Demi-Lancers

"Well-armoured horse with light lances."

- In-game description

Demi-Lancers are a unit in Pike & Shot.

Full Unit Profile

 * Shooting: None


 * Impact:
 * Mounted Troops (in open terrain only): +100 POA vs Light Foot, Mounted Infantry, Warriors, Medium Foot, or Mob.
 * Light Lancers: +100 POA vs any mounted except Heavy Lancers or Pistol(I). +100 POA against foot, unless these are steady and "protected" (Unit has Pike, Spearmen or Bayonet, or is defending an Obstacle, or is commanded shot with adjacent friendly non-light mounted troops). Extra negative modifier on any enemy unit's cohesion test for losing the impact combat.


 * Melee:
 * Swordsmen: +100 vs any mounted except Steady Pistols(M). +100 against foot, unless these are steady and "protected" (Unit has Pike, Spearmen or Bayonet, or is defending an Obstacle, or is commanded shot with adjacent friendly non-light mounted troops).
 * Armor Advantage: Up to +50 POA vs less well-armored opponents unless these have Musket, Salvo, Arquebus or Heavy Weapon, or are Artillery, Elephants, or Battle Wagons.

Gameplay
Demi-Lancers are an awkward and odd unit. They are somewhat more powerful than light cavalry in melee but simultaneously lack the mobility to catch up to them, meanwhile their Light Lancers capability and lighter armor means they cannot stand up to any heavy cavalry unit. They lack Shooting capability.

This is on top of the time period rendering cavalry almost tertiary by nature. Almost every proper infantry unit in Pike & Shot is Protected by Pikemen and on top of that some are immune to Flank or even rear charges. Getting to the rear of a unit is already difficult, and at that point pretty much any unit can do the job of dropping the enemy's cohesion with a charge; there's no reason to use the Demi-Lancer specifically, and it can't move or fight its way into an ideal position any better than either light or heavy cavalry.

The only reason why this unit isn't totally obscure is because it's more or less the only non-light cavalry unit some factions have. If true heavy cavalry is present, there is no reason to buy them.

History
Demi-lancer was a term used in 16th century military parlance, especially in England, to designate cavalrymen mounted on unarmored horses, armed with a slightly lighter version of the heavy lance of a man-at-arms and wearing three-quarter or half-armor, as opposed to the full plate armor of the knight or gendarme (compare the 50 Armor value of a Demi-Lancer vs the 100 Armor for a gendarme). The breastplate and shoulder defenses of the demi-lancer were intended to be at least pistol proof. Often an open faced helmet, such as the burgonet, was worn in place of the fully enclosing close helm. The armor for the leg was replaced by long, cuff-topped, riding boots.

Unit Lists

 * English 1558-1583