Scots

[anders]

The scots will certainly have access to feudal knights, as the feudal knight in the .coms unit prewiev is scottish.

Moreover it can be expected that they will have some sort of pikemen to represent the "long wooden pole" wielding infantry of the battle of bannockburn.

Its also very probable that they wil be set up with some kind of two-handed sword wielding infantry to depict claymores. that may not be too historicaly correct, as the claymore as far as I understand was a 1500-1700 weapon.

Apart from this it will probably be general catholic units, spearmen, archers etc.

[Guillaume le Batard]

I suspect that the Scots will have access to some sort of slightly upgraded unit at the game's start to help offset what will assumably be a challenging situation economically and militarily.

IIRC, in MTW1 (as rebels) they had "highlanders" in the early era, which actually made a bit of difference for them in battles against other early infantry types.

Just guessing they'll make an early re-appearance. What do you guys think?

Guillaume

P.S. I am not typically your "Total War Small Faction Fanatic" -- my handling of economics is way too poor, and I always grind it into the dust -- but I am strangely looking forward to playing as Scotland!

[anders]

agreed, the scots need some sort of equalizer if they are to hang tough with those imperialistic english bastards. the highlanders with "excellent attack" and fast movement would be good for that. however i think some sort of pike will be just as important in the equalizing role, as they will offset any english cavalry superiority. they are also, historically, the unit that secured scottish independence at the time.

I love playing small nations, nothing like making denmark an economical and military superpower through trading and small, elite housecarl armies.

speaking of denmark and england, i recently read that the english/welsh longbow originally stemmed from scandinavia. armored, axe-carrying viking longbowmen anyone?

[IrishArmenian]

I thot Kilt is a branch of some sort of Tunic-like clothing came over to Britain with the Romano-British. The Scots developed their own type, made of wool. Of course, the tartan is much more recent, dating I think to the early 17th century. So they could wear a wool tunic of some sort.

[Guillaume le Batard]

...however i think some sort of pike will be just as important in the equalizing role, as they will offset any english cavalry superiority. they are also, historically, the unit that secured scottish independence at the time.

Agreed on the equalizing role of pikes for the Scots (or anyone else for that matter!). I'm guessing that pikes won't be trainable until late in the game though, just as in MTW1.

speaking of denmark and england, i recently read that the english/welsh longbow originally stemmed from scandinavia. armored, axe-carrying viking longbowmen anyone?

A terrible sight, indeed!

Your post got me curious, so I did a little looking into the origins of what came to be known as the English Longbow. It seems (although I am *no* historian) long bows have been used in the British Isles for a very long time --they have found remains of neolithic long bows: http://webapp1.somerset.gov.uk/her/d....asp?prn=23805 in England. Of course that doesn't mean that there wasn't a Nordic tradition of their use, as well. They were reportedly used throughout history in Japan, Africa, and North America, as well.

Guillaume

[Randarkmaan]

Long bows were normal bows almost everywhere, the English just used it better, and had a special kind of arrow (bodkin).

[Furious Mental]

Supposedly, as far as Viking archery went, Norway is where it was at. Apparently Norwegians used longbows of composite construction (iron and wood). Most of the Vikings active in England were of course Danes but there were significant numbers of Norwegians too. Whether or not they catalysed the widespread use of the longbow amongst English I don't know. As far as I know it was after contact with the Welsh that the English took to archery.

[Gealai]

The Viking longbow didn't use a iron-wood composite construction, it just made use out of natural difference between the core and the mantlewood of the yew employing each were it's strenghts are
, as all european bowmakers since thousends of years...

However iron might have been use sometimes, IIRC to strenghen the sinew-wood connection. A clear sign of a Viking's bow were also the strongly backcurved tips.

[Spino]

Agreed on the equalizing role of pikes for the Scots (or anyone else for that matter!). I'm guessing that pikes won't be trainable until late in the game though, just as in MTW1.

A terrible sight, indeed!

Your post got me curious, so I did a little looking into the origins of what came to be known as the English Longbow. It seems (although I am *no* historian) long bows have been used in the British Isles for a very long time --they have found remains of neolithic long bows: http://webapp1.somerset.gov.uk/her/d....asp?prn=23805 in England. Of course that doesn't mean that there wasn't a Nordic tradition of their use, as well. They were reportedly used throughout history in Japan, Africa, and North America, as well.

Guillaume

As far as the Scots are concerned pikes should not come too late in the game. The Scots were using the schiltron formation in the late 13th century, more than 200 years before the period represented in MTW2 ends (mid 1500s). Flemish militia also used pikes versus the French at the battle of Courtrai (aka the Battle of Golden Spurs) which took place in 1302.

[hoetje]

As far as the Scots are concerned pikes should not come too late in the game. The Scots were using the schiltron formation in the late 13th century, more than 200 years before the period represented in MTW2 ends (mid 1500s). Flemish militia also used pikes versus the French at the battle of Courtrai (aka the Battle of Golden Spurs) which took place in 1302.

VLAANDEREN DEN LEEUW!!!!!

a.k.a Flanders,the lion !!!!! :P
(=the flemish'warcry)

[Spino]

VLAANDEREN DEN LEEUW!!!!!

Uh... gesundheit?


LMAO! Just kidding...