Poll: Dornish Cavalry Rules

[Dirty Chai]

I propose that we add a unique abilities to all cavalry that is recruited by Dornish lords (all of Dorne, even the Stone Dornish regions), as well as special unique parameters which apply to NPC Dornish militia defaults and change their AOR units.

Here is the entry from the Wiki which gives proof of Horse Archery, its citation leading Chapter 3 of A Feast for Crows (first Cersei chapter);

Dornishmen prefer round metal shields, spears, short throwing spears or double-curved bows. The Dornishmen are famous for their sand steed-riding light cavalry, and use their double-curved bows skillfully from horseback. Because of the heat, they wear lighter armor than in the rest of the Seven Kingdoms made of metal disks, sometimes decorated with copper, sewn in the manner of scales on the leather. To allow themselves to fight in the burning sun of Dorne, they wear brightly colored flowing robes covering the metal parts of their armor.

Link: http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php...shmen#Military

This section will be added to the rules, and the "Land Levy and Militia Compositions" section will be edited to include the new Dornish AI militia compositions.

Dornish Cavalry Rules

Dornish armies work differently than the hosts of the other Seven Kingdoms: Dornishmen prefer round metal shields, spears, short throwing spears or double-curved bows. The Dornishmen are famous for their sand steed-riding light cavalry, and use their double-curved bows skillfully from horseback. Because of the heat, they wear lighter armor than in the rest of the Seven Kingdoms made of metal disks, sometimes decorated with copper, sewn in the manner of scales on the leather. To allow themselves to fight in the burning sun of Dorne, they wear brightly colored flowing robes covering the metal parts of their armor. Link: http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php...shmen#Military As also stated in the "Land Levy and Militia Compositions" section, Dornish AI Lords build their militia as follows: 40% Heavy Cavalry 40% Light Cavalry 20% Heavy Infantry Furthemore, cavalry units (light, heavy, and elite) recruited by Dornish lord or characters in Dorne are subject to the following rules: Horse Archery: - All Dornish cavalry units may Skirmish; Light, Heavy, and Elite can all participate in Archery rolls like Archers, except that Skirmish casualties caused by Dornish cavalry is halved. - After Skirmishing, Dornish cavalry may then either commence normal melee orders in battle or retreat from battle (see below). Dornish Cavalry Retreat: - If a Dornish army consists of only cavalry (no infantry), then it may Retreat from battle easily after a Skirmish roll. - Non-Dornish enemy cavalry can pursue for combat under the following caveats, if the player commands to pursue. Dornish Light Cavalry cannot be caught by non-Dornish cavalry; Other Dornish Light Cavalry can catch it. Dornish Heavy Cavalry can be caught by non-Dornish Light Cavalry; Other Dornish Heavy/Light Cavalry can catch them as well Dornish Elite Cavalry can be caught by any cavalry - Caught cavalry will engage in combat with the pursuing cavalry, and the Dornish army has the option of having all of its cavalry turn back around to fight (rather than just the heavy cavalry which was caught for example). - Infantry cannot catch Dornish cavalry and will never be involved in such pursuant combat. - Light non-Dornish cavalry catching Dornish heavy cavalry will not get support from non-Dornish light cavalry, but Dornish heavy cavalry can get support from Dornish light cavalry, etc. Dornish Guerrilla Tactics - All Dornish cavalry in Dorne may engage in Guerrilla tactics against non-Dornish armies (ie, any army controlled by a non-Dornish House or character marching within Dorne's geographic boundaries) - For Every hex that the enemy army moves through, it will undergo a skirmish roll from all Dornish cavalry engaged in Guerrilla tactics against it. The skirmish roll works just like skirmish rolls in battle, except that both attacking skirmish cavalry and defending archers can only do halved damage (half the resulting casualties). This represents guerrilla damage done over time through the hex. Each hex gets a different skirmish, until the guerrillas are ordered to do otherwise. - Just like in battle, the non-Dornish cavalry can pursue the Dornish cavalry under the same rules, and if caught will start a cavalry battle without infantry support (light non-Dornish cavalry catching Dornish heavy cavalry will not get support from non-Dornish light cavalry, but Dornish heavy cavalry can get support from Dornish light cavalry, etc.)

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Here's a test I did, using part of Poach's Reach army from the last time it was raised, and using the Dornish army I had marched to King's Landing with Baratheon. You can see that the ratio of stats is fairly accurate for what can be expected when Dorne faces down its neighbors if it faces a roughly equivalent army (except the Reach can probably raise 2-3 of these and the Stormlands might be able to raise 2 while Dorne's pretty much maxed out with this).

Dorne vs Reach
Reach - 20,800 men in total (36,500 points)
1,000 Elite Infantry (3,000 points)
3,200 Heavy Infantry (6,400 points)
7,400 Polearms (11,100 points)
5,800 Archers (5,800 points)
2,900 Heavy Cavalry (8,700 points)
1,500 Light Cavalry (1,500 points)

Dorne - 17,600 men (32,182 points)
600 Light Infantry (600 points)
2,898 Heavy Infantry (5,796 points)
3,272 Polearms (4,908 points)
2,950 Archers (2,950 points)
4,474 Heavy Cavalry (13,322 points)
2,806 Light Cavalry (2,806 points)
600 Elite Cavalry (2,100 points)

Skirmish Rolls
Dorne: 2950 Archers + 7,880 Cavalry = 10,830 skirmishers

If the Dornish roll a 10 (100% archery damage), and the Reach rolls a 1 (10% archery damage).
We halve the casualties caused by the cavalry in skirmish, and add them to the normal archer roll..
Then the Reach would lose 6,890 men in Skirmish before Melee, which would be the max possible.
Meanwhile, the Reachmen archers can do a max damage of 5,800 if they roll a 10.

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Lastly, I propose that we replace the "Guardians of Sunspear" AOR unit with:

Dornish Knights (heavy cavalry)
Cost: 12,000 Dragons
Upkeep: 2500 Dragons
Points: 900
Skill: The heaviest of Dornish horsemen, these knights fight with bow and lance and heavy scale and lamellar. These troops gain +3 to battle rolls if fighting in Dorne, subject to flank ratio calculations. Therefore, this unit type must compose at least 1/6th of the clashing infantry to gain a +1, 1/2 of the clashing forces to gain +2, and 5/6ths of the clashing forces to gain a full +3. They can also skirmish as horse archers before combat, just like any Dornish cavalry.