Quote:
Originally Posted by Wrana
Congratulations!
Another thing - Arabs didn't use composite bows like Turks or Mongolians. Their bows were better than common Western design, but not by much, and they didn't particularly like shooting warfare - maybe because of the risk to horses. What they should certainly have is light lancers with very fast horses - which could be deadly at first strike... Later they began to employ a northern Turkish nomads specifically as mounted archers - but those were most often relatively heavy troops!
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Actually, the arabs as of the crusades favored mounted archers, and did use composite bows almost exclusively. Their favorite tactics include riding up to opposing cavalry and firing at close range to shoot the horses out from under them (European cavalry of the time did not wear barding typically, and not at all in the crusades because of exhaustion concerns), and pretending to run away while firing behind them to lead their pursuers into a trap. Islamic mounted archers of the time were perhaps the most accurate in the world, and the practice of archery was quite popular because of Mohammad's pronouncement that archery was the only sport the angels stopped to watch.
Islamic heavy cavalry at the time did not use lances, although they did use spears. The prepared warrior also carried a sword, mace, and axe - although the sword was the preferred weapon (for a number of reasons, but most likely because Mohammad states that the sword is a holy weapon). The idea of a heavy cavalry charge, european style, was shocking to them in the first crusade (and possibly accounts for some crusader wins against superior numbers).
The armor of their light and heavy cavalry was nearly identical - typically a maille shirt, leggings, heavy boots, a metal cap - often worn under turban and robes, although sometimes a metal cuirass was worn on top of this. Heavy cavalry carried a shield.
(Note, in proper usage, 'light' means the unit had a ranged weapon and claims nothing about armor.)
I can provide sources.