Re: Glorantha wargames

From: Joerg Baumgartner <joe_at_toppoint.de>
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 98 23:57 MET DST


Bill Thompson is back in his productive mood. Great!

Richard Crawley:

>In the mean time I am inspired to go back to my attempt to
>design HOTT army lists for Glorantha. Some debatable points
>on Orlanthi armies:

>Most Sartarite clans have no significant cavalry.

All the army descriptions from and for Dragon Pass seem to indicate that cavalry is fairly universal, though. Tribal units rather than clan units, most likely.

The mounted "city militia" is recruited mostly from nobility (i.e. thanes and wealthy carls, plus housecarls) of the tribes. In some WBRM scenarios the militia must be placed one footman unit and one cavalry unit per fort.

>Where they
>appear in the Dragon Pass order of battle it is from various
>(more or less) foreign sources; Baron Sanuel's Company,
>the Poljoni, and presumably the Elmali clans? (OK not really
>foreign but not typical either)

You fail to mention the other half of the Sartarite cavalry, the mounted "city militia". Two-Ridge is specifically excepted from the militia.

>Heortland cavalry is mainly restricted to the knightly followers
>of the Western or Westernised nobles?

Not IMG. Most "knights" of Heortland are little different from Sartarite nobility. There are a few core units of westernised nobles, and during the "Kingdom of Malkonwal" there were elite Seshnegi knights (of the quality of Knight Fort in Dieux Nomads) ruling the land.

Most Heortland knights are medium shock cavalry rather than heavy shock cavalry. They are well armoured compared to the footmen, but compare poorly to western knights if their archaic ring- and chain suits are matched against modern Seshnegi plate.

Likewise, the Carmanian knights (Queen's Regiment) in the Cavalry Corps aren't distinguished much from the rest of the cavalry. They use the same style of equipment as the Dragoons, but unlike those they remain on horseback for as long in the battle as they can manage.

>If there is a place for chariot riding Orlanthi in Glorantha (and
>surely there must be) it is on the plains of Ralios?

The Volsaxi are said to stick to chariots. This makes their charioteer "cavalry" a tactical equivalent of the Lunar dragoons, I suppose.

The Galanini were famous as riders and charioteers. Their (hill country) neighbour Orlanthi seem to use the chariot, but not to ride, in deference to the Enerali magical superiority dealing with horses.

Hills aren't necessarily detrimental to the use of chariots - if you can charge downhill, I suppose the threat potential is greatly increased. More important than flat ground would be clear ground, but this is sort of a prerogative for a normal battlefield.


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