The thread about Daxdarius had me wondering about how different kinds of Gloranthans fight with spear and shield combinations: 1. Are Macedonian-style phalanxes armed with very long pikes and shields strapped to the shoulder pretty much the preserve of the Yelmalio cult, or do other Pelorians fight this way too? 2. Do the Men-and-a-Half use pikes as well (this was suggested in some reputable but unoffficial sources on Prax (Tales of the Reaching Moon #14- 15 and/or the Book of Drastic Resolutions on Prax iirc), or do their battle tactics and weapons owe more to Zulu warfare? Maybe they deploy a mixture of pikemen and skirmishers armed with assegais 3. How practical is it to combine the 2-handed spear or pike with a large shield (as in the Yelmalio write-up in Cults of Prax?), or do the Yelmalians now use a smaller shield? 4. Do many/any Lunar heavy infantry regiments combine the large shield with a 2-handed longspear, as written up in Cults of Prax or illustrated in Genertela Crucible of the Hero Wars (which features someone looking a bit like a Roman legionary with a large rectangular shield but holding their longspear with both hands) 5. Alternatively do many/any Lunar heavy infantry regiments fight more like Spartan (or other Greek) hoplites, with a large round shield and a long spear held one-handed? 6. Do any Gloranthan infantry use the very large but lightweight rectangular leather and wickerwork shield associated with the Persian Sparabara, combined with a not especially long one-handed spear? 7. Do any Gloranthan cavalry use a long two-handed lance (like a kontos)? 8. Are pole-arms pretty much the preserve of Western and Eastern Gloranthans, and little used in the barbarian belt? 9. Is the curved Lunar sword (still) like a medieval scimitar, or is it more like a kopis or khopesh?Richard Hayes
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