M Helsdon

It was done... a Macedonian named Coragus challenged Dioxippus the Athenian to single combat. On the day of the duel, Coragus turned up in his phalangite armor, with his shield and sarissa (and a sword and javelin); Dioxippus arrived naked carrying a club. Diodorus of Sicily describes the outcome: As they approached each other, the Macedonian flung his javelin from a proper distance, but the other inclined his body slightly and avoided its impact. Then the Macedonian poised his long lance and charged, but the Greek, when he came within reach, struck the spear with his club and shattered it. After these two defeats, Coragus was reduced to continuing the battle with his sword, but as he reached for it, the other leaped upon him and seized his swordhand with his left, while with his right hand the Greek upset the Macedonian's balance and made him lose his footing. As he fell to the earth, Dioxippus placed his foot upon his neck and, holding his club aloft, looked to the spectators. The crowd was in an uproar because of the stunning quickness and superiority of the man's skill, and the king signed to let Coragus go, then broke up the gathering and left. He was plainly annoyed at the defeat of the Macedonian. Dioxippus released his fallen opponent, and left the field winner of a resounding victory and bedecked with ribands by his compatriots, as having brought a common glory to all Greeks. Fortune, however, did not allow him to boast of his victory for long..

There's a detailed overview of them in Wyrms Footnotes#15; I believe it is now out-of-print, but PDFs can be purchased.

Yes; this is why the availability of my 'book' is extremely limited. David has a hardback copy of v4.0 (which is full of typos, and now significantly expanded, and the weights and measures have been changed to metric in v4.9). I had five copies printed, of which another is with another Chaosium staffer, one is severely marked up, and the other two are in a box. Later PDFs are with two licensees, with whom the document was shared at the request of Chaosium staff. There should not be any other copies in the 'wild'. The current version is v4.9. I attempt to be very careful with what I share publicly.

Art, pieces of text gathered from Chaosium websites, past and present (often expanded upon/rewritten), unpublished material in circulation (of various levels of canonicity), bits of the Guide, bits of the Eleven Lights, etc. So many infringements of copyright, it has only been shared with Chaosium, two licensees as directed, and the artist. I could sanitize it, but there's always the danger of missing something. I should add, that it's written from the perspective of someone writing several Ages after the Hero Wars, about as distant in time as we are from Homer's Trojan War. Sources At this remote remove from the period, surviving texts from the Hero Wars and afterwards are often fragmentary, and at times contradictory. Archaeological evidence supplements our knowledge. Unearthed burials, weapons, armor, fortifications, decorated pottery and other pictorial evidence contributes greatly to our understanding. Numerous artifacts are on display in museums. However, the available sources are never definitive, and must be augmented with speculation and conjecture. In this book, it is assumed that a real historical period underlies the Legends of Argrath (or the Argraths) and the other Heroes. The most widely accepted dates of the Solar Time chronology are used, though these are, of course, subject to debate. The present tense is used to immerse the reader in the era. This permits the speculations to be wrong.

Unfortunately, 327 pages (counting the index) about warfare in central Genertela is unlikely to be commercial, and whilst most of it 'is my own work' it breaches so many Chaosium copyrights that it is unlikely to ever be seen unless I buy a license. Some bits and pieces drawn from it may be in Wyrms Footnotes #16... In the piece above, I tried to analyze the dominant forms of warfare in the region, and then apply it to the Templars; for Orlanthi neighbors you get javelin throwing peltasts (probably equipped with a throwing and a thrusting spear); for those near Pent you get chariot and cavalry archers (the chariots are used to carry archers equipped with small and large bows); in Prax you get fellow cultists riding strange beasts; as a default you get archers.

