That's probably worth following up on, but if anything Gloranthan magic (as games) is probably *more* effective and efficient than early firearms were. Although magic would tend to lack the 'fearful noise and smoke' aspect that provided firearms with a great morale effect, since everyone has some understanding of it. The use of chaos in battle seems more equivalent to the renaissance use of gunpowder.
> I will
>present some of them in GD in the future. Here goes the first:
>
>Praxian Yelmalio piquemen
>
>1. I always assumed that the best RW inspiration for Yelmalio piquemen was
>classical Greek and Macedonian piquemen. After reading the mentioned book I
>changed my mind: Yelmalion are the swiss (renaissance swiss piquemen) of
>Glorantha.
>
Why did the book change your mind? I'd have said the Macedonians (and
Successors) were the closer model since their pikemen used shields, which
the Swiss did not. The men-and-a-half are probably closer to the Swiss
model, with their cultural emphasis on unity and bravery in the phalanx and
their reputation as the finest infantry in Genertela (or is it just Prax?)
>2. Yelmalion fight with piques and piques need poles. Correct me if I'm
>wrong, but poles are made of a single piece of wood.
Not always the case. Macedonian pikes were made of two seperate pieces joined by a bronze sleeve, and I believe this was fairly common throughout the ancient period. I'm not sure about the later pikemen though.
> A pique's pole can be
>something between 3 and 6 meters long. That requires either a tree with
>long branches or with a long tronc.
>Now, Prax is semi-desertic so you wouldn't expect to find there the
>adequate trees for pique's poles.
Hmm... The cultivated river valleys can certainly grow trees.
> I started to wonder where do Yelmalion
>find te poles for their piques. (If there isn't an acceptable answer, no
>poles => no piques => no yelmalion on Prax. But we know there are yelmalion
>on Prax, don't we !?)
>
Well the original pikes might have been brought with them, and from then on
they only need access to the repair spell and trade for the occasional wagon
of replacements every couple of decades to keep the temple equipped, even
assuming they can't grow any suitable local material.
>The first possibility that occured to me was that aldryami from forest in
>the Big Rubble would supply Yelmalion with the poles. No way since the Big
>Rubble was closed for centuries by troll magic.
>
>My tentative answer is the next: when yelmalion went to Prax they took with
>them the trees to grow poles for their piques. They grow those special
>trees along streams and near the Zola Fel river. This was one of the
>reasons why they married Yelmalio to the daughter of ZF as described in RoC
>(I'm quoting on memory).
Possible. OTOH, they could just send a once a decade expedition to Dragon
Pass to cut wood and bring it back themselves. It's not as if Prax is too
dangerous to preclude trade (cf Caravan Alley).
>
>A final question: what about Agimori? Where do they get the poles for their
>lances and piques?
>
That's a harder question to answer. They too must trade for replacements I
guess, or perhaps as part of their mercenary contract they would demand
equipment to replace natural wastage/projected battle losses.
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