| Unit Information | Game Strategies | History |
A javelin is a light spear designed to be thrown, and could possibly the oldest missile weapon ever to be created. While bows are complex devices that require a fair deal of maintenance, a javelin on the other hand is cheap, and more robust than an arrow. The upshot is that they are highly inaccurate at long range, and required highly robust individuals to effectively wield them.
Although no match for an organised armoured infantry formation, javelin-armed light troops can be very effective against them if they use shoot and evade tactics. Armoured infantry would be too encumbered to pursue javelineers for a great distance. In addition, if the terrain was uneven, then javelineers could even defeat a more heavily armoured force. Notable victories in this manner occurred in 424 BCE when Athenian peltasts defeated Spartan hoplites on the uneven terrain of the island of Sphaktria in the Peloponnese. Another battle where peltast mobility and also their willingness to engage at close quarters when necessary won the day was at Amphipolis in 422 BCE. Here the Spartan general Brasidas employed Myrkinian and Chalkidian peltasts with devastating effect to defeat a force of Athenian hoplites. As a third example, the Athenian leader Iphikrates defeated Spartan hoplites with his peltasts in 390 BCE at Lechaion near Corinth when he employed a series of strike and run attacks. However, as peltasts were unlikely to completely defeat a force of organised hoplites on good ground, it became increasingly evident from the 4th century BCE that the most successful armies were those that employed a mix of both elements, along with other types of soldier such as archers, slingers, and eventually cavalry.
Outside of Greece, various cultures experimented with mixing javelins and melee infantry together. The Spanish, Celts and Illyrians ofwere especially proficient at this sort of warfare, with their warriors first throwing several salvoes of javelins at their foes before drawing swords and charging. Javelins continued to be a viable weapon until the Gunpowder Age — they were often associated with the Daylamiyan of Iran, the Ceithernn of Ireland and, perhaps more famously, the Almogavers of Catalan Spain. Not all people used javelins, however: while javelins may have been used by the Huns and Mongols, their Chinese foes in general shunned their use, considering them barbaric, and instead preferred the use of crossbows over javelins.