WHat inspired this?
Nov 24, 2024 17:56:09 GMT -6
Post by saintofm on Nov 24, 2024 17:56:09 GMT -6
We take a look at something fictional we like and we get to explain the inspirations for it. Can be big or small, but might be a fn look inside the making of a game or book or movie.
And since I like Warhammer, les start with Fantasy and look at one of the armies. You can either continue with this ask questions, and or post the inspirations behind something else you like.
The Empire: Loosely based on Reissuance era German States, they are a dozen little nations that are bound together under the rule of an emperor. While very independent, to the point they have fought wars with each other, they are united under their faith, their culture, and the fact Chaos is painfully close so lets work together to halt the apocalypse that happens every other week.
First off we have the core of the army, its State Troops. Unlike most of the other human and dwarf factions, they do have a standing army that is well trained and and well armed for war.
Its modled off of the Pike and Shot formations of the 15th centuries.
The main units would be big blocks of pike armed soldiers. A wall of 02 foot spears coming forward at you would be frightening, and near suicidal for anyone not another wall of pikes. Supporting them from afar would be range units, first with crossbows but as technology improved then early firearms like the Aquabus. Eventually the Musket would make the pikes obsolete, but they were dominant on the fields of battle such as the ones during the English Civil War.
Cannons and Volley Guns would also be making their support. Cannons were around long before the hand held guns were around. the reason we call them hand guns or hand cannons as because they were literally handheld versions of them. Today a Hand Cannon is something we refer to a gun that's more powerful than a handgun should be, but back then it was less a figure of speech.
Volley guns come in alot of shapes and sizes including hand held. Take multiple gun barrels, put them together, and pull a single trigger or all a single cord, or light a single fuse. They would then go off at once or one or more at a time. They were the first attempt to deal wit the rate of fire of armaments at the time, and kept being used long since then. To some degree we still use varieties of them today, tough the tech s much better than they were back in the day. A single one could put a decent dent in a unit, certainly puts the Hellfire in the Helb Laster Volley gun; one of the more notorious units to face in the game. However their biggest issue was reload time. For more tradition cannons, they could shoot 5 to 20 pound stone or iron balls, with bigger pounders on the more defensive structures like Star Forts and Castle Walls. They didn't need to be that heavy as they had enough force to rip through enemy formations. And unlike modern cannon rounds which are design to pierce, these crushed their way through the target. A 5 or ten pounder alone could go through a good breastplate as seen with one photo of one museum piece that often makes the rounds of an unlucky cavalryman in Nepoleon's army.
Back to the melee, there were ways to deal with pikes that didn't need to involve shooting them till you ran out of powder. Their flanks were vulnerable and while they were more maneuverable than the Greek Phalanx they molded themselves off of, it was still something that needed protection. Depending on the parts of Europe this could be blocks of men with swords and shields like in Spain or Halberdiers like with HRE and Switzerland. You also had Landsknecht, men that were usually the biggest, strongest, and fiercest warriors. THe name roughly means Double Pay as these guys were usually in the front ranks and so were in the most danger (thus needed the hazard pay). While they could be armed like the other men in the army, they are famous for their Great Swords such as the German Zweinhander or the Swiss Flamberge. Between the blade and the wide handle they could puss up to knock down enemy pikes long enough for their fellows to stab the enemy with their own. I can also see after pushing them up, they can get up close and take them down themselves with triangular arcs for power. While not as slow as most video games would have you beleive, they were pretty fast, a longer blade demanded one have good ballence and better strength to use, and a wide angle to work properly. In game they are blocks of great sword weildign men in Plat armor, and act as bodyguards, often for generals on foot. This too has its influence in history, as when not on the feild of battle, they were often employed as bodyguards for merchants and nobles. Between war experience and their big swords, not many people wanted to mess with them.
