rather then the Mexica of the Aztec capital being particularly resented or oppressive: It was their empire being loose and hands off which enabled this), but people may not be aware of the level of mixing of equipment this lead to: Conquistadors would at times use Mesoamerican gambeson and helmets (Some conquistadors still did even in the Coronado expedition up into Colorado), while elite Mesoamerican allies (who at times, were even formal Conquistadors with encomienda land grants) were, yes, given horses, steel weapons, etc, though at times these were also looted and repurposed by enemy forces, such as Spanish swords which were fixed to staffs to act as long pikes by Aztec armies. However, beyond the mere adoption of each other's military equipment, we see actual cultural mixing, too. People today talk about Mexico as a mix of Indiginous and Spanish culture, and it is, but in the 16th, 17th, and even 18th centuries, this was much more pronounced with overt Mesoamerican elements: The Malinalco (which in Prehispanic times, also nearby had a ceremonial retreat for Aztec soldiers, cut out of a large hill) murals as well as the Ixmiquilpan murals are both done in a mix of Spanish and Mesoamerican styles, the latter showing soldiers from the Otomi civilization fighting for the Spanish, wearing both Mesoamerican jewelry and wielding Macuahuitl, but also with Catholic imagery and potentially garments and armor. I mentioned Mossacannibalis before, but he has quite a bit of art depicting this sort of blending based on real manuscripts, murals, and paintings: Tlaxcalteca soldiers with Spanish crosses painted onto their Mesoamerican back banners (based on the Lienzo de Tlaxcala) and with Jesus painted as the the god Mixcoatl sacrificed on a cross tied to it as well (both the Mesoamericans and Spanish noticed parallels between their religions); Soldiers in plate armor but also Aztex xiuhuitzolli crowns, etc. Perhaps my favorite example of this mixing is the Feather Mosaic "paintings" made by Aztec and Purepecha artists for the Spanish, which look like the best Catholic gilded altarpieces and paintings, except with iridescent, color changing feathers instead of paint. Absolutely mind blowing stuff, you gotta look them up! Anyways, I'd go on and revenue how the AOE3 Aztec units stack up but I am actually in the middle of an archeology conference and barely had time to squeeze this comment out, haha. Sorry I couldn't go in more detail on stuff like specific campaigns and Mesoamerican princes who fought on horseback with the Spanish, I wanted to but what I posted is what I know off the top of my head. Actually, one last thing: If the Mayas can use Siege Towers in AOE (and i'm not sure they can, admittedly), that would also be accurate: There's a mural at Chichen Itza which seems to show one.

Ancient India: "These darts are powerful and deadly. We must train our men to properly wield them" 1970s America: "Lol. These darts would make a great kids toy"

As a Belgian from the Flemish part of our country, I particularly enjoyed 8:10 😂 Although you could've finished with "8/10 helloes to the face". Love these videos where you go into the historical background of the game so much SotL, I really hope you keep making these!

Chakram thro.. No, Strike that. War Frisbi! 😂😂😂😂😂😂

In fact, a short version of Nadziak was commonly used by winged hussars as a single-use weapon, due to how hard it hit during combat. Pulling it out of already dead enemy while still fighting on a horse, would take too much time and effort in the heat of the battle. Also, for obvious reasons, shields (which otherwise would be the best kind of armor against such type of weapon) were already at that time either ineffective or impractical, you'd never find any in cavalry skirmishes.

always nice to see xena reference

Elephant 🐘 with a bombard cannon! I've been dreaming of it in every game for years!

Learning from Skallagrim last week that wicker isn't material but a type of weave was lifechanging, and it's cool to see another content creator I watch bring it up

I love the goedendag. Not only it's a very simple weapon to manufacture (It's a just stabby stick), the name drips sarcasm. It's like those WWII cannon shells with messages such as "Happy Easter Adolph"

Rattan is a really good material. I used to have chairs made out of rattan, and they are very light and sturdy. Southeast Asia is blessed to have bamboo and rattan for them to use.

"Guys, you gotta stop bringing your warhammers to town meetings."

Nice man! I love your more historically inclined videos. I randomly watch your Wonders videos sometimes, just for the vibes

I think my biggest issue with the turtle ship accuracy wise is that we still don't having moving oars with them.

This has been one of my favourite SotL videos to date, I absolutely loved everything about it! Keep up the fantastic work, Aoe2 math man!

Thrown Darts for Warfare in General were pretty extensively used in the Antiquity too. The Romans besides carrying the infamous Pilum javelin, also more often carries "Lawn Darts" sized Missile called the Martiobarbuli, also more well known as Plumbatae. And for obvious reasons, carry Martiobarbuli more than infamous Pilum because 1. While a Legionary can carry, at best, 2 Pila; According to Vegetius on De Re Militari, they can carry at least 5 Martiobarbuli 2. Logically, Pila were used more on heavy targets, like a thick formation of Pike Wall, or for downing Cavalry and other War Animals. While Martiobarbuli were used to pepper the enemy, much like the role of Archers or Greek Psiloi It can be imagined that a Martiobarbuli are grenades of the Pila are RPGs

Hi, Spirit! What about a historically bonkers/accurate techs video? The videos about units were awesome!

