Shamus led the two dozen horses out onto the paddock. These were the finest Tairen bloodstock that Shamus had selected. He had spent weeks training to horses with his Torm, Osca, and they were no longer as frightened of the giant exotic. Shamus led Osca to the other side of the paddock and handed the Torm a puzzlebox, which he caught and began to study furiously. He saw Chialla Sedai enter the paddock, she would be helping him with the Illusion they would use in later classes. Shamus mounted the horse he'd selected for himself. The horse was a tall deep-chested steeldust stallion. Shamus had named him Falcon. He reminded him of the great bird, they were both powerful free spirits.
"Before we begin I would like to welcome all of you. Tomorrow the combat begins. For today I would each of you to select a horse, name that horse, take it home to a stable and befriend the creature. Try to gain its confidence so that it will trust you. Tomorrow when you return I want you to describe to me the horse. What colour is it? Does it have a blaze? Are its fetlocks, mane or tail a different colour? Is it a mare? Stallion? Gelded? What does it prefer to eat? Anything you can think to best describe this horse."
(OOC Okay, I will add some terms for the horses colouring)
White - the three straight colours
Shamus sat upon the back of Falcon, his steeldust. He drew his sword and pointed at five distant dummies each with a soldier to operate the wooden swordarms in an attempt to strike the rider. He had set up decked out in full armour. Even from here the armour glinted off the breatplate. "Mounted Combat is very different to normal combat. You cannot flow through forms easily, if the horse is surrounded it may try to throw you, and if you pull too hard on the reins the bit may tear the lips of the horse sending it into a frenzy. In short, mounted combat is an art. I have set up a group of dummies across the paddock clothed in full armour. Commonly, from a horse with a thrusting sword you will have to strike at the neck, face or under the armpits against a fully armoured foe. This is not as particular with an impact weapon where you may strike anywhere but it probably wont cause a killing strike. With an impact weapon aim for high chest or low in the groin area, they will cause the most damage and be easy to strike."
Shamus wheeled his mount around and kicked into the flanks of the horse. He rode hard towards the first dummy striking the straw throat before riding forwards towards the second. This also suffered a thrust to the throat without hindering his movement. The third operator swung the arm high, Shamus parried glancing the blade aside and plunging his blade into the exposed armpit which would have followed up the the lungs and heart. Drawing his blade free he rode towards the final dummy as the operator crashed his wooden sword into Shamus' once again glancing off allowing Shamus to thrust his blade into an absent throat. He turned and wheeled the horse back to his students.
"I want all of you to attempt this. I don't want your horse to come to a standstill, they are quick horses used to slice away the numbers in a flank not standing in a pitched battle. There will be time for that later. The operator may aim low for your horse so be prepared for that eventuality. Remember keep your eye on the sword arm and aim for the exposed areas. Case would you and Corsair go first?"
Falcon trotted on the cropped grass followed closely by a dozen men
from the Tower guard, all trained in mounted combat and a wagon filled with
training weapons and heavy armour. His students had arrived quickly and were
ready to begin the next lesson. "Last lesson taught you skirmishing combat.
This lesson will utlise the combat situations in a charge or vanguard assualt.
Some of you would be more suited to this style of combat, some the other.
This is used primarily by heavy cavalry due to the devastating effects a
lance, impact weapon and strong warhorse can cause. Combine this with a barded
horse and full plate armour and the you are near impregnable. Before we begin
the practical half of the lesson, can you tell me one advantage and one disadvantage
to this respective combat style?"
Once the theory class had finished telling Shamus their answers he saluted.
"You will now combat three men each, they will be armed in full heavy combat
armour, barded steeds, a wooden practice longsword, and the foremost will
bear a twelve foot lance." Shamus indicated the men waiting patiently at
the other end of the paddock. "You may use a lance yourself if you would
prefer. Any weapon I will accept but you will need to be confident in close
quarter combat. Select the armour and barding from the wagon and charge the
enemy. My suggestion is you try to unhorse the first man otherwise you will
be surrounded by three enemies who will strike you down if possible. Anybody
who falls will be caught by Air so do not be afraid your foes will receive
similar treatment so do not fear for them. Try your hardest and good luck."
