Re: (TFT) Howard Thompson versus Steve Jackson (and Pole Weapons)

[Jay Carlisle <maou.tsaou@gmail.com>]

How about the economics of a pole weapon or the orginizational advantages
over other weapon types?
Generally your gonna get a little better effect from a mob of pesants if you
have them cut some long, fairly straight, branches and fire harden some tips
on the ends of em and show them how to move foward in a few ranks than
you'll get if they bring what's at hand, like pitchforks and hoes, and just
rush forward in a mass.
It's a quick and dirty solution that dosen't normally (in wattle and daub
type construction cultures that maintain copse's anyway) cost much and
dosen't take the pesants outta the field for big chuncks of training time
negelecting maintiance on crops and land.
Of course we're not talking about professional Landsknecht Figures, those
guys could actually dule from what I understand.
Youtubes lousy with vids of varying quality.
Of course having a mob of pesants "set vs. charge" or "charge" with pikes is
a different effect than a single pesant in a dule useing the same Actions.
I think that's an important difference.
Speaking of, those vids lead me to another area that I think folks have some
very different views about which is the armor thing.
The assumption seems to be that armor slows a Figure down.
I agree in some cases but in many cases I think that the issue is more about
fatigue than it is about speed or even manueverability.
Knight training documents sugest that these guys were expected to pull off
some rather suprising feats of riding and acrobatics/gymnastics in full
armor.
It's not so much that you can't sprint in plate, you just can't sprint in
plate too long.
Or it's not that you can't set vs. charge or charge with a pole weapon as a
single Figure your just not gonna have the same effect area as 10 or 100, or
a thousand.
Wikipedia under pike (weapon) shows a set vs. charge (for horse) with one
leg in a foreward possistion.
Of the 3 front facing hexes this stance can only cover 2, the foreward
possistioned leg is in the way of the other front hex.
The other possistion called "charge" has the pike in both hands which isn't
a "set".
Set like this in a square-hex with the butt of the pike "set" on the back
hexside it takes a shaft of over 6'6" to reach the middle of the next hex.
Seven and a half feet gets you an extra square of "reach" and if I recall
that's a limit in many SCA type groups (?).
I'll have to do more than a quick wikipedia browses to see if duleing
extended to 20 foot + pikes.
So it takes a minimum of a six and a half foot long pole to reach the middle
of the adjecent hexes when set and only covers an arc of about 2 hexsides.
+2 DX seems fair and so does pole results before others, IF there's a reach
advantage, but x2 damage either way dosen't work.
If the idea is x2 dam in a set because of the brace in the ground then you
don't have that in a charge and if it's x2 dam in a charge because of the
velocity then you don't have that in a set plus what do you do with horses
or Running for that matter?
I think the Figure move plus the reach advantage in a charge letting you get
a result first if successful is probably enough of an advantage in a dule or
small melee.
I keep thinking about Authur pulling himself down Mordreds spear to pierce
the armor that "no weapon forged by man shall pierce".
Of course that's still no basis for a system government...
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