Slitherine

I am curious if anyone knows what the Tlaxcaltecan army list will look like and the thinking about how MesoAmerican arms and armor are classified.

My understanding is that all will be MF or LF, Protected or Unprotected.

What is required to be protected - just the quilted cotton body armor plus perhaps a buckler? Or do you need to have a full feather suit (like various Eagle, Jaguar, Coyote warriors wore)? What about the mixed shield bearer and archer units the Tlaxcalans fielded - are these protected bow (or bow*) sword or what? Are they 1/2 bow 1/2 shield bearers or all mixed bases (which seems more appropriate as they fought in pairs not separate ranks)?

I assume from some of the earlier comments that the late MesoAmerican combination of atlatls & macuahuitls (along with a smattering of assorted other melee weapons) are javelins + impact foot + swords.

Are the earlier Toltects with the short knives/daggers/stabbing swords also classified as swordsmen like the 15th c maquahuitl?

Also, did North American Plains Indians field forces large enough for FoG style armies? Some of the other armies seem dubious in this respect too.

Kevin

Welcome back Kevin...

...although I can't answer on the Bud and Corona lists I'm afraid.

I'm fortunate enough to already have a copy of this book.

kdonovan wrote:
My understanding is that all will be MF or LF, Protected or Unprotected.

Yep

I'm not sure what the exact requirements are, but some of the armies get protected archers, presumably those with a decent proportion of cotton armour or equivalent, and/or attending shield bearers. Interestingly, Mayans for example also get a light spear to go with their bow.

Most of the medium foot in later periods also get javelin shooting capability. JSuperior, javelin, impact foot, sword is the usual grade for military orders and noble types.

There are also plenty of heavy weapons, especially in the earlier lists.