Research and Discussion Forums

More data, thanks. I'm still experimenting with armor, but I picked up the Sharpe series.

Swords would have to be A LOT better than guns at dealing trauma to make them primary. http://fenixware.net/fab/images/chars/story/siegfried_soc.jpg I'm just kidding. I love the damage-ammo tradeoff. Very interesting battlefield dynamics. I was going ask which is more important to you, the armor or...

War should see plenty of armored-vs-unarmored. I think the most compelling fights would be one-on-one between armored champions, like Hector vs Ajax amidst the Trojan War. I'll abandon armor gaps--your points on Maximilian's mobility were really helpful, thanks. Armor trauma is really growing on me-...

Well, the sword's predominance is looking pretty dead. It almost sounds like Maximilian armor and poleaxes killed it long before the 1860s...among wise armored combatants, at least. That's okay, I'll shelve the idea for now...besides, I'm growing more interested in the armor itself. The question wit...

Hey, if you guys don't mind, I'd like to put the metal aside. Not that it hasn't been useful--in my old notes, I had the "metallic weaknesses" of mythril (e.g. good as armor but bad as bullets) listed as a very real possibility, which you've convinced me is unrealistic. (That could have be...

Haha, I see that. I was only just logging out. Lots of very good points there--I'm gonna read up on it, wrestle with it before I reply to your points, but I really do appreciate the acid test. I've got some solid direction for research now, thanks. Regarding the metal I can write a little. They'd ce...

Ha, I'm thrilled. Maybe I'm not so crazy after all! (We'll see.) Thanks Alex--your details are very good; I can hear the life in them. I really like your comparison of the gun-vs-sword balance to the old medieval arrow-vs-sword. Some knights would definitely fall to Gatlings, bullets piercing their ...

Hey ARMA, First, let me say your site is a fantastic writer's resource. I've spent a few hours reading your forums/articles, and already my story feels more alive, more realistic. But I'm only scratching the surface. I'm a new writer trying to blend the 1860s (era of Dostoevsky, Flaubert, Dickens) a...