The Mongols had lancers which were _far_ more effective than the European ones. Not that their weapons were any better, but the Mongols were. I don't think the Europeans had a single solitary advantage over the Mongols except for numbers, which was insufficient to save them.
>Mongols are short out of their Saddle
Pentans are short, too. They are not tall burly barbarians, but are ethnically a _lot_ more like Huns or other central Asians. The Pentans have plenty of Kralori blood in them.
Also, comparisons between the Mongols and the Pentans are not (yet) applicable. I don't think any Pentan group has yet reached the social sophistication of the Mongols. Even Sheng Seleris at his peak I view as more of a mega-Hun.
Pentans are more like Scythians or Hsiung-Nu than any other Earthly group. That is, if we _have_ to seek analogues.
>1. She in her present form is a God Learner construct of several
>healing goddesses.
>>Shh! This is only alleged!
This is furthermore, stoutly denied by me.
MONGOLS
The Mongols didn't win their battles by being "sneaky", despite
outmoded Western stereotypes. The "sneaky" misconception, as applied
to Asiatic horse nomads comes from the fact that the nomads did not
bravely charge into battle like stout knights, and it was hard, even
impossible, to spot the nomad leaders. The nomads felt it was
perfectly permissible to retreat away from the knights, firing
arrows, until the knightly charge was broken up and tiring, then
countercharge with their own highly disciplined heavy cavalry. This
didn't seem kosher to the Europeans, used to a more formalized style
of warfare. Also, it was very puzzling to the Europeans to look at a
big mass of Mongols and not be able to spot the group leaders.
Mongol officers blended into the mass, and didn't seek individual
combat with their enemy counterparts. This is not to say they didn't
wear distinctive, fancier, gear, but it didn't look distinctive to
the Europeans, used to their own standards.
Kevin Rose
>Composite bows are not overrated in RQ. The availiblity is
>somewhat overrated, but the lethality and range are somewhat less
>than what the effects obtained by earth bow using cultures.
Not long ago there was an article in the journal _Materials Characterization_ on this subject, and it proved fairly conclusively that longbows were unable to pierce chest armors even at point-blank range. Coupled with the fact there is _no_ extant armor which contains a hole conclusively made by an arrowhead, this implies that no arrows fired from any bows was able to pierce plate. Even chain would have been tough. Despite mighty tales of woe from Agincourt and Crecy, it seems pretty clear that the arrows themselves didn't kill the French knights. There are accounts of Crusaders walking around "like pincushions" with ten or more arrows sticking out of their armor, unwounded. These were composite bows, too.
>Comp bows take a couple of years to build.
Agreed that RQ makes composite bows way too easy to get. And it probably grossly overrates self bows (maybe there should be a 1d4+1 class of bow, then a 1d6+1, all the way up to a really well-made composite bow which would be around 1d10+1).
Aden
> in Kendo your sword is your shield, and it performs this task not
>just by parrying, but by it's mere presence / position if held in an
>appropriate manner
If you are carrying a shield, your sword is no worse for defending yourself as in Kendo, plus you now have a shield. A friend of mine in Kendo once asked his instructor to try an experiment. My friend wielded a garbage can lid as a shield, and carried his sword in his right hand. He fought his instructor, who adhered to traditional Kendo techniques. My friend beat his instructor.
In previous Kendo fights, my friend had never even _scored_ on his instructor. The instructor's comment, "I guess those old-time knights weren't so dumb after all."
I'm not daft enough to suppose that a shield is some kind of super-weapon. Certainly if we gave the kendo instructor a couple more bouts vs. a shield-armed opponent, he'd have devised techniques to deal with it.
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