[gurps] [Worldbuilding] Intriguing concept

[Pauli Hakala]

Rupert Boleyn wrote:
> On 4 Jul 2006 at 22:42, Pauli Hakala wrote:
> 
> 
>>Warhorses, composite bows and some armor in the hands of a small
>>skilled and highly motivated elite force can make all the difference in
>>a low-tech battle, and can conceivably defeat a much larger
>>infantry-based opposing force. Mobility, firepower, armor - an elite of
>>horseback archers could have all of these three key advantages over most
>>of their opponents..
> 
> 
> Small numbers of elite cavalry using bows vs heavy infantry tends to be 
> a stalemate. As soon as the infantry gets some half decent cavalry, 
> it's all over for the other side. Therefore, this will only work if the 
> amazons are culturally superior in some way to the others.
> 
> This is especially the case given that even composite horse bows don't 
> have the reach of a good footman's bow, and the amazons will have lwoer 
> upper body strength than an opposong force of men, so they'll be forced 
> to use weaker bows. At this point it starts looking like Turks vs 
> Franks in the first crusade, and that did not end well for the horse 
> archers.
> 

Yes, it would only be logical that defeating a TL3 military with
a TL2 weapon won't work all that well.

Any succesfull military knows when to adapt. If typical level of
opposition is heavy infantry and more power is essential,
horse archers could start using steel-bow crossbows with heavy
armor piercing bolts. Upper body strength is also much less of
a factor with crossbows (although I do not consider male/female
strength differences essential for trained archers - accuracy is
way more important than brute force). For conquering cities,
amazons would of course need more conventional military with
infantry, siege engines and so forth, but it would be their elite
forces they would be known for abroad.

In the original amazon myth of ancient Greek origin, the amazons
were described as horse archers. At that time period, heavy armor
was not so common and had more weak areas so the horse archers
were reasonably effective. Bringing a culture like that into
a higher TL setting will naturally require upgrading their
armaments and armor near or all the way to the top of
the ongoing international arms race.


-Pauli
-- 
"..Wings on my back, I got horns on my head. My fangs are sharp
and my eyes are red. Not quite an angel or the one that fell.."
-Lordi, Hard Rock Hallelujah, Eurovision 2006 Winner (292 points)