Robert was right to fear the Dothraki Horde

[Universal Sword Donor]

 

6 hours ago, Amris said:

I don't want to involve myself in the 'obsolete or not' discussion but there is another thing about huge cavalry hosts that should be taken into consideration:

The question of logistics which has been rised already.

First you need to bring not only your 100.000 men - but also your 100.000 horses across the sea. A not so minor obstacle. I don't see how that's supposed to work in-world but be that as it may:

Even if you managed that you still face another gigantic problem: That of supplying your outsized cavalry army once it has arrived.

Horses need a lot of food. Especially if you work them hard. That's the reason a mounted host needs to carry several times the amount of supplies a same-sized infantry unit does.

So either you need a huge, HUGE amount of waggons (and a continouus and enormous supply of grain on them from - somewhere) or you need to graze the horses. And if you graze them they need a lot of grazing area - and time.

Since there is only so much room for grazing in any one spot there is no way you can keep 100.000+ horses together (or even remotely close enough together to really support each other in battle). You'd have to split them up into much smaller armies and spread them around the countryside.

They'd need closer to 500,000 horses. Mongol armies had an even high ratio. If you look at Westeros with poor Dunk as an example, a current mounted warrior has at least three mounts. European soldiers in the medieval ages usually had more (assuming knight/squire not mounted archer or foot soldier). 

The Dothraki (or at least their horses) would starve long before they expanded past a single region. Dothraki on foot wouldn't seem to be very formidable. It would definitely make their false retreat funnier to watch.

[devilish]

2 hours ago, Nocturne said:

You make a fair point, that maybe raising 30k would not happen over night, but they don't even need that many. 

Like i mentioned the cavalry would be used once the Dothraki army engages in combat with the infantry. Why do you say the infantry would get frustrated with them?  Like i mentioned the Westerosi fight in a shield wall, with lances, they would have no reason to get frustrated against riders with no armour on them, and with no means to break the wall (lances).

Dothraki are very head strong to their ways as evidence to what we know of them. They would not change their tactics and immediately adapt lances and hit and run tactics with bows and arrows.

Even if they do, they wouldn't be efficient at them as they had no practice fighting at war this way.

And to a final point, horses especially ones that are not armoured and don't have their vision restricted would get scared and drop their riders at the sight of a shield wall with lances, that's simply a fact that a naked horse would behave this way.

Unsullied are the only ones who i see having success against success in Westeros, but that's highly debatable as well since their armour is shite as well. They do however have discipline, something that's almost of equal value as having good armour on.

 

 

A hugely infantry based army, travelling in the desert (ie Dorne) and against a highly mobile army who could hit and run. What could possibly go wrong?

If Viserys is able to convince the Dothraki to use their bows then it’s the Battle of Carrhae all over again.
 

[40 Thousand Skeletons]

The Dothraki are clearly meant to be the asoiaf version of the Mongols. Mongolian horse archers were unparalleled in terms of skill, due to the fact that, like the Dothraki, they spent their lives on horseback from an early age. Mongols were capable of shooting a bird in flight while mounted, and their famed tactic of shooting backwards while riding away from the enemy was a game changer. It was also common for enemies to get shot between the eyes by Mongols riding away from them, because they were just that accurate. The Mongols were never able to advance far into western Europe mostly due to lack of open plains for fighting and grazing their horses, but in asoiaf the Dothraki could easily conquer most of the storm lands and the reach other than actually taking the castles, and they would more than likely defeat any army that met them out in the open. The real challenge would be getting them and all their horses to Westeros. I think Ned seriously underestimated them.

[devilish]

1 hour ago, Lord Vance II said:

I don't think anyone is disputing IF Viserys brought 100K Dothraki screamers, it would be an absolute disaster for Robert and the 7 Kingdoms, but I don't think they would have much of a shot at actually winning, let alone keeping rule. 

Honestly, I think it would be very hard for them to even get to Westeros, as many have said above. It's a logistical nightmare involving a massive fleet that would have to be gotten from somewhere. Presumably, Viserys best shot at a fleet would be to bully the coastal free cities. Fair enough. But I think the invaders would be exceptionally weak in transit. 

The Greyjoys have plenty of reason to hate Robert and see him go down, BUT, I think they could be convinced to help. I think Robert would be willing to give Balon damn near anything to bring the Iron Fleet around. I don't to get bogged down in ship numbers, but the IF, Redwynes, and Royal fleets would be a huge force and could stop the invasion at sea. Plus, I think there's a chance Braavos would throw its Navy in against Viserys to prevent the massive spread of slavery his invasion could mean. Then Viserys would be screwed. 

