ANST - Q? - War Tabards
Alexis
drwise at swbell.net
Wed Feb 4 08:42:30 PST 1998
Greetings from Alexis:
While I agree with Lorraine that there is a certain benefit to uniform
tabards, namely that it helps cut down kills from 'friendly fire' and it
does provide an easy way to help regroup in the middle of a broken down
melee, I would actually prefer to see the opposite approach be taken. I
think that some clear markings of some type should identify the kingdom
for the reasons above, but as Talen and others have commented, medieval
armies did not wear a uniform. Instead, people were identified by the
livery of their leaders and/or the livery of their town. The only major
exception were the uniform crosses worn by the military orders and/or
crusaders. (While I know we travel east to smite our opponents, I
wouldn't classify them all as heathens). Melee events like gulf wars
provide the ideal opportunity for heraldic display. When looking at the
manuscripts and paintings of the period battlefield scenes the first
thing that stands out are the banners identifying the leaders and groups
partaking in the battle. There is a second benefit in that a baronial
or regional group provides an excellant opportunity for newer fighters
to get to know some of the veterans in their area and work with them.
>From experience it builds a great deal of comraderie and esprit de
corp. I have been wondering to what extent people would be interested
in forming such groups with a goal to forming a unit identification.
There are several visible groups out there, but there does not seem to
be enough leaders that people are rallying around to make the whole
thing work.
Just my two cents
Alexis
> How do ya'll feel about the striving for a 'uniform' look as an army
> as oppose to units within our kingdom that choose to use a completely
> different colour/ensign.
>
> Lorraine DeerSlayer
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