Ancient German Cavalry

Caesar describes German cavalry in his description of battle against Ariovistus.  Cavalry were deployed with lightly armed infantry in a 1:1 ratio and they would work together. He foot were selected for their speed and they clung to the horses to keep up. German horse did not use the Gallic saddle so could not fight so well mounted. But they slipped easily on and off the horses as circumstances required. They were highly aggressive and were happy to attack horse using saddles, such as Celts or Romans.

I created infantry-supported cavalry for my ancient German army using a 7.5cm by 7.5 cm base.

The stats are as follows:

1)      Cavalry so move 9”

2)      Clash 7

3)      Sustained 6

4)      Short range 3

5)      Long range 0

6)      Morale Save 5+

7)      Stamina 6

I raised the sustained and save stats by one from standard light cavalry to indicate the staying power of the infantry in the formation.

I used Wargames Factory models.  A pack of cavalry and one of infantry costs around £35 and makes four cavalry units and one warband, which I treat as if it was Celtic.

One point is that WF German cavalry have Gallic saddles. These can be omitted from the models by gently bending in the riders’ legs until they fit the horse.