An Army of 108,000...

[watcher of the night]

4 minutes ago, Xarkar said:

Ser Gregor, the Mountain wearing FULL plate mail says hi.   

Notice how Oberyn beat him?

Did you watch the TOJ scene? There are lots of gaps.

 

Yes plate mail is amazing.  Yes it gives you a HUGE advantage, but it is also very expensive... remember when the mountain killed the guy in the joust?  Everyone was commenting how he was just knighted... how could he possibly afford the armor.   

 

Even the stark army armor looks to be only hardened leather.

 

 

This is what I am trying to explain to you, if you dance around like Oberyn did without a shield and armour you will be slained by archers.

Also the Stark armour is a coat of plates: leather reinforced with metal plates; and they have a chainmail and gambesson below that.

AD fought with a valyrian steel longsword, not with an arakh.

[Xarkar]

1 hour ago, watcher of the night said:

This is what I am trying to explain to you, if you dance around like Oberyn did without a shield and armour you will be slained by archers.

Also the Stark armour is a coat of plates: leather reinforced with metal plates; and they have a chainmail and gambesson below that.

AD fought with a valyrian steel longsword, not with an arakh.

AD's sword is not Valyrian steel.

My point about Oberyn wasnt about dancing around.  It was to point out that plate mail does have gaps in it, which is how Oberyn managed to cripple the mountain, and very few actually have that armor.

In the ToJ scene they also used daggers and went for gaps, (throat etc)..  

Also of note in the TOJ scene, 6 mediocre fighters, (or lets even say good fighters) beat 2 amazing fighters, 1 the best in the realm.  Numbers matter, and the dothraki have that.

 

While the Dothraki will be at a disadvantage having no armour, they are a force to be scared of.

Why do the slaver cities pay tribute to them rather than fight?  They have mercenaries and or Unsullied, and yet they choose not to fight a SINGLE Khalasar. 

 

 

[Ser Creighton]

16 hours ago, Neds Secret said:

I don't follow, the way you put it they both sound rather similiar to me, why do you think they are both so different?

The show is probably just going to skip some stuff, like the Volantis plot. They may do it but who knows. What is similar, like I said it's irrelevant. In the books if Martin wants her to have ships, the ships will show up. On the show if they want her to have ships, they will show up. That is what is similar.

No siege of Meereen so far, no Volantis plot or fleet, no Vic and the Iron fleet. Though if Euron shows up with a 1000 ships in the next two episodes I will be highly disappointed with the writing. A week to build, and a week to get there, it's just a 1000 ships after all. Yara and Theon may show up, after all Dany loves her eunuchs. So that would be very different. 

I don't know if she will lift the siege of Meereen on the show or if there will be one. She seems to indicate she has a plan to get ships on the show. Maybe Qarth on the show. Volantis will be touched on, just not sure where they are going with it. Really no build up. So the motivations for the characters and depth is not really there with the sub plots. 

In the books you can kind of see exactly who is going to get it and why. So on the show it's a bit more vague and not all that meaningful. More development in the books of certain sub plots, Siege, Yunkai, New Ghis, Volantis, Pentos, Qarth, Warlocks, Euron, Iron Fleet, Dragon Binder etc... There are all kinds of sub plots there, and motivation for the characters. Show is more like, it's time to go stomp some ass into the ground, doesn't matter who, it's ass stomping time, doesn't matter why, it's ass stomping time. I understand they don't have time develop it all but it makes her story a little more shallow. 

So in the books, lots of sub plots and motivations for the characters, much more story development. Ships will be involved.

On the show, ass stomping time, boats. Which can be enjoyable too.

If you have read the books and I don't know if you have, you see how winds is setting up a lot of fleet movements. Euron and Old Town, Volantis fleet, Iron Fleet, Redwyne Fleet is moving, Marwyn and the Cinnamon Wind, The Corsair King, What's his face down in the Steps, the Manderly fleet, Bravos and the Wildlings who arrived there, chances are they will move as well, and probably Qarth. Lots of wind, lots of ships.