On Horseback the heavy cavalry still saw use for many generations. While the lance would eventually be done away with, saber, stabbing blades, and long handled axes and Warhammers still saw their use. Its during the late medieval and early reissuance we get the classic knight in shining armor look as plat was king. While heavy, it often weighed less than what a modern soldier had to carry and was designed to be have the weight distributed (thee wide bottom of the breastplate for instance was there to rest on the hips, reducing most of its burden from your back). Other horsemen include Dragoons, which move around dismounted shoot their carbines. These get their representation in the outriders. Surprisingly enough two of the weapon options they have, the Repeating Musket has a realworld aspect to it and sounds like it came out a steam punk novel. The Grenade Launcher is another, although that was an infantry weapon and will get into that more latter.
Going off what someone said on the now defunct D4chan on the subject, The Pistoleers have their influence in Confederate tactics of the American Civil War. THey would run up on horse, pistol in each hand, harrass the enemy with their shots than run back to reload. Revolvers made this even more effective. Jessy James was one such example of this kind of Horsman.
Mortars are another option seen the battlefield. Named because they looked like the mortars used by pharmacists and even today still in the kitchen, they allowed a round to be lobbed at the enemy. This became even more devastating after the shrapnel round was invented. While they would come in later in history, they serve their purpose once used on the battlefield. I'm sure early ones were large and needed to be wheeled out, but many used in the 17 and 18 hundreds were small enough for two man teams to carry around effectively much like modern ones.
Flagellants are less reissuance and more medieval. During the years of the Black Plague, a third of Europe's population died due to the disease. Its where we get the practice term of Quarantine. Some people felt the world was going so upside down, there needed to be repentance and the best way to show one's sorrow was to beat the sin out of themselves via flagellation. This ended up getting them infected faster and thus dying faster, but its a practice by some Christian still do to the confused admiration of some and confused horror of others of that branch of religion.
A double headed eagle may be more the symbol of the Holy Roman Empire, Griffons take its place in the Empire of Man with some varieties having a double head. A widespread monster that spans the Eurasian continent, it combines the master of sky beasts (eagles) and land ones (Lions). They also seen in a positive light in Christianity as it was believed they mated for life, and thus were used as symbols of such. That and like other beasts and monsters real and otherwise, made for cool heraldry. I'm sure the Demigriffs, flightless varieties used by knights of the Empire, have a simalar influence.
Anything I miss?
Whats something cool that inspired your favorite fictional group or setting? And should I do my next post on another warhammer faction or Dragon Age?
And since I like Warhammer, les start with Fantasy and look at one of the armies. You can either continue with this ask questions, and or post the inspirations behind something else you like.
The Empire: Loosely based on Reissuance era German States, they are a dozen little nations that are bound together under the rule of an emperor. While very independent, to the point they have fought wars with each other, they are united under their faith, their culture, and the fact Chaos is painfully close so lets work together to halt the apocalypse that happens every other week.
First off we have the core of the army, its State Troops. Unlike most of the other human and dwarf factions, they do have a standing army that is well trained and and well armed for war.
Its modled off of the Pike and Shot formations of the 15th centuries.
The main units would be big blocks of pike armed soldiers. A wall of 02 foot spears coming forward at you would be frightening, and near suicidal for anyone not another wall of pikes. Supporting them from afar would be range units, first with crossbows but as technology improved then early firearms like the Aquabus. Eventually the Musket would make the pikes obsolete, but they were dominant on the fields of battle such as the ones during the English Civil War.
Cannons and Volley Guns would also be making their support. Cannons were around long before the hand held guns were around. the reason we call them hand guns or hand cannons as because they were literally handheld versions of them. Today a Hand Cannon is something we refer to a gun that's more powerful than a handgun should be, but back then it was less a figure of speech.
Volley guns come in alot of shapes and sizes including hand held. Take multiple gun barrels, put them together, and pull a single trigger or all a single cord, or light a single fuse. They would then go off at once or one or more at a time. They were the first attempt to deal wit the rate of fire of armaments at the time, and kept being used long since then. To some degree we still use varieties of them today, tough the tech s much better than they were back in the day. A single one could put a decent dent in a unit, certainly puts the Hellfire in the Helb Laster Volley gun; one of the more notorious units to face in the game. However their biggest issue was reload time. For more tradition cannons, they could shoot 5 to 20 pound stone or iron balls, with bigger pounders on the more defensive structures like Star Forts and Castle Walls. They didn't need to be that heavy as they had enough force to rip through enemy formations. And unlike modern cannon rounds which are design to pierce, these crushed their way through the target. A 5 or ten pounder alone could go through a good breastplate as seen with one photo of one museum piece that often makes the rounds of an unlucky cavalryman in Nepoleon's army.
