Re: Saxon Generals
Every Faction has heavy cavalry as a general unit, this was the case in medieval, too. Its a real pain when you crush the entire enemy army, but all of your 600 light infantry combined cannot kill his single unit of general's bodyguard because of the way Rome's combat works.
"Sit now there, and look out upon the lands where evil and despair shall come to those whom thou lovest. Thou hast dared to mock me, and to question the power of Melkor, master of the fates of Arda. Therefore with my eyes thou shalt see, and with my ears thou shalt hear; and never shall thou move from this place until all is fulfilled unto its bitter end". -Tolkien
Re: Saxon Generals
It is definately true that the horse was not a very big aspect of saxon warfare. Many southern germanic groups were but the northerns like the saxons and their relatives were infantry and to a lesser extent at this time sea people. I don't see anything wrong with having infantry bodyguards for them, the team I'm on (Hegemonia) has infantry bodyguards and as far as I can see they're fair and work well.
Hegemonia Lead Modeller.
Re: Saxon Generals
Nice. Yeah, I'm thinking about co-opting the Hearth Troops as the general unit altogether; maybe makethem completely untrainable. Of course I haven't tried this at all yet so will see how it works in practice.
Re: Saxon Generals
It is that each general would get a horse to ride if he can. Horses provide mobility mind you, that is needed for the general to command his army right.
"Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be moved when the birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or a valley. For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much."
Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton.
Re: Saxon Generals
Not to mention that sitting on top of a horse gives a definitely better field of view. Plus it´s more comfortable and probably a sign of wealth and status.
Re: Saxon Generals
RTR experimented with infantry bodyguards for Romans and Greeks. (Does EB still do it for Germans?) I was happy when they went back to cavalry. Partly because cavalry is often rare and so having some with your general is very useful, even if only for chasing routers. And partly because often you want your general to be mobile, rushing to a key spot of the line, and not stuck duking it out in a big infantry combat unit.
I think the case for Saxons having infantry bodyguards is stronger than with the Romans and Greeks though - think Harold and his huscarls at Hastings.
I've come to dislike 2 HP generals' bodyguards though - they are too strong and it is too tempting to win your battles with them.
Re: Saxon Generals
I can't say I have tremendous first-hand knowledge of this myself, but Arthurian Total War's historians are a knowledgable group, and they determined an infantry bodyguard unit, Gesiþas, was accurate for the Saxons and Angles (although their third Germanic faction, the Jutes, have a cavalry bodyguard)
Antagonist
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Arthurian Total War Developer
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