History Main / HorseArcher

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* All the Amazon warriors of Themyscira in ''Film/{{Wonder Woman|2017}}'' train to be as good with bow and arrow on horseback as they are on the ground. The film features several BulletTime shots highlighting this.

* The Dothraki and the Dornishmen from ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''.

* The various steppe tribes in Harry Turtledove's ''Literature/{{Videssos}}'' books. The Videssians themselves may also qualify, though they prefer more armor than the average horse archer.
* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' the Rohirrim field a number of these. However most of their army seems to be lancers.
* The Haldane Household Archers function this way in battle, as seen in ''[[Literature/{{Deryni}} The King's Justice]]''. In that same book, Kelson himself is one [[spoiler: when he executes Sicard by shooting an arrow through his eye]].

* In ''[[Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo 1635: The Eastern Front]]'', one Polish general is a noted horse archer. When asked why he persists in this in an age of gunpowder, the general points out that what it really does is keep him thinking quickly and observing the terrain.
* Yeoman in the shared-universe series Literature/{{Wild Cards}} -- unfortunately depicted as using a compound bow, despite the difficulties in transporting and assembling such in an urban environment.

* Aillas and Yane from Jack Vance's high fantasy epic the Lyonesse Trilogy (Suldrun's Garden, The Green Pearl and Madouc).
* The Vardariotes from ''Literature/TheTraitorSonCycle'', being the local Mongol Horde {{exp|y}}ies, have the horse archers as their only ranged units.
* In ''Literature/FateStrangeFake'', True Rider/[[spoiler:Queen Hippolyta]] rides a horse and uses a bow and a spear.

* ''LightNovel/AscendanceOfABookworm'': Ferdinand, when he needs to fill in as a MagicKnight. While his mount being a magical moving lion statue over which he has complete control helps, the fact that the thing can ''fly'' and Ferdinand can pull a magical {{Multishot}} from its back allows the feat to remain quite impressive.

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': Tarkir's [[HordesFromTheEast Mardu Horde]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=386595 has this]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=386481 as one of]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=386628 its specialties]].
* In ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'' The Chanari desert tribes of Mars frequently use bows on the backs of bahmoots, horse-sized, velociraptor-like reptiles. They're essentially alien Bedouin mixed with the Mongols.
* The Mounted Archery and Improved Mounted Archery feats in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 3rd Edition enable this, letting the user fire from horseback while their mount is on the move with reduced penalties or no penalties at all. Improved Mounted Archery also enables the user to attack at any point in their mount's move, enabling them to kite the opponent at range.

* ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade'' has the Khergit faction, almost every single one of their faction troops is one of these (with the exception of heavier lancers in the Warband expansion). It's also possible to make your player character one.
** If you choose to start in the Khergit Khanate and you don't put any points into riding or horse archery and only use infantry in your battles... Well even the small packs of roaming steppe bandits that provide low level characters exp will stomp all over you. In fact the steppes is probably the hardest starting region because of the prevalence of horse archers.
** However, horse archers don't behave the way you'd expect them to in the game. Without a fan-made patch to correct it, they tend to rush at infantry as if they were regular cavalry units.

* ''VideoGame/ShiningForce'' and ''[[VideoGame/ShiningForceII II]]'' have Lyle and May, ''centaur'' archers who are one of the best ranged characters in their respective games.
* The ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' series has them as a staple unit for most cavalry centered factions particularly in...
** ''VideoGame/ShogunTotalWar I [[VideoGame/TotalWarShogun2 and II]]'', the former of which is the very first game in the series. An alternate-history campaign centered around a successful Mongol invasion of Japan ups the ante.
** ''VideoGame/MedievalTotalWar I [[VideoGame/MedievalIITotalWar and II]]'' finds them among most of the non-Catholic factions.
** ''VideoGame/RomeTotalWar I [[VideoGame/TotalWarRomeII and II]]'' also have them as the core unit of several eastern/steppe factions and Rome itself in the Barbarian Invasion expansion.
** ''VideoGame/HyruleTotalWar'' has archers or spellcasters mounted on fictional creatures like Loftwings and Bigoctos.
** In ''VideoGame/TotalWarAttila'', the Huns specialize in these, and the Sassanids and Alans also get their share. Eastern Rome also gets the Equites Sagitarii, though these are a poor cousin to the horsebowmen used by their enemies. Horse archers on the greater end of the spectrum of horse archers quality are devastating in open field battles with multiple units of them - their speed will allow them to outmaneuver enemy infantry and isolate the cavalry the enemy does have, this combined with [[BowAndSwordInAccord their effectiveness in melee]] can easily counteract foot archers' ability to outnumber and outlast them at range and after those parts of the enemy's forces are are dealt with, their arrows will whittle down enemy infantry to be picked off for no other losses to their own side...[[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown and then their speed will probably mean no other enemies will escape the battlefield!]]