And as @devilish says, you can't really create a beachhead with a mounted force, they would need a port and, perhaps more importantly, a lot of time. If Robert could hit them as they landed, it would be a disaster for Viserys. IF he had the GC, they could maybe serve as marines to forge a beachhead, but again, it would take a ton of time to unload 100K men and horses without a real port. 

Let's say everything pans out perfect for Viserys and his horde subdues Westeros. What does he do with them? They can't keep their lifestyle and culture in Westeros. But if  he sends them back to Essos, he's leaving himself alone with all the people who's towns were burned, wives and daughters raped and sons either slaughtered or enslaved. He wouldn't last long. He might be able to win the support of 1 or 2 greathouses, but I don't think it would be enough. 

I could go on, but in response to the main point, yes, Robert had good reason to be worried, but I think he would still be sitting the throne at the end, and could possibly end the war quickly by pouncing on Viserys at sea. 

a- The Greyjoys need chaos to prosper and that's exactly what the Dothraki horde would bring. The iron islands are simply too barren to make them rich and we all know how Balon would react if Robert decides to act nice to him (ie like sending his son back). I can see the Iron islands backstabbing Robert by assaulting the crown fleet when they least expect it. That would settle scores with the crown, it would leave Westeros vulnerable to their pillaging and it would open the way wide to the Dothraki invasion

b- There's a big question mark surrounding the Tyrells. On one hand they are pretty close to Renly which suggest that they will fight on the crown side. On the other hand they are the one risking the most here (ie their fields are so easy to burn) + all their hard work with Renly had yet to bear any fruit. The young Baratheon had failed to convince Robert to shun Cersei for Margaery and he had also failed in convincing Robert to marry Margaery to the crown prince. If Viserys can guarantee that the Dothraki won’t hurt the Reach then I fancy them taking his side.

c- History is filled with ‘savages’ who adopted the customs of their newly invaded lands. If Drogo does manage to conquer Westeros then I believe we would see a split between those who wants to settle down and those who insist on living according to the old way. The latter would either be defeated in battle or they might decide to leave Westeros for a price. 

As said I still think that Robert would prevail mainly because

a- Dorran is just too cautious. That means no safe port for Viserys to land
b- its a logistics nightmare

But if Viserys act smart or he's lucky (ex Doran dies, Arianne takes over and she marries her uncle) then he's got a realistic change of winning the darn thing. 
 

[JLE]

And then, there's also; Westeros has winters, the like of which the Dothraki have not seen. A Dothraki horde would stand NO chance in the forests of the North - or indeed much in the terrain of the Stormlands which is said to be largely forest almost to the point of jungle. In the Riverlands, Crownlands and Reach they might do better: the passes into the Westerlands from the Riverlands are largely mountainous which would negate their mobility advantage, and they would have no chance of forcing the Bloody Gate into the Vale. And if they tried to invade the North, they would be *slaughtered* coming up the Neck, and what was left of them would never make it out of the Northern woods - not even in summer: and in winter, they'd be sitting ducks, no matter where they landed in Westeros.

Dornish terrain might suit them well where it was sandy - but they would have the difficulty of keeping their army fed: and on other parts of the Dornish terrain that are more rocky than sandy, the horses could not hope to get up to full speed for long, there would be lots of cover for defending armies to hide behind and attack Dothraki in ambush, and many of the people have adapted to live in *caves* - in which they could hold off Dothraki horses as easily as they held off the Targaryen Dragons. Furthermore, they would have to come to Dorne by sea, or get through the equally mountainous passes along what is called the Boneway for very good reason. (And if they won Dornish sympathy and landed IN Dorne, they would have to get OUT along those same passes, or would outstay their welcome very quickly with that number of men and that number of horses in comparatively poor grazing grounds.)

