The Borderland Army

[HotW Moiraine]

I feel like an idiot.

[Guest Anonymous!]

The exact quote where Jordan says the Aiel tactics won't be effective fighting 1000's of miles from their home turf where they will be severely outnumbered ... sure in the The Big White Book it states in the Shadowspawn section that trollocs run nearly as fast as horses. The other section involves the military organization section where it says during the Trolloc Wars the armies of the Ten Nations, which numbered over 300,000, were heavily outnumbered by Trolloc armies (implying up around 1,000,000)

 

In the same chapter (chapter 37, TSR) that Aviendha says that about Trollocs in the Aiel waste, Lan also describes the typical tactic of the Aiel. It's essentially a variant of the double-envelope tactic. Essentially the Aiel unit is divided into four, the front unit attacks the center, then the second and third unit uses their speed to attack the flanks before the Aiel center breaks, and the fourth unit is used as reserve. More than likely the reserve will support the center.

 

I want to correct something above. At no point does Jordan say the Aiel used hit and run tactics. Ever since the first description of the Aiel with their short bows coupled with Mat's statement that you could use the Aiel as light cavalry, I automatically thought of light cavalry tactics using short bow or horse archers. That's it...I'm pretty sure Jordan has never come out and said "hit-and-run". Sorry about that.

 

There are three reasons why the typical Aiel tactics, and probably the Aiel units themselves will not be as effective. One they lose their speed advantage. Trollocs run close to double the speed of human beings meaning they can easily counter the flanking tactics used by Aiel. Two, the Trolloc armies coming out of the Blight will probably be as large as the ones in the Trollocs War. The Aiel will be heavily outnumbered. Maneuvering to envelope a larger army who's entire force moves 2X faster than yours, does not work...that is not conjecture. That is pretty darn close to fact. The double-envelope requires speed. Lastly the Aiel do not have long spears/pikes, armor, and shields. Because the key to a double-envelope is the center holding against the enemy charge, else the Aiel army will be divided and will be surrounded, the center has to be a close together formation. There won't be any room for dodging, or jumping, or dancing. The Aiel have to stand there and trade blows. They will be trading blows with an oncoming army moving at 25 mph. The first time the Aiel can hit their enemy is when they are within arms reach. There is a reason why long spear (pikeman) formations came back in the middle ages. A long-reach weapon reduces the enemies’ momentum before they reach your front ranks. Shields help absorb the blows of the oncoming attackers. The Romans were masters of using spears and heavy shields to absorb the initial impact of oncoming forces, and then compressing the enemy between the weight of the enemies forces and the roman's shields and gladius (es?, what's the plural of gladius?).

 

The Aiel won't stand a chance using this tactic. The speed and size of Trolloc forces will not allow for flanking maneuvers. The Aiel center will not hold with their short spears and hide bucklers under the weight of armies significantly larger. It just won't happen. Now of course as we have already discussed I am applying real world mechanisms to a fantasy world, which may not apply since it’s up to the author to actually make the story realistic.

 

RobertAlexisWillis:

 

If you mean similar to the ancient world skirmishers where the Aiel would attack the enemy armies and retreat behind the walls, heavy infantry and cavalry after aggravating the enemy, and causing pursuit. Sure that would work, but that is not the typical Aiel Tactic.

[TheDiceAgain...]

gladius (es?, what's the plural of gladius?)

 

I'm going to work from the assumption that gladius is a second declention masculine noun. If that assumption is correct then the plural would be "gladii" (pronounced glad-ee-i [the i is long as well])

[Thor]

Well, if the trolloc army is too big as a bulk, splice it up. :lol:

 

Destroy each pocket separately.

[RobertAlexWillis]

If you mean similar to the ancient world skirmishers where the Aiel would attack the enemy armies and retreat behind the walls, heavy infantry and cavalry after aggravating the enemy, and causing pursuit. Sure that would work, but that is not the typical Aiel Tactic.

