Useful weapon/armour resource

[Bismark]

I bought a really handy book 18 months ago (to help me with the Valdorian Age campaign I was running back then) and forgot to let you folks know about it until now - doh!

 

It' s called Companion to Medieval Arms and Armour (ed. David Nicolle; published by Boydell Press) and is a very handy little resource, especially for Low Fantasy/'gritty' S&S-type games.

 

The title is somewhat misleading - it's more a collection of assorted academic papers (with lots and lots of footnotes and bibliographical references …), covering, among other things:

 

1. The metallurgy of European arms and armour (including hardness measurements for various types of plate armour - I'll have the Italian stuff, thank you very much ) (metallurgy geeks will like this chapter);

2. Byzantine soldiers' gear from the 900s onwards;

3. Loads of info about Avar, Magyar and Khazar war-gear (including specialist arrowheads, various types of sabre and pallash, etc.)

4. Close combat weapons of the early period of the Arab Caliphate (and to some extent the preceding Sassanian Persians);

5. and finally a great chapter on the evolution of the coat-of-plates, including the North African hardened leather armour industry.

 

I originally bought it for the chapter on the Persian and Arab stuff (Persian saddle-axes are lovely things - unless you get hit by one [they were seriously heavy and, being prestige weapons used by rich soldiers were made of sword steel ]).

 

I am on the lookout for more books of this type, as they are a pretty good read and (unlike the Osprey stuff) the 'info-to -unit price' ratio is very good.

[Theron]

Re: Useful weapon/armour resource

 

I hadn't seen this one. Thanks for mentioning it, rep on the way. Nicolle is an outstanding weapons historian.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Useful weapon/armour resource

 

Not really a scholarly reference in itself, but this webpage from "Surbrook's Stuff" contains a lot of material contributed by David Kujit for the history, forms and appearance, HERO game stats, and optional use rules for medieval European and Asian weapons and armor.

[Old Man]

Re: Useful weapon/armour resource

 

Thanks for the tip Bis, ...but it better be a damn good book for seventy bucks.

[Bismark]

Re: Useful weapon/armour resource

 

Thanks for the tip Bis' date=' ...but it better be a damn good book for seventy bucks. [/quote']

 

It was about £26 when I bought it from amazon.co.uk, so obviously both price rises and the exchange rate have taken their toll… Now would I pay £36 (roughly what $70 is at the moment) for it? - probably (after taking the final paragraph of this post into account - very probably). It still stacks up well against the likes of Osprey Men-at-Arms stuff. Still best bought as a group resource, though (I would still expect hardcore wargamers like I used to be to snap it up).

 

The section on Persian/Arab weapons is great fun, some of their (all-iron, including the shaft!) maces ('amud) being amongst the heaviest (one-handed) weapons made for actual combat, as opposed to ceremony. Ideal for those STR 20+ bruisers wandering around in Fantasy HERO - it will take a LOT to 'max out' the damage with one of those as they will have such a high DEF that breaking them will be … a challenge.

 

I have given a magical 'amud (known affectionately as 'Meat Tenderiser' ) to one of the characters in my current Shadow World campaign - the attractive (COM 14, no less) female half-Troll known as 'Grendelynne'.

 

[Of course, being in the business and regularly working for companies of the size of that publisher (or smaller), I was also able to count the book as a business expense for tax purposes - ]