[Glorantha] Sartarite Cavalry is Good cavalry

> At risk of further covering myself in the patina of anorak-wearing
> wargamer: do Sartarite warbands on horses actually fight on horseback
> or do they use them to ferry themselves around? There is a difference
> between troops who rush about on horses, then get off to fight and
> those who rush about on horses and stay on them to fight and I had
> always thought that, barring certain cultic specialists, Sartarites
> tended to do the former rather than the latter.

In WBRM/DP, Sartarite "Milita Cavalry" are *better* than their best Tarshite opponents (the Veteran Cavalry), and a match for the average Lunar Cavalry Corps units. They fight mounted, and are *good* at it.

The Pol Joni are included in DP, but are *not* the "cavalry" of sartar - They are part of the Barbarian Horde battalia, not the Free Sartar battalia. Pol Joni horsemen are the match for the best the Cavalry Corps has to offer (Char Un and Antelope Lancers).

Using Saxons as a model for Sartarites only works up to a point (just like any real-world comparison for Glorantha). Just because authors use Saxon words when talking of Sartarites, they *are not* Saxons. Cavalry-wise I'd put them much more in the "Gaulish" or "Gothic-German" or "Carolingian" category. They've got cavalry, and they use cavalry.

> I've been wondering though: is the Sartarite fyrd more like the
> Anglo-Saxon body of the same name, or like the Illyrian tribal types
> that accompanied Alexander? What are people's opinions?

Yes. No. Trying to say either-or is Wrong Thinking(tm). Sartarites are Sartarite, not Saxons, Gauls, Illyrians, or Han Chinese.

The fyrd is capable. They often have to fight Feuds, Broo raiders, Grazer raiders, Feuds, Praxian Raiders, Tarshite Raiders, Feuds, Broo Raiders, Trolls, etc. They are *not* modern "one weekend a month" warriors. They have to be ready to drop tools and gather for a fight when called. They are more like the common conception (not necessarily the reality!) of American Minute Men or Cowboys - workers, yes, but good with weapons.

The warband is more than just "capable". They are full-time fighters, and are "paid" (room, board, armor & weapons, horse, fame, etc) to maintain thier proficiency at arms. They are all-round fighters. You want skirmishers, they have movement magic and proficiency with javelins. You want steady shieldwall types? They can do that. You want "charge at 'em" Cavalry? Just bring their horses forward and they'll mount up and ride out.

RR
He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad. R. Sabatini, Scaramouche Received on Sun 17 Sep 2006 - 17:56:14 EEST