Question Regarding Early Serbian or Croatian list

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FanatiChris
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Question Regarding Early Serbian or Croatian list

Post by FanatiChris » Fri Oct 09, 2020 9:45 pm

Two quick questions regarding the Early Serbian or Croatian list. The list has a mandatory Bow Levy (i.e. Bow Levy 1-7), but there is also a notation "Only Serbian"

Am I correct in assuming that if I'm fielding Early Croatians I don't have to field a Bow Levy element?

And do the 1-3 "Knights or Horse Bow" have to be all one or the other?
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David Kuijt
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Re: Question Regarding Early Serbian or Croatian list

Post by David Kuijt » Sat Oct 10, 2020 12:35 pm

FanatiChris wrote:
Fri Oct 09, 2020 9:45 pm
Am I correct in assuming that if I'm fielding Early Croatians I don't have to field a Bow Levy element?
Yes. That's what "only Serbian" means -- it's in the "Restrictions" column. To give you another example (from an enemy of the Early Serbian/Croations), the Thematic Byzantine Kurdish Horsemen have the restriction "834 to 839 AD only in Anatolia" -- and as you would expect, that means that troop type can only be used in the time period and region described.
FanatiChris wrote:
Fri Oct 09, 2020 9:45 pm
And do the 1-3 "Knights or Horse Bow" have to be all one or the other?
No.

You're confusing me, Chris. There are a zillion examples of "A or B" troop types in the army lists (Elite Cavalry or Horsebow in the Komnenan Byzantine list, Elite Cavalry or Bad Horse in the same list). In every case you can take any mix of the two troop types.

There are a very few army list cases where options must be all X or all Y, and they are clearly marked. Look at the Early Hoplite Greek list for Sparta for an example. At the battle of Plataea they were desperate and supplemented their normal forces with a massed force of helots "armed with javelins." We have no information about their formation, but we have good reason to believe that the force was only in one formation -- either close order (which would be rated as Horde) or open order (which would be rated as Rabble). So the Troop Types column of Meshwesh is marked "Horde [all] or Rabble [all]".

There are only a few dozen or so such examples out of the 650ish army lists. [Edit -- I just looked over the database. There are 14 such cases, out of 653 army lists]
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Re: Question Regarding Early Serbian or Croatian list

Post by vodnik » Sat Oct 10, 2020 10:27 pm

...the Serbs & Croatians are a mixture of Slav people & remnants of a Sarmatian & Alan nobility. Emperor Herakluios orderet them 627 to defend Dalmatia against the Avars. Serbs were usualy good bowshooters & Croats were good close combat figters. Serbs were also good lancers...
...Hanta Yo!..
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