Oh, that explains it. He's a Dara Happen hoplite. Every other unit is by definition inferior. Either the phalanx can beat them or they don't fight fair. There's a reason why the shieldpush competitions are so important.
Remember there was originally one stone phalanx for each Dara Happen city and not all have survived into the 3rd age. It is strange that there is one in both Pavis and Sartar. The reason is either politics or simply that they are even more inappropriate for fighting Pentans.
That reminds me. If one of the stone phalanxes is with Tatius at the Dragonrise that's going to be another one gone with far more significant repercussions than losing Sartar to the barbarians.
>> I don't see there being thousands of veterans disappearing from
>> the ranks in 1619/20. Some desertion and a fair bit of not
>> re-enlisting at the end of their seven year term between 1620-1625.
>Maybe, but...
>
>> The idea that Lunar units being more loyal to their leader than the
>> Empire seems askew with the Imperial structure.
>
>It is, but these are Fazzur's troops. They *would* be more loyal to
>him than to the Empire, and that's one very good reason why Fazzur
>tends not to be trusted by the Empire! B***y provincials....
But why is the King of Tarsh allowing Fazzur his own private army of thousands? I can imagine the troops from Tarsh favouring him over a Dara Happen but if it is all about personal loyalties to individual generals then where's Tatius's personal army? I expect most generals have a personal guard but it will be small (less than 100). That and various commanders appointed by him will be the ones who return to Tarsh with him in 1622.
>> Well the Provincial Militia are armed similarly to Hoplites (spear
>> and large shield) and could be mistaken for them by the ignorant
>> which will include most Sartarites. Makes the shock of meeting a
>> phalanx all the greater when it charges without losing formation.
>
>OK, that helps with our "generic Lunar soldier" problem, if both
>those can be counted as "standard Lunar". If you see peltasts even
>in regular formation, though, they're obviously not the same thing
>to eyes used to an Orlanthi warband, are they?
Again they could be mistaken for generic Lunar. Until they break ranks in a disciplined manner to chase the enemy across the hills.
From a game arc POV we start the players off facing Provincial Militia. They learn how to ambush and beat them up which they can do reasonably easily as starting characters.
Then I'd introduce some skirmishers. Even easier to beat up if you can catch them but they're trained not to let you. They probably won't be mistaken for generic lunar. The Orlanthi will recognise the style of fighting but won't be used to having such large numbers in one place.
Next come the cavalry, generic Lunars riding horses. If they manage to charge you in formation you're in trouble.
Finally bring in the less common units - hoplites, peltasts, cataphracts, mixed units of archers and spearmen, mammoths etc. All with their own special abilities. Some will be mistaken for provincial militia, others will be seen as monsters. I'm sure a typical Orlanthi will regard cataphracts as creatures of Mostal or sorcerous inventions until they realise there's a man and horse under all that armour.
Rough proportions are 35% provincial militia, 15% skirmishers, 20% regular cavalry, 20% heartland infantry of various sorts, leaving 10% for char-un, cataphracts and various oddball units. That gives you something like 75% who will be seen as a generic lunar infantry or cavalry - i.e. they have spear, large shield, and helmet. Most will also have cloaks of some shade of red. One exception will be the Stone Phalanxes as Dara Happens favour Yellow and Blue.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
Powered by hypermail