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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Imperialus" data-source="post: 4297449" data-attributes="member: 893">I'll just comment on the 'armed peasant' phenomena that's being discussed as I recently read an article in the English Historical Review that asked that very question.  Unfortunatly I don't have the journal handy so I can't cite it properly.The author examined Anglo-Saxon England just prior to the Norman invasion and he basically came to the conclusion that everyone and their dog was armed, generally with a spear or axe, and owned (at least) a shield, with more specialized equipment like helmets, swords and bodyarmour being the mark of a professional warrior.  That was just how their society worked and it carried through Englands history and even into America's with the concept of an armed yeomanry on call for emergencies and eventually morphed into America's second amendment.These fyrd soldiers would be raised as a militia for a set period of time (I believe it was 40 days and nights) per year when necessary.  They were trained to fight in formation, typically with other men from their village and would form a shield wall.More interestingly the author said to forget the idea of huge shield walls crashing together on the battlefield.  That's a romantic notion.  Instead what would happen is the fyrd soldiers would line up, lock their shields and stand there making a lot of noise.  The professional soldiers would sortie in and out of the shieldwall alternating between attacking the enemy shieldwall and skirmishing with other professional soldiers between the lines.  The peasant soldiers were there to use their weight of numbers to push back attackers and provide a safe jumping off point for the professionals.  Shieldwalls were a very effective defensive formation, even against early 'knights' and didn't require a lot of training to become competent at.Really if even a modest thorp or hamlet had any kind of notice it would not be terribly difficult to get the men (aged 15-60) into the village, armed and ready to hold off all but the most determined attackers.  If the village is caught completely unawares then there is a problem, since individually the peasants would be less than useless.  However, there are accounts in the Anglo-Saxon chronicle of peasants in areas that suffered from frequent Norse attacks going about their daily business armed and in groups.  Most hamlets would likely be able to support a half dozen to a dozen professional warriors (say level 2-3 with a shield, sword and chainmail) without much of a problem.  Between a shieldwall for defense and a handful of professionals to carry the fight to the enemy I expect most hamlets could put up fairly stiff resistance.Of course this becomes problematic in D&D land where shields are less than useless by themselves.  GoO's Song of Ice and Fire dealt with it, but it's a remarkably clunky system requiring you to track both AC and Damage Reduction.  AC is provided by Dex, Shields (which have insane bonus') and an opposed D20 roll and DR is provided by any armour you are wearing.</blockquote>

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