Another great video as always but this was def my favorite one learning a bit more of history

Great aoe2 content! A video exploring timeline mismatch in AOE2 could also be very interesting!

I love these kinds of videos! I wouldn’t be opposed to any other unique units being given historical accuracy tests too, just for the sake of cool information.

Xolotl...SOTL... hey, I think we have a new nickname for the channel!

The arambai riders were feared because their darts could be thrown attacking and retreating with deadly effect by trained riders. Happy that someone pointed out that it was used against and not by the Burmese. It bugged me for a while

Xena the Warrior Princess. That was my favorite show in childhood!

12:43 really love the way authors of the past described stuff. Simple, almost humorously so, but drives the point really well across

Consider this for the next elephant unit: A chakram-armed knight on horseback riding an elephant on top of a turtle ship. And then it's turtle ships all the way down.

Fun fact: In modern day slang, 'chakram' means the same as calling someone a 'crackpot'

Showcasing the flaming camels without mentioning: ‘’SeNd FoRtH tHe FLaMinG CaMEls!!!!!!!’’ feels like a missed opportunity.

Glad you mentioned the Frankish Throwing Axes! You can actually see some in the Musée de l'Armée in Paris. Super cool!

3:45 this dude has probably never stepped into a gym before while I work out 5 days a week, and he's still thrice as jacked as me. Geez.

great companion piece to last video!

I love videos like this that tie in fun facts to common game knowledge 💯

Spirit: "The point is, Native Americans taking advantage of access to enemy horses... has some good evidence behind it" Commanches, becoming the Mongol Horde of North America: "Evidence you say? MAYBE YOU'VE HEARD OF ME..." A more accurate description would be that central and south american natives adapting to use horses isn't well-known in pop culture, but in the North American plains they have quite the reputation.

The silliest thing about the elephant 🐘 units is that they don't have an extremely high line of sight from the mahout having an elevation advantage.

Today in Polish 'Obuch weapon' (broń obuchowa) apart from a name for this specific weapon means 'blunt weapon' and is used for all blunt force weapons like hammers or clubs.

A fact about pre colombian civs using horses: in Chile, the Mapuches stealed the horses fron the Spanish, and became way better riders of then (they didnt used saddles or seats), incorporating them to their army to fight back, and the Spanish never won against them

Weapons similar to the Obuch's were also popular in other parts of Europe, like the _bec de corbin_ or the _Lucerne hammer_ . Both of these also tended to have a pronounced spike _on top_ of the hammer, because it wouldn't be a proper medieval polearm if it couldn't also double as a spear.

Hi! Huge fan here. Great vid as always. I was wandering when is cost efective to take a fight and when i shouldnt, and i said "spirit can make a vid of this". Example: 4 scouts enter in my wood; run or fight?. when is cost-effective taking a fight against pikemen with knights? how many infantry is enought to dive into a tc? and a lot of examples, a lot of situations we encounter in our games (vills vs towers, xbows vs kts, kts vs camels, etc..) . Thanks for all your work!

I've just commented on Obuch unit under your previous film, as I've just watched it. Of course, I've focused on the name of the weapon

Hi Spirit Of The Law, it's me here and watching!

"Cuts through all" clearly means cleaves through said hand or neck. And yes, irl armour negates it easily.

Great video ss always!

Number 1: Villager "As it turns out, people lived in villages"

I knew Throwing Axemen were a thing because I distinctly remember playing AoE2 together with my dad as a kid and us looking them up together because we didn't believe such a soldier really existed. Good times!

The main problem with the Throwing Axe men is that it is an early Frankish weapon. By the time we develop unique units in game, they weren't existing anymore. The Petard, as you suggested in the last video, should then have become the Frank Unique unit. Had the game had gameplay differences early on, like AoE4 has, the Throwing axemen should be the standard Frank Militia in Dark Age (approx at the time of Charlemagne).

I like to think that sense the teutons have the +1 armor for age, that paladins are the Teuton knights as well, but being AoE2, you only have so much to work with.

I really would have put the Throwing Axeman and Obuch as honorable mentions in the previous video, as while the concept itself is accurate for both, the weapon is very blatantly bonkers.

Another small knitpick about the axe thrower is that the Fancisca wasn't really a primary weapon. The idea behind it is that you throw it before attacking with your melee weapon to put the enemy in a dilemma. With you charging in and the Franciscas raining down the enemy has to decide whether to raise their shield or not, as they can't effectively defend against both

I love the Idea of an Elephant Petard. Basically a Demolitionship on Land and on Crack. Imagine paying like 200 Food and 80 Gold for a Unit that blows itself up and can oneshot regular Buildings with that.

