Han Chinese army

[martin goddard]

Here is a sample Han Chinese army.
It has lots of shooters bu not many shields.

Cavalry with armour but no shield veteran  x2
cavalry with armour but no shield Elite  x1
Cavalry with no armour or shield. With bow. x3

Close order foot. No shield, Bow   x3
Auxiliary armoured. No shield. Bow. x2
Auxiliary with spear and SHIELD  x 2

3 Bolt shooters
3 foot skirmishers
6 mounted skirmishers

Overall 13 proper units which is  a lot.

This army can dish out the shooting but will come unstuck if the opponent shoots too.

martin

[sukhe_bator (Neil)]

Han typically had a 1:1 ratio of spear/halberd to missile troops. One of the classic tactics was to shield missile troops behind spears. Also 1:1 archers and crossbows so the archers covered the reloading xbows

Neil

[martin goddard]

As a rough ratio yes. 
Certainly not an exact ratio.
Similar to the Successor ratio of pike to auxiliaries. Rough.

martin

[Sean Clark]

You have to take the rough with the smooth sometimes.

[sukhe_bator (Neil)]

Or "He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight."
Sun Tzu

Neil

[sukhe_bator (Neil)]

I have always been struck by the strangeness of Han Cavalry. Either armoured cavalry wielding a cavalry version of the dagger-axe/halberd or lighter troopers with lances. They also used allied Xiongnu as horse archers... but little or no shields. Similar in many respects to mounted Samurai relying on speed and their armour to deflect blows.

The 'epic' Chinese films often depict the infantry with shields but usually conflate them with later Three Kingdoms or Tang representations of armies. Light auxiliaries were often used like sword and buckler men with a smallish light buckler shield. Like this relief from the Walters (see lower register)
https://art.thewalters.org/detail/36301/copy-of-a-2nd-century-han-tomb-relief-with-narrative-scenes-2/