Dark Age Historians Needed!

[ULC]

I am currently working on a Dark Age mod for MTW (eventually M2TW, but first things first ) As of right now, I need more historians . Anyone with knowledge of the period is welcome. I am also especially strained on Flags and Colors for the factions, as find good ones is hard.

I am having also a problem with historically accurate units, and any help here would be greatly appreciated. I have no permanent DATW team (yet), but if enough people wish to join, I will put up a sign up sheet.

To see what its all about, click on the link in my signature.

[Abokasee]

Sorry mate but its not the Historian bit thats the problem... its the Dark age bit, nobody is too sure exactly what happend, only monks who mades things up.

[ULC]

Well the time period I am covering isn't really the "Dark Ages", but more of the transitional period between "Dark" and "Medieval". As to information, I would have thought the Islamic scholars and Eastern Romans would have kept decent records, as did the Visigoths, Lombards, and Franks(eventually).

Anyway, thats not the point. If anyone with any information can help, please do. Every little contribution would help immensely, and links to such information sources would be even better.

[Caius]

You should post in the Monastery.

[Mithrandir]

Moved.

[ULC]

Thanks, I didn't know where to put it, so it ended up in the entrance hall.

[Empirate]

Actually, flags and colors are historically inaccurate for anything before the late Middle Ages. So you just pick and choose for earlier periods. For example, the only kind of standard the French realm had in the high middle ages (roughly from the 10th century onwards, although it is quite a bit incorrect to already speak of "French" then) was the Oriflamme: A long pole with a bit of white or orange fabric that had long, trailing, red ribbons tied to it. This Oriflamme was visible from far away, but it was not a banner or flag in the true sense of these words. It looked a bit like a firebrand trailing flame, hence the name. We all know that the French in the game(s) are depicted in blue, with white (silver) or yellow (gold) added where deemed appropriate. But in actual history, soldiers didn't wear uniforms until much, much later. Mostly the designs of individual knights and barons were known to the leaders of a host, and these followed the Oriflamme. The knights and barons in turn commanded their house troops, who were known to them personally. In the chaos of battle, it was not rare for allies to mistakenly attack each other. This problem was increased by the fact that the English used the Oriflamme, too. In the late Middle Ages following Edward III., the golden lily on a blue field (the fleur-de-lis, the traditional design of the French royal house) was adopted by the English kings, who laid claim to the French throne. Identifying allies and enemies in the middle of a battleground must have been close to impossible, and required extended heraldic knowledge.

So I guess you should just stick on colors and designs as you see fit. The Franks of the 7th to 9th century (which period you seem to be aiming for), Lombards, Saxons, Bavarians, Swabians, Burgundians, Visigoths of Northern Spain and so on didn't have any, but smooth gameplay demands you install some. OTOH, more "civilized" peoples like the Byzantines used banner-like symbols, of course. These were mostly Roman Eagles just like in ancient times, and not flags, either.

[King Jan III Sobieski]

If I knew more about the period, I'd help. I'm affraid all I know is a little bit about Arthurian legends.

Although, I remember once a Professor of Medieval History once told me that the Dark Ages aren't dark to those who study it, so you shouldn't call it such when in their presence...or something like that.

[_Tristan_]

You may have a look on some of the Osprey editions lines of books....

Some of those even have some more-than-great illustrations by Angus McBride, which are a must-have for a TW player and a history fan...

The articles are written by specialist in warfare and thus relate a lot to what you might be looking for...

PM if you want some more info...