Building a Fantasy Army

[BlackDragon98]

Only giants without good armour.Gave them 1cm plate,and they could forget about pikes,arrows,bolts,swords and maces.

Armor decreases mobility quite a bit.
Think of giants like an AT-ST from Star Wars.
The more armor you throw on the AT-ST, the slower it goes.

Also, like the AT-ST, giants are vulnerable to tripping.
AKA thicc chains.

 

[Doomsought]

Only giants without good armour.Gave them 1cm plate,and they could forget about pikes,arrows,bolts,swords and maces.

One of the reasons that stabbing weapons like the pike became popular at the end the medieval era into the reinsurance was because of plate armor. Giants have big eyes and big joints. The back of the knees and the crotch are both vulnerable even with the best plade do to geometry.

 

[Bear Ribs]

One of the reasons that stabbing weapons like the pike became popular at the end the medieval era into the reinsurance was because of plate armor. Giants have big eyes and big joints. The back of the knees and the crotch are both vulnerable even with the best plade do to geometry.

Hmm, so would the reverse be the case if it's pixies vs. humans? Pixies even have the advantage of flight, making reaching eyes easier.

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Range infrantry would become partially obsolate, too.
Well, elf archers would still be efficient since they could hit eyes from long range.

Eh... we've seen from Tod's Workshop that arrows fired by 150 pound longbows can penetrate plate armor and helmets, even when they hit the metal at an angle. So the giants are still going to get hurt by arrows, especially if they are shot in the chest area where their organs are. Giants would have to be wearing especially thick armor... so archers will just switch to heavier poundage crossbows.

Due to the square cube law, increasingly thick/voluminous metal plates become exponentially heavier. Giant armor cannot outpace the arms race, and eventually there will be a point where giants simply cannot wear any heavier armor... and ranged combatants will have a ranged weapon capable of penetrating it... and they will go further and further into a giant's chest, possibly right through their organs.

I think archers/crossbow men would be the bane of giants.

And since normal calvary could do nothing to our trolls,it would partially lost its uses,too.

I think a horseman passing by and impaling a giant in the chest with a lance or a javelin would be pretty devastating.

 

[Doomsought]

Hmm, so would the reverse be the case if it's pixies vs. humans? Pixies even have the advantage of flight, making reaching eyes easier.

Stabby things you can let go of quickly have been the standard for killing thinks larger than you since humans first decided we wanted to know what mammoths taste like.

Also tricking people into various traps, and poison.

I could see the little people raising porcupines in order to harvest their quills. They would probably get some interesting effects after sufficient selective breeding for better weapons.

 

[Aldarion]

Eh... we've seen from Tod's Workshop that arrows fired by 150 pound longbows can penetrate plate armor and helmets, even when they hit the metal at an angle. So the giants are still going to get hurt by arrows, especially if they are shot in the chest area where their organs are. Giants would have to be wearing especially thick armor... so archers will just switch to heavier poundage crossbows.

Due to the square cube law, increasingly thick/voluminous metal plates become exponentially heavier. Giant armor cannot outpace the arms race, and eventually there will be a point where giants simply cannot wear any heavier armor... and ranged combatants will have a ranged weapon capable of penetrating it... and they will go further and further into a giant's chest, possibly right through their organs.

I think archers/crossbow men would be the bane of giants.

That is actually far from certain:


Proper armour was face-hardened, and helmets also had helmet liner - which was basically the same stuff as arming doublet / gambeson worn under the rest of the armour. And that stuff was actually quite good at stopping arrows even on its own. IIRC, accounts from the Crusades mention that Crusaders removed their mail armour, and yet Muslim arrows could not penetrate even at close range.

 

[ATP]

Neither are they effective in heavily wooded areas.
Mountains are alright, though ravines and gorges present good traps against giants.

Then ogres instead.Or something like Sothorys people from SoIaF.Gave them plate and dyscypline,and they would defeat anybody in any terrain.

 

[Bear Ribs]

One issue fighting giants is that their range is always going to be longer. You want to fight the giant with a spear? His is the size of a telephone pole, good luck getting close enough to nail him before you get splattered. You want to shoot the giant with arrows? His bow is an 18,000 pound draw and can reliably fire arrows 1,500 yards.

Issues with terrain will limit giants but human armies aside from light infantry generally also have problems with canyons and mountains, and a giant at least will have an easier time crossing small rivers compared with humans.

