The Cavalry Thread

[attackfighter]

Oh wait nevermind lol, I just watched people shooting bows on youtube and I guess once per 5 seconds is a good number

 

[Steph]

I think one every 15 seconds is reasonnable for well less trained archer units.

Especially if you want to aim a little, and don't forget pulling a strong bow is straining for the arm, and you cannot keep a high rate very long.

 

[Yeekim]

and you cannot keep a high rate very long.

Seems quite irrelevant when we take previous calculations into account.

 

[GinandTonic]

I would imagine cavalry riding down on you bristling with sharp objects would be quite a motivation.

 

[Ajidica]

Or it would simply unnerve you enough to throw your aim off. Thats one of the reasons heavy (or even light) cavalry were so effective. Even well trained troops would likely be unnerved to say the least when you have a massed cavalry charge comming at you with the ground vibrating from their charge. I saw this one BBC show (I think it was Battlefield Britain) where they had a person stand in a field and have cavalry charge past him by about 10 feet without weapon drawn. The guys heart rate skyrocketed.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Yeah, you'd have to be completely positive that the charge will be stopped to not get out of its way. Pikemen must have had balls of steel, I think their courage is really underrepresented.

 

[Ajidica]

It also helps when you have (lots!) of 18ft long spears packed together like sardines. Even if they wanted to run they couldn't.

 

[Phrossack]

Another question- the Polish heavy hussars of the 17th century seem to have had an interesting habit of winning against overwhelming numbers, including against troops armed with firearms. How'd they do it?

 

[Lord Baal]

Another question- the Polish heavy hussars of the 17th century seem to have had an interesting habit of winning against overwhelming numbers, including against troops armed with firearms. How'd they do it?

They didn't do too well when the Poles charged them at tanks.

@Cheezy: Regarding the bravery of pikemen, I once read that a great deal of battlefield bravery actually comes from the fact that fear of being disgraced is greater than the fear of death. While it's a massive over-simplification, I don't think it's that wrong, especially in non-professional militaries. In that situation, no pikemen is going to want to be the first to break formation.

 

[ParkCungHee]

It certainly applis to non-professionals. Because everyone around you is non-proffesional as well, and it seems like everyone around you seems to be holding up. Also, keep in mind that in Medievel Combat theres no easy way to excuse yourself. In modern combat there may be numerous excuses to where you are in the battlefield, in medievel combat this essentially requires shoving aside your compatriots.

 

[Dachs]

If I ever get around to finishing that Gustav Adolf series, I'd probably make a point about how the proportion of pikemen declined in all armies over the course of the Thirty Years' War - but not because commanders wanted more firepower, but because there were fewer and fewer trained pikemen available. Takes a lot of drilling to get a man to be where he's supposed to be in line (or square) of battle when horses or lots of men or whatever are charging at him (or he at them) and he can't do a damn thing about it until they are literally close enough to touch each other.