 

The Aiel have proven adaptable in battle.

[Guest Anonymous!]

I agree...so I will change my initial statement to Lan should take the Aiel and modify them to support units and not primary attack/defense units. In addition to being skirmishers and archers, they could probably serve as an effective reserve to quickly provide support to weakening defensive positions. I can't picture Lan launching an offensive campaign against the Trolloc armies.

 

****KoD Spoilers****

****KoD Spoilers****

 

Which brings me to a final thought, more than likely the timing of the Final Battle is dependent on the "slowest" storyline. By slow I mean the one that will take the most amount of Randland time to complete. The three slowest storylines are Mat, Lan, and Egwene.

 

Egwene's White Tower Unification storyline appears to be reaching a climax and realistically could be over in a week, but the same could have been said for her storyline after APoD, so you never know.

 

I believe Mat has a lot to do still. I believe he is the key to the unification of the White Tower, he needs to save Moiraine, and he needs to assume control of Rand's armies since I believe his destiny is to face off against Demandred since they are both known as great generals and gamblers. If he doesn't get a channeler who makes gateways, this could take a while. Once again, the length of Mat's storyline is up in the air.

 

Lan's storyline is also up in the air but is probably the easiest to predict. The basic assumption I'm going to make is that Lan is meant to reach Shienar and take command of the Malkier Army and the Final Battle won't start until this happens. If this is true, the distance from the World's End to Fal Dara is ~2,200 miles (as a bird flies). If Lan uses the riding technique of 1 mile hard riding, 1 mile slow riding, and then 1 mile walking next to his horse, he will average about 8-9 mph. Since it is winter and the days are short, he will need to find campgrounds, forage, and food before it is dark. So let's say he gets 8 hours of travel a day for a total of 72 miles/day (30 days to travel the required distance). Pretty quick, but since he has agreed to accept anyone who wishes to follow him, that number will quickly drop as he picks up foot and cavalry units. More than likely his speed will drop to about 20 miles per day (that's very generous) which will make Lan's trip over 100 days or 3 1/2 months. Figure he will need a month to train his men.

 

I would expect all the other storylines to be resolved in 3 1/2 months and Lan will have Rand, Mat, Perrin, and co. waiting for him in Fal Dara.

****KoD Spoilers****

****KoD Spoilers****

[Master of the Blades]

Actually RJ does say that Aiel acan be used as skimishers. (TFoH Before the Arrow) Mat decribes using the Aiel as a substitute for light infantry to harass the Shaido into retreat across the bridges. The implication is that they are as effective as light infantry with enough speed to keep the retreating army on the run and unable to set up lines of defense or counter attack.

 

What evidence do you have that the Aiel are too slow to run with the Trollocs? Trollocs are as fast as a horse true. But how fast can Aiel run? (TDR Threads in the Pattern) nineteen Aiel challenge Nynaeve, Egwene and Elayne who are on horseback to a race to Jurene. It would appear from that statement that Aiel can run as fast as horses.

 

The underlying assumption you are making is that the Trollocs are an army. Every time we have seen them in battle be it in TEOTW, TSR or KOD their tactic is always to attack en masse in a frontal assault.They are a horde. They use superior numbers to crush their foe. They do not adapt to their environment or to the battle tactics or strategies of their enemy. They are often driven by Myrdraal because they are stupid and slothful.

 

By way of an analogy you can compare their tactics to Pickett's charge at Gettysburg where the Confederate army was assigned to attack a fixed point. That army was decimated by flanking fire before it reached its target.

 

Trollocs would be susceptible to flanking maneuvers and to attacks from the rear due to their own tactics. (TSR Goldeneyes) We also know that often Trollocs will be linked to Myrdraal. Killing a Myrdraal can wipe out an entire fist. (TEoTW The Caemlyn Road). The Aiel have shown they will attack Myrdraal much the way wolves do, en masse regardless of losses to their own force. (TDR Threads in the Pattern)

 

The Trollocs fear the Aiel and would become disorganized as they did in the Two Rivers when they attacked Emond's Field.

