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Thread: Emphasis on the shield wall

  1. #1

    Default Emphasis on the shield wall

    Ive been reading alot about the era, initially inspired by reading Bernard Cornwell's fantasy books on the era. And all evidence suggests that at the period Spearmen and the shield wall were considered as the standard way of war. The Shield walls would creep up against eachother and and the front lines would push, while the men behind reined their axes and swords at the enemy. It was a hellish scene not for the feint hearted (the cowardly were often found at the back of a shield wall, thats why if flanked it routed easily).

    My question, is will this be shown in this mod?

    Armys often expanded to sizes of say 600-1000, and garrisons were often tiny. The warfare at the time was more heroic, the single man could carve power for himself out of the shield wall. I would hate to see armys of 1000's marching all about the place.

    Going onto Cavalry, I understand cavalry will be the main feature in this mod?

    As I understood it, british horses were not as well bred as southern european horses. Perhaps the two different types of horses could be shown?

    EDIT:

    Will there be druids in this mod?

    Will there be Christianity in this mod?

    Armor: Most in britain couldnt afford plate or scale and even if they could most would prefer not to wear it, it makes you obvious on a battlefield and its weight mean you lose the ability to dodge. Will most of the units be wearing leather?



    Im not claiming my knowledge is all perfect, I could be wrong. Just curious on the direction of the mod.
    Last edited by godpuppet; August 21, 2006 at 07:38 AM.

  2. #2
    Agraes's Avatar Pillar of Prydein
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    Default Re: Emphasis on the shield wall

    Shield walls are very debated among historians and re-enactors of the era. Such a dense formation make really difficult to move your spear, etc. But we choosed to represent them ingame, and the job done by Swabian on unit statistics and Darth on formations is simply awesome. There is really a feeling of a dense melee, it really looks realistic.

    Armies are not very big, but fighting is constant. Levy units got 200 men when elite got 30-40 if not less. Our aim was to make manpower a real ressource, and I hope we succeed in this.

    Cavalry had also special traitment in our mod. Their charges are powerful, and a wise cavalry commander with enough troops may be able to won lot of battles, but the cavalry can be easily wiped out when charging in front of a spearmen formation. Horses are actually all the same, but we use Pinarius horses, far more realistic than vanilla ones.

    On religions, I don't know if the whole system will be ready for the release, but our goal is to have three religions:
    - Roman Christianity
    - Celtic Christianity
    - Paganism

    Eventually there will be sub-religions represented by traits: Pelagian heretics, germanic heathens, or Roman Christians with Roman rite or Celtic rite.

    The "Celtic Christianity" in particular is different from the conception of the Celtic Church that was accepted. Celtic Christianity is a primitive form of Christianity, with lot of elements from the pagan religion, and will be dominant in west, north Britain and northern ireland.

    For armors, elite have scales or mail, regular soldiers also sometimes have mail armor or leather/padded protection, and levies are usually unarmored.

  3. #3

    Default Re: Emphasis on the shield wall

    Sounds great,

    Will the Warlords all be Cavalry?

    Infantry? or will it be random?

    I hope for the latter.

  4. #4
    Agraes's Avatar Pillar of Prydein
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    Default Re: Emphasis on the shield wall

    Actually, Briton family members got their teulu, composed of heavy cavalry. Anglo-Saxons got Gesithas, heavy swordsmen with javelins and vendel helm, except the Jutes that got special cavalry units. Picts got Mormaers that are heavy cavalry with javelins and sword, and Gaels got Arras, elite warriors with sword and javelin on foot.

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