Shamus cantered into the Yard and scanned the group of assembled
men and women. Their horses were amongst the finest he had ever seen and
there was a lot of promise in all of them. He bowed from the saddle and then
saluted to them. “Today’s lesson will teach you to control a frightened horse.
You must never lose your cool otherwise you will be thrown and that can kill
you. Secondly, if a horse does become scared, do not wrench back on the reins.
The bit in its mouth can tear the horse?s lips, which will frenzy the horse
making it many times more dangerous and it will need to be killed.? He bowed
to Shaorine Sedai, who had graciously accepted to help, who nodded and cast
Illusion on one of the dummies. Instantly, it became a large Trolloc and
the sword arm had grown to a vicious cleaver. He showed how it was to be
done, sending Falcon into a gallop. The horse tossed its head fearfully but
Shamus pushed it anyway. Suddenly, the Illusion-induced Trolloc roared and
swung the monsterous cleaver. Falcon leapt back in terror trying to throw
Shamus as it tried to get away from the Trolloc. Shamus quickly parried to
thrust, sending his blade into the throat of the Trolloc. For effect blood
pooled out of the throat as Shamus hauled back on the reins softly petting
the long neck speaking softly. The horse calmed quickly and trotted back
to the group. Shoarine instantly recast the Illusion. ?Now I want each of
you to try to attack the Trolloc. The sword arm will be moved and so you
are in danger of being struck from your horse, plus Shaorine will try to
put the fear of the Creator into your horse. Now, who would like to begin??
Shamus rode out to the centre of the paddock astride Flacon, his tall steeldust. His students had assembled with their weapons expecting to prove themselves on the field. They were wrong, this time they would have to prove themselves with their minds. Shamus looked across at his students and saluted. "Sheathe your weapons, you will not need them this day. Combat is an important lesson to learn for any soldier but tactics is what lets you command. I want you to answer me several questions before the final exam. The most deadly threat to a mounted soldier is the pike." One of the soldiers showed the long polearm a deadly armour penetrating tip at the end. "They are perilous because they are difficult to break. They are so long that they can have three or four ranks deep be deadly. A charge is an idiotic move to destroy them but there must be ways. The question I ask you is what are these tactics used to combat this forest of spikes?" Shamus froze as he trotted along the line watching the interested students. "Now, imagine you are a commander of a force and you are ordered to take a pivotal position from these pikemen. What would you do? Would you divide your cavalry into infantry? Charge the position? Flank them and try to pick them off more slowly? What would you arm your men with? Also, where would you choose to strike them? From the woods? When they are backed to a stream? A plain? Please bear in mind your personal weapon preferences whether it be a thrusting weapon, impact or projectile. Once you have completed this you can move on to the final exam. Good luck!" Shamus wheeled his horse and rode to speak with Quim, the Tower Guard Captain. If they passed this lesson then they will prepare for the final exam. He smiled slightly to himself awaiting the first person prepared to answer the question.
Shamus trotted across the clearing closely followed by the one hundred men of the Tower Guard under Captain Quim. They approached where the assembled students were standing and dismounted. Each man bore a blunted pike and a practice sword except about forty who were unarmed except for their horses. They were all heavily armoured. Captain Quim bellowed a command and sixty men marched off across the clearing and formed four ranks deep on a low hill, a forest of pikes. Shamus turned to the gathering and saulted quickly. "Congratulations on completing and getting this far. I am proud of each of you but here is where you are truly tested. You will not just be responsible for your own safety, here you will be responsible for these twenty men. This will be a small skirmish by standards but vital. I want you to break the ranks of those men. This will be difficult. You will be outnumbered three men to two, they will have the advantage of position plue they are pikemen. Now, I want to orchestrate a plan to claim that position. You can arm your men with any weapon you wish. Order them to dismount and be infantry if you'd like. Just claim that position. Good luck!" Shamus saluted and turned to watch how they would fare.