Heavy Infantry

All the information below is taken from Chainmail, except where noted:

HEAVY INFANTRY

Type: Normal Person (Human Soldier)

Size: Medium

Morale: 5 (Elite Heavy Infantry has morale 6)

Move: 9" (Charge 12")

Individual Combat: 

- melees according to the weapon used on the individual Melee table; some Heavy Infantry units can also make ranged attacks by throwing axes or spears - see the Traits section below;

- defends according to the armor worn (usual armor category is from 3 to 5) on the individual Melee table and the individual Missile Fire table.

Large-Scale Combat: 

- melees as Heavy Foot on the large-scale Melee table (add an extra die if armed with pike or halberd); some Heavy Infantry units can also make ranged attacks by throwing axes or spears - see the Traits section below;

- defends from melee attacks as Heavy Foot on the large-scale Melee table (but see the trait Pole Arm Defense below) and from ranged attacks on the large-scale Missile Fire table (usually as "half-armor or shield").

Traits:

Thrown Axes or Spears (variant): Units wielding throwing axes, spears or javelins (including Vikings and Saxons) have a 3" range. Their rate of fire is once per turn (as long as they are not in Melee). They may always fire at enemy troops charging them (this probably means they can throw their weapons at chargers even if in the middle of a move). Unlike Archers, they are not capable of indirect fire.

NOTE: Thrown weapons in Individual Combat. The individual Missile Fire table has no information on thrown weapons. There are two ways to solve this problem: 1. treat a thrown weapon attack as a melee attack with the appropriate weapon (see  the individual Melee table) that only lasts one melee turn and can only be answered by other thrown weapons; or 2. treat the thrown weapon attack as a Short Bow attack with a 3" range and that can only be used at short range, as well as the limitations mentioned in the note above.

Impetus Bonus (optional): Heavy Foot units receive an Impetus Bonus when charging into melee across smooth, level terrain or down moderate slopes. These troops add one extra die to their normal number of combat dice.

Pole Arm Defense: Infantry troops formed in a close-order formation with pole arms can only suffer frontal melee casualties from troops armed with weapons that have an equal or greater range. Example: a mounted knight armed with a lance could attack a Halberd formation, but he could not attack a formation of Pikes, which are longer than lances.

Point Cost (army creation): 2 (3 with pike)

Heavy Infantry variants:

Men-at-Arms: Professional, well-armored soldiers (sometimes, but not often, of knightly or noble status) fighting on foot with heavy weapons as the backbone of late medieval infantry forces.

Norman Infantry: Well-equipped foot soldiers of Normandy, often fighting with spear and shield in support of their cavalry-dominated armies.

Saxon Infantry: Can throw weapons. Heavily armed foot troops of Anglo-Saxon England, renowned for their shield wall formations as seen at the Battle of Hastings.

Turkish Infantry: If these troops are Janissaries, they have Morale 7. Close-combat foot soldiers from Turkic states, typically less prominent than their cavalry but effective in supporting roles.

Viking Infantry: Can throw weapons. Scandinavian warriors of the early medieval period, fighting as heavily armed raiders and shield wall infantry during the Viking Age.

NOTE: Examples of Heavy infantry. Chainmail lists Levies as examples of Heavy Infantry. I intentionally left Levies out here because I intend to give them their own entry.