Reflecting cultural differences between mountain tribes in equipment and tactics

[gilbertocarlos]

1) Thrown weapons
Mountains will limit move, this means thrown weapons will be more effective. On plains, a range of 20y means that you have 4-5 seconds to hit your enemy with move 4-5. At mountains where move is halved, you have 8-10 seconds.
As for what weapons to throw, I'd say darts, spears, axes, bolas and sticks, someone very poor may throw stones. You can make a case that slings will show up if you allow to reload with a shield. My house rule says 2 extra seconds for that(And my baseline is 1(3)). Some exotic tribe may use lassos, since with slower move, there will be more chances to do it.
If they have any access to metallurgy, they should use pila and plumbatae.

2) Shields
Since there will be more thrown weapons, there will be more shields, the heavy kind if possible. A shield is one of the best options against thrown weapons.

3) Melee weapons
Swords will be even scarcer. What you should expect is people who throw spears use the spear, people who throw axes use the axe, everyone else should probably carry a knife or a long spear if possible

4) Extra skills
Parry thrown weapons will be very good for anyone who doesn't want only a shield to rely on. Tactics will be very good for ambushes, since it's easier to hide and attack from thrown weapon range. Stealth will be good to stay safe from ambushes.

5) Armor
Armor will be almost always from cloth or leather, you may get straw or wood for very poor tribes, but I doubt it. Since move is already compromised, you can see more people on the light encumbrance, warriors will be at medium encumbrance. This is partly due to armor, partly due to ammunition.

6) Nobility
If nobility uses bows, it should have a shieldman like in the bronzeage or a paviseman like in the medieval times.
Forget about horses or anything like that. Nobility will carry the best armor possible as always. I think it's more likely that it will carry bigger shields and good melee weapons, serving more as a defense unit for the rest of the band.

7)Terrain usage
Mountains will help to use cover, attacking from a higher ground will increase your weapon range, you can even use boulders from a higher ground.
The mountainous land will also help to hide better traveling bands who don't want to get ambushed or attacked.

As for your other questions
1) Slings have an advantage of ammo and range and will be very good if you allow to use them with shields.

2) They could, depending on their culture, arabs and europeans used different styles of shields even though they fought for centuries.

3) Shields would be better than buckler on most cases if they're heavy, since they are the primary method of defense. However, if you expect it to break, or to drop it, I strongly suggest using bucklers.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by gilbertocarlos

1) Thrown weapons
Mountains will limit move, this means thrown weapons will be more effective. On plains, a range of 20y means that you have 4-5 seconds to hit your enemy with move 4-5. At mountains where move is halved, you have 8-10 seconds.
As for what weapons to throw, I'd say darts, spears, axes, bolas and sticks, someone very poor may throw stones. You can make a case that slings will show up if you allow to reload with a shield. My house rule says 2 extra seconds for that(And my baseline is 1(3)). Some exotic tribe may use lassos, since with slower move, there will be more chances to do it.
If they have any access to metallurgy, they should use pila and plumbatae.

Good point about darts. I had almost forgot about them.

All of the tribes have known iron and steel weapons for at least three centuries and bronze ones for millenia, with the Thrascian-like ones living closer to the steel-making neighbours and the Rammanu and Assurite more or less belonging to the fringes of an advanced bronze-using society, with copper and tin abundant enough to the south and east from this region so that iron was not automatically prefered by everyone (though the hill tribes had little enough to trade for the bronze).

The mountain range is actually a source of iron, though it's mined by dwarf-like beings that live deep underground and resent intrusions into the best mining areas. They occasionally do consent to trade it, at more-or-less astronomical prices, but fortunately they are very fond of sheep, game, wine, fruit, fish and olives, all of which different tribes are in a position to supply from time to time (though sometimes they have to raid for it).

I imagine that the Threskeli (Thracian-like) have blacksmiths of their own and have had for a long time. Assurites (Assyrian-esque), being outcasts from Untheri culture for reasons of their religion, were early adopters of blacksmithing in favour of bronzesmithing which would necessitiate trade with Unther instead of the Threskeli and their settled neighbours to the west, the Chessentans.

The Rammanu (Amorite-ish) have usually lived on fairly good terms with their fellow Untheri, despite the difference in religion, and are more likely to trade for tin and copper and have bronzesmiths. Like everyone, though, they'll have adopted more and more iron as copper and tin rose in price*.