* The Horseman and Mamluke in ''VideoGame/TearRingSaga''. The Mamluke can use swords upon promotion. Also, there is the Arrow Knight class, the promotion from the already Bow + Sword-using Lady Knight, that gains a horse upon promotion and the King's Knight class that uses swords, lances, axes and bows. ''VideoGame/Berwick Saga'' uses the horseman class instead.
* The Night Elves in ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III'' can promote their normal archers to Hippogryph riders, making them both mounted and flying.
** The HeroUnit Priestess of the Moon is this with a tiger as the mount.
* Wander in ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'' can do this while riding Agro. The fact that he is able to maintain stable aim while galloping, combined with his extremely awkward handling of the sword (which he admittedly stole), clues us in to who Wander was in his past life before coming to the Forbidden Land: not a warrior, but a ''hunter''. This also feeds into the overall themes of the game, which shows the Colossi more as instinct-driven beasts than as strategic opponents, so the Wander not so much battles them, as ''hunts them down'' for their souls.

* ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'':
** A basic mounted unit in ''Civilization IV'' (though since units only have one type, they[[note]]as well as mounted riflemen[[/note]] count only as mounted units and ''not'' as archers when type advantages are resolved).
** Appears as unique Mongol unit in ''Civilization V'', while the Indians get Elephant Archers. The Huns in the first expansion also get a unique unit simply called the "Horse Archer," though players are not required to actually have access to horses in order to build them strangely enough.
** The Scythians in ''Civilization VI'' acquire Saka Horse Archers once you research Horseback Riding.
* A patch in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' allowed the player to become this, although it is a bit hard since you have to aim without a reticle.
* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfHonor'' has these, though only available in provinces who have horses as a resource, so they are medium rare.
* The centaurs in ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic I'', ''II'', and ''V'' were archers (the centaurs in ''III'' were spearmen, while the ones in ''IV'' were spear''throwers'').
* The Roving Clans of ''Videogame/EndlessLegend'' utilize ''only'' mounted, highly mobile units; even their [[BaseOnWheels cities are mobile]]. Their mounted archer, the Kassai, is the single fastest unit in the game, being able to outrun even Drakken [[OurDragonsAreDifferent wyverns]] on the Clan's native deserts.

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,[[note]]Justifiably; horse archers do often seem to have had to use shorter, less powerful bows than footmen, making good foot archers an effective counter to horse archery.[[/note]] and if AnnoyingArrows are in place already, this can lead to them being unable to effectively damage the enemy. Given that they often trade armor for speed, they can also easily be portrayed as {{Fragile Speedster}}s. If they can attack with swords as well, it's a case of BowAndSwordInAccord.

** In ''VideoGame/TotalWarAttila'', the Huns specialize in these, and the Sassanids and Alans also get their share. Eastern Rome also gets the Equites Sagitarii, though these are a poor cousin to the horsebowmen used by their enemies.

** The Horseman in the Archanea games. A seperate, Bow-only class in the original ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight'', it became the promotion of the Hunter class in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem''. In the DS remakes ''Shadow Dragon'' and ''New Mystery of the Emblem: Heroes of Light and Shadow'', they gained the use of swords.

