Pontic Army c.50BC

[trev]

Hi Dan,

The problem with the low-level details, in rules like WAB, is that you have to come down on one side of many historical arguments, and we probably don't have the evidence for being certain. 

>>Pontic cav - hand weapon, light armour, throwing spear, shield

This seems okay.  Shield use is probably a debatable topic.  They could have had Persian style leg armour or some partial barding instead.  I might be inclined to go for something like this:
https://www.grippingbeast.co.uk/SCRC21_Cappadocian_Heavy_Cavalry_3--product--5944.html

Some may have been full Cataphracts, especially those from lesser Armenia.

>>Sarmatian noble cav - kontos, heavy armour. option for - barding, bow, cannot be taken unless there are horse archers

Typically Sarmatian style heavy cavalry seem to be hard charging armoured lancers on unarmoured horses.  They generally seem not to have been full cataphracts.  I'm not sure if there is evidence for dual armament, although I think there is plenty for bow use generally.   

>>Horse archers - bow. option for - shield, throwing weapon - are nomad cavalry and can skirmish

Probably mostly typical Iranian-type bow and sword/axe armed horse archers, similar to Parthians or Scythians.  Bow and hand weapon armed skirmishers with Feigned Flight in WAB terms.

>>Light cav - hand weapon, jav, shield - are skirmish and have feigned flight

That seems reasonable for Greek, Thracian (Bithynian) or Anatolian (Iranised) light cavalry.

>>Wedges

I'm not sure when wedges were used and they are probably overblown in their game effects anyway.  More to do with manoeuvre than shock.

[Pattus Magnus]

Did the Ptolemaics and Pontics share a border at the time? If they weren’t directly arguing with each other, it seems quite plausible to me that their military practices diverged even though they (partly) shared a common root as Successor states. If the Pontic cavalry were recruited mainly from Anatolians and the Skythians and Sarmatians on the north shore of the Black Sea, the tradition of Macedonian tactics would have been very diluted by Mithridates’ day.

[Jjonas]

Note: wedge formation and tactics in the Macedonian army probably were copied from contact with Thracians, Scythians, and Getae. One could guess that Pontic cavalry could use wedges if they chose to. Sadly we don’t have much detail to go on. Cataphracts generally did not form in wedge- probably because mobility was limited. Wedges make the shock cavalry more able to quickly shift direction and penetrate gaps and break the line.