Just to share my thoughts on slings. As many have mentioned slings certainly do compliment halfling characteristics and they would be able to get them to around the same power as a human due to momentum rather than strength, but the lethality potential of slings goes down drastically as soon as you add armor into the mix which make them a very poor battlefield weapon. A sling simply can't injure let alone kill a guy through a helm, plate, mail or even gambeson (baring a one in a million shot David vs Goliath style). Bows and crossbows on the other hand have far greater penetration capability though even they have trouble with armor, just not as much trouble as slings.
Perhaps the next video about what weapons would x use could be about the undead? I always found zombie pikemen...interesting. Love your channel and your accent, keep up the good work mate!
Mario Piernas Yeah, that's a good one. Why do zombies always use swords/axes and skeletons always use bows? Would it make sense for the undead to use armor/shields (they're usually cannon fodder, and not known for their self-preservation instincts)?
Well, since zombies are not very smart, a spear-like weapon suits them very well, for using a spear is almost an instict. I always thought that spears and pikes could be the perfect weapons for zombies (zombies, at least, I don't really know about skeletons). And if a necromancer holds them together in formation, you get a cheap, expendable spear/pike unit. Just a different approach to the traditional zombie armed with a club or directly unarmed.
To be honest crossbows and bows are not exactly 'killer' battlefield weapons either. At Agincourt I think very few arrows actually penetrated armour. Missile weapons up until gunpowder were always weak and slings could outrange and deliver more lethal hits than many lower poundage bows. The Roman army had special equipment specifically to remove sling stones from wounds and the Romans wore a hell of a lot of armour and used large shields. Skirmishing and missile fire is not just about DAMAGE either. Harassment is a useful battlefield role and skirmishers could do stuff like screening as well.
I’m imagining little catapults loaded up with a hobbit and then launching him towards the enemy with a knife. Forget nukes, these are true weapons of mass destruction.
So, when you think about it, these guys are basically playing Dark Souls - everything is bigger and stronger than them and can kill them in 2 hits, so their only real option is to dodge around, avoid getting hit and stab their opponent in the shins until they die.
So a hobbit's ideal combat situation involves sneaking, dodging, trickery, avoiding combat, and possibly convincing someone larger to fight on his behalf, and if all else fails, go for the legs? That's the plot of The Hobbit right there. Well, without the legs bit.
Although LOTR hobbits are actually of comparable strength to humans. The largest and strongest hobbit in history (until Merry and Pippin enhanced their size with Ent-draught) was able to knock an orc's head off with a club.
@Veng3r Yes, according to the books, Hobbits' accuracy was so good that if a Hobbit stooped to pick up a stone, all small animals in the area fled. It's a strong innate ability that we don't see much in the books (basically just in the Battle of Bywater), but would be excellent if they ever went to war. When you take into account how stealthy Hobbits can be, they're basically perfect for the sort of "ranged ambush guerrillas" style of warfare. EDIT: Also, the going for the legs tactic was actually how Merry helped Eowyn defeat the Witch-King in the books: Merry stabbed him in the back of the knee (with a dagger that was likely enchanted specifically to fight him), which weakened him enough for Eowyn to deliver the finishing blow.
I wonder if their needs for dirty tactics and crossbows are why Gnomes are sometimes shown as being more technologically advanced than the other races. After all, if you're making up for so many deficiencies and need trick-bombs and crossbow loading mechanisms to level the playing field, it only makes sense that they'd try to study more technology to have better advantages. Food for thought...
Blackjack 488 and almost anyone on a "medieval" fantasy is suposed to have good knoledge adout balistic and other military useful math things. In general, Goblins don't have any mental stats bonus and Halflings/Hobbits go for Charisma. As the unique "nerd type small race" Gnomes pretty sure desenvolved all the math, phisics and chemistry that could be useful in battle by themselves.
Gnomes, in my experience, are a race that's a little hard to define. Their description in D&D and other sources is all over the place making them pranksters, AND illusionists, AND alchemists, AND tinkers...but they are NOT stealthy or crack shots like halflings. While Warcraft just makes Gnomes full-on steampunk and are the explanation for why guns exist in that universe (the dwarves got them from the gnomes and the humans got them from the dwarves, and the goblins just like explosive dangerous stuff so they made damn sure they got in on that party ASAP), but I feel like this disrupts the setting. Gunpowder isn't just "ahead of the curb", it is such a huge invention that it changes the landscape of warfare forever. But without silly energy gizmos or gunpowder, what's left for the gnomes? Repeater crossbows, stronger metal bows, mythril wire bowstrings, greek fire, flaming ballista bolts, etc etc. Clockwork creations, particularly traps, would be okay, but harder to imagine (and they would need to be diverse to both reflect gnome creativity and the enemy adapting to them). Probably a lot of a gnomish community's resources go towards defense and the maintainence of these contraptions, which might actually be a point of contention for some local gnomish inventors that want the rare earths or coal supplies or whatever to be used for scientific exploration NOT related to godsdamned war machine....
Assuming you don't have the DragonLance-setting Gnomes. Very technologically-minded, but totally incompetent at making things properly without another race to keep them from going overboard or getting too complicated.
Blaine Drummond That's also the same for Salarians from Mass Effect trilogy.. I think Faery( Gnomes, and everything else) would be more like commandos and special forces than frontline soldiers. Apt quote 👍
One of my favorite moments from the 2011 TMNT cartoon: Leonardo: Their leader was crazy good. By which I mean he was good and seemed a little crazy. Besides he had all these guys with him, it wasn't a fair fight. Splinter: What do you mean, "fair fight"? Leonardo: A fair fight, you know, where either side could win? Splinter: So a fair fight is a fight you could lose. Leonardo: Well, yes, but... well, what I... what I mean is... Splinter: You don't want to assure your victory. Leonardo: No, I do, but... (Splinter sweeps his legs with his staff then pins him) Ow! Hey! Splinter: Was that fair? Leonardo: No! Splinter: Did I win? Leonardo: ...I see your point. Splinter: Seek victory, not fairness.
“Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is.” -Yoda
so basicly a gnome would be the perfect modern soldier - give him a rifle. His aim is superior while at the same time he is a much smaller target himself. Go Gnome Marines
Most halflings and gnomes are presented to be technological geniuses in cases of medieval fantasy. They'd have probably discovered the magic of blackpowder weapons and siegeworks. Hell, they're full on Dieselpunk in some cases, even fielding such complex things as tanks, aircraft, steel warships, and in some cases even submarines.
I know this might be a somewhat weird question, but how's the armor in the crotch area of full plate? Obviously, the front is protected, but what about attack from below? If we're already fighting dirty, it seems like a good place to stab, unless the armor covers from directly below as well.
@Halosty, there is a good video on this subject made by "Knyght Errant" called "Medieval Groin Armour". That is the go to channel for very well researched videos on armour.
Congratulations, sir/madame/construct/automaton; you've successfully revived a dead meme in such a way as to not bludgeon even deeper into the abyss than it already was. That one actually made laugh out loud; bravo!
If you're going for legs that lack armor in the back, something with an inward curve, like a kukri or a sickle would be useful for hooking around the back for nasty slashes. Bye, Achilles tendon!
When he brought up spears/halberds etc I was surprised that the billhook didn't come up. It'd be the ideal polearm for them to perform sweeps at the legs/back of the knees and it wouldn't take as much strength as a halberd would.
I always felt like the Bill would be a good weapon for Hobbits. They're based on farm equipment, which is very thematic, and covered in all sorts of hooks and spikes for them to snag on a bigger person's armor and yank them down to their level. Once they're down, take out a dagger and finish them off, or have your mate beside you finish them.
@@KalashVodka175but you have to consider leverage. If they are shorter and have shorter arms then that means they’re oils have to help the polearms closer to the end and farther away from the head, which in turn would make them FAR heavier and more unwieldy.
These guys would be raided a lot by Vikings and Mongols (Heck by everyone) There would be lots of Half-Hobbit Half-Humans in Scadinavia, Persia and Mongolia
+Christian Dauz Sounds like they'd fit just right where the Russian Principalities and/or Novgorod Republic were. Just add the "demon-folk" purges by the Teutonic Order into the mix.
Tunnel fighters. They all do live in tunnels but for some reason the goblins dig their tunnels human sized rather than goblin sized and forcing the adventures to either walk bent over or crawl through their tunnels. If the tunnels were goblin or halfling or gnome sized, it would be a death trap for human or Orc invaders.
+Edin743 Depends on the size of the establishment. In any case, a large amount of oil will be needed. Also, a drain or a metal floodgate will render this method useless.
Oh god, imagine always having to check the outhouse for hobbits every time you have to take a dump. They would also be the real monsters under the bed. "Look there Cassius, hobbit tracks. Guess we're gonna have to spray the castle again. This is why you don't order goods from Southmoor. The whole place is lousy with them."
“Goblin would go with dirty play, maybe even some form of explosives.” I think the goblins from Goblin Slayer show what their ideal tactics would be like.
Human/Orc/Dwarf/Troll Pikemen easily counter that They also have better range units Hobbits vs Mongolian Horse Archers and Heavy Cavalry would be a bigger one-side slaughter than the one the Parthians inflicted on the Romans
***** Well, yeah. Spear and shield might be as good as if not better than sword and shield for these little guys. At the end of the day, it's still an army of hobbits.
Who are going to be slaughtered like Peasant Mobs in Medieval Total War! There are battles in which English Longbowmen slaughtered Scottish Armies without losing a single man Hobbits don't stand a chance
I would have thought a sharpened military pick (or kama) would be the perfect weapon for them since legs would be their primary target. They could aim for the back of the knee, the Achilles tendon or just try to trip their opponent. Then once their opponent is down they'd have their choice of targets for a finishing blow.
The problem with halflings using tripping weapons comes down to leverage. They are at severe disadvantages in terms of weight and lever length. Have you ever had a child try to trip you? It isn't that hard to stay grounded. I agree with Shad, just cutting at the legs seems more likely to get your opponent on the ground. For that reason I do agree that a kama/sickle would do well.
With the "go for the legs" tactics, I might consider some curved blade, like a sickle or even something meant for bringing down the opponent like a longer version of a flail (for the extra reach).
Don't forget about the square-cube ratio. In D&D at least, small class creatures have gear that's half as heavy but they can carry 3/4 of a medium class creature with the same strength score. Not real life numbers, but the idea still stands. Because of this when you adjust their equipment for size they can carry more and get tired more slowly as a result. They would likely use the roman tactics of short stabbing swords in testudo in a slow brutal slugging match. The fact they're so small means that they can also easily hit their enemy with ranged weapons in a fight, just fire over your guys heads at the guy towering over them. This also makes the sling a perfect weapon, as the normal issue of not having indirect fire is nullified by the enemy's height.
That is pretty accurate though. Have you ever seen a 5.3 female lugging the same amount of military equipment as a ~7 guy? I have. She was not remarkably more weighted down by it. Granted we are not talking about some sort of ranger/elite soldier work here (which would put more weight and more strenuous work into the picture) but she could hold the pace and do the work. While size definitely matters strength-wise, anecdotal evidence like this has taught me that muscle mass, conditioning and density matters much more than length. When looking at absolute peak performance within MMA (nowadays) then of course size is everything and that's why there are such strict weigh-ins with weight classes (that's cause everyone is essentially doing the same thing and after a few decades people have gotten really good at it) but you could get away with skill, physical condition and muscles for quite a long time and weight classes in early Pride (when you still had wrestlers and strongmen fighting) where not as strict nor as numerous like the ones in modern UFC. Edit: spelling
I really appreciate this video. I'm planning on writing a few novels that center around the D&D variation of kobolds (little reptile men basically, around the size of the beings discussed here), and I was planning a battle in one of the later books that involved the kobolds fighting elves alongside some other allied races. I wanted to give them some accurate and useful weapons that would fit their size. I knew that I could rely on you to help me out in that area. Thanks Shad!
Ok, I’ve come up with two (two and a half?) cool tactics for goblins in their dens. The first, use a wall of goblins with hooked pole arms to hold the adventurers at a distance while a few try to hook their legs and bring them down, at which point the others use the bladed sections to hack the poor bastard to pieces. Another version uses this, but goblins on both sides, with a group that sneaks up behind the adventurers using goblin-sized tunnels. The other idea is basically armoured shock troops, where they run in and stab at the legs and thighs. There’s a major artery on the inside of the thigh, right next to the scrotum, which is pretty nasty to be stabbing at in the first place. Another quasi-tactic is simply attacking from above. That nullifies the enemy’s height advantage, especially if you can knock them down. And the mere fact that they are lighter and more compact makes landing on their feet easier.
Love these videos, but quick note: throwing (especially something like a sling) is less about arm length and more about the wrist. A sling does not actually need to be "wound up" like in movies, it just makes it less accurate. So I think a sling would be a viable weapon (but not a javelin, for instance).