[isleofjib]

i've gotta agree with MotB here. all we know about the aiel indicate they are THE most successful fighters in randland. i can't see the logic in thinking that aiel can be incredibly successful against trollocs in the 3 fold land but won't be able to keep up with them in the wetlands. or that the trollocs going to adapt different tactics that will make them better than aiel. this just goes against all we know of both of them. i'm not a military guy, so i dunno the tactical stuff, but i do know that trollocs fear the aiel to a similar extent that they fear the ways and that is a lot. to say that it's going to go better for them in final battle just goes against all we know so far.

[Thor]

The aiel beat back Hawkwing, make what you would from that.

 

i don't think TG will happen after the white tower reunification.

I think white tower reunification will be part of TG.

[Guest Anonymous!]

Thor: How big was the army that Hawkwing sent? Because we have seen how big of an army the Aiel can pull together. If Hawkwing sent a typical army of 200,000, his general could easily find himself outnumbered 3-to-1 in unfamiliar terrain.

 

isleofjib: Tactics is often dependent on the terrain on which you are fighting. If a commander is smart, he/she will weigh the weaknesses and strengths of his/her army and the army of his/her enemy. Then he/she should choose the terrain and tactics most suited to his/her strengths, and the enemies' weaknesses. If you are interested, an excellent example of this is the Battle of Crecy.

 

Edit: Plus the Aiel were successful against a nation that didn't have a standing army (according to the Big White Book), and because of the great game, a unified defense was not likely. The Aiel probably didn't face anything close to a professional army until forces from the grand coalition showed up, which had to have taken a long time to occur.

 

MotB:

What evidence do you have that the Aiel are too slow to run with the Trollocs? Trollocs are as fast as a horse true. But how fast can Aiel run? (TDR Threads in the Pattern) nineteen Aiel challenge Nynaeve, Egwene and Elayne who are on horseback to a race to Jurene. It would appear from that statement that Aiel can run as fast as horses.

 

How far was the race? Human's run slower than horses. The fastest human sprinter runs (~24 mph for 100 meters) a little less than half the speed of the fastest horse sprinter (~50 mph for 400 meters). The fastest human miler (~16 mph) runs less than half the speed of the faster horse miler (~40 mph). The average human runs (~15 mph) a little less than half the speed of the average horse (~30 mph). etc., etc., etc. Last time I checked the Aiel were human. Jordan chose to make his world similar to our own so he wouldn't have to explain every little detail like the attributes of humans and the attributes of horses. He chose to base the Aiel on the Zulu who were known to be able to out-distance horse units achieving over 40 miles in a single days travel. Zulu were human and could not run over 24 mph. In fact since they were distance runners I doubt the fastest zulu runners could achieve speeds over 20 mph.

 

Every time we have seen them in battle be it in TEOTW, TSR or KOD their tactic is always to attack en masse in a frontal assault.They are a horde.

 

I thought I pretty much analyzed them as an all out charging horde. The key to the Aiel tactic is the center holding, and the Trollocs use the optimal tactic for breaking a thin line: an all out, concentrated charge. Though it would be nice if Demandred actually sat down his mydraal commanders and taught them something.

 

By way of an analogy you can compare their tactics to Pickett's charge at Gettysburg where the Confederate army was assigned to attack a fixed point. That army was decimated by flanking fire before it reached its target.

 

That is not the best analogy, since the rebels tried to hold formation and were very slow moving. Plus that is a better argument for knowing your terrain and understanding the technology being employed in a battle. If anything that would strengthen my argument that the Aiel are losing an advantage moving to the Borderlands and blight.

