01-12-2006, 07:27 PM
Thanks, Alexander,
The reason I was surprised at the number of thigh wounds represented in art is that it seems almost to imply that this was the target of choice and that killing was achieved by first wounding the opponent in order to open him up. My only problem with this notion was the difficulty I imagined in actually achieving such a shot, from over the shield rim.
My experience of shieldwall combat tells me that anyone with a big shield doesn't have to opt to protect either his face or his legs; he can easily do both, except when targeted by multiple opponents - a strategy which has inherent dangers for the said opponents.
Thinking it over, I came to the conclusion I mentioned above, that thigh wounds might be inflicted as the lines closed. I'm pretty confident that practical experiments will prove this.
I know art has license, but I feel that the art and the literature together make a strong case for the popularity of "low-line" attacks and so I see what Gioi wrote as being relevant. The effects of such wounds as he describes would be highly desirable from the attacker's point of view; the fact that the enemy is not killed is a small loss and is compensated for by the fact that his comrades will try to avoid him and thus their order will be disrupted. Also, a wounded man serves as a grim warning to his comrades and as an excuse to the unenthusiastic soldier to withdraw himself from th fray, in order to carry his comrade to the medics. Even if none of this happens, there is a good chance that the wounded man will fall down, disrupting his own phalanx, perhaps presenting an opportunity for another stroke or being trampled to death by his own men. The best he can hope for is to get safely off the battlefield, thus reducing his army's numbers as effectively as if he were dead.
The reason I was surprised at the number of thigh wounds represented in art is that it seems almost to imply that this was the target of choice and that killing was achieved by first wounding the opponent in order to open him up. My only problem with this notion was the difficulty I imagined in actually achieving such a shot, from over the shield rim.
My experience of shieldwall combat tells me that anyone with a big shield doesn't have to opt to protect either his face or his legs; he can easily do both, except when targeted by multiple opponents - a strategy which has inherent dangers for the said opponents.
Thinking it over, I came to the conclusion I mentioned above, that thigh wounds might be inflicted as the lines closed. I'm pretty confident that practical experiments will prove this.
I know art has license, but I feel that the art and the literature together make a strong case for the popularity of "low-line" attacks and so I see what Gioi wrote as being relevant. The effects of such wounds as he describes would be highly desirable from the attacker's point of view; the fact that the enemy is not killed is a small loss and is compensated for by the fact that his comrades will try to avoid him and thus their order will be disrupted. Also, a wounded man serves as a grim warning to his comrades and as an excuse to the unenthusiastic soldier to withdraw himself from th fray, in order to carry his comrade to the medics. Even if none of this happens, there is a good chance that the wounded man will fall down, disrupting his own phalanx, perhaps presenting an opportunity for another stroke or being trampled to death by his own men. The best he can hope for is to get safely off the battlefield, thus reducing his army's numbers as effectively as if he were dead.