This is true. I've gotten to be quite skilled with a sling over the years, and you really only need one solid rotation with a proper flick of the wrist at the end to get an accurate and powerful throw
The Hobbit specifically mentions that all Hobbits are very effective with throwing rocks. Like, they see a rabbit, and can throw a rock at it's head and kill it. That example would still require training, but the point still stands.
Against anything tougher than padded armour? Not at all, at least not in a lethal sense. A good shot to the helmet with a shaped stone or piece of lead, however, can still be a good distraction. Even against padded armour it would, at worst, cause bruises and could potentially fracture a bone if it was a lucky shot. Of course, no mention was made of staff-slings, which even a hobbit could use to hurl stones weighing a kilogram or so. One of those could be deadly to someone wearing padded armour or possibly even mail, but with plate armour it would still be more of a distraction than anything. I just couldn't see a hobbit or gnome trying to go toe-to-toe with anyone, and would imagine that they would be used as formation skirmishers or even just as an antagonizing unit that stayed at a distance to hurl stones into enemy formations to try and break their resolve
Nick Dzink then sneak into their camps and add some poison to their own food. Halflings can sneak, right. Hide in tunnels during the day and sabotage everything at night. Thans for open warfare. My origional suggestion is better suited for after halflings were beaten and enslaved.
I was thinking that. I was just imagining a knight with a longsword swinging down, then the hobbit/gnome/goblin opponent would deflect it with their shield, immediately closing the distance and stabbing them family jewels, Sandor Clegane style. Then, as the shocked knight drops on his knees completely shocked from the pain and agony, the hobbit/gnome/goblin would finish the job by slicing his neck. I totally see that happening!
Two things I feel you didn't mention but also go along with the playing dirty theme is the throwing dagger/knife and dart. They are all small, very concealable and can pierce without needing huge amounts of force behind them. Darts especially can be tipped with poison. Also if hobbit or Gnome knights have throwing daggers or darts they can toss them at the face of human knight before doing a quick draw with their sword, while closing, in order to go for the legs. But that is for more of an exposed face. For covered faces just a metal weight can add a lot of noise and discomfort to the helmeted knight if it hits. So I'd expect them to employ a lot of weapons that are meant for distractions that take advantage of natural tendencies for people to flinch and whatnot.
Actually, I recently saw Theign Thrand do a test on the pommel throw against first a ballistics gel dummy head, both with and without armor, and without armor, the pommel did legit produce lethal impact with a solid throw and hit. They then tested it with a guy wearing a sturdy helmet and the guy wearing the helmet was badly dazed by the hit to his helmet, despite knowing it was coming and being braced for it. The thing that did him in was the LOUD ringing his helmet did when the pommel hit it, which temporarily deafened him and left him stunned for a moment, and they also concluded if he was caught by surprise, the force of the blow would have been worse as his head would have snapped back in a classic whiplash motion, further stunning him, leaving him ripe to be ended rightly with a grapple or sword attack to a weak spot in his armor. Ending him rightly proven. Of course, that's not taking into account the atomic bomb blast those things also produce when thrown in a proper end him rightly fashion. :D
I love those videos, just theorizing about fighting styles and how they would be adapted! But for that reason I have a little off topic question: Would you say, that in the roman fighting style, based on tight formations and short swords, a punching dagger or sword like the "Katar" would have been of use, or even an improvement? I am very curious and would like to hear some opinions! ;) Greets from Germany! =)
i like the little summary you do at the end where you conclude everything said before. I recommend you add a picture, portaiting all the weapons/equipment you list so we as viewers have a little visual aswell.
Some sort of hooked weapon would be advantageous for attacking the legs, especially if the legs are armored with greaves. Perhaps a bearded axe with a longish handle? I could also see hobbits fighting in teams of two. Shield+axe in a team with a poleaxe. The team would be trying to hook the legs of the human to get them down on the ground. Also, if they have good aim but not good strength, then entangling weapons might be just the thing. Bolas to ensnare the legs of opponents. Maybe they could train with whips to wrap around and trip opponents? Both of those could be accomplished with good dexterity/aim with reduced strength.
The 1ndiegamer slings rely on leverage, and thus size. heavier/larger bullets (military sling ammo) require more strength. so overall their body type isn't good for slings. I figured dwarves would use staff slings and normal slings with oversized ammo. I am a fan of military grade slings as it is the undervalued ranged weapon and vastly versatile. I tend to use slinger halflings that don't rely on weapons (slings suck in d&d).
According to your very own logic, a sling staff would be fine for a Halfling because it eliminates the issue of size and leverage without relying significantly upon strength. However, slings aren't overly effective when the majority of one's opponents have access to helmets and gambesons, let alone mail, and since iron or even steel helmets and mail are seen as the baseline armor for infantry in most fantasy settings, a sling would be very ineffective even with lead shot.
Hey Shad! I’ve got to say, I really love your videos. This one in particular has helped me rethink how I would arm an anthropomorphic corgi. On this subject, I had a question about plate armor and anthropomorphic canines: In wearing full plate armor, would a creature who pants as its primary method of cooling off have an advantage in keeping cool over humans, who sweat to keep cool? Finally, may I suggest a video idea? Arms and armor for werewolves would be pretty cool to see! Would biting be effective against mail (biting through the mail)? Would a steel full jaw mouth guard enable them to pierce plate? What type of helmet would best accommodate wolf ears? Would a tail become a hindrance in a fight? Stuff like that. =)
I feel like you may have overlooked slings for these guys. The design and speed produced by a sling bullet would surely overcome their strength problems?
Well, the sling would have to be far smaller to avoid hitting the ground, and I'm pretty sure slings are weaker if you're less strong, because giants, being larger and stronger, are suggested to use slings in shads video on them.
Unless of course you mean swinging the sling over your head, then you could have a normal-ish sized sling, but that sounds like it would do weird things to the aim.
Shad, I have question! Do you think hobbits\goblins\gnomes benefit from using flails, if they target enemy knees, or legs in general? From what I seen it seems like flails have more reach compare to clubs and warhammers, but can be as devastating if they are used correctly. Do you think lack of strengths of user can be compensate by using them to achieve more damage via velocity that spiked ball creates while being swinging around?
Yeah.. that could be... Or use long range artillery... Multiple Faery( includes halflings and everything) could operate ballistas and seige crossbows... Hell, they could rapid fire them at a greater length than the longest range of the best war bow
One of the problems with flails is how slow they are and having tiny arms would help speed things up as well as having short arms flails would be one of the few things that would have the ability to speed up and hurt people and many hobbits don't fight or practice so flails not having edge aliment is amazing so Hobbit flails I enjoyed coming to this conclusion
Yes but there is reason to believe that flails did exist and flails do not have to have long chains but if hobbits were to have scaled down flails they could gather more energy in a swing than a mace I do think they would prefer other weapons with the exception of anti armor weapons than hobbits and flails all the way
When the video got around to talking about spears and the disadvantages to using them, an idea on how to get around it popped into my head: Tridents and other pronged spears. More pointy parts on your spear makes it easier to hit your target.
Really liked the video, but I think you missed two points. we humans have used spears to kill way larger animals for millenia, and if someone is thinking about spears always exceding the reach of the animal, just remember mammoths. As long as they adjust weight by decreasing length of the pole, they would be great with spears, maybe a little shorter than human spears; but thew could get a great advantage with massai-like spears (short as swords overall). But one you definitelly forgot was the sling. Since it relies on accelleration, not strength, they could rely on them and use them without issues. Oh, and a sidenote, since they weigh a lot less, probably they can dodge like cats xD I'm loving this series man, do ogres or trolls or something like that!
I highly doubt Peter Dinklage can dodge like a cat Short Spears are not going to stop a Human Cavalry Charge... ...or Horse Archers Hobbit Slingers are going to have shorter range than Peasant Bowmen or Militia Crossbowmen Dwarves would just crush Hobbits
Peter Dinklage is a human with a malformation that makes him smaller and less agile. That's not what halflings are. Good point with cavalry, but may I point out spear formations have always been one of the most common tactics against cavalry charges? Not shields, spears. Horses are afraid of pointy long sticks, not boards. So halfling spear formation would have a chance against cavalry charge
@@AltairDhauglu Would the spears be long enough, though? I mean, if we take into account them adjusting the size of the spears for them to use, would they still make for a reliable defense against charging horses that would measure (to them) what would be (for us) a creature the size of an elephant? Only fast as a poney?
Obviously each weapon system has a weakness. My only point is, in close combat, without mounts and without range weapons, short humanoids would profit from using spears as long as they can handle without them being cumbersome (which means just point and no extras) just as we used them against animals which are larger and have weapon like defenses. And although humans could use larger spears acainst them, which would suck for them, small humanoids could have two things going for them. They're a smaller target, and both them and their weapon are more nimble
@@AltairDhauglu Hmm, fair enough. Still think that a sturdy shield and a sword would be better for a 1 vs 1 situation. Parry an attack, move in and immediately strike one of two weak points: 1 - the legs 2- *the groin* _(OUCH!)_
Ah, but what about Mac Nac Feegles from the Discworld series? One of those guys, who aren't even half a foot in height, can easily lay out a dozen men, using just their hands, feet, and head! Of course, part of their fighting strategy involves climbing up a guy's leg and breaking the guy's kneecap, then going for the groin, and then the head. They also carry swords that glow blue in the presence of lawyers, whom they are mortally afraid of, as they write down peoples' names...... luckily, they got their own, very cheap, lawyer.
I might be the only person to suggest this, but what about Atlatls? They are extremely light, and don't require much strength to use effectively, and if used right, have around the same penetration power as bows.
How long would it take to train somebody to actually use this properly in a battlefield situation? Just like bows, you would need volley fire to be effective with the Atlatls Shields and Plate Armor pretty much counter that Hobbits make bad Pikemen so the Halfling Slingers are going to get run over by the Human Cavalry Or the Human Horse Archers just kill all the hobbits, recycle the arrows, rinse and repeat
You pretty much broke down my gnome/halfling variety Shad, well done. My gnomes favor poison, bombs(all sorts), slings and gorilla tactics. I am also working on a martial art for the "little people" Love the series my friend. Would you try and break down beast-men next? Animal like humanoids.
10:27. "The answer to that - for a human, at least - would be to just boot the thing as hard as they can and send the little guy flying!" QUICK! DROP-KICK THE MIDGET!
Low ceilings. Whenever you have the chance to plan the fight in advance fight at home, and keep your ceilings only as high as your taller gnomes. Then you can go for the head.
I think you got it wrong on plate armour. *Half the size is NOT half the weight.* Doubling something in size contributes to a cubic increase in weight! To illustrate it, think of an average built human scaled to following size: cm kg 400 850 300 350 220 140 200 100 180 80 150 45 120 22 100 12 *The scaleability is problematic* however. A human cannot get any bigger than 3m without major anatomic changes. For the same reasons model planes can take on forms real planes can't and small animals can fall deep without hurting themselves. Armour is problematic too. Most medieval plate armour was around 1mm thick, with critical parts 2mm thick. The prior can be cleaved with an axe, or penetrated with some bows and crossbows in ideal conditions. *Giving goblins 0.5mm armour would allow humans to cut right throw it with their swords!* Giving them 1mm thick armour would make it incredibly heavy. If a normal human carries plate armour then he carries about 40% of his body-weight in armour. If a halfling does it it would be about 60%, since the armour shrinks only in two dimensions rather than 3.
That's true for changing size by directly scaling up all distances by the same factor. That's not the case with fantasy races though. A halfling isn't a thing with human proportions but only half the length. Usually, they're depicted as having only slightly smaller heads and torsos, shorter arms, and much shorter legs. The issue is though (regardless of the actual ratio of surface area to weight for different fantasy races) relevant, and I was disappointed to not see it mentioned in the dwarf video. If dwarfs have strength equivalent to humans, their smaller size means they have a better ratio of strength to surface area, which would enable them to use thicker armour. That would make the usual fantasy trope of super-heavily armoured dwarf infantry actually plausible.
That's something I noticed too. I'm a tall guy and can slap so fast that my hand hurts from the acceleration forcing too much blood into my finger tips. However, when it comes to wrestling with someone considerably shorter, I'm at a disadvantage, if he's comparatively strong. If the same mass of muscles would power arms half the length of mine, they would have a much better leverage.
This is the first of your videos I've had any kind of minor niggle with. Height to strength to weight ratio has less to do with how tall you are and more to do with the mass and more importantly density of your muscle mass. The comparison to children you made is probably the key thing here. One of the main reasons apart from size that makes children weaker is that fact that their bodies haven't gone through the conditioning that comes with puberty, there are significant changes that happen, in particular with boys regarding muscle and bone density as a result of puberty that significantly effect strength. Any of these little people who were adults would have had a similar development phase. You can't just assume that they are 50% weaker as they're on average 50% shorter, it doesn't work like that. I totally agree with everything else you have said though.
