Horse-lords of Rohan discussion

[Er-Murazor]

:does a little necromancy:

First: Regarding Mounted Combat and Great weapons.
It seems to me, that such weapons as the Great Bow, Great Axe, Mattock, and the Great Spear (though given the background of the Giant-slaying Spear, it is possible that a jousting lance would qualify as a great spear) would be unwieldy on horseback. What would be people's thoughts on heroes wielding such weapons counting as hindered? With the possible caveat that characters with Horsemanship are considered comfortable enough in the saddle to ignore the penalty.

All I can really comment on is the Great Spear, which is to say that there should be no difficulty in using it at all 2-handed from horseback. You wouldn't really couch it like you would a jousting lance. You just have to strap a buckler (can't use a larger shield) to your upper forearm if you want to fend off arrows. Scytho-Sarmatian Cataphracts fought this style and it was carried over by the Huns, Eastern Romans, Sassanid Persians and numerous other cultures in the Migration Era. They had what was called the contarius, which was basically a pike and used it quite effectively from horseback. Interestingly, the illustration of the Leofrings found on pg. 55 of The Heart of the Wild shows one of the horsemen using what looks quite a bit like a contarius.

The other weapons, as far as I know, cannot be used from horseback. The Hunnish bow, the composite bow, was notable for being capable of ease of use from horseback. Don't think any culture other than the Japanese developed a longbow/greatbow capable of being used from horseback.

[Glorelendil]

All I can really comment on is the Great Spear, which is to say that there should be no difficulty in using it at all 2-handed from horseback. You wouldn't really couch it like you would a jousting lance. You just have to strap a buckler (can't use a larger shield) to your upper forearm if you want to fend off arrows. Scytho-Sarmatian Cataphracts fought this style and it was carried over by the Huns, Eastern Romans, Sassanid Persians and numerous other cultures in the Migration Era. They had what was called the contarius, which was basically a pike and used it quite effectively from horseback. Interestingly, the illustration of the Leofrings found on pg. 55 of The Heart of the Wild shows one of the horsemen using what looks quite a bit like a contarius.

The other weapons, as far as I know, cannot be used from horseback. The Hunnish bow, the composite bow, was notable for being capable of ease of use from horseback. Don't think any culture other than the Japanese developed a longbow/greatbow capable of being used from horseback.

For my part I don't really care about realism or historical precedence; it's all about game design and balance. If there's insufficient downside to using a weapon (or style or whatever) that does greater damage, such that that one choice is an obviously better choice, then there's a problem.

On foot the main downside to a Great Spear or Great Axe is that you can't use a shield. As long as the same (or similar) rule applies to mounted combat, I'm good with it.

[Otaku-sempai]

On foot the main downside to a Great Spear or Great Axe is that you can't use a shield. As long as the same (or similar) rule applies to mounted combat, I'm good with it.

Would a Great Spear be too large to couch against your shoulder while mounted to use it as a lance (allowing one to us a shield while mounted)? Or should that only be allowable with a normal Spear?

[Glorelendil]

On foot the main downside to a Great Spear or Great Axe is that you can't use a shield. As long as the same (or similar) rule applies to mounted combat, I'm good with it.

Would a Great Spear be too large to couch against your shoulder while mounted to use it as a lance (allowing one to us a shield while mounted)? Or should that only be allowable with a normal Spear?

"Too large" isn't a question I ask. "Good for game design" is all that matters to me.

[Otaku-sempai]

Would a Great Spear be too large to couch against your shoulder while mounted to use it as a lance (allowing one to us a shield while mounted)? Or should that only be allowable with a normal Spear?

"Too large" isn't a question I ask. "Good for game design" is all that matters to me.

Okay. Would it be good game design?

[Glorelendil]

Would a Great Spear be too large to couch against your shoulder while mounted to use it as a lance (allowing one to us a shield while mounted)? Or should that only be allowable with a normal Spear?

"Too large" isn't a question I ask. "Good for game design" is all that matters to me.

Okay. Would it be good game design?

Exactly what I said above: no clearly "best" weapon (or armour) choice. RAW is just fine in that regard: if you want a Great Spear you have to give up a shield.

[farinal]

I just got my copy of the book last week and I want to ask something. It says that for the official state business Thengel uses the northern Tongue of the Rohirrim; "...But in all public matters the Lord of Rohan and his household use the language of the Mark..." But later the book states that "...When encountering the royal court, any visitor is first addressed in Sindarin..."

So my question is, isn't approaching the royal court a public matter? Or does the King only uses the language of the Mark when declaring a law or something like this?

[zedturtle]

I just got my copy of the book last week and I want to ask something. It says that for the official state business Thengel uses the northern Tongue of the Rohirrim; "...But in all public matters the Lord of Rohan and his household use the language of the Mark..." But later the book states that "...When encountering the royal court, any visitor is first addressed in Sindarin..."

So my question is, isn't approaching the royal court a public matter? Or does the King only uses the language of the Mark when declaring a law or something like this?

I think the idea is that visitors (i.e. foreigners) are first addressed in Sindarin, while locals are addressed in Rohirric. This does honour to those who know the language of lore (Saruman, nobles of Gondor, Elves) and in the case of others it is probably a formalized greeting and then Westron is used.

So, a citizen of the Mark comes before the King and is addressed in his or her native tongue. A visitor to the Mark first hears the language of the Eldar, and knows that while Thengel is king of a middle-folk, he himself is learned.

[farinal]

That makes sense. Thanks Zed!

[farinal]

I think this book become one of my surprise favorites because all the NPCs in it and all the story with the Marshals and the Thengel King's own character and problems are just so good and well written. Really a great book!