12-09-2017, 08:41 PM | #11 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: chariot combat
One of the classic risky maneuvers is to tie the reins through your belt and lean this way or that to pull on them. A critical failure on Teamster can result in your being pulled out of the chariot and dragged over the ground.
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
12-10-2017, 04:31 AM | #12 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Re: chariot combat
Quote:
David W. Anthony in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Horse,_the_Wheel,_and_Language points out that you could get more power into throwing a javelin from a chariot, compared to horseback, because you can bring your lower-body strength to bear. (Also, a horse pulling a good chariot is faster than one carrying the equivalent weight.)
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12-10-2017, 07:58 AM | #13 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
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Re: chariot combat
I seem to recall reading that Chinese generals continued riding chariots remarkably late -- apparently as mobile command posts. Which makes sense; you can see over the heads of your infantry, yell commands, and wave your banner and be seen in a morale-enhancing way, without any of that tiring horse management stuff.
Use of scythed chariots to disrupt enemy phalanxes in the Hellenistic period doesn't seem to have worked terribly well. But it was tried. If chariots were still popular despite horses being rideable at the time, I assume that insufficiently developed horse tack was part of the issue.
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