Papal units are an exclusive army for the Italians. These units can be obtained through shipments from the Basilica or the Home City Cards. They are automatically upgraded through the Fortress, Industrial and Imperial Age. Papal units benefit from Arsenal technologies, Church Technologies, Infantry and Cavalry City Cards and from Native Post Technologies depending on their unit type. They combine useful support abilities with solid combat stats, making them a versatile force on the battlefield for the Italian army in the mid and late game.
All Papal units are shipped in different batches and they cost 300 300 300. These units are queued to the list of incoming shipments if there are already shipments requested.

Papal units are especially strong in the late game, when more experience is required to send shipments from the Home City and therefore fewer shipments are available. At this point, you can ship additional powerful units from the Basilica with no aditionally shipment queue time, to reinforce your army from a secondary building, while you continue training troops from your Barracks and Stables.

Updated 14/11/2025: Introduction of strategies with Papal units.

The Papal Arsenal is an exclusive Italian Home City card that makes Basilica shipments arrive 33% faster and grants additional special abilities to Papal units. The Papal Guard gains the Pistol Attack ability, Papal Lancer gains the Lance Charge ability, Papal Zouave gains the Carbine Attack ability and the Papal Bombard gains the Holy Fire ability.

Papal hand infantry that protects nearby allies by absorbing some of the inflicted damage. Can hook enemies with his halberd to slow them down.

300 300 300 1 - Shipment of 7
220 4.25 0.20% Ranged - Available:
Melee attack: 13 1.5 x 3.5 x 2.5
Siege attack: 17 6 3.0



Deflection: Absorb 25% of the damage inflicted to nearby allies.


Pistol Attack: The Papal Guard fires a pistol which deals 26 ranged damage (×3.5 against cavalry, ×2.5 against shock infantry) and has a maximum range of 12. Requires the Papal Arsenal shipment.

Halberd Attack: The Papal Guard attacks the enemy with his halberd, which deals 13 hand damage (×3.5 against cavalry, ×2.5 against shock infantry), has a range of 5, area damage of 1, and snares the enemy.
Health Regeneration: Regenerates hitpoints when idle 0.25% per second after 3.5 seconds idle.


The Papal Guard is a great support unit for other melee infantry and cavalry units because they absorb a large amount of both ranged and melee damage, increasing the survivability of other units in combat. It is commonly seen with the Papal Company shipment and surprisingly serves as an excellent unit for breaking through enemy formations. They are useful for large-scale sieges, protecting other units with higher siege damage, such as Halberdiers or Musketeers.

Specialized Light Infantry that only counters other Light Infantry, but does so very effectively.

300 300 300 1 - Shipment of 7
120 4.0 0.30% Ranged - Available:
Ranged attack: 13 18 3.0 x 2.5 x 1.25 x 0.60 x 0.60
Melee attack: 16 1.5 x 0.75 x 0.75
Siege attack: 12 6 3.0
The Schiavone is a good anti-skirmisher unit. However, it has very few hitpoints and a single, but strong bonus against one type of unit, being a very situational infantry against armies composed of skirmishers. Because of this, it is not commonly used in matches.

Also, the Schiavone’s shipping cost is very high considering the number of units delivered and the benefit-cost ratio they represent for your army.

Papal heavy cavalry that absorbs some of the damage inflicted to nearby allies. Counters all Infantry.

300 300 300 3 - Shipment of 3
700 6.0 0.30% Ranged - Available:
Melee attack: 30 1.5 x 1.5
Trample attack: 20 2.0 3
Siege attack: 30 6 3.0



Deflection: Absorb 25% of the damage inflicted to nearby allies.


Lance Charge: The Papal Lancer charges at the enemy with his lance, which deals 60 damage (90 against infantry), has a range of 4, and an Area of Effect of 4. Requires the Papal Arsenal shipment.

Health Regeneration: Regenerates hitpoints when idle 0.25% per second after 3.5 seconds idle.


The Papal Lancer is a defensive heavy cavalry unit with an excellent amount of hit points, good ranged defense, and a decent melee attack. It functions similarly to the Elmeti mercenary unit but has lower attack, a reduced bonus against infantry, and a lower population cost. Due to they lower attack bonus against infantry and also more hit points than an average lance cavalry unit, the Papal Lancer performs better as a defensive shock unit, protecting other units by absorbing damage with its ability.

The Papal Lancer is one of the most common papal shipments in matches, along with the Papal Zouaves, because they are units with high hit points, powerful combat abilities, and with decent attack.