[Master of the Blades]

How far was the race? Human's run slower than horses. The fastest human sprinter runs (~24 mph for 100 meters) a little less than half the speed of the fastest horse sprinter (~50 mph for 400 meters). The fastest human miler (~16 mph) runs less than half the speed of the faster horse miler (~40 mph). The average human runs (~15 mph) a little less than half the speed of the average horse (~30 mph). etc., etc., etc. Last time I checked the Aiel were human. Jordan chose to make his world similar to our own so he wouldn't have to explain every little detail like the attributes of humans and the attributes of horses. He chose to base the Aiel on the Zulu who were known to be able to out-distance horse units achieving over 40 miles in a single days travel. Zulu were human and could not run over 24 mph. In fact since they were distance runners I doubt the fastest zulu runners could achieve speeds over 20 mph.

 

 

Can you cite the relevant passages from the books to back up your statement?

[Thor]

I honestly doubt if Hawkwing only sent 200k soldiers into the Waste. I think he had quite a bit more than that.

[Fel]

I believe the passages referred to are

1 - in EOTW, Lan refers to the fact that Trollocs are nearly as fast as horses over short distances. This was seen outside Shadar Logoth (sp?) when the trollocs are chasing Perrin and Egwene and keep up with them while the horses are galloping.

2 - In the Dragon Reborn, the Aiel boast to the girls that they can outpace horses over long distances. That is, Aiel are constantly portrayed as great long distance runners, able to cover huge swaths of ground each day relative to any other army and easily outpacing horses that are walking

 

The question of who is faster is...it depends.

 

Over VERY short distances (less than 100M), a fast human can outrace a fast horse because the human has better acceleration, in general.

Over distances from 100M up, galloping horses can easily outrun humans, about twice as fast. But, a ridden horse does not have great stamina (and a Trolloc even less as seen outside Shadar Logoth).

Over VERY long distances (> 2 miles would be a guess), horses do not have the endurance to keep up and must walk at least periodically. Well-trained humans, like the Aiel can keep going and move faster in a day therefore.

 

Bringing it back to the Aiel vs the Trollocs, in the heat of battle, the Trollocs are very fast sprinters, much faster than humans, for moving forces around a battlefield. The Aiel should have a hard time flanking them.

 

And, a trolloc charge has to be seen as equivalent to a heavy cavalry charge, which is very hard to defend against without long pole weapons. Especially with the trollocs willingness (at least in two rivers) to sacrifice their front lines completely to break the lines of the enemy, having the aiel front hold against the trollocs en masse is not a good prospect.

 

That being said, the Aiel seem to have good generals and likely will change tactics to adjust to their enemy. Even Lan describes the tactic we are talking about as "one they favor", not their sole method.

[Master of the Blades]

Here is another passage refering to the speed and endurance of Aiel. (TFoH A Wager). Rhuarc says his Aiel can in Cairhien there in seven days. Edorion wagers a thousand crowns that they will not make it that fast. Sulin says make it ten thousand. Rand sends the men back to Cairhien to report. Meresin swears that he will speak to no one but his father or High Lord Meilan and then the men return to their horses. Rand isntructs then to leave some Cairhinien behind so they will have remounts available. Rhuarc sends Thunder Walkers with them as scouts.

 

 

That is the second time Aiel are mentionned to be as fast as horses. The Aiel are being described as marathoners with sprinter's speed rather than Zulus.

 

And, a trolloc charge has to be seen as equivalent to a heavy cavalry charge, which is very hard to defend against without long pole weapons. Especially with the trollocs willingness (at least in two rivers) to sacrifice their front lines completely to break the lines of the enemy, having the aiel front hold against the trollocs en masse is not a good prospect.

 

You conveniently omit the fact that Aiel are accomplished bowmen. (NS The Hook) Their bows can maim at four hundred paces and kill at three hundred.

This is how the Trollocs were defeated at Emonds Field.

 

You state that the Aiel are the front line. The original post stated that Lan and his army would be the Anvil (defensive position) while the Ail would be the hammer attacking the flanks and the rear.

