[Radagast: Master of Hues]

:help:
(used search-strings “Gondor weapons” and “Gondor armour” before posting)

After watching the Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King movie one thing I noticed was the lack of thought into the set-up of armour and weapons of the average Gondorian Guard. They had swords and full plate-mail armour, EVERY single one of them (Archers too!). In real life no average guard could afford to be equipped with a sword and plate-mail. They were more likely to get boiled leather and Brigandine for armour. Axes, maces and polearms were common weapons for a lower vassal that is called up to fight (their lords would keep these cheaper weapons average for their retainers). I can understand citadel guards having full-plate mail and swords because they are the higher up guards of Gondor (Somewhat like a knight). Archers on the other hand also used lighter armour because it was cheaper and they weren’t meant to fight hand to hand. (This is assuming that Gondor pays to arm it's soldiers, not give a small amount of pay in which the solider must buy his own stuff) So, the question: Unlike the movie, will Memod feature more realistic weapons/armour for lower soldiers in Gondor’s armies? (Middle-earth has a Medieval Europe base so it’s not unconceivable, is it?)

Thank you for reading this post,
Radagast: Master of Hues

[Celad]

I'm sure devs have tal;ked about this before. They said that armour would be far less common in Memod than Morrowind. I expect this answers your question.

[Slaiv]

Not really. The amount of armour doesn't really apply to the situtation, as every member of the Army will most likely have some kind of armour. The real question is whwat kind of armour it is, which depends on what the devs think is realistic....

[suzerain]

the idea of "uniform" is a very post-17th century concept- true army uniforms only really came into being at that point.

Likewise, the comment "Middle-earth has a Medieval Europe base so it’s not unconceivable, is it?" may well be fundamentally inaccurate. It is more likely that you will find that the armies of Gondor are found to be of a consistent *standard* of arms, and that such will be superficially constant in design pattern.

Beyond that... best to hang on and wait for more screenies to show them.

Suzerain.

[Radagast: Master of Hues]

“It is more likely that you will find that the armies of Gondor are found to be of a consistent *standard* of arms” -suzerain

This is surprising, as suzerain said a “uniform” is a rather new idea in comparison to the rest of military history. Is there any Tolkein lore that would confirm or point to suzerain’s statement? (I only own the Lord of the Rings books, The Silmarillion, and The Hobbit)

[suzerain]

a "consistent standard of equipment" does not mean a consistent uniform. it means that individuals' arms and armour are likely to be of common standard of workmanship - a unit of front-line troops may well have good armour - brigandine, half-plate, etc, whereas a group of equal individuals with studded cuirboullis are likely to be incorporated into an alternate unit.

Consider the tactical difficulties associated with a unit of 100 men, half of whom are in leather, and half in plate, and it'd be a disaster.

each suit is made to measure, in the case of plate - in the case of half-plate, that can be slightly more flexiable. therefore it is only consistent with proper approach that there will be superficial detail variances in such items, even if game mehanics are esentially unchanged.


as a note, the equipping of norse housecarls is a likely equation for that sort of armament, in that each group will have seperate roles and armament..

suz

[Radagast: Master of Hues]

Sorry, I thought of “standard” as all soldiers have the same type of armour and weapons.

What I gathered from you post was that standard didn’t necessarily mean all soldiers have an axe and scale mail for example, but it meant that they have a different assortment of off the peg armour from the same smith and therefore has a “standard” quality because each suit ether plate or scale mail for example comes form the same smith and both sets have similar quality standards because of this. So a soldier armed with scale mail and a mace and another solider with plate and an axe are standard equipped because the same smiths made their armour to similar quality standards. Do to their different armour they would be in different units and used for different role. For example the footmen with the leather and mace is in one unit that skirmishes while the footmen with plate and the axe is in a different unit for heavy fighting. They both are regular soldiers with different armour and weapon types but are in categorized in two different units for better tactical command and effectiveness, but do to the fact that the same smith made there armour/weapons they equipped in a “standard fashion”. The armour and weapons that a solider is armed with is directly related to which unit he is in and what combat-role they play.

This is my interpretation of what you said.

[Cailwyn]

Watch any of the battles in Braveheart and i think this question will be put to rest. Anyway, I probably wrong since I don't have any real basis for this, but I always kinda thought of Gondor like Rome, with the officers wearing winged helms instead of the Roman plumed or brush-like helms.

peace

[Celad]

Yo thought of the Half-leather type stuff you mean? The prominent shoulder plates and bands tied together to protect the torso? The Romans also used chainmail.

I hadn't thought of that before. I always imagined robes with chainmail and plates underneath. For some reason, not sure why.

[suzerain]

Cailwyn, on Aug 7 2004, 07:19 PM, said:

Watch any of the battles in Braveheart and i think this question will be put to rest. Anyway, I probably wrong since I don't have any real basis for this, but I always kinda thought of Gondor like Rome, with the officers wearing winged helms instead of the Roman plumed or brush-like helms.

peace

HERETIC! BURN! REPENT!

ahem. sorry.
please don't mention that travesty of a film again.
Particularly the crock of shite that are the battle scenes

it's a bigger load of fantasy than the whole of middle-earth combined.

*twitches slightly at the B word*

Suz.
not even going to get *started* on that