(Come to think of it, even the Golden Company's elephants are likely to prove a useless luxury in the winter: and it may be no bad thing that some of the ships carrying them are reported to have gone missing in the crossing. Hannibal's elephants were a good deal less useful in his wars against Rome than is popularly believed: indeed, only one was left alive after the very first battle at the River Trebbia, although he won that battle - and that single elephant, apparently named "Surus", survived the entire rest of the campaign. He was able to contrive to bring a few more over halfway through, after capturing the city of Capua and the port of Tarentum - both by treachery since he lacked siege equipment - but his new elephants achieved fairly little, and did not survive the attempt to retake Capua after the Romans recaptured the city, Hannibal failing as badly in siege warfare as he succeeded in pitched battles: only the eternal survivor Surus made it back to Africa. And back over in Carthage, even on his own home territory, the elephants he used at the Battle of Zama took fright at the Roman trumpets of Scipio's army, turned and fled, crashing right through his own charging cavalry as they did so, thus doing more damage to his own army than to the Romans. Guess what - Surus survived that one too.)

[Red Man Racey]

The problem with these numbers is that Robert was grossly exaggerating and I wouldn't be surprised if everybody at the table knew he was exaggerating. Drogo doesn't have 100k light cavalry - his khalasar is 40k strong (which is considered very large, the largest of his time). But he doesn't have 40k light cavalry either - in his battle with the Three Thousand of Qohor, Khal Temmo commanded a khalasar of 50k but that number only included about 25k warriors. So it is likely that Khal Drogo only has ~20k warriors he can provide to Viserys for the conquest of Westeros. A force this size and makeup doesn't stand a chance.

Another point that hasn't been brought up really is that Westeros will see this coming; it won't be a surprise. Drogo and Viserys will have to embark from some port and this will be a time consuming process. They won't enter the city, load everybody and everything on ships, and depart all in one day. Sailors at this port will see what is happening and Varys' spy network will obtain this information fairly quickly since at least some of those ships will likely be headed directly to King's Landing. Hell, they may even have a good idea of where this fleet is planning to land since sailors tend to get drunk and run their mouths. So unless these ships also have a very large escort of warships, the Royal Fleet (plus any augmentees) will be ready to meet them and send them to the Drowned God. But even if they don't know the planned landing spot, all coastal regions would be buttoned up and ready. I see the Dothraki being hurled back to the sea in fairly short order if they even made onto land in the first place.

[WSmith84]

Even leaving aside the frankly ridiculous notion of obtaining enough ships to transport 100 thousand men and 200-500 thousand horses, or the notion that such a fleet would go unnoticed and that Robert wouldn't send his own fleet to intercept them (and that would be a slaughter) there's simply no way to feed that many horses. Where are they going to get the food? Dorne? The region with least arable land? Never going to happen. The horde would have to march out of Dorne or starve the populace. So there's no defensive war. The Reach? Please. They are not going to side with a Dothraki horde. Robert's reign is perfectly acceptable to the Tyrells. He buys plenty, pays interest on his loans and generally doesn't make demands on them. Plus, the Tyrells' youngest son is BFFs with the King's brother and he is unwed and lord of Storm's End. Some Reach lords (or maybe even the majority) would prefer a Targaryen, but Dothraki will be a deal breaker for most of them.

If Viserys is willing to ignore the marriage pact, then maybe the Reach would be tempted. Of course, Dorne would be furious. They weren't happy with the Targaryens during RR, and Viserys not agreeing to the marriage pact might end that alliance. Of course, even if the Martells agree to assist the Targs, there's no guarantee the other houses (*cough* Yronwood *cough*) will side with them.

But sure, let's forget the supply situation and imagine that Dorne and the Reach are fully behind them. Well, they now have to take on the Riverlands, Crownlands, Vale, North, West and Stormlands at the very least. Lysa can do what she likes, but if Robert summons the Vale troops she'll have to comply or face Robert's wroth. Tywin will intervene, and is a very capable commander. Edmure would command his father's armies or someone else would be given charge (maybe the Blackfish); either way, he's up against a people with no semblance of tactics beyond 'charge.' It doesn't take a military genius to defeat them. Ned will command the North, Bronze Yohn or some equivalent the Vale, Stannis, Renly and Robert will all have commands etc.

Then of course, what happens if (when) Drogo dies? A khalasar follows a khal and chooses a new one when the previous dies. You think the new khal (or khals) is (are) going to continue this war? Why? They aren't married to a Targaryen. They'd disband into groups and they'd end up little more than raiders like the clansmen in the Vale. And Drogo will die. He fights on the front lines without armour. Which brings me to my next point...

Let's compare equipment. The Dothraki use arakhs, bows and whips. They don't use spears, lances, pikes etc. Their bows are outranged by Westerosi bows (despite what Jorah claims). Seriously, a bow fired on foot is always going to outrange one from horseback, unless there is a huge difference in technology (which there is, but it's in favour of Westeros). So the Dothraki will have to endure arrow fire to even reach the Westerosi forces. And who is going to be injured more by arrowfire? Men with (at least some) armour or men with no armour at all?

