The role of heavy skirmisher cavalry in battle?

[ooji]

I seem to have a trouble finding the niche spot for them in my army compositions. Playing as Epeiros, their tarantine cavalry has a very high upkeep, yet has a relatively poor charge value. They obviously cannot stand in a prolonged battle vs heavy infantry. Given their heavy armor, I suspect their role is to fight elite skirmishers like peltasts, but even then they have trouble catching them since the horsemen are so heavily armored. I don't get to cause much casualties before their limited ammo runs out, so can anyone help me here? Thanks.

[Boriak]

Yep, sometimes the use of heavy skirmisher cavalry is a bit of a mystery. That's why most of us just pick the Southern Gallic Light Cavalry as they can act as both skirmishers and chargers.

The primary role of heavy skirmisher cavalry is skirmishing. The extra armor enables them to survive enemy archer fire (I think all of them have shields so extra defense on missiles). Try to go for the most important target with them which is the enemy general. Prior to contact with the enemy, swoop in, preferably from the side or back, release your ordnance and hope you kill or at least weaken the enemy general. This might cause a unit to chase your cavalry. Run away and if pursued, draw your pursuers into an ambush.

Once out of ammo, your skirmishers turn into medium grade cavalry with armor-piercing swords. Their role is support, not charge, so try to intercept enemy cavalry if they are trying to charge your units or supply extra pressure on the enemy's flanks. Do this when you see an enemy unit about to collapse, combine it with archer fire arrows and you can start a chain reaction of routing units (works best on lower morale troops like barbarians).

I've recently used my Lusotannan bodyguard cavalry in this way. I had two units of infantry staggering under the pressure of six or seven enemy units. I didn't succeed in executing a charge (which would be a bonus +15) because I was fighting in a medium size town, but the one unit I did hit was small in numbers due to previous skirmisher fire and it routed upon impact. Immediately, all the rest followed (Iberian units have lower morale so this is why it worked; it wouldn't have worked on high-morale units like Greek or Romans). I managed to beat an army about 2.5-times my size.

[athanaric]

They're excellent elephant killers. And you can use them in conjunction with your lancers to defeat enemy cavalry.

[Entropy Judge]

Yeah, Heavy Skirmisher Cavalry generally make good spoilers once their ammo's gone. Either throw them in the path of something that's going to hit a critical unit to trip them up, or use them to support other units. As a side note:

They obviously cannot stand in a prolonged battle vs heavy infantry.

This applies to virtually all cavalry units. Cavalry do not like standing still when engaged, particularly against unbroken infantry. They aren't built for it, and a lot of the time it simply results in an uneven trade, because horses are expensive.

[athanaric]

Also, I've once destroyed a unit of Lusitanian bodyguards (elite heavy skirmisher cavalry) with Lugoae (basic spearmen). So don't even try engaging infantry one on one, unless it's missile infantry with knives for close combat (nb: not all missile units have knives, some actually have spears...).

[ooji]

Hmm, just out of curiosity, why did Greeks (maybe some others as well) use them extensively if they weren't too effective?

[Entropy Judge]

Who's to say they weren't? In-game, sure they're not so hot, but the game isn't exactly a perfect simulation of historical reality, either. There's also a question of what you'd consider "extensive use" - how common were they, exactly, and in what numbers were you likely to find them? Not to mention that in reality, you aren't bound by a single unchanging weapon loadout - I wouldn't be surprised if most historical "Heavy Cav Skirmishers" were perfectly capable of switching out to a weapon/equipment set more commonly found on shock cavalry, or perhaps they performed scouting functions due to having the equipment to engage enemy cavalry without being slaughtered while not being weighed down by heavier battle gear. You're putting a lot of stock in game mechanics.

[Titus Marcellus Scato]

Heavy skirmisher cavalry were ideally used against slower enemies with little or no missile capability. Against heavy infantry, for example. They needed to be fast enough to outrun stronger heavy cavalry and strong enough to outfight faster light cavalry.

Being skirmishers, they were not intended for shock action, unless the enemy were already at the point of collapse.

Against a traditional Greek enemy of a mass of levy hoplites, some unarmoured light skirmishers and light archers, and a small force of light skirmisher cavalry, Tarantine cavalry would have been very effective. A bit like the Greek armies of pre-350 BCE in southern Italy, before Rome really became the major power in Italy.

[Principe Alessandro]

Heavy skirmisher cavalry were ideally used against slower enemies with little or no missile capability. Against heavy infantry, for example. They needed to be fast enough to outrun stronger heavy cavalry and strong enough to outfight faster light cavalry.

Being skirmishers, they were not intended for shock action, unless the enemy were already at the point of collapse.

Against a traditional Greek enemy of a mass of levy hoplites, some unarmoured light skirmishers and light archers, and a small force of light skirmisher cavalry, Tarantine cavalry would have been very effective. A bit like the Greek armies of pre-350 BCE in southern Italy, before Rome really became the major power in Italy.

They are good anti-skirmishers, with their armor they can stop incoming projectiles and at the same time they cut down easily in melee lightly armored opponents. At the same time they are a good support for your heavy cavalry.