heavy cavalry engaging heavy cavalry

[Flavivs Aetivs]

It does have some relevance. Generally speaking, the Romans trained their cavalry in Alan tactics. Horse Archers, like the Huns, would break and run when being attacked by well-trained lancers like Alan Catafractarii, but lesser trained lancers, like most Roman cavalry, would break when attacked by Huns.

On the notion of pistols, the Romans did have arcuballistae, which could be fired one handed.

In Moderator Green (I'm on a school computer -_-):
I should also note that this post is an attempt to bring this thread back to a Roman context.