History Main / HorseArcher

** The Parthians in turn learned it from the Scythians, who successfully prevented the armies of both Darius and Alexander the Great from expanding their empire into the Northern Ukraine and Russia through evasion and harassing.

** The Parthians in turn learned it from the Scythians, who successfully prevented the armies of both Persia and Alexander the Great from expanding their empire into the Northern Ukraine and Russia through evasion and harassing.

* Parthian horse archers were devastating against the Romans at Carrhae (53 BCE)- particularly impressive in that they did so without stirrups. (Incidentally, it's often claimed that the phrase "parting shot" is a corruption of "Parthian shot". In truth it's a coincidence and the two were coined separately.)

* Featured prominently in the ''Tales of Ubernorden'' story "The Sword of War".

* A basic mounted unit in ''{{Civilization}} IV''

* The Mongols in the ''{{Conqueror}}'' books, naturally enough.

* ''FireEmblem'' has had a couple of units across the series that fill this role. The most famous are: Midayle (FE 4); Sue, Dayan and Shin (FE 6); Rath and Uhai (FE 7); Hayden, Ranger!Gerik and Ranger!Neimi (FE 8).

* Parthian horse archers were devastating against the Romans at Carrhae (53 BCE)- particularly impressive in that they did so without stirrups. (Incidentally, the phrase "parting shot" is a corruption of "Parthian shot").

* ''MountAndBlade'' has the Khergit faction, almost every single one of their faction troops is one of these (with the exception of heavier lancers). It's also possible to make your player character one.

* ''MountAndBlade'' has the Khergit faction, every single one of their faction troops is one of these. It's also possible to make your player character one.

* The Mongols used this to take over most of Europe.

* Parthian horse archers were devastating against the Romans at Carrhae (53 BCE)- particularly impressive in that they did so without stirrups.

* Yabusame (流鏑馬), the Japanese traditional sport of mounted archery.

{{Literature}}:

VideoGames:

RealLife:
* The Mongols used this to take over most of Europe.

* A basic mounted unit in ''{{Civilization}} IV''

* ''FireEmblem'' has had a couple of units across the series that fill this role.

* Link can do this while riding Epona in some games in the TheLegendOfZelda series.

* ''[[TotalWar Medieval Total War I and II]]'' finds them among most of the non-Catholic factions.
* ''[[TotalWar Rome Total War]]'' also have them as the core unit of several eastern/steppe factions and Rome itself in the Barbarian Invasion expansion.

In TabletopGames and VideoGames, these are often GameBreaker units, but not always. For balance reasons, they are often less powerful than archers who go on foot, and if AnnoyingArrows are in place already, this can lead to them being [[MasterOfNone unable to effectively damage the enemy]]. Given that they often trade armor for speed, they can also easily be portrayed as FragileSpeedsters.

TruthInTelevision for countless civilizations, of course, with many historical armies being made up entirely or primarily of horse archers. The Huns and Mongols are the best-known of these, and have spawned any number of [[FantasyCounterpartCulture clones]] in fantasy literature, but almost every civilization that had horses has used these at some point, often to [[GameBreaker devastating effectiveness]], and the {{Samurai}} used the dai-kyu (a type of recurved longbow) from horseback up until the Meiji Restoration. Often specialize in HitAndRunTactics, especially with archers who can spur their horse, turn around and shoot ''backwards'' as their enemies pursue.

In TabletopGames and VideoGames, these are often GameBreaker units, but not always. For balance reasons, they are often less powerful than archers who go on foot, and if AnnoyingArrows are in place already, this can lead to them being [[MasterOfNone unable to effectively damage the enemy]].

* ''[[TotalWar Medieval Total War]]'' finds them among most of the non-Catholic factions.

* The Mongols in the ''{{Conqueror}}'' books, naturally enough.
* The Dothraki from ASongOfIceAndFire.
* The various steppe tribes in Harry Turtledove's {{Videssos}} books. The Videssians themselves may also qualify, though they prefer more armor than the average horse archer.

* Wander in Shadow of the Colossus can do this while riding Agro.

* The Wanderer in Shadow of the Colossus can do this while riding Agro.

* {{Warhammer}} has Kislevite [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Horse Archers]], Hobgoblin Wolf Riders, Wood Elf Glade Riders, and Empire Pistoliers (who, as the name suggests, aren't quite horse ''archers'', but definitely ride horses).