I understood that Roman legions would stand, shield overlapping and pila pointing forwards, to receive charges by cavalry, the theory being that horses are not generally so stupid (all scenes in Braveheart to the contrary) as to run headlong into into a mass that appears solid and pointy. This would not seem to work against the couched 12-foot lance of medieval times. I think that the legion had pretty much deteriorated in training by the time that cataphracts made their first appearances. Is that right? If not, is there any record of them facing off? Assuming that real world cataphractoi had no stirrups, would the result change if they did (since the stirrup is apprently widely known in Glorantha)?
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