The Dothraki are a joke. They might be based on the Mongols, but they have none of what made the Mongols successful.

[Philokles]

4 hours ago, Coolbeard the Exile said:

Where do you get that they barely won from? They defeated an enormous army including 10,000 heavy cavalry and 100,000 spearmen and slingers. 

The Dothraki are dangerous and would do alot of damage if they made their way to Westeros.

 

14 hours ago, The Pimp that was Promised said:

The Dothraki didn't barely defeat the Tall Men.....they destroyed them utterly, which is what they would do to most armies in open battle.

A force of 100,000 light calvary would wreak havoc on the 7K. Only about 10% of any Westerori army are comprised of knights, and during the events of ASOIAF, most of the realm is at war with each other.

This mean the Dothraki would not likely face a united force, enabling them to rout any opposition piece by piece.

As in they won through an ambush on the pursuing Tall Men, facilitated by a strategic error from Mazor Alexi. Before then, the bronze age technology of the Tall Men cut through a Khalasar, showing them the stronger in open battle. Properly formed Westerosi infantry with modern heavy cavalry support from the knights is significantly better pound for pound that the Dothraki.

Switching their sole focus to horse archery would give them some hope in Dorne and the like where the terrain is favourable for hit-and-run attacks, but I do not see them having the discipline for this style of war. This is of course discounting the practical issues.

[Universal Sword Donor]

1 hour ago, 40 Thousand Skeletons said:

The Dothraki are clearly meant to be the asoiaf version of the Mongols. Mongolian horse archers were unparalleled in terms of skill, due to the fact that, like the Dothraki, they spent their lives on horseback from an early age. Mongols were capable of shooting a bird in flight while mounted, and their famed tactic of shooting backwards while riding away from the enemy was a game changer. It was also common for enemies to get shot between the eyes by Mongols riding away from them, because they were just that accurate. The Mongols were never able to advance far into western Europe mostly due to lack of open plains for fighting and grazing their horses, but in asoiaf the Dothraki could easily conquer most of the storm lands and the reach other than actually taking the castles, and they would more than likely defeat any army that met them out in the open. The real challenge would be getting them and all their horses to Westeros. I think Ned seriously underestimated them.

The Dothraki were actually fashioned as an amalgam of a number of steppe and plains cultures... Mongols and Huns, certainly, but also Alans, Sioux, Cheyenne, and various other Amerindian tribes... seasoned with a dash of pure fantasy. So any resemblance to Arabs or Turks is coincidental. Well, except to the extent that the Turks were also originally horsemen of the steppes, not unlike the Alans, Huns, and the rest.

http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/6040/

[Laughing Storm Reborn]

By fearing them doesn't mean Robert would not beat them, he knew he would, but if they managed to land and kill 10,000 people it would be a failure of the protector of the realm, Robert I 

[Nowy Tends]

2 hours ago, 40 Thousand Skeletons said:

 Mongols were capable of shooting a bird in flight while mounted, and their famed tactic of shooting backwards while riding away from the enemy was a game changer. It was also common for enemies to get shot between the eyes by Mongols riding away from them, because they were just that accurate.

This military tactic was invented by the Parthians, about 1000 years before Gengis Khan!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthian_shot

[Amris]

The 13th century Mongol invasions of Japan are interesting in this context.

Now I think it is unlikely GRRM will let a hypothetical Dothraki invasion of Westeros go down the same way since that would be a pretty short story. But the real - world invasions still offer us insight into the obstacles being faced by such large medieval armies being transported over the sea for a landing operation.

For one thing 3500 ships were needed to transport 100.000 troops.

Also the Mongol invasion attempts show the extreme vulnerability to weather effects such huge fleet landing operations had in medieval times. (Both fleets faced significant losses to kamikazes - the real typhoons, not the WWII suicide attacks of the same name.) Especially since to assemble such a huge fleet compromises had to be made with the seaworthiness of the vessels. Many of the vessels were river-type boats, not ocean-going ones. The huge number of ocean-going vessels that would have been needed was nowhere to be found, not even in something as huge and rich as the chinese-mongolian empire. So the fleet that was actually assembled was not seaworthy enough and succumbed easily to winds.