Papal ranged infantry with high hitpoints that absorbs some of the damage inflicted to nearby allies. Performs well against all units. Countered by Artillery.

300 300 300 2 - Shipment of 4
300 5.0 0.40% Ranged - Available:
Ranged attack: 32 20 3.0
Melee attack: 20 1.5
Siege attack: 17 6 3.0


Deflection: Absorb 25% of the damage inflicted to nearby allies.


Health Regeneration: Regenerates hitpoints when idle 0.25% per second after 3.5 seconds idle.

Carbine Attack: The Papal Zouave fires a single shot from his carbine rifle which deals 64 damage from a range of 25. Requires the Papal Arsenal shipment.


The Papal Zouaves are a great infantry unit with high hit points, a long attack range, and strong ranged defense. They are an excellent support unit for other ranged units because they effectively absorb ranged damage and take no extra damage from light infantry units, as they are not classified as heavy infantry. They are only vulnerable to artillery and lance cavalry.

Papal Artillery that absorbs some of the damage inflicted to your nearby Artillery. Good against Infantry.

8 - Obtainable with Factory or Shipments.
600 2.5 0.75% Ranged - Available:
Bombard attack: 430 28 7.0 4 x 0.75 x 0.75 x 0.5



Deflection: Absorb 25% of the damage inflicted to nearby allies.


Holy Fire: he Papal Bombard fires an incendiary projectile which deals 430 damage (0.5x against Artillery and Arrow Knights, 0.75x against cavalry and shock infantry. Has a maximum range of 28 and an Area of Effect of 7. Cooldown of 60 seconds. Requires the Papal Arsenal shipment.

As with other Papal units, the Papal Bombard will serve to protect other units by absorbing some of the damage. In this case, it will protect other ranged units, including artillery. It is worth saying that it is not necessary to position your artillery too close to this unit to get the defense buff, this is intended to prevent allied artillery from taking area damage from enemy anti-artillery units or even melee area damage.

There are actually few cards available for a Papal army build. However, there are three mercenary shipments that include Papal units. In the Commerce Age (II), you can send two of these shipments: the Broken Lance Company, which grants 3 Papal Lancers, or the Croatian Company, which grants 7 Schiavoni.

Personally, I recommend the Broken Lance Company over the Croatian Company due to its cost-effectiveness and its greater strategic value for rushing Settlers or providing quick attack power in the early game. For this build, the Papal Arsenal card is essential to further improve the combat effectiveness of these units, as well as to reduce their shipment time from 60 seconds to only 40 second per shipment. Finally, in the Industrial Age (IV), you can send the Papal Company to receive 18 Papal Guards and 3 Papal Bombards, further increasing your Papal unit army.

This deck is balanced between military and economic shipments, with two Papal Units shipments, the most important of the two being the Papal Company. As well, it includes cards that improve cavalry combat and infantry hitpoints for Royal Guards, Schiavoni, and Papal Zouaves.


Croatian Company: Ships 6 Crabats and 7 Schiavoni.
Shipment cost: 300 300 wood 300 coin

Broken Lance Company: Ships 3 Papal Lancers and 1 Stradiot.
Shipment cost: 300 300 300

Ships 18 Papal Guards and 3 Papal Bombards.
Shipment cost: 1000 1000 1000

Many civilizations with access to the Brazilian Revolution can benefit greatly from the Brazilian Importers card through the fast shipments it provides combined with infinite unit shipments. In the case of the Italians, this card combined with the Papal Arsenal card makes it possible to spam all Papal unit shipments every 6 seconds per shipment.
In this strategy, it is possible to build an army of Papal units in just a few minutes, with also improved combat abilities, especially with Papal Lancers to quickly counter infantry forces and overwhelm the opponent.

Brazilian Importers
Ships 4 Infrastructure Wagons. All future shipments arrive in 10 seconds.
This last condition will allow us to spam Papal units in the late game.

Before revolting it's very important to send the Papal Arsenal card first and to have a well-established economy with Lombards and a Factory in order to sustain multiple consecutive shipments of Papal units such as Papal Lancers or even Papal Zouaves.

The Pistol Attack ability of the Papal Guards deals melee damage instead of ranged damage, as it normally should. This change allows them to deal a good amount of damage to artillery units such as falconets and culverins while ignoring their armor and without having to engage them in close combat.
Obviously, to use this strategy you need the Papal Arsenal card to unlock the pistol ability for the Papal Guard.