Winged humans.
Not angels, just people with wings that can fly.
How would they be used in a military situation. Presumably you can't fly with full plate because it's too heavy, and in any case wings get in the way of close combat even if folded. So aside from the obvious "hover above the battlefield and rain down arrows" what else could you use them for?
Would they work as fantasy equivalent of airborne troops? Light troops able to be deployed vertically behind enemy line to attack on the rear?
>>46770645
I'd use them for scouting. If necessary, for taking out enemy commanders.
I'd use them as scouts as the other anon said.
They can also be great medics.
And sneakier ones can do covert ops or assassination missions. They literally fly into enermy strongholds and kill targets
>>46770645
transportation?
>over obstacle
>airborne drop
>>46770755
This. Treat them like world war one airplanes. Unless they're high level casters, they can't get near the ground. so they fight a lot of duels in midair trying to scout. Melee weapons wouldn't go amiss. Maybe a harpoon gun.
Give all the high level mages completely badass names. The Phoenix General, North Wind, Ashen Wing [the necromancer]
Oh, and messengers. A commander needs his orders conveyed and his information updated, sometimes in difficult terrain.
Depending on the setting, a lot of casters can probably fly magically anyway so the ability to do it naturally would only be a small bonus. Not that flying casters are not scary whatever their method of getting into the air.
Behind the line assassination would probably only work once. Once it's been done commanders would just have body guards and winged humans would have a disadvantage on a straight up fight.
But yes messenger is a huge bonus. The ability to quickly pass orders up and down the chain of command completely transformed warfare.
>>46770645
How many are there? Are they present among all sides or does everyone have their own broken subspecies?
>>46770931
Let's say, on the average people can field between 5-10% flying troops on all sides.
And since humans are fond of fighting each other I don't see why winged humans wouldn't be.
>>46770645
If you give them bows, they would be great for flanking maneuvers and hit and run tactics.
>>46770984
Wouldn't they be bad at fantasy equivalent of counter-battery fire from ground archers? The wings make huge targets and I wager that firing and arrow while flying is much harder than standing around and firing an error, so ground archers can probably also out range them.
Lots of archers & casters, emphasis on hit-and-run, getting behind enemy lines. Y'know, like these guys.
>>46770645
Problem is, tactics and fortifications would have developed with these persons in mind.
Flight is only an advantage when it isn't assumed
Case in point, we don't make a huge fuss over human troops able to March on flat, dry land. Because this has been a thing for millennia. We are prepped for it. Only if the flybois are a new addition to battlefields will they be significant.
>>46771059
So we'd see stuff like roofed castles.
That actually sounds pretty cool.
>>46771015
Oh, I don't mean fire from the air. Say an infantry column is advancing towards your lines. Send a few squads of flying humans which lands in a flanking position and starts peppering them with volleys of arrows. Then get out before things get too hot. Ideally, you'd very much want to avoid engagements with ground archers.
>Archers
For ground strikes just give them extra weighted spearhead with stabilizer fins.
I'm not even sure if bows would work for AA past the short range with increase of wind speed on higher altitudes
>>46771207
Skeet shooting.
So not like conventional AA where you cover the skies with as much flak as possible, but skilled archers who have a decent shot of actually hitting someone.
Or crossbowmen. I'd imagine it'd be easier to nail someone out of the sky with something a bit more consistent (that is, the human variability is not the same as it is with a bow).
>>46770645
Give a bunch of them pikes and have swoop tactics. Just think of it as harder to predict cavalry charges with better disengage. They can have a stockpile of long pointy sticks to jab into people and leave there, grabbing another before flying back in.
Also as archers, not to fly and shoot, but to fly to hard-to-reach areas if they're available or just escape enemy cavalry in open fields.
Would it be effective to counter enemy winged human with your own somehow?
>>46770645
>and in any case wings get in the way of close combat even if folded
Give them long spears. Let them poke at the enemy from above and harass them, while your ground troops break through their ranks.
Or let them carry stuff they can throw at the enemy. Aside from something like rocks, it would depend on the setting. But think about them throwing something like naffatun directly into the heart of the enemy lines.
>>46770917
Bodyguards can be killed or broken through. Airborne suicide squads would be terrifying for a commander who's out in the open. Far more so than regular troops, who'd have to breach far greater numbers to reach the commander, in most cases.
>>46771059
>we don't make a huge fuss over human troops able to March on flat, dry land
We usually do. War is a pretty big thing.
What's their average airspeed velocity?
No, it's not a monty python reference, it's actually relevant.
>>46771291
Oh, for ground to air, totally. I meant bows in high altitude Air vs Air fight.
Though, not sure why would they even descend low enough to exposes themselves to danger of being shoot in the first place, when they can just carpet bomb the ground forces from unreachable heights.
>>46771291
You'd need a lot of archers, and there's no reason to assume they'd come flying all obvious-like from the get-go. Just have them on the ground until it's time for them to swoop up, fly at low altitude, and do whatever shit they're supposed to be doing. As long as they're out of reach of melee weapons they're high enough. Very difficult for any ordered counter to that using archers. Smaller groups of counter-fliers perhaps, for intercepting enemy fliers, ground-bound and hidden until it's time to go.
