Herald of Steel



The tactic Alexander employed was copied from the Black Army of the Hungarian king Matthias, who used it against other enemy cavalries.

And the results were usually very good, as it took a very, very, very well-trained horse to not just jump and buck, throwing off its rider before breaking rank and running when faced with a terrifying whirling circle of blazing fire and the swishing sound.

And usually, 50% of the enemy cavalry would break rank and collide with one another in this tactic, proving just how lethal the technique could be.

Alexander copied this specific technique instead of the more usual and popular techniques such as using pikes or the Greek sarissa, which was a really, really long spear for one very important reason.

Because the opposing side had mounted archers.

What did he mean by that?

Well, pikes and sarissas were really good at stopping light and heavy melee cavalry.

Because these combat units generally needed to get close to attack and having sharp, pointy sticks being pointed at them made that very hard to do.

This was because horses were rational creatures who would not just impale themselves on the sharp steel and commit suicide just because you told them to.

Instead when pikes or other sharp objects would be pointed at one, it would try to swerve or turn around or stop, thus taking action arbitrarily to stop itself from dying.

In this way, pikes and long spears were very effective at stopping a cavalry charge.

Sure one could launch javelins from atop a horse to try and disperse the pike holders, but cavalry was not primarily used for that.

It was used to utilize the combined momentum of man and horse to smash infantry.

And so, if you were going to throw javelins, why do you need horses?

Infantry would do the job fine.

They might even do it better as a soldier sitting on the ground would be able to arch his entire body to put more strength to his throw, hence hitting the enemy from further away.

And besides, just how many javelins did one carry?

Two to three.

Maybe a horseman could carry five.

And once that was all used up, one would need to go all the way back to their camp to refill the stock.

While the entire time the enemy infantry too could lob similar projectiles.

In which case, archers would be a better choice.

Thus, as long as the enemy did not break during the initial charge and stood its ground as held fast onto their pikes, the cavalry would become a mere decoration on the battlefield, unable to do much.

But this only applied to melee cavalry.

Because things were very different for ranged cavalry, more commonly known as mounted archers.

These units could do both, melee and ranged attacks.

They could charge using spears and shields, destroying the army if they were cowards.

Or if they faced a particularly resistant enemy, they could switch to ranged attacks, using their bows to launch volley after volley of lethal missile fire.

And the enemy infantry would have nothing to counter that.

And not only that, the infantry would be quite vulnerable during this.

Pikes and sarissas were heavy weapons that required both hands to wield efficiently, meaning no shield or perhaps a small light shield like the buckler at best.

This type of shield would never be adequate against the arrow rain the mounted archers would launch, meaning the passive infantry would be slowly worn down.

This was the tactic used by Mongols, who would first launch arrows to demoralize the enemy before charging to see if they would break.

If they did not break during the first charge, they would follow it up with another brutal arrow shower, hoping that perhaps the enemy would change their minds during the next charge.

And if that was not enough, another wave of death would follow, followed by a third, then a fourth, and so on, until eventually, overwhelmed by the death and carnage around them, and suffering from the repeated inherent terror of a cavalry charge, the surviving troops would at last choose to flee.

That was how the Mongols destroyed their enemies.

And if something as simple as a pike could have stopped them, something that Alexander The Great had 1,500 years ago, the Mongols could not have created the biggest continuous land empire in the world.

But they did.

Because pikes were too passive.

It prevented the enemy from attacking you in melee but it did not harm them, leaving them to do their thing.

And that was why this technique was originally invented, to not just deny the cavalry their charge, but to actively harm them.

Because at the time this tactic was introduced, firearms were already a thing, so cavalry could still shoot the infantry, destroy the pike formation and then charge.

And this new move prevented that situation.

A situation that coincidentally was very similar to the one Alexander found himself in at this time, facing a group of cutthroat mounted archers dressed as mercenaries.

And hence the choice.

Alexander of course did not just copy and paste the weapon he read as an interesting trivial in a history book.

He also added modifications to it, such as adding the metal bells, which not only amplified the sound produced but also added to the orchestra, making the weapon give off a terrifying piercing sound as the metal chains clanged against one another while the metal bells jingled like announcing the arrival of the apocalypse,

"Ahhhh," Alexander's brave men shouted at the top of their lungs as they used both their hands to swing the rope above their heads whose upper half was on fire to scare off the horses, with their own shout both intimidating the enemy, but moreover, releasing all their fear and tension.

Because it was bloody scary facing 2,000 charging horses coming to kill you.

*Neiiiiiiigh*, *Neiiiiighhh*, *Neeeeeiigggh,*

And while these soldiers shouted, the opposing horses also shouted, as the sight of the huge flaming wheels of fire and the horrible whistling sound dealt enormous psychological damage to the poor beasts.

Hence many of these once-loyal companions betrayed and disobeyed their riders' instructions and recklessly tried to swerve and turn around, in the midst of a full charge, and almost all ended up them clashing with one another in a mess of grotesque melee.

The ordered charge had been completely ruined as horses and men clashed with one another, creating screams of panic and agony, which drove both men and beast to further extremes of confusion, while the officers tried very hard to gain control of their ranks.

There was shoving and pushing, which caused many men to fall over, and then get stampeded by the sharp horse hooves.

There were many horses who stumbled and fell over after colliding with the other fleeing horses before promptly getting crushed by the other retreating mad horses.

And there were many soldiers impaling themselves on their own spears, breaking their bones from the sudden impact, and experiencing a general sense of chaos, panic, and disorder perforate their ranks.

And this huge attack affected the entire cavalry charge, as the officers themselves struggled hard to control their mounts, many dying in the ensuing chaos.

" *Shoosh*, *shoosh*, there, there. Calm down, calm down. Good girl, good girl," Ural was one of the lucky ones as his horse was one of the highly trained ones and did not immediately lose its mind after seeing the sight.

And thus its master managed to get it to calm down after some time.

Ural was quite lucky that he managed to survive this encounter relatively unscathed, having successfully avoided the other fleeing horses, while also managing to stay atop his horse even when the full galloping charge suddenly came to a screeching halt.

'The gods must favor me, arghh' Ural said a prayer to himself with a grunt, as he felt a sharp pang of pain in his chest.

A spear's butt had smashed against his ribs during the initial disaster, and it was a miracle that he was not knocked over from his horse.

'Argh, my ribs might be broken,' Ural gritted his teeth in pain as the adrenaline wore off, but the strong man managed to push the thought out.

For he had bigger concerns.

Concerns which were evident to anyone who had eyes and could look around Ural.

Dead bodies of horses and men lay strewn about, huge gaps in the formation gaped with a dead fish's mouth, and everybody was in a complete panic over what to do.

"Fuck!* Ural let out an unrestrained shout of frustration at his devastated units, anger, and grief taking hold of him.

Even by his most conservative estimate, he had lost at least 200 men and horses.

Even for a Matbar (Marquis) it was no trivial loss.

Especially when those losses were dealt to his elite horsemen, the creme of the crop.

Matar Uzek had sent these men to aid Pasha Djose in good faith, for they were in-laws, with Ural being married to the man's youngest daughter.

And so to lose so many men just like that, without having accomplished anything was very heart-rendering for Ural, and his heart shook at the thought of how he will explain this loss to his father.

But little did he know, a far greater problem was rearing his ugly head as he spoke, for Alexander had already sent his 3rd legion to intercept the disorganized cavalry, trying to catch it in its most vulnerable position and deal a decapitating blow.