Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-17114085-20150131101228/@comment-17114085-20150205005121

Pacman the great wrote: (I think that infantry, even if only regulars, would be better equipped for hand to hand than archers. The regulars would have (admittedly light) chain, and battle axes, versus perhaps leather and clubs.)

Before the infantry made contact, Luciun adopted a different strategy and moved his men backward slightly, so they were just outside the walls, at the breach. That way, Whiterun's forces could only come from one direction, and if they cavalry charged round the corner, they would lose their momentum. Indeed, any attackers would be disordered as the clambered over the rubble and fallen rock. The infantry quickly formed a shield wall, with the same crescent as before. Infantry armed with pollaxes and spears were immediately behind the first rank of dismounted knights. The pollaxes and spears braced for the cavalry, forming a phalanx-like formation, whilst the knights in full plate had swords and good shields for hand to hand.

The archers likewise moved back, and the mangonels began to unlimber. They were just behind the heavy infantry, and would be able to fire over them. The archers, meanwhile, began to fire at the charging enemy.

The infantry on the walls concentrated at the points where they already had a foot hold to gain local superiority, trying to link up their groups. Their main strategy was to simply hack away at the nearby archers before they got a strike in. (I said that, but the archers would automatically lose. They still know how to fight, so they can hold their own for a time. Archers would use light armor like leather and likely have a swords or daggers to wield in melee.)

The archers were still holding, but they wouldn't last much more. They started to suffer casualties, but they still number more than 150.

Seeing that the enemy had retreated outside the walls the cavalry had no choice but to stop their charge.

The Thane said this and ordered his men to stay as well. "Damn it." he muttered.

The Housecarl examined the situation, it was then that he saw that the archers were under attack. He ordered the regular cavalry (300 men) to dismount and aid them on the wall. The regular cavalry, despite not being as skilled as the Great Cavalry, were still knights and thus very good in combat. As they headed up the wall to aid the archers the Great Cavalry and the Housecarl move to rendezvous with Riverwood's forces.

The two forces had little time to chat but the Housecarl told the Thane to move his men away from the breach, so they would no longer be in the line of sight of the enemy archers and magonels. They held up in the town for now, protected by the buildings and the wall.