[Misnthropia]

Remember Robert was afraid because the armies were splintered, there were essentially 5 different armies with 5 different leaders doing 5 different things and had become fat and lazy through peace. Not just because Dany had a Khalasar.

 

Using Oberyn v Clegane is a poor example. No war is a 1 on 1 duel. The Dothraki will not have the time to probe for gaps in armor and Jorah totally neutralized the arahk in his duel with one of Drogos fighters. The Dothraki will need to rely on cavalry speed and their hit and run tactics which will simply not work against a proper formation of pikemen. Once theyre off their horses, the battle is lost for the Dothraki because it becomes a fight between an unorganised militia vs military prowess.

Having the Unsullied at the front line and then using the Dothraki as flanking cavalry would be effective, however, 5000 unsullied is not going to be enough to hold the enemy.

[tormund's beard]

yeah dany's army its way too big to think about it... just turn of your brain

100k riders + 100k horses no way to feed all of them in a westerosi winter, maybe she can forage in the reach but:

the riverlands are a wasteland

dorne (sorry i know no one wants to think about dorne) is a desert

the north is covered in snow,

the vale and the westerlands are neither huge or very fertile and difficult terrain to move an army.

the smallfolk are going to die by the thousands the soldiers will fight to the death before surrendering to an army of savages.

ps: drogon isn't balerion he can melt people but not castles

[robasp2]

4 hours ago, Xarkar said:

AD's sword is not Valyrian steel.

My point about Oberyn wasnt about dancing around.  It was to point out that plate mail does have gaps in it, which is how Oberyn managed to cripple the mountain, and very few actually have that armor.

In the ToJ scene they also used daggers and went for gaps, (throat etc)..  

Also of note in the TOJ scene, 6 mediocre fighters, (or lets even say good fighters) beat 2 amazing fighters, 1 the best in the realm.  Numbers matter, and the dothraki have that.

 

While the Dothraki will be at a disadvantage having no armour, they are a force to be scared of.

Why do the slaver cities pay tribute to them rather than fight?  They have mercenaries and or Unsullied, and yet they choose not to fight a SINGLE Khalasar. 

 

 

I dont think you understood what we mean..

The dothraki are half naked men. They have zero chance of survival if two arrows hit them.

Next, not only the dothraki, but the organized enemy also has ability to find "gaps". The difference being that one random stab by a pikeman will kill a dothraki, but not vce versa due to armor.

Just wait till Season 6 episode 9.. you will see what I mean..

Next if the enemy stays in a castle, their is no shit Dothraki can do. They do not have rams or seige weapons. The rain of arrows and trebuchets can kill them by the thousands..Many wars in our history have been lost like that.

Next, about Robert. I dont know why he was scared. D&D wanted to make dothraki an unbeatable force, but in logic they are not. So D&D decide if robert has to be scared. Not the logic.

Next a very well planned move can help Danerys army win the war. Calculated use of dragons, attack from multiple sides. Guerella tactics and luring them out of castles.. a combination of ways..

But mark my words, they wont go for that. A dragon will fly over and burn the whole army and the castle. Dothraki will freely ride into the city and capture it. D&D will make it simple. They want to convey a message, not logic or reality.

[Amris]

5 hours ago, Xarkar said:

Ser Gregor, the Mountain wearing FULL plate mail says hi.   

Notice how Oberyn beat him?

Did you watch the TOJ scene? There are lots of gaps.

 

Yes plate mail is amazing.  Yes it gives you a HUGE advantage, but it is also very expensive... remember when the mountain killed the guy in the joust?  Everyone was commenting how he was just knighted... how could he possibly afford the armor.   

 

Even the stark army armor looks to be only hardened leather.

