05-14-2011, 01:52 PM
Quote:How could anything of a length and thicknes that allows it to be man-portable stop a 1,000 lb object hurtling towards you at 25-30 mph of full charge?
Answer: It cannot. Luckily horses don't charge full speed into masses of men. The spear is largely irrelevent interms of halting the horse. It is far more important as a psychological crutch for the bearer and a threat to the rider. The formation of men into what appears to the horse to be an obstacle is the key- hence men with short muskets and bayonettes can hold up cavalry.
I suppose the closest you could get other than missiles were long, heavy pikes braced against the ground in multiple ranks so that you had both plenty of distance to slow them down and were able to use the combined strength of multiple men in the formation.
Anyways with the psychological aspect there would also be the factor of whether or not the infantry actually hold their formation when faced with the charge, so that could possibly go either way, but if victory were determined solely by how courageous or disciplined the troops were then sooner or later you would have the worst case scenario with and infantry force which has been beaten and drilled so that they don't even flinch and the horsemen and mounts who have been whipped and trained until they show absolutely no fear colliding into each other. So the question is, who comes out on top?
Henry O.