All the Templar regiments are Heavy Infantry, armed with a sarissa, fighting in a phalanx, though the details of their armor varies. Mo Baustra lost, and only recently regained, this fighting technique. They lost their cavalry and chariotry, and have not regained them. There are also other regional differences: the Vanntar regiment relies upon naked Ergeshi baggage-carriers, who, in addition to carrying supplies, carry a soldier's cuirass, vambraces and greaves, shield, and other equipment when on the march - but not their weapons. Ergesh is the Dara Happan slave god. Thinking about the other regiments, totally non-canonical, I believe that their location and cultural surroundings influences how their regiment is supported on its flanks, and at home these auxiliaries are probably more important and closer to the 'norm'. In this list, Mo Baustra is very unusual. Protecting the Flanks The flanks of a phalanx are very vulnerable and so they are preferably protected by other units. The Yelmalio Sun Dome temples each have different traditions regarding the protection of the flanks of their pike phalanxes. Yelmalion Regiments Flank Support Aggar Peltasts Goldedge Foot Psiloi (archers) Golden Shields Chariot & horse archers, psiloi (archers) Kareiston’s Temple Chariot & horse archers Mo Baustra Peltasts, Praxian auxiliaries, Unicorn Riders Peralam Psiloi (archers) Vanntar Psiloi (archers)

They are both masks...

Well, Peloria means monstrous in Greek....

One of those places where round eyed devils are permitted... Lur Nop (large city): This city in Wanzow is the only port of Kralorela which is open to foreign shipping. Traders from Vormain, the East Isles, Teshnos, Teleos, and the Holy Country meet here. Each barbarian nation has its own enclave, carefully overseen by the mandarins. Near the city is the Thousand Dragon Cliff, renowned for its numerous draconic images which have been carved out of the rock since before the Dawn.

At Dragonmeet last year, there was mention of a forthcoming supplement set in the port city of Lur Nop. The best currently available source is, of course, the Guide.

In the films and comics perhaps; in the original fiction Conan had a sensible approach to armor...

Yes, that's what occurred to me when I wrote that. However, even if the elite at the New Lunar Temple are fed, the garrisons out in the towns and cities will have to fend for themselves.

Flying them beyond the Glowline is always problematic. As high value and relatively rare vehicles, they are unlikely to be risked within the Windstop unless someone of very high status needs to be fed/extracted.

And indeed, most ancient armies did this, with the Assyrians possibly the first we have evidence for (and their system, including their postal system, was inherited by the Medes, Persians and Macedonians, to a degree). However, the further away from the source of supply you get, the more difficult it becomes to project such a system forwards. This meant that almost all ancient armies of a comparable period, could only do 'great raids' a limited distance into hostile territory, unless they were guaranteed capturing the hostile granaries (and the Assyrians often did this). Projecting such a system onto the Lunar Army, I came up with: Logistics: Lunar Army The Lunar Empire’s aggressive and highly successful war-making is made possible not just by its massive reserves of manpower, but its ability to supply armies campaigning great distances away from lowland Peloria. The Oslir River has been an important strategic conduit to the south for Lunar culture, trade and military expansion. However, Dragon Pass marks the continental divide, in a narrow valley near Mount Kero Fin. The Oslir river is navigable as far south as Furthest; above that, cataracts and cascades require portage. Lunar logistics can rely upon the river, unloading at Furthest. As greater loads can be carried by barge than by road, it marks the point where military forces can be easily supplied. Beyond this point, roads are the only means of projecting the military capabilities of the Lunar Army and especially the supply lines upon which it depends. Lunar campaigns in the south have been affected by the requirements of logistics and the need to create local supply depots, which in turn must be guarded by troops requiring supply. The Lunar Army employs three types of base: Strategic, Operational, and Tactical. Strategic bases are found in the area producing the food to be used by the army, acting as collection points, often in a province some distance from the theater of operations. Operational bases are often river ports in the area or province adjoining where the war is being fought, locations providing massive storage facilities including granaries and arsenals, where supplies can be accumulated and sent forward. Tactical bases are set up close to where the army is fighting to provide for its immediate needs, and to maintain control of defeated populations. Tactical and Operational bases are often connected by a string of fortified depots to ease the passage of supply caravans. The expansion beyond Sartar stretched these supply lines, with the conquest of Prax and invasions of the Holy Country at the very limits of Lunar power. Victory required overwhelming force, which could not be sustained indefinitely. Note that beyond the Oslir, which permits the equivalent of sea transport, things become very much more difficult. The practicalities of projecting supply over distances are limited, as a supply column will consume the supplies it carries. If there is too great a distance between depots and garrisons and armies in the field, then supply lines become over-stretched. It is increasingly impractical, though not impossible, to project food and materiel by more than four-day’s journey overland (roughly 96 km) under good conditions with good roads. Greater distances require even greater logistical organization. When you consider that the materiel required to be transported isn't just food, but other necessities such as firewood, salt, new boots (there's evidence that a Roman soldier got through roughly three pairs of boots a year), weapons, clothes etc. relying upon supply caravans to send food and materiel forward any distance becomes very suspect. Add in the bad weather conditions of the Windstop (ice, snow, severe cold sufficient to bring Ice Demons down into the valleys of Sartar), and the maintenance of a string of supply depots becomes impossible, as food and fodder is going to be eaten by the supply caravans and supply depots before it gets very far. When a Lunar garrison runs out of its own supplies, and has seized supplies from the surrounding area (a relatively small area), the soldiers are going to be in as bad a state as the locals.