 

 

There exists an interesting video by an expert for medieval fighting techniques and armour about the TOJ scene. It addresses many of the above points:

http://winteriscoming.net/2016/05/15/schola-gladiatoria-breaks-down-the-tower-of-joy-fight/

8:52 He explains that armour on the hands and forearms is very important (and missing on the Kingsguard in the TOJ scene). This is a point in favor of Xarkar above: The Westerosi armour (on the TV show at least) often does indeed have lots of gaps. (At the same time that means that a complete set of armor would be difficult for an unarmored and slashing-weapon-armed Dothraki to handle - but that's not what's being worn in this TV scene)

12:50: He makes clear that cuts (slashing attacks) do not go through armor. Only thrusts have a chance of managing that. (Bad for the Dothraki and their slashing-not-thrusting weapons. Exactly the point watcher of the night made above.) Of course that's less of an issue if you aren't wearing helmet (hello, Ned!) or have unarmored arms and hands (I am looking at you, Arthur Dayne).

13:10: He explains and shows that the Stark armour actually consist of three layers: 1) so-called 'coated plates' on the outside  - that's what looks like hardened leather but 'coated plates' is the technical term for it, 2) padded jacket - so-called 'gambeson' - underneath it and 3) chainmail underneath that. So the Northerners aren't actually as lightly armoured as one would think on first glance. Bad for the Dothraki. He makes it clear that even thrusting attacks are unlikely to penetrate through all three of these layers of armour.

13:40: He says that if you were going up against someone with that sort of armor you would try to hit an area where armour isn't (making Xarkar's above point). He again stresses that hitting armour with cuts doesn't do anything.

14:09 This is how armoured fighting really works. (And what the Dothraki would have to try to do I suppose. Very cool scene but of course a Westerosi fighting a Dothraki would have it easier as he could aim to hit just about any part of the completely unamored Dothraki while the Dothraki would have to go for one of these comparably small target areas.)

 

 

[No One of Importance]

12 hours ago, Ser Creighton said:

The show is probably just going to skip some stuff, like the Volantis plot. They may do it but who knows. What is similar, like I said it's irrelevant. In the books if Martin wants her to have ships, the ships will show up. On the show if they want her to have ships, they will show up. That is what is similar.

No siege of Meereen so far, no Volantis plot or fleet, no Vic and the Iron fleet. Though if Euron shows up with a 1000 ships in the next two episodes I will be highly disappointed with the writing. A week to build, and a week to get there, it's just a 1000 ships after all. Yara and Theon may show up, after all Dany loves her eunuchs. So that would be very different. 

I don't know if she will lift the siege of Meereen on the show or if there will be one. She seems to indicate she has a plan to get ships on the show. Maybe Qarth on the show. Volantis will be touched on, just not sure where they are going with it. Really no build up. So the motivations for the characters and depth is not really there with the sub plots. 

In the books you can kind of see exactly who is going to get it and why. So on the show it's a bit more vague and not all that meaningful. More development in the books of certain sub plots, Siege, Yunkai, New Ghis, Volantis, Pentos, Qarth, Warlocks, Euron, Iron Fleet, Dragon Binder etc... There are all kinds of sub plots there, and motivation for the characters. Show is more like, it's time to go stomp some ass into the ground, doesn't matter who, it's ass stomping time, doesn't matter why, it's ass stomping time. I understand they don't have time develop it all but it makes her story a little more shallow. 

So in the books, lots of sub plots and motivations for the characters, much more story development. Ships will be involved.

On the show, ass stomping time, boats. Which can be enjoyable too.

If you have read the books and I don't know if you have, you see how winds is setting up a lot of fleet movements. Euron and Old Town, Volantis fleet, Iron Fleet, Redwyne Fleet is moving, Marwyn and the Cinnamon Wind, The Corsair King, What's his face down in the Steps, the Manderly fleet, Bravos and the Wildlings who arrived there, chances are they will move as well, and probably Qarth. Lots of wind, lots of ships.

The show does list Volantis as one of the funding sources for the Sons of the Harpy, so not the same, but not completely ignored either.