[Shamaeso]

I beleive the context "fast as horses" may be misconstrued. I think it relates to a horse can cover x amount of distance, the Aiel can cover X amount of difference and then can cover more. The horse in short bursts can probably outrun an aiel but the aiel would have the stamina to overtake the horse when it slows.

 

I relate it when I read the story like the turtle and the hare...the hare is faster but in the end he is last.

[Master of the Blades]

I beleive the context "fast as horses" may be misconstrued. I think it relates to a horse can cover x amount of distance' date=' the Aiel can cover X amount of difference and then can cover more. The horse in short bursts can probably outrun an aiel but the aiel would have the stamina to overtake the horse when it slows.

 

I relate it when I read the story like the turtle and the hare...the hare is faster but in the end he is last.[/quote']

 

Do you have any instances from the books to support your opinions?

[isleofjib]

the example listed above is how far the aiel can travel over distance. they can go further faster than a horse.

 

if that isn't enough, i think it then falls back to the parallels between the real world and randland. we know there isn't a person alive that can beat a horse over a short difference. i know randland is different and purely imaginary, but i don't think there is a whole culture of people who can outrun horses over short and long distances. i think this is just common sense.

[Mat is the Boss]

I don`t know the size of the army Hawkwing sent to the Waste, but the Aiel don`t even consider it an invasion. They probably killed Hawkwings army without stopping the feuds amongst the clans. The Aiel War lasted three years, and it couldn`t have taken more then a year to gather the Grand Coalition. Only four aiel clans left the Waste to kill Laman, which means 350-400 000 spears. The Grand Coalition was the united forces of Randland, and must have outnumbered at least 2-1.

[Shamaeso]

Do you have any instances from the books to support your opinions?

 

Do you have any to propose as rebuttal?

 

The aiel are always presented as looking at the folks on horses with a bit of humor and keep pace. But they also stop for the horses not the Aiel. Again as I stated, it is like the parable the Tortoise and the Hare in my opinion. I picture it that way as I read. How you picture it is your view.

[DocBean]

If you have not read Knife of Dreams do not read further....

 

You have been warned:

Trollocs can't pass through Gateways.

 

I'll have to reread Knife of Dreams, but I thought Deathgates were different than Gateways, not just because they spin and send the bad guys to random places, but different altogether in that they are made to destroy shadowspawn. I don't think that means Trollocs cannot use gateways, like I said I need to reread to be sure, it would be nice if you would quote the book so I don't have to.

 

 

 

Anyway, if you are right, then it seems to me that someone pointed out the fact that Battle could happen anywhere to RJ and he added it after the fact. Loial did succeed in closing most of the Ways, but didn't he say something to Gaul about not being able to complete their mission when they got back?

 

I'm thinking Lan's battle will be a take off of the Spartan's 300 soldiers holding off a million (of course historically those numbers are off, but you get the point) The Spartan's lost, but the battle has not been forgotten, check out the new movie coming out - 300. looks decent at best.

Lan will need Nyaneve, and maybe Moraine too if he's going to live.

[isleofjib]

I'll have to reread Knife of Dreams' date=' but I thought Deathgates were different than Gateways, not just because they spin and send the bad guys to random places, but different altogether in that they are made to destroy shadowspawn. I don't think that means Trollocs cannot use gateways, like I said I need to reread to be sure, it would be nice if you would quote the book so I don't have to.[/quote']

 

i think cwest is right with this. i don't have the exact quote handy, but i think the deathgates are just gateways that move and rotate so they touch as many shadowspawn as possible. the FS know how to travel, they are strong so they can open big gateways, and they are forever are using the ways to move trollocs and fades...why not use gateways? i think RJ finally answered that in KoD. tho, as i'm writing this, i can't remember how the trollocs got into the stone of tear. seems like they were brought in on supplies ships(?).

 

 

 

Loial did succeed in closing most of the Ways, but didn't he say something to Gaul about not being able to complete their mission when they got back?

