Sub-Roman Britain (Cavalry etc)

[Matthew Amt]

At least two of those five dozen would be light cavalry, a simple leather breastplate, a shield, and a dozen or so javelins. An additonal two dozen would be medium cavalry, iron-studded leather scale armour, ridge helm, Alanic longsword, a good shield, and maybe several javelins.

Um, 39 pages and you're still stuck on leather armor? And then *iron-studded* leather *scale* armor?? What? DID you ever find any *evidence* for the use of leather armor in this era? And I'd have to go back and re-read it all, but I don't think anyone established that there was light, "medium", and heavy cavalry... How about, some horsemen have shields, helmets, swords, spears, and javelins, while some have mail or scale armor, shields, helmets, swords, spears, and maybe javelins.

Now from the literary sources I have it seems that Britons favoured dawn, and ford battles, usually both at once. As far as I can tell, I'll give a narrarative of how I think, with my own personal knowledge, what just makes sense, and the limits of what one can do astride a horse, a battle between a British warband, and a Saxon raiding force, would go down.

Hoo, not sure what to tell you, especially since I haven't read everything you have. I doubt anyone "favored" ford battles, they simply fought where they met the enemy. A ford would offer some protection to a force, since the attackers would have to cross carefully--strong currents and potentially treacherous footing means you just can't charge en masse! Remember, the bottom is loose rocks, sand, and mud, not any sort of pavement. And your flanks are covered because the crossable section of a ford is only so wide. Go too far upstream or downstream and suddenly you are swimming (or drowning!). The road itself would tend to be a hollow or depression with raised banks on either side, and the riverbanks would tend to be overgrown, making it difficult for anyone to cross the ford except at the roadway.

I really think there isn't enough space for all the maneuvers you are suggesting. Roads are narrow, and the only open space is probably the ford itself. If any force was "in a panic", they would not be in any respectable formation, and a cavalry attack would simply shatter them. Battle over. If they had time to grab shields and weapons, they could respond to the light cavalry attack with their own javelins, spears, and rocks, with the advantage of being able to mass far more missile-chucking men in a smaller area than any cavalry force, and being able to aim better, and being able to pick up and chuck back any British javelins. So they might not be "pinned" at all.

Am I missing a number of medieval references to left-handed warriors holding the right end of any formation? What "makes sense" to you may not have made sense back then. If your formation has solid flanks, or cavalry, or is simply as long or longer than the enemy formation, you probably don't have to worry too much about your right flank. It was probably pretty natural for men to just turn some to their right if it looked like the enemy was outflanking them, or for the whole line to curl back to avoid exposure.

Advancing into the ford in pursuit of the light cav, into the face of more Brits, seems like suicide to me. It wouldn't be nearly as complicated as you make it, but yeah, bad move overall. But being in the water would not prevent them from withdrawing or fleeing, if it wasn't inhibiting any of those dashing maneuvers before that! But again, I just don't think there is going to be space for all this--depending on the ford, you could be talking a frontage of 10 or 12 guys, fewer if mounted. If the Britons make it across the ford before the Saxons are on their feet with enough mass to stop them, it's over. But if the Saxons wake up in time (got sentries out?), they could stop the Britons anywhere near the water's edge, most of the British column is going to be stacked up on the road on the far side, unable to get into action at all. Riding off the road through the woods and shrubbery is a good way to get scattered, with twisted ankles for men and horses. Jumping off the overgrown riverbank on either side of the ford to try getting around the holdup is a good way to break legs or drown. This is why *most* battles happened in open fields!

Overall, I think most small actions were a lot simpler than your scenario, even if they went back and forth and were quite vicious and drawn-out.

But give up on the leather armor. Please.

Matthew