> Instead of cavalry, how about chariots? Maybe with enclosed bodies
Wheels on watercraft not generally advised, for the reason you note. Extra drag means lower water speed.
Getting stuck in soft mud would be bad; chariots are useful because of their mobility; lacking that, they'd be a high priority target for nearby infantry, eager to get a chance to chop the snot out of the people who normally give them so much grief and so few opportunities for payback. Much the same way cavalry look for archery formations that are not hiding behind screening troops or fixed defenses, no doubt...
Ducks on small magical hovercraft of some sort, would be interesting... Powered by some sort of limited elevation flight spell, no doubt. Allows them mobility over water, mud, and dry ground...
Real hovercraft, though, present their own problems at fighting platforms. One of the things that make cavalry effective is the additional impact energy from the weight of the mount being added to that of the fighter, and part of what makes that effective the mount's firm contact with the surface. Hovercraft still have a lot of intertial energy, but because they lack solid contact with the surface, they can't turn as quickly, and they tend to bounce when they hit things. The collision is a lot more elastic than that of a vehicle or mount actually on the surface.
(sea-born rams have the same problem, but water is much thicker than air, so sea-born vehicles tend to bounce a lot less than airborne ones.)
In the real world, you can't mount large weapons on such a platform, either, as recoil tends to make them skitter, playing hob with navigation and follow-up shots, and possibly driving the shooter's vehicle into their neighbors in the formation-not practical for a cavalry charge. You'd get one shot, and then spend several minutes getting the craft back under control and on course. Again, useful if you can use it as a mobility increaser, but you'd have a heck of a time shooting on the move. Of course, if we're talking magic, you might as well make the spell a little more complex and build in recoil absorption mechanism into it to eliminate that problem.
That sort of complex magic would make them fairly rare, though... And expensive.
Grimmund
--
"Your reality, sir, is lies and balderdash, and I am delighted to say
that I have no grasp of it, whatsoever!" - Baron Munchausen
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