06-09-2012, 07:17 PM | #31 |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central Europe
|
Re: Bronze Age Greece On A Shoestring Budget
In the fourth century, Athens just loaned a spear and shield to young men graduating from military training. There is a lot of academic handwaving that that can't have been enough kit, but I have my doubts.
Well, that gets us into "GURPS' economic model is simple and breaks if you press it too hard." Its not true that at low TLs people only owned goods worth a few months' cost of living, or that items have stable costs relative to food in all societies, but these assumptions help GMs answer "how much kit can I start out with?" and "How much will this crazy shopping list cost?" Just tweak starting wealth for your campaign so that a Wealthy family can afford a good hoplite kit and a Comfortable family can afford a minimal one as part of its 20% adventuring money.
__________________
"It is easier to banish a habit of thought than a piece of knowledge." H. Beam Piper This forum got less aggravating when I started using the ignore feature |
06-09-2012, 07:35 PM | #32 |
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Maitland, NSW, Australia
|
Re: Bronze Age Greece On A Shoestring Budget
Sean's suggestion is one option. Work out how much it costs to put a bronze-clad hoplite in the field and base starting wealth (Wealthy) from that. Work out how much it costs to wear leather or linen to battle and base starting wealth (Comfortable) on that - assuming that 20% is spent on gear.
Edit: Another option is to include the wealth of the whole family. Keep in mind that many families could only afford to put one single man into the phalanx at a time. This panoply is the result of the accumulated wealth of an extended family (father, grandfather, uncles), not a single individual. Last edited by DanHoward; 06-09-2012 at 07:50 PM. |
06-09-2012, 07:42 PM | #33 | |||
Join Date: May 2012
|
Re: Bronze Age Greece On A Shoestring Budget
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
|
|||
06-09-2012, 07:48 PM | #34 |
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Maitland, NSW, Australia
|
Re: Bronze Age Greece On A Shoestring Budget
After consideration I prefer my second suggestion. You don't have to mess with Wealth levels if you do that.
|
06-09-2012, 07:49 PM | #35 |
Join Date: May 2012
|
Re: Bronze Age Greece On A Shoestring Budget
...Which means the Patron Advantage. Wow, I can't believe that slipped my mind so badly.
|
06-10-2012, 07:39 AM | #36 | |
Banned
Join Date: Apr 2008
|
Re: Bronze Age Greece On A Shoestring Budget
Quote:
IMO, if you're dealing with members of the phalanx, greaves would be mandatory. You can't have some men extremely vulnerable when the unit's key potency lies in cohesion. |
|
06-10-2012, 07:55 AM | #37 | |
Join Date: Jun 2006
|
Re: Bronze Age Greece On A Shoestring Budget
Quote:
__________________
-- MA Lloyd |
|
06-10-2012, 09:02 AM | #38 |
Join Date: Jul 2006
|
Re: Bronze Age Greece On A Shoestring Budget
I don't know if the Greeks did it but, to save weight the Romans would wear only the left greave (in a phalanx one fights presenting the shield and refusing the weapon). And for a similar but diferent reason, only the right vambrace (what is the Latin, "manica"?) (left arm is "safe" behind the shield).
Doesn't really work in the GURPS rules, just as easy to target the refused side as the presented one. |
06-10-2012, 09:14 AM | #39 | |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central Europe
|
Re: Bronze Age Greece On A Shoestring Budget
Quote:
In that example, I think the helmet should have +9 CF for single-piece construction. A One-Piece (+9 CF) Bronze (+3 CF) Light Plate Skull (20%) would be $2600 plus a bit for padding. But maybe in the Hellenistic period someone in Macedonia started to make multi-piece helmet bowls ... The first time and place where we have detailed figures for the price of different types of armour is England in 1300. We have very little evidence of the cost of Greek hopla, just that in the archaic the men who served as hoplites were not much poorer than the men who served as cavalry, and that the class expanded over time due to a combination of economic growth and reduced expectations about kit.
__________________
"It is easier to banish a habit of thought than a piece of knowledge." H. Beam Piper This forum got less aggravating when I started using the ignore feature |
|
06-10-2012, 09:19 AM | #40 |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central Europe
|
Re: Bronze Age Greece On A Shoestring Budget
It does if you use the Focused Defense rule from MA: Gladiators, but that rule clearly wasn't tested enough. It creates problems for gladiators ("to use my shield properly, I reduce the reach of my sword to C, but if I advance to reach C I can't use my shield?"), let alone the other weird and wonderful types of combat which are common in GURPS.
__________________
"It is easier to banish a habit of thought than a piece of knowledge." H. Beam Piper This forum got less aggravating when I started using the ignore feature |
Tags |
bronze, greek, helmets, low-tech armor |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|