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[Sheb]

The last update said we had "30 Mounted Prisoners Militia", so we can assume we got horses. The main problem are weapons, since we don't have any. Should we ask the Saitae? Sell some horses to buy weapons? Try to steal some? Ask our brother if he can arrang eus some weapons (he is an officer after all)?

If we could get bows, we could keep our men away from troubles' way.

I think we should keep all of our men. The Thracians are good warrior (aren't they the dude that forced the roman to change their armor?), the Dacian peasants are probably competent archer (I think guerilla warfare just means they took to the wood and survived there, attacking roman whenever possible. We should still question them though) as for the Greek, even if they have little experience of combat can act as arrow fodder. More importantly, they are fluent in Latin, and we could use them to infiltrate the Roman camp. The same camp that is full of weapons and armor...

[Dsarker]

Yeah, the Thracians were the guys who caused the romans to change their armour. Using Falxes. Which you don't have.

Using bows will be counter productive. The Romans will just form a testudo. If we had lances, that would be a good thing, but it doesn't appear we do.

Infiltrating the Romans' camp? Seriously? We don't have the passphrase, which the Romans will most certainly have.

[Sheb]

Well, the greek may have it. They were serving the Roman until a few days ago. Plus I'm sure they have no passphrase, it'd be too much of a mess with thousands of people running around. Especially if they are auxilliaries, many of which may not even speak Latin.

As for Tetsudoes, if they form one, getting them not to be able to kill us is already fine. Plus you're forgetting we won't be fighting on our own. I'm sure our lords will be more than happy to crush that Tetsudo.

[Dsarker]

Well, the greek may have it. They were serving the Roman until a few days ago. Plus I'm sure they have no passphrase, it'd be too much of a mess with thousands of people running around. Especially if they are auxilliaries, many of which may not even speak Latin.

As for Tetsudoes, if they form one, getting them not to be able to kill us is already fine. Plus you're forgetting we won't be fighting on our own. I'm sure our lords will be more than happy to crush that Tetsudo.

Why would it be too much of a mess? How many of the six thousand in a legion would be entering or leaving? And if they are auxilliaries, then the problem is even worse. They will probably have a passphrase as well, and in this case we have no chance of knowing what it is or how to say it.

Oh, but they'll be able to switch to pila. And then we will be at the disadvantage.

[Sheb]

Roman aren't invicible. I'd suggest you look at the battle of Carrhae. I just want us to play the light archer's role, while the Saitae and his men play the cataphract's.

[Dsarker]

Okay, when you find us a way to strand the Romans in the open desert, and reliant on supply lines. Oh, and make sure that the Roman general is a merchant, too, that seems to help. At the moment, we seem to be dealing with an entrenched enemy, with relatively short supply lines.

Oh, and I forgot: we'll need bigger horses then. The Scythians used smaller ones for combat.

[Sheb]

The basic of the tactic will still work. Except if we engage them in the forest, "Shoot at them as long as they are not in Tetsudo and charge them if they are" Always work. And if we ever come to sieging their camp, we'll find a way to stay alive.

Basically, every army can use a small group of highly mobile horse archers. So we should be that.

[Yoink]

Err, I know our people are mostly skilled with horses, but half of our new-found chums would probably fall off and break their necks trying to chase or outrun someone.
I say, we find out how many skilled horsemen we have, and THEN decide what to do with these horses.

[Dsarker]

The basic of the tactic will still work. Except if we engage them in the forest, "Shoot at them as long as they are not in Tetsudo and charge them if they are" Always work. And if we ever come to sieging their camp, we'll find a way to stay alive.

Basically, every army can use a small group of highly mobile horse archers. So we should be that.

Not necessarily. If they decide to use their cavalry forces, they will be just as mobile as us, with the added benefits of real combat experience, in and out of the saddle, armour, and better weapons.

[Sheb]

Much less experience than us. (And by us I do not mean the 30-odd prisoners, but the whole army) and look up the wikipedia article: the Romans had 8,000 cavalry at Carrhae, and it didn't do them much good: they don't have horse archers, and their horses are not armored. In the end, they are just big target for our bows.

What we should do is set up our men as a light scouting force, and train them to do the Parthian shot. As for the business of destroying the roman camp and using our platoon, it is up to our leaders and the rest of the army.

[Dsarker]

Parthian shot being a Parthian thing, not a Scythian thing. We're more for ambushes, we Scythians.

Oh, and why are our prisoners so...calm? At least the Greeks would know a bit about Scythian practices. Such as, for example, our winter coats...made out of scalps we have taken in battle. Or our quivers, made of human skin.

[Sheb]

This tactic was used by most Eurasian nomads, including the Scythians, Huns, Turks, Magyars, and Mongols, and it eventually spread to armies away from the Eurasian steppe, such as the Sassanid clibanariis and cataphracts.

A notable battle in which this tactic was employed (by the Parthians) was the Battle of Carrhae. In this battle the Parthian shot was a principal factor in the Parthian victory over the Roman general Crassus.

It is worth training our troops in it. Anyway, I doubt we could do that before the attack later today. We should find out if any of them can use a bow, and ask them what weapons they are familiar with. No time to train them yet. And ask the Greeks if they could get us into the Roman camp. Or help us get Roman gear.

[Dsarker]

As I have previously stated, that act is most likely impossible, if not a trap in the first place. Have you questioned why several slaves who know Latin and aren't Roman, and aren't soldiers, are out here in the first place? And more to the point, why is the doctor here?

[Sheb]

Because they were part of a convoy that got attacked? And all the Roman got killed already?

We should question them, but I don't think they are spies. Anyway, what would you suggest?

[Dsarker]

We can't trust them. It would have been much better to have killed them.