Shad, what weapons would you say would fabled, man-sized, rats, also known as "Skaven" would use? Or (warhammer Fantasy Battle) Ogres? (side note: These Ogres tend to use cannons as muskets)
Honestly, the Skaven would probably be very similar to Elves. Ogres would be Orcs x2 - they're huge creatures in Warhammer Fantasy, right? GIANT, completely STEEL bows would be their favored weapon - they could probably fire an arrow at the same velocity as a bullet from a gun lol
Skaven are 1 to 1 equivalent to humans just with different posture & only due to circumstance less nourishment, they use all the same weapons except not bows due to body shape, they'd have to use crossbows if they didn't have access to gunpowder or warpstone, they inherently in world have access to warpstone though so make use of grenades & firearms
I would like to see one for mages. That would be awesome. Hmm other than that, I'd like to see one based on Sanderson's books mistborn, what they would use for weapons.
I think it depends on the mages race. An human mage would use Human weapons, an orcish one orcish ones,... Its still dependent on their physicial characteristics. Unless their magic would allow them to shapeshift/ alter their physicial characteristics. The they would very likely fight like higher vampirs from The Witcher universe: Mutate their bodies into giant mustlepaced, fast, armored and selfregererating monsters and fight till total exhaustion of these powers.
Great video, congratulations, Shad. I think all the ideas you have pointed in the vid were very interesting. I'd like to add some thoughts of my own, if I may: Swords are excellent weapons and can be made in a variety of shapes and sizes, and every body loves them (including me) so, its easy to think in a sword as a good weapon for hobbits (as it woud be for any race :P). I'd like to propose to think out of the box, based in the fighting stile you presented on the vid, using shield in a one on one combat aimming for the legs, I think a scythe could be a formidable weapon for this purpose. With a scythe a hobbit could easely cut the back of a knee, generally a unprotected spot. Now, dont think in those nonsense monstruous fantasy scythes w/ magic, floating stones, etc. Think about one handed scytes like japanese kama, simple and efficient.
Another great video! With how dirty they would have to fight, a sword, dagger or mace to the family jewels would probably be their first approach when fighting a man. Talk about a quick, but painful death. If you don't mind me asking, are you planning on doing ogres, trolls and giants on the next part of this series? Speaking of which... Talk about terrifying. Give them a bow, and you probably have a walking ballista right there. Depending on what kind of ogre, troll or giant it is of course, since there are many variants out there.
wouldn't their smaller size require smaller armor pieces making gaps smaller and more difficult to target? i feel like that could potentially make them valued smiths as well considering their smaller size would allow more detailed work though with more time spent on each piece
radivmoe You are thinking of Dwarves, they have less area to cover and are just as strong as human-sized wearers. Dwarves are also renowned blacksmiths. A halfling would want thinner, lighter plates. Plate armor is already just thick enough to absorb blows reliably. Smaller joints would be irrelevent when a spear/arrow can puncture any plate. Keeping the thick plates is going to bulk up the limbs and work against the point of clean, tiny joints.
Excellent analysis, as always! Crossbows was also my first though, when i saw this videos topic. At close Combat, i'm not quite sure if a big shield would be practical, since a small person couldn't see much of their big enemy. Don't underestimate the height differences. Also a really strong guy, could just bash the hobbits shield over and over until the person hiding under it is basically pudding. (let's not forget how big the strength differences are and that a small person has much lighter bones and is much more fragile in general) Wouldn't it be better if a hobbit would make use of his smaller size (= smaller target) and rely more on not getting hit in the first place (like moving around very fast and use Lots of dirty tricks, like sand in the eye or smoke grenades, while at the same time using a light (but also long) sword, like a rapier or unusual long smallsword for surgical strikes? (sorry my bad english) Another idea would be, would a hobbit not be the perfect infiltrator? (ninja or assassin?) Like sneaking at night into a castle and killing someone? Of course he/she would need some kind of fantasy climbing equipment which can be used very quickly to use every opportunity to hide in the shadows.
I think the main thing about Halflings fighting is that they are exactly that, half. So their advantage comes rather from fighting in pairs than fighting one on one. This way it's possible to distract and tempt openings in the enemies defences and significantly increase the potential for victory for the little guys. Naturally open warfare is not an option since just getting past a wall of shield bearers or a line or soldiers with better reach would be virtually impossible. I would say poisoned blowdarts might be suitable weapons for a shortie if they ambush someone not wearing enough armour. Slingshots could be very suitable as well considering this could make up for their lack of physical strength. Considering the inventive nature of the gnomes there could be a crossbow used by 2 little warriors where they assist each other both with loading and wielding the weapon. Halflings are then perhaps the true dual wielders, since they are forced to adapt to two wielding one foe.
Sling - requires strength (you still have to throw it), and isn't an effective war weapon. Blow darts - volume in the lungs, less range. Wasn't an effective war weapon before. Isn't now. Atlatl - You still don't get around the strength problem. You add a little more leverage though not as much as someone who could support a larger atlatl could. Not to mention, the spears would have to be lighter, carrying less momentum.
Slings require almost no strength at all. The power comes from centrifugal force that is achieved with one rotation and a flick of the wrist at the time of release; and yes it actually was a very effective war weapon against unarmored and even lightly armored opponents. Blow darts; you're correct on that. The atlatl increases throwing power and distance while using slightly less force than throwing with the arm alone, and also relies on a simple flick of the wrist to achieve greater effect. Using it to throw a javelin with a weighted tip would be very effective, even if it were small enough to be used by hobbits. You should do some research and get some experience using "primitive" weapons before dismissing their effectiveness.
A note about blow tubes: The volume of air in your lungs isn't as relevant as your ability to expel air in a sharp and concentrated manner, so that wouldn't be a detriment where hobbits and gnomes are concerned. The blow dart isn't an effective war weapon because of the small size of the darts, and the fact that they have to be lighter in order to fly far enough to give the wielder a viable range advantage; so they would be basically useless against anyone wearing even a padded shirt.
@shadiversity I think you left out an excellent weapons for the small ones: a re-sized polearm, and forgive me for not knowing the technical term, but it would be the combo hook/hammer (with a very small, hammerhead). Most of the armors that they would be going up against would have the soft-spots behind hard armor, hence the hook (get's around the hard parts and then yank back to sever through the soft spots). Now, that wouldn't quite work as well against hard plate, for example, hence the hammerhead side, and you want a very small hammerhead, but not a point, so that they can crush the armor, or bend or deform it in someway, rather than pierce or penetrate. Do that, crush the plate around the knees or the shins, and you can kill or incapacitate your enemy, or maybe just bring him down to the halfling's height with severely limited mobility. So...hammer/hook polearm, resized for hobbits. What do you think?
On some other forum this topic was brought up. I suggested a ranged tactic : hobbits using Elf bows with the lying down method. Merry gets on his back, pushes the bow with his feet while pulling the string with both hands, Pippin loads the arrow. Not for precision, but several Hobbits doing this together would make for a surprising barrage.
Indeed with halflings/etc the only thrown weapons which would be useful are ones based on poisons or explosions which do not require the force upon impact. Sneak attacks with crossbows however are proven tactics which we still use today. In the end i'd say as a smaller fellow you would be best off engaging in mental activities such as magic/science if applicable or the payment of mercenaries to fight for you. Money is a great weapon.
Listening about the range weapons, what about bolos? They don't require much strength to throw, and they don't have to be lethal as they are used to immobilize an opponent. Throw the bolos, preferably at the legs, and once the target falls run and stab or whatever you would normally do.
The Bolos would just get caught in the shield or sword Even if the human is down, he can still swing the sword or grab the Hobbit and teabag him to death!
The human/larger opponent would still have use of their arms but it plays into the fact it could give the gnome/hobbit an advantage. They won't be used during a confrontation, It would be advantageous to use them as a sneak attack or if multiple smaller opponents surround a larger one. But yeah, one on one in a fair fight probably won't work out too well in any situation.
I had this thought and wondered if anyone else had, especially if they worked in pairs with the bolo Hobbit attacking from behind while the other Hobbit is the decoy and the decoy could maybe use something similar to the Japanese mancatcher with a little weight on the other end so once the enemy is trapped at the legs the sword arm can be pinned and the bolo Hobbit can come in with a dagger most likely
One halfling/hobbit character I made was a sneaky dagger fighter, but then when he got old and stiffened up a bit he switched to a spear, and he could keep at a distance as well as stab up into the groin and armpits. Another one used a billhook which had the added benefit of hamstringing his foes.
Love it. It remembers me my fighter/thief halfling in Dungeons & Dragons OnLine (flopped and very underrated IMO because it precisely allows to create characters like that far from the killer builts that are not helpless but fun to play) and I did just that, circle around the big bullies dodging their heavy wings while hacking their legs and piercing their asses... It did take some time to bring them down, but I did not even need some tank to front them. :-)
The actual perfect throwing items they would use would be for distractions, light some firecrackers when they don't know where you are and get it behind them. Let the bloody firework show begin.
There is an error in your estimates. If someone is half the height, he is even less surface area (and therefore less area to protect with armour) and evel less than that volume and mass. So armour for hobbits/gnomes could be either lighter or thicker (with same mass to height ratio as for humans).
Dear Shad, here's a little food for thought. What about polearms like the Scandinavian Swordstaff. which is basically a sword blade mounted on a wooden shaft. I would think those would be great for sweeping attacks against an opponent's legs, while giving the little guy some reach. Even assuming they wouldn't be able to use a shield with one of those, they could potentially use enlarged pauldrons, with extra padding underneath to deflect blows away from the head, not unlike what Samurai have done with some of their armour. Other than that, in a late medieval fantasy setting, the little guys would also be amazing hand cannon troops, or musketeers. They are small yes, but a shorter musketoon would still pack a significant punch, they are an extremely hard target to shoot back at, given the inherent inaccuracy of early firearms and even hard to hit with weapons as far as cavalry is concerned. Sure they would get trampled as much as a human unit of musketeers, but good luck hitting a goblin sized target from horseback, it would be tough with a lance and even worse with a sabre.
These little guys would still get some of the extra advantage out of shields that dwarves get. Assuming that these little guys have strength scaled down proportional to their size, being half as tall as an average human they would have 1/4 the strength but only 1/8th the weight. Thus they would actually be able to lift a shield that has twice the weight that a human could lift it were scaled up to human size. The same principle applies to their sneakiness: 1/4 the area of the soles of their feet but only 1/8 the weight means twice the sneakiness. Of course, Hobbits are often depicted with abnormally large feet, so this would multiply their sneakiness. Similarly, these little guys could wear armor that was twice as heavy as what a human could wear it were scaled up to human size. This is because scaling armor down to half the length, breadth, and depth means that the surface area of the armor would be 1/4 the area but the weight of the armor would be 1/8th. With 1/4 the strength, polearms would still be a good option for these little guys. The cross-sectional area of the polearm haft would have to be 1/4 the size and the weight of the metal weapon head would have to be 1/4 as heavy, but the length of the polearm could have the same horizontal reach as a human. In addition, these little guys would actually end up having a reach advantage the human-sized races because they could swing horizontally and hit the enemy, but the human-sized races would have to swing down to be able to hit these little guys. Combine these things with the ability of these little guys to outnumber humans 2 to 1 in the density of their battle lines, and an army of these little guys would be able to stand against an army of humans. More realistically, to have the same length the polearm haft would need to be close to the same size as human polearms, perhaps hollow to help decrease the weight towards to 1/4 the weight, and the weight of the metal weapon head would have to be less than 1/4 the weight as those of human polearms. So perhaps these little guys would be limited to small spear heads and other very simplistic and small weapon heads on their polearms. But, the advantage of having greater reach than humans and having a two to one advantage in battle formations would more than make up for this.
Daniel Zilverentant bloody brilliant, you could also have trip wires strung above their heads. Like how the short guy never gets a spiderweb wrapped around their face.
Tyler K. Sure they could, but morality and the fact that children make for poor soldiers in medieval combat would make such a strategy pretty circumstantial.
Yeah I know :) It's why I specified that the strategy wouldn't be practical in a medieval tech setting since kids can't be given guns. A human child fighting an adult hobbit/Gnome/Goblin is at a huge disadvantage in this context. They don't have the training or even the muscle development to put them on an equal footing. It would probably be more practical to use slaves you drive ahead of your force. Like that they trigger all the traps instead. It would only really work if you are part of a culture that uses slaves however. Actually, war dogs would be perfect since they would be around the same size and weight as the small people and could be trained to bypass simple traps and even indicate them to your forces.
