01-22-2006, 11:32 AM | #41 | |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central Europe
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Re: [Banestorm] The war of Megalos against Caithness
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When the Mongols tried to invade places where there was not enough grass or other food for them and their horses, Ain Jalut happened- the Mamluks smashed their remaining slow and clumsy cavalry with controlled charges then turned on the foot. Climate was always the main limit on Central Asian warfare. It worked very well indeed, as long as there was enough grass and open country for the horse-herds to feed for a campaign. |
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01-22-2006, 11:44 AM | #42 | |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central Europe
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Re: [Banestorm] The war of Megalos against Caithness
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01-22-2006, 12:10 PM | #43 |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central Europe
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Re: [Banestorm] The war of Megalos against Caithness
DrTemp, I suppose that you are right about the elves having divination magic. So most of the larger woods are unavailable as long-term hiding places for orcs, and the conquest speeds up because of that. Orcs can use such tactics in the areas of rough terrain without elf colonies, however. GURPS Banestorm makes it clear that elves are only present in some of Caithness' mid-sized forests in 2005, and I doubt that elves were present in all a mere 200 years ago.
However, I cannot accept your assumption that orc tribes never consist of anything more than a single band of hunters except when there is a great leader present. References in GURPS Banestorm are quite clear in referring to great and minor orc tribes. I cannot imagine a great tribe of less than a few thousand orcs. Such tribes would move in smaller groups related by blood and intimidated by the leaders of one of the bands. They might come together a few times a year to plan wars, receive orders to move their hunting grounds, and for the leaders to deliver a few good smackings to the other bands' leaders to show who is in charge. Depending on the results of the knight-vs-orcs fight and Hal's defence of his population growth rates, perhaps I will have to conceed defeat. Until then, though, I still think that Caithness' history has not been justified. |
01-22-2006, 02:57 PM | #44 | |||
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wellington, NZ
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Re: [Banestorm] The war of Megalos against Caithness
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01-22-2006, 03:26 PM | #45 | ||
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wellington, NZ
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Re: [Banestorm] The war of Megalos against Caithness
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01-22-2006, 03:35 PM | #46 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wellington, NZ
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Re: [Banestorm] The war of Megalos against Caithness
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Rupert Boleyn "A pessimist is an optimist with a sense of history." |
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01-22-2006, 05:13 PM | #47 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wellington, NZ
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Re: [Banestorm] The war of Megalos against Caithness
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01-22-2006, 05:33 PM | #48 | |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Canada
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Re: [Banestorm] The war of Megalos against Caithness
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That being another significant difference: the knight is fed a better diet from childhood than a mongol soldier, so he's taller and heavier. He also brings with him about twice as much gear by weight, the average mongol on horseback being a lightly armored archer with some melee weapons, rather than heavy cavalry. The Mongols used totally different tactics, being hit-and-run ranged skirmishing as long as humanly possible before going at it hand to hand. A warhorse, unlike a mongol pony, has to carry a f-ing great big knight in armor, and it's own armor, for the duration of an entire stand up knock em down fight. A grass fed horse isn't good for anything other than keeping it alive. You don't keep a horse on grass rations unless you're desperate. You feed it at the very least extra hay even if you aren't working it. If you are working it, it'd damn well better get a good ration of oats or you'll end up with a broken down nag or a dead horse.
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01-22-2006, 05:37 PM | #49 | |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Canada
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Re: [Banestorm] The war of Megalos against Caithness
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They ALSO spend pretty much the entire day and night eating that grass. They eat in their SLEEP for heavens sake. They DON'T take two to eight hours out of their day to run around looking for orcs and fighting them.
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01-22-2006, 05:51 PM | #50 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Canada
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Re: [Banestorm] The war of Megalos against Caithness
I think what's being missed here is the fact that a warhorse is like a prize boxer: it gets that way through constant training and peak nutrition. You don't get a prize boxer by feeding him only rice for three meals a day. You also don't train a prize boxer without getting to know him and be concerned about his wellbeing, especially after investing two years of intense training in him.
Same deal with a warhorse. Survival rations aren't enough to make a big strong warhorse, and it sure as heck won't be spirited on grass alone while training with its rider. A warhorse is not like a vehicle - it's an animal, and one that's trained to be agressive, as well. It bonds with its rider, and one or two grooms, and it's at best testy with everyone else. This means only the rider and only the one or two grooms can handle it. The rider has to train with the horse, as well, because the horse, unlike a vehicle, is an unpredicable animal. The rider has to know the horse to be effective, and the horse has to know the rider so as to not dump him accidentally and to predict what he wants. You might be able to treat a workhorse calously and use it up, but after training a 2000lb animal day in and day out you'd have to be Calous to "use it up", and you'd have to be On The Edge to mistreat it and then perch on its back. This isn't just a riding horse or a pack horse or a work horse, this is an attack horse. It's a killer. Unlike an attack dog, it IS bigger than you, and you're right on its body where it can bite you, throw you and trample you, or even ROLL on you.
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