This reminds me of a choice the main character faced in a Heinlein novel, Tunnel in the Sky. It tells the tale of a group of students in a survival course. Their final exam involves being sent to a wild planet, and required to survive for a period of time. They could take with them a wide range of sci-fi weaponry. But the MC was advised to take some basic survival gear, and just a knife. The reasoning: (paraphrasing) "A knife is a useful tool, and won't weigh you down. It'll do as a weapon in a pinch. but it won't tempt you to bite off more of a fight than you can chew, like a gun will." Don't know how sound that advise is, but it seemed wise to my teenage mind.
I think there’s some wisdom is privileging versatile tools and weapons, especially when you know how to use them compared to ones you don’t. Like I wouldn’t want to sledgehammer in battle even though it’s more dangerous than, say, a clawbacked hammer. But I haven’t used a sledgehammer in years, whereas my small hammer is very familiar to me. Similar with the knife; there’s some sense in using something easy, something versatile, something discrete…
“In other words, I’m going full nerd on y’all” — Thanks for this piece! It made the little high schooler who would fangirl about maces excited to see someone else who loves medieval and fantasy weapons :)
Loved the article. Reminds me of what I wrote for my books concerning various types of armament, shields, and armor. How the new is often just conveniently forgotten old, repackaged, clothed in different, much deadlier wrapper. This, and of the backwards arms races :D
I restacked it so I can finish reading after inhaling a sammich. Wrote all night and early morn, to post my vote your own adventure story so I am hungry as a space wolf.
Last footnote is kinda asinine sadly. The Russian army DOES have a habit of assigning responsibility over every specific piece of equipment to a specific person, so it's just pure speculation from some Yankee.
Hey, welcome! I admit fully that that footnote was not in any way verified, just something a friend told me. I included it in the hope of explaining how the encouragement of “personal” kits still benefits combat effectiveness in modern, mechanized militaries. I’ll update the footnote to reflect that. Thanks for weighing in.
Cheers! I must note that regardless of what's in the rules, people still negliged their equipment through the decades of peace.
However, recent events showed people in our army actually care very much about equipment when it's something their life depends on, and not just a trinket they need to care about without an apparent reason.
Fascinating! Don’t plan on writing fantasy, but you may just have rekindled my love for the genre as a reader. I shall look for fantasy that might be up my alley, which seems to be realistic fantasy like what you describe, and pass on the most popular authors.
This is very well put together, and the concepts of this extend to any time people have ever raised weapons against each other and any time they ever will. Very cool to see somebody put it all so concisely.
Very much eager for the next part of this. I love reading about stuff like this AND it’s useful knowledge
Happy to oblige. More is sure to come
Very well-researched and interesting! I eagerly await the next part.
Stay tuned, Bill! Thanks for reading.
This reminds me of a choice the main character faced in a Heinlein novel, Tunnel in the Sky. It tells the tale of a group of students in a survival course. Their final exam involves being sent to a wild planet, and required to survive for a period of time. They could take with them a wide range of sci-fi weaponry. But the MC was advised to take some basic survival gear, and just a knife. The reasoning: (paraphrasing) "A knife is a useful tool, and won't weigh you down. It'll do as a weapon in a pinch. but it won't tempt you to bite off more of a fight than you can chew, like a gun will." Don't know how sound that advise is, but it seemed wise to my teenage mind.
I think there’s some wisdom is privileging versatile tools and weapons, especially when you know how to use them compared to ones you don’t. Like I wouldn’t want to sledgehammer in battle even though it’s more dangerous than, say, a clawbacked hammer. But I haven’t used a sledgehammer in years, whereas my small hammer is very familiar to me. Similar with the knife; there’s some sense in using something easy, something versatile, something discrete…
“In other words, I’m going full nerd on y’all” — Thanks for this piece! It made the little high schooler who would fangirl about maces excited to see someone else who loves medieval and fantasy weapons :)
Happy to oblige. Maces are highly underrated
Loved the article. Reminds me of what I wrote for my books concerning various types of armament, shields, and armor. How the new is often just conveniently forgotten old, repackaged, clothed in different, much deadlier wrapper. This, and of the backwards arms races :D
Since, at the time they wielded them, they were effective :D
Basically my thesis right there 👆
I restacked it so I can finish reading after inhaling a sammich. Wrote all night and early morn, to post my vote your own adventure story so I am hungry as a space wolf.
I learned so much from this! I never put thought into the tiny details of spears before; thanks for the knowledge!
That’s the fun of history: the details reveal so much about the past :)
Thank you for going "full nerd" on this. Extremely interesting topic I wouldn't have known anything about otherwise. Very interested in part 2.
Expect the nerding to continue 🤓🗡️
Very educational and interesting. AND I like your use of double brackets. I'm funny that way :)
I feel like I'm looking at weaponry in a whole new light.
That’s what I like to hear! Thanks for joining the Forge’s ragtag band, Neil. If you enjoyed this you should enjoy the next post too ⚔️
Last footnote is kinda asinine sadly. The Russian army DOES have a habit of assigning responsibility over every specific piece of equipment to a specific person, so it's just pure speculation from some Yankee.
Source: I served in it, lmao.
Hey, welcome! I admit fully that that footnote was not in any way verified, just something a friend told me. I included it in the hope of explaining how the encouragement of “personal” kits still benefits combat effectiveness in modern, mechanized militaries. I’ll update the footnote to reflect that. Thanks for weighing in.
Cheers! I must note that regardless of what's in the rules, people still negliged their equipment through the decades of peace.
However, recent events showed people in our army actually care very much about equipment when it's something their life depends on, and not just a trinket they need to care about without an apparent reason.
My weapon of choice is the Morningstar. Why? I like the name. It sounds so innocent. lol!
I like how its innocent name contrasts so magnificently with what it does
Exactly!
Fascinating! Don’t plan on writing fantasy, but you may just have rekindled my love for the genre as a reader. I shall look for fantasy that might be up my alley, which seems to be realistic fantasy like what you describe, and pass on the most popular authors.
I’m glad I could rekindle excitement for the genre, Andrei!
This is really well done. Thank you!
Thanks, Jim!
This is exactly the kind of stuff I look for in my research! Looking forward to more.
There will be plenty more! Stay tuned
This is very well put together, and the concepts of this extend to any time people have ever raised weapons against each other and any time they ever will. Very cool to see somebody put it all so concisely.