(TFT) Ax/Mace

["grabowski" <grabowski@erols.com>]

Stan writes:

<<Aren't they all covered by a single 2 IQ talent now?  It would seem that
two
1 IQ talents would be more reasonable.  (Purely from a game-balance point
of view, mind you.)>>>

Agreed, the main reason most of us like the game is because of its
simplicity, whereas GURPS, drove it up a couple notches.  I was only
thinking of the control issue when it comes to combat with these weapons
rather than tools.  A log doesn't move when you split it.  Give an ax to
someone who has never split a log and see what happens.  Also think of the
control of the flail without hitting yourself  or partners and readying it
again.

Stan then wrote:

<<<a weapon would fall into the "trained" category, and I suspect that
there
swords would have been in the majority (at least until the prevalence of
heavier
plate-type armors made warhammers and maces relatively more suited to the
task
at
hand).  >>>>

There is an old military axiom (that most military don't follow, ha! ha!)
that "weapons dictate tactics".  When plate armors came to the fore in war,
the sword and training for the sword changed.  The cutting role of the sword
diminished and the thrusting role of the sword became primary.  The thrust
of thin swords, like the epee or rapier, could with training, hence the
fencing schools of the 15th through 18th century, and control of the weapon
could get through the chinks of the armor.
Examples being the armpit right to the heart, behind the knee, and the groin
area and lets not get into that.  Plate armors died as a result of heat
prostration (this lead to loss of mobility not the weight of the armor) and
expense of the materials used to make the armor, and generally not because
of firearms.  A  breastplate was supposed to be tested against a pistol shot
at close range.  If the bullet went through the armor failed so back to
work.  There are stories of armor makers who cheated by using a ball pean to
simulate the dent the bullet made in the armor to show that the armor
passed.  Woe be it if that armorer was caught though as it was a death
sentence for putting a man's life at risk.

Yours in Cidri,
Justin


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