Do bisons, rhinos and high llamas lack cavalry beast types on purpose?

[Brootse]

In Runequest Roleplaying in Glorantha on page 410 the tables don't have a cavalry best  types for all the animals. Do some animals lack the cavalry best type?

[jajagappa]

2 hours ago, Brootse said:

In Runequest Roleplaying in Glorantha on page 410 the tables don't have a cavalry best  types for all the animals. Do some animals lack the cavalry best type?

Given that bisons, rhinos, and high llamas are large animals used by raiding Praxian nomads, I suspect that they all can function as cavalry beasts.

[David Scott]

2 hours ago, Brootse said:

In Runequest Roleplaying in Glorantha on page 410 the tables don't have a cavalry best  types for all the animals. Do some animals lack the cavalry best type?

It does say:

Quote

The following is not an exhaustive list

 I read it as they aren't normally available as they don't train them as such. But you can always extrapolate, a cavalry beast is twice a riding one, a war beast is half as much again.

 Riding Bison 30L, Cavalry Bison 60L, War Bison 90L

War mules would be 105L 🙂

[Brootse]

56 minutes ago, David Scott said:

It does say:

 I read it as they aren't normally available as they don't train them as such. But you can always extrapolate, a cavalry beast is twice a riding one, a war beast is half as much again.

 Riding Bison 30L, Cavalry Bison 60L, War Bison 90L

War mules would be 105L 🙂

The smart money is on war geese.

[Nozbat]

10 minutes ago, Brootse said:

The smart money is on war geese

Absolutely... war geese are excellent.. except when they migrate for the winter...then there’s a problem

And didn’t they prevent the sack of Rome in 390 BCE?

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/ancient-history/how-holy-geese-saved-the-republic-in-390-bce-during-the-first-sack-of-rome.html

 

[Brootse]

8 minutes ago, Nozbat said:

Absolutely... war geese are excellent.. except when they migrate for the winter...then there’s a problem

And didn’t they prevent the sack of Rome in 390 BCE?

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/ancient-history/how-holy-geese-saved-the-republic-in-390-bce-during-the-first-sack-of-rome.html

 

Hah, interesting stuff. We were just chatting on discord about suitable watch animals in Glorantha. Now there's one more beast on the list.

And then there's of course this great war goose simulator: https://store.steampowered.com/app/837470/Untitled_Goose_Game/

[M Helsdon]

12 hours ago, Brootse said:

In Runequest Roleplaying in Glorantha on page 410 the tables don't have a cavalry best  types for all the animals. Do some animals lack the cavalry best type?

[Shameless plug]

Whilst it is non-canonical, Armies and Enemies of Dragon Pass goes into some detail of the cavalry types and tactics of the major Praxian tribes, derived in part by material written about the topic by Sandy Petersen.

There's also detail about whilst Praxian beasts can be used to pull chariots (in Sartar etc. not Prax).

As a detail, I suspect that this is an example of how the RQ rulebook can't cover everything without becoming a ten volume set.

[Nozbat]

On 8/29/2020 at 2:30 PM, Brootse said:

Hah, interesting stuff. We were just chatting on discord about suitable watch animals in Glorantha. Now there's one more beast on the list.

Geese can make excellent "watchdogs" or guards. In fact, geese are used to guard businesses such as whiskey warehouses in Scotland and military facilities in Europe. Geese are loud and quick to respond when they hear the slightest questionable noise. Geese naturally understand, without any training, that any people and animals living on the property are part of their flock. They tend to have no fear of challenging a human or animal that intrudes on "their" property or that threatens "their" people and animals. A flock of geese may be an unusual method of home security, but they can be effective without any special training.

Edited August 31, 2020 by Nozbat
Add more info

[Nozbat]

I remember many years ago being chased by a flock of geese while rambling on the west coast of Ireland.. it was a frightening experience as I didn’t have a large sword usually carried by adventurers to chase them off.. my dog was particularly put out as he considered himself very macho and not afraid of anything. He learnt to his cost that its not a good idea to stand up to a flock of geese

[French Desperate WindChild]

On 8/29/2020 at 3:05 PM, Brootse said:

The smart money is on war geese.

yes... war duck is too expensive, and too noisy

[David Scott]

Domestic war ducks (3C)  are cheaper than war geese (9C), I suspect war pigs will be a winner.

[g33k]

15 minutes ago, David Scott said:

Domestic war ducks (3C)  are cheaper than war geese (9C), I suspect war pigs will be a winner.

Too much work to maintain war pigs as a standing army or reliable "home guard" / defense (though they make a great strike force).

[Nozbat]

31 minutes ago, David Scott said:

I suspect war pigs will be a winner.

Historical accounts of incendiary pigs or flaming pigs were recorded by the military writer Polyaenus and by Aelian. Both writers reported that Antigonus II Gonatas’ siege of  Megara in 266 BC was broken when the Megarians doused some pigs with combustible pitch, crude oil or resin, set them alight, and drove them towards the enemy's massed war elephants. The elephants bolted in terror from the flaming, squealing pigs, often killing great numbers of their own soldiers by trampling them to death.

