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wolflance

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Everything posted by wolflance

  1. wolflance
    Not really. Cong people historically resided at the eastern part of Sichuan, quite far away from SE Asia.
  2. wolflance
    Guys, IMHO, in keeping in 0ad's theme of striving for high historical accuracy, I think we should try to keep the speculation/artistic licence to a minimum and focus on what we already know. Xiongnu as a nomadic minifaction can actually do fine without many features that we think should be a staple for any Age of Empire-style/0ad-style RTS faction. For example, we don't really know what a Xiongnu Shaman looks/dressed like, but Xiongnu can do perfectly fine without a monk/healer unit (just garrison the unit inside a house/yurt for healing). In fact, I think Xiongnu can do fine with just Civic Center (Chanyu's hall), house/yurt (doubles as barrack, dropsite and corral/sheep producing building), blacksmith (for upgrades), no infantry except female citizen & trader, and no Phase upgrade. On the other hand, as nomads they need to have the ability to build stuffs anywhere (including enemy territory), recycle their own building efficiently, and preferably have some plunder mechanic and "force-trading with enemy" mechanic.
  3. wolflance
    Xiongnu bronze helmet, although the time period isn't quite correct - this one predates Han Dynasty (roughly corresponding to China's Warring States period).
  4. wolflance
    At first glance there's no much in common between the equipment of Sarmatians, Xiongnu, and Han Chinese. Except that hat. I don't think Xiongnu used the "back shield" of the Scythians either.
  5. wolflance
    They probably believed in some form of animism/shamanism...so I don't think there'd be a central place of worship. Below picture depicts the Mongols, and is probably some artist's imagination with questionable accuracy...please take it with a HUGE GRAIN OF SALT.
  6. wolflance
    Speaking of carts... The Mongols have a fairly unique "cart-train" design, presumably Xiongnu also had it? I need to research more into this cart.
  7. wolflance
    For the most part, Xiongnu were lightly armed enough that "armored unit" really isn't a concern unless you want to include even the most obscure niche unit. Xiongnu might had hired/captured Han craftsmen to work for them (and there were quite a number of Han surrendered to them), so maybe we can grab an asset or two from the Han buildings.
  8. wolflance
    @Alexandermb Nice work, can add another smithy building (for upgrades and stuffs)? Also, as far as I am aware the Mongols/nomad in general kept their processed food (generally dried lamb meat) inside the yurt for winter, so there's need for a "food depot" building IMHO. Maybe just make the house building into resource drop off point? @Lion.Kanzen Any reliable source on Scythian and Sarmatian arms & armors?
  9. wolflance
    No, I said their WEAPONS are similar to the Chinese. I have no idea how Xiongnu armor looks like. I would say closer to Scythian than Chinese, but then it's just my guess.
  10. wolflance
    You mean the rumored lost legion of Crassus that end up as mercenaries for Xiongnu and fought the Chinese? The evidence for that is shaky at best, and there's another guy theorized that they were Greek Hoplites instead of Roman Legionaries.
  11. wolflance
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongwancheng Not much, only the city wall survived relatively intact, plus some foundations of palace remain. Most buildings in the city were probably wooden, but there indeed have brick remains, so at least some must've been made of brick.
  12. wolflance
    The sword-like weapon at the bottom is not actually a sword. It is a bronze Sha (鎩) polearm (pole-sword?). However what's more interesting are those weapons at the top - two hammer-spears! Essentially a spear-head married to a hammer-head, then mounted onto a shaft. The Chinese sure did use some heavy-duty weapons.
  13. wolflance
    Unless you count 5th century Tongwancheng city.
  14. wolflance
    Xiongnu did not appear to have cataphracts, and used mostly Chinese-influenced equipment (except their bow, which is Scythian). Although there's some mentions about Xiongnu infantry, they hardly ever used foot soldiers. So they were (generally speaking) an entirely mounted force utilizing highly mobile hit-and-run and other nomad tactics. No idea on their building since I don't think any survived. No idea on the Huns/Sarmatians either.
  15. wolflance
    Some weapons of the Xiongnu: Bronze head of a meteor hammer. It is basically the same thing as a sling, but instead of releasing the cord and let the sling-bullet fly out, you tied a rope to the bullet/mace head and fling the entire thing, including the rope itself. It is much more expensive than your typical sling, but also significantly more deadly due to being made out of dense metal. Has no direct relation to the fancy modern kung fu meteor hammer. All-metal iron javelin similar to Iberian soliferrum. The one depicted in this photo is actually a Han Chinese example (Chinese also used iron javelin), but Chinese source mentions that Xiongnu also use it. It is apparently thrust/thrown at close range. Xiongnu knives and swords. Their daos are more or less identical to Han Dynasty daos, but they had their own style of double-edged sword (jian). Their spears and halberds are also identical to the Han Chinese ones. Xiongnu did occasionally fought as infantry. One of the bow discovered at Xinjiang, China. Based on brick sculpting and this artifact, Xiongnu bow is almost identical to the type known to the West as Scythian bow. Xiongnu also used plenty of bronze maces, a characteristic weapon of the nomads. Apparently some Chinese-style crossbow mechanisms also turn out in grave finds, but its use must be extremely rare. Armor Although Han records mention that Xiongnu were armored with wooden armor at best, grave finds indicate that they used bronze scale armor and iron lamellar armor. No complete suit survived, unfortunately. Shield Some Chinese brick sculptures depict Xiongnu cavalry armed with shield, but we know next to nothing about them. Also look at his prominent nose.