Hello Shad! First of all, Thank you! I really enjoy your Videos, and like your content. My thoughts about this theme: imho I think axes would be more suitable for them, because the frontheavy but short pole would improve the momentum of the hit, which would make the wound deeper, and also more dangerous. Secondly, if their primarily target is their opponents legs, they could use the axe to pull their enemy and take them down. It would be nice, to hear your thoughts about the axe. Greetings from Germany, Jakob :)
I feel like halflings and other races would have to rely on mounted warfare for added maneuverability plus a smaller steed could be more agile in tight spaces
WOOOHOHOO!!! Putting Hobbits(/Halflings), Gnomes and Goblins together?! That's racist! (because they are races.. get it?) But I really do think it is unfair to ignore the cultural aspect completely and reduce them just to their size (can't seem to keep the puns inside it seems..) Hobbits are mostly depicted as rather peaceful and prefering blunt weapons. Which makes kind of sense as because of their shortness they would have to stab everybody with longer, more unwieldy weapons to get to vital organs. Smashing a kneecap or an ankle is a more viable tactic I guess. But what about the iconic sling? It was enough for David to kill Goliat wasn't it? In fact I think it actually is a possibility to overcome their weakness with other range weapons. With a long sling you can build up more momentum as with a small bow. The range won't be great, but it is a perfect weapon to use while in mid range before you get in melee range. Kind of like many antient cultures used javelins or spears. The sling itself is much less hindering then a bow or crossbow and you can even use it from behind a formation to attack your opponent while your melee units are fighting them. So overall.. the traditional depiction does make sense I think. Gnomes originaly where "elemental spirits". Just like Nymphs (water) or Sylth (air). As "earth elementals" they should be something like a mixture of Hobbits and Dwarfs. Which is kind of the oldschool way of portraying them. More modern settings like to give them crazy technology. But in general you could say that they have an advantage with their equipment compared to most other races. Besides that they are, unlike Dwarfs, often associated with magic. Sometimes able to summon earth elementals or use illusion magic or other things which would be very usefull in a fight. Even a few mages within a gnome force could be very effective, even against protection of more common kinds of magic. So Gnomes could get a real advantage from better equipment and access to more dirty tricks then other races. Manipulating the ground beneath the feet of their opponent or lead them off with an illusion could be very lethal to even the best warrior. And Goblins are always shown as cowardly (unless in superior numbers) and... lets call it weaselly. So for them spears or polearms make more sense. They would never even consider a fair fight 1v1. And within a battle there would be a lot of hit and run tactics and dirty tricks. Like not using polearms to crack open an armour but use hooks on them to pull down a shield so that other Goblins may stab you in the face. Depending on the setting Goblins might be such a fast reproducing and numerous race that they don't even care all that much for things like shields and armour in general. Some of them dying taking down a human might be totally worth it (as long as it is Bob and not myself getting killed). And as Goblins are mostly prominent as a slave-race to darker forces they could be used as fodder with no regrets (for their master at least). So in their case most of the normal things you would consider might not apply. They might not need to be able to stand against a differend humanoid 1vs1 because it would never happen this way. I don't want to discredit anything you said Shad. In general therms you are probably right. But I belief that the cultural background and the availability is a huge factor on what you might and might not be using and if a weapon is really appropriate for someone. Keep up the good work. Maybe you might even want to give the series a secound go with classical fantasy cultures and proficiencies and see what weapon would be best for a paladin, barbarian or even magic user if (s)he runs out of juice (or can't use spells to fight for whatever reason). Might be interesting. Also: Castles!
Goblins almost always are given shields, and they need them to have any realistic chance really, doesn't stop hem also using bills & spears ect though, only a few specific games say you can't use shields + long pointy things [with hooks on]
Depends on the sling and the bow I guess. The longer the sling the greater the momentum you can build up. And the space you need to use it. Which can be a disadvantage on it's own. Also I would use effective range instead of the maximal range. If the projectile (stone or whatever you are using) is hitting you like a Hobbit child you don't need to bother :P As far as Goblins and shields goes I personally don't like that depiction because a Goblin is so much weaker then most of his opponents and hasn't access to good quality equipment. That mean the shield would have to be rather big and clunky to withstand a stronger attack. That slows the Goblin down and takes away the advantage of speed and nimbleness Goblins have. Most other races would just smash a Goblin holding up a shield down and then the Goblin is screwd. In melee shields would only really work if the Goblins work together and support each other. Basically making some king of shield wall. If you don't you are just presenting a bigger surface to be hit and pushed over. Onfortunately Goblins aren't really known for good teamwork or even caring all that much for one another. I doubt this tactic would work all that well. You still need shield against arrow fire, or you would have to just accept big losses in the charge. Which is a much more common portrayal of Goblins as far as I've seen. So in short (bag of never ending puns): Goblins don't get a big advantage using a shield against much bigger and stronger opponents. Their lack of cooperation makes it really hard to compensate their physical disadvantages with tactics. For them it seems more viable to just swarm the enemy with weapons like pikes and bills, get into range as fast as possible and then poke as many of them as possible into an enemy. Them beeing nimble gives them the option to stuck up pretty close to one another and put multiple Goblins against one opponent, overwhelming him with to much pointy things to defend against. And if the enemy counterattacks: run away! :D
Culture depends on the settings-my current campaign has the Hobbits are seminomadic natives who must trade for their steel, the gnomes are a colonist minority that specializes in engineering and trade, and the goblins as an expansionist slaver empire. So-the Hobbits are archers, the gnomes use pistols, and the goblins use fusils and musketoons
Good one on goblins. "Billhoks for me and my brother to pull the enemy's legs and weapon while our two other cousins are trying to slit his throat. We are actually so cool we already killed four humans including a knight! Taking on them one at a time of course. And the two of them were sleeping but who cares, we killed 'em anyways!"
Just want to say, look into the square cube law. Halflings should be stronger than you'd expect, and their weapons/armor should be much lighter. Also, if you're going for the legs, I'd say why not an axe? Then you can hook them.
I'd say a falx. it's a lot like a billhook, but with a longer blade and ax-handle-length haft. The Thracians were able to easily hack apart Roman armor with them, and in the hands of someone short, they'd be the bee's knees for...knees.
I have to mention something about the part with the weight of halfling-armour. If you shrink a normal armour down to half its original size, the weight does not get divided by two but by eight.If all three dimensions of the armour are shrinked to half their original value, the mass becomes only one eighth.
Interesting that ypu overlooked a classic halfling weapon: the sling. It realy on rotational force, is lightwieght, and can ve extremely versitile. Also a tomahawk style handaxe would be a splendid sidearm, and versitile tool, light wieght but concussive against legs, ankles and feet, potentially doubling as a last ditch thrown weapon, they match the size, and combat roles Halflings play.
Group combat? Group combat!? Smaller profile = more compact formations. I would have loved for you to have talked line warfare would happen. Oh my, what of mixed units? Shield walls with spears from above and swords from below!
Would be interesting except humans could form similar formations with greater effect. I think gnomes/halflings are typically peaceful races for a reason. Goblins on the other hand, well they fear Orcs more than humans so they fight anyway
not the same effect, human formation is naturally less compact so there's not numerical superiority concentrated to the same degree on the battle line & especially vs a smaller profile they'd struggle to even align multiple pikes supporting from the back in a moving formation, humans have advantage due to strength & reach, formation helps but not anywhere near the same extent in the same way in a theoretical hobbits/goblins vs humans conflict
Just to share my thoughts on slings. As many have mentioned slings certainly do compliment halfling characteristics and they would be able to get them to around the same power as a human due to momentum rather than strength, but the lethality potential of slings goes down drastically as soon as you add armor into the mix which make them a very poor battlefield weapon. A sling simply can't injure let alone kill a guy through a helm, plate, mail or even gambeson (baring a one in a million shot David vs Goliath style). Bows and crossbows on the other hand have far greater penetration capability though even they have trouble with armor, just not as much trouble as slings.
Perhaps the next video about what weapons would x use could be about the undead? I always found zombie pikemen...interesting. Love your channel and your accent, keep up the good work mate!
Mario Piernas Yeah, that's a good one. Why do zombies always use swords/axes and skeletons always use bows? Would it make sense for the undead to use armor/shields (they're usually cannon fodder, and not known for their self-preservation instincts)?
Well, since zombies are not very smart, a spear-like weapon suits them very well, for using a spear is almost an instict. I always thought that spears and pikes could be the perfect weapons for zombies (zombies, at least, I don't really know about skeletons). And if a necromancer holds them together in formation, you get a cheap, expendable spear/pike unit.
Just a different approach to the traditional zombie armed with a club or directly unarmed.
To be honest crossbows and bows are not exactly 'killer' battlefield weapons either. At Agincourt I think very few arrows actually penetrated armour.
Missile weapons up until gunpowder were always weak and slings could outrange and deliver more lethal hits than many lower poundage bows.
The Roman army had special equipment specifically to remove sling stones from wounds and the Romans wore a hell of a lot of armour and used large shields.
Skirmishing and missile fire is not just about DAMAGE either. Harassment is a useful battlefield role and skirmishers could do stuff like screening as well.
Would weighted nets be effected, with cable rope?
"They are not built for throwing"
I don't know about that. With enough strength you could probably throw them a pretty good distance.
Purin1023 best comment award goes to...
I’m imagining little catapults loaded up with a hobbit and then launching him towards the enemy with a knife. Forget nukes, these are true weapons of mass destruction.
Bookhead714 they stuff the little bastards with beans and asparagus before they launch them.
Bookhead714 yeah. Shoot him at a giant have them just crawl all over them like demonic moles and hack with their knives
No spears launch a hobbit holding a spear would have so much weight and power
So, when you think about it, these guys are basically playing Dark Souls - everything is bigger and stronger than them and can kill them in 2 hits, so their only real option is to dodge around, avoid getting hit and stab their opponent in the shins until they die.
pretty much
Random Mind = Blown
Random "90% of Dark Souls is stabbing things in the butt"
-One of the guys from Extra Credits
Just stick to the booty, that's what got me through dark souls and bloodborne, sticking to that ass and spending more time rolling than running.
not very effective in battles
So a hobbit's ideal combat situation involves sneaking, dodging, trickery, avoiding combat, and possibly convincing someone larger to fight on his behalf, and if all else fails, go for the legs? That's the plot of The Hobbit right there. Well, without the legs bit.
Although LOTR hobbits are actually of comparable strength to humans. The largest and strongest hobbit in history (until Merry and Pippin enhanced their size with Ent-draught) was able to knock an orc's head off with a club.
Weren't the Tolkienian Hobbits also supposed to be excellent Slingers thus gaining a RANGED attack advantage..?
@Veng3r Yes, according to the books, Hobbits' accuracy was so good that if a Hobbit stooped to pick up a stone, all small animals in the area fled. It's a strong innate ability that we don't see much in the books (basically just in the Battle of Bywater), but would be excellent if they ever went to war. When you take into account how stealthy Hobbits can be, they're basically perfect for the sort of "ranged ambush guerrillas" style of warfare.
EDIT: Also, the going for the legs tactic was actually how Merry helped Eowyn defeat the Witch-King in the books: Merry stabbed him in the back of the knee (with a dagger that was likely enchanted specifically to fight him), which weakened him enough for Eowyn to deliver the finishing blow.
You forget the Spiders. Bilbo aimed for the Leggs of this nasty creatures
They were use intelligence and sneaking attacks to win
To quote the inestimable Terry Pratchett, "when their arms are level with your head, your teeth are level with their groin"
“They’re not good at throwing”
Shad has clearly never had a toddler chuck a toy at his face.
Gosh dang catapult arms.
Do they have motors for shoulders?
Lmfao
@@jamesblakeley4329 NFL baby
Hobbits are actually well known for how hard and accurate they can throw a rock. At least the Tolkien ones do
My throwing arm got worse as an adult.
"A Child half the height of a human"
Yeah.
I always knew children were monsters.
Children are basically goblins
I wonder if their needs for dirty tactics and crossbows are why Gnomes are sometimes shown as being more technologically advanced than the other races. After all, if you're making up for so many deficiencies and need trick-bombs and crossbow loading mechanisms to level the playing field, it only makes sense that they'd try to study more technology to have better advantages. Food for thought...
Blackjack 488 and almost anyone on a "medieval" fantasy is suposed to have good knoledge adout balistic and other military useful math things.
In general, Goblins don't have any mental stats bonus and Halflings/Hobbits go for Charisma. As the unique "nerd type small race" Gnomes pretty sure desenvolved all the math, phisics and chemistry that could be useful in battle by themselves.
to have BAD knoledge＊
wtf this typo? I think I just mixed too sentences. lol
Agreed. Whenever I create a setting or a character, the gnomes are the most sophisticated using crossbows, explosives, firearms, etc.
Gnomes, in my experience, are a race that's a little hard to define. Their description in D&D and other sources is all over the place making them pranksters, AND illusionists, AND alchemists, AND tinkers...but they are NOT stealthy or crack shots like halflings. While Warcraft just makes Gnomes full-on steampunk and are the explanation for why guns exist in that universe (the dwarves got them from the gnomes and the humans got them from the dwarves, and the goblins just like explosive dangerous stuff so they made damn sure they got in on that party ASAP), but I feel like this disrupts the setting. Gunpowder isn't just "ahead of the curb", it is such a huge invention that it changes the landscape of warfare forever.
