Jefferson wrote: >Andrew Janssen wrote: > >The technology of Qaiyore is more advanced than that of early Rome. This >would likely create some changes in equipment. > > > >>Legionaries are armed with two javelins and a short stabbing sword which >>is about 16 inches long for legionaries, and about two feet long for >>centurions and above. Legionaries carry their swords high on the right >>side, but officers carry their swords low-slung on the left side. >> >> > >Swords will be lighter, and thus can be made longer more cheaply. One length >would be standardized for all ranks, probably around 20 inches. Centurions >and greater will have better quality blades, and officers may bear heirloom >blades of remarkable quality. > > > No, the swords would not be longer for the legionaries. Experiments have shown that it is practically impossible for a sword longer than twenty inches and slung on the right side to be drawn right handed. Because officers wear their swords on the left, they have longer swords. Their longer swords also help distinguish them. >>All ranks wear steel lorica segmentata body armor and >> >> > > 'backwards-jockey-cap' helmets made of bronze with an iron liner, > >There's a great deal of debate about lorica segmentata vs. mail. From what I >can tell lorica is a little more protective, _much_ more expensive, heavier, >and harder to get into. I'm inclined to think that the Cedonian legions would >primarily use chain. Upper ranks would wear a breastplate at the very least >and possibly other pieces of plate as well. > >The helmet would be of iron. Forged instead of cast it would be shaped >differently than the helm described. > > > You're welcome to your opinion, but this is my society. The Cedonians use lorica segementata, but tribunes and legates may purchase their own breastplates. You've got a good point about the helmets, though. A closer reading of my source material(_The Roman Imperial Army of the First and Second Centuries A.D._, by Graham Webster) does suggest that bronze helmets were limited to the Republican period, and were being replaced by the Imperial-Gallic iron helmet in the early Imperial period. This later helmet provided more neck protection and added bronze ear-protectors. >>and all ranks carry plywood >>shields bound at the edges with wrought iron or bronze. >> >> > >Iron. Bronze is too expensive. > > Is it? What do we really know about the relative abundance of metals in Qaiyore? What makes bronze expensive has always been tin, which is much rarer than copper. If the Cedonians have access to stanneries, I could see bronze being cheaper. I think, however, you're probably right, but not simply because of cost. Bronze is softer than iron, and an enemy's weapon is more likely to get bound in bronze edging, making the shield useless. Legionaries in the field probably used iron edging, and the bronze edging was used by the legion stationed in the capital. > > >>All ranks have a heavy leather apron to protect the groin, and all >> >> > > ranks wear hobnailed boots. > >Mail instead of heavy leather. > > > No, they use leather. The apron is actually a number of leather strips with metal plates riveted on, and with small bronze weights at the ends. >>Each cohort of a legion has a heavy siege catapult, or onager, attached >>to it. A typical onager can hurl a 55-pound rock over an eighth of a >>mile. >> >> > >I think you mean, "Each cohort carries the parts to construct . . ." This is >more likely to be a light trebuchet than an onager with a range of around 1/3 >mile. Specialized engineering centuries will carry the parts for a heavy >trebuchet throwing a 400 pound rock 1/4 mile. > > > I assumed that it would be understood that "some assembly is required". And it is an onager, not a trebuchet. There are no seperate specialist units in the army. Legionaries with specialist skills are called 'immunes' and are exempt from being assigned heavy fatigues by the centurions; they also receive 1.5x the pay of an ordinary legionary. A short list of immunes would include surveyors, medics, ballista & onager crews, smiths of all sorts, clerks, butchers, and millers. All legionaries are expected to know how dig a proper ditch. If heavier siege equipment than the legion normally carries is needed, the appropriate immunes can construct it. >>Every century of a legion is equipped with a cart-mounted ballista >>capable of projecting a foot-long bolt over a fifth of a mile. A legion >>thus has ten siege catapults and 59 ballistae. >> >> > >These sling ballistae may also be used throw flammables at a somewhat reduced >range. > > > Spring-ballistae would be a better description--the projective power comes from two vertical torsion coils at the front, the bow arms then being winched back, and the bowstring held by a catch. Andrew >Jefferson (Exquaestio) >http://www.picotech.net/~jeff_wilson63/rpg/ >---------------------------------------------------------------- >To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net. > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net.
