[StevenH]

Originally Posted by Crakkerjakk

I do think that effective calvary units would be a lot more expensive to maintain and of much more limited strategic use in a normal mana world, but then, the only place where there's a huge Knightly tradition in the "mounted warrior" sense that I can tell in Banestorm is in Caithness, which is one giant low-mana zone. Granted, I just got it recently, and I'm only partway the section on Al-Haz, but it seems to me that the Magelan Legions are modeled on Rome's Legions, confirming the supremacy of heavy infantry in normal-mana warfare. I know AL-Haz has a mostly mounted military, but that also fits with their general dislike of magic, and the inadvisability of wearing heavy armor in the desert.

Way I see it, in order to have effective calvary, you would need to either have them be mostly missile calvary/scouts or super-expensive heavy calvary, with all kinds of enchantments on the horse's barding to allow them to resist all the stuff that can spook them, and they would still be vulnerable to stuff that affects the terrain. However, I'm assuming this type of magic is expensive on the large scale, and can be countered by the opposing side's mages. I'm not sure of that, as I don't have a real great handle on all the spells in Magic, I'm just assuming affecting very large areas is very mana-intensive.

You are right; unless protected, the mounts become a vulnerability when the appropriate magic is introduced. Magically protecting them is an option, but enchantment on that kind of scale is not only very expensive, but very hard to come by, unless the number of mages is introduced or enchantment made much more easy. But then you end up with other problems.... Keeping them out of range of the mages is a much more economic option!

Large spells cast on the battlefield are indeed expensive. I have always assumed that mages work as special ops groups, or in a support role (like food acquirers/healers or something). Although the illusionist can be quite useful, if given time to prepare a bit or during the fog of war. Even a vision-only illusion spell can come in quite handy....