[Xarkar]

8 hours ago, Amris said:

There exists an interesting video by an expert for medieval fighting techniques and armour about the TOJ scene. It addresses many of the above points:

http://winteriscoming.net/2016/05/15/schola-gladiatoria-breaks-down-the-tower-of-joy-fight/

8:52 He explains that armour on the hands and forearms is very important (and missing on the Kingsguard in the TOJ scene). This is a point in favor of Xarkar above: The Westerosi armour (on the TV show at least) often does indeed have lots of gaps. (At the same time that means that a complete set of armor would be difficult for an unarmored and slashing-weapon-armed Dothraki to handle - but that's not what's being worn in this TV scene)

12:50: He makes clear that cuts (slashing attacks) do not go through armor. Only thrusts have a chance of managing that. (Bad for the Dothraki and their slashing-not-thrusting weapons. Exactly the point watcher of the night made above.) Of course that's less of an issue if you aren't wearing helmet (hello, Ned!) or have unarmored arms and hands (I am looking at you, Arthur Dayne).

13:10: He explains and shows that the Stark armour actually consist of three layers: 1) so-called 'coated plates' on the outside  - that's what looks like hardened leather but 'coated plates' is the technical term for it, 2) padded jacket - so-called 'gambeson' - underneath it and 3) chainmail underneath that. So the Northerners aren't actually as lightly armoured as one would think on first glance. Bad for the Dothraki. He makes it clear that even thrusting attacks are unlikely to penetrate through all three of these layers of armour.

13:40: He says that if you were going up against someone with that sort of armor you would try to hit an area where armour isn't (making Xarkar's above point). He again stresses that hitting armour with cuts doesn't do anything.

14:09 This is how armoured fighting really works. (And what the Dothraki would have to try to do I suppose. Very cool scene but of course a Westerosi fighting a Dothraki would have it easier as he could aim to hit just about any part of the completely unamored Dothraki while the Dothraki would have to go for one of these comparably small target areas.)

 

 

I have watched the video linked above before, and essentialyl everything he says, is true.  We do have to note that the show does not equal real life, (which eh explains) so there are some variances.

For example, at the very start of the ToJ Fight, Howland Reed (i think) is slashed across the chest and is cut, showing blood.  So either HR was wearing no armor, or the Northern (Stark/Reed) armor does not offer the protection we assume that it should.  While I think this was just an overseight i think it is worth noting.

Another video worth watching re the show.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_xLwn-btlU  When Darrio fights the championm of Merreen.  The champion is on horse, in full armor and Darrio is on foot in semi full armor.  He kills the horse, then pulls out an Araka and kills the champion.  I dont know where he slashed the guy, but i assume it was the neck.   

 

 

The Dothraki would be a very scary force to be reckoned with.  Sure you can hid in your castle.  (just like the slavers could in Merreen/ Yunki etc but they STILL paid tribute to the DOthraki... why?)

The Dothraki can raid and pilliage everything around you and just let you stay in your castle.  I mean, you cant reasonably house your entire army in your castle forever.

 

 

With that said, I personally am not convinced that the DOthraki will ever make it to Westeros, AND if they do I think their main fight will be against the WW Wrights, which when you think about it is a GREAT enemy for them to fight.  Numbers vs numbers, no armor etc.

 

 

[King Perkis]

17 hours ago, BobinIL said:

Very true, I keep wondering how those silly looking curved swords the Dothraki carry will work against chain mail and steel plate armor??

Well when Jorah fought a Dothraki in season 1, his armor had no problem taking hits from their swords. But like someone else said, most soldiers won't be in armor.

[Aedam Targaryen]

9 hours ago, robasp2 said:

I dont think you understood what we mean..

The dothraki are half naked men. They have zero chance of survival if two arrows hit them.

Next, not only the dothraki, but the organized enemy also has ability to find "gaps". The difference being that one random stab by a pikeman will kill a dothraki, but not vce versa due to armor.