Another thing is the Mongol warfare capability was actually technologically more advanced than the Japanese (and certainly much more advanced than the Dothraki) - yet despite that the Mongols were unable to successfully drive through their campaigns even after they had managed to land.

Three interesting asides:

- the Zen master of the Japanese shogun at the time said about Shogun Tokimune:  "It is true that the son of a lion roars as a lion!"

- Japan at the time had a 'Defense Commissioner for the West' who the Mongol ambassadors made first contact with (sounds like Warden of the West to me)

- the famous Japanese katana we know today has been invented as a reaction to the armour type worn by the Mongols

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasions_of_Japan

[Bonkers]

The Dothraki alone are scary.. but not in Westeros.  Horses are formidable in battle, but also more stupid than men.  There they have forts, knights, huge stone towers, centuries of military warfare training.  The Doth's have ...horses and fire in their bellies.  Men will burn the fields and trebuchet the camps.... I doubt that Viserys would do much unless the commons loved him enough to accept the "foreign savages"..... pft...to Viserys, pft. 

[Adam Yozza]

No he wasn't really. If 100,000 Dothraki landed in Westeros, then Robert would have reason to be fearful, even though he'd still eventually win. But he doesn't have to fear Drogo's horde for a number of reason.

1) Drogo doesn't have 100k warriors. His Khalessar is 40k large, with maybe 20-30k of those being warriors

2) Not all of them will reach Westeros. The Golden Company lost half it's number to storms and the like crossing the Narrow Sea, and the IF didn't fare much better. What makes you think the Dothraki will be able to land their full force at all, not to mention in the same location?

3) A Westerosi army is significantly better than a Dothraki force. They use shields, armour and spears to form ranks, which will annihilate the charge of the unarmoured Dothraki, who use relatively close range arakh's. Furthermore, despite what Jorah says, a Dothraki bow is neither more powerful or more ranged than a longbow. Westerosi cavalry will slaughter Dothraki in open battle. Jorah's fight with Drogo's bloodrider shows that armour is a huge advantage (There are exceptions, like Bronn and Oberyn, but the Dothraki would almost never defeat an armoured knight)

4) Only Dorne would join Viserys, and even then only if he respected the marriage pact (which I doubt he'd do). The Iron Islands might decide to try for a rebellion, which would cause problems, but not enough for Viserys to win. The Reach, despite what many claim, would not fight for Viserys. There may be some lords who declare for him, but on the whole the Reach would stick with the Baratheon's. A war between Robert and Viserys is different than Robert vs Aerys or even Aegon vs Tommen. Similarly, though some lords might try and support Viserys (doubtful though) they would only be lords that were loyalist in RR, who are significantly less powerful in AGOT setting.

5) Braavos and the Royal Fleet- The Dothraki practice slavery, which Braavos abhors. Given that the Iron Bank has quite a lucrative business with Robert, and their hatred of slavery, I can see them sending financial aid to Robert even if they don't send their badass fleet. The Royal Fleet alone would be enough to stop any invasion in it's tracks before it even reached Westeros, unless Viserys also managed to get hold of 200 + warships too. That's not even counting the Redwyne fleet and the potential Braavosi fleet.

6) The GC wouldn't join Viserys, even if he had the Dothraki support. Part of why they didn't aid Viserys is because he had no support and granted that issue is solved. But its also because of his character. He wouldn't be able to win their support, especially not with Homeless Harry in charge. It took dragons to get them to take an interest in Dany, and it was Aegon who won them over to go to Westeros. While my opinion of Aegon is mixed, it's obvious from the get-go that he'd be more suited to the Throne than Viserys. 

7) The Dothraki couldn't take cities or castle's. Given that they'd need to take King's Landing in order to win, Viserys' plan is doomed from the start.

8) Attrition. They couldn't feed that many horses and people for an extended period of time.

 

[BRANDON GREYSTARK]

Robert did  not fear the Dorathi ,he did fear any son Dany would have with Drogo, who could unite both Dorathi and Targaryen loyalists .

[Stormking902]

IMO Westeros had nothing to worry about for numerous reasons but ill name a few.

1) Logistics is a HUGE no 

2) They fear salt water and have never sailed once in their lives, I doubt more then 40% even make it to the shores of Westeros. 

3) resources especially food, to feed an army that huge and there horses is litterally impossible without someone like the Tyrells providing food and even this wouldnt and couldnt last long. 

