The vast majority of troops in the Empire don't use scimitars. They are used as sidearms for _some_ officers (mostly Tarnils) and for many of the cavalry units, but the majority of the infantry use weapons standard to their troop class. The Hoplites use spear and shield, peltasts use javelin and light shield etc. Only a couple of elite regiments use sword and shield only and even then, the scimitar is not a favoured weapon for some units. It is a slashing weapon and is therefore better for cavalry work (although even here most cav uses lances or bows. Direct sword work is rare).
>The use of scimitars would result in a less dense packed
>formation (otherwise one would hit his neighbour or break up the
>formation to have more space) and so one of the major advantages of
>spearformations, density, would be lost.
Pretty much exaclty the reason why the scimitar is not used widely among combat troops. For duelling, for individual guards or Temple or hourse troops, yes, it is prevalent, but even there, there are many exceptions.
>The analogy with the seleucids is the best I know, since they also had a
>Khukri-like (and thus slashing) sideweapon together with pikeformations.
The Kh1ukri is more of a hand axe. I've practiced forms with mine many times and it is very different in style to my Bowie pattern blade. It is a thick bladed weapon which tremendous weight and due to the widening head, has strong cutting power. Whereas the scimitar or sabre (or Falchion) is a cutting and _drawing_ weapon. The curvature of the blade gives more of a cut than a straight blade on the draw through stroke and is therefore a much more effective cavalry weapon, at least against lightly armoured troops. The origin of the weapon is of course nomadic and the Yuthuppans and other Rinliddi used it extensively. This was where Tarnils actually picked up the use of the scimitar and mastered it in his campaigns against the Pentans.
>But the seleucid army is not famous for being the best on the
>battlefields.
They were fighting many armies of the Successor wars which were very much like their own. The Imperial Army has no foes like that or at least doesn't in 1620. That is not to say that other armies cannot defeat the Imperial combined arms system, because they can. What has to be remembered is that the combined arms approach takes work, it is an effort and in the hands of faction ridden incompetancy, it falls apart all too quickly. The Lunars are beset by these problems.
>I'm ready to learn something new from the wargamers in this list, but
>this is my opinion until now.
Hope this helps.
Martin Laurie
End of The Glorantha Digest V7 #523
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