Just wait till Season 6 episode 9.. you will see what I mean..

Next if the enemy stays in a castle, their is no shit Dothraki can do. They do not have rams or seige weapons. The rain of arrows and trebuchets can kill them by the thousands..Many wars in our history have been lost like that.

Next, about Robert. I dont know why he was scared. D&D wanted to make dothraki an unbeatable force, but in logic they are not. So D&D decide if robert has to be scared. Not the logic.

Next a very well planned move can help Danerys army win the war. Calculated use of dragons, attack from multiple sides. Guerella tactics and luring them out of castles.. a combination of ways..

But mark my words, they wont go for that. A dragon will fly over and burn the whole army and the castle. Dothraki will freely ride into the city and capture it. D&D will make it simple. They want to convey a message, not logic or reality.

 

Logically, everything you said makes sense... especially the part about D&D being illogical. Unfortunately, they're the decision makers here, so I stopped trying to logically guess their next move as soon as they went off book. 

[Valetudo]

speaking of why the free cities keep paying the dothraki, we can't forget that they are the principal source of new slaves, so destroying them is not really in their interest.

They come sometimes and are easily bribed, it's certainly cheaper than buying a slave army or paying a free company to protect them, so why bother?

And let not forget the battle of Qohor, were 3000 unsullied defeated 25,000 dothraki.

While the reputation of the unsullied is exceptional, they're not that much different from westerosi infantry. Their loyalty is what makes them so special in a continent where every other army is either sellswords or slaves. They just had to resist without breaking to defeat them.

 

EDIT: PS: Found this interresting line in the GoT wiki explaining the economical circle between the Free cities, the Dothraki and Slavers bay:

Theoretically, a slave born in Slaver’s Bay could be traded to the Free Cities in exchange for weapons, then gifted as tribute to the Dothraki, and finally traded by the Dothraki back to Slaver’s Bay, in exchange for the very finished weapons from the Free Cities that they were traded for in the first place.

[Net-Viper X]

I think Robert was worried about the Dathraki because he has never actually faced them in battle, and only heard all the stories of terror from what horror they reap in Essos. Robert however does not realize what the typical Essos army is comprised of. We saw that Essos does not field proper soldiers, they have clownish slave armies like men chained together and men walking on stilts, supplemented by mercs that change sides at the drop of a hat. Of course the Dathraki would be death incarnate to armies like that, a little league football team wearing cardbaord armor and wielding rubber ball bats would be dangerous compared to an Essos army. The Dathraki got their asses handed to them by a formation of unsullied, and unsullied use a terribly outdated form of warfare would not stand a chance against a proper medieval force.

The Dathraki would lose half their army the first time a column of archers loosed their arrows, and the rest would die when they charged into ranks of guys with spears and shields. Not to mention how poorly they would fare if they got hit with a charge of armored cavalry. That army Ramsay used to defeat Stannis would mop the floor with a Dathraki horde and be home in time for cornflakes. Being how primitive and superstitious they are, I don't think it would take much to cause them to panic and flee either. Also, since war has already been raging, the farms and food stocks are all stripped dry along with most of the wildlife. The Dathraki would have no means to live off the land as is their way since all the things they would eat have already been eaten by the various rampaging armies of Westeros. And god forbid they run across Nymeria and her wolf horde, horses get super panicky around wolves and other predator species.

[King Perkis]

I just feel like everyone is too focused on Dothraki and Unsullied v. Westeros as compared to Dragons, Dothraki, and Unsullied v. Westeros.  Westeros people largely don't believe in dragons. We saw Drogon take a couple spears in the fighting pits and just turn around and kill whoever did it. And Now Drogon is massive.  Dragons are not only a useful weapon but will literally make a large portion of anyone opposed to Dany not want to fight.  Further, it's not like Dany doesn't have advisors that are aware of the mismatch of Dothraki v. Westeros and will work to find a way to combat that.  So, yes Dothraki or Unsullied alone would struggle if not fail to combat Westeros, just the like the Wildlings failed miserably against the NW and then terribly against Stannis and by the the look of the trailer, will struggle against Ramsey's shield wall in Episode 9. however, the wildlings with the help of Northerners may stand a chance against Ramsey. Just like the Dothraki and Unsullied stand a fairly good chance against Westeros with the dragons and the aid that will come to Dany.

