[D'iversify]

Kanese S, on 30 November 2013 - 12:20 PM, said:

Indeed. Cavalry might be nice, on Malaz Island, but it probably wouldn't be exactly necessary, for Kell to band some pirates and smugglers and Napan exiles together and conquer the other pirates and smugglers. Hence why I think they might not have had much cavalry before they started invading the mainland. The frequent use of nomadic tribes as cavalry, as pointed out earlier, might also indicate that the Malazans originally didn't have significant mounted forces of their own.

I think based on the kind of forces used in the civil war in RotCG that the armies of the Quon Tali subcontinent before the Malazan conquest were most likely largely infantry affairs. Perhaps the Wickans and Seti acted much in the same way as the Turks, Mongols and Jurchen/Manchus did in Imperial Chinese armies, providing mercenary cavalry support for predominantly foot-based forces (also see the Roman use of barbarian auxiliaries to supply their own cavalry).

[Hoods Marble Balls]

I think this might be the archer scene you were thinking of. It happens in HoC when the bonehunters are mustering for Tavore's inspection. (Page 407)

Quote

Squads 1, 2 and 3 went first. These were heavy infantry, thirty soldiers in all, loaded down in scale armour and chain vambraces and gauntlets, kite shields, weighted longswords, stabbing spears strapped to their backs, visored and cheek-guarded helms with lobster tails, dirks and pig-stickers at their belts.

The marines were next. Ranal's 4th, 5th and 6th squads. Following them were the bulk of the company's troops, medium infantry, the 7th to the 24th squads. Only slightly less armoured than the heavy infantry, there was, among them, the addition of soldiers skilled in the use of the short bow, the longbow, and the spear. Each company was intended to work as a discrete unit, self-reliant and mutually supportive.

This post has been edited by Hoods Marble Balls: 14 December 2013 - 11:59 AM

[Sinisdar Toste]

regarding the cavalry of the empire, captain moss in RotCG encounters Toc the Elder on the Seti plains and pretty baldly states that before Toc the Elder there was nothing like an organized malazan cavalry. they might have had some mercenary light cavalry or a few impressed noblemens sons, but i guess that Toc along with the seti that he 'brought into the fold' (another of moss's thoughts), formed the core of the first imperial cavalry companies.

This post has been edited by Sinisdar Toste: 14 December 2013 - 05:17 PM