Why doesn't Arco have Phalangites (Pikemen) ?

[Jasper]

Originally posted by Keir Maxwell:
re Lance use

There are some very interesting articiles around on Lance use pre the invention of the Stirrups. One that I read in Slingshot (Wargaming mag) was by a guy who jousts etc - and does it without stirrups on occasion. Sure he makes no issue of the fact that stirrups are really useful but he still can joust without them and his descripotion of why is very enlightning. It also confirms the widely held view that Companions were Lance equipped shock cavalry.
[snip]

I agree, evidence for shock cavalry without stirrups is compelling, which always left me feeling the whole stirrups issue was exaggerated, even though it seems so rational.

I'm very curious to read this jouster's views on jousting without stirrups. Do you remember more about it, or perhaps have a link? Slingshot and Joust don't work well as search keys.

[Keir Maxwell]

Originally posted by Jasper:

I'm very curious to read this jouster's views on jousting without stirrups. Do you remember more about it, or perhaps have a link? Slingshot and Joust don't work well as search keys.

It is clear you are not from the WRG stable of games Jasper. Slingshot is "The Offical Journal of The Society of Ancients."

http://www.soa.org.uk/

With your range of interests Jasper you could do alot worse than Subscribe to Slingshot. I'm lucky in that my brother has recently arrived back from england with a subscription and vast piles of old ones.

I'll try and track done the number of the slingshot in question if you have no joy and I think the best key word for searching would be "Stirrups". I won't be on this group much for awhile so you might have to email me direct.

Pity that there is no easy way of getting the .tga's. I've been thinking of getting cunning and using images of wargames figures and seeing if I can make a nice .tga up from them. The amount of work involved in getting hold of attacking sprites, getting their size right, and then cleaning them up makes the idea of doing entirely new images appealling.

Ciao

Keir

[Jasper]

I'd heard of Slingshot, but just couldn't remember who published it. Probably because I'm not a fan of WRG rules such as DBA. I don't have any oppurtunity to play miniatures anyway.

I'm very much looking forward to the release of Armati 2 however, and am considering trekking to nearby Portland to hunt for competition.

BTW, I agree it's a pity that unit sprites aren't available as .tga. A simple script would suffice to translate all those locked up in "Dom" format...

[PDF]

Debate on the "lance", cont.
Companions Cav were indeed armed with a lance called "Xyton" or stg approaching , that was 12 ft long.
But the length of the spear is not relevant to the weapons'effect : as long as the cavalryman wasn't firmly stabilized with stirrups, he was effectively wielding a "spear".
OTOH however, the speed of the horse DID add to damage.
And the Companions lance was a "one shot" item, as it broke on impact or was dropped to avoid unhorsing, then the warrior drew its sword.
But Lastly the length of the lance itself gave a first strike advantage on "standard" 6-8 feet spears...

What would be needed to simulate it is a "downgraded" lance (dam 18-19 instead of 22 for example), not possible for the moment, we need weapon modding for that.

Either I have to equip them with "Long spears", Lance/sword, or even sword only. I don't think I can have them use a spear then a sword...

If IW have hindsight on this ...

Edited : finally I agree with Keir , it's more rationale to give them Lance+Sword currently.
The added "undeserved" bonus ain't that great, and it'll help Arco field a useful cavalry...

The standard Arco HC will also get "Long spears" to represent Thessalian HC - I'll also boost somewhat their crappy morale

[ January 21, 2004, 11:59: Message edited by: PDF ]

[Pocus]

you can perhaps raise the str of the cavalryman by 2 points, and use a spear (which has the str added I think), to represent the fact that the horse give some more shock to the whole attack?

[Pocus]

huhu, Nagot speak to us in english in our all-french games, and do the reverse in the forum. Time to stop playing 4 days in a row, Jacques

[PDF]

Nagot try to confuse us, in game or on the forums
Thx for the advice anyway

Back to my mod,
Pocus,
If I give them higher strength they will be advantaged in all rounds of battles - giving them a lance only give them a 1-round advantage, I prefer that - before being able to mod the Lance.

Another thing hit me : the Arco Mtd Cmdr is pure crap (Prot 6 !!), needs a good breastplate and a shield !
But I suppose it's the same unit that the "Indy" Mtd Cmdr, so I'd need to create another unit and scrap the old one from recruit list.

... but I realized I don't know how to "delete" a unit from recruitment list : how to do that ? Do I need to "clear" stg and list the whole set of units all over again ?

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by PDF:
Debate on the "lance", cont.

Pour piocher quelques bonnes idées, tu pourrais jeter un coup d'oeil à "De l'Art Equestre", par Xénophon (éd. Gallimard, en poche - mais mon exemplaire a ~20 ans, je ne sais pas si cette édition est toujours disponible).