Been a bit distracted by a family medical emergency, and then a trip to London today.

The material I've pillaged is all under Chaosium copyright. It probably amounts to less than a twentieth of the material, probably less, but is virtually impossible to extract. I have considered asking for a license, but as the material includes artwork, would probably be too expensive for something I'd be releasing for free in PDF format, unless Chaosium create a means of publishing Gloranthan fan material under their aegis.

No stats. It's a 'history book', and stats might be a bit controversial. I believe Jeff intended to use some of my illustrations as source material for the RQG artists. (I couldn't find suitable RW illustrations of swords, helmets, armor etc. so I drew illustrations for my book - the spears aren't terribly interesting - the swords, shields and armor are better). There are hardcopies of last year's version with Jeff and David; PDFs have been shared with some licensees who wanted military details. In my earlier list of topics, I forgot to mention there's a chapter on fortifications and siege warfare.

The Queen will welcome the arrival of new recruits.

My ongoing research project... So far 321 pages. Probably totally uncommercial (three pages about spears, for example, unlikely to interest a wide audience). Basically, it takes aspects of warfare in the terrestrial Bronze and early Iron Age, adds magic and gods, to offer a depiction of warfare in central Genertela in the early Hero Wars. As I've raided every canonical source I can find, it breaches too many copyrights to issue without Chaosium's approval. It begins with materials, looks at manufacture, types of arms and armor, unit types and organization, regional histories, gods, magic, terrain, extensive army lists and text boxes relating to logistics... So if you want to find out about, say, the saddle you need to ride a hippogriff, there's information about it. Some small segments may be appearing in the next Wyrms Footnotes relating to another fairly esoteric topic, and one less so.

Whilst not RGQ, the HQG The Coming Storm/Eleven Lights cover and explore events in the Great Winter, including this. The death rate is pretty severe, even among the 'Rich Tribe', and among Lunar-friendly tribes as well. Even Lunar garrisons suffer. (Maize doesn't grow, at least is doesn't outside the Glowline during the Windstop.)

Historically, the ancient kontos/lance could be quite long. Non-canonical, but derived from historical usage. I also distinguish between a 2H kontos, and a 1H lance...

RQG: Lance: This is a long cavalry lance about 3.5–4.25 meters long, used with both hands. This seems to approximate the historical cavalry kontos, used with both hands very effectively by cavalry, especially cataphracts, long before the introduction of stirrups...

Something that comes across from the 'historical' source material, is that there's an almost exponential increase in effects from spirit to Rune magic, and then there are further steps to 'Temple' magic requiring several priests and assistants, and then Magical regiments.

A yew bow, whether classified as a longbow or not, has significant advantages because if well made, the use of yew makes what is otherwise a self bow approach the capabilities of a laminate bow. A good quality yew bow uses a cut including both sapwood and heartwood - the two have different properties, as sapwood is strong when in tension, the heartwood in compression - and the two together provide a powerful bow without requiring strong glues, or any special treatment other than selecting and making the bow from a single piece of wood. This is why yew self bows were used and preferred in Europe for at least five thousand years over self bows made of any other wood. The oldest we know of was carried by Otzi the Iceman; he hadn't finished making it when he was killed.

Yes. I've noted that each of the Provincial Kingdoms has its own military forces, but haven't attempted to detail them - until now.... 8-)