Not gonna lie, knowing now that there is a secret calvary unit you can get, I kinda want more. Super situational, super uncommon, but it would be a cool inclusion to the game

Warhammer. The weapon many people think of a huge heavy mallet when told to imagine a Warhammer. But actually, the weapon is exactly what the AoE2 Obuch uses. THAT is a warhammer.

Wow, your "nadziak" pronunciation was flawless 10/10. I'm guessing you consulted a dictionary? Our phonetics are very quirky for foreigners, I hear.

I was here for the Mills video. What do you mean we're being LENIENT

It would be cool if the Arambai did low damage and then the rest as a DoT to demonstrate the poison's effect. I gave no idea if damage over time is even possible in AOE2

The one thing you didn't mention about the Chakrams which I was REALLY hoping you would, was that another way of carrying them was stacking them on specially designed TURBANS.

Rattan is/was also used to make bows. It is super light weight, flexible and easy to work with. Massive advantage over wood 🏹

I like these videos a lot❤

Everytime I watch this shit I tell myself I'm NOT going to do a little dance But then the lil background tune starts and I end up doing a little dance Damn

That picture of the elephant petard is gold 😂

TBF the Obuch was used in duels between nobles on foot so there is some reason it's for infantry, but it's still anachronistic. The reason it was invented from the Nadziak and Czeckan (a Nadziak-like weapon with an axe end instead of a hammer) with the straight point was that the nobleman Michał Piekarski ,mentally ill, Calvinist and supporting the 1606 Zebrzydowski rebellion against increasing royal power, used a czekanto attack King Sigismund III Vasa in 1620. The King was attending Mass at St John's in Warsaw. Piekarski suddenly attacked the king when he was away from the guards.Marshal Łukasz Opaliński managed to put himself between the attacker and the King just in time, with the pick striking King Sigismund in the arm and face but not killing him. As Opalinski grappled with Pierkarski over the hammer, the king's son Prince Władysław drew his saber and struck Piekarski in the head, allowing Opalinski to subdue him. From then on not only was the Nadziak relegated to the battlefield with nobles wearing Obuch instead, but even then they were banned from church ground. The giant chakram isn't that out of the question; I believe there were some 3--foot versions used against elephants and formations at extremely close range. Chakram came in all different sizes- Akali Nihang, Sikh Warrior Monks, wear small ones on their wrists and increasingly smaller ones on their turbans, which could be up to 3 feet tall. I suppose I could quibble about the cho ku nu being able to do real damage against armor, same as the urumi (like the urumi it was more of a civilian weapon, albeit for militia rather than dueling) or the Karambits being enormous, or the feasibility of using a harquebus on horseback, (although I have seen military drill illustrations for it) or the Janissaries with beards but without hats, or cataphracts being specifically anti-infantry , but I actually give AOE2 a lot of credit for historical accuracy in the Unique Units with a few exceptions.

Blacksmithing pros observing how the Frank's would hurl their hardwork metal axes to enemies, expecting more to be made: 💀

Not just the battle of the Golden Spurs. The cities of Flanders, most notably Gent, but also Brugge, were notorious rioters under Burgundian rule, whereas the Golde Spurs was fought against France, not the Burgundian dukes, because that title wasn't around at the moment.

Cries in Jaguar Warrior...

I wonder if we could get the Tlaxcallans a Nahua related to the Mexica (Aztecs) who resisted early Aztec conquests and later were engaged in Flower Wars with the Aztecs where the main objective was to capture as many of the enemy as possible for sacrifices. The Tlaxcallans became the chief allies of the Spainish during their conquest of the Aztecs and later the rest of Mexico and were rewarded with many rights and privileges such as allowed to carry guns, ride horses, hold noble titles, maintain Tlaxcaltec names and to rule their settlements autonomously. It would be interesting for the Tlaxallans being the sole American civilization that can build stables and train cavalry as default.

Please do most historically op units now. :)

Hey Spirit, how about a video about the languages spoken in game?

Elephantard?? After all these years I didn't even know I needed it

The main drawback of the Rattan armor set is that it’s very weak against Fire. Despite being more of a novel rather than a historical source, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms tells that the Yunnan natives used Rattan armor against the Shu Han army’s weapons and can be transported on water due to the oily lair, but then it might burn the wielder if the latter is relatively close to a fire

The double axe for throwing probably comes from the throwing axes used in modern axe throwing which look like that. AFAIK modern axe throwing mostly exists today as a subset of lumberjack sports.

Rattan is also popular for bowmakers, although I dunno if it checks out as a material for warbows.