Back to the melee, there were ways to deal with pikes that didn't need to involve shooting them till you ran out of powder. Their flanks were vulnerable and while they were more maneuverable than the Greek Phalanx they molded themselves off of, it was still something that needed protection. Depending on the parts of Europe this could be blocks of men with swords and shields like in Spain or Halberdiers like with HRE and Switzerland. You also had Landsknecht, men that were usually the biggest, strongest, and fiercest warriors. THe name roughly means Double Pay as these guys were usually in the front ranks and so were in the most danger (thus needed the hazard pay). While they could be armed like the other men in the army, they are famous for their Great Swords such as the German Zweinhander or the Swiss Flamberge. Between the blade and the wide handle they could puss up to knock down enemy pikes long enough for their fellows to stab the enemy with their own. I can also see after pushing them up, they can get up close and take them down themselves with triangular arcs for power. While not as slow as most video games would have you beleive, they were pretty fast, a longer blade demanded one have good ballence and better strength to use, and a wide angle to work properly. In game they are blocks of great sword weildign men in Plat armor, and act as bodyguards, often for generals on foot. This too has its influence in history, as when not on the feild of battle, they were often employed as bodyguards for merchants and nobles. Between war experience and their big swords, not many people wanted to mess with them.
On Horseback the heavy cavalry still saw use for many generations. While the lance would eventually be done away with, saber, stabbing blades, and long handled axes and Warhammers still saw their use. Its during the late medieval and early reissuance we get the classic knight in shining armor look as plat was king. While heavy, it often weighed less than what a modern soldier had to carry and was designed to be have the weight distributed (thee wide bottom of the breastplate for instance was there to rest on the hips, reducing most of its burden from your back). Other horsemen include Dragoons, which move around dismounted shoot their carbines. These get their representation in the outriders. Surprisingly enough two of the weapon options they have, the Repeating Musket has a realworld aspect to it and sounds like it came out a steam punk novel. The Grenade Launcher is another, although that was an infantry weapon and will get into that more latter.
Going off what someone said on the now defunct D4chan on the subject, The Pistoleers have their influence in Confederate tactics of the American Civil War. THey would run up on horse, pistol in each hand, harrass the enemy with their shots than run back to reload. Revolvers made this even more effective. Jessy James was one such example of this kind of Horsman.
Mortars are another option seen the battlefield. Named because they looked like the mortars used by pharmacists and even today still in the kitchen, they allowed a round to be lobbed at the enemy. This became even more devastating after the shrapnel round was invented. While they would come in later in history, they serve their purpose once used on the battlefield. I'm sure early ones were large and needed to be wheeled out, but many used in the 17 and 18 hundreds were small enough for two man teams to carry around effectively much like modern ones.
Flagellants are less reissuance and more medieval. During the years of the Black Plague, a third of Europe's population died due to the disease. Its where we get the practice term of Quarantine. Some people felt the world was going so upside down, there needed to be repentance and the best way to show one's sorrow was to beat the sin out of themselves via flagellation. This ended up getting them infected faster and thus dying faster, but its a practice by some Christian still do to the confused admiration of some and confused horror of others of that branch of religion.
A double headed eagle may be more the symbol of the Holy Roman Empire, Griffons take its place in the Empire of Man with some varieties having a double head. A widespread monster that spans the Eurasian continent, it combines the master of sky beasts (eagles) and land ones (Lions). They also seen in a positive light in Christianity as it was believed they mated for life, and thus were used as symbols of such. That and like other beasts and monsters real and otherwise, made for cool heraldry. I'm sure the Demigriffs, flightless varieties used by knights of the Empire, have a simalar influence.
Anything I miss?
Whats something cool that inspired your favorite fictional group or setting? And should I do my next post on another warhammer faction or Dragon Age?
You add them to your profile as you do them around the forum.
