From: Joerg Baumgartner (joe@toppoint.de)
Date: Thu 08 Oct 1998 - 21:36:00 EEST
Hi, all you military experts...
While I'll stick to my impression that wielding a sword competently
requires more training for a modicum of skill upkeep than shooting a bow
(the hard part of swinging the long stick is to hit even though the
opponent doesn't keep still, whereas in military archery you don't loose
your arrow at the individual target, but rather at the advancing mob -
much easier) I'll have to add something about darts in Glorantha.
First though, I'll have to agree with Richard Crawley's comment on the
consequences of neglecting longbow training. In March this year I
participated in a clout tournament after a winter without ever touching
my light recurve bow, and I chose to use my 70 lbs longbow rather than
the 40 lbs recurve bow. Apart from the bad result due to strong opposing
wind (9 beaufort, more in gusts of wind, which forced us to approach to
only 140 yards in order for people with weaker bows to get there at
all), I had no serious problem with the first thirty-six shots at the
distance, in fairly rapid succession. The second thirty showed me my
lack of training, though... However, the ordinary English archer's
ammunition was two dozen arrows in the quiver, and only for special
engagements two quivers. And early in the campaign there would be
opportunities to rebuild stamina.
Now, if I were to take up my shinai (bamboo sword for kendo) and take up
my training after a similar break, I would make a much more miserly
figure.
Darts:
Darts were one of several strange customs which sprang into existance at
the spread of the Empire of Wyrms Friends. (Skin paints and certain
designs as well, IIRC.)
I'm not sure how the more traditional (i.e. anti-EWF) Yelmies and
Carmanians view the wide-spread return of this evil draconic weapon into
Lunar politics. Perhaps the euphemism "dart competition" (never dart
_war_, 'cause that would be illegal) is a play on EWF connections,
though. Opinions?
Re: Origin of the Lunar Army: it is Dara Happan in the sense that it is
made up of various elements from local cultures - more like the Persian
armies defeated by Alexander the Great than the Roman Empire, really.
The core of the Lunar army was made up from Rinliddic peasants armoured
with Carmanian chivalric armour, fighting on foot, and for a first time
in a long history of suppression getting even with the horse nomads.
Some scholar (Irrippi O?) had dug up the Daxdarian manuals for
phalangists, and now the tradition which had been quite forgotten during
the Carmanian and semi-Carmanian reigns (3 Generations of Peace/War) was
revived. The alliance with Yelmgatha provided sovereignty rather than
military power IMO.
The standard Pelorian warrior is the Lodril / Turos / <pick your
favourite squarehead earthfire deity> spearman. They make surprisingly
competent militia warriors if they are followers of the secret spear.
This competence often is mitigated by their Yelmite superiors, though.
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