housecarls

[jimmi6j]

in the unit txt file housecarls are included for the danish... are they vikings (coz i couldnt see them on the list) or did housecarls get left out of the game?

[Hosakawa Tito]

Hello jimmi6j, welcome to the org http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif I believe the housecarls are Vikings. They will be included in the ex-pack that is due out in this spring.

[middy]

uuhm not vikings....I would know

1 definition found

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) :

Housecarl \Housecarl`\, n. [OE. huscarle. See House, and
Carl.] (Eng. Arch[ae]ol.)
A household servant; also, one of the bodyguard of King
Canute.

[Sir Moody]

yes in MTW Housecarls are Vikings

in RL no they wernt

[housecarl]

Introduced by King Canute who preferred the use of elite troops the housecarls. The Anglo-Saxon Housecarls were used to protect the king and as professional soldiers who were trained to peak efficiency. They were maintained by a modified tax called danegeld ( not to be confused with the Viking danegeld). this was unpopular but afforded the country a trained fighting force. To be a housecarl was considered a honour.

During the battle of Stamford Bridge, the housecarls were used to good effect to destroy Harald Hardrada and Tostig. the exact number of housecarls used was unknown but would have been between 2500 and 3000 men. At the battle of Hastings King Harold would have had about 2000 available, although because of the march south about a 1000 is more likely. Senior Royal members such as Gyrth and Leofwin, Harold's brothers would each have had a body guard of housecarls.

Like the Thegns the Housecarls would have worn armour but not unfortuately the Fyrd, although most had helmets with a nose guard. The shields they used were often round and the Bayeux tapestry indicates that kite shape shields were used quite commonly, especially in the shield wall tactic.

The housecarl would have his own sword. This was a personal attachment that he would be used to using and would be like an extension to his body. Developments in sword making came from the Danes. It was the process of forging twisted bars of iron together to give a more durable implement. The terror weapon used by the Saxons was the double handed battle axe. this was a large axe whose honed edge was about 30 cm long. Swung from side to side, it had the ability to cut down a mounted soldier and his horse in a single blow.

Hope you don't mind thought you might be interested?

[middy]

Thats nice.. Never heard the expression housecarl before...:)

In danish there is something called hirdsmand and a lord would have a hird. Thats a body of fighting men that served the lord. So its prolly housecarl in english, since its means about the same

[housecarl]

Middy do you have any references for the hirdsmand? I have been searching through my books and did a quitck search on the interent but can find nothing. Or is it simply as you suggest a English/Danish spelling difference? I am quite intrigued. Another spelling used sometimes in English is Huscarl.

The housecarls formed the spear head of any army right up until the Conquest. After the Conquest the housecarls seem to have completely disappeared. Certainly the vast majority died on Senlac ridge, fighting around the king, but not all. Most of those that did survive, along with many of King Harold's thegns, seem to have crossed to the continent as mercenary troops. Many of these made it as far as Byzantium and became members of the Varangian Guard, so much so that, by the twelfth century, the Varangian Guard was sometimes referred to as 'the English Guard'.

[Captain Fishpants]

Quote[/b] (Hosakawa Tito @ Jan. 20 2003,20:49)]Hello jimmi6j, welcome to the org http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif I believe the housecarls are Vikings. They will be included in the ex-pack that is due out in this spring.
Housecarls are already in Medieval: Total War, but they are called Vikings on screen. Housecarl is a hangover from an earlier phase of development.

There will be new versions (plural) of Housecarls in the Viking Invasion expansion pack.

MikeB ~ CA

[middy]

Hirdsman is danish for Housecarl...

Captain Fishpants are you programmer on this site or on the game itself?

[Gregoshi]

The good Captain is a programmer for the games. All Creative Assembly employees (that we are aware of) will have the C/A shield as their avatar. IIRC, he's working on the Viking Invasion expansion.

[housecarl]

This all sounds good, does this mean we can look forward to Anglo-Saxon Housecarls wielding armour piecing two handed axes, similar to the Varangian guard in MTW

[Captain Fishpants]

Quote[/b] (middy @ Jan. 23 2003,08:55)]Hirdsman is danish for Housecarl...

Captain Fishpants are you programmer on this site or on the game itself?
I fall into the developer group of folk working at CA, but the rather excellent moderators here decided I could have the standard CA shield logo thing with the word programmer once GilJaySmith bowed out to spend more time with his coding.

MikeB ~ CA

[middy]

Thats amazing, I develop on an open source game (yeah yeah its smalltime). 600-1000 actives (depending on how we set the game up). Well everytime I post I always get the odd flamers and odd angry player who lost somethig to my latest feature http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Thats a smalltime game, I would exspect programmers to be assulted in big time stuff like this http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Gregoshi]

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif Captain, it doesn't matter whether you be a developer, programmer or secretary. Because you work for CA the patrons here will expect you to be the all-knowing Answer Man of Total War. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif

[Captain Fishpants]

Quote[/b] (Gregoshi @ Jan. 23 2003,22:39)]http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/joker.gif Captain, it doesn't matter whether you be a developer, programmer or secretary. Because you work for CA the patrons here will expect you to be the all-knowing Answer Man of Total War. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif
All-knowing? Hmm. Mostly-knowing with a side order of slight waffling is a strong possibility. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif If it makes people round here feel better, I've a 20-year - egad gadzooks that long - career in games.

I don't actually program, which is why I'm careful to give programmers their due credit and not claim to be one.

However, all that aside, when I can make a contribution here, I'll add my tiny portion of wisdom to a thread.

MikeB ~ CA

[middy]

20 years...

/me bows to the master

Thats impressive again..

I find making features that actually work exstremly hard. Even if discussed with fellow developers it becomes some kind of guessing contest, why people think or do not thing it will work. When you approach the players half of them like it and half of them hate it because it affects their current strategies and so forth.

So the only real posibility is to code the damn feature and test it, and I hate removing hard work because it didnt work http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif. This makes it both very rewarding when it works out but very frustrating when U get flamed for making crap.

I wonder if its like that when U actually live off it