Are asymmetrical suits of armour viable?

[Slargos]

No self respecting cavalryman uses the reins in combat.
They train their horses to go left or right by putting preasure with their knees, and to go forward or stop by the adjusting their body weight in the saddle.

Reins are for amateurs.

Seeing as I don't personally know that many medieval knights, I will have to conclude that you're talking out of your ass.

Yeah, his statements certainly don't seem to make obvious sense; a cavalryman in combat is going to be shifting his weight and using his knees for combat, not for the edification of his horse.  You are trying to bash someone out of his saddle, and he is trying to bash you out of yours - the last thing you need to be thinking about is what signals you are sending to your horse via body language while fighting for your life!

Maybe there is something here I am missing, though; anyone who has fought as a mounted knight can jump in and correct any misapprehensions on my part.

I expect there are any number of things you are missing.

Not least of all the fact that Siegy never said anything about mounted knights.

Hoisted with your own petard. Messy business, that.

[Slargos]

It's an interesting line of thought, though. Siegy's statement is obviously made nonsensical with even the slightest research since you'll find depictions of cavalry in combat from Sarmatian to Norse all with reins clearly depicted. I'm sure it's possible to find references to mounted troops gallantly controlling their horses without reins, but horse archers aren't really cavalry in the common usage sense and regardless it would be pointless to wax axiomatic using horse archers as your baseline when mounted soldiers come in so many more shapes and sizes.

Since I'm no expert on the subject, I won't delve further into it than noting that I think you'd be surprised if you learned how sensitive horses can be to the commands of their riders, and how deftly they are able to differentiate the actual commands from the mere fumbling.

[Strix]

What would Siegebreaker know about pre-modern combat?  Until the US created Israel, the Jews were a laughingstock when it came to matters military.

Except for that one time David used his slingshot on Goliath....

[Slargos]

What would Siegebreaker know about pre-modern combat?  Until the US created Israel, the Jews were a laughingstock when it came to matters military.

Except for that one time David used his slingshot on Goliath....

Cowardly murder doesn't necessarily equate to combat, even if the Americans showed us very well that the reverse can very much be true in Kosovo. Or, in fact, in any conflict they've been in the last 100 years.

[Ed Anger]

What would Siegebreaker know about pre-modern combat?  Until the US created Israel, the Jews were a laughingstock when it came to matters military.

Except for that one time David used his slingshot on Goliath....

Cowardly murder doesn't necessarily equate to combat, even if the Americans showed us very well that the reverse can very much be true in Kosovo. Or, in fact, in any conflict they've been in the last 100 years.

:smug: