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Hope this gets to the right place -- I've not posted to the digest's newest incarnation before. If in error, I plead apologies in advance -- we historians don't understand all this modern, fancy technology...
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With all the recent discussion of Mongols, IUll de-lurk for a moment. (Those years of Central Asian history are finally useful in a gaming context).
Regarding the Mongol's equippage, the light cavalry carried a wicker/leather shield and two bows (one for short range, one for long) and a minimum of 60 arrows; most carried a lasso, a dagger, a small sword and several javelins. Heavy cavalry carried a scimitar, ax or mace and a 12-foot hooked-lance (used as much to dismount enemies as for shock, according to some historians). Note that this was the standard equippage of Chingis Khan's armies; it might have been different before. Leather armor with a metal helmet was standard for both, although I've seen references to chain mail for the heavy cavalry.
I don't have the reference's handy, but in response to previous posts:
> I think they had some sort of religous prohibition/restriction on bathing.
Springs were considered sacred (as abodes of spirits) and it was
considered profane to bathe one's body or clothing in a stream. I think
it was permissible to bathe in, say, a tub, but the possibility of
finding a bathtub in the Central Asiatic steppes were probably nil . . .
> 3) These folks were agriculturalists for several thousand years. But a
> climatic change forced them to take up herding, and they adopted the horse.
The Mongols may have been originally a Siberian forest people, and that even
through the Temujin period, there were still "forest" and "steppe" tribes.
Sandy Peterson sayeth:
>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.
Actually, most of the Mongol sophistication was added by Temujin after being entitled Chingis Khan. The Mongols were a pretty brawling bunch before his rule (as I recall, to be precise they didn't consider themselves a united ethnic group; some of the nomads of the Mongol empire were actually Turkic in any case, and the term Mongol itself was the nomadic tribe Temujin was part of). As a people, the Mongols were ready for military organization (in terms of social development); interestingly, however, they had no real concept of what a city could do for you, and their few initial sacks in China usually involved total destruction: if you didn't know what to do with it, smash it.
Also, the Mongols were actually tactically sophisticated enough to use field engines (which hadn't been seen in the western world for a while); their uses included (according to James Chambers) laying down primitive smoke screens, shooting fire bombs, harrassing enemy lines in difficult terrain; the most advanced use was a "rolling barrage" of fire bombs and grenades of quick lime and napatha which even if it didn't damage much, probably scared the hell out of their opponents. Although the technology was Chinese (and later, Islamic) the tactical skill was Mongol.
The Pentians (or Huns) might be considered "proto-Mongols," waiting for the right charismatic, lucky and smart leader to come along, unite them, organize them, and show 'em what to do with all those captured Lunar (Roman) ballistae.
>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.
Longbow enthusists like to point out Crecy and Agincourt as the "definitive" proof of the longbow's superiority. The historical record indicates, however, that the longbow's contributions weren't in penetrating plate armor but in:
In spite of all the praise of the Longbow, it's pretty clear that the Mopngol composite bow was superior (pull of 100 - 160 pounds vs. 75 pounds, range of 350 yards vs. 250 yards). The Mongols also used the "Mongolian thumb lock," a ring of stone on the right thumb which allowed you to release the string quickly (modern archers should be familiar with it; medieval European artists weren't). The Mongols were also more savvy about making arrows (I recall they had some kind of 3-foot hardened armor-piercing arrow). The Mongols capitalized on the fact that, as nomadic peoples, just about every grown male will be superb horse archer.
Hmm, sounds like Pent could be a real bad place to be if a Gloranthan Temujin ever shows up...
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