Woodmaidens

Battlefield Role: Improvised Light Infantry

Weapons: A Handaxe and a round shield.

Outfit: Their own clothes. Usually including a leather coat, gloves and boots. All their equipment is stuff they bring from their homes.

Skill level: Bare basic.

Affiliation: Every region of Arandolia can muster them.

Doctrine: Reservist Militia

Strengths: Axes are splendid weapons for taking down better armored infantry foes, especially effective at shattering shields.

Weaknesses: They are not properly trained full-time warrioresses! They do not have neither the physical nor the mental preparation to withstand prolonged fights against professional soldiers.

Woodmaidens are mere warbands of commoners, who are assembled from the countryside peasantry at woodland areas as reservists and only called upon in times of war. They usually do have some varying degree of military training or combat experience, but not up to the same extent of Spearmaidens, Swordmaidens or actual Axemaidens. Their only duty is to bolster the standing armies of their own home regions in case of an imminent invasion, so they aren't by any means full time soldiers.

Those humble foragers, woodcutters, lumberjacks, fishers and shepherds fight only to defend their homes and families, hardly ever being sent on foreign military campaigns. Although their woodcutting axes can double quite well as improvised weapons and are quite able to chop a skull just like a log, they are not designed for war, and neither are their wielders.

A Woodmaiden may very well bring down a fully armoured foe using just the sheer blunt force of her axe if she is particularly lucky or if her side vastly outnumbers the enemy ranks. But truth be told, in a fair fight, those humble countryside peasentry will be butchered by any properly trained soldiers who face them.

Woodmaidens therefore simply do not have the mental fortitude or the skills of a disciplined warrior. They can cause some serious damage with their sizeable numbers and dangerous axeheads, but they can't hold a line like actual soldiers do. If assigned to fight a prolonged melee confrontation against better trained units that vastly outnumber them, they will eventually start to fall, losing their resolve rather quickly.

All taken into account, any amazon general who calls upon these reservists to fight must always bear in mind that Woodmaidens are great troops to charge and overwhelm outnumbered enemies, but they are not to be expected to fight like real soldiers! If not properly supported by allied professional infantry or covered by friendly archers, a woodmaiden warband shall drop their shields and flee at the first sign of defeat.