But without silly energy gizmos or gunpowder, what's left for the gnomes? Repeater crossbows, stronger metal bows, mythril wire bowstrings, greek fire, flaming ballista bolts, etc etc. Clockwork creations, particularly traps, would be okay, but harder to imagine (and they would need to be diverse to both reflect gnome creativity and the enemy adapting to them). Probably a lot of a gnomish community's resources go towards defense and the maintainence of these contraptions, which might actually be a point of contention for some local gnomish inventors that want the rare earths or coal supplies or whatever to be used for scientific exploration NOT related to godsdamned war machine....
Assuming you don't have the DragonLance-setting Gnomes. Very technologically-minded, but totally incompetent at making things properly without another race to keep them from going overboard or getting too complicated.
In the words of the Might Jingles "If you've gotten in a fair fight, you've already done something wrong."
Blaine Drummond That's also the same for Salarians from Mass Effect trilogy.. I think Faery( Gnomes, and everything else) would be more like commandos and special forces than frontline soldiers.
Apt quote 👍
One of my favorite moments from the 2011 TMNT cartoon:
Leonardo: Their leader was crazy good. By which I mean he was good and seemed a little crazy. Besides he had all these guys with him, it wasn't a fair fight.
Splinter: What do you mean, "fair fight"?
Leonardo: A fair fight, you know, where either side could win?
Splinter: So a fair fight is a fight you could lose.
Leonardo: Well, yes, but... well, what I... what I mean is...
Splinter: You don't want to assure your victory.
Leonardo: No, I do, but... (Splinter sweeps his legs with his staff then pins him) Ow! Hey!
Splinter: Was that fair?
Leonardo: No!
Splinter: Did I win?
Leonardo: ...I see your point.
Splinter: Seek victory, not fairness.
“Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is.”
-Yoda
Huh. Guess that's why most gnomes are either mages or super technologically advanced.
it really is a FORCE to be reckoned with
Who else read this in Yoda's voice?
I don't think hobbits have the Force
so basicly a gnome would be the perfect modern soldier - give him a rifle. His aim is superior while at the same time he is a much smaller target himself. Go Gnome Marines
Perfect for urban fantasy and dieselpunk.
Most halflings and gnomes are presented to be technological geniuses in cases of medieval fantasy. They'd have probably discovered the magic of blackpowder weapons and siegeworks. Hell, they're full on Dieselpunk in some cases, even fielding such complex things as tanks, aircraft, steel warships, and in some cases even submarines.
Ok, I didn't know I needed that.
Warhammer 40k ratlings
A great sniper, though he would have more trouble moving the gun and ammunition around. Pair one with a human spotter I guess.
I know this might be a somewhat weird question, but how's the armor in the crotch area of full plate? Obviously, the front is protected, but what about attack from below? If we're already fighting dirty, it seems like a good place to stab, unless the armor covers from directly below as well.
In some cases there's mail but most often it's completely open... ouch.
Halosty nice idea!!
Halosty Mr Welchs list, #248: There is no Halfling god of groin shots.
My response: why the hell not?
Halosty it is pretty well defended in all the ones that I have seen.
@Halosty, there is a good video on this subject made by "Knyght Errant" called "Medieval Groin Armour". That is the go to channel for very well researched videos on armour.
"The only good goblin is a dead goblin. NOW LET'S MAKE THIS GOBLINS GOOD!!!" - Goblin Slayer
Goblin Slayer theme getting louder 😎
I used to be an adventurer like you. Then I took a hobbit to the knee.
lqtm
Congratulations, sir/madame/construct/automaton; you've successfully revived a dead meme in such a way as to not bludgeon even deeper into the abyss than it already was. That one actually made laugh out loud; bravo!
let me guess a hobbit stole your sweet role #skyrimmemes
the hobbit missed third breakfast that day.
....do NOT fuck with a hobbit's third breakfast....
+Daniel Thompson I prefer the term Eldritch Abomination.
If you're going for legs that lack armor in the back, something with an inward curve, like a kukri or a sickle would be useful for hooking around the back for nasty slashes. Bye, Achilles tendon!
Yeah - maybe a falx?
AYO GURKHALI!!
When he brought up spears/halberds etc I was surprised that the billhook didn't come up. It'd be the ideal polearm for them to perform sweeps at the legs/back of the knees and it wouldn't take as much strength as a halberd would.
Tiger hooks?
So that was how Achilles was killed... a Trojan halfling hit his heel with either a sickle or a crossbow bolt!
I always felt like the Bill would be a good weapon for Hobbits. They're based on farm equipment, which is very thematic, and covered in all sorts of hooks and spikes for them to snag on a bigger person's armor and yank them down to their level. Once they're down, take out a dagger and finish them off, or have your mate beside you finish them.
I don’t think they’re strong enough to use them
@@TsulaAngenati2292
Polearms aren’t that heavy.
Medieval weapons in general aren’t as heavy as they look.
@@KalashVodka175but you have to consider leverage. If they are shorter and have shorter arms then that means they’re oils have to help the polearms closer to the end and farther away from the head, which in turn would make them FAR heavier and more unwieldy.
Halfling armies: attack of the ankle biters
We had an AWESOME Gnome Warrior in our old WoW guild named Anklebiter... :D
For anyone who's met a hostile terrier, that's actually intimidating.
I really think you missed out on their obvious knack for trench warfare.
The best thing I got out of this video was a picture of Bilbo Baggins flipping off the camera.
"I like to lick Frodo's feet."
Please keep your LotR slash fiction out of this.
NEVAH
I feel like a human sized opponent with a pole-arm and full plate would be a nightmare for these guys.
Lure them on the ice ;)
Or into a swamp, if it's too warm for the ice.
These guys would be raided a lot by Vikings and Mongols (Heck by everyone)
There would be lots of Half-Hobbit Half-Humans in Scadinavia, Persia and Mongolia
+Christian Dauz
Sounds like they'd fit just right where the Russian Principalities and/or Novgorod Republic were.
Just add the "demon-folk" purges by the Teutonic Order into the mix.
BandsWithBards This is why we use tactics....and crossbows.
I think their obvious knack for trench warfare is being over looked.
Tunnel fighters. They all do live in tunnels but for some reason the goblins dig their tunnels human sized rather than goblin sized and forcing the adventures to either walk bent over or crawl through their tunnels. If the tunnels were goblin or halfling or gnome sized, it would be a death trap for human or Orc invaders.
Gregory Floriolli bloody brilliant
iirc that's actually what gnomes do do
Vietcong style.
pfff they can just pour hot oil in there and they would be running
+Edin743
Depends on the size of the establishment. In any case, a large amount of oil will be needed. Also, a drain or a metal floodgate will render this method useless.
"Unprepared, with there pants down, in their back, in the dark, while they're sleeping" That's the best thing I've ever heard xD
"What happened to the Great Warrior Wartooth?"
"He fell asleep on the toilet. Hobbit got him."
Oh god, imagine always having to check the outhouse for hobbits every time you have to take a dump.
They would also be the real monsters under the bed.
"Look there Cassius, hobbit tracks. Guess we're gonna have to spray the castle again. This is why you don't order goods from Southmoor. The whole place is lousy with them."
You get curb-stomped if you're under five feet tall and have curly hair . . . .
"No, I'm human! Look at my feet!"
LOL!
No wonder most gnomes are normaly magic user in most rpg games. Goblin would go with dirty play, maybe even some form of explosives.
No wonder gnomes and dwarves are often found inventing arquebuses :P
mestre12 or asassins
“Goblin would go with dirty play, maybe even some form of explosives.”
I think the goblins from Goblin Slayer show what their ideal tactics would be like.
Depends on tech. If the Goblins in Goblin Slayer had gun or black powder they would've killed the Slayer way before hand
And then probably sell someone else your loot for much more than it's actually worth, with maybe an unreliable, overpriced product on the side.
the more time i spend on YT the more I want to play DnD with Shad, Raph Matt and Skallagrim
The groin is almost universally a weakness in armor, especially from below. Gnomes are perfect height for a spear thrust at a human's or orc's groin.
Human/Orc/Dwarf/Troll Pikemen easily counter that
They also have better range units
Hobbits vs Mongolian Horse Archers and Heavy Cavalry would be a bigger one-side slaughter than the one the Parthians inflicted on the Romans
***** Well, yeah. Spear and shield might be as good as if not better than sword and shield for these little guys.
At the end of the day, it's still an army of hobbits.
Who are going to be slaughtered like Peasant Mobs in Medieval Total War!
There are battles in which English Longbowmen slaughtered Scottish Armies without losing a single man
Hobbits don't stand a chance
Thank you so much for making this. Have really been looking forward to this one.
I was once an adventurer like you, until I took a halflings' sword to the knee
Bro, you are lucky it was *the knee!* 😖
🍆?
I would have thought a sharpened military pick (or kama) would be the perfect weapon for them since legs would be their primary target. They could aim for the back of the knee, the Achilles tendon or just try to trip their opponent.
Then once their opponent is down they'd have their choice of targets for a finishing blow.
Kusari Gama: a sickle on a chain with a weight on the other end
The problem with halflings using tripping weapons comes down to leverage. They are at severe disadvantages in terms of weight and lever length. Have you ever had a child try to trip you? It isn't that hard to stay grounded.
I agree with Shad, just cutting at the legs seems more likely to get your opponent on the ground. For that reason I do agree that a kama/sickle would do well.
Pike formations would probably be heavily used
With the "go for the legs" tactics, I might consider some curved blade, like a sickle or even something meant for bringing down the opponent like a longer version of a flail (for the extra reach).
So, from what I'm seeing here, you've just completely justified the Halfling Rogue stereotype. Bravo. I do love it when fantasy gets things right.
Don't forget about the square-cube ratio. In D&D at least, small class creatures have gear that's half as heavy but they can carry 3/4 of a medium class creature with the same strength score. Not real life numbers, but the idea still stands. Because of this when you adjust their equipment for size they can carry more and get tired more slowly as a result. They would likely use the roman tactics of short stabbing swords in testudo in a slow brutal slugging match. The fact they're so small means that they can also easily hit their enemy with ranged weapons in a fight, just fire over your guys heads at the guy towering over them. This also makes the sling a perfect weapon, as the normal issue of not having indirect fire is nullified by the enemy's height.
That is pretty accurate though. Have you ever seen a 5.3 female lugging the same amount of military equipment as a ~7 guy? I have. She was not remarkably more weighted down by it. Granted we are not talking about some sort of ranger/elite soldier work here (which would put more weight and more strenuous work into the picture) but she could hold the pace and do the work.
While size definitely matters strength-wise, anecdotal evidence like this has taught me that muscle mass, conditioning and density matters much more than length.
When looking at absolute peak performance within MMA (nowadays) then of course size is everything and that's why there are such strict weigh-ins with weight classes (that's cause everyone is essentially doing the same thing and after a few decades people have gotten really good at it) but you could get away with skill, physical condition and muscles for quite a long time and weight classes in early Pride (when you still had wrestlers and strongmen fighting) where not as strict nor as numerous like the ones in modern UFC.
Edit: spelling
I really appreciate this video. I'm planning on writing a few novels that center around the D&D variation of kobolds (little reptile men basically, around the size of the beings discussed here), and I was planning a battle in one of the later books that involved the kobolds fighting elves alongside some other allied races. I wanted to give them some accurate and useful weapons that would fit their size. I knew that I could rely on you to help me out in that area. Thanks Shad!
Ok, I’ve come up with two (two and a half?) cool tactics for goblins in their dens. The first, use a wall of goblins with hooked pole arms to hold the adventurers at a distance while a few try to hook their legs and bring them down, at which point the others use the bladed sections to hack the poor bastard to pieces. Another version uses this, but goblins on both sides, with a group that sneaks up behind the adventurers using goblin-sized tunnels.
The other idea is basically armoured shock troops, where they run in and stab at the legs and thighs. There’s a major artery on the inside of the thigh, right next to the scrotum, which is pretty nasty to be stabbing at in the first place.
Another quasi-tactic is simply attacking from above. That nullifies the enemy’s height advantage, especially if you can knock them down. And the mere fact that they are lighter and more compact makes landing on their feet easier.
Basicly a greek falanx like formation with the first lines habing curved blade weapons to grabe shilds and legs and crosbows in the back and flancs.
Love these videos, but quick note: throwing (especially something like a sling) is less about arm length and more about the wrist. A sling does not actually need to be "wound up" like in movies, it just makes it less accurate. So I think a sling would be a viable weapon (but not a javelin, for instance).
How dare you say movies aren't 100% historically accurate!
This is true. I've gotten to be quite skilled with a sling over the years, and you really only need one solid rotation with a proper flick of the wrist at the end to get an accurate and powerful throw
Would it really be effective against armor, though?
The Hobbit specifically mentions that all Hobbits are very effective with throwing rocks. Like, they see a rabbit, and can throw a rock at it's head and kill it. That example would still require training, but the point still stands.
