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Author Topic: How to disable and defeat a charging horse using a spear or alternatives  (Read 11649 times)

Fedor

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How to deal with a charging horse? 

There are four ways that come to mind.

1.  Shoot it before it gets to you.  Every horse that falls in front of your battleline is one more obstacle for other enemies to cope with.
2.  Be in terrain difficult by nature.  Forests, marshes, rough ground, hills, gullies - charging heavy cavalry doesn't like any of them.
3.  Improve the ground.  A row of forward-facing spears, a palisade of felled trees, caltrops, a thorn hedge, a ditch - give good infantry knowledge of the expected charge direction and just a few minutes warning, and they can do amazing things.
4.  Brace as a unit for impact - don't run or dodge.  Yeah, horses have a lot of momentum - more than enough to knock down any single man.  But that's why spear infantry pack close together, each soldier bodily supporting the ones in front and beside him.  Soldiers in such a unit must never run or dodge, as that breaks unit physical cohesion, which is what stops a charging horse.
5.  Dodge and slash - but don't run. If your military role is the light infantry or missile troops, then your fellow soldiers are not trained to stand ground and help you stop the horse.  Your only option is to get out of the way and try to attack from the side.  This is not a very good plan, but it's the only plan you've got left.
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Fedor Andreev is a citizen of the Federated Endeavor. He is a member of the Wandering Minds.
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