Skip to main content
Worldbuilding

Return to Answer

added 2 characters in body
Source Link
fgysin
fgysin
  • 3.3k
  • 17
  • 27

As the OP talked about domesticated animals I think bear cavalry is feasible overall.

I think domesticating bears should work out quite fine: bears belong to the same suborder as wolves/dogs, which were domesticated very successfully (and were also used in war, to a certain extent!). Also bears have been famously displayed in various circus/movies/shows over the ages, showing that even the wild bears out there can be tamed up to a certain degree.

Some additional points:

Endurance

As mentioned endurance could be an issue. However, cavalry normally doesn't have an exceptionally high marching speed when compared to infantry, so while your bear cavalry will be slower than horse cavalry, it should easily keep up with infantry regiments and your supply train (which you would need to bring anyway). In combat cavalry is usually used for relatively short charges, which a bear is very capable of. So bottom line: bear cavalry would form a heavy cavalry unit, but you'd still need horses for scouting/skirmishing/surprise ambushes, ...

Food

Food is an issue. Bears eat a lot, and they mostly eat things which you will not find sitting on the roadside by the wagon load (like, for example, grass for feeding horses). So you'd need a good supply train to feed your bears. The good news is that bears are omnivores, so they'll eat pretty much anything... You could probably come up with some sort of special bear pemmican which is durable, compact and can be manufactured in bulk. Also after winning a battle meat is back on the menu, boys! ;)

Tactics

I think your bear cavalry will need to come up with some new tactics. While armoring bears and using them to charge into enemy formations should be feasible, I don't think it really uses the bears to their fullest potential. Bears in fights often stand up on their hind quarters, and use their front paws for fighting as well. The problem here is that this won't work so well for the rider... Maybe the bear cavalry would charge into the mêlée, where the rider would jump of and fight side-to-side with his mount.

Fighting

This is really where your bear cavalry will shine. Have you ever seen a bear fight an other bear? Or heard the stories of bears which kept attacking their victims even after being shot multiple times? Bears are very strong and very durable. Horses are natural flight animals, and while they can be trained for combat, the just don't have the same potential. I feel that a domesticated bear trained for combat (and maybe armored?) could be a ferociously efficient fighter.

As the OP talked about domesticated animals I think bear cavalry is feasible overall.

I think domesticating bears should work out quite fine: bears belong to the same suborder as wolves/dogs, which were domesticated very successfully (and were also used in war, to a certain extent!). Also bears have been famously displayed in various circus/movies/shows over the ages, showing that even the wild bears out there can be tamed up to a certain degree.

Some additional points:

Endurance

As mentioned endurance could be an issue. However, cavalry normally doesn't have an exceptionally high marching speed when compared to infantry, so while your bear cavalry will be slower than horse cavalry, it should easily keep up with infantry regiments and your supply train (which you would need to bring anyway). In combat cavalry is usually used for relatively short charges, which a bear is very capable of. So bottom line: bear cavalry would form a heavy cavalry unit, but you'd still need horses for scouting/skirmishing/surprise ambushes, ...

Food

Food is an issue. Bears eat a lot, and they mostly eat things which you will not find sitting on the roadside by the wagon load (like, for example, grass for feeding horses). So you'd need good supply train to feed your bears. The good news is that bears are omnivores, so they'll eat pretty much anything... You could probably come up with some sort of special bear pemmican which is durable, compact and can be manufactured in bulk. Also after winning a battle meat is back on the menu, boys! ;)

Tactics

I think your bear cavalry will need to come up with some new tactics. While armoring bears and using them to charge into enemy formations should be feasible, I don't think it really uses the bears to their fullest potential. Bears in fights often stand up on their hind quarters, and use their front paws for fighting as well. The problem here is that this won't work so well for the rider... Maybe the bear cavalry would charge into the mêlée, where the rider would jump of and fight side-to-side with his mount.

Fighting

This is really where your bear cavalry will shine. Have you ever seen a bear fight an other bear? Or heard the stories of bears which kept attacking their victims even after being shot multiple times? Bears are very strong and very durable. Horses are natural flight animals, and while they can be trained for combat, the just don't have the same potential. I feel that a domesticated bear trained for combat (and maybe armored?) could be a ferociously efficient fighter.

As the OP talked about domesticated animals I think bear cavalry is feasible overall.

I think domesticating bears should work out quite fine: bears belong to the same suborder as wolves/dogs, which were domesticated very successfully (and were also used in war, to a certain extent!). Also bears have been famously displayed in various circus/movies/shows over the ages, showing that even the wild bears out there can be tamed up to a certain degree.

