Heavy Cavalry

 All the information below is taken from Chainmail, except where noted:

HEAVY CAVALRY

Type: Normal Person (Human) mounted on Normal Beast (Horse)

Size: Large

Morale: Morale 9 (check for instability due to excess casualties only at 1/2 losses)

Move: 12" (Road Bonus 3", Charge 18")

Attacks: 

- in large-scale combat, melees as Heavy Horse on the large-scale Melee table;

- in individual combat, melees according to the weapon used on the individual Melee table.

Defense: 

- in large-scale combat, defends from melee attacks as Heavy Horse on the large-scale Melee table and from ranged attacks as Full Armor on the large-scale Missile Fire table;

- in individual combat, defends according to the armor worn (usually chainmail or plate, and possibly a shield) on the individual Melee table (from melee attacks) or the individual Missile Fire table (from ranged attacks).

Traits:

Impetus Bonus (optional). Cavalry units receive an Impetus Bonus when charging into melee across smooth, level terrain or down moderate slopes. These troops add one extra die to their normal number of combat dice. 

Cavalry Charge Shock (optional). A defending unit must roll 2d6 to withstand a charge by mounted men (this is considered a Morale check). If it fails the required score, it retreats one move and a half and must rally. Required score to withstand a Heavy Cavalry charge:

• Peasants: 11 
• Light Infantry (including all Ranged Infantry): 10 
• Levies (of any classification): 10 
• Heavy Infantry: 9 (8 if Elite)
• Armored Infantry: 8 
• Light Cavalry: 7 
• Medium Cavalry: 6 
• Heavy Cavalry: 5

Special cases:

• Units charged in the flank deduct 1 from their die roll.

• Units charged in the rear deduct 2 from their die roll.

• If the defending unit is also charging the attacker, both must roll, adding +1 to the die roll if they are Infantry and +2 if they are Cavalry;

• Pike-armed mercenaries (including Landsknechts and Swiss Pikemen) facing the enemy automatically stand any charge.

Standing Cavalry (optional). "Standing Cavalry" is any Cavalry unit that suffers a melee attack on a turn it was not ordered to move (if using simultaneous movement); if using the move/counter-move system, "Standing Cavalry" is a Cavalry unit that suffers a melee attack before having moved this turn. Standing Cavalry defends normally but returns casualties during the first round of a melee (and only then) at the next lower category: Heavy Horse as Medium Horse; Medium Horse as Light Horse; and Light Horse as Armored Foot. 

Point Cost (army creation): 5

Heavy Cavalry variants:

Knights: Behave as Knights. Armored noble cavalry of medieval Europe, bound by feudal obligations and trained for shock combat, forming the social and military elite of kingdoms shaped by chivalric culture.

Reiters: Early modern heavy cavalry (especially in the Thirty Years' War) armed with pistols and trained in caracole tactics, reflecting the transition from lance to firearm on horseback. Rules-wise, it is safe to treat their pistols as an Arquebus. 

Gendarmes: Elite French heavy cavalry of the late medieval and Renaissance periods. Fully armored men-at-arms organized into royal companies and central to armies of the Kingdom of France.