Europa Barbarorum II : 2월의 프리뷰!

[최하늘]

Greetings Europa Barbarorum fans.

Today is the day for another Europa Barbarorum II preview! We would like to show you more of the astonishing work of our historians, modelers and skinners, who combined have produced these beautifully crafted units. We will show you renders of three infantry units: the Hoplite, the Thureophoroi and the Peltastai Makedonikoi. We will also show you renders and animations of our latest specialty: our first siege engine for Europa Barbarorum II: the Oxybeles.

Click on the renders to watch a PowerPoint presentation of these units!

In addition, we have new Europa Barbarorum signatures for you, and a little contest with a little prize for the winner. Scroll down to find out!

And last but not least, we have another surprise for you, this time from our Greek Voicemod experts.

Enjoy!

The Hoplitai

These troops were the symbol of Hellenic liberty and devotion to the polis. These highly motivated citizen soldiers were once the dominant form of fighting in the Hellenic world. During the later Hellenistic period, these troops, while still present on the battlefield, lost the protagonism they had enjoyed during older times. After the introduction of new ways to do war on the Hellenic mainland, these troops underwent a continuous modification of their equipment, in an effort to adapt to these emerging conditions. Consequently, they were outfitted with good quality linen armour, helmets of various designs, doru spears, xyphos shortswords and their ever-present aspis shields. They underwent a progressive lightening of their equipment, in line with the Hellenic tendency of producing more mobile troops, whilst still maintaining a degree of protection enough to enable them to be troops of the line.

They still fought as their fathers' fathers had done, in a tightly welded shield wall that traded mobility for mutual protection. This formation was the epitome of Hellenic selflessness, esprit de corps and sacrifice, for each hoplite entrusted his protection to the soldier on his right, while covering his brother on his left. However, this formation was being rendered progressively obsolete by the third century BC, by the preval‎ence of more mobile troops like the Peltastai and the Thureophoroi.

Despite of the fact that the Hoplitai represented an ageing fighting style, their motivation was second-to-none, and they still personified the Hellenic military ethos displayed by their ancestors.
In 3rd century Hellas, these troops still defended their motherland from both external and domestic threats with the same merit, virtue and patriotism as that which had been exhibited by their elders.

Renders:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Macedonian Hoplites:









Ptolemaic Hoplites





Mercenary Hoplites:

The Thureophoroi

The deployment of the Thureophoroi (Thureos Carrier) was one of the many aspects in which the Hellenic warfare adapted to the new conditions of the third century BC battlefields. These units were named after their shields, the Thureos, an elliptical shield massively adopted in Hellas after the Galatian invasions of the third century BC. These shields were made of wood and covered in leather, and had a central horizontal grip. Thureophoroi also wore good quality reinforced linen armour and helmets of various designs. They were armed with a doru spear and a xypho shortsword, and had a clutch of javelins that augmented their hitting power. They were also equipped with Macedonian boots, which gives us a clear hint about their role in the field of battle.

These highly disciplined and courageous troops embodied the principle of mobility on the battlefield, and fulfilled the role of being flexible units that had the initiative to react to the changing conditions on the battlefield, something that a hoplite or a Macedonian phalangite could not. For instance, a Thureophoroi unit could quickly mobilize and reinforce a faltering wing, and thus prevent the breaking of the line. Their light but sturdy equipment allowed them to perform quick flanking actions, and to anchor and exploit breaches in the enemy line. However, they were not assault troops, and their armour, while of good quality, was not so heavy as to enable them to confront the heaviest and best-equipped enemy troops.

The key word to define these troops is versatility; but, like every Jack of all trades, they were master of none.

Renders:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Macedonian Thureophoroi











Ptolemaic Thureophoroi









"Occultus" Thureophoroi

The Peltastai Makedonikoi

The need of heavy, steadfast and sufficiently mobile assault troops in the Hellenistic kingdoms was fulfilled by units like the Peltastai Makedonikoi. This unit's name ressembles that of the unarmoured and pelte-equipped Thracian skirmisher of the fifth century. However, these troops, aside from their name, have little in common with that extremely mobile light infantry unit. They were equipped with reinforced linen and leather thorakes, a heavy shield 60cm in diameter, richly adorned helmets, greaves, good quality blades and a clutch of javelins.

These units were richly adorned, and were made up of the best men the kingdom had to offer: noblemen's sons in their prime physical condition, relentlessly trained to become an elite special unit.

Mindful of the fact that such a heavily outfitted, highly trained unit could not run around the battlefield performing the simpler task of the older Peltastai, the Strategos of the Diadochoi utilized these troops in fortress assaults, where their javelins could pepper wall defenders and their equipment enabled them to fight in such lethal environments. They were also utilized to carry out special tasks, such as exploiting gaps in the enemy line and hitting the enemy hard from their rear or their flank. They were some of the best assault troops available, and could be used as such if the situation called for it.

However, these troops were not as heavily armoured as their cousins, the Hypaspistai, and while both were considered as Agema and belonged to the Basilike Ile or royal squadron, it should not be confused as to what function corresponds to who in the battlefield.

Renders:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Macedonian Peltastai Makedonikoi:









Epirote Peltastai Makedonikoi







Ptolemaic Peltastai Makedonikoi





Seleucid Peltastai Makedonikoi

The Oxybeles

The ΚΑΤΑΠΕΛΤΗΣ ΟΞΥΒΕΛΗΣ (Katapeltes Oxybeles) was an arrow-shooting engine, akin to its stone projector sibling, the Katapeltes Lithoboloi. It was used primarily in sieges, by both the attacking and defending side.

