green beanie | 05 Jan 2016 8:37 p.m. PST |
I have seen these figures and wondered, do you gamers use them as dragoons ( ride to the fight and dismount to shoot) or do you use them as cavalry ( firing from the horse)? I know Henry V used mounted archers to fight both ways in the 100 years war but I was not sure about crossbow men? |
Shagnasty | 05 Jan 2016 9:37 p.m. PST |
In FoG-R they fight mounted. Even dragoons move as horse but fight in their own manner. They are represented dismounted with horse holders. This method troubles me but I play anyway. |
Great War Ace | 05 Jan 2016 10:55 p.m. PST |
I'm sure that mounted missile anything used their weapons on foot as well. Even the Mongols would dismount if doing a "last stand" thing. I use medieval crossbow on horseback as light skirmishing cavalry. In my rules they don't perform nearly as efficiently as say Steppes horsearchers; being restricted to walking or standing to reload, and having to operate in loose order. In a shootout with Steppes cavalry the crossbows will get destroyed by volume of shot. But in a turning flanks capacity, or pursuit, or threatening and harassing they can be useful…. |
RABeery | 06 Jan 2016 8:26 a.m. PST |
I put them in the rear ranks of the coustilliers, which in turn might be in the rear ranks of the gendarmes. |
RavenscraftCybernetics | 06 Jan 2016 8:26 a.m. PST |
it would needs be a very small crossbow to be able to reload while mounted. |
Great War Ace | 06 Jan 2016 8:47 a.m. PST |
That's where the later cranequin comes in. Earlier medieval mounted crossbow used the stirrup, so a very light draw weight (not in excess of 80 lbs, probably closer to 50 lbs). A "goat's prod" lever would also work, however this device also seems to have been of later origin…. |
rampantlion | 06 Jan 2016 1:58 p.m. PST |
I use them as medium cavalry. They mostly work as mounted skirmishers, but can melee if need be although they would be more lightly armored than knights or sergeants in my opinion. |
Marshal Mark | 06 Jan 2016 3:01 p.m. PST |
I know Henry V used mounted archers to fight both ways in the 100 years war Really ? Longbowmen shooting from horseback ? My understanding is that mounted archers in the 100YW would ride to the battlefield and then dismount to fight. |
Great War Ace | 06 Jan 2016 10:29 p.m. PST |
Hey, just watch Connery and Williamson use longbows from horseback in Robin and Marian. It looks pretty doable to me. But that would be skirmish gaming, not shooting on a battlefield by whole units, not even skirmish units. So you're right, they dismounted to fight as units…. |
green beanie | 06 Jan 2016 11:21 p.m. PST |
Marshal Mark, There is a youtube bit about Henry V Campain and his use of mounted archers. in fact that is how he made a forced river crossing using mounted archers on a French force that was waiting for his army to cross. Worth a watch. |
MajorB | 07 Jan 2016 2:58 a.m. PST |
My understanding is that mounted archers in the 100YW would ride to the battlefield and then dismount to fight. Mine too. |
MajorB | 07 Jan 2016 3:21 a.m. PST |
Marshal Mark, There is a youtube bit about Henry V Campain and his use of mounted archers. in fact that is how he made a forced river crossing using mounted archers on a French force that was waiting for his army to cross. Worth a watch. Got a link? |
green beanie | 07 Jan 2016 12:24 p.m. PST |
I believe the series was called Medieval Combat and Weapons, The bow. |
uglyfatbloke | 08 Jan 2016 8:14 a.m. PST |
Greenbeanie, I would n't take it too seriously; I've never come across an example of English (or Scottish or Welsh) longbow men shooting from horseback. Of course I have probably not read every contemporary account of English war in the middle ages, but I'm pretty confident that it's the sort of thing that would come up in secondary work. There again, it's your toys and your games…just think of all the armourless peasants with scythes/rakes/hammers/umbrellas etc that figure companies make and which get incorporated into model armies for no comprehensible reason. Why not have an English archer shooting from horseback? |
Puster | 11 Jan 2016 2:04 p.m. PST |
Crossbowmen fought mounted in the late 15th century. Probably not exclusively, but there are contemporary illustrations showing them flanking armoured horse. |
uglyfatbloke | 12 Jan 2016 11:34 a.m. PST |
Edward I took a unit of 200 mounted crossbowmen to Scotland c. 1296-8…did n't do it again. |
Great War Ace | 12 Jan 2016 12:51 p.m. PST |
Mounted crossbow "borderers" existed right into the early 16th century. They shot from horseback while raiding and repelling the same…. |
rampantlion | 12 Jan 2016 6:17 p.m. PST |
Chris, were the mntd crossbowmen in Edward's army mercenaries or English? |
uglyfatbloke | 13 Jan 2016 9:04 a.m. PST |
IIRC there's references to them in Rot. Scot. and CDS ii. I think foreign imports, but 'mercenary' can be a difficult term in medieval history. They were certainly paid, but then so were most troops in English armies – the few exceptions being mostly people serving for a pardon or (very rarely) great lords indicating that they were above serving for money. GWA, I think the mounted crossbow borderers are really a 16th C. thing; I've never seen a reference to them in the 14/15th C. I'd expect that we are talking about a tiny handful of individuals – a couple of guys out of a raiding party of a few dozen or a couple of score. |