Subject:
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Re: historical accuracy re. factions
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.castle
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Date:
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Wed, 2 Oct 2002 15:15:49 GMT
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Viewed:
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523 times
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In lugnet.castle, Magnus Lauglo writes:
<snip>
> But if I were to recreate a more realistic type medival army, would it be more
> appropriate to give eachg faction just one type of weapon? So that for
> instance, one army could consist of. • <snip>
> Does anyone know if a feudal lord would have typically trained soldiers in
> different kinds of weapons, and if they would then keep his livery when they
> actually took part in a battle? Might say all the pikemen from various areas
> get bunched together in a single large pike unit and perhaps be given new or
> additional livery to wear in a large battle?
Hmm. Well, certainly larger armies were using combined arms strategies as
far back as the ancient Egyptians, Assyrians, etc. So by the time of the
Middle Ages, any good miltary commander would know that using just missiles
or just infantry or just cavalry or just siege weapons without the aid of
the others would not prove effective. Any feudal lord who had the resources
would likely have included as many of these groups as possible in an armed
force.
Defensively, the walls and towers of cities and castles become tremendously
more effective if the guards had missile weapons. So, anyone with a well
designed castle probably would have employed archers or crossbowmen.
Offensively, a lord would need more resources and would likely include
infantry. Cavalry means horses, and in non-industrial society horses are
money. That is, horses are very valuable. It would be reasonable to say
only well-to-do lords might have the resources for any decent sized cavalry.
Now, certainly different regions/nations had slightly different techniques
on how to make their weapons. So a sword from Germany would look different
than a sword from Scotland. The English were known for their longbow.
Other nations may have been known for their pikes. Etc.
Based on this, yes, it makes sense to give different Lego factions different
weapons, as long as each gets a fair share of missiles and melee weapons. I
do this in my factions, usually giving my Billundians bows and short swords,
my Lortarians prefer axes with crossbows for defense, and my Darknians get
more crossbows with spears and pikes. They all usually get an even mix of
cavalry and siege weapons.
...The other question was whether a larger army would mix sub-factions to
group archers together or swordsmen separate, etc. I think the answer is
yes. Well regimented professional armies came in the late Middle Ages (and
of course were around in ancient times). But during much of the Middle
Ages, armies were conscripted from the general populous as part of their
feudal dues. (For higher ranked lords and royalty, the fee of conscription
fell to the lesser lords, who in turn acted as cavalry and would offer their
peasants as infantry.) This meant that such armies were formed relatively
quickly just at time of war and anyone who knew how to use a bow was likely
thrown into an archer unit, anyone better with a pike would have been tossed
in with other pikemen, etc. ...That's my take on it...
Of course, conscription of peasants for feudal fee meant that troops were
not always well trained, and in some cases as soon as the fee (number of
days of service) was finished, the soldiers would abandon the front. Not to
mention, if half your peasants are out playing soldier, the farms are left
to rot, and that means your economy could drop out. As the Middle Ages
progressed, wealthier nobles and royalty increasingly relied on mercenaries
and full-time standing armies who were better trained and (if the money was
good) more reliable.
So ends another session of Hendo-Babble...
-H.
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: historical accuracy re. factions
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| Thanks for your Hendo-Babble, very interesting. (Thanks James Stacey also for your comments). I understand that in the early and high middle ages, most of the infantry might only wear some simple armour (or none) and not really have much in the way (...) (22 years ago, 3-Oct-02, to lugnet.castle)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | historical accuracy re. factions
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| Hi all, Just a quick question for you other medieval military historians out there. I think most people's lego medieval armies I have seen are made up of a bunch of factions, each of which is armed with a variety of weapons. My army is no exception, (...) (22 years ago, 2-Oct-02, to lugnet.castle)
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