Grelber | 02 Nov 2013 5:27 p.m. PST |
I was converting some Renegade Gallic archers and slingers to spearmen to provide a little extra variety, when I realized I was putting the spear in their right hand and shield on the left. Of course, this is the usual arrangement, since most humans are right handed, but there would have been some lefties in any army. Would any lad who tried to wield spear or sword with his left hand been forced to use his right hand instead (as they still did for writing in some schools when I was young)? Does anyone out there convert their figures so as to have a few southpaw warriors? Grelber |
ancientsgamer | 02 Nov 2013 5:51 p.m. PST |
Tradition dictates that many learned from their right hands, at least in Western culture. The Chinese did allow for training troops with left hand dominance though. This right handed bias made its way well into the 20th century and past WWII with many teachers when teaching penmanship. |
jpattern2 | 02 Nov 2013 6:27 p.m. PST |
Certainly whenever troops fought in ranks, right-handedness had to be enforced. If you're a righty who's ever tried to eat beside a lefty, you can imagine the chaos that might ensue otherwise. Maybe lefties who absolutely couldn't learn to fight right-handed became skirmishers or cooks or something. |
oldbob | 02 Nov 2013 6:33 p.m. PST |
I even had fire right handed on the fire range! |
Rudysnelson | 02 Nov 2013 6:45 p.m. PST |
jpattern2 is right about the guys fighting in drilled formations would all be trained to fight right handed. A left handed child was regarded as marked by God. Evilly cursed in some cultures or blessed in others. Maybe those prized swordsmen who fought with two-handed blades could have been left-handed. |
dglennjr | 02 Nov 2013 7:02 p.m. PST |
A majority of people/fighters/swordsmen were righties to begin with. Therefore, you often see castles and fortifications with stairs (many circular stairs)that go up in a clockwise fashion. Any attacker trying to attack up the stairs has his sword towards the 'inside' and can't swing his sword effectively and attack properly and therefore is at a disadvantage. The defender however, attacking down, has his weapon to the outside and can more effectively swing the weapon at his attacker giving him a distinct advantage. However, there are always exceptions to the rules and not all stairs are built the same. A clever attacker might send 'lefties' to assualt the stairs and keep the 'righties' for other attacking duties. I don't know if this was ever done and documented, but it would be interesting to read about it. David G. gamerarchitect.blogspot.com |
Wackmole9 | 02 Nov 2013 8:01 p.m. PST |
I have some very basic experience with Fencing and Sword fighting. I'm Left handed and it was a great advantage against right handed fighters. |
Lion in the Stars | 02 Nov 2013 8:40 p.m. PST |
It's roughly 1/7 of the population that are natural lefties, so the vast majority of the troops would fight righthanded naturally. When you're in a phalanx or shieldwall, you had to fight right-handed or you would be in deep trouble. No shield protecting you, and your spear would be in the way of everyone else. As far as forcing people to learn to do things right-handed, well, my little league coach back in the 1980s would not even teach someone how to throw left-handed, and lefties have an advantage in baseball! I have heard stories of young children showing signs of being left-handed getting their left arm strapped to their body to force them to use their right hand. |
jpattern2 | 02 Nov 2013 9:58 p.m. PST |
I've heard those stories, too, Lion. Apparently quite a few nuns weren't real supportive of left-handed writing, either. |
Chokidar | 03 Nov 2013 3:25 a.m. PST |
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korsun0 | 03 Nov 2013 7:20 a.m. PST |
@Chokidar – you beat me to it! And as a Kerr myself, I find that although naturally right handed, I'm quite capable left handed as well. Must be the genetics
.. |
Wyatt the Odd | 03 Nov 2013 8:02 a.m. PST |
In massed formations, such as the Greek phalanx, Roman century, or Saxon shield wall you fought right-handed because your shield also protected the man next to you as well as yourself. The Vikings theoretically figured out this weakness as there are reports that berzerkers – or at least those warriors armed with great axes – wielded them left-handed, which exploited the tendency of their foe to reposition their shield to protect themselves leaving their neighbor uncovered. Wyatt |
WarpSpeed | 04 Nov 2013 12:40 p.m. PST |
Right handedness=dexterity,left handedness=sinisterity.Rudy is quite right about the social view on left handed infants.I am reminded however how the Israelites created a left handed army that befuddled and defeated all their foes.Left handed gladiators also shared great success. |
ochoinlite | 05 Nov 2013 2:58 a.m. PST |
A preponderance of Bog People seem to have been left-handed.
Maybe you needed to learn to use your right hand or face being sacrificed.
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Mac1638 | 05 Nov 2013 5:26 a.m. PST |
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Whitwort Stormbringer | 05 Nov 2013 5:37 p.m. PST |
The Gripping Beast plastic Vikings come with a number of components of a left hand holding a weapon, which can be used to build either a dual-wielding or left-handed warrior. I used several of those to increase the variety in available poses. From the same set, I also used a number of spear and shield arms to re-position some models so that they were holding Dane-axes left-handed. The fact that they were left-handed was incidental, I just wanted more Dane-ax armed men, and in more poses, than the components in the set normally allow (twice as many Dane-axes as arms designed to hold them for some reason
), but the end result is that many more of my Anglo-Danes and Jomsvikings now appear to be left-handed than is probably historically accurate. Even so, I think it's kind of cool to have some lefties in there, and more believable than absolutely no-one being left handed (especially in a Dark Ages skirmish game, where many fighters would be relatively untrained or have only taken part in smaller engagements, and therefore might not have had their left-handedness drilled out of them). |
leg1on | 17 Mar 2014 6:36 p.m. PST |
I've looked around and can't find any, so I'm resurrecting this thread. For more of a rpg/skirmish style of play, are there any southpaw medieval fantasy minis out there that are true lefties. By that I mean weapon in left hand & shield, torch, lantern, &c. (i.e., not another weapon/dual wield) on right? Thanks much, Legion |
Lfseeney | 20 Mar 2014 1:03 p.m. PST |
A friend of mine cut and glued a space marine army all left handed. People would look, know something was wrong but not really see what. The lefty has always fought against the righty, the righty seldom against the lefty. Gives the lefty a large advantage. Like all things the church saw was different it was attacked and beaten. Wonder if they ever even said sorry for the damage caused to left handed folks. |
williamb | 23 Mar 2014 6:09 p.m. PST |
The Benjamite tribe was known for its left handed warriors. see PDF link |
williamb | 23 Mar 2014 6:13 p.m. PST |
Regarding left handed fantasy figures – some of Games Workshop plastic sets have left handed archers. |
Lion in the Stars | 23 Mar 2014 7:27 p.m. PST |
For more of a rpg/skirmish style of play, are there any southpaw medieval fantasy minis out there that are true lefties. By that I mean weapon in left hand & shield, torch, lantern, &c. (i.e., not another weapon/dual wield) on right? The Games Workshop "Empire Militia" box will suit you quite well. It's actually the old Mordheim plastics, so there should be all sorts of goodies in there. And it's plastic, so easy to convert if not. However, that's usually later clothing than most fantasy settings. |
leg1on | 23 Mar 2014 10:04 p.m. PST |
@Lion: Thanks. I'll look into that. I'm max flex on the attire angle. I don't mind some anachronism when it comes to clothes. |