* Many Native American tribes became excellent horse archers after the (re)introduction of horses to the continent by the Europeans.
** The Lakota and Cheyenne Indians of the Northern Plains were particularly good skirmishers who had to contend against a variety of Invaders carrying guns.
** The Comanches, one of the most powerful Indian tribes of the North American Great Plains, managed to roll back the northward expansion of the Spanish Empire in the 17th/18th centuries and delay the westward expansion of the United States during the 19th century with the help of horse archery. Ironically, it was the Spanish who re-introduced horses to North America, as no native before then had seen a horse before. In 1630 no Indian tribes were riding horses, but by 1700 all of the Texas Plains tribes including the Comanches had them, and the Comanches were the best warriors and horsemen of them all. In the 1830s and 40s they were a serious threat to the Texans encroaching on their lands: They could shoot arrows from the saddle extremely rapidly and accurately, and the arrow points made of scrap iron would often clinch when they hit bone, making them dangerous to extract. The Texans were at a severe firepower disadvantage since each man had at most a single-shot musket and pair of pistols for a total of three shots, and they were totally outclassed in the quality of their horses as well as their skill in riding them. Texas Ranger Jack Hays developed tactics to counter the Comanches, but it wasn't until they got their hands on some five-shot Colt Paterson revolvers that they had an answer to Comanche archery.

* Chariots were the predecessor of Horse Archers, in many countries (though among the Celts they were just an AwesomePersonnelCarrier). They used similar tactics to horse archers and of course had both horses and archers though they didn't have archers mounted on horses for a long time. In a famous passage from a Sanscrit epic, Aryan charioteers actually make a [[ICallHerVera love song]] to their bows.

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* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': Tarkir's [[HordesFromTheEast Mardu Horde]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=386595 has this]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=386481 as one of]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=386628 it's specialties]].

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** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', the Bow Knight is a Master Class that uses both bows and lances. To be promoted to one, a character needs to be at least level 30, have a Rank C in Lance skill, and have a Rank A in both Bow and Riding skills. Additionally, [[spoiler:Claude has a unique promotion called the Wyvern Master (which can be further promoted into the Barbarossa), an archer that happens to ride a giant dragon]].
*** Although thanks to the new mechanic of weapons not being class restricted but instead tied to a character's weapon ranks, any mounted unit can carry a bow and become this, though perhaps not as effectively as a specific class tailored to it.

* Wander in ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'' can do this while riding Agro.

* In ''VideoGame/Minecraft'', bow-wielding Skeletons have a chance to spawn mounted atop a Spider, or spawn four at once on horseback from horses that sometimes spawn from lightning strikes. Their high mobility while mounted can make them a hassle for the player to fight, and can shoot down the player easily if they flee. The player can also pull this off, as it's possible to fire a bow while on horseback while maintaining control over your horse.

*** Although thanks to the new mechanic of weapons not being class restricted but instead tied to a character's weapon ranks, any mounted unit can carry a bow and become this though perhaps not as effective as a specific class tailored to it.

* Implied to exist in the Zlobenian army in ''Discworld/MonstrousRegiment'', since the Borogravians get hold of a powerful crossbow called a "horse-bow".

* The Horseman and Mamluke in ''VideoGame/TearRingSaga''. The Mamluke can use swords upon promotion. Also, there is the Arrow Knight class, the promotion from the already Bow + Sword-using Lady Knight, that gains a horse upon promotion and the King's Knight class that uses swords, lances, axes and bows. Plus the enemy-only Bow Rider/Ranger class. A Bow Solider on a horse.

* ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpires'' has them, along with several varieties such as Chariot Archers and Elephant Archers. II has Horse Archers, and two civilisations have them as unique units, namely the Mongol's Mangudai and the Spanish Conquistador (which might not count since it uses a gun, not a bow). III has Dragoons which are basically the same as the Conquistadors from the previous game, some civilisations who have actual horse archers instead of the more usual Dragoon, and the Indians even have gunners firing from camelback. The spin-off, VideoGame/AgeOfMythology has the Turma which throws javelins from horseback, the Centaur[[note]]which is both horse ''and'' archer[[/note]], and the Chariot Archer from the original game makes a return.

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', the Bow Knight is a Master Class that uses both bows and lances. To be promoted to one, a character needs to be at least level 30, have a Rank C in Lance skill, and have a Rank A in both Bow and Riding skills.

** The Bow Knight in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening''. Despite sharing the same name as the ''Path of Radiance''/''Radiant Dawn'' unit, they function the same as Rangers from ''The Sacred Stones'', in being a promotion for both Mercenaries and Archers and using both bows and swords. This class makes a return in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', where it's a promotion for both Mercenaries and Outlaws[[note]]The bow-wielding variant of Thief[[/note]]. The Bow Knight also happens to be the promotion of choice for Selena when she shows up as an enemy late in the ''Birthright'' route.