[watcher of the night]

20 hours ago, BobinIL said:

Very true, I keep wondering how those silly looking curved swords the Dothraki carry will work against chain mail and steel plate armor??

 

23 minutes ago, Soccer69 said:

I just feel like everyone is too focused on Dothraki and Unsullied v. Westeros as compared to Dragons, Dothraki, and Unsullied v. Westeros.  Westeros people largely don't believe in dragons. We saw Drogon take a couple spears in the fighting pits and just turn around and kill whoever did it. And Now Drogon is massive.  Dragons are not only a useful weapon but will literally make a large portion of anyone opposed to Dany not want to fight.  Further, it's not like Dany doesn't have advisors that are aware of the mismatch of Dothraki v. Westeros and will work to find a way to combat that.  So, yes Dothraki or Unsullied alone would struggle if not fail to combat Westeros, just the like the Wildlings failed miserably against the NW and then terribly against Stannis and by the the look of the trailer, will struggle against Ramsey's shield wall in Episode 9. however, the wildlings with the help of Northerners may stand a chance against Ramsey. Just like the Dothraki and Unsullied stand a fairly good chance against Westeros with the dragons and the aid that will come to Dany.

We are focusing on it because this was the question asked.

Of course, if you add in the dragons it will change the outcome of the equation. To be honest I feel that with three dragons (if Dany can controll them and if she finds two more riders; big IFs I know) bringing 100k+ dothraki is an overkill and a great hazard. IMO she would be better off bringing a smaller but better disciplined host, like the unsullied plus a few better organized sellsword companies (leave the dothraki in Essos) and find more allies once she is in Westeros (and with the dragons she would).

[Net-Viper X]

5 minutes ago, watcher of the night said:

 

We are focusing on it because this was the question asked.

Of course, if you add in the dragons it will change the outcome of the equation. To be honest I feel that with three dragons (if Dany can controll them and if she finds two more riders; big IFs I know) bringing 100k+ dothraki is an overkill and a great hazard. IMO she would be better off bringing a smaller but better disciplined host, like the unsullied plus a few better organized sellsword companies (leave the dothraki in Essos) and find more allies once she is in Westeros (and with the dragons she would).

I agree. The Dothraki ultimately will bring no good for Dany and she would be better off using other troops. They rape and murder, that is their way and it would be a huge stack of bad PR for her campaign to the throne. By the time she achieved her goals, either the people of Westeros would hate her for the brutality, or the Dothraki would hate her for forcing them to give up their traditions of rape and pillage.

[ErasmusF]

This whole conversation leads me to believe Dany's entire army is basically a red herring. I think she is destined to become the crazy witch queen of Westeros riding around on Drogon terrorizing lords that don't recognize her "rightful" authority. Her army is going to be scattered and decimated as soon as she reaches Westeros. Many will probably desert her. 

As other have noted, she has some major problems with her army of over 100k at this point. 

1) Travel - even at 40 people per ship she'll need 25 round trips to get everyone across on 100 ships. That's at least a year of travel.

2) Finding a place to land - the safe bet would be Dorne in the show, Sunspear specifically. In the books a better bet would be near Hellholt. Beyond that you have dangerous waters, unfriendly turf, or places where you won't be able to establish a landing party before getting wiped out. Hellholt adds another couple of days to each trip.   

3) Supply lines - she'll need a safe landing spot. The Dothraki won't play nice with the locals if food gets scarce, so you have to bring food in from Essos. Right there landing near Hellholt is a problem. At any rate, let's say Marwyn the Mage has that all figured out. 

