03-18-2010, 01:03 PM
Drat! Should have checked my dates again :x Plus infantry seems to have its own weird math too. The division by fives and the number 200 is a reoccuring number and the "100 men" bit was a description of a full-strength Ala under Ambrosius. Also if my numbers are correct (please be this time) then each cavalryman would have had a horsegroom, armour polisher, someone to look after weaponry, and maybe just a personal servant to take care of the remounts. If that is true than the band of 19 would have been boosted to a respectable 95 men, almost a full Ala, and that doesn't even count things like stndard bearers and other officers if he had them. If this math is correct than that means we have a preety good gauge of what an Ala of heavy cavalry could do to a well-sized Germanic warband, and we start to finally get somewhere.
Nicholas