pyrrhus wrote:Thanks gives me some ideas .I was a bit suprised that the regular cav would only rate as protected but I suppose armor is a relative thing to the time period. Do you thing these steppe armys have a chance at tourneys ?
*Hallo pyrrhus
*On the armour question I think there is a general wargamer misconcepion about the levels of protection available to a number of armies. One of the reasons for this is that artists want to represent the most colourful and outstanding examples of an army and that is normally the nobles and armoured elements, so that is what wargamers see. This includes contemporaries of the historical armies.
*What is a counter-balance to this is the actual writings of eye-witnesses that, if carefully read, give a clue to proportions. Western descriptions of sipahi cavalry of the early C15 are notable for the lack of armour and, relatively, poor weaponry described. Although you may see sipahi described as having "corselets" these were actually only quilted cotton at best. The Porte regiments would have the best armour and equipment available. When a review of the White Sheep Confederacy was held an Italian notes that of 20,000 horsemen only 2,000 ride barded mounts but every wargames army you saw represented will have maximum armoured cavalry.
*Timurid armies succeeded due to his superb abilities on the field, the confidence and training of his troops (Superior rating). The majority would still have been Islamised Turks and other Mongol tribesmen equipped exactly as Ghengis' troops had been. Again the Tarqan are remembered as being wonderfully armoured and equipped but there were few of them. You don't have an army of "heroes". The difference between Timurid armies and those of his enemies was Timur!
*I do not feel qualified as to whether they will do well in competitions, others may. I played Timurids for 2 years in DBM and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. In FoG if you play historical games then Timur as an IC should make a reasonable but not game-winning difference.
*As a related aside Musketeer Miniatures are considering a range of Timurids for late 2008 so check out their website. They should be a joy to behold.
*Yours disgracefully
*Pelagius