4) No siege weapons

5) sickness , foreign lands have foreign germs the Dothraki would not be immune to yet. 

6) Westeros is superior in every way when were talking military weapons and armour and tactics. 

7) its just insanity really 

[Coolbeard the Exile]

1 hour ago, Stormking902 said:

IMO Westeros had nothing to worry about for numerous reasons but ill name a few.

1) Logistics is a HUGE no 

2) They fear salt water and have never sailed once in their lives, I doubt more then 40% even make it to the shores of Westeros. 

3) resources especially food, to feed an army that huge and there horses is litterally impossible without someone like the Tyrells providing food and even this wouldnt and couldnt last long. 

4) No siege weapons

5) sickness , foreign lands have foreign germs the Dothraki would not be immune to yet. 

6) Westeros is superior in every way when were talking military weapons and armour and tactics. 

7) its just insanity really 

1) ?

2) Khal Drogo did say that  he will cross the sea and everyone seem very excited about it. 

3) The Dothraki are all light cavalry they would spread out on the countryside and  plunder and loot everything. They would have no problem with food.

4) First of all the lords cant sit inside their castle and watch when all of westeros goes to shit. They would need to go out and fight them and it's not like they wouldnt be able to siege a castle. They would have Targaryen supporters and sellswords with them who knows how to do siege weapons. 

5) It is a possibility but i dont think that there would be a problem.

6) As Jorah pointed out as soon as Rhaegar died his army routed. The infantry who make up the majority of westeros armies are not very brave or well equipped and Jorah says that they would run for the hills if the fearsome dothraki charged them. Also the Westerosi knights wouldnt be able to catch the Dothraki horse archers who would pepper them. I would say all in all that the Westerosi armies and Dothraki armies are about equally strong but the Dothraki are lead by Drogo who is a beast.

7) It's not!

[The Hoare]

The dothraki would fall easily for the westerosi armies. They would face the same problems as the mongols faced: terrain, and the mongols used armor(not plate though).

To conquer the Westerlands they need to pass through mountains and the Golden Tooth.

The vale is a horrible region for horse archers, to much mountains.

The North have the Neck and Moat Cailin.

The stormlands have the rainwood. The northern parts can be attacked though.

Only the Riverlands, the Reach and the Crownlands are in danger, but only if nobody notice a host marching.

 

Dothrakis don't use armor, so they would be a easy target to foot archers and any below average armored knight.

[Adam Yozza]

2 hours ago, Coolbeard the Exile said:

1) ?

2) Khal Drogo did say that  he will cross the sea and everyone seem very excited about it. 

3) The Dothraki are all light cavalry they would spread out on the countryside and  plunder and loot everything. They would have no problem with food.

4) First of all the lords cant sit inside their castle and watch when all of westeros goes to shit. They would need to go out and fight them and it's not like they wouldn't be able to siege a castle. They would have Targaryen supporters and sellswords with them who knows how to do siege weapons. 

5) It is a possibility but i don't think that there would be a problem.

6) As Jorah pointed out as soon as Rhaegar died his army routed. The infantry who make up the majority of westeros armies are not very brave or well equipped and Jorah says that they would run for the hills if the fearsome dothraki charged them. Also the Westerosi knights wouldn't be able to catch the Dothraki horse archers who would pepper them. I would say all in all that the Westerosi armies and Dothraki armies are about equally strong but the Dothraki are lead by Drogo who is a beast.

7) It's not!

1) I believe he means transporting such an army to Westeros is the first place. They would need a lot of ships to transport the supplies, the horses and the men, which is something Viserys would struggle to get without the support of places like Braavos and Volantis. Even then, probably about half of those ships would end up destroyed or scattered when crossing the Narrow Sea or passing through the Stepstones, either to pirates or storms. Look at how the GC's voyage fared in Dance, or the IB in the same book. No reason to believe the Dothraki would fare any better.

2) Indeed. While getting them to actually cross may be difficult once they reach the sea it would not be impossible and not really an issue. Given enough motivation they would do it.

3) To do that though they would need to split up and head off in all different directions, which means organizing them would be hell. In addition, this allows the Westerosi to take them out piecemeal. Besides. Aside from the Reach, they wouldn't be able to do this in any of the viable landing locations. Because the Dothraki are all light cavalry, a beachhead landing is near impossible. So they need a port. White Harbour isn't viable because temperature's up there would greatly weaken the Dothraki, not to mention the length of the voyage. Gulltown is possible but to land there traps them in the Vale when the Bloody Gate is fortified. To get to King's Landing one would need to pass by Dragonstone and to do so when Stannis had the royal fleet there would be suicidal. Which leaves Dorne. And as we all know, Dorne doesn't have much grassland for the horses to live off.

