 April 15, 2011 - 12:10pm | Note: I've checked out of the public library the first 10 or so of the Sharpes movies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpe_%28TV_series%29 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr-KeDrOsHY to watch in a marathon viewing to digest whole of the series- I know they've been popular novels that fans of the Napoleanic wars usually rave about but I didn't really desire to read the series and decided to be lazy about it mostly to bone up on napoleanic rifle units since the gaming club is discussing showing up at the 200th aniversery of Waterloo re-inacting the Royal American Legion unit of rifles anyhow I got thinking about how yazirians would have fought the clan wars and how the advent of gun powder would have impacted that. it occurs to me that yazirians would have been bushwackers/ skirmishers/ guerilla fighters extrodinere with a tendancy toward two types of formations prior to the discovery of gunpowder: celtic style warbands and elite skirmishing units come the advent of gun powder and the difficulties with using it while climbing and gliding it would have seen slow development and spread in yazirian society. eventually you would see elite rifle armed units that wore drab forest colors and were deadly shots. There would still be elite groups that specialized in diving zamra (the honor blade) armed charges and the war band style of mob due to the predominance of forests formed units would have taken a long time to develop. but when the did, combined with gunpowder and the exploitation of yazirian cultural physcololgy, formed units could have enticed warbands into rash charges that mowed them down allowing for the Warhon to beging the process of unifying the planet through conquest. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
April 15, 2011 - 7:08pm | Thinking about the Zamra- the yazirian honor weapon and how it would have been used the magazine article that introduced it suggested it was used in arial duels; this suggests that it evolved from airborne hunting. the picture that comes to mind is a yazirian with fully out stretched arms maintianing the maximum airfoil with his pataguim. Gripped in each hand is one zamra. The hunter is gliding through the forest, not descending all the way to the ground but landing on trees and climbing back up a few levels before launching again. suddenly he sees his prey and maneuvers for the attack. As he snaps his arm to throw the zamra there is a loss of air foil that causes a greater loss of altitude. The zamra was not initially fatal so he snaps the other zamra as he spirals tighter over his target. However now he low over his target and the second shot causes the ground to come up fast forcing a DEX check for a safe landing. Instantly he draws a bush knife and moves into finish the kill. Zamra armed airborne yazirians would fill the role of skirmishing light horse. bows and muskets would not be a suitable weapons for this type of hunter or military role. hunters who focused on stealthy hiding would have gravitated toward bows for greater reach. later they would have upgraded toward muskets and rifled muskets. military units built on this would have played the role of skirimishing elite rifles; being stealthy and a good shot would be their bread and butter. Rank and file clan members answering the call to defend the clan's honor would move toward their target in an disorganized mob; each according to their individual skill but the only unit cohesion would be that of a mob or war band. their travel would be on foot or in the air if they had a launching point. The advent of gun powder artillery would have seen the development of an organ or volley gun- multibarrelled weapon with each barrel individually loaded and fired as one. Emplaced on a swivel it would be used in fixed fences or the field of battle. There would also have been regular cannons for defense and seige I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
April 16, 2011 - 8:13pm | Weapons of the Clan Wars The usual suspects: axe, club, spear, knife, pole arm, bow, whip plus the Zamra or Zamira then we come to muskets which is just a smooth bore weapon I would expand that to include both smooth bore and rifled muskets in the following sizes: Standard size that conforms to the musket of the AD equipment list there should be a small penalty for trying to glide with this item A long rifle (no smooth bore with this weapon) its a long weapon suited to the arms of a 2m tall yazirian carries a steeper penalty for trying to glide with it and a Rate of 1/2 A carbine for use by yazirians who opt for shoot and scoot tactics- shoot and glide to another tree no penalty for gliding with this item. pistols- mussel loading Stake Canister- a 1 meter stake attached to a short tube of the hollow shua tree which has been bound with metal bands. The shua trunk has been packed with gunpowder and canister shot. the weapon functions as a portable one shot disposable canister weapon. it can be emplaced by driving the stake into dirt and its fuse lit but the attack roll suffers a penalty or its point can be lightly stuck into the dirt and the stake is held onto and aimed. the problem with holding it while its fired is that on rolls of 96-100 the shua trunk, dispite its strength, bursts and the firer is takes damage. Think of the bamboo guns of south east asia- shua tree is very tough and hollow but the yazirians perfer to use them as disposable weapons- light wt. compared to other "heavy weapons" but packing a big punch Canister gun- yazirian version of a mussel loading shot gun Swivel gun- miniature cannon on a swivel with a load of cannister- if crew served it fires at a