This siege engine represented an evolution from the earlier flexion-based Katapeltes, such as the Gastrophetes or ''belly bow'', The Oxybeles stored the energy to fire its projectiles by the twisting of the ropes installed on its frame. This means that the energy storing mechanism relied not on the flexion of the bow, but on the torsion of sinews or ropes located inside its frame. The energy, after careful aiming of the weapon, was then violently discharged by the katapeltaphetes (catapult operator) by releasing the ratchet's brake. The box over which the arrow rested was then thrown forward, transferring the momentum to the projectile. This differed from other shooting mechanisms where the cord directly impelled the projectile, like the Lithoboloi or Stone Projector.

This machine was designed as a precision shooting Katapeltes, one that could be aimed by the katapeltaphetes at individual soldiers. This precision, along with its potency, was one of the hallmarks of this weapon. Megas Alexandros was reputed to have been knocked down by a projectile launched from such an engine, and Antigonos Monopthalmos owed his surname to one of these devices.

Along with its bigger brothers, such as the Talantaioi Lithoboloi, or ''One Talent Stone Projector'', the Oxybeles formed a substantial part of the siege weapon echelon of assaulting armies, and was instrumental in the defence of cities and fortresses.

Renders:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Signatures

We have yet another gift for you. Lewagal has made a new set of sigs for you to use, using renders from Europa Barbarorum I units. Enjoy!

And today, we have a special gift for you. You probably have seen the new makedonian signatures, such as this one made by Foot. We would like you to create signatures with the following picture:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

(The green background makes the hoplites easier to crop)

We are expecting high-end results such as this sig made by Lewagal. We will open a thread where you can post your works of art, and the winner gets exclusive access to renders of a new undisclosed unit!

We wish you all very good luck!

Voice Mod Commands

Now, we have another surprise, this time from our voicemod team: Hellenic voicemod commands and associated text. Here are some words from Keraunos:

The following .rtf text has all the battle .wavs that you will hear on the battlefield as well as their phonetic representation in plain English. The first of them were transliterated by an American member of our team to get people acquainted with the sounds of Ancient Greek, the second part is by me, and the Ancient Greek text is also provided, in case people want to see the text they listen and hopefully repeat.

Hellenic Voicemod Commands.

The .rtf you see was used in the reconstruction of the five Hellenic voices you hear ingame. It was a truly remarcable feat. I hope you enjoy this and experiment what the voicemod actors did back in that studio. This way you will truly comprehend how difficult Ancient Greek pronunciation was and how different to the Modern Greek equivalent it is.

I hope you enjoy this little surprise from the EB team. Keravnos.

Quote:

Note: It seems that there are some problems with opening the sound files inside the .rtf document. To listen to the voice mod commands, open the file with word pad and right click on a speaker. Then go to "Sound Recorder" from "Object" and hit play.

Special Thanks

Every member's work is fundamental to produce the results we have shown to you today. Historians, researchers, modellers, skinners, voice actors, coders, testers, coordinators, every one of them is important in our team. But we would like to give special thanks to Alin for the beautiful renders, the exquisitely crafted models, and particularly for the Oxybeles model, skin and animation. We would like to thank Leif Erikson too for the marvellous Thureophoroi and Peltastai Makedonikoi skins and textures, and Martellus Flavius for the breathtaking Hoplite skins and textures. We would also like to thank Lewagal for his beautiful signatures, and keravnos for his work on the Hellenic Voicemod Team, part of which we have shown you here today.

We would also like to thank Morgan Casey and Nick Wylie for the great music that we have used on this preview, and The Persian Cataphract for his two amazing new themes: "Baktria Prevails" and "The Age of Fragmentation", which you can hear in the Hoplitai and Peltastai Makedonikoi videos respectively.

Please note that unless stated otherwise, ALL pictures, names, and descriptions shown in our previews are works in progress. We continue to improve on all parts of EB, and we will continue to do so long after our initial release.

As always, if you have questions or comments, the best place to post them is here, where the EB team is most active:

Europa Barbarorum ORG forum

Europa Barbarorum TWC forum

We give special thanks to Image Shack that provides us with a simple, foolproof, and free way to show you all these pictures each week.

Have a great day!

Regards,

The Europa Barbarorum team.

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........

뭐라 할말이 없네효. 엠파이어보다 더 기대 됩니다... 

[ko4756]

언제쯤 나오죠?? 빨리 하고싶은데...

[ds2lie]

이게 나왔을때 나는 엠파이어를 하고 있을 까, 아님 이것을 하고 있을까?

[2차원소년]

아저씨 미소가 해맑은듯한;;

[털보]

휴가때 나오면 할수 있을려나 ㅋㅋ

[막쉬무스]

엠파 스팀이겟다 ㅡㅡ 이것이나 해야겟군,,그나저나 모드 하나나오기 정말오래걸리네

[카이사르 마그누스]

더이상의 프리뷰 보다베타버전이라도 빨리 내놓으란말이다!!!!!!ㅠㅠ

[맨발의청춘]

스킨들 보니 이제 슬~슬~나올때가 임박한듯 보이네여..겐적으로 엠파이어토탈워 보다 더 기대가 된다는... 역시 전투는 치고박고 싸워야 제맛

[고기]

어후..프로젝트들어갈때 제가 첫 릴리즈날짜를 엠파나올때쯤으로 예상했는데 엠파보다 더 늦어지겠네요. 줸장=_=

[비두우카☆]

이건 미디블판 EB모드인가...

[deleosui]

물론 제작자들 나름대론 자기할거하고살면서 틈틈이 열심히 하는거같긴한데..문제는 약올리는거같단 생각이 자꾸 드네요. 참 알수없는 일이죠ㅋㅋ