Before I discovered the Mad Knight ones I was trying to model a few Dog-eaters of my own. My current plan is for the bodies and heads to come from unarmoured Wargames Foundry Greeks/Macedonians with boeotian helmets, to which I will add some pelta shields and some semi-circular khopesh blades (from Crocodile Games figures) on longer handles. (Some of these figures might have arm transplants as well, to vary their pose). I will probably add some puttees made from milliput patterned to look like bandages by winding fuse wire around the milliput before it is dry and peeling it off 30 minutes later, then filing it down a bit.
I'm certainly not suggesting that Dog-eaters should use a Dacian-style falx.
It would seem that no-one else had much of a name for the Dog-eaters' weapon either, so it got called a rhomphaia.I thought a rhomphaia traditionally meant something else -- historically, in the old RQ II from the late 1970s, and later in MRQ too. Here are some links to some pictures:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhomphaia
http://www.crusaderminiatures.com/prod.php?prod=520&cat=1&sub=36&page=1
http://wargamesfoundry.com/historical_ranges/single_packs/ancients/dacians_sarmatians/ancient_dacian_falxmen_ds003/?sector_id=12
I think the Imperial Lunar Handbook (vol. 1?) suggested that there are other groups in the Empire which use the 'traditional' falx and rhomphaia too, so I would have preferred for it to have another name. (I have some Thracian skirmishers (also from Wargames Foundry), that I want to use as Lunarized barbarians, and some of these will have the more traditional one-handed rhomphaia instead of a spear. For more Lunarized barbarians I will also add some of the Dacian falxmen.
Old simulationist that I am, I would not want this weapon to have the same name because it is used in quite a different way in combat. The falx or rhomphaia when used two-handed is a (relatively short) pole-arm that can be used either to thrust or to chop downwards. In line with the way halberds are written up in MRQ it should probably do different damage (and have a different Strike Rank?) depending on whether it is used for thrusting or chopping. After all it was the cutting power of the rhomphaia's downward strike which caused the Romans to reinforce their existing helments when campaigning in Dacia
You wouldn't use a Dog-eaters' weapon in this way. It would be for chopping, slashing and hooking, but not thrusting. In game mechanics terms I would write it up more like MRQ's take on the khopesh if it was being used one-handed, (though maybe the MRQ version seems a bit bigger and heavier than its ancient Egyptian equivalent), or MRQ's Moon Axe if it was used two-handed (both are big two-handed axe-like weapons with a semi-circular blade, but the connection between the blade and the haft are probably different). Though whether it is used one- or two-handed it would probably use the Axe % rather than Sword%.
Either way the Dog-eater's weapon would be awkward to use. However wielders would also enjoy bonuses to hook around things and pull or tear them away (disarming blows and special strikes to tear away shields and/or armour), and possibly additional damage against limbs which got caught in the arc of the blade on a big downward strike (as happens with the Moon Axe in MRQ)
Richard Hayes
From: varma_many_truths <ahitaylor_at_QlXiaSVcFU8DMcfd0RVRItAgrct7oi9Un7IuBqQa1yagFSz0_v-IMvhPAPcUIVbdd3nCy7h1xw.yahoo.invalid>
To: WorldofGlorantha_at_yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, 22 February 2012, 6:34
Subject: Re: Input for sculpting needed
The Doblians are sculpted from the approved but unreleased artwork from the 1997 unfinished armies book. The weapon is a great big sickle on the end of a longish handle, the curve of the blade being much more pronounced than a Dacian falx. It's called a rhomphia in the book, so thats what we called it. The sculptor raised this very same query, but in the end we concluded the Doblians main weapon is not a Dacian falx. Regards. Andrew
On the basis of the (probably less detailed) sources at my disposal (the picture in Hero Wars and the Lance & Laser Gloranthan model that is modelled on this -- see: http://armorcast.com/store/popup_image.php?pID=1188 ). The Dog-eaters' trademark weapon is this long-handled sickle (wielded one-handed in the picture referred to above), although it didn't have an obvious name.
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