DragonOfTheAerie
Vala
But you know what, Imagery beats practicality in high fantasy,
There's a balance to strike somewhere, I bet.
But you know what, Imagery beats practicality in high fantasy,
By the logic of the practicality nerds, Aragorn also should be leading from the rear, directing his formations. Anduril should be a pole arm because polearms are more useful in war. He should also have a shield.
But you know what, Imagery beats practicality in high fantasy.
I think the Britons were supposed to fight naked or at least covered in Wode but not much else.Skip or another member with more intimate knowledge of history might be able to correct me here...but didn't the Celts fight the Romans naked? Or was it the Vikings? Both? Anyway, I don't think it worked out so well but I'm not too familiar with that era of history.
I honestly don't know where you get this idea that generals lead from the rear. We debunked the hell out of this some time ago, starting with King David and going all the way through to King Abdullah II of Jordan and Prince Henry.
I don't have time to teach you about basic swordsmanship right now, nor what a longsword was used for on the field and how, to say nothing of what a polearm was used for and why. Neither do I have time to get into the myriad ways to beat the living crap out of a spearman or halberdier with a longsword or greatsword and no shield. Most of it rhymes with "Shmontante" and/or "Shmiore di Battaglia." Both of these schools delve into using a longsword or greatsword as effectively a faster, sharper polearm; when coupled with the Abrazare school of medieval wrestling -- which works spectacularly in armor, and which my sparring partner rightfully calls "Judo for Psychopaths" -- you can make short work of a poleaxe as long as you don't turn it into a fencing match or do something as moronic as "swinging" your sword at him.
Anyway, there are 27 pages on swords and swordsmanship in the Research forum. You should probably get cracking. (Edit: That is, if you're interested in research and accuracy. You may not be, and that's fine, too.)
Hi, I'm Joseph Malik. Apparently, we haven't met.
Not if you're too much of a billy badass to need it.
By the logic of the practicality nerds, Aragorn also should be leading from the rear, directing his formations. Anduril should be a pole arm because polearms are more useful in war. He should also have a shield. But you know what, Imagery beats practicality in high fantasy,
No, I'm not interested in reading a bunch of pretentious "research". I'm interested in telling an entertaining story to people who aren't the vanishingly small percentage of practicality geeks.
I'm interested in telling an entertaining story to people who aren't the vanishingly small percentage of practicality geeks.
I'm interested in telling an entertaining story to people who aren't the vanishingly small percentage of practicality geeks.
Some Celts did, not all. It is thought they did so out of some spiritual belief. There were called Gaesetae. I don't know of any accounts of Vikings fighting naked, although beserkers generally eschewed armor.Skip or another member with more intimate knowledge of history might be able to correct me here...but didn't the Celts fight the Romans naked? Or was it the Vikings? Both? Anyway, I don't think it worked out so well but I'm not too familiar with that era of history.
Regarding helmets: I'm reminded of an early scene in Saving Private Ryan when the American soldiers landed on Normandy Beach and a soldier briefly took off his helmet. He was shot in the head immediately.
Many fantasy characters have superhuman speed and strength, and that could explain tossing the helmet. Manfred von Richthofen, Ernst Udet, and Eddie Rickenbakker did not wear helmets; an elf wouldn't either.There is no point in wearing a helmet in anything like aerial combat. Once the speeds get high enough, your opponent will be unable to aim for your head anyway, and if there is enough strength involved, your opponent can probably crush or pierce any helmet anyway.
Also its is the most comfortable way to hang all the sensors, screens [etal] around a human head.Modern fighter pilots fly far faster than the Red Baron ever did and all where helmets.
The helmet was probably more comfortable than the webbing seat too!In Vietnam soldiers often sat on their helmets while inside helicopters to protect themselves from ground fire.
Richthofen may have taken a round to the head, but it was far from common. A modern pilot's helmet does not offer protection - no helmet is going to stop a 20mm cannon round, the smallest thing he can expect to have coming at him, it holds electronic stuff instead. As for the soldiers sitting on their helmets, the helicopters were flying low and slow and they were being shot at with light guns. During WWII many planes carried armor, and if you look at the thicknesses required to make a difference in aerial combat, you'll see why a helmet is pointless.
Not wearing a helmet in the middle of a battlefield make a character look like a poorly trained/untrained conscript.Helmets make a character seem like the muddy rank and file, aka the jobbers. . Give Aragorn a helmet and suddenly he looks alot less badass.