Re: Glorantha Digest V1 #235

From: Styopa <liebx004_at_maroon.tc.umn.edu>
Date: Wed, 5 Apr 95 23:45:36 CST


>
>OFFICER DIBBLE
>==============
>Alex:
>> Humakti are not infrequently law officers
>
>Maybe this explains Kinship breaking. There are many a family round here who
>would disown a member if they joined the 'polis';-)
> Seriously though, for one to judge the law impartially one needs to be above
>the sway of family ties.. But *not* an "outlaw" - more an "aloof".

OK, I missed the original of this post, so flame away if I'm being repetitive...but I think Humakti are frequently law officers for 1 main reason - OATH. Sure makes investigations easy.

True, but that was primarily their technique vs. infantry. Vs horsemen - even on barded horses (unbelievably rare!) the pike angled up as the odds of hitting a piece of armour & sliding up became basically nil. My original point was as regards the SCA simulations and their utility for drawing conclusions - I still stand by it. Regardless of whether the Swiss or Greeks planted the butts of spears/pikes/etc in the ground, NOBODY simply charged in a wedge at a pike square - nobody. Invariably the square was broken either by a)missile fire with depleted the formation to incoherency or, b) other battlefield occurances which devastated the morale of the soldiers, to the same effect. The SCA tactic utterly wouldn't work - - and illustrates how tenuous some of the thusly-drawn conslusions really are...
>
>Someone praises the use of caltrops
>>"caltrops were pretty popular for defensive-minded troops. "
>Then Mike mentions
>>I have no historical knowledge of caltrops ever being used against
>>infantry.
> Post-Roman times, the only persons I know of to use caltrops
>were the Japanese...
> ...The Roman caltrops were relatively huge -- 4=6 inches across,
>and I, too, can find no reference to them being successfully used to
>stop infantry. Presumably infantry could slow down and pick their way
>through the caltrops (or even pick them up for re-use). This wouldn't
>put them at risk, because the defenders sure as heck wouldn't dare
>charge them while they're still in the caltrops.

I was the one who originally brought up caltrops - they were used to some degree of success by the Romans. Mainly, they used them much like barbed wire - they didn't neccesarily hurt anyone, but the THREAT of harm was enough to channel attacks and direct the enemies' main efforts. The Japanese ninja caltrops are not really relevant to what we're discussing. Remember, for the majority of the republic, and much of the empire, Rome was a largely infantry force. Cavalry pursuit and massed cavalry action just wasn't common (in the period I'm referring to here).

Steve Lieb
liebx004_at_maroon.tc.umn.edu
Cologne, MN

....still looking for that killer .sig


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