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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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