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Re: (TFT) Reality in Melee (The Space Gamer #20, 1978), Elephants in war
On May 8, 2011, at 6:00 PM, Jay Carlisle wrote:
So it was THIS all night.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTn1v5TGK_w&feature=related
The insight is that overriding your body's "internal governor" is a
check STRONGLY tied to Disbelief.
I'm thinking about requiring "out of shape" Figures to Disbelieve
each time they try to expend a fST at least through physical Actions.
Maybe something like the more points in the Athletic Talent the more
fST spent before it's necessary to Disbelieve the 'wall' and
spending down to 1 fST is still that crawl to the finish type thing.
Might be easier than what I'm using now.
Anyway, the historical bit on Melee is just spooky.
"Neolithic warriors do not use shields, although later primitive
types might have animal-hide shields that stop 1 hit adjust DX by 1."
"Heavy wooden shields covered with hippopotamus hide stop 1 hit and
adjust DX -1."
"Light infantry carry large wicker shields which stop 1 hit and
adjust DX -1."
Okaaaaay.
That one i see no problem with, as a shield with animal hide is
exactly what a shield with hippopotamus hide is... and I see no reason
why a wicker shield can't be similar (its various special rules
actually make it quite different).
Then there's stuff like.
"After the 8th Century BC, heavy infantry wore iron-reinforced
leather armor which may be considered equal to MELEE chainmail.
Before that, they wore breastplates and helms and carried large
shields. The helm and breastplates may be considered chainmail, but
with MA reduced to 5."
MA 5.
Ughh.
Yeah, I laughed at that too, due to our recent talks about MA. Then
again, I've recently been thinking "who cares?" because the MA rules
have always worked for me in combat situations. Might not work for a
race, sure, but in combat it should work fine.
"ACHEANS: These are the forerunners of the great Greek
civilizations, invading the Greek isles around 2000 BC. They did not
use shields or armor and their weaponry is similar to Neolithic
equipment."
Do what?
"In Greek mythology, the perceived cultural divisions among the
Hellenes were represented as legendary lines of descent that
identified kinship groups, with each line being derived from an
eponymous ancestor. Each of the Greek ethne were said to be named in
honor of their respective ancestors: Achaeus of the Achaeans, Danaus
of the Danaans, Kadmos of the Kadmeioi, Hellen of the Hellenes (not
to be confused with Helen of Troy), Aeolus of the Aeolians, Ion of
the Ionians, and Dorus of the Dorians.
Kadmos from Phoenicia, Danaus from Egypt, and Pelops from Anatolia
each gained a foothold in mainland Greece and were assimilated and
Hellenized. Hellen, Graikos, Magnis, and Macedon were sons of
Deucalion and Pyrrha, the only people who survived the Great Flood;
the ethne were said to have originally been named after the elder
son Graikoi but renamed later after Hellen who was proved to be the
strongest. Sons of Hellen and the nymph Orsiis were Dorus, Xuthos,
and Aeolus. Sons of Xuthos and Kreousa, daughter of Erechthea, were
Ion and Achaeus.[12]
According to Hyginus, the Achaeans killed 362 Trojans during their
ten years at Troy."
If he's talking Neolithic tribesmen colonizing the area then he
already covered this and is really just saying that one "tribe" is
called Achaeans.
If he's using it like Homer then the stone tools are WAY off.
Where's the Dendra panoply?
Heck, based off the above those guys probably only get an MA of 2.
There are some small differences, but I agree that this was kinda a
redundant rule.
He thinks knights lack discipline and Philip and Alex's "strategy"
were responsible for Macedonian success "rather than any
technological superiority".
Well, the Macedonians did use rather similar weapons (and even
tactics, on the small scale) to their greek counterparts, and there is
no doubt that Alex's strategy and use of his companion cavalry was
essential to his victories. Also, knights' discipline varied a lot,
but for most of medieval history, in most areas, they were not very
disciplined. Note the Battle of Agincourt's charge of knights that
resulted in them all getting killed because, essentially, they were
bored. (they also killed their own men in the charge). And even the
better disciplined knights (in the sense that they listened to their
commander's orders) still fought in a rather barbaric style compared
to the tightly packed ranks of hoplites, as melees descended into
brawls rather quickly in medieval europe.
"The next turn in which the pikeman strikes he must "choke up" on
the pike, striking by -1 DX for each extra hex the pike was extended."
Or drop the pike maybe?
He never said you can't do that, and thats what you'd probably do...
theres a reason he says they also have daggers or shortswords.
This guy must read MUCH different books than I do.
It has been 30 years or so.
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