Some additional points:

Endurance

As mentioned endurance could be an issue. However, cavalry normally doesn't have an exceptionally high marching speed when compared to infantry, so while your bear cavalry will be slower than horse cavalry, it should easily keep up with infantry regiments and your supply train (which you would need to bring anyway). In combat cavalry is usually used for relatively short charges, which a bear is very capable of. So bottom line: bear cavalry would form a heavy cavalry unit, but you'd still need horses for scouting/skirmishing/surprise ambushes, ...

Food

Food is an issue. Bears eat a lot, and they mostly eat things which you will not find sitting on the roadside by the wagon load (like, for example, grass for feeding horses). So you'd need a good supply train to feed your bears. The good news is that bears are omnivores, so they'll eat pretty much anything... You could probably come up with some sort of special bear pemmican which is durable, compact and can be manufactured in bulk. Also after winning a battle meat is back on the menu, boys! ;)

Tactics

I think your bear cavalry will need to come up with some new tactics. While armoring bears and using them to charge into enemy formations should be feasible, I don't think it really uses the bears to their fullest potential. Bears in fights often stand up on their hind quarters, and use their front paws for fighting as well. The problem here is that this won't work so well for the rider... Maybe the bear cavalry would charge into the mêlée, where the rider would jump of and fight side-to-side with his mount.

Fighting

This is really where your bear cavalry will shine. Have you ever seen a bear fight an other bear? Or heard the stories of bears which kept attacking their victims even after being shot multiple times? Bears are very strong and very durable. Horses are natural flight animals, and while they can be trained for combat, the just don't have the same potential. I feel that a domesticated bear trained for combat (and maybe armored?) could be a ferociously efficient fighter.

added 138 characters in body
Source Link
fgysin
fgysin
  • 3.3k
  • 17
  • 27

As the OP talked about domesticated animals I think bear cavalry is feasible overall.

I think domesticating bears should work out quite fine: bears belong to the same suborder as wolves/dogs, which were domesticated very successfully (and were also used in war, to a certain extent!). Also bears have been famously displayed in various circus/movies/shows over the ages, showing that even the wild bears out there can be tamed up to a certain degree.

Some additional points:

Endurance

As mentioned endurance could be an issue. However, cavalry normally doesn't have an exceptionally high marching speed when compared to infantry, so while your bear cavalry will be slower than horse cavalry, it should easily keep up with infantry regiments and your supply train (which you would need to bring anyway). In combat cavalry is usually used for relatively short charges, which a bear is very capable of. So bottom line: bear cavalry would form a heavy cavalry unit, but you'd still need horses for scouting/skirmishing/surprise ambushes, ...

Food

Food is an issue. Bears eat a lot, and they mostly eat things which you will not find sitting on the roadside by the wagon load (like, for example, grass for feeding horses). So you'd need good supply train to feed your bears. The good news is that bears are omnivores, so they'll eat pretty much anything... You could probably come up with some sort of special bear pemmican which is durable, compact and can be manufactured in bulk. Also after winning a battle meat is back on the menu, boys! ;)

Tactics

I think your bear cavalry will need to come up with some new tactics. While armoring bears and using them to charge into enemy formations should be feasible, I don't think it really uses the bears to their fullest potential. Bears in fights often stand up on their hind quarters, and use their front paws for fighting as well. The problem here is that this won't work so well for the rider... Maybe the bear cavalry would charge into the mêlée, where the rider would jump of and fight side-to-side with his mount.

Fighting

This is really where your bear cavalry will shine. Have you ever seen a bear fight an other bear? Or heard the stories of bears which kept attacking their victims even after being shot multiple times? Bears are very strong and very durable. Horses are natural flight animals, and while they can be trained for combat, the just don't have the same potential. I feel that a domesticated bear trained for combat (and maybe armored?) could be a ferociously efficient fighter.

As the OP talked about domesticated animals I think bear cavalry is feasible overall.

I think domesticating bears should work out quite fine: bears belong to the same suborder as wolves/dogs, which were domesticated very successfully (and were also used in war, to a certain extent!). Also bears have been famously displayed in various circus/movies/shows over the ages, showing that even the wild bears out there can be tamed up to a certain degree.

Some additional points:

Endurance

As mentioned endurance could be an issue. However, cavalry normally doesn't have an exceptionally high marching speed when compared to infantry, so while your bear cavalry will be slower than horse cavalry, it should easily keep up with infantry regiments and your supply train (which you would need to bring anyway). In combat cavalry is usually used for relatively short charges, which a bear is very capable of.

Food

Food is an issue. Bears eat a lot, and they mostly eat things which you will not find sitting on the roadside by the wagon load (like, for example, grass for feeding horses). So you'd need good supply train to feed your bears. The good news is that bears are omnivores, so they'll eat pretty much anything... You could probably come up with some sort of special bear pemmican which is durable, compact and can be manufactured in bulk. Also after winning a battle meat is back on the menu, boys! ;)

Tactics

I think your bear cavalry will need to come up with some new tactics. While armoring bears and using them to charge into enemy formations should be feasible, I don't think it really uses the bears to their fullest potential. Bears in fights often stand up on their hind quarters, and use their front paws for fighting as well. The problem here is that this won't work so well for the rider... Maybe the bear cavalry would charge into the mêlée, where the rider would jump of and fight side-to-side with his mount.