Against anything tougher than padded armour? Not at all, at least not in a lethal sense. A good shot to the helmet with a shaped stone or piece of lead, however, can still be a good distraction. Even against padded armour it would, at worst, cause bruises and could potentially fracture a bone if it was a lucky shot. Of course, no mention was made of staff-slings, which even a hobbit could use to hurl stones weighing a kilogram or so. One of those could be deadly to someone wearing padded armour or possibly even mail, but with plate armour it would still be more of a distraction than anything. I just couldn't see a hobbit or gnome trying to go toe-to-toe with anyone, and would imagine that they would be used as formation skirmishers or even just as an antagonizing unit that stayed at a distance to hurl stones into enemy formations to try and break their resolve
halflings should just offer their enemy free cake and wine. and hemlock.
Poisoned cake and wine.
EDIT: oh.
Then you'd get yourself a punishing expedition that would surely not accept any food from you but your meat.
Tea and cake -or- and death! Tea and cake -or- and death! Little red cook book, little red cook book!
There's a reason why they call hemlock "fool's parsley", and it's not because Socrates was a fool.
Nick Dzink then sneak into their camps and add some poison to their own food. Halflings can sneak, right. Hide in tunnels during the day and sabotage everything at night. Thans for open warfare. My origional suggestion is better suited for after halflings were beaten and enslaved.
On throwing; you forgot your previous statement about fighting dirty!
*_Pocket sand!_*
Dale would be proud to see you promoting his techniques here. Did I say Dale? I meant Rusty ;)
hate to point it out, but groin is also a prime target... ouch!
I was thinking that.
I was just imagining a knight with a longsword swinging down, then the hobbit/gnome/goblin opponent would deflect it with their shield, immediately closing the distance and stabbing them family jewels, Sandor Clegane style.
Then, as the shocked knight drops on his knees completely shocked from the pain and agony, the hobbit/gnome/goblin would finish the job by slicing his neck. I totally see that happening!
Unless the armored opponent is wearing a steel codpiece. In which case, the legs are still the best option.
Two things I feel you didn't mention but also go along with the playing dirty theme is the throwing dagger/knife and dart. They are all small, very concealable and can pierce without needing huge amounts of force behind them. Darts especially can be tipped with poison. Also if hobbit or Gnome knights have throwing daggers or darts they can toss them at the face of human knight before doing a quick draw with their sword, while closing, in order to go for the legs. But that is for more of an exposed face. For covered faces just a metal weight can add a lot of noise and discomfort to the helmeted knight if it hits. So I'd expect them to employ a lot of weapons that are meant for distractions that take advantage of natural tendencies for people to flinch and whatnot.
Yes! I've been waiting for the next video in this series!
sadly they would use even more cunning tactics and would not go for the legs... but groin.
Now, that's dirty fighting!
@@darlalathan6143 Hey! As long as it saves your life... 😁👍
Thank goodness for cod piece armor!
As long it is a male
@@ipadair7345 when you think about it, itd still be effective against a female. they do have an in built sheath for a knife!
Pommels, Shad.
They would use pommel magic, to end all foe, big or small, rightly.
Dundrael it works better without magic.
magic weakens it
The magic is pommel summoning.
You do not know the pommel throw meme?
It comes from a Skallagrim video. Or you could, you know, google it.
Actually, I recently saw Theign Thrand do a test on the pommel throw against first a ballistics gel dummy head, both with and without armor, and without armor, the pommel did legit produce lethal impact with a solid throw and hit. They then tested it with a guy wearing a sturdy helmet and the guy wearing the helmet was badly dazed by the hit to his helmet, despite knowing it was coming and being braced for it. The thing that did him in was the LOUD ringing his helmet did when the pommel hit it, which temporarily deafened him and left him stunned for a moment, and they also concluded if he was caught by surprise, the force of the blow would have been worse as his head would have snapped back in a classic whiplash motion, further stunning him, leaving him ripe to be ended rightly with a grapple or sword attack to a weak spot in his armor.
Ending him rightly proven.
Of course, that's not taking into account the atomic bomb blast those things also produce when thrown in a proper end him rightly fashion. :D
I love those videos, just theorizing about fighting styles and how they would be adapted!
But for that reason I have a little off topic question: Would you say, that in the roman fighting style, based on tight formations and short swords, a punching dagger or sword like the "Katar" would have been of use, or even an improvement?
I am very curious and would like to hear some opinions! ;)
Greets from Germany! =)
i like the little summary you do at the end where you conclude everything said before.
I recommend you add a picture, portaiting all the weapons/equipment you list so we as viewers have a little visual aswell.
Some sort of hooked weapon would be advantageous for attacking the legs, especially if the legs are armored with greaves. Perhaps a bearded axe with a longish handle? I could also see hobbits fighting in teams of two. Shield+axe in a team with a poleaxe. The team would be trying to hook the legs of the human to get them down on the ground.
Also, if they have good aim but not good strength, then entangling weapons might be just the thing. Bolas to ensnare the legs of opponents. Maybe they could train with whips to wrap around and trip opponents? Both of those could be accomplished with good dexterity/aim with reduced strength.
I will always sit through ads for this channel. love Sadiversity.
Bait and switch
You forgot to mention a very primitive yet effective ranged weapon, slings. If you look at alot of fantasy lore halflings are excelent with slings.
The 1ndiegamer I was thinking that too.
The 1ndiegamer or guns just use guns
The 1ndiegamer slings rely on leverage, and thus size. heavier/larger bullets (military sling ammo) require more strength. so overall their body type isn't good for slings. I figured dwarves would use staff slings and normal slings with oversized ammo. I am a fan of military grade slings as it is the undervalued ranged weapon and vastly versatile. I tend to use slinger halflings that don't rely on weapons (slings suck in d&d).
Second that, as they are (fairly) eas to use and require no real strength.
According to your very own logic, a sling staff would be fine for a Halfling because it eliminates the issue of size and leverage without relying significantly upon strength. However, slings aren't overly effective when the majority of one's opponents have access to helmets and gambesons, let alone mail, and since iron or even steel helmets and mail are seen as the baseline armor for infantry in most fantasy settings, a sling would be very ineffective even with lead shot.
Hey Shad! I’ve got to say, I really love your videos. This one in particular has helped me rethink how I would arm an anthropomorphic corgi. On this subject, I had a question about plate armor and anthropomorphic canines: In wearing full plate armor, would a creature who pants as its primary method of cooling off have an advantage in keeping cool over humans, who sweat to keep cool?
Finally, may I suggest a video idea? Arms and armor for werewolves would be pretty cool to see! Would biting be effective against mail (biting through the mail)? Would a steel full jaw mouth guard enable them to pierce plate? What type of helmet would best accommodate wolf ears? Would a tail become a hindrance in a fight? Stuff like that. =)
I feel like you may have overlooked slings for these guys. The design and speed produced by a sling bullet would surely overcome their strength problems?
Well, the sling would have to be far smaller to avoid hitting the ground, and I'm pretty sure slings are weaker if you're less strong, because giants, being larger and stronger, are suggested to use slings in shads video on them.
Unless of course you mean swinging the sling over your head, then you could have a normal-ish sized sling, but that sounds like it would do weird things to the aim.
"I like to lick Frodo's feet." I died. That was too good, Shad! Thumbs up!
Hahahaha someone else saw it too!
How many waves of 5th graders can you defeat before your overwhelmed?
Timothy Stockton I'd just get naked and shout "IM A CHILD MOLESTER" I'd get through ALL waves
how is this comment not at the top... *I play as a priest so it is just as effective*
I say just yell jake Paul is behind you and run away
4. Siriously i fought 4 trained 5th grader and its not easy when they could block and avoid my attack.
@@akbarghifar545
"Trained 5th grader"
Well that's something I now know exists.
Shad, I have question!
Do you think hobbits\goblins\gnomes benefit from using flails, if they target enemy knees, or legs in general?
From what I seen it seems like flails have more reach compare to clubs and warhammers, but can be as devastating if they are used correctly. Do you think lack of strengths of user can be compensate by using them to achieve more damage via velocity that spiked ball creates while being swinging around?
Also curious about this.
Yeah.. that could be... Or use long range artillery... Multiple Faery( includes halflings and everything) could operate ballistas and seige crossbows... Hell, they could rapid fire them at a greater length than the longest range of the best war bow
One of the problems with flails is how slow they are and having tiny arms would help speed things up as well as having short arms flails would be one of the few things that would have the ability to speed up and hurt people and many hobbits don't fight or practice so flails not having edge aliment is amazing so Hobbit flails I enjoyed coming to this conclusion
I think Shad has a video about flails. Most aren't historically accurate. They are long enough to hit your knuckles.
Yes but there is reason to believe that flails did exist and flails do not have to have long chains but if hobbits were to have scaled down flails they could gather more energy in a swing than a mace I do think they would prefer other weapons with the exception of anti armor weapons than hobbits and flails all the way
11:55 is there a full length video of this? Would love to see Shad throwing down against opponents in a ring
When the video got around to talking about spears and the disadvantages to using them, an idea on how to get around it popped into my head: Tridents and other pronged spears. More pointy parts on your spear makes it easier to hit your target.
Really liked the video, but I think you missed two points.
we humans have used spears to kill way larger animals for millenia, and if someone is thinking about spears always exceding the reach of the animal, just remember mammoths.
As long as they adjust weight by decreasing length of the pole, they would be great with spears, maybe a little shorter than human spears; but thew could get a great advantage with massai-like spears (short as swords overall).
But one you definitelly forgot was the sling. Since it relies on accelleration, not strength, they could rely on them and use them without issues.
Oh, and a sidenote, since they weigh a lot less, probably they can dodge like cats xD
I'm loving this series man, do ogres or trolls or something like that!
I highly doubt Peter Dinklage can dodge like a cat
Short Spears are not going to stop a Human Cavalry Charge...
...or Horse Archers
Hobbit Slingers are going to have shorter range than Peasant Bowmen or Militia Crossbowmen
Dwarves would just crush Hobbits
Peter Dinklage is a human with a malformation that makes him smaller and less agile. That's not what halflings are.
Good point with cavalry, but may I point out spear formations have always been one of the most common tactics against cavalry charges? Not shields, spears. Horses are afraid of pointy long sticks, not boards. So halfling spear formation would have a chance against cavalry charge
@@AltairDhauglu Would the spears be long enough, though?
I mean, if we take into account them adjusting the size of the spears for them to use, would they still make for a reliable defense against charging horses that would measure (to them) what would be (for us) a creature the size of an elephant? Only fast as a poney?
Obviously each weapon system has a weakness. My only point is, in close combat, without mounts and without range weapons, short humanoids would profit from using spears as long as they can handle without them being cumbersome (which means just point and no extras) just as we used them against animals which are larger and have weapon like defenses.
And although humans could use larger spears acainst them, which would suck for them, small humanoids could have two things going for them. They're a smaller target, and both them and their weapon are more nimble
@@AltairDhauglu Hmm, fair enough.
Still think that a sturdy shield and a sword would be better for a 1 vs 1 situation. Parry an attack, move in and immediately strike one of two weak points:
1 - the legs
2- *the groin* _(OUCH!)_
Ah, but what about Mac Nac Feegles from the Discworld series? One of those guys, who aren't even half a foot in height, can easily lay out a dozen men, using just their hands, feet, and head! Of course, part of their fighting strategy involves climbing up a guy's leg and breaking the guy's kneecap, then going for the groin, and then the head. They also carry swords that glow blue in the presence of lawyers, whom they are mortally afraid of, as they write down peoples' names...... luckily, they got their own, very cheap, lawyer.
I might be the only person to suggest this, but what about Atlatls? They are extremely light, and don't require much strength to use effectively, and if used right, have around the same penetration power as bows.
How long would it take to train somebody to actually use this properly in a battlefield situation?
Just like bows, you would need volley fire to be effective with the Atlatls
Shields and Plate Armor pretty much counter that
Hobbits make bad Pikemen so the Halfling Slingers are going to get run over by the Human Cavalry
Or the Human Horse Archers just kill all the hobbits, recycle the arrows, rinse and repeat
You pretty much broke down my gnome/halfling variety Shad, well done. My gnomes favor poison, bombs(all sorts), slings and gorilla tactics. I am also working on a martial art for the "little people"
Love the series my friend. Would you try and break down beast-men next? Animal like humanoids.
they can become...
HOOOOG RIIIIIIDAAAAAASSSSS
Or ostrich riders.
10:27. "The answer to that - for a human, at least - would be to just boot the thing as hard as they can and send the little guy flying!"
QUICK! DROP-KICK THE MIDGET!
but what if it's a compact formation of midgets all supporting eachother while swarming forwards?
Low ceilings. Whenever you have the chance to plan the fight in advance fight at home, and keep your ceilings only as high as your taller gnomes. Then you can go for the head.
I think you got it wrong on plate armour. *Half the size is NOT half the weight.*
Doubling something in size contributes to a cubic increase in weight!