 

you're right. loial didn't succeed in closing the all the waygates. but it wasn't gaul he said it to, it was the asha'man that was with him while they are talking to the 2 AS in cairhien. (tho, he may have repeated it later to gaul, i don't recall)

 

I'm thinking Lan's battle will be a take off of the Spartan's 300 soldiers holding off a million (of course historically those numbers are off, but you get the point) The Spartan's lost, but the battle has not been forgotten, check out the new movie coming out - 300. looks decent at best.

Lan will need Nyaneve, and maybe Moraine too if he's going to live.

 

i'm thinking lan will have a LOT more than 300 with him, but i agree with your point and think you're right they will prolly be vastly outnumbered.

[Luckers]

Horses are not the wonder creatures you think them to be. A scout or messangers horse, with both rider and horse trained for endurance, could do 100 miles in a day, its true, but dont expect that horse to be able to do anything for a week after. Thats why messangers would change their steeds. But the average horse used by the average person would be lucky to do 30. A warhorse would be half dead if it was made to do 20, and if a farm horse like Bella was made to move at a pace about a slow walk it would drop dead in a mile. This holds true for even the best endurance horse... you gallop any horse for an hour, and it will die.

 

Then there is the issue of actually keeping these horses alive in this march. Horses eat. And drink. Quite a lot. Around 24 pounds of grain per day. And thats for a little horse. Given most armies work on foraging for their beasts that means stopping several times a day for over an hour at a time.

 

Push comes to shove, humans are much less fragile then horses. We eat less, and take less time to eat. We can sustain our fastest pace, with training of course, over much much longer periods of time.

 

 

I'll have to reread Knife of Dreams, but I thought Deathgates were different than Gateways, not just because they spin and send the bad guys to random places, but different altogether in that they are made to destroy shadowspawn. I don't think that means Trollocs cannot use gateways, like I said I need to reread to be sure, it would be nice if you would quote the book so I don't have to.

 

No, RJ commented on this. They cannot pass through gateways at all. I believe it has something to do with their nature as constructs of the power.

 

i'm thinking lan will have a LOT more than 300 with him, but i agree with your point and think you're right they will prolly be vastly outnumbered.

 

I agree. Given the pull the Golden Crane has in the borderlands i believe he'll gather a fairly substantial force to him... perhaps as much as 50,000. I believe this will increase when it is fleshed out by the survivors of the borderland nations when they are overun.

[Guest Anonymous!]

There aren't many side-by side comparisons of the Aiel and Horse. A single Aiel challenging a horse rider to a long distance race is not much of an example. All that proves is that in an extremely macho society of Aiel warriors one out of the 100's of thousands honestly believes their own legend enough that he thinks he can actually out-race a horse. I have known many similar pompous idiots in my life, one who was actually a sprinter who challenged a mounted police officer to a race. Doesn't change the fact that humans are significantly slower on average than horses. Are their certain breeds that the fastest humans could out perform, yes, the slowest breeds, not the fastest.

 

The only side-by-side comparison I can think of is the one from Dumai Wells.

 

"Minor problems. no doubt, for a hero in a story or a gleeman's tale, but Perrin wished there had been time for some sort of real planning, not just what he and Dobraine and Rhurac had hammered out with the clan chief running as fast as he could between their horses." LOC, Chapter 55, Dumai Wells

 

Unfortunately this isn't a very large sample. A better example would have been a side-by-side charge of Cavalry and Aiel, but I can't think of any. Dumai Wells almost had it, but Jordan was too focused on Perrin swinging his axe rather than the flow of the battle. Nor is this the best example because Jordan doesn't indicate how hard the horses are running. But I do think its interesting that Jordan deliberately points out that the Aiel is running as fast as he could. It's almost as if Jordan was answering the un-asked question of "How could a human keep up with horses?" The response is that the human was running as fast as he could, and the horses slowed to match that pace. Or that's one interpretation. Those who believe that horses and Aiel run at the same speed could argue that Jordan was just denoting the urgency of the given situation. It doesn't seem to fit though.