 

[BlackDragon98]

One issue fighting giants is that their range is always going to be longer. You want to fight the giant with a spear? His is the size of a telephone pole, good luck getting close enough to nail him before you get splattered. You want to shoot the giant with arrows? His bow is an 18,000 pound draw and can reliably fire arrows 1,500 yards.

Issues with terrain will limit giants but human armies aside from light infantry generally also have problems with canyons and mountains, and a giant at least will have an easier time crossing small rivers compared with humans.

Giants also make reliable self-propelled coastal artillery platforms.
The boulders they can chuck at ships would be lethal on the first hit and they can throw a handful of smaller rocks to rip sails and kill crew, like grape/chainshot

Edit: this idea was inspired by Gulliver's travels, Lol

 

[ATP]

Giants also make reliable self-propelled coastal artillery platforms.
The boulders they can chuck at ships would be lethal on the first hit and they can throw a handful of smaller rocks to rip sails and kill crew, like grape/chainshot

Edit: this idea was inspired by Gulliver's travels, Lol

gave then sling,and they would be mobile ballista in all terrains.with good armour,ballista impossible to hurt but anything that other ballista.I remember some fiction in which Robb win using giants with bows and slings - Lannister ballista could not hit them,becouse giants were mobile,and Lannister ballista was easy target.

 

[Aldarion]

Building a Fantasy Army – Elves

Introduction This post will concern typical fantasy elves. In other words, the Tolkien-inspired High Fantasy elves, rather than their folklore fairy counterparts. Physiology and Biology Elves are g…

warfantasy.wordpress.com

 

[ATP]

That is my problem with elves in war - they either must be one- elf - army/or ,at least,company/ or they would be wiped out in less then 1000 years,even if they win every battle.
That is also problem with all settling except LOTR./there are logical reasons why elves there do not need fight much or enemy who could kill many of them/
But Warhammer Fantasy ? in real world,all elves faction would vanish after less then 500 years,all dwarves after less then 1000,and after 2000 years we should have only goblins,skaven,undead and maybe Slann.
Becouse all human except undead one would be replaced,too.

So, what i would do to made elves plausible?
1.High Elves - magic fortress unable to crack with normal weapon,superhuman strenghts and speed,magic armour and magic weapons.Thanks to that ,let say,100 elves could wipe out 500 veteran human soldiers loosing 3 or less.
2.Wood elves - strenght,speed,magic,and forest helping them fight.

 

[Aldarion]

That is my problem with elves in war - they either must be one- elf - army/or ,at least,company/ or they would be wiped out in less then 1000 years,even if they win every battle.
That is also problem with all settling except LOTR./there are logical reasons why elves there do not need fight much or enemy who could kill many of them/
But Warhammer Fantasy ? in real world,all elves faction would vanish after less then 500 years,all dwarves after less then 1000,and after 2000 years we should have only goblins,skaven,undead and maybe Slann.
Becouse all human except undead one would be replaced,too.

So, what i would do to made elves plausible?
1.High Elves - magic fortress unable to crack with normal weapon,superhuman strenghts and speed,magic armour and magic weapons.Thanks to that ,let say,100 elves could wipe out 500 veteran human soldiers loosing 3 or less.
2.Wood elves - strenght,speed,magic,and forest helping them fight.

Agreed. Most of fantasy simply does not think through the implications of Elves being damn-near immortal.

 

[Aldarion]

And now for dwarves:

Building a Fantasy Army – Dwarves

Physiology and Biology Fantasy dwarfs (dwarves) are actually most realistic of fantasy races (along with elves). They tend to be significantly shorter than humans, but as broad or even broader than…

warfantasy.wordpress.com

 

[ATP]

And now for dwarves:

Building a Fantasy Army – Dwarves

Physiology and Biology Fantasy dwarfs (dwarves) are actually most realistic of fantasy races (along with elves). They tend to be significantly shorter than humans, but as broad or even broader than…

military-fantasy.com

Good ideas,but since people hold horses in mines,dwarws should do the same.And,if they made rails,they could transport a lot using horses to pull them.
Which,of course,would work only underground,rails would be targeted elsywhere.
Weapons - since ancient greeks made kind of crossbow,dwarws would do the same,and something like mobile ballista as field artillery like romans,too

Heavy armour for all their infrantry would made them safe from archers.

Of course,you could always made dwarf calvary,just like in Hobbit movie....