Me:
>Yes. Or Clibinari. Boiler boys. They are heavily armoured, though not in
>plate. They are very strong in the charge and use large horses, bigger than
>anything seen in Peloria until they arrived. Their tradition is one of
shock action.
I just wanted to clarify this slightly. When I refer to cataphracti, the common model for them is the Byzantine period cataphracti. However, this is not a suitable analogy for the Carmanians who are armoured in a similar way to the Cataphracti but actually deploy tactically in a very different fashion.
The Byzantine Cataphract or "Kataphraktoi" actually closed at a slow trot and engaged in a grinding, attritional close combat, relying on heavy armour and nasty weaponry (mostly maces) and training to literally crunch their way through the enemy line. Once the pentratation was achieved, the lighter lancers and other horsemen would continue the pursuit.
The Carmanians use the lance as the primary shock weapon and contact at the gallop. Their formation is usually less rigid than the typical Kataphraktoi wedge and does not contain the lighter troops, escpecially horse archers, common to a Byzantine formation (during the Kataphraktoi period of the 10th century that is)
Martin Laurie
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