  16. wolflance
    Repost the Xiongnu clothing reconstruction from my other thread since they are appropriate here: Xiongnu Noble attire, reconstructed by the same 琥璟明. (Yes, they kept queue)
  17. wolflance
    I am not sure how applicable a Xiognnu unit as a stand-in for Hun unit. Even though Xiongnu and Huns are theorized to be related, they probably picked up a lot of Western influence during their transformation (if true) into the Hun, and thus would have been quite different. Xiongnu that fought the Chinese used pretty much the same equipment as the Chinese - straight single-edged ring pommel dao, spear & bow etc. They did have some unique bronze weapon design.
  18. wolflance
    As one of the great empire that's more or less comparable to Han and Rome, I think it has more than enough. In fact, I think it is proposed/set to appear in 0ad Empire Besieged?
  19. wolflance
    I found the comic on the author's weibo blog, of course. Yuezhi (Predecessor of Kushan) also fought with Xiongnu. It was their defeat at the hands of Xiongnu that force them to went to North India and invade/drive out the Scythian, and later attacked Parthian and India. Kushans also had contact with the Rome (although the Romans continued to refer to them as Bactrians). Basically Rome, Parthian, Kushan and Han were four major "great powers" of the Eurasia theater, connected together by silk road. Later they also fought with (but defeated and subjugated by) the Sassanians at the North and Gupta at the South Kushan hoplites (or rather Greco-bactrian hoplite under Kushan service). "b" appears to be Athena, while "d" hoplite appears to be wearing a Phrygian helmet?, muscled cuirass, and Manica limb armors similar to those used by Parthians. Despite my repeated mentions of hoplites, overall Kushans was still a cavalry-heavy faction (both light horse archers, medium close combat cavalry & heavily armored cataphracts), with their infantry served only supportive/secondary role.
  20. wolflance
    The Xiongnu probably lived in Yurt similar in style to the Mongol ones, including the "mobile yurt" (minus Mongol-style decorations), although if you extend their faction's history post Han Dynasty they did build city (Tongwancheng for example). Despite being nomads, Xiongnu also mined, smelted, and crafted their own bronze and iron stuffs.
  21. wolflance
    Kushan Empire will indeed be a very fascinating faction and the only real contender to Han Chinese (if Rome is not in the picture). If there's any faction that can out-compete the Chinese in power and the "completeness" of army roster, Kushan will be that faction. Kushan military was a combination of steppe, Scythian, Iranian, Greek and Indian traditions, thus they had their own horse archers, heavy cataphracts, Indian-style light infantry, chariots and war elephants, and Greek-style hoplites, and other infantry/cavalry from all those traditions.
  22. wolflance
    Some highlights of the comic: Luoyang, capital city of the (Eastern) Han Empire. Note the Han-style city wall. You Zhou Tu Qi (幽州突騎), one of the most prominent cavalry troops of the Han Dynasty. Han crossbowmen. Kushan Emperor Vima Takto (80-90 CE). During the time of his reign the Kushan rulers were very Hellenistic (Greek being their official language), hence the muscled cuirass on one of his guard. The dreaded Xiongnu. Note the guy with big nose on the left. His weird head shape is the result of Xiongnu's head binding practice causing cranial deformation - the same one practiced by the Huns. The author chooses to depict the Xiongnu as mix of both European and Asiatic people. (Note: Although it is claimed that the Huns practiced artificial cranial deformation while Xiongnu didn't, Han Dynasty texts do in fact mentioned this practice by Kucha people, a major vassal of Northern Xiongnu. Some skulls with cranial deformation also turn up at Xinjiang) Kushan cataphracts engaging Parthian cataphracts at Taxila, modern day Pakistan (yes, they are using couched lance charge before the Norman knights "invented" it. Yes. It is historical).
  23. wolflance
    《定西荒》 is an ongoing historical comic about Han Dynasty's establishment/dominance of the silk road created by China's talented artist hotoon蓦然. Every minute detail in the comic is meticulously researched and extremely accurate - not limited to the Chinese but various cultures of the steppe as well.
  24. wolflance
    Keep in mind that those armored cataphracts are post-Han Dynasty timeframe (i.e. well into medieval period, China should be around Northern-Southern Dynasties or Sui-Tang Dynasty by that time).
  25. wolflance
    Depending on how you define "Late Middle Age", Ming Dynasty may be more appropriate than Yuan.
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