4) No, the lords can't sit by and do nothing, but likewise, Viserys can't just run around the country raiding and pillaging. Sooner or later he'd need to capture places like Storm's End, King's Landing, Dragonstone, Casterly Rock and Riverrun. He can't win until he does, but the Dothraki can't siege a castle. They don't have the patience or the logistics to do so.

Sellsword's are a possibility but they are universally acknowledged as untrustworthy. As for Targaryen loyalist's...the problem with that is that as soon as Viserys brings a Dothraki horde to Westeros he turns any potential supporters against him. Not to mention, his personality and temperament would do that as well. Dorne might still support him, but only if he honors the pact; which is doubtful. The other lords he may find support in; if they aren't alienated by his actions and personality; are small and minor like Darry and maybe some of the other former Targ supporters. 

5) I think it would be a problem, especially when they tried to go through the Neck.

6) Yeah, but that was because they were fighting for Rhaegar. Without him, there was no point (because no one was really fighting for Aerys). In the war against Viserys and his Dothraki, their fighting to defend their homeland from a horde of murderous, raping foreigners. They are going to have better morale. And that only really applies if the leader falls, which with leaders like Tywin and Stannis isn't much of an issue.

The Westerosi are lead by Stannis Baratheon (a beast), Tywin Lannister (a beast), Randyll Tarly (also a beast) and host of others. The difference is the Westerosi commanders understand tactics beyond "Charge!"

Westerosi longbowmen would slaughter Dothraki. I don't care what Jorah says, the Dothraki short bows are neither more powerful or ranged than a longbow.

Arrows barely do anything to armoured knights unless they find the chinks and joints, which is unlikely with a mobile target and a mobile archer. The Knights would annihilate the Dothraki in any fight. If they knew the terrain then the Dothraki could use hit and run like the Dornish did in the Conquest of Dorne or the Crannog's did against the IB, but being knew to the land they don't know how to do that. 

7) It really is.

[The Fresh PtwP]

2 hours ago, Coolbeard the Exile said:

1) ?

2) Khal Drogo did say that  he will cross the sea and everyone seem very excited about it. 

3) The Dothraki are all light cavalry they would spread out on the countryside and  plunder and loot everything. They would have no problem with food.

4) First of all the lords cant sit inside their castle and watch when all of westeros goes to shit. They would need to go out and fight them and it's not like they wouldnt be able to siege a castle. They would have Targaryen supporters and sellswords with them who knows how to do siege weapons. 

5) It is a possibility but i dont think that there would be a problem.

6) As Jorah pointed out as soon as Rhaegar died his army routed. The infantry who make up the majority of westeros armies are not very brave or well equipped and Jorah says that they would run for the hills if the fearsome dothraki charged them. Also the Westerosi knights wouldnt be able to catch the Dothraki horse archers who would pepper them. I would say all in all that the Westerosi armies and Dothraki armies are about equally strong but the Dothraki are lead by Drogo who is a beast.

7) It's not!

1.) 40K Dothraki with optimistically twice as many horses (realistically three times as many) would need a staggering amount of ships and supplies just to reach Westeros.

2.) They would need crews for these ships they don't have. Also lack of naval experience would bode ill if say Stannis meets them at sea with the Royal fleet.

3.) If they got to Westeros with the ships they don't have and the expertise they lack, they'll simply forage? To sustain an army of 40K? They would die by the thousands. Little buck-hill villages are not going to have enough grub or fodder or plunder to buy provisions even if the Dothraki could find someone to sell them food.

4.) Sieges are pretty time consuming, see point 3.) for why that isn't going to go so well, especially when all of Westeros is your enemy. While the starving Dothraki are invested in the siege they get ambushed by an army from a different region.

5.) IRL it would be a problem but meh.

6.) I don't know how many times the poorly trained, poorly armed peasant army has been disproved, it is untrue, every man of them has more discipline than the Dothraki, while having natural horsemen as mounted archers should be lethal, the Dothraki don't fight that way. Their one tactic seems to be 'charge!' Again while Drogo is a beast when it comes to commanding an army give me Tywin, Stannis, Tarly, Ned, Jaime or Robb any day of the week.

7.) It is.