Hellenistic/antiquity fantasy vs medieval fantasy

I believe there are records of galley slaves being fed better food than normal so that they'd row faster. Kinda like giving a racehorse premium fodder.

Piles helped end the military dominance of mounted knights.

I know that "piles" is a typo, but I can't help thinking...

Knight: "Ooh, my piles are flaring up again! Damn these hard war-saddles, I can't ride in the battle today!"

Dann android auto correct. One of these days I have to figure out how to turn the thing off.

Pikes pre-date medieval knighthood by many, many centuries. Mounted soldiers in full plate armour co-existed with firearms and pikes for a very long time, and often used firearms themselves.

Knights fell out of favour because it became increasingly clear to the rulers of Europe that military vassals made for very reluctant fighters. So they were phased out of combat duty, and replaced with paid, professional militaries and mercenaries - groups that could absolutely afford to field mounted cavalry of their own.

My impression was that it was the Burgundy wars that made the mounted knight obsolete. The mounted knight hung around a bit longer as a harasser and for jousts but by the end of the 15th century pikes began to dominate warfare and by 1503 pike and shot tactics dominated warfare.

Speaking of which, when was it that guns officially outclassed bows and crossbows?

They outclassed bows when they were made with rifling and cartridges. They outclassed the crossbow pretty early on, being able to be reloaded without having to winch like 300 lbs of force.

English-style longbows were technically capable of outclassing muskets and crossbows, to the point that Ben Franklin considered arming the revolutionary army with incredibly cheap-to-manufacture longbows rather than the difficult to manufacture musket and rifle.

The problem is it takes years to master their usage, whereas with crossbows and guns, you can get a man combat proficient in a few weeks or months. So when you inevitably lose one, you don't lose seven years of training.

Probably around the late 15th to early 16th centuries. The matchlock arquebus had a higher rate of fire than the heavy crossbow, a shorter training period than the longbow, and was more powerful than either. Plus, the weapon's effectiveness was not dependent on physical strength, so you could still shoot even if weakened from fatigue, malnutrition or illness.

But while rifled guns were used for hunting and target shooting, smoothbore muskets were favored for military use, since they were much quicker and easier to reload. It wasn't until the invention of the Minié bullet and the "rifled musket" in the mid-19th century, that smoothbores fell out of favor.

edited 19th Aug '16 9:29:54 AM by pwiegle

Funny you should mention that. I once thought guns did not supersede bows and crossbows until the American Revolution. ^_^;;

Regarding the pike vs gun debate, pikes were what limited cavalry charges during the medieval period, but knights still used their horses for mobility and were still effective fighting on foot. Guns that could penetrate armor and made soldiers easier to train is what ended knights for good.

edited 24th Aug '16 7:34:53 PM by shiro_okami

Pikes and longbows ended the dominance of the knights, and guns removed them from the battlefield altogether.

Cannons also changed the dynamics of warfare. Before their introduction, local lords held a lot of power since it was easy for them to build a well-defended castle. Often some lords had more power than their nominal king. Lords, in turn, relied on a small number of elite warriors (knights) as their main fighting force.

The introduction of gunpowder artillery (around the time of the Hundred Years War) made medieval-style fortifications increasingly worthless. Only kings had enough ressources to field large numbers of cannons, which meant that power became centralized. With the collapse of the feudal system, knights fell out of favor, and conscripted pikemen and bowmen dominated the battlefield.

Well, we are way off topic. I would suggest moving the discussion re the downfall of knighthood to another thread.

Anyone have anything to add regarding antiquity vs medieval settings?

Side-note: This thread is giving me a crap-ton of inspiration for that Post-United States North American Fantasy Story I've been working on for the last few years. All these details put in context are awesome!

You're writing Fallout?

I'm kidding. I'm taking a lot from this thread too. It's not all news to me, but a lot of it is.