So, the thread on if you would ever play a Centaur got me to thinking. If the Centaurs are sentient and all that, then they must have some experience and training in the martial arts (war as well as hand-to-hand types).

What do you think it would look like?

Kicking would probably be involved, what they lack in agility and reach (upwards that is) they have in power.
And I'd reckon they'd have great stability to do some wicked throws, or resist them anyway.

Using weapons I'd imagine spears, lances or they like. To make use of their great leg strength, and charge. And also so that they can reach an opponent standing behind them.

In modern warfare they'd have the leg strength to carry very heavy equipment, but their upper body isn't much different from a humans, so heavy weapons without gyros is out. But they'd have an advantage using gyros however, I don't think they'd be as slowed down as humans, besides, they can carry heavier stuff.

But they make big targets, and are not very stealthy, so their tactics would probably involve heavy armor, shooting first, or using heavy, long range weaponry.

centaurs have only been around for the past fifty-odd years, at most, and they aren't recognized as being sentient by most cultures. they wouldn't, i don't think, have had enough time to develop any sort of centaur martial art, or centaur tactics.

The basic centaur tactic would probably be "turn and kick". Get your most powerful weapons in line and also be ready to run from the danger.

Little Bill's got a thought there. if Centaur martial arts were developed, it would probably revolve around the use of a spear or other weapon in the hands to keep the enemy back and in range for a good rear-leg press kick. For close range, front leg stokps and kicks coupled with body blocks and powerful launching throws (A centaur generates a hell of a lot of inertia if it tries to swing someone from the front using it's rear legs as the pivot point)

They mnay have only been around for 50 years, but the military and government have not. Any tactics and weapons fighting for Centaurs would come from the military.

what militaries enlist centaurs? they're not even recognized as being sentient, by most of the world.

That just means the dragons and faries can hire them for below what would otherwise be a competative wage. Dunky had a tribe of them to guard one of his lairs, what's to stop others who don't care about any pre-existing legal definitions from using them?

right, but that's the rare exceptions. they're not getting hired often enough to form a cohesive centuar martial art, or to develop generally-applicable centaur tactics. you might have a centaur who's developed a custom martial art, but it's not by any means going to be "the centaur martial art". it'll just be "whoah, that centaur is ten ninjas."

i'm not saying a centaur martial art is a bad idea, or that you shouldn't develop tacits for centaurs to use. i'm just saying that centaurs are, in T6W, too new to have an in-game body of knowledge developed around them.

I think if the elves can "remember" a 5,000 year old martial art, Centaurs can too. Obviously, Herding is a primary maneuver along with Kick Attack.

Not to mention knockdown and trample. Any thoughts on how the arms/torso would come into play in a hand-to-hand style?

depends on whether or not there are any immortal centaurs.

I would say they would act as a calvary unit. Spears, lances, sabers, bayonets fixed to rifles and just bodily running over people. As long as they are in terrain that favors horses, they wouldn't have to worry about melee attacks from the rear as they would be charging forward and through the enemy.

Modern combat doesn't really have a place for the mounted soldier or the centaur unless it is to move through difficult terrain at a good pace. Usually, modern horse soldiers dismount before they fight, which would be a problem for the centaurs. I would expect they would use assault rifles, grenade launchers and a lot of thermal smoke to cover their advance so they could get into physical combat.

Maybe riot duty like today's urban mounted cops.

heh. that'd be amusing.