Fighting

This is really where your bear cavalry will shine. Have you ever seen a bear fight an other bear? Or heard the stories of bears which kept attacking their victims even after being shot multiple times? Bears are very strong and very durable. Horses are natural flight animals, and while they can be trained for combat, the just don't have the same potential. I feel that a domesticated bear trained for combat (and maybe armored?) could be a ferociously efficient fighter.

As the OP talked about domesticated animals I think bear cavalry is feasible overall.

I think domesticating bears should work out quite fine: bears belong to the same suborder as wolves/dogs, which were domesticated very successfully (and were also used in war, to a certain extent!). Also bears have been famously displayed in various circus/movies/shows over the ages, showing that even the wild bears out there can be tamed up to a certain degree.

Some additional points:

Endurance

As mentioned endurance could be an issue. However, cavalry normally doesn't have an exceptionally high marching speed when compared to infantry, so while your bear cavalry will be slower than horse cavalry, it should easily keep up with infantry regiments and your supply train (which you would need to bring anyway). In combat cavalry is usually used for relatively short charges, which a bear is very capable of. So bottom line: bear cavalry would form a heavy cavalry unit, but you'd still need horses for scouting/skirmishing/surprise ambushes, ...

Food

Food is an issue. Bears eat a lot, and they mostly eat things which you will not find sitting on the roadside by the wagon load (like, for example, grass for feeding horses). So you'd need good supply train to feed your bears. The good news is that bears are omnivores, so they'll eat pretty much anything... You could probably come up with some sort of special bear pemmican which is durable, compact and can be manufactured in bulk. Also after winning a battle meat is back on the menu, boys! ;)

Tactics

I think your bear cavalry will need to come up with some new tactics. While armoring bears and using them to charge into enemy formations should be feasible, I don't think it really uses the bears to their fullest potential. Bears in fights often stand up on their hind quarters, and use their front paws for fighting as well. The problem here is that this won't work so well for the rider... Maybe the bear cavalry would charge into the mêlée, where the rider would jump of and fight side-to-side with his mount.

Fighting

This is really where your bear cavalry will shine. Have you ever seen a bear fight an other bear? Or heard the stories of bears which kept attacking their victims even after being shot multiple times? Bears are very strong and very durable. Horses are natural flight animals, and while they can be trained for combat, the just don't have the same potential. I feel that a domesticated bear trained for combat (and maybe armored?) could be a ferociously efficient fighter.

Source Link
fgysin
fgysin
  • 3.3k
  • 17
  • 27

As the OP talked about domesticated animals I think bear cavalry is feasible overall.

I think domesticating bears should work out quite fine: bears belong to the same suborder as wolves/dogs, which were domesticated very successfully (and were also used in war, to a certain extent!). Also bears have been famously displayed in various circus/movies/shows over the ages, showing that even the wild bears out there can be tamed up to a certain degree.

Some additional points:

Endurance

As mentioned endurance could be an issue. However, cavalry normally doesn't have an exceptionally high marching speed when compared to infantry, so while your bear cavalry will be slower than horse cavalry, it should easily keep up with infantry regiments and your supply train (which you would need to bring anyway). In combat cavalry is usually used for relatively short charges, which a bear is very capable of.

Food

Food is an issue. Bears eat a lot, and they mostly eat things which you will not find sitting on the roadside by the wagon load (like, for example, grass for feeding horses). So you'd need good supply train to feed your bears. The good news is that bears are omnivores, so they'll eat pretty much anything... You could probably come up with some sort of special bear pemmican which is durable, compact and can be manufactured in bulk. Also after winning a battle meat is back on the menu, boys! ;)

Tactics

I think your bear cavalry will need to come up with some new tactics. While armoring bears and using them to charge into enemy formations should be feasible, I don't think it really uses the bears to their fullest potential. Bears in fights often stand up on their hind quarters, and use their front paws for fighting as well. The problem here is that this won't work so well for the rider... Maybe the bear cavalry would charge into the mêlée, where the rider would jump of and fight side-to-side with his mount.

Fighting

This is really where your bear cavalry will shine. Have you ever seen a bear fight an other bear? Or heard the stories of bears which kept attacking their victims even after being shot multiple times? Bears are very strong and very durable. Horses are natural flight animals, and while they can be trained for combat, the just don't have the same potential. I feel that a domesticated bear trained for combat (and maybe armored?) could be a ferociously efficient fighter.