I'll Shut up about Bronze now

From: Trevor Browne <trevor.browne_at_easynet.co.uk>
Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 00:01:55 +0100


Joerg Baumgartner
>It appears that it was General Kastok of Dara Happa who introduced the
stirrup - or >how else can the sudden cavalry dominance of Dara Happa be explained?

The Battle of Adrianople is usually regarded as the beginning of cavalry dominance as seen in the post roman ancient world and was won by javelin armed non stirrup equipped Ostrogoth cavalry . When was this Kastok chap around, maybe he was the first Pelorian General to use cavalry (shock cavalry not nomad light horse troops) on a large scale. If the Dara Happans had always used chariots and infantry before, no tactics would have been developed by their enemies to counter cavalry, this could be a major advantage.

Joerg Baumgartner
>The Trojan siege saw a couple of iron blades, likely of meteorite iron in
the hands of >the greatest heroes of the age. These probably were tempered, and in addition made >from superior "ore".

This is the kind of level I was hoping for, but on reflection doesn't really get supported by much of the other evidence.

Joerg Baumgartner
>I don't know when and how the Assyrians inherited this advantage.

I think its when the Hittite empire collapsed.

David Clegg
>I think the original poster was trying to argue that the amount of bronze
available in >Glorantha would lend itself to a culture that more resembles the RW Iron Age as >opposed to the RW's 'metal challenged' Bronze Age.

I think that's what Peter meant by Classical too. i.e. Romans Persians etc not Mycanaeans and Babylonians

Peter
>I do not see how the roman and Hellenistic models for the Lunar Empire,
the Celtic >and Teutonic models for the Orlanthi or the Sioux model for the Praxians can >possibly translate into a 'pseudo-medieval world with a red gold tinge'. If you don't >like the Knights of the West then don't use them.

I don't have a problem with these cultures its only the western bits and the way they interact with the others, they just seem too advanced beyond the rest of the world. I think I'll just have to do as you say. Actually its not really that serious as its only really the look of the knights and the name Itself I'm not keen on. Cheers for your efforts anyway.

Trev


Powered by hypermail