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Stormcrow
2007-07-31, 07:31 PM
For those of you more versed than I in the rigors of mounted combat. Please explain to me how, with a War Lance (the non-jousting variety) You can successfully strike one target, continue riding and strike another/wheel and return to the initial target. Doesn't the lance stick into the target?

Arbitrarity
2007-07-31, 07:35 PM
Damage on impact of armour, deflection after impact, blows to the edge of the torso (riiip), various blows to incidental parts of the body, utter impalement and lifting of the body?

EDIT: Oh yeah. If you think about wound points, it could easily be something that took major effort to dodge, or fell off dodging, or caused no "real" harm but winds, etc.

Fax Celestis
2007-07-31, 07:38 PM
Not to mention that HP represents an abstract, not an actual like Wound Levels.

Lemur
2007-07-31, 07:47 PM
Is this a D&D, or other game system question, or a real world arms question?

goat
2007-07-31, 07:57 PM
They're obviously super-strong lances.

So, right, if they're armoured, you hit them, seriously dent their armour, but bounce off/knock them out of the way.

Or, you stab your lance into their shoulder/soft tissue, and your momentum forces it through until the increasing size of the lance tears them open, releasing your weapon and allowing you to ride on.

OR, you hold it out sideways and clothes-line them with a combination of the lance and your AWESOME shoulder muscles.

OR, your lance tip just trips someone over, making them stumble and impale themselves on their cheap weapon/loose plate armour.

OR, your lance has amazing de-moralising properties that just makes people give up and have a good sulk.

OR, OR, OR, they don't mean that type of lance at all, and you're actually bludgeoning people with a de-testicled cyclist.

Matthew
2007-07-31, 08:05 PM
Okay, how about this? Lance through the head, taking the head off the shoulders and bursting apart, followed by another similar strike?

...or, Lances don't need to impale their victims to kill them.

Arbitrarity
2007-07-31, 08:05 PM
OR, you hold it out sideways and clothes-line them with a combination of the lance and your AWESOME shoulder muscles.

OR, your lance has amazing de-moralising properties that just makes people give up and have a good sulk.



This, is how to win fights in D&D. Really.

EDIT: Headshot!

Bassetking
2007-07-31, 08:09 PM
OR, OR, OR, they don't mean that type of lance at all, and you're actually bludgeoning people with a de-testicled cyclist.

LIVESTRONG

Stormcrow
2007-07-31, 08:13 PM
I'm just trying to understand the real world Implications of the Lance. I was under the impression that in Medieval battles you used the lance on the first attack and after it hit _one_ opponent you dropped it and drew your secondary weapon.

Thoughts?

goat
2007-07-31, 08:18 PM
Well, yes, that's probably true. But this is a game where sword-chucks are not only a possibility, they're probably in a supplement somewhere.


edit - New Idea. The tip of the lance has a tiny enchantment that gives it a sort of teleportation just a fraction of a second after impact, but only to about 6 inches to the left.

The rest is all about aim.

Matthew
2007-07-31, 08:29 PM
I'm just trying to understand the real world Implications of the Lance. I was under the impression that in Medieval battles you used the lance on the first attack and after it hit _one_ opponent you dropped it and drew your secondary weapon.

Thoughts?

Ah, right, well in that case you should probably pose this in the Real World Weapons and Armour Thread. Fact is, we cannot really say with huge certainty exactly how Lances were used in actual battle (as opposed to Tournaments) because the evidence is somewhat lacking. I know Polybius talks about the virtues of the Greek Lance circa 200 BC, making the point that because it has a spike at the bottom, when broken that end can be used to strike.
I think that the up and down of it is that if you can keep hold of your Lance, it does not break and it does not get stuck in your opponent, then you use it on the next guy. If not, you draw your secondary weapon; the same can be said of your secondary weapon, mind.