4) Weather - Landing in Dorne will be fine for the Dothraki. Anywhere after that is going to be a problem. A huge problem. Winter is coming. These guys don't even have windbreakers! I suspect once she leaves Dorne these guys will be freezing their asses off. The Mongols were from a cold environment. They did not have this problem. 

5) Fighting armies - The Westerosi would be fools to meet the Dothraki in the field. But if they do, they have superior tactics. The Mongols were proficient with mounted archers and lances - great weapons on horseback. And they were armored, at least enough to stop crude arrows and wooden pitchforks. But fighting on horseback is essentially stupid, as Daario Naharis demonstrates in the clip above. You're likely to end up with a dead horse and broken bones. Mounted knights basically ran lightly-armed people down, or came in to clean up the mess after a shield wall was completely broken. They are counted as an advantage because they can move around very quickly and prevent defenses from being reassembled. There is a reason shield wall fighting dominated from Alexander's time to around WW1. The Last Kingdom has some great examples. Also read The Sworn Sword. Dunk gives a good lesson in spear and shield wall fighting. 

  6) Armor - as mentioned above, the Dothraki don't have any. They are basically bullies. They surround and starve a city until they give up. They pick on the Lamb's Men. Even in the field, a good shield wall backed up by archers would utterly annihilate the Dothraki. That is why the Unsullied have such as easy time beating the Dothraki. Yeah if your defenses are breached I'll bet they are a terror. 

I would recommend to anyone who thinks the Dothraki are a big deal in Westeros, they go back and read about the Unsullied fighting tactics, then read The Sworn Sword, then read about Jorah's encounter outside the tent. That should tell you exactly what GRRM thinks of unarmored fighters on horseback. 

Dany will have her dragon and her Unsullied. We'll see what she can do with them.  

[Xarkar]

2 hours ago, ErasmusF said:

 

1) Travel - even at 40 people per ship she'll need 25 round trips to get everyone across on 100 ships. That's at least a year of travel.

 

Right, Wrong, or stupid, it has been said she only needs 1000 ships, which is conveniently the same number Euron is planning to build.

[WSmith84]

There is no realistic way that the Dothraki should fare even remotely well against a Westerosi army. Westerosi armies have superior weaponry, discipline, range, leadership... And they actually wear armour. It would be a slaughter. The Dothraki might be based on the Mongols, but they have almost nothing in common with them and nothing of what made them successful. Frankly, the actual logistics of getting even 10000 of them across the Narrow Sea (with 2-3 horses each, to boot) is ridiculous. And if an experienced admiral met them at sea, the Dothraki would be the metaphorical fish in a barrel.

Robert might have been scared of them, but Ned wasn't. And Robert's biggest fear was Targaryen loyalists rising when the Dothraki arrived. They might actually pose a military threat.

[Epyon]

17 minutes ago, WSmith84 said:

 The Dothraki might be based on the Mongols, but they have almost nothing in common with them and nothing of what made them successful.

This is pretty accurate.......  Mongols where kicking everyone's teeth in specifically because they where ARCHERS, and would build mobile siege weapons.........  They rarely used or fought in hand to hand combat.... It was a completely different Military style than the phalanx type tactics of European (and Westerosi) armies, and a precursor to actual artillery warfare (which is how Napoleon kicked everyone's teeth in).....

A nerdy video kind of illistrating how it would have gone down..... The right units are a basic Phalanx..... the Left units are how the Mongols fought.... except they where also mounted and thus moved significantly faster than the ground melee combat forces.

 

 

Game of Thrones Dothraki.... honestly would have been a pretty impressively terrible fighting force against a standard phalanx, as they have never been shown to use seige weaponry, bows, or really anything that made the Mongols effective..... Trying to fight half naked in melee combat, with a horse under you would have failed spectacularly versus even a basic spear weilding phalanx (let alone if that phalanx had archers behind it).... That legendary unsullied victory vs the Dothraki would have been more the norm, than the exception.