cataphracts

[OldenTired]

yet another clarification.

checking out the cataphract POAs. they aren't treated as knights, so basically they're heavily armoured cavalry?

by this i mean that they're better fighting melee two ranks deep, and never get the "knightly lance" POA.

this would effect how i deployed/played them, say versus a shooty army.

[WhiteKnight]

They are usually better deployed 2 ranks deep like non skirmishing cavalry but they are not cavalry, they are in a category of their own, and get "other lance" as impact weapon. So v shooters it doesnt matter if they are in single or double rank. Things in the rules that apply to cavalry don't apply to them.

Martin

[hammy]

Against shooty armies with little if any decent heavy mounted you can run cataphracts in a single rank. They will attract more missiles but being heavily armoured it shouldn't hurt too much and as they can charge as far as horse archers can shoot they have a good chance of clearing them away rather quickly.

In melee they do only get one dice a base. Knights getting two dice a base sounds good but it means that every base lost essentially counts double.

Cataphracts are certainly a different beast compared to knights but still worth fielding.

[OldenTired]

Against shooty armies with little if any decent heavy mounted you can run cataphracts in a single rank. They will attract more missiles but being heavily armoured it shouldn't hurt too much and as they can charge as far as horse archers can shoot they have a good chance of clearing them away rather quickly.

In melee they do only get one dice a base. Knights getting two dice a base sounds good but it means that every base lost essentially counts double.

Cataphracts are certainly a different beast compared to knights but still worth fielding.

i'd noticed the point about single-depth KN. it almost seems better to run them two deep. it means you have less in action, but losses don't wear down your frontage quite as quickly.

so a 6 of average knights go into impact two deep. they can be accompanied by another BG of something. if they take a loss they don't end up leaving an overlap fighting their neighbouring BG.

superior knights seem to always hang in 4s, so that's a different dynamic, but average? 6s, two deep, with a possible expansion in melee if necessary/possible. and especially versus foot (because if you're breaking off you've probably taken losses)

[nikgaukroger]

6 average Kn are probably best run with a front rank of 4 most of the time IMO.