faster rate volley or organ gun- multi barrels all loaded and fired as one, usually mounted on a swivel and used defensively. Innovative clans used these more aggressively with a tripod and a crew but loading is time consuming. Cannon- come in light, med, hvy and possibly very heavy grades (I'd prefer to not get into stating out 6, 8, 12, 18 pounders but go with abstract grades) Howitzers- same grades as the cannon Rockets- partly inspired by British rocket batteries of the napoleanic period and partly because in my sf house setting the yazirians were the developers of the gyrojet weapons. so there should be a small, medium and large rocket grades with the small being similar to the stake cannister- able to be easily lugged and its stake stuck into the ground Finally the yaz should have a Great bow- laminated composite layers and sized for their body- higher hitting power and greater distance but a penalty for gliding with it (warriors looking to do a lot of gliding just use the smaller bow that conforms to the bow in the AD book) I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 13, 2011 - 12:59pm | A Yazirian composite Great Bow would be 2 m tall. massive penetration power at point blank range likely would only stat it out for 2d10 damage and increase the range. working on an idea for a throwing knife/tomahawk weapon where the blade looks like a flowing S shape (like the German SS symbol but more graceful and flowing) mounted on a ten inch throwing handle. If its just the one blade its easily sheathed but my original thought was 2 or three such blades coming off the handle and thrown like a tomahawk but I think making it a ceremonial knife with one blade works best. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 13, 2011 - 1:39pm | NOTE: iggy described young yaz hunters "snaring bogah in his legend" what sort of snare would a primitive yazirian use? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 October 13, 2011 - 2:01pm | Here are some links for reference: |
October 13, 2011 - 4:02pm | I'm thinking a simple snare and not a dead fall. After some thought it seems to me that a Yaz would be more active and involved with the snaring particularly if you read the legend Iggy wrote the tone is active action. So I think the basic strategy with snaring bogah is setting the snare and driving prey toward it. Making the act of snaring a more heroic action. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 14, 2011 - 8:03pm | Or... setting a snare and participating in the action. A young yaz patiently waits for the bogah to enter his snare, his fingers poise on the string ready to pull in an instant. |
 October 15, 2011 - 6:59am | I was imagining that they would build a trap and drive the prey to it. The snares were rope nooses with branch triggers to cause the noose to close around the animal and hold it from getting away. I didn't imagine the snare ripping the animal off the ground and hanging it upside down like often shone in movies. I imagined the traps up in the trees along branches that the animals might jump to or run along. Thus the rope would tie the animal down to the branch or hold them. Yet, they might end up falling off the branch and dangling after getting caught. The prey is caught but not harmed. This is so the yazirian can then kill the animal himself. The two young yazirians both worked together to drive their prey to the snare, each controlling one side to keep the prey running toward the snare. -iggy |
October 15, 2011 - 7:09am | @ Iggy: it is possible to build such a snare BUT is complicated, fiddly, and requires finding the right spot with the materials and etc and is a lot of extra work. Thus most snares are the type you rescind. If you was after a high mass animal then you'd take the time for this type of snare involving heavy weights and ropes over tree branches but even then you ain't lifting him in the air, just trying to off set his weight so he can't dig in and pull loose. But then high mass animals are more dangerous so traps that damage are more preceded. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 15, 2011 - 9:00pm | I had the same thought, yazirians don't use kill traps. Maybe include a clam that does not agree with traps. Animals must be hunted. Another idea, yazirians don't have game preserves and detest humans because of this. I wonder what yazirian zoos ate like. |
October 16, 2011 - 1:24am | a clam that does not agree with traps err... I guess I aggree, yazirians dont eat mollusks I wonder what yazirian zoos ate like. That's easy, a yazirian zoo is called a resturant.  I think you need some sleep buddy, your typing while tired. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 16, 2011 - 5:18am | Many of the prey they were hunting are small. I imagine the snares as causing an appendage to be tied to the tree limb. The animal is alive and fighting to get free when the yazirian reaches it. I also did not think of the yazirians setting traps and leaving them for days. Rather I saw them as watching over the traps so that they can get to the animal sooner. They tie off to a branch and pull it over to the main branch. Secure it with a trigger and make a loose loop that the animal must reach or crawl through to get the bait. This loop goes around the main branch as well. The trigger releases the side branch and the loop closes on the prey and the main branch holding the animal tight down the the branch. -iggy |
October 16, 2011 - 5:38pm | All this talk of snares has me thinking: any Yaz with a traditional close to nature background could take a level or two in snares as if he was taking a level in the zamira.zamra I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
