Recent content by The Wandering Knight

I shall have to check it out.  I rather like the tale of the last Saxon king.

M.

Ruthven said:

Also, it protects the stomach head-on, but if somebody went low and stabbed up they'd be able to get it from underneath easy.

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If he stood there and took it like a corpse, it could be a problem.  With the scutum and the fact that the soldier wants to live, however, this is never going to happen.

M.

Much in agreement.  You can actually alter this yourself, if you wish, with the item editor, which you can get at the repository. 

M>

Stalin wasn't making much progress in his efforts to the west (against Finland and the like), which is another reason.

M.

ufo said:

@Wandering Knight: I see what you mean - I'm not exactly knowledgable on medieval items, so I have no idea about weights and such. I couldn't tell you whether an iron longsword would weigh 2 kilograms or 20.

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About 1.14 kg, actually.

Basically, this thread has it down.  It's a portable wall, similar to a mantlet.

M.

ufo said:

I was under the impression that, historically, pavise crossbowmen would turn their backs to the enemies and reload while sitting on their knees, so that the shield was facing towards the enemy, almost touching the ground. This would also avoid the hassle of constantly dropping and picking up the shield.

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Until you're hit, then you regret it.  Keep in mind a pavise, by nature of it's design, isn't particularly light weight.

M.

Well, I wasn't disagreeing with that fact :p

M>

Might also explain why you say "right" so much.

The glove inside of a plate gauntlet isn't all that thick.  It's primary purpose is to allow articulation, as opposed to force absorption.  Materials thick enough to absorb a dead on blow makes the hand useless.

M.

Availability was the bulk of it.  Ease of weapon manufacture was the other (casting is more time consuming than forging, and is less consistent).  It shows a transition in many societies from a small warrior elite to a larger warrior class.

M.

The gauntlets on the achievement of the Black Prince had knuckle dusters on them in the form of lions.

Swadius is correct in his last statement, though.  Grappling is a *very* important part of the medieval martial arts.  In fact, it is the essential basis of any Warrior's training.

M.

What's it do?  Do you just load a model into it and it tells you how many units it is in length?

M.

Fei, where those pictures I posted what you were looking for?

M.

Farmind has won the thread, I guess.  Wish I had brought the numbers with me :S

M.

Ruthven said:

*Glares at Bible-believers*

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Cut that out.


To answer the original question, I think they would have been able to defeat them if the drive was there.  Rome has always been about adaption; against the Huns I'm sure they would have begun a focus towards equipping cavalry to repulse them.  Against the Germanic tribes, the heavy infantry was sufficient; the break down in organization in the later empire caused Rome to lose out, however.

M.

In Europe, not that I'm aware of.  There's evidence, but the handgonne only really comes into play after the development of corning.

M.