Conquest

[Super Squirrel]

There is an awesome show on the History Channel called Conquest. It is all about combat using the episodes theme of the day. I'm not sure what range of weaponry it covers but I have seen the program on Knights, Tournaments(Jousting Kind), Swords, Axes, and Archery. The show is phenominal. I have learned more about Fantasy warfare through this show than any other source out there.

For example, Axes are very overpowering weapons to use and should have an END Drain in the multipower than includes the attack.

Check the show out if you get a chance.

The show is starting this second on the theme of Armor.

[Keneton]

A large axe in Fantasy Hero has a strength min of 15. This cost 3 end to use before adding any DC's to the weapon. That is an end drain when you are a normal with a 10 Con and 20 End!

[mudpyr8]

Agreed. I captured all 5 episodes on my ReplayTV.

Tournament
The Axeman Cometh
Wierd Weapons
Knights Armor
The Bow

I'm sure H-Channel will reshow them. They are definitely worth the watch.

I think you could handle the END thing by making unbalanced weapons x2 END. However, if you did this I would bump the DC by 1.

[mudpyr8]

How do you think the poleaxe would look?

2-H, STR 13, multipower:
5 KDC, +1 Stun, x2 END, Hammer
6 KDC, x2 END, Axe
4 KDC, AP, Spike
+1 OCV (Block only)

[Storn]

I love Peter Woodward. He is a blast. Best thing about B5: Crusades (about the only good thing) and I've watched a lot of his Egyptian documentaries. he has a great joy about him, like he loves what he is doing and makes no bones about it.

I saw preview of upcoming shows where he "conquers" NASCAR racing, after admiting he has never done it before and then a shot of the car, TOTALLY BANGED UP! ha! That should be fun.

HIm chasing a guy with an axe, screaming bloody murder, was another fav moment of mine!

[Old Man]

Watching that show is really fun. The Bows and Wierd Weapons episodes were pretty neat. I'm no expert but I'm sure I could have made a bow better than the ones those guys made. For the Wierd Weapons episode I cringed thinking about the kind of damage those weapons would do to a man.

Overall I would pay good money to participate in their activities.

[Super Squirrel]

My Axe reference was not talking about END usage for the player wielding it but the END damage done to a person. One of the advantages to the axe is that it weakens enemies very quickly because they have to expend a ton of energy blocking shots.

[Toadmaster]

I've only seen part of the series (axes, armor and part of wierd weapons) but I agree it looks like it will be great for FH ideas. One thing I was thinking is how much martial arts is appropriate with some weapons. The axe inparticular made me think of that, Axe defensive manuever (the constant movement of the axe and the weakness being when the axe strikes a blow, ie you stopped using this manuever for a strike manuever), knock target off balance (- to DCV next round) etc. Throughout what I saw was how much more effective the fighters were as the host explained the intricasies of the various weapons (I really liied the bit about the Danish Bearded axes being used from the leftside to exploit the difficulty of defending on the non shield side. Many of the weird weapons had "use UMA" written all over them.

I can't wait for this series to come out on DVD so I can sit down with a note pad and disect each episode as they apply to FH.

[Super Squirrel]

I will forever encourage all ranger types in my games to purchase CSL +1 DCV Only in Wooded Areas (-1) and CSL +2 OCV w/ Bow Only in Wooded Areas(-1).

[Thirdbase]

The show was good, but I question some of his facts. A 150lb bow seems a wee bit excessive to me. Otherwise it was pretty good.

That isn't NASCAR, he is entering a derby, an ancient and honorable sport, in CA, and that aired Christmastime, but will probably re-air.

[Intrope]

Originally posted by Thirdbase
The show was good, but I question some of his facts. A 150lb bow seems a wee bit excessive to me. Otherwise it was pretty good.

Didn't catch this show (don't have cable. or a TV, for that matter). But, I believe the Mongols were actually supposed to have used 170 lb bows; they were heavy enough that they couldn't do a draw and hold, or even a normal draw. Instead, they'd hold the bow above their head, and then draw it while lowering it into position and fire immediately.

[MarkusDark]

Originally posted by Intrope
Didn't catch this show (don't have cable. or a TV, for that matter). But, I believe the Mongols were actually supposed to have used 170 lb bows; they were heavy enough that they couldn't do a draw and hold, or even a normal draw. Instead, they'd hold the bow above their head, and then draw it while lowering it into position and fire immediately.

Funny enough, it is called a "Mongol Draw" or at least that is what my teacher called it. You begin by pointing the bow above your head while holding the string against your cheek - without the bow drawn yet so the arm that holds the bow is bent. Then, as you move the bow forward into a normal position, you push out with your arm, basically drawing the bow in reverse. Once you reach the full draw, you release. With this method, the body mechanics of pushing instead of pulling and the lever action of the arm allows you to draw a bow that is heavier than you could draw normally.

As for the show Conquest, I like it too - however as I have found with other sources there are some things they say that other sources contradict. I won't go into details as it would be long winded and just reinforcing the idea of where one source says yes the other says no. But I would like to point out that they only briefly touched upon the Welsh Bowmen (for about 90 seconds) and yet it was them and their bows were the major factor deciding the vicotry of the battle - and weren't the fodder the show made archers out to be.

In the end, if anything inspires someone to work and enjoy themselves it is good.

[Max Callahan]

I have to call BS on at least one episode of Conquest.
In the Joust episode they demonstrated how weak maile armor was, the problem is that the maile they were using was modern recreation maile where the rings are just bits of wire bent into a circle. Real maile armor had rings that were riveted closed, and thus MUCH stronger that the costume piece they were demoing on. Watching the show you were left with the impression that an axe would just tear clean through maile, and thats just not true. Also in the same episode they claimed that knights fought with 15 pound swords, and that is also just not true.
I'm forced to the conclusion that much of Conquest is staged for dramatic presentation, not historical accuracy.

[DarkGreen]

Hmmm....

I don't know about the maille episode (I only ever saw part of the bow episode), but the 15 pound sword number is right for the early middle ages -- around the same time maille was as good as it got.

As the steel got better the blades got lighter but back before carbonizing came to Europe via the Wootz process a good sword could be HEAVY. As a former blacksmith's apprentice I assure you that making a sword out of black iron results in a friggin heavy end result, even WITH a fuller. I've held plenty of black iron swords (modern remakes and museum pieces) and have several very old weapons in my collection, they are very heavy and a moments work with my nathroom scale confirms that several weigh more than 15 pounds. (I tried using my mailing scale first but they are too heavy for that).

Having said that, I think maille was primarily to stop the cutting action only. The padding beneath the mail was the only thing to cushion the blow.

-DG

PS: I agree they should have been able to make moerately good bows improvisationally - at least for the short term. I have made reasonable bows from scratch, although they do not age well and are worthless in a week if you don't start with properly aged material.

[archermoo]

I'd have to disagree on the sword weight. I've never seen or handled any sword (that was intended to be used as a weapon) anywhere close to 15 pounds. Here is a good link on historical weapon and shield weights. There is one sword on that list that is close to 15 pounds. A 78" long 16th century two handed sword. These are weights taken from surviving examples of period weapons and shields.