My mails arrive always late, so if I seem to flog a dead horse, it
is just my server who does not want to see them go.
First, the off-topic. Andy Weill, my mails to you are bouncing back,
and Hiarne has been ressurrected. Please contact me.
I have seen several people thinking that a knight's charge is
unstoppable, and that they were the best cavalry ever. Well, I'll try to
disagree while keeping this gloranthan.
First, let's see what kinds of cavalry we have:
- Light Archers. The mainstay of RW nomad armies. You shoot anything
that moves while trying to keep out of melee. In Prax the Impala tribe is
almost wholly made of this, but they will be most of the Char-Un, the
Pentians, and possibly the Sables.
- Light Cavalry. Unarmored, fast mounts with unarmored riders and
with melee weapons (lances, javelins). Used against the former, and also as
raiders, explorers and reconnaissance. Good light archers can double as
this, charging weakened or demoralized foes. Elite troops of the above can
double as both. Lunars have regiments of this troops, to cover vanguards and
flanks. The irregular, non-bow nomads will be also of this type.
- Heavy Archers. Adding armour to horse archers seems like a good
idea but usually fail. The loss of speed more than counters the added
protection. Only armies with ritualized war, or long centuries of peace and
theoretical development will have these. Kralorela is the obvious choice.
- Heavy cavalry. More or less armored riders, but who don't avoid
contact (as light cavalry will), charging the enemy. Sartarite and most
Lunar cavalry will be this type. Usually javelins will be used before
contact, and then the sword will be used in the melee. The best ones will
use lances, as the bison, high llama, noble members of all the other nomads
(noble meaning capable of affording decent armour and a bigger mount).
- Extra heavy cavalry. Armored riders on armoured horses. Usually
they fight in close ranks, as they cannot afford to gallop anyway. The only
cavalry resistant to missiles. Usually armed with lances. I would place them
in Carmania and perhaps in Loskalm.
- Knights. A mixture of armour types, although all heavy, and
usually only a quilted caparison for the mount. They only use melee weapons,
beginning with the lance. They charge at the gallop, usually arriving
disordered but with a heavy impact. Drill is unexistant. Lots in Genertela,
from the rhino and heaviest bison and high llama to the malkioni knights,
passing by the carmanian non regular hazars.
- Mixed. I have already talked about the Light cavalry/archers (like
RW huns or mongols). Other types are Extra heavy cavalry/Archers (in the RW
used by sassanids, byzantines, turks and mongols), the Rolls Royce of
cavalry, but needing a lifetime of training. I don't know if someone,
somewhere has this, but I fear it should be the Kingdom of War. Heavy
cavalry/archers will be the elite grazers and pentians, who always have the
choice of shooting or charging.
- Hobilars. In modern times called dragoons. Troops who ride mounted
in battle, but fight on foot. Most barbarian riders will be of these, as are
some Lunar regiments. The Loskalmi infantry can also be mounted for quick
deployment.
The difference between heavy cavalry and knights is one of
mentality. The heavy cavalry know they can't beat everibody, so they are
ready to break away from melee, or even avoid it. Knights charge with
confidence, at the maximum speed, possible, with no thought to avoidance or
caution.
Extraheavy cavalry, just because they charge at a trot, think and
fight in a wholly different way.
Of all this kinds, only extraheavy cavalry or knights have a chance
of breaking a good order hoplite line, and only some special knights
(rhinos, heavily magic charged westerners) have a small chance against a
formed phalanx.
So the trick is to disorder the infantry before you charge (magic or
missiles) or to charge several sides at the same time. That is the problem
with knights, they need someone else to do the disordering for them. A good
archer army will disorder you and then charge from two or more sides, but
they seldom lose, after all.
Maybe magic makes things different, but not wholly so. Personal
magics will be used prior to the charge, or in compromised shots. Regimental
magic is mostly deffensive in nature, with the offensive magic in hands of
the specialists. And as someone said, most of this magic is either to
frighten or to break the enemy units, or for surgical attacks against
officers or commanders. The cratermakers or Cragspider's pillar are like
modern day nukes. You can do nothing about them, you just trust you are not
a target.
Jose