The Arms of the Peasantry II

     After finishing yesterday's article, a reader had contacted me, asking questions about the previous post. I had responded to a few of the questions, although briefly, so I thought I would expand on what I had already written prior to this article. Thank you to the person that reached out with questions, it was much appreciated. Below is some comments and questions they had.

 

Reader: "It's a rather interesting take, although it is leaving some details unaccounted for. Like targeting chinks in armor and not just simply attacking every single turn." 

    Yes, it was unaccounted for. It wasn't an oversight however, it was purposeful. A peasant is most likely fighting to protect themselves at all costs, meaning they are taking the least risk-filled options, which might even involve a wait maneuver waiting for the enemy to come in range!

Reader: "In a realistic fight, even an untrained fighter can display the most tactical prowess! More likely unbeknownst to itself, but not impossible."

     This is true, although the fictitious scenario presented assumed that the peasant was the run of the mill farmer that had not had any previous combat training. A player-character could very well show this tactical prowess, which could make for an interesting campaign, with a peasant having a proper knack for martial prowess on the field of honor.

Reader: "As for the crunch and numbers, ST 12 doesn't sound unreasonable for those used to harvesting the land. But even that probably won't be enough most of the time to put up a good fight against a single, properly trained and well-armored/armed, knight. However, there's strength in numbers and outmaneuvering a skilled fighter by outnumbering him can happen and it wouldn't be unrealistic at all."

     This is correct. Any well armed person would and could get easily outnumbered by a horde of peasants armed with nothing but pitchforks and clubs! If you were to include one peasant of each weapon in the mix rather than just one peasant (assuming that the peasant with the mace has a shield), Team Peasant would easily overcome the knight with even basic SL11 combat training.

Reader: "Sure, a knight may have a decent chance at defeating some, maybe up to a dozen, of rebellious farmers. But, and this is my opinion, it'd be fair to admit that a single "lucky" blunt blow or sharp thrust (maces and spears) could knock the knight out of the fight."

    I 100% agree. If a peasant critically strikes a knight with, say, a mace to the arm or chest, it will put the poor knight out of commission, letting the peasantry win. Any village idiot with ST 12 and a mace that gets a critical hit on that knight will most likely put it out of commission, meaning that the fight could always end poorly for the knight.

 

Reader: "Other thing to consider are options the Knight should have, that the peasants shouldn't. Like Feverish Defense, which I've seen other folks arguing it is not realistic for untrained/unskilled combatants, which the Knight wouldn't be. This [Feverish Defense] example could turn one of those "lucky" hits i mentioned into a close call for the Knight."

 

    That is something I did not think of when writing yesterday's post, which brings up a good point. A trained knight would have access to extra effort options in addition to a high skill level, meaning a Heroic Charge or Mighty Blow could turn the tide of battle, with, as the reader mentioned, a Feverish Retreating Dodge or Parry could easily protect the knight from harm as long as he doesn't dip too far into his FP reserves.

   

     Seeing that someone reached out with questions after a post was awesome to say the least, and I would like to give anyone that would like to ask questions to me directly to reach out! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about a post, please directly message me on discord or via private message on the forums. I am "Based Cosmo" on the Unofficial GURPS discord and "fritzbc" on the Steve Jackson Games forums.