To illustrate it, think of an average built human scaled to following size:
cm kg
400 850
300 350
220 140
200 100
180 80
150 45
120 22
100 12
*The scaleability is problematic* however. A human cannot get any bigger than 3m without major anatomic changes. For the same reasons model planes can take on forms real planes can't and small animals can fall deep without hurting themselves.
Armour is problematic too. Most medieval plate armour was around 1mm thick, with critical parts 2mm thick. The prior can be cleaved with an axe, or penetrated with some bows and crossbows in ideal conditions. *Giving goblins 0.5mm armour would allow humans to cut right throw it with their swords!* Giving them 1mm thick armour would make it incredibly heavy. If a normal human carries plate armour then he carries about 40% of his body-weight in armour. If a halfling does it it would be about 60%, since the armour shrinks only in two dimensions rather than 3.
That's true for changing size by directly scaling up all distances by the same factor. That's not the case with fantasy races though. A halfling isn't a thing with human proportions but only half the length. Usually, they're depicted as having only slightly smaller heads and torsos, shorter arms, and much shorter legs.
The issue is though (regardless of the actual ratio of surface area to weight for different fantasy races) relevant, and I was disappointed to not see it mentioned in the dwarf video. If dwarfs have strength equivalent to humans, their smaller size means they have a better ratio of strength to surface area, which would enable them to use thicker armour. That would make the usual fantasy trope of super-heavily armoured dwarf infantry actually plausible.
That's something I noticed too. I'm a tall guy and can slap so fast that my hand hurts from the acceleration forcing too much blood into my finger tips. However, when it comes to wrestling with someone considerably shorter, I'm at a disadvantage, if he's comparatively strong. If the same mass of muscles would power arms half the length of mine, they would have a much better leverage.
i love these videos! i think about this stuff all the time lol you've given me some great ideas for writing with them. keep up the awesome work!
This is the first of your videos I've had any kind of minor niggle with. Height to strength to weight ratio has less to do with how tall you are and more to do with the mass and more importantly density of your muscle mass. The comparison to children you made is probably the key thing here. One of the main reasons apart from size that makes children weaker is that fact that their bodies haven't gone through the conditioning that comes with puberty, there are significant changes that happen, in particular with boys regarding muscle and bone density as a result of puberty that significantly effect strength. Any of these little people who were adults would have had a similar development phase. You can't just assume that they are 50% weaker as they're on average 50% shorter, it doesn't work like that. I totally agree with everything else you have said though.
Shad, what weapons would you say would fabled, man-sized, rats, also known as "Skaven" would use? Or (warhammer Fantasy Battle) Ogres? (side note: These Ogres tend to use cannons as muskets)
Honestly, the Skaven would probably be very similar to Elves. Ogres would be Orcs x2 - they're huge creatures in Warhammer Fantasy, right? GIANT, completely STEEL bows would be their favored weapon - they could probably fire an arrow at the same velocity as a bullet from a gun lol
for scale: Ogre Leadbelcher
vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammerfb/images/0/0e/Warhammer_Ogre_Leadbelcher_Warfare.png/revision/latest?cb=20170104083743
warhammerfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Ogre_Kingdoms#Military
Skaven:
warhammerfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Skaven#Military
Hello Rattlingguns
Skaven are 1 to 1 equivalent to humans just with different posture & only due to circumstance less nourishment, they use all the same weapons except not bows due to body shape, they'd have to use crossbows if they didn't have access to gunpowder or warpstone, they inherently in world have access to warpstone though so make use of grenades & firearms
I would like to see one for mages. That would be awesome. Hmm other than that, I'd like to see one based on Sanderson's books mistborn, what they would use for weapons.
Medieval weapons for mages? That's fully depend on laws of magic in setting.
I think it depends on the mages race.
An human mage would use Human weapons, an orcish one orcish ones,...
Its still dependent on their physicial characteristics.
Unless their magic would allow them to shapeshift/ alter their physicial characteristics.
The they would very likely fight like higher vampirs from The Witcher universe: Mutate their bodies into giant mustlepaced, fast, armored and selfregererating monsters and fight till total exhaustion of these powers.
Jake Asmah that series was absolutely amazing, never hear much from other people talking about it sadly though.
Yeah well its surprisingly popular even though is very rare to hear about it.... Even might get a movie. It also has a very popular rpg game.
What's the name of the game? 'cause that could be amazing to play as a mistborn
I lost it when you said, "Boot the little guy."
Great video, congratulations, Shad. I think all the ideas you have pointed in the vid were very interesting. I'd like to add some thoughts of my own, if I may: Swords are excellent weapons and can be made in a variety of shapes and sizes, and every body loves them (including me) so, its easy to think in a sword as a good weapon for hobbits (as it woud be for any race :P). I'd like to propose to think out of the box, based in the fighting stile you presented on the vid, using shield in a one on one combat aimming for the legs, I think a scythe could be a formidable weapon for this purpose. With a scythe a hobbit could easely cut the back of a knee, generally a unprotected spot. Now, dont think in those nonsense monstruous fantasy scythes w/ magic, floating stones, etc. Think about one handed scytes like japanese kama, simple and efficient.
Another great video! With how dirty they would have to fight, a sword, dagger or mace to the family jewels would probably be their first approach when fighting a man. Talk about a quick, but painful death.
If you don't mind me asking, are you planning on doing ogres, trolls and giants on the next part of this series?
Speaking of which... Talk about terrifying. Give them a bow, and you probably have a walking ballista right there. Depending on what kind of ogre, troll or giant it is of course, since there are many variants out there.
Wow I want that castle shirt because IT HAS ALL THE BELLS AND WHISTLES
Gwen Blagdon I think he's lying, I didn't see a single bell or whistle.
wouldn't their smaller size require smaller armor pieces making gaps smaller and more difficult to target? i feel like that could potentially make them valued smiths as well considering their smaller size would allow more detailed work though with more time spent on each piece
They still get crushed by the more powerful humans, Orcs, Elves, Dwarves, Trolls, etc
radivmoe You are thinking of Dwarves, they have less area to cover and are just as strong as human-sized wearers. Dwarves are also renowned blacksmiths. A halfling would want thinner, lighter plates. Plate armor is already just thick enough to absorb blows reliably. Smaller joints would be irrelevent when a spear/arrow can puncture any plate. Keeping the thick plates is going to bulk up the limbs and work against the point of clean, tiny joints.
So the Victorian police should have sent Frodo after Ned Kelly?
Ross Tuddin Nah, Rincewind.
Thanks, these videos are helping me making good stories.
Excellent analysis, as always!
Crossbows was also my first though, when i saw this videos topic.
At close Combat, i'm not quite sure if a big shield would be practical, since a small person couldn't see much of their big enemy. Don't underestimate the height differences.
Also a really strong guy, could just bash the hobbits shield over and over until the person hiding under it is basically pudding. (let's not forget how big the strength differences are and that a small person has much lighter bones and is much more fragile in general)
Wouldn't it be better if a hobbit would make use of his smaller size (= smaller target) and rely more on not getting hit in the first place (like moving around very fast and use Lots of dirty tricks, like sand in the eye or smoke grenades, while at the same time using a light (but also long) sword, like a rapier or unusual long smallsword for surgical strikes?
(sorry my bad english)
Another idea would be, would a hobbit not be the perfect infiltrator? (ninja or assassin?)
Like sneaking at night into a castle and killing someone? Of course he/she would need some kind of fantasy climbing equipment which can be used very quickly to use every opportunity to hide in the shadows.
Hey, where are you from? Your English is excellent!
I think the main thing about Halflings fighting is that they are exactly that, half. So their advantage comes rather from fighting in pairs than fighting one on one. This way it's possible to distract and tempt openings in the enemies defences and significantly increase the potential for victory for the little guys.
Naturally open warfare is not an option since just getting past a wall of shield bearers or a line or soldiers with better reach would be virtually impossible.
I would say poisoned blowdarts might be suitable weapons for a shortie if they ambush someone not wearing enough armour.
Slingshots could be very suitable as well considering this could make up for their lack of physical strength.
Considering the inventive nature of the gnomes there could be a crossbow used by 2 little warriors where they assist each other both with loading and wielding the weapon. Halflings are then perhaps the true dual wielders, since they are forced to adapt to two wielding one foe.
What about slings, blow darts, and maybe using a atlatl all for range weapons.
Bryce Spitzer Atlatl is a great idea
Sling - requires strength (you still have to throw it), and isn't an effective war weapon.
Blow darts - volume in the lungs, less range. Wasn't an effective war weapon before. Isn't now.
Atlatl - You still don't get around the strength problem. You add a little more leverage though not as much as someone who could support a larger atlatl could. Not to mention, the spears would have to be lighter, carrying less momentum.
Slings require almost no strength at all. The power comes from centrifugal force that is achieved with one rotation and a flick of the wrist at the time of release; and yes it actually was a very effective war weapon against unarmored and even lightly armored opponents.
Blow darts; you're correct on that.
The atlatl increases throwing power and distance while using slightly less force than throwing with the arm alone, and also relies on a simple flick of the wrist to achieve greater effect. Using it to throw a javelin with a weighted tip would be very effective, even if it were small enough to be used by hobbits.
You should do some research and get some experience using "primitive" weapons before dismissing their effectiveness.
A note about blow tubes: The volume of air in your lungs isn't as relevant as your ability to expel air in a sharp and concentrated manner, so that wouldn't be a detriment where hobbits and gnomes are concerned. The blow dart isn't an effective war weapon because of the small size of the darts, and the fact that they have to be lighter in order to fly far enough to give the wielder a viable range advantage; so they would be basically useless against anyone wearing even a padded shirt.
Excellent idea for warfare that doesn't involve a lot of armor.
If someone doesn’t have a codpiece the halfling can also cut off/stab their no-no parts
Noe I'm imagining a halfling king or emperor with a bunch of eunuch POWs in his court.
@shadiversity I think you left out an excellent weapons for the small ones: a re-sized polearm, and forgive me for not knowing the technical term, but it would be the combo hook/hammer (with a very small, hammerhead). Most of the armors that they would be going up against would have the soft-spots behind hard armor, hence the hook (get's around the hard parts and then yank back to sever through the soft spots). Now, that wouldn't quite work as well against hard plate, for example, hence the hammerhead side, and you want a very small hammerhead, but not a point, so that they can crush the armor, or bend or deform it in someway, rather than pierce or penetrate. Do that, crush the plate around the knees or the shins, and you can kill or incapacitate your enemy, or maybe just bring him down to the halfling's height with severely limited mobility. So...hammer/hook polearm, resized for hobbits. What do you think?
On some other forum this topic was brought up. I suggested a ranged tactic : hobbits using Elf bows with the lying down method. Merry gets on his back, pushes the bow with his feet while pulling the string with both hands, Pippin loads the arrow. Not for precision, but several Hobbits doing this together would make for a surprising barrage.
Indeed with halflings/etc the only thrown weapons which would be useful are ones based on poisons or explosions which do not require the force upon impact.
Sneak attacks with crossbows however are proven tactics which we still use today.
In the end i'd say as a smaller fellow you would be best off engaging in mental activities such as magic/science if applicable or the payment of mercenaries to fight for you. Money is a great weapon.
Goblins and Hobbits aren't rich
Unless they pay the Mercenaries through Brothel services which would do nicely
"Hit them when they're unprepared, with their pants down, in the back, in the dark, when they are asleep."
Listening about the range weapons, what about bolos? They don't require much strength to throw, and they don't have to be lethal as they are used to immobilize an opponent. Throw the bolos, preferably at the legs, and once the target falls run and stab or whatever you would normally do.
The Bolos would just get caught in the shield or sword
Even if the human is down, he can still swing the sword or grab the Hobbit and teabag him to death!
The human/larger opponent would still have use of their arms but it plays into the fact it could give the gnome/hobbit an advantage. They won't be used during a confrontation, It would be advantageous to use them as a sneak attack or if multiple smaller opponents surround a larger one.
But yeah, one on one in a fair fight probably won't work out too well in any situation.
I had this thought and wondered if anyone else had, especially if they worked in pairs with the bolo Hobbit attacking from behind while the other Hobbit is the decoy and the decoy could maybe use something similar to the Japanese mancatcher with a little weight on the other end so once the enemy is trapped at the legs the sword arm can be pinned and the bolo Hobbit can come in with a dagger most likely
One halfling/hobbit character I made was a sneaky dagger fighter, but then when he got old and stiffened up a bit he switched to a spear, and he could keep at a distance as well as stab up into the groin and armpits. Another one used a billhook which had the added benefit of hamstringing his foes.
Love it. It remembers me my fighter/thief halfling in Dungeons & Dragons OnLine (flopped and very underrated IMO because it precisely allows to create characters like that far from the killer builts that are not helpless but fun to play) and I did just that, circle around the big bullies dodging their heavy wings while hacking their legs and piercing their asses... It did take some time to bring them down, but I did not even need some tank to front them. :-)
The actual perfect throwing items they would use would be for distractions, light some firecrackers when they don't know where you are and get it behind them. Let the bloody firework show begin.
