Mount & Blade II Bannerlord Elite cataphract: The Real History Behind Cataphracts

 

The Empire Theme of Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord

Cataphracts were the world's first fully armored cavalry units, emerging from ancient times through the early medieval period. They were so formidable that they were considered the pinnacle of cavalry warfare.

Illustration depicting ancient Cataphracts

The term originates from the Greek Κατάφρακτος (Kataphraktos), meaning 'fully covered.' Cataphracts were heavy shock cavalry characterized by complete armor coverage for both rider and mount, using thick metal or leather protection. These formidable warriors saw service from around the 3rd century BC until the mid-medieval period (circa 10th century AD), with particularly long traditions in the Sasanian Persian Empire, Parthian Empire, and Byzantine Empire.

Xenophon's Anabasis records the appearance of Cyrus the Younger's guard cavalry in 401 BC. These warriors displayed remarkable developments compared to Persian cavalry from the Persian Wars some 80 years earlier(*This refers to Persia's second expedition against Greece in 480 BC).

Unlike earlier Persian horsemen who wore only breastplates and helmets, the heavy cavalry of this period possessed significantly enhanced protective equipment. The riders themselves were armored down to their limbs, while their horses were outfitted with barding that protected the face and chest areas.

Interestingly, they still employed bows and javelins as their primary weapons. This meant they maintained the fundamental tactics of mobile ranged warfare while their improved defenses allowed them to respond far more effectively to attacks from nomadic horse archers or in close combat against Greek heavy infantry.

This evolution of heavily armored cavalry influenced neighboring powers as well. Records indicate that the Saka cataphracts led by Darius III at the Battle of Gaugamela were even more heavily armored than Alexander the Great's elite Companion Cavalry, the Hetairoi

The Persian Empire may have fallen to the Greeks and subsequently been conquered by Macedonia, yet the legacy of their heavy cavalry endured. This was dramatically demonstrated at the Battle of Carrhae, where General Surena's Parthian horse archers and cataphracts annihilated Roman forces, leaving them stunned. Even Rome would eventually adopt this approach, steadily incorporating more heavy cavalry into its military structure.

The cataphracts we see in the game closely resemble the heavily armored cavalry of the Byzantine Empire.

Clad in tier 6 heavy scale armor over mail hauberk, these cavalrymen possessed formidable defensive capabilities. My first encounter with them came during my early days as a mercenary, while fulfilling a contract from an Imperial lord to suppress rebel forces. The shock was unforgettable. 

My strikes landed, but inflicted minimal damage as they swept past me effortlessly. That day, a single squadron of 40 cataphracts decimated my entire warband of 100 men.

To inflict meaningful damage on these units, you need to meet their charge head-on and deliver a frontal impact. This is due to the game's speed-based damage mechanics, which add extra damage depending on relative velocity.

The truly hopeless aspect, however, is that their main weapon—the Courser lance—ranks among the longest cavalry lances in the game world. Your lance tip won't even get close before theirs pierces straight through you.

After the 1.3 update dramatically improved ranged accuracy, sending these heavy cavalry against densely packed or entrenched enemies may prove less devastating than before. Yet even so, they remain unstoppable. They will follow your orders—wise or foolish—lowering their lances and advancing inexorably toward the foe. Even the best-disciplined, most prepared battle lines will crumble as cataphracts contemptuously tear through their ranks.

Let's return to history and explore their decline and subsequent legacy.

As both Byzantium and Sasanian Persia declined in the face of Arab-Islamic expansion, the era of cataphracts gradually came to an end.

Persia, in particular, had maintained a long tradition of employing heavy cavalry as its core military force, but with its conquest by the Arab Empire, it was absorbed into an entirely new military culture.

The composition of Arab armies was fundamentally different from that of Persia or Byzantium. Urban settlers formed the backbone of heavy infantry, while desert nomadic tribes served as light cavalry. They prioritized rapid mobility and flexible tactics, and thus found little appeal in the heavy cavalry tradition of heavily armoring both horse and rider.

Consequently, the culture of armored heavy cavalry that had flourished in Western Europe and Persia gradually faded within the military doctrines of this new era.

However, Arab armies centered on light cavalry soon encountered their limitations.

The reorganized Byzantine heavy cavalry and archers effectively repelled Arab light cavalry, and by the time of the Crusades, Western European knights and crossbowmen demonstrated an overwhelming tactical advantage. Light cavalry tactics proved helpless against Western knights who had inherited the cataphract tradition.

These successive defeats prompted Middle Eastern rulers to restructure their military systems. Realizing that light cavalry alone was insufficient, they pursued two paths to strengthen their forces. One was to develop their own heavy cavalry units, while the other was to actively recruit Turkic tribes as mercenaries for their superior mounted combat capabilities.

It was through this process that the Mamluk system emerged.