Countdown to Open Beta - Pahlava

[jerby]

so what is this Iranian longsword? bronze? iron? screenie?

[sharrukin]

so what is this Iranian longsword? bronze? iron? screenie?

It would be of iron, similar in many ways to the Scytho-Sarmatian longsword.

[Little Legioner]

You guys proud of all TW community!

Parthians were Rohan Kingdom of ancient times! Excellent reflection of true characteristics.

and you Khelvan go and get some sleep. We need you alive mate

[Spendios]

Fantastic preview with an extroardinary variety of horse archers and as always very interesting informations about Parthian culture and religion, can't wait to play with them !

[Birka Viking]

Wow great preview EB...

[GoreBag]

Wow, I wasn't expecting another preview. Things are getting pretty close to release, I'm sure.

[Copperhaired Berserker!]

oh dear, I'm gonna do a story for EB, you know, like Maltz's story, except for EB. Man, it will be hard to choose what faction to start with. Or maybe, I could do all factions in one story! Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssss! What a idea!

[vizigothe]

sleep is overrated

good preview, wasnt expectign this when i logged in today

[O_Stratigos]

Nice preview, ought to keep all horse lovers out there very happy!!
A question; one of the HA units its shown holding the bow across indicating that it's used the "normal" way, arrow on the left side. IIRC Parthians were using a "thumb ring", placing the arrow on the right side of the bow, is this correct or is it because it’s still WIP?

O_Stratigos

[Turin]

Um... did anyone else notice that the first cavalry unit in the list had BLONDE beards? Who are they? Galatians? LOL JK, simple mistake, I'm sure they'll fix it.

Anyways, the thing that made me crazy in the good way was the two handed lance animation. I assume this breathrough will be applied to all those Successor cavalries as well right? I mean, something this amazing cannot be left unused!

Oh well, even if the animation is not implemented, I'll still be able to put it on myself.

[Steppe Merc]

Um, Iranians were often blonde. They were "white", and though many were brown or black haired, blondes were certainlty more common in some tribes than other colorings.

[Zero1]

Werent the Indo-Iranians a Germanic subgroup?, or am I mistaken?

Because I remember hearing something to that effect somewhere

[sharrukin]

Werent the Indo-Iranians a Germanic subgroup?, or am I mistaken?

Because I remember hearing something to that effect somewhere

In older texts they are sometimes referred to as Indo-Germanic while in modern usage we use Indo-European.

Many of the North Iranian groups had lighter hair.

[RandyKapp]

Very pretty, even if i hate mounted archers with a burning passion of burneyness.

[Steppe Merc]

Why don't you like horse archers?

[jerby]

Why don't you like horse archers?

when i started rtw. no historical knowledge whatsoever. start seleucids as second campaign. and get a 10-stack-levy pikemen army Olibterated by HA's running along the red lines...
horribly boring, horribly humiliating...
i ,personally, dont use them that much as well. but they pose an interesting threat.

[Steppe Merc]

To fight horse archers, you need to fight as their enemies truly did. You need enough of your own cavalry to chase them off as well as skirmishers. You can't expect to defeat horse archers with infantry, it won't happen, just as it didn't happen in real life.

[Urnamma]

You can also use long ranged artillery, like ballistae. It can chase them off. Alexander used it to good effect against the Sakae.

[GoreBag]

You'd think foot archers would do just fine.

[Angadil]

They do, generally. However, the example Urnamma mentioned was a bit special, as it involved a river crossing. The ballistae forced the Sakae away from the opposite bank and the Makedonians could cross without being harassed. That whole battle, btw, is a very good example of how a horse archer army could be beaten historically. Most of that will work in EB too.

[jerby]

yeah...i read about that a bit..
the cav was in Wedge formation, the first party got hit (bad) but mamanged to cirle around a section of sakae's, and another party sandwiched them..but it was a textual source and thus hard to interprate.Plus, it was Valerio Massimmo, and thus not the most acurate one..

[Angadil]

Interested in that episode? (IIRC, it's been claimed to be the first recorded use of field artillery) There's a valuable analysis of Arrian's account (the main source for it) in this webpage. You should definitely end up with a reasonably clear idea of, at the very least, the competing theories about what actually happened.

[Turin]

Humm... excuse the latent anthropologist in me... but...

Does this mean that the Sarmatians and Scythians too were light haired? How different were they from their brethern in the German forests?

[sharrukin]

Humm... excuse the latent anthropologist in me... but...

Does this mean that the Sarmatians and Scythians too were light haired? How different were they from their brethern in the German forests?

Actually the Germans were not as light haired as we are accustomed to imagine, and light hair tends to increase in northern Germany, Poland and some parts of Russia. So the Cimmerians, Scythians, and Sarmatians were probably (guesswork) blonder than the present day Germans, just as the poles are. We do not actually know exactly how many were blonde but a considerable portion were.

[Zero1]

Sooooo, what your saying is that lighter hair is in fact more of a Slavic/Indo-Iranian trait then a Germanic one?

Forgive my question-asking but I am legitamitely curious

[Chester]

The steppe HA's could fire up to 10 arrows per minute whilst moving. I'm not sure what the rate is in RTW, but that is insane!

I saw some video about a russian man who's devoted a large part of his life to perfecting the HA combat style by which the hun's used.

This guy is amazing. He emulates the huns perfectly. He keeps all the arrows clinched in the same fist that holds the bow. He simply fires the arrow and as his hand reaches back for the string, he's already got another arrow waiting there. He shuffles them into position with the hand that holds the arrows and bow. It fired much like an archaic automatic gun. He did this while moving at a good speed on the horse, hitting the target with high accuracy.

Now that I think about it, he rarely used his reigns, he could steer the horse by shifting his arms in the air quickly and using his hips.

[Spongly]

Actually the Germans were not as light haired as we are accustomed to imagine, and light hair tends to increase in northern Germany, Poland and some parts of Russia. So the Cimmerians, Scythians, and Sarmatians were probably (guesswork) blonder than the present day Germans, just as the poles are. We do not actually know exactly how many were blonde but a considerable portion were.

Tacitus indeed says that the Germans are known for their red hair, rather than blonde, which the Romans considered more a feature of the Celts and various other people.

[Steppe Merc]

Sooooo, what your saying is that lighter hair is in fact more of a Slavic/Indo-Iranian trait then a Germanic one?

Forgive my question-asking but I am legitamitely curious

I don't think Slavic, but I'm not sure. But it would explain my Mom's Polish and blonde, and why all of my brothers are half Polish, and quite blonde...
But there were many Iranian peoples. Some Scythian mummified royals looked like they would have fit right in in Sweden. Some Iranian peoples were darker than others (Persians), but there were a good amount of blondes.
Actually, you know the whole Aryan race crap that Hitler invented? Aryan is (possibely) what the Iranians called Iran, and (possibely) themselves. There is more proof than just Hitler's "proof", but I think it's incunclusive.

[Chester]

Question- Are huns and sarmatians white or asian?

[Moros]

sarmatians are white I believe, huns are asian, right?