​Battlefield Role: Ranged Heavy Infantry
Weapons: A stocky multipurpose steel crossbow, designed with an inbuilt gearbox that allows the weapon to use different preset levels of tensile power. That, and enough bolts to never run out of ammo.
Outfit: Steel pieces over a padded gambeson.
Skill level: Marksmanship at long and short range.
Affiliation: The Dwarfholds of Iridia
Doctrine: Bellona's Way of the Warmaiden (adapted to dwarves)
Strengths: Versatility of projectile strength and ease to hide behind cover makes them a nightmare in any shootout.
Weaknesses: They are not properly equipped to engage in melee combat, and their stubby legs aren't great at running away either.
Iridian Crossbowmaidens
As dwarven amazons have rather short arms, they have never been great at wielding usual bows. For a long time, they resorted to throwing axes and javelins as the only ranged weapons wielded by their kin. Until, of course, their inherent ingenuity revolutionized the use of the perfect ranged weapon for them.
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Dwarven-made Crossbows might not be the fastest, fiercest or cheapest crossbows produced in Arandolia, but they certainly are the most versatile projectile weapon one can possibly find. Built of a sturdy oaken core reinforced with steel bracing, the weapon relly on a massively powerful bow made of the finest spring steel, while an inbuilt gearbox regulates the reloading and locking mechanism to allow the shooter to adjust the tension power of the weapon on the fly as they see fit.
This means Dwarven Crossbowmaidens can shoot slow-loading devastating armour-piercing shots, highly-precise balanced shots or really light and fast quickshots, as well as anything in between. All they have to do is to swiftly adjust the intensity of the tension power to whatever will most effectivelly take down their next targets before loading their next bolt on the weapon, and the foe will hit the ground as easy as that.
Moreover, due to their small sizes and thick armour, Dwarven Crossbowmaidens are naturally hard targets to hit, and even hardest targets to kill. Almost any low wall or turned-over piece of furniture already serves as full cover for them during a shootout, while other amazons carrying shields can easily protect them from enemy missiles.
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As such, while the first and second lines of any Iridian Dwarfhold's army are usually an Axemaiden shieldwall, the next lines is composed by Crossbowmaidens shooting right over their heads. What the dwarves lack in battlefield mobility, they compensate with their range and solid defense, making Iridia one of the worse amazon enemies to face in battle.