| Gone Fishing | 06 Dec 2016 9:01 a.m. PST |
Perhaps there's a better way of putting it, but I'm only on my first cup of tea, so be kind. I hope the title is still clear enough. I'm looking for what an enemy would look like advancing towards one across a field. What, say, could be discerned from a thousand yards? Five hundred? One hundred? I'm especially interested in what distance general equipment and faces become visible (instead of merely blobs of colour). Howard Whitehouse's Battle in Africa had a very handy page of illustrations for this, but alas, I no longer own it. I'm hoping one of you can give me guidance. Thank you in advance! (I'm cross-posting this to Medieval Discussion because that's the period I'm thinking of, but obviously this isn't a period specific question!) |
| Martin Rapier | 06 Dec 2016 9:33 a.m. PST |
Have a look here: link I tried to cut and paste but the horror of google books prevented me. 1865 Service Regs with location distances. |
| Gone Fishing | 06 Dec 2016 9:41 a.m. PST |
Thank you kindly, Martin, that was exactly what I was looking for. If anyone else knows a good source of information I'd still love to see it, but now I have a point to work from. Much appreciated! Daryl |
| Rakkasan | 06 Dec 2016 10:20 a.m. PST |
Follow this link: link
At the bottom of the page is a good depiction of what Roman Legionnaires and Cavalry looked like at various distances between 50 and 1700 meters. |
| Weasel | 06 Dec 2016 10:45 a.m. PST |
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| Rich Bliss | 06 Dec 2016 11:53 a.m. PST |
And that's why they invented flags. |
| bsrlee | 06 Dec 2016 11:55 a.m. PST |
Or you could just go to a 'city' and look at the people walking along the streets – one city block is usually 100 yards (check a street map, some cities have long thin blocks due to terrain), so someone at the other end of the block is suitably reduced, someone several blocks away etc. etc. You will quickly get a real idea of how hard it is to pick out details, and how futile it is to try to pick an individual target at other than point blank range. It should also give you an idea of what the range of various weapons is – a good bow shot could annoy someone at up to 2 1/2 blocks but is stopped by some armour at a bit less than one block, a ballista is effective to around 3 blocks. |
| kodiakblair | 06 Dec 2016 12:48 p.m. PST |
The Roman army link is excellent. When I started gaming in 2mm I'd always hear "But what are they ?" Then I'd think to myself " can't tell a mass of flesh colour from regular block of metallic ! Hmmm Ideal opponent " |
| Gone Fishing | 06 Dec 2016 5:16 p.m. PST |
Yes, I love the Roman link as well. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words! Thank you all again! |
| Buckeye AKA Darryl | 06 Dec 2016 5:52 p.m. PST |
The book called Battle in Africa (by Paddy Griffith I believe) had a diagram of this very thing. I no longer own the book so cannot provide details, but I am sure we have several gamers who have a copy. |
| Rich Bliss | 06 Dec 2016 8:05 p.m. PST |
Battle in Africa was by Howard Whitehouse |
shows how using inks makes it easier to paint a 15mm scale army.