 

Anyway, Luckers is right in some respects, that humans are more durable under certain circumstances and criteria, but that mainly stems from the fact that horses and humans can't communicate with one another. Humans don't know when a pace is too hard for a horse or if the terrain is tough or if the horse is just having a bad day and can't quite perform as well as other days. Humans can simply say "Hey today I feel like I'm stuck in the mud." or "This load is fairly light so we can go a little farther today." Pound for pound human's might outperform a horse, but most horses weigh around 1000 pounds versus the average man of 175 pounds. So while a human could march 25 miles on good roads with and 70 pound load, a horse can pull 300 pounds the same distance. That's a lot more food and supplies. And while humans need to consume only 3 - 4 pounds of grain a day versus 25 for a horse, 90% of that grain can just be hay, grass, and other easily obtainable fodder. Horses don't need tents to sleep under. They don't need blankets since they have winter coats. Horses were used as the main pack animal for 1000's of years for a reason. They are better at moving the supplies and equipment of armies better than humans. No "and's, if's or but's" about it.

 

Which brings me to my final point of this post, the reason why Cavalry units were limited to 30-35 miles a day is because of the supply line and composition of European armies. We have seen in Jordan's world, Randland armies usually are composed of primarily infantry with the elite units being the Cavalry. For most medieval armies cavalry represent 10-20% of the force. The Cavalry is constrained by the speed of the supply line and the rest of the army. If an army comprised of 9000 infantry and 1000 cavalry, is marching 300 miles to lay siege to an city. The infantry will arrive in 30 days. The cavalry could get there in 5 days if they pushed it and traveled light. Unfortunately, if they are traveling light then they probably don't have 25 days worth of food on them, and they are only 10% of their total strength so they will risk getting destroyed. More than likely the cavalry will travel 30 miles a day acting as scouts, searching for camp grounds, and finding forage, but at the end of the day the cavalry will reach the enemy city in 30 days at the same time as the rest of the army.

 

For those of you who are interested the Army War College put out a nice book describing the history of warfare. The Air War Academy has published it online. There are two chapters which are very interesting and deals with ancient armies mobility and logistics.

 

Ancient Army Logistics:

http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/gabrmetz/gabr000a.htm

 

Ancient Army Mobility:

http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/gabrmetz/gabr000b.htm

 

The air force war college also has an interesting article on equating modern logistics to medieval logistics. The logistics supply types are not as interesting as the quantities and difficulties faced by a medieval army:

 

http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/army/medieval_logistics.htm

[Someshta]

The only true comparison I can recall was in LoC, Rand popped over to check on the forces in the Plains of Moredo and there was some talk of Weiramon's mounted scouts taking 3-4 days longer to return than the Aiel scouts.

 

Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean they're faster than horses, per se, but a matter of days in the lead is a pretty solid indication that what they may lack in speed they more than make up in stamina.

[Guest Anonymous!]

And stamina is something that comes from training which is apart of doctrine (How we do it. When we do it. Why we do it. Where we do it. etc.).

 

If you read the first article in my previous post, there is a very interesting section how the Assyrians increased the speed of their army by using horse as their primary bease of burden instead of oxen. Most of the legendary armies of our world became great as a result of some innovation that gave them an advantage over all of their opponents. The Assyrians, the Greeks, and the Romans all had advantages in logistics and mobility. The Aiel have superior mobility and discipline over the slow, undisciplined armies of Randland. The Aiel lose their mobility and speed advantages over the Trollocs.

 

Edit: Which chapter was that in LoC? Was it a case of Weiramon's and Aiel scouts were traveling from Tear to Plains of Maredo? Or was it a case that Weiramon and Aiel scouts were performing patrols around a given area? Because what you just wrote indicates to me that the Weiramon's scouts went further out and scouted a lot more territory than the Aiel.