Expecally if its GANDALFS Forework. BOOM!!!
I think if humanoids were going against half-lings they would protect their legs better.
Or just use range units like Italian Pavise Crossbowmen, French Shock Cavalry, English Longbowmen, Parthian Horse Archer, etc
Get the mideval equivelant of a steamroller
What about suicide bombers or just little Calvary
There is an error in your estimates.
If someone is half the height, he is even less surface area (and therefore less area to protect with armour) and evel less than that volume and mass.
So armour for hobbits/gnomes could be either lighter or thicker (with same mass to height ratio as for humans).
Dear Shad, here's a little food for thought. What about polearms like the Scandinavian Swordstaff. which is basically a sword blade mounted on a wooden shaft. I would think those would be great for sweeping attacks against an opponent's legs, while giving the little guy some reach. Even assuming they wouldn't be able to use a shield with one of those, they could potentially use enlarged pauldrons, with extra padding underneath to deflect blows away from the head, not unlike what Samurai have done with some of their armour. Other than that, in a late medieval fantasy setting, the little guys would also be amazing hand cannon troops, or musketeers. They are small yes, but a shorter musketoon would still pack a significant punch, they are an extremely hard target to shoot back at, given the inherent inaccuracy of early firearms and even hard to hit with weapons as far as cavalry is concerned. Sure they would get trampled as much as a human unit of musketeers, but good luck hitting a goblin sized target from horseback, it would be tough with a lance and even worse with a sabre.
These little guys would still get some of the extra advantage out of shields that dwarves get. Assuming that these little guys have strength scaled down proportional to their size, being half as tall as an average human they would have 1/4 the strength but only 1/8th the weight. Thus they would actually be able to lift a shield that has twice the weight that a human could lift it were scaled up to human size. The same principle applies to their sneakiness: 1/4 the area of the soles of their feet but only 1/8 the weight means twice the sneakiness. Of course, Hobbits are often depicted with abnormally large feet, so this would multiply their sneakiness.
Similarly, these little guys could wear armor that was twice as heavy as what a human could wear it were scaled up to human size. This is because scaling armor down to half the length, breadth, and depth means that the surface area of the armor would be 1/4 the area but the weight of the armor would be 1/8th.
With 1/4 the strength, polearms would still be a good option for these little guys. The cross-sectional area of the polearm haft would have to be 1/4 the size and the weight of the metal weapon head would have to be 1/4 as heavy, but the length of the polearm could have the same horizontal reach as a human. In addition, these little guys would actually end up having a reach advantage the human-sized races because they could swing horizontally and hit the enemy, but the human-sized races would have to swing down to be able to hit these little guys. Combine these things with the ability of these little guys to outnumber humans 2 to 1 in the density of their battle lines, and an army of these little guys would be able to stand against an army of humans.
More realistically, to have the same length the polearm haft would need to be close to the same size as human polearms, perhaps hollow to help decrease the weight towards to 1/4 the weight, and the weight of the metal weapon head would have to be less than 1/4 the weight as those of human polearms. So perhaps these little guys would be limited to small spear heads and other very simplistic and small weapon heads on their polearms. But, the advantage of having greater reach than humans and having a two to one advantage in battle formations would more than make up for this.
10:57
Does anyone else want to see this kind of stuff for thirty minutes straight?
since they are lighter they should just dig a trap that they are to light to set off
Daniel Zilverentant bloody brilliant, you could also have trip wires strung above their heads. Like how the short guy never gets a spiderweb wrapped around their face.
teatowel11 or idiana jones style boobytraps all just above theirhead hight
Tyler K. Sure they could, but morality and the fact that children make for poor soldiers in medieval combat would make such a strategy pretty circumstantial.
Yeah I know :) It's why I specified that the strategy wouldn't be practical in a medieval tech setting since kids can't be given guns. A human child fighting an adult hobbit/Gnome/Goblin is at a huge disadvantage in this context. They don't have the training or even the muscle development to put them on an equal footing. It would probably be more practical to use slaves you drive ahead of your force. Like that they trigger all the traps instead. It would only really work if you are part of a culture that uses slaves however.
Actually, war dogs would be perfect since they would be around the same size and weight as the small people and could be trained to bypass simple traps and even indicate them to your forces.
"Even child can kill someone with a rock or a dagger"
**Happy Chara noises**
Hello Shad!
First of all, Thank you! I really enjoy your Videos, and like your content.
My thoughts about this theme: imho I think axes would be more suitable for them, because the frontheavy but short pole would improve the momentum of the hit, which would make the wound deeper, and also more dangerous. Secondly, if their primarily target is their opponents legs, they could use the axe to pull their enemy and take them down. It would be nice, to hear your thoughts about the axe.
Greetings from Germany, Jakob :)
I feel like halflings and other races would have to rely on mounted warfare for added maneuverability plus a smaller steed could be more agile in tight spaces
WOOOHOHOO!!! Putting Hobbits(/Halflings), Gnomes and Goblins together?! That's racist! (because they are races.. get it?)
But I really do think it is unfair to ignore the cultural aspect completely and reduce them just to their size (can't seem to keep the puns inside it seems..)
Hobbits are mostly depicted as rather peaceful and prefering blunt weapons.
Which makes kind of sense as because of their shortness they would have to stab everybody with longer, more unwieldy weapons to get to vital organs. Smashing a kneecap or an ankle is a more viable tactic I guess.
But what about the iconic sling? It was enough for David to kill Goliat wasn't it? In fact I think it actually is a possibility to overcome their weakness with other range weapons. With a long sling you can build up more momentum as with a small bow. The range won't be great, but it is a perfect weapon to use while in mid range before you get in melee range. Kind of like many antient cultures used javelins or spears. The sling itself is much less hindering then a bow or crossbow and you can even use it from behind a formation to attack your opponent while your melee units are fighting them.
So overall.. the traditional depiction does make sense I think.
Gnomes originaly where "elemental spirits". Just like Nymphs (water) or Sylth (air). As "earth elementals" they should be something like a mixture of Hobbits and Dwarfs. Which is kind of the oldschool way of portraying them. More modern settings like to give them crazy technology. But in general you could say that they have an advantage with their equipment compared to most other races.
Besides that they are, unlike Dwarfs, often associated with magic. Sometimes able to summon earth elementals or use illusion magic or other things which would be very usefull in a fight. Even a few mages within a gnome force could be very effective, even against protection of more common kinds of magic.
So Gnomes could get a real advantage from better equipment and access to more dirty tricks then other races. Manipulating the ground beneath the feet of their opponent or lead them off with an illusion could be very lethal to even the best warrior.
And Goblins are always shown as cowardly (unless in superior numbers) and... lets call it weaselly. So for them spears or polearms make more sense. They would never even consider a fair fight 1v1. And within a battle there would be a lot of hit and run tactics and dirty tricks. Like not using polearms to crack open an armour but use hooks on them to pull down a shield so that other Goblins may stab you in the face.
Depending on the setting Goblins might be such a fast reproducing and numerous race that they don't even care all that much for things like shields and armour in general. Some of them dying taking down a human might be totally worth it (as long as it is Bob and not myself getting killed). And as Goblins are mostly prominent as a slave-race to darker forces they could be used as fodder with no regrets (for their master at least).
So in their case most of the normal things you would consider might not apply. They might not need to be able to stand against a differend humanoid 1vs1 because it would never happen this way.
I don't want to discredit anything you said Shad. In general therms you are probably right.
But I belief that the cultural background and the availability is a huge factor on what you might and might not be using and if a weapon is really appropriate for someone.
Keep up the good work. Maybe you might even want to give the series a secound go with classical fantasy cultures and proficiencies and see what weapon would be best for a paladin, barbarian or even magic user if (s)he runs out of juice (or can't use spells to fight for whatever reason). Might be interesting.
Also: Castles!
Goblins almost always are given shields, and they need them to have any realistic chance really, doesn't stop hem also using bills & spears ect though, only a few specific games say you can't use shields + long pointy things [with hooks on]
Errtuabyss
slings actually have better range than most bows. Fun fact.
Depends on the sling and the bow I guess. The longer the sling the greater the momentum you can build up. And the space you need to use it. Which can be a disadvantage on it's own.
Also I would use effective range instead of the maximal range. If the projectile (stone or whatever you are using) is hitting you like a Hobbit child you don't need to bother :P
As far as Goblins and shields goes I personally don't like that depiction because a Goblin is so much weaker then most of his opponents and hasn't access to good quality equipment. That mean the shield would have to be rather big and clunky to withstand a stronger attack.
That slows the Goblin down and takes away the advantage of speed and nimbleness Goblins have. Most other races would just smash a Goblin holding up a shield down and then the Goblin is screwd.
In melee shields would only really work if the Goblins work together and support each other. Basically making some king of shield wall. If you don't you are just presenting a bigger surface to be hit and pushed over.
Onfortunately Goblins aren't really known for good teamwork or even caring all that much for one another. I doubt this tactic would work all that well.
You still need shield against arrow fire, or you would have to just accept big losses in the charge. Which is a much more common portrayal of Goblins as far as I've seen.
So in short (bag of never ending puns):
Goblins don't get a big advantage using a shield against much bigger and stronger opponents. Their lack of cooperation makes it really hard to compensate their physical disadvantages with tactics.
For them it seems more viable to just swarm the enemy with weapons like pikes and bills, get into range as fast as possible and then poke as many of them as possible into an enemy. Them beeing nimble gives them the option to stuck up pretty close to one another and put multiple Goblins against one opponent, overwhelming him with to much pointy things to defend against.
And if the enemy counterattacks: run away! :D
Culture depends on the settings-my current campaign has the Hobbits are seminomadic natives who must trade for their steel, the gnomes are a colonist minority that specializes in engineering and trade, and the goblins as an expansionist slaver empire. So-the Hobbits are archers, the gnomes use pistols, and the goblins use fusils and musketoons
Good one on goblins.
"Billhoks for me and my brother to pull the enemy's legs and weapon while our two other cousins are trying to slit his throat. We are actually so cool we already killed four humans including a knight! Taking on them one at a time of course. And the two of them were sleeping but who cares, we killed 'em anyways!"
Just want to say, look into the square cube law. Halflings should be stronger than you'd expect, and their weapons/armor should be much lighter. Also, if you're going for the legs, I'd say why not an axe? Then you can hook them.
An ax is predictable compared to a sword
A human swordman can just swipe at the ax and it will fly away, along with the hobbit's fingers
Not strong enough to hook :v
I'd say a falx. it's a lot like a billhook, but with a longer blade and ax-handle-length haft. The Thracians were able to easily hack apart Roman armor with them, and in the hands of someone short, they'd be the bee's knees for...knees.
Nah. If they're half as tall they have an eighth the muscle mass to heft a quarter the armor.
i would guess that a halfing with an axe would hook himself (if a gnome hooks an orc... guess who pulls who in that scenario!)
Hobbits would be great slingers and scouts I think. Good skirmishers too.
Masra94 Skirmishers need to be able to run away faster than standard foot troops, half size legs are no good for that.
They would be pretty small targets though.
Masra94 I would call out for slingshots too, just think of David and Goliath
Masra94 you mean Slings they are not the same thing
Masra94 Any they could do in terms of fighting someone bigger could do it better.
I have to mention something about the part with the weight of halfling-armour. If you shrink a normal armour down to half its original size, the weight does not get divided by two but by eight.If all three dimensions of the armour are shrinked to half their original value, the mass becomes only one eighth.
Interesting that ypu overlooked a classic halfling weapon: the sling.
It realy on rotational force, is lightwieght, and can ve extremely versitile.
Also a tomahawk style handaxe would be a splendid sidearm, and versitile tool, light wieght but concussive against legs, ankles and feet, potentially doubling as a last ditch thrown weapon, they match the size, and combat roles Halflings play.
Group combat? Group combat!? Smaller profile = more compact formations. I would have loved for you to have talked line warfare would happen. Oh my, what of mixed units? Shield walls with spears from above and swords from below!
Calvin Thayer bloody good point. It would mean in formation each human would be facing two halflings.
or three, typically only goblins have that kind of numerical disparity in world to achieve that across a battlefield though
Would be interesting except humans could form similar formations with greater effect. I think gnomes/halflings are typically peaceful races for a reason. Goblins on the other hand, well they fear Orcs more than humans so they fight anyway
not the same effect, human formation is naturally less compact so there's not numerical superiority concentrated to the same degree on the battle line & especially vs a smaller profile they'd struggle to even align multiple pikes supporting from the back in a moving formation, humans have advantage due to strength & reach, formation helps but not anywhere near the same extent in the same way in a theoretical hobbits/goblins vs humans conflict
A Human Pikemen Formation would just crush the Hobbit Pikemen without any casualties
Roman Testudo would just destroy Hobbit Pikemen and Slingers