Hollywood Tactics: Difference between revisions

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== [[Film]] ==

* In almost every film involving two units of cavalry charging one another with swords, they will attempt to hack at each other - in fact, cavalry were generally encourage to use the point of their sword, so as not to give the enemy a clear cut at their wrists. Related to this is the practice of cavalry hacking at the backs of infantry. In fact, it was more efficient to [[Eye Scream|cut backwards at the enemy's eyes]] as you rode past.

**They may sometimes have ~~eben~~ encouraged to use the point but that is a bit of a one-sided argument still. Just to start with, unless they are Proud Warrior Race Guys(as indeed some cavalry were that being a fairly traditional combat role for such) with training all their lives, most troopers are not [[Master Swordsman|master swordsmen]] but just soldiers that got put on a horse. A successful thrust from horseback will jam the saber in human meat. An unsuccessful one will unbalance a horseman. And it is more efficient to get several cripples who are just as much out of the fight as one kill, especially if they are knocked off their horse. There is a reason historically why so many models of cavalry sword were curved toward the false edge: it makes it easier to cut with.

**They may sometimes have been encouraged to use the point but that is a bit of a one-sided argument still. Just to start with, unless they are Proud Warrior Race Guys(as indeed some cavalry were that being a fairly traditional combat role for such) with training all their lives, most troopers are not [[Master Swordsman|master swordsmen]] but just soldiers that got put on a horse. A successful thrust from horseback will jam the saber in human meat. An unsuccessful one will unbalance a horseman. And it is more efficient to get several cripples who are just as much out of the fight as one kill, especially if they are knocked off their horse. There is a reason historically why so many models of cavalry sword were curved toward the false edge: it makes it easier to cut with.

**A lot of times though a cut will include a follow through like a razor cut rather then an ax-like hack. Those can create brutal wounds and are designed to.

**What is not shown often in movies is that cavalry fights tended to be rather tricky things due to having to control their horses at the same time. Their are incidents when both forces rode ''through'' each other, reformed, and did not turn back to finish the fight and left surprisingly few casualties in the process. While that might be an interesting thing to see once in a while, it is probably not as cool as a Homeric melee.