What kinds of arms and armor might appear in a campaign set in the Middle East? Let's say this setting is pre-Islam, and the Crusades have yet to happen, or there's otherwise little to no European influence present.
I'm kind of looking for region-specific things, like jambiyas and shamshirs, and how those might (statistically) contrast with traditional European arms like straight blades. I'm really struggling with armor, because I have no idea what types of protective gear were historically present in this region. Were shields even used in the Middle East?
They used plain straight blades back in that time, just like the Romans, and before that they used leaf-shaped blades like the Greeks.
All your Jambiyas and Shamshirs and curved blades and whatnot are medieval inventions.
Mason Morales
Post fall of Rome or pre?
Nathan Rivera
Also even during medieval times they still used straight blades from time to time.
Gavin Brooks
>whatisarsmagica.jpg
Landon Ross
also, yes, they used shields, just like the Romans and Greeks. They also regularly used lamellar armor, like, wait for it, the Romans and Greeks.
Juan Scott
Armor? Something light. Not in terms of weight, but in terms of air circulation. Last thing you want is wearing a can over your body at 35 degrees Celcius. That's something around 95 in Retarded.
Jaxson Evans
This might be too early for your preference, but the information at this mod is amazing.
>Historically, the wealthy of elite of the great cities of Southern Arabia went to war clad in heavy armor and provided the backbone of the Khamis (national troops) that a city called upon in time of war. Thier sturdy chain armor was made of either bronze or iron, with bronze being more common as both copper and scorching sun were common in Arabia. The poets of later day Arabia were at their most elegant when describing the qualities of a fine suit of mail often saying that such a coat will ripple like a pool blown by wind and glitter like lightning. The thin and supple sword and tough camel hide shield, while not nearly so highly praised in poetry, are equally formidable parts of their arsenal.
>bronze muscle cuirass and linothorax have been dumped in favor of lighter quilted armour. It is easier to wear in the tropics as ancient Aigyptioi had proven. No pteryges, as they add to weight and can raise body temperature. A trusty "machaira" compliments their equipment too. Their helmet is an evolved Boiotian, the ideal helmet for providing some sort of eye protection in the desert and african coast. Their aspis has no bronze coating, relying on elephant skin instead. Natives had been using such an arrangement, for some time. Now Hoplitai Troglodutikes must do the same.
The wiki is incomplete though, I recommend downloading the mod if only to get the text files.
Jaxon Morales
You could also look at the Sassanid Empire. Horse archers, lots of light infantry and most importantly their cataphracts.
Gabriel Butler
Here are some more pictures of them
Brody Thompson
>I'm really struggling with armor, because I have no idea what types of protective gear were historically present in this region.
When in doubt, go for good old maille. The technology had been around back in antiquity, and stuck ever since then. Later on you might well also see plated maille, though that's already past your preferred period. Still, it's a pretty recognisable and unique type, so you might include it ahead of time just to set the region apart a little more. Scale and lamellar was also used in the general region at times.
Though note that in a setting as early as yours, metal armour will likely be not too commonplace. The nobility and their retainers (assuming your setting's got a warrior class of some sort) will have it, but the bulk of the infantry is more likely to be outfitted with "just" a gambeson-equivalent, helmet, and a shield. If you look further towards Asia or north Africa, you might also see the occasional bit of rawhide used in a scale or lamellar configuration, though I can't speak as to how common those actually were.
David Bell
>Let's say this setting is pre-Islam, and the Crusades have yet to happen, or there's otherwise little to no European influence present. Bronze shit and Bronze shit only.
Blake Cook
>armor Mail, felt, fabric, talisman shirts, tear-drop shields and the usual round shields. Some folks also went shirtless.
>arms Straight swords, various weights of lances, maces, axes, javelines and bows, with maces and axes apparently being the go-to weapon for the majority of folks, mounted or not.
>I'm kind of looking for region-specific things, like jambiyas and shamshirs Early modern weapons, didn't exist during during the middle ages. At best you'd find various sabers of mongolian design.
Jace Martin
There are also findings of lamellar armour, both with metal and rawhide lames. The knightly literature does talk about maintainance issues with these. It also talks about different styles of jousting with different types of lances.
Noah Russell
Curved swords- Sabres are of Turkic/Mongol origin. As such the Middle East didn't use said type of sword until the invasion of Mongols and Turks which happened some time after the time of prophet Muhammed (May peace be upon him).
As previously mentioned, in the ancient Middle East they fought with short straight bladed swords. However I'm not entirely sure if the gladius style blade only came after the leaf bladed Greek style swords. The Anciemt Assyrians supposedly had shortswords that tapered down thinly similar to that of a Medieval European sword.
However one well known instance of an ancient Middle Eastern curved sword was a sword known to the Egyptians as the Khopesh.
This sword evolved from an axe blade was also manufactured and used by the Semitic tribes of the Middle East (Eg Assyrians, Hebrews, Arabs and Canaanites.)
Sebastian Martinez
Also war elephants, because war elephants are rad
Ayden Nelson
>Scale
James Hernandez
I dunno what the fuck Lindy has to say on the topic, but it's probably wrong.
Jordan Ramirez
Actually, he never said a thing about it. But people in general get triggered by scale armour for some reason.
Alexander Brooks
Why'd anyone get triggered by a fun type of armour?
Colton Gomez
why has no one brought up spears yet? I'm not saying those other weapons weren't also used, but I'm pretty sure spears were also used a fair bit.
William Thomas
Thanks for the replies. This has been a very informative read.
Considering how complicated the history of the Middle East is, propriety may not be the best way to go. I guess I should try to focus on trying to capture the "spirit" of Middle Eastern themes and designs, not present the player with an incredibly rigid recreation of everything predating Islam. This is a fantasy setting, after all. There are going to be genies, magic and other mythological concepts abound, so I suppose I can take some liberties with the nature of equipment available to characters.