The Zouavous (Berber-inspired) much prefer fighting to smithing and like to rely on being supplied by the power which they serve as mercenaries. They like to receive javelin- and dart-heads as payment for services rendered, for example. At different times, this has meant bronze from Unther or iron and steel weapons paid as tribute to Uther from Chessenta, but with the upheavals of the past fifteen years, they have been forced to obtain all their metal by raiding, mostly into the lands of their traditional foes, the Threskeli.

The thing keeping metal weapons and armour rare in the region is not lack of knowledge about metallurgy, it's more the fact that all these tribes are poor in material terms compared to their settled neighbours. Constant low-grade warfare doesn't help in that regard, either, though it has made the people of some of the tribes sought after elsewhere as mercenaries.

Such mercenaries might indeed like to use plumbata and pila, but in the internecine skirmishes and raids of the tribes, there is little need for added weight to penetrate armour. For one thing, armour is expensive enough so that most opponents won't own any, for another, most raiders rely on being able to travel in very difficult terrain and so like to be lightly equipped**. Add to this the fact that the the climate in the region is warm Mediterranean in the extreme north and gets hotter the souther south you go, all the way to subtropical in the extreme south***.

*As the Untheri empire declined and standards of road-building, trade infrastructure and law-enforcement fell, even intra-province trade rose in cost, bringing with it a hike in prices on anything not made within walking distance and lower standards of living overall.
**Also, that allows for more efficient looting, as you have lots of spare encumbrance. ;)
***And once past another mountain range there, it gets very hot and dry). But the people who live there, even if they are in some ways culturally similar, are at the moment too far away to matter in my game.

Originally Posted by gilbertocarlos

2) Shields
Since there will be more thrown weapons, there will be more shields, the heavy kind if possible. A shield is one of the best options against thrown weapons.

I expect all the tribes to use shields, but I had thought they'd value mobility for their raiding, so they'd try to use the lightest shields that could still provide them with protection.

Originally Posted by gilbertocarlos

3) Melee weapons
Swords will be even scarcer. What you should expect is people who throw spears use the spear, people who throw axes use the axe, everyone else should probably carry a knife or a long spear if possible.

I want each tribe to have weapons which are characteristic of them and which other people in the region consider emblematic of such warriors.

Originally Posted by gilbertocarlos

5) Armor
Armor will be almost always from cloth or leather, you may get straw or wood for very poor tribes, but I doubt it. Since move is already compromised, you can see more people on the light encumbrance, warriors will be at medium encumbrance. This is partly due to armor, partly due to ammunition.

I'd expect this to lead to mobility being even more prized. The party with less encumbrance can climb where others cannot and thus dictate the distance and terms of any engagement.

Originally Posted by gilbertocarlos

6) Nobility
If nobility uses bows, it should have a shieldman like in the bronzeage or a paviseman like in the medieval times.

I see this as particularly characteristic of Assurite warriors. A noble with the bow, lance and hand weapon protected by a retainer with a large shield and spear.

Originally Posted by gilbertocarlos

Forget about horses or anything like that. Nobility will carry the best armor possible as always. I think it's more likely that it will carry bigger shields and good melee weapons, serving more as a defense unit for the rest of the band.

There are lands where horses can travel and a mounted raiding band could make out like bandits (pun intended) by rounding up cattle from settled Untheri or Chessentans.

It wouldn't be entirely implausible to posit some tribes, living in the less extreme parts of the hills, where they value horses.

[jason taylor]

You know, no fantasy culture seems to go in for throwing sticks and darts. Why not have a tribe that does that?

Also why not have a heavy utility knife like a Kukri? Any mountain people would like that.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

You know, no fantasy culture seems to go in for throwing sticks and darts. Why not have a tribe that does that?

I was considering having the Zouavous be fond of shorter and lighter javelins than their Threskeli enemies.

I think that throwing sticks are not useful for warfare if you have access to better throwing weapons such as axes and javelins, not to mention slings or even bows. They remain useful for hunting birds, though.

I wonder if skill with them is transferable to javelins or darts?

Originally Posted by jason taylor

Also why not have a heavy utility knife like a Kukri? Any mountain people would like that.

The ancient Threskeli were particularly associated with the forward curved sica/makhaira/kopis knife or sword in the minds of their neighbours. This is usually a Long Knife, but can be a Large Knife or a Shortsword, with the Falchion option applied.

This weapon is in fact popular among modern Threskeli as well as many of their more 'civilised' neighbours. Longer and heavier versions also exist, though they are not refered to as sica by the westerners. A particularly feared weapon is the sword-glaive, a two-handed weapon with a long handle and a long blade, reaching 50"-70" in total length, with about half to two thirds of that being blade.