heavy cavalry engaging heavy cavalry

[Michael Kerr]

ValentinianVictrix wrote:

However, in conversation with those who are more knowledgeable about Eastern and Far Eastern warfare they state that those versions of Catafractarii/Clibanarii were effective against both infantry and cavalry.

Tacitus wrote of the Roxolani cavalry that when unhorsed & weighed down by their heavy armour they were no match for the lighter Roman infantrymen when in slippery conditions of mud and snow like when they were caught returning from a raid in 69AD by Legio Gallica III, but I think he alluded that with the right conditions that not many could stand up to them either infantry or cavalry as the previous year the Roxolani wiped out 2 Auxiliary cohorts in Lower Moesia, so your statement is probably true. I think one of the first things the Romans did in 175AD when they made peace with the defeated Iazyges was to beef up their archer units so the Romans probably realized the hard way that these were the best defence against Iazyges cavalry but whether you could class Iazyges as heavy rather than medium or light cavalrymen like the contus armed Roxolani I don't know.

Regards
Michael Kerr