Special effects that most impressed you

[The Brain]

The model spaceships from star wars, it still holds up while cgi doesn't.

This. Star Wars, TOT, remains the most influential piece of art/entertainment in my entire life.
Freedom, Empire, racial discrimination, facing overwhelming odds, they are all there.

[Siege]

I always liked the Rohan cavalry charge in LOTR: Return of the King.  That's how you use medieval cavalry, baby: like a ten pin bowling ball.

Hell no. This post just proved to me that you don't know crap about cavalry.

1- Charges against more than 4 ranks deep of spear armed infantry in close rank formation are suicidal, if they hold their position and don't turn and run, of course. The orcs of Mordor had countless ranks of infantry, their only weakness, cavalry wise, the shortish spears, but their mass would have stopped cold that charge.

2- Horses go down if theyr hit anything wiyjth their front legs. The rohirrim horses run over infantry, that now sudedenly are not close packed, hit it them with the horses legs. No go.

3- I forgot my third argument, other than you suck.

[Scipio]

An American Werewolf in London
Inception
Sin City (although, really, the whole film is one giant effects shot)
Star Wars original
Star Trek II nebula battle

[Siege]

yeah, the American werewolf in londinon gave me nightmares while I was cuddling under my bunk in a fetal position while waiting for a hizzbollani rocket attack to end.
Good times.

[Valmy]

But, seriously, apart from the use of armoured meleé Cataphractii and Clibinarii is there any case in history where cavalry charged into formed infantry?

Lots of times?  I thought the Swedes just ran their cavalry over the Russian infantry in prepared defenses at Narva in 1700.  The Polish Hussars did it a bunch of times as well.

[Razgovory]

I always liked the Rohan cavalry charge in LOTR: Return of the King.  That's how you use medieval cavalry, baby: like a ten pin bowling ball.

in blocs 20 riders deep? into formed packed infantry?

Looking at pictures of battles from the early modern period late medieval it does appear that cavalry fought in dense ranks.  For instance in the thirty years war you see military formations as large rectangles for both infantry and cavalry.

[Agelastus]

I always liked the Rohan cavalry charge in LOTR: Return of the King.  That's how you use medieval cavalry, baby: like a ten pin bowling ball.

in blocs 20 riders deep? into formed packed infantry?

Looking at pictures of battles from the early modern period late medieval it does appear that cavalry fought in dense ranks.  For instance in the thirty years war you see military formations as large rectangles for both infantry and cavalry.

That's because a cavalry rank occupies as much space as several infantry ranks; it's the rare battle where you can find cavalry documented as being more than 10 ranks deep per line.

And also because a bunch of those pictures are showing Caracole cavalry rather than shock types; rank by rank advance, fire and wheel to reload rather than charge. Caracole formations were normally deeper than shock formations.

[Razgovory]

Many of them seem to be carrying lances.

[CountDeMoney]

I always liked the Rohan cavalry charge in LOTR: Return of the King.  That's how you use medieval cavalry, baby: like a ten pin bowling ball.

Hell no. This post just proved to me that you don't know crap about cavalry.

1- Charges against more than 4 ranks deep of spear armed infantry in close rank formation are suicidal, if they hold their position and don't turn and run, of course. The orcs of Mordor had countless ranks of infantry, their only weakness, cavalry wise, the shortish spears, but their mass would have stopped cold that charge.

2- Horses go down if theyr hit anything wiyjth their front legs. The rohirrim horses run over infantry, that now sudedenly are not close packed, hit it them with the horses legs. No go.

3- I forgot my third argument, other than you suck.

Funny, I don't recall saying I knew crap about cavalry.

Now go sleep off your "To Catch a Predator" wine cooler before you wake up next to another child victim.

[Siege]

I always liked the Rohan cavalry charge in LOTR: Return of the King.  That's how you use medieval cavalry, baby: like a ten pin bowling ball.

Hell no. This post just proved to me that you don't know crap about cavalry.

1- Charges against more than 4 ranks deep of spear armed infantry in close rank formation are suicidal, if they hold their position and don't turn and run, of course. The orcs of Mordor had countless ranks of infantry, their only weakness, cavalry wise, the shortish spears, but their mass would have stopped cold that charge.

2- Horses go down if theyr hit anything wiyjth their front legs. The rohirrim horses run over infantry, that now sudedenly are not close packed, hit it them with the horses legs. No go.

3- I forgot my third argument, other than you suck.

Funny, I don't recall saying I knew crap about cavalry.

Now go sleep off your "To Catch a Predator" wine cooler before you wake up next to another child victim.

Realk men don't drink wine. we drink BEER.

[Scipio]

I always liked the Rohan cavalry charge in LOTR: Return of the King.  That's how you use medieval cavalry, baby: like a ten pin bowling ball.

Hell no. This post just proved to me that you don't know crap about cavalry.

1- Charges against more than 4 ranks deep of spear armed infantry in close rank formation are suicidal, if they hold their position and don't turn and run, of course. The orcs of Mordor had countless ranks of infantry, their only weakness, cavalry wise, the shortish spears, but their mass would have stopped cold that charge.

2- Horses go down if theyr hit anything wiyjth their front legs. The rohirrim horses run over infantry, that now sudedenly are not close packed, hit it them with the horses legs. No go.

3- I forgot my third argument, other than you suck.

Funny, I don't recall saying I knew crap about cavalry.

Now go sleep off your "To Catch a Predator" wine cooler before you wake up next to another child victim.

Realk men don't drink wine. we drink BEER.

The shit you drink ain't even beer.

[Agelastus]

Many of them seem to be carrying lances.

I didn't say they were all Caracolers.

Are these images of battles from in and around Poland-Lithuania? Lancers are really rare in western Europe post 1600 or so.

[Razgovory]

Many of them seem to be carrying lances.

I didn't say they were all Caracolers.

Are these images of battles from in and around Poland-Lithuania? Lancers are really rare in western Europe post 1600 or so.

I hadn't thought of Polish ones, but I had been thinking of battles of he league of cambrai and the 30 years war.  I did look around and found a nice polish one from 1610 though.



Problem is better depictions of battles tend to come around at the same time as the decline of the knight in the West.

This is a pretty one from 1510.  Battle of Guinegate.

[derspiess]

Funny, I don't recall saying I knew crap about cavalry.

[Malthus]

Many of them seem to be carrying lances.

I didn't say they were all Caracolers.

Are these images of battles from in and around Poland-Lithuania? Lancers are really rare in western Europe post 1600 or so.

I hadn't thought of Polish ones, but I had been thinking of battles of he league of cambrai and the 30 years war.  I did look around and found a nice polish one from 1610 though.

This is a pretty one from 1510.  Battle of Guinegate.

Both pics appear to depict cavalry fighting other masses of cavalry.

Historically, instances of masses of cavalry successfully charging into formed masses of infantry (when the infantry stood its ground) were pretty rare. The physics of the situation are against this working out well for the cavalry.

For one, cavalry of necessity takes up a lot more space than infantry. Each lancer would be facing several enemies on foot.

For another, most horses tend to refuse to impale themselves on pointy sticks for the greater good. They would rather either stop or turn away ... with predictably bad results if the ranks of horsemen are packed tightly together.

The primary impact of a mass charge straight at mass infantry was psychological ... that is, unless discipline and training were good, infantry would tend to run rather than face an avalanche of horseflesh. Running from cavalry is, of course, fatal, as you can't outrun a horse.