New Unit

[Monk]

British Light Chariots

Light Chariots are very fast, very noisy and, when used in large numbers, can drive a frightened or shaken enemy from the field. They are pulled by small, swift ponies and combine the mobility of cavalry with the "staying power" of infantry. Each chariot carries two men: the unarmoured driver concentrates on keeping the vehicles under control, leaving the noble-born warriors to fight using the many javelins that are available on each chariot. Light Chariots are best used to scout ahead of an army as a "reconaissance in force" and to pursue a fleeing enemy. On occasion it may also be worth sacrificing them to break a previously unyielding enemy line.

[Knight_Yellow]

http://www.totalwar.com/community/images/librch.jpg


British Light Chariots
Light Chariots are very fast, very noisy and, when used in large numbers, can drive a frightened or shaken enemy from the field. They are pulled by small, swift ponies and combine the mobility of cavalry with the "staying power" of infantry. Each chariot carries two men: the unarmoured driver concentrates on keeping the vehicles under control, leaving the noble-born warriors to fight using the many javelins that are available on each chariot. Light Chariots are best used to scout ahead of an army as a "reconaissance in force" and to pursue a fleeing enemy. On occasion it may also be worth sacrificing them to break a previously unyielding enemy line

[bhutavarna]

Julius Caesar accounted during his invasion of the British Isle that these chariot mounted nobles also fought on foot. The chariots would dismount the warrior nobles on the front line to fight, then withdraw to safety, and later pick up the nobles if needed. Almost like the ancient version of modern airborne cavalry units.

[Leet Eriksson]

"leaving the noble-born warriors to fight using the many javelins that are available on each chariot"

Hmmmm,could be the new spanish jinettes.or probably not,since the game tactical battles will be different from the other TW games i think.

[Oaty]

Sounds nice that those chariots can carry tons of javelins as anyone who can babysit them javelineers good has a very powerful unit on there side.

[Nowake]

By and large, a good unit ...

[hoom]

Have they said anything about firing on the move yet?

Chariots that have to stop to shoot their javelins would suck.

[Hakonarson]

A pretty reasonable description - they're getting better slowly http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Spino]

Firing on the move is a must but more importantly these chariots better have really bad turning rates

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

Wot no big wheel scythes? *Waits for the historical accuracy boys to lynch him*

[RisingSun]

I'd imagine waypoints will be a must for using this unit.

[Hakonarson]

No KS - no scythes - consider yourself hung http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Spino IIRC Tacitus and Caesar say they were very nimble and easy to manouvre.

[eXistenZi]

I read that a man with a small knife would sometimes run behind the chariot and hamstring any opposing enemy forces.

Also, these chariots attacked an enemy line, but if they saw that it was resolved to hold, made a sharp turn (casting some javelins in the process) and went back around. After the chariots ran out of ammo or if their equipment had been ruined, they would dismount and join the rear guard.

[Oaty]

I wonder if RTW will let you dismount during battle ( :

[Kongamato]

Hmm firing on the move...

Watch the very first trailer movie. When the barbarians charge, I swear I hear a firing noise and see a javelin go flying.

I have no idea what this means.

[Kongamato]

I just went over the first RTW trailer again. During that barbarian charge, it's not just one javelin, but a small volley of what could be either javelins or arrows. I cannot see what is firing it, but since the projectiles travel so fast, I believe that they are arrows.

Since I cannot single out what fired the arrows, it may be that they were moving while firing, which would make it easier for them to blend in with the charging men. The arrows were fired from a position obscured by the charge.

The arrows might also have been planted there, and nothing was firing them

[Nowake]

Quote[/b] (Hakonarson @ July 27 2003,01:47)]No KS - no scythes - consider yourself hung http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Spino IIRC Tacitus and Caesar say they were very nimble and easy to manouvre.
Scythes were used by chinese before the Warring States period, and with pretty good results. A chariot was followed by a group of 70-80 men who would infiltrate throught the gaps. Also, the horses were armoured.

[1dread1lahll]

They did use the word 'light' chariot...... when the word chariot could have done..unless there will be a 'heavy' as well...

[Hakonarson]

There should be scythed chariots in various eastern armies - Pontic (Mithridates) & Seleucid mainly.
appart from that I don't think any other chariots were used in the RTW era and area.

[Nowake]

Lets not forget about Egipt. Even in the times of the Ptolemies, the chariots were still used.

[Hakonarson]

Were they? I don't think I've ever heard of the Ptolemies using chariots of any sort - were htese scythed ones? what's your source?

[Nowake]

I'm not talking about scythed ones, in fact, there is no record of the use of scythed chariots in any period by the egyptians. But the chariots were still used, even if not in a large scale. I can't give you any sources except I remember some phrases taken from Chamoux's "The hellenic civilization", read it 3-4 years ago.

[Hakonarson]

Maybe they used them for parades like the Romans did. Libyans and Carthaginians had used chariots for a while - 4 horse types, but that was when Egypt was controlled by the Persians.

[Parmenio]

I think I read somewhere about the Romans trying to developed a heavily armored scythed chariot drawn by armoured horses, but there was a serious power to weight ratio problem.

The lightly armed celt chariots seemed to do well when used in harassing tactics, but very badly in frontal attacks, as far as I know.

[Hakonarson]

Ah yes...the Roman scythed chariot - most famousl;y documented by Phil Barker in his DBM army list for Late Imperial Romans (300-450 AD IIRC - book 2 of het DBM army lists).

IIRC it was proposed by a writer as a solutinos for some problem or other, and was supposed to have fully armoured men with lances atop both fully armoured horses.

I forget the name of the proposer - it's not known if it was every used, but it's well outside RTW's provenance anyway.

[DBS]

Within the period of RTW, the Italian and southern French Celts should start off with access to chariots - they were last recorded in large-scale Celtic warfare on mainland Europe at Telamon in 225BC. Why did they lose favour? Maybe because of the amount of space they took up, and the difficulty of using them in rough terrain. Cavalry might be less sexy, but more practicable.... The British Celts continued to use them presumably because they had no reason to abandon them, since they were only fighting amongst themselves under the "rules" as it were of Celtic raiding and warfare, where individual posturing and combats were more important than large-unit battlefield efficiency. Probably a mistake to assume Celtic chariots carried huge numbers of javelins - probably no more than two or three at best, same as any cavalryman. These were warriors whose concept of warfare concentrated on taking on one opponent, not a cohort in open battle. By all means swoop in ambush on a cohort out foraging (hopefully nicely scattered), throw a javelin or two, then dismount and go in with the sword.

The Carthaginians had dropped chariots for military use by the 1st Punic War, which was roughly the time they first started making heavy use of elephants.

[DBS]

Oh, and before anyone mentions the Irish - who are presumably marginal to RTW if in it at all, note that Professor Cunliffe has pointed out that there is no archaeological evidence of the chariot in ancient Irish warfare. Shock horror amongst ancient wargamers

The evidence in favour of Irish chariots comes from the Ulster legends. But these were written down much later, after plenty of exposure, through the Church, to the legends of Troy. As Cunliffe says, if you were a monk writing up the various folk tales of Ireland, you might just be influenced in your view of a hero by your knowledge of Homer... Unlike in Celtic Britain, France and northern Italy, no chariot parts have turned up in graves, etc. Maybe the odd chieftain rode around in one, but mass formations?