Maybe incendiary pigs would be useful against Bisons, Rhinos or High Llamas ? The problem being that it would also be hard to ride a flaming war pig without suitable fire resistant clothing or armour.

In different news... Pigs win Wars.. well according to a 1918 poster (below)... so maybe war pigs are winners 

[Nozbat]

Some further research has identified a Pig War.. (actually there were a few of these..but this is the earliest)

The so-called Saukrieg ("Pig War") of 1555–1558 was a feud between Hans of Carlowitz and Zuschendorf and the Bishop of Meissen, John IX of Haugwitz. During the course of the feud, Carlowitz had hundreds of pigs, belonging to the bishop's subjects, driven away in order to pursue his claims, which explains the rather unusual name of the feud.

and a Latin poem Pig War (in Latin Pugna Porcorum) by a Flemish Dominican Monk, Jan Leo Struyven published under the nom de plume, Publius Porcius, published in Antwerp in 1530

 

Paraclesis pro Potore

Perlege porcorum pulcherrima proelia, Potor,
Potando poteris placidam proferre poesin.

A Summons to the Drinker
Peruse the pigs' glorious battles, my drinker!
Drinking lets you produce placid poetry.

 

I’m not sure what to make of that...but it might be an option to consider different types of cavalry mounts rather than the usual suspects

[Bill the barbarian]

15 minutes ago, Nozbat said:

Historical accounts of incendiary pigs or flaming pigs were recorded by the military writer Polyaenus and by Aelian. Both writers reported that Antigonus II Gonatas’ siege of  Megara in 266 BC was broken when the Megarians doused some pigs with combustible pitch, crude oil or resin, set them alight, and drove them towards the enemy's massed war elephants

And let us not forget the marriage of trebuchet and cow used with deadly effect by french invaders against King Arthur as was shown in documentary, Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

[Nozbat]

20 minutes ago, Bill the barbarian said:

And let us not forget the marriage of trebuchet and cow used with deadly effect by french invaders against King Arthur as was shown in documentary, Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

I’m wondering if we provided the cow with an armed and armoured rider would it be even more effective? Oh and some boarding for the cow to soften the landing

[Bill the barbarian]

2 minutes ago, Nozbat said:

Oh and some boarding for the cow to soften the landing

I appreciate you r sympathy for the missile, after all, they are cute, but that is the purpose of the target. 

3 minutes ago, Nozbat said:

I’m wondering if we provided the cow with an armed and armoured rider would it be even more effective?

Yes, indeed! And flight well broken by those terrific volunteers from the opposing army, our hero easily and gracefully rights his armoured war cow and rides to victory and beyond!

[soltakss]

35 minutes ago, Bill the barbarian said:

And let us not forget the marriage of trebuchet and cow used with deadly effect by french invaders against King Arthur as was shown in documentary, Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Multimissiled Cow is a valid tactic, I think.

[Bill the barbarian]

1 minute ago, soltakss said:

Multimissiled Cow is a valid tactic, I think.

Would the Royal SPCA object to lighting them up before sending 'em over the walls?

[Nozbat]

9 minutes ago, Bill the barbarian said:

Would the Royal SPCA object to lighting them up before sending 'em over the walls?

It depends how you coin it...

Heroic Cows volunteer to be Forlorn Hope by lighting the way for our troops and sacrifice themselves to clear the Motherland of invaders... or..

Despicable foreign soldiers murder cows by setting them alight and tossing them over walls in vain hope of scaring our lads

All is fair in love and war

 

[Bill the barbarian]

Fantastic gents, thanks for the uplifting humour! 

[Kloster]

2 hours ago, Bill the barbarian said:

Would the Royal SPCA object to lighting them up before sending 'em over the walls?

Asfar as I remember, multimissile and firearrow are not compatible.

[g33k]

5 hours ago, Kloster said:

Asfar as I remember, multimissile and firearrow are not compatible.

That's firearrow; the RAW does not speak, however, to firecow.

 

But then, "fire cow" is hardly RAW...

Edited September 1, 2020 by g33k

[Nozbat]

59 minutes ago, g33k said:

That's firearrow; the RAW does not speak, however, to firecow.

 

But then, that's hardly RAW...

I like the idea of FireCow.. perhaps I need to HeroQuest for it... but really ..What would Uralda say? 

[soltakss]

4 hours ago, Bill the barbarian said:

Would the Royal SPCA object to lighting them up before sending 'em over the walls?

Firearrow is a bit of a waste, as it only does 3D6 damage, as opposed to the cow's damage.

In fact, this might be one for egregious munchkinnery. We have cast Firearrow on Ballista bolts in the past, just to reduce the damage. So, if a Ballista Bolt normally does 6D6 damage, casting a Firearrow on it reduces damage to 3D6.