<<Saying that, the scimitar _would_ be good for looser order troops, as it is a slashing weapon with great weight at the end of the swing and could easily penetrate light armour or dislocate shoulders etc. Given its terrible balance (its awefully top heavy), it makes a poor parrying weapon, so usually it would be used with shield, unless one had wrist like Conan. It seems correct that the DH and Pelandan hoplites use the Kopis, other heavy inf might use the scimitar.>>
Speaking of HW style, with Heroes being allowed more show-off muscle than the average background minion, that paragraph made me think to Sandokan.
He is a major hero in italian literature and TV fiction. He was a malaysian pirate of XIX century who fought against the evil English Invaders of Sir Brooke (I hope he is not related to any Digester, because I recall Brooke is an historical character, whereas Sandokan is not). He fought against Kali Thugs, too (Suyodana, the Indian Tiger, was their leader), head-hunters (the fearsome Dayaki) and all sorts of gigantic fauna, from pythons to rhynoceros. Tremalnaik (another fictionary character created by Salgari, the author of Sandokan Saga) is a friend of Sandokan's and is the protagonist of another Novel "The Secrets of the Black Jungle" which is perhaps more familiar to the digesters.
Salgari style was superb: he didn't care for realism or historical facts. He wrote to give his readers a thrill and sure he gave a lot of. He was probably inspired by Kipling and Verne, but was more Sword&Sorcery style than them.
Sorry for the digression. My point is that Sandokan is armed with a two handed Scimitar. He never bothers to parry: he cleaves his enemies two at a time with impressive slashing blows and usually dodges the most vicious responses. He survived after being hit by several shooting, could kill a tiger with a single stabbing and was able to jump as high as her (and even to roar). His title was: The Tiger of Malaysia. He was muslim by religion and strongly nationalist. He was ultimately defeated by the English, but the readership forced Salgari to wrote "The Revenge of Sandokan" and so he reconquered Mompracem, his isle kingdom and became a prince.
I liked very much, as a boy, the TV film and the Salgari books (he wrote also some nice western stories: pure John Wayne style and the Tales of the Black Corsair, another pirates-style saga located in the Caraibi, Tortuga, Morgan et cetera). I imagine the Teshnan appearance like the Salgarian Indians and I even placed, among the NPC, a Seshnelan traveller (called Emilio, like Salgari) famed at the court of the Vessel of Light for his ability as a StoryTeller.
The Sandokan Scimitar was not a cavalry weapon, it was mainly fictionary, of course. It was a piratesque sea-going weapon, heavy, fanciful, impressive and able to cut people like a long-axe. Even if the name is the same, I suppose this kind of weapon is altogether different from the cavalry-Lunar scimitar. It is related more, as style of fighting, single or two-handed, to the Katana. It has a very broad-blade and cannot impale (Sandokan used daggers to pierce the hearth of the occasional Ourang-outan he enjoyed to slay while travelling in the Borneo Jungle).
I figure the Malaysian pirates as similar to Tsankth and/or Trowjangi fighters of Gloranthan Lore.
Ciao
Gian
Powered by hypermail