I'm certain that someone asked me about ratha tactics - specifically for the Magadha & Maurya empires. But I can't find the post now. So I'm putting the info here - it's an appropriate spot anyway, & hopefully they will see it. The information is primarily from
War In Ancient India by V. R. R. Dikshitar. I also consulted
Ancient Indian Warfare by Sarva Daman Singh.
Both empires originated in the Magadha region - so their military culture is very similar.
Indian armies were not arranged like modern units - a platoon of infantry or a cavalry troop, for example. Instead they are more like combined arms units. Following the guidelines in ancient texts such as the Arthashastra ( the Indian equivalent of Machiavellis Prince, written by Kautilya, the Mauryan prime minister in 4th c. BCE), the fundamental grouping would be 1 ratha, 10 elephants, 10 cavalry and 50 infantry, all under a single commander. Each ratha had an identifying totemic device atop its chattra (parasol), similar to the standards of the early Roman Legions.* This was probably meant to uniquely identify the units, as well as being a heraldic device for the kshatrya in the ratha.
Ajatasatru, the Magadhan ruler contemporary to Buddha, commanded his armies from the field riding a ratha. This was fairly standard practice for all Indian rulers. It was customary to take chariots, amongst other war machines, as spoils, and this happened to him when he was defeated by a neighboring king. Some rathas have been described as made of iron which probably refers to the frames, overlaid with decorated wooden panels. A valuable material prize in addition to the prestige won and lost. foot soldiers were also often captured as part of the spoils.
Horses were used for speed, rather than endurance. Oxen were used to pull the ratha to the battlefield. The ratha's tactical function was to respond to rapid changes on the field, such as attacking weak points, turning routs, breaking through lines for rear attacks, and engaging the opposing chariots - the vehicles of commanders as well as elite archers.
Despite its speed, the ratha could be easily neutralized by difficult ground. A primary factor in Porus defeat by Alexander at the Hydaspses was the loss of the chariots in a preliminary engagement due to boggy ground near the river.
Based on this information Id suggest that the ratha
- be fast - faster than cavalry
- have good attack numbers, balanced by low defense
- have defensive bombard capability to represent both that it is an archer unit & its role in turning back attacks
- capture/enslave opponents to a low level foot unit
- be terrain limited
- be costly enough to be rare (maybe autoproduce as a veteran?)
Another way to use them would be as an army type unit, representing the combined arms aspect.
*@ Quinzy - maybe there could be a little set of spread wings added to the plain knob atop the chattra, representing Garuda as the paragon of swift vehicles. Or is that too detailed for the scale of units?