Jinete

"He brought Daroca under tribute first,
then Molina, which is on the other side,
later Teruel, which was farther along,
in his hand he held Cella del Canal."

— Cantar de Mio Cid

Jinete: Vital statistics
Unit type	Light javelin cavalry
Built/trained at	Stable
Damage and weapon type	Good; javelin
Armour	Mediocre
Production cost	Pop Cost: 1 Resource cost: 60 ; 40 Ramp cost: 1 ; 1
Range	Range: Mediocre LOS: Medium
Unit move and creation speed	Unit movement speed: Quite fast Creation speed: Medium
Unit HP	Low
Technological Requirements; Upgrades	Upgrade of Iberian Rider for Moors; Javelin Cavalry for Spain and Portugal Upgrades to Jinete Skirmisher for Spain and Moors; Mounted Cranequin for Portugal
Factions available

Jinetes mate the speed and rate of fire of normal Mounted Ranger with the attack of javelin cavalry, creating a hard-riding and harder-hitting javelin cavalry unit, that can even be used to attack enemy cavalry, especially knights. This added speed means that in many cases, Jinetes are much better thanks to their mobility than the normal Javelin Cavalry that is used by most factions — you only need to train a few, as opposed to the massive numbers of units required of Javelin Cavalry and Mounted Cranequiniers in order to be effective.

Although Jinetes can be trained by three different factions, how Jinetes can be used vary greatly. For the Moors, these units can be used to deprive an opponent of his heavier components by forming an advance guard, which can then be exploited by the fast-running and hard-hitting Hasham Guard Infantry, giving them a better edge despite their poorer armour. With the Moors' penchant for food and wealth production, it goes without saying that Jinetes and infantry are the mainstay of Moorish power, since you can create hordes of them. For Christians, however, Jinetes can't really be relied upon greatly - the best thing that can be done would be to team them up with Almogavers as a defensive anti-cavalry force. 

The terrain of Iberia which varied between arid deserts and deadly mountain passes meant that whatever military cultures in that area had to be as flexible and innovative as possible. In this environment, javelins were the preferred over bows as the weapon of choice, due to perhaps the geographical diversity of Iberia and North Africa, and most likely because of a lack of wood — a javelin would have remained in a more serviceable condition than an arrow at the end of a fight! Of course, light skirmishing skills are not the sole monopoly of nascent Iberian nation-states: the mountains of Greece and the Balkans are the home to Stradiots. These are horsemen fighting in a style similar as Iberian Jinetes, available as mercenaries to various nations in the Imperial Era, sacrificing sophistication and training for recruitment speed.

Unit summary

• Unique medium cavalry unit with a missile attack, stronger and faster than normal javelin cavalry.
• Big Is Not Beautiful — The strong attack and speed of the Jinete allows it to be used as a counter for any heavy melee unit.
• Light units such as Light Cavalry and Mounted Rangers however can easily fell them, so keep your Jinetes properly escorted at all times.
• Because of the Moors' penchant for generating added food and wealth from farms, Jinetes, alongside Moorish light infantry, are best used in an offensive fashion. Christian factions that have access to Jinetes will discover that they are better used as support or defensive units.
• Journeymen —Stradiots are horsemen fighting in a style similar as Iberian Jinetes, available as mercenaries to various nations in the Imperial Era, and copy the Jinetes, although they have different requirements in order to be created.