Civ Concept: Sardinians

[Average Concept Enjoyer]

Been a while since I did my Judeans concept. Been very busy looking for other civilizations that could be fun for the game, and after 5 months, I finally got something.

From their lonely but fertile island that which gave them their name, the Sardinians are believed to have been the descendants of the dreaded Sherden sea peoples roughly a millennia before the Punic Wars. Sardinians were well known for, among other things: their foreboding Nuraghe towers, their love for fighting matches, and their expertise at sea. Although initially hostile to Carthage, the Sardinians became one of their most trusted allies against Rome. This did not last for long, however, as Rome conquered Sardinia during the First Punic War. Their last gasp was an unsuccessful rebellion in 215 BC.

 

Like my Judeans concept, The Sardinians are defensive focused, but depending on the map they can either be good for booming or turtling. Their team bonus, People of the Sea, removes the population requirement of fishing ships and arrow ships. Sardinians lack any good civ bonuses but make up for it with their techs. Obscure Legacy, giving all of their military units a bonus against heroes, but cannot train heroes of their own. Their second and more fun trait is Nuragic Civilization: All arrow tower techs are researched at the start of the game. The Sardinians have a lot of unique technologies, and can lead to some fun combinations. Harpoons (fleet) further improves the gather rate of fishing ships by 1/second, and allow arrow ships to slow down other ships. Harpoons (army) allow javelin men to slow down units by 10 walk and running speed (does not affect siege units). Ritualistic wrestling allows CCs and defensive buildings (except walls) the ability to improve the experience of soldiers in them, similar to a barracks or stables. And finally, Sherden Tactics allow melee infantry to "scare" enemy units, reducing their attack by 20% for 5 seconds. This does not stack.

 

The Sardinians were best known for their Nuraghe Towers, which modern archaeologists have discovered 7,000 in Sardinia alone. Nuraghe towers are the Sardinian's signature building, replacing the fortress and are ofc able to improve the exp of units that are garrisoned in them. Nuraghe towers are also a territory root, and can be built in neutral territory. Their other unique building is the fighting pit. The fighting pit, despite their unique appearance and name, have the same function of a theatre, without being a theatre. They have 5 population houses only.

 

The Sardinians have an unremarkable unit roster, with a slight emphasis on ranged troops. Village phase units are a spearman, skirmisher infantry, and a sword cavalry. Their Town Phase is a sword infantry, archer, and slinger. Their Champions are a sword infantry and an archer infantry that can set units on fire, similar to the Iberian skirmish cavalry champion. Their only siege equipment is a ram. Their only warship is an arrow ship.

[Average Concept Enjoyer]

I had realized I completely forgot to describe the weapons and armor of the Sardinians, so this is part 2 electric boogaloo.

What we understand of the Sardinian forces comes almost exclusively from what we find in the Nuraghe towers. Ptolemy II only does a brief mention of them in his works, and despite extensive contact between the two superpowers, neither Carthage or Rome wrote anything down about them. However, several unusual sources do describe the Sardinians in more extensive detail.

 

Across most of the northern half of Egypt there are many reliefs detailing Egypt's fight against the Sea Peoples, namely the Denyen, Peleset, and the Sherden. These reliefs provide copious amounts of detail as to what the Sherden wore, and being on an isolated Island until the rise of Rome and Carthage, we can assume that the Sardinians wore similar or nearly identical gear to the Sherden by the time of the Punic Wars.

 

Two of the most important details were horned helmets and a unique bronze chest plate that appeared like wrappings around the warrior. While horns on helmets are often dismissed as works of fiction (especially when it comes from sources notorious for being propaganda), archaeologists have also found Bronze Statuettes on the island of Sardinia depicting soldiers with horns on their heads. This could easily be dismissed as something of a religious symbol, but both the homeland and an invaded people depicting the same warriors with helmets on their heads would give me reason to believe they did have horns on their helmets.

 

Another thing is their shields. Unlike most other shields of the bronze and iron age, Sardinian shields appeared to have bosses or even a spike on their shield. I also believe this could be true and not fiction, but there hasn't been anything else I could find on this. One last thing to note though is that one of the Nuragic bronze statuettes depict the warrior holding swords on his shield. Just a neat detail.

 

Besides Bronze armor, They might've used leather armor as well, in the form of a simple corselet, or even protecting the thighs as well. Again, I can't find much else on the matter. Their swords appeared to be typical of Bronze age swords of the time, as would've been spears, bows, and javelins.

[Obelix]

16 hours ago, Average Concept Enjoyer said:

Been a while since I did my Judeans concept.