* ''Manga/RavagesOfTime'': So far, Lu Bu (hailing from what was considered the western frontier of China and having access to better horses than average) is the only warlord who is seen to regularly use horse archers (a handful of the top-level archers in other armies ''can'' shoot from horseback, but they seem to be an exception and it's mostly done in emergency situations rather than as a regular tactic), but Liu Bei's army is starting to field horse-riding ''crossbowmen''.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' has had several units across the series that fill this role; additionally, this trope is regularly [[DiscussedTrope discussed]] by units of said trope in games which have [[RelationshipValues support conversations]]. Most use the combo of BowAndSwordInAccord. They follow as:

** The Bow Knight from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'', the third-tier promotion for the Archer line, which can only use bows. In the remake ''Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia'', the Overclass DLC offers them a promotion to Oliphantier class, which default weapon is a giant bow-like ''cannon'', with laser sights to boot.

** The Bow Knight and Paladin in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance''. Notably, upon promotion from Bow Knight, the Paladin can choose from sword, lances or axes to wield. This was changed in sequel ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn''; the Bow Knight and Bow Paladin can only use bows until promotion to the tertiary class Silver Knight, where they gain the use of lances.
** The Bow Knight in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening''. Despite sharing the same name as the ''Path of Radiance''/''Radiant Dawn'' unit, they function the same as Rangers from ''The Sacred Stones'', in being a promotion for both Mercenaries and Archers and using both bows and swords. This class makes a return in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', where it's a promotion for both Mercenaries and Outlaws[[note]]The bow-wielding variant of Thief[[/note]].

** In ''Fates's'' ''Birthright'' route, [[spoiler: Camilla's retainer Selena first appears as a Mercenary, but in the crew's final confrontation with her lady, she shows up as a Bow Knight. Since Selena is actually an OlderAndWiser version of ''Awakening's'' Severa, the ''Cipher'' card game has her ''Fates'' self as both Mercenary and Bow Knight ''and'' her fellow Mercenary Inigo/Laslow is shown as a Hero later, it's believed that Bow Knight is Selena's canon promotion in the story, though she can get some other classes when she's under your command]].
* The Horseman and Mamluke in ''VideoGame/TearRingSaga''. The Mamluke could use swords upon promotion. Also, there is the Arrow Knight class, the promotion from the already Bow + Sword-using Lady Knight, that gains a horse upon promotion and the King's Knight class that uses swords, lances, axes and bows. Plus the enemy-only Bow Rider/Ranger class. A Bow Solider on a horse.

There are basically two categories of this trope. The first category are the light horse archers, who act as skirmishers and rely on agility and speed. They often specialize in HitAndRunTactics, especially with archers who can spur their horse, turn around and shoot ''backwards'' as their enemies pursue.[[note]]This tactic in particular is often called the "Parthian shot," named after one of Ancient Rome's rivals who specialized in exactly this. The Parthians were often fought, but never conquered (at least not by the Romans themselves).[[/note]] Naturally, since it requires expert horsemanship, a specialty of any BornInTheSaddle culture. An honorable mention goes to earlier civilizations (Persians, Egyptians, etc.) that used chariots as a shooting platform, but in those cases it was a team of both horses and men.

-->--''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade''

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 unable to effectively damage the enemy. Given that they often trade armor for speed, they can also easily be portrayed as {{Fragile Speedster}}s. If they can attack with swords as well, it's a case of BowAndSwordInAccord.

* MagicTheGathering: Tarkir's [[HordesFromTheEast Mardu Horde]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=386595 has this]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=386481 as one of]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=386628 it's specialties]].

TruthInTelevision for numerous civilizations, of course, with many historical armies being made up partly or primarily of horse archers. Prior to the invention of the stirrup, lance warfare was impossible as it would knock the rider off the horse. 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.

* Horse archers appear frequently in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}''. They're pretty much always light skirmishers and harassing/flanking units, and they range from the quite normal all the way to goblins on wolves and dark elves with repeater crossbows.