Chapter 7

Outside Devnum

A hundred horses thundered across the field overlooked from a slight rise, which was currently topped by a handful of officers on horseback. At a trumpet call the horses wheeled collectively as a group, forming almost a U as it turned back on itself, going back the way it came.

That move finished, the column of horses again reversed directions, making a deep arch that became a half-circle as it partially surrounded a series of hay-bales laid out in the open field, before ultimately turning south, pulling to a stop in a long line across the base of the hills.

“You’re right. The turning rate is impressive,” Velius said to the cavalry commander on the horse next to him.

This was the first time since the reorganization that he’d seen the cavalry in the field. Previously, each legion had its own cavalry units attached to them, mostly from scouting and flanking the wings of the legions in combat, since each legion more or less operated independently of each other.

The new layered command structure Ky had put in place changed these dynamics, and allowed for increasingly specialized yet independent commands, like the new artillery and cavalry cohorts which attached directly to the combined forces as a whole, instead of to the individual legions. Just the need to discuss these new arrangements had led to new words entering the Roman lexicon, such as Army and Corps, which was an odd variation of the Latin word for the body.

Lartius, who had previously been his legion’s cavalry commander and was now the overall commander of the First Britannic army’s cavalry cohorts, had been training his men separately, miles off in some more forgiving open plains to the east. Although Velius had been receiving reports of how the training was progressing and had several conversations with Lartius about the changes to Roman cavalry, he hadn’t actually seen them in action before now.

He was impressed by how different the cavalry looked now versus how it looked before Ky had arrived and started introducing so many changes. Before, the cavalry could only make shallow turns and encircling an enemy required long, shallow arcs. Even the Parthians, whose speed and skill on the horse were outstanding, had limits to how sharply they could turn, and they trained on horseback from the day they could walk. The display he was watching now, though, was something completely different.

It seemed as if the line of horses could almost double back on itself, which would have been impossible before Ky’s introduction of the stirrup. When he’d first seen it, it seemed impossible that the little strip of leather and metal could have been as big an advantage as Ky made it sound like. Even using it every day on his own horse, Velius hadn’t internalized exactly how much it changed Roman cavalry tactics.

Previously, the cavalry used mostly short stabbing spears, thrown javelins, slings, and the spatha, which was essentially a much longer version of the gladius with sharper sides, allowing the rider to slash down at men on foot as they rode by. This was good enough to harry the other side’s mounted troops and limit their scouting, since they generally suffered from the same instability as the Roman riders. As soon as they clashed, men started falling from horses, since it wasn’t that difficult to dismount a man who stayed on top of a horse mostly by pressing his knees tightly into the horse’s side.

They’d already started working out new tactics for how to use the new cavalry, which was the point of today’s demonstrations. Lartius had not only been training with his men. He’d also had his men testing out the various suggestions Ky had made about new ways they could fight now that they had enough stability.

“It is. We should be able to run circles around the Carthaginian cavalry. This advantage won’t last long. Unlike some of the other things the Consul has introduced, where they’d have to get someone inside our manufacturing process to learn how to do it, any horseman worth his salt can take one look at these and understand their value. And it’s not like it’s difficult to copy.”

“We’ll just have to ask the Consul to come up with something new once they do. So, other than fancy maneuvers, what thoughts have you had about how to put them to use?”

“The first idea is to just copy the Parthians. We were never able to train men to be maneuverable enough to pull off the encirclements they did with their horse archers, let alone train those same men to be proficient enough with a bow from horseback to make it happen.”

“I assume you’re talking about the arcuballista?”

“Yes, well, partially. We’re still working out the specifics on how to use this. On the surface, it seems like a good idea, especially seeing how that Parthians always gave us so many problems, but it isn’t playing out exactly like that in practice.”

“Why not?” Velius asked, although he had already guessed a few of the larger differences.

