Thane Morgan wrote:
<snip>
>I think that formation became obsolete with the increasing power of
missile
>weapons. The size of shield required for a proper shield wall was
unweildy,
>and javelins were designed to pull the shields down once they were
stuck in.
>I have though of making full length shields available, but since no
fantasy
>miniatures have them anyway, I ditched the idea. Of course, the system
>should work fine for historicals, just by droping teh magic rules and
>reducing the unit points to account for the irrlevevance of magic
>resistance.
I don't think that missile fire contributed to the decline of the
testudo. Increased power and a large use of missle weapons didn't
appear until the middle ages. The battle of Hastings is one of the
first recorded and scholars are not agreed on just how effective the
bows were.
Toward the end of the Roman empire, the legions were not as well armed
and the troop quality was not as good. The average trooper was armed
with only a spear, a helmet, and a round shield.
Not all javelins were designed to pin shields and render them useless.
The pilum was changed by Marius and later by Caesar to use metal that
would bend after impact, and wooden rivets to break and allow the shaft
to bend.
>
>> For an example of the testudo in film, it appears in the first part
of
>> Anthony and Cleopatra. (However, I think the addition of a spike on
the
>> boss of the scutum was a Hollywood embellishment.)
>>
>
>I think I saw that one: didn't the formation get cut down after several
>volleys of bowfire?
No, the formation suffered very few causalties. Volley bowfire was not
used. In the Roman and Greek mentality, the bow was a deemed an
inferior weapon (Some considered it a woman's or coward's weapon).
Roman legionaires were never armed with bows. The bows that made up
part of the Auxilia were foreign troops.
The massed bowfire that we are acustomed to seeing via Hollywood did not
come into use until around the 14th century.
There are never ending debates about the effectiveness of bow fire on
the DBM and Chipco lists. So be prepared to have the same happen with
your game.
As for a name, how about "Paranormal Aggression Among Swordspersons?"
;-)
--Elaine (ducking for cover)
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Received on Wed Sep 16 1998 - 18:09:11 UTC