Swan Knights

**Hartassen** · June 27, 2009, 12:58 PM

I have to admit I don't know a lot about LOTR lore but Imo the swan knights appearance break the gondor feeling. Gondor archers/spearmen/cavalry all have a dark grey look to them. I love this look it's imo the best. The swan knights although they look good have some blue in them. In fact a lot. I don't see the reasoning behind this? It makes them look a lot different than the rest of the armies? Same thing for dismounted swan knights. Anyone else agree or can tell me why they are so blueish?

They would look a lot better being dark grey as the rest of gondors armies.

**abbews** · June 27, 2009, 01:12 PM

Well, why not make them pink and have teddybears on their shields?

**A1_Unit** · June 27, 2009, 01:13 PM

Swan Knights are from the independant Pricipality of Dol Amroth. They are going to look different than Gondor units.

**Nikos** · June 27, 2009, 02:02 PM

Blue is the traditional color of Dol-Amroth which is why the Swan Knights have blue shields and cloths.

**Temudschin** · June 27, 2009, 02:52 PM

The Swan Knights are the best looking unit of Gondor in my opinion.

They are the reason i wanna start a Gondor campaign in the next days.

**lunch** · June 27, 2009, 05:52 PM

The soldiers of Gondor look wrong anyway. PJ gave Gondor the armor that looked almost identical to the one Numenor wore, and Numenorans were much better equipped than Gondor. I have always imagined Gondors soldiers with a mix of leather and chain mail, only the officers using plate armor. As for the Swan Knights in game, they look much better than Gondor Cavalry in-game (if you look away from the things on their helmets)

**Fenix_120** · June 27, 2009, 05:57 PM

Originally Posted by lunch

The soldiers of Gondor look wrong anyway. PJ gave Gondor the armor that looked almost identical to the one Numenor wore, and Numenorans were much better equipped than Gondor. I have always imagined Gondors soldiers with a mix of leather and chain mail, only the officers using plate armor. As for the Swan Knights in game, they look much better than Gondor Cavalry in-game (if you look away from the things on their helmets)

In the book only the Swan Knights wore plate armor, and even then it never states what type of plate it is, for all we know it could simply be a square shaped metal plate worn over chain mail ALA Hastati.

**lunch** · June 27, 2009, 05:59 PM

Ok, thanks. Just as I thought. I have not read the part about The Batle of Pelennor Fields on a while.

**X_maniac_X** · June 28, 2009, 09:41 AM

Originally Posted by Temudschin

The Swan Knights are the best looking unit of Gondor in my opinion.

They are the reason i wanna start a Gondor campaign in the next days.

You mean The Last Days, for M&B? In that case I feel the same, except rather than Knight of Dol Amroth I want to be a Gondorian captain and go on raids against those pesky Haradrim.

**Fenix_120** · June 27, 2009, 05:52 PM

Originally Posted by Hartassen

I have to admit I don't know a lot about LOTR lore but Imo the swan knights appearance break the gondor feeling. Gondor archers/spearmen/cavalry all have a dark grey look to them. I love this look it's imo the best. The swan knights although they look good have some blue in them. In fact a lot. I don't see the reasoning behind this? It makes them look a lot different than the rest of the armies? Same thing for dismounted swan knights. Anyone else agree or can tell me why they are so blueish?

They would look a lot better being dark grey as the rest of gondors armies.

As others have pointed out Dol Amroth is not a part of Gondor in the same since that Minas Tirith is.

As a matter of fact I would even take this one step further myself and make every major Gondorian cities soldiers wear different colors seeing as how their was no King of Gondor at this time and the Stewards power was limited.

Also even in armies who could historically field "Uniform Soldiers"(And such nations were very very rare before the 17th century) such as those found in ancient Roman and medieval Byzantine and Italian armies their was variation between cities simply because although fur boots and heavy wool cloaks were great for fighting in Germany they were terrible for fighting in Egypt or becuase

Geonese General "Those guys from Milan are all wearing Green and red, we should switch to Yellow and red"

Geonese Soldier "But im color blind!"

Geonese General " well... just kill anyone trying to kill you."

Geonese Soldier "...Not much point in a uniform then"

(Source: Ospreys Italian medieval armies book 1, covering Italian armies from the 1000's to the 1300's)

**Razor** · June 28, 2009, 12:47 PM

Perhaps I'd give the shields of the Swan Knights another shape and perhaps their helmets could use a swan on top of it. I think they're ok. Just like the whole of Gondor, not great, just ok (because I think the faction could use a few graphical improvements).

**Olifantenstaart** · June 28, 2009, 03:28 PM

Originally Posted by Hartassen

It makes them look a lot different than the rest of the armies?

True. Dol Amroth is a principality of its own, not just a city in Gondor, so their armies are different like they should be.

**Outlawstar15a2** · June 28, 2009, 05:31 PM

Originally Posted by Hartassen

I have to admit I don't know a lot about LOTR lore but Imo the swan knights appearance break the gondor feeling. Gondor archers/spearmen/cavalry all have a dark grey look to them. I love this look it's imo the best. The swan knights although they look good have some blue in them. In fact a lot. I don't see the reasoning behind this? It makes them look a lot different than the rest of the armies? Same thing for dismounted swan knights. Anyone else agree or can tell me why they are so blueish?

They would look a lot better being dark grey as the rest of gondors armies.

This is silly because by extension of this same logic we'd have to get rid of the: Greenway Guard which is the one and only reason the few people who play Eriador actually plays it. We'd have to get rid of the kick ass Warriors of Mithlon as their not visually pleasing enough to you. We'd have to get rid of the Mountain trolls as they

up OotMM's color scheme. And some other units including Mumakils because they break with Harad's color? I mean this is just stupid. Armies are supposed to have a little diversity.... And sometimes that includes in their uniform colors.

Originally Posted by Temudschin

The Swan Knights are the best looking unit of Gondor in my opinion.

They are the reason i wanna start a Gondor campaign in the next days.

I love all of Gondor's unit looks but I especially have a soft spot for the Swan Knights pimp, I mean, bad ass looks. Too bad they are so few in numbers as they can only be trained in Dol Amroth............ Wait... I can fix that....

**Hartassen** · June 28, 2009, 11:58 PM

Originally Posted by Outlawstar15a2

This is silly because by extension of this same logic we'd have to get rid of the: Greenway Guard which is the one and only reason the few people who play Eriador actually plays it. We'd have to get rid of the kick ass Warriors of Mithlon as their not visually pleasing enough to you. We'd have to get rid of the Mountain trolls as they

up OotMM's color scheme. And some other units including Mumakils because they break with Harad's color? I mean this is just stupid. Armies are supposed to have a little diversity.... And sometimes that includes in their uniform colors.

Woah calm down man, I was only commenting about the swan units because I think gondor has a very unique roster and for me it seemed like the most organized kingdom in the ME. You don't see me complaining about fountain guard, axemen of lossarnoch (spelling) or the pelargir marines.

But I understand your need for ranting, must of been a long time since you had a conversation of some sorts. Some people just get really eager...