He wanted to hear it from Lartius first, before he started adding in his own thoughts on the subjects. First, because Lartius was an expert on the subject while Velius had come up through the legions fighting on foot, and he wanted to see the point of view of the cavalryman on the subject. And second, because even if he knew the answer, he wanted his subordinates to get used to thinking like officers and not just soldiers. A bad legate was one who kept his thought processes to himself, confident that he was always right and never sounding off against the subordinates he picked as his advisors. Legates had staffs for a reason, and they needed to use them. His job as a legate was to train the men that would come after him just as much as it was winning battles.

“Well, there are limitations. True horse archers like those from the east train with shooting and riding from a young age, which is why they’re able to do it so well. Proficiency with a bow is just as much of a challenge, if not more so, as the horse riding. We train our archers to fire in volley because it’s easier and takes less time to do, but it only works when fired en masse. Mounted archery doesn’t have that advantage, because most of the line isn’t facing the enemy at the same time. Even using the Parthian circle, there are still limitations on this.”

“They made up for this with better accuracy?”

“That’s what I understand. I mean, we haven’t faced them in several hundred years, so this is all based on stories and reports from before the war. But yes. Even accounting for the exaggeration that always seems to happen, they aimed for specific targets.”

“So the arcuballista allows that?”

“No, which is why we aren’t looking to recreate the Parthian technique. The arcuballista used on horseback is easier and can be taught with little training, but only when firing at very large targets, like a phalanx. A few men will have some level of natural ability and veterans will build up better accuracy over time, but as a tactic, we have to use it more generally. Against another cavalry, an arcuballista would be all but worthless, but against a large unit, we can start looking at this tactic.”

“I’ve watched some of the training that’s been happening with the arcuballista, and the tighter draw the Consul designed makes reloading a lot more of a process. It’s doable on the ground when you have leverage, but isn’t it a problem on horseback?”

“Yes. The Consul asked for us to send messengers with updates and questions, and that was one of the things I asked about. With his help, we designed a slightly altered version to be used on horseback,” he said, reaching around his saddle and pulling out what at first looked like a slimmed-down version of the arcuballista.

Taking it, Velius turned it around in his hands. It was lighter than the new arcuballista that was being produced. The heavy wood frame and steel made the weapon heavy but allowed it to be better braced for accuracy, since the force of the spring slapping forward could cause the weapon to pull, throwing the shooter’s aim off.

By contrast, the frame of this weapon was made of some type of lighter wood. The steel riser and extensions were lighter and more inset, so the string barely crossed the top of the wood frame.

“The design we came up with has you turn it upside down and hook the end brace here,” he said, pointing at an unusual addition to the front edge of his saddle.

Velius had noticed how unusual his saddle was, but hadn’t said anything yet, since he was sure it was going to come up as part of the presentation. The normal saddle had a lifted area at each of its four corners, with the front extensions winging out slightly. These rises were to help the rider stay in the saddle as they turned, especially the front pair, which the rider could almost wedge his thighs under when gripping with his knees to get a better hold on the horse.

All four risers were cone-shaped, although there was a slight lifting at the back of the saddle that looked to slightly cradle the rider’s hindquarters. In place of those four rises was one in the center that extended forward just a bit.

Lartius took the weapon, turned it upside down, and hooked the altered foot brace at the end of the weapon over the raised end of the saddle. The lip kept the weapon from sliding off the end of the saddle. Gripping the string, he leaned back, pulling hard until Velius could hear it latch firmly in place.

“Clever, although doing that by hand instead of using the lever like the one the Consul introduced, does it have the same level of pull?”

“No, it’s notably less, but still more than the versions we previously used before the Consul’s arrival. It doesn’t have the penetration that the other models have or the range, which isn’t a problem since we’re normally much closer than a legion would be when deploying their archers and other ranged soldiers. As for the penetration, some of that is offset just by being closer and also by the angle we’d be firing down at the men on the ground, allowing us to get over their shields. The biggest drawback is the reloading, since the rider has to disengage to be able to reload, instead of just drawing another arrow like the Parthians did.”