Military History Mk. III: One that I know of is an archaic word for dick, another is

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Rodrigo Diaz: Apr 16, 2007; Knights who are at the wars eat their bread in sorrow;
their ease is weariness and sweat;
they have one good day after many bad

lenoon posted:

I've cut up pig carcasses by hacking them to pieces with obsidian blades set in wooden hafts, and it does work very very well. These aren't disposable tools for an hour or two of fighting, but can stand up to pretty significant punishment. Sure the blade will be blunted by hitting bone, or a cuirass, but it will still be sharp, and still capable of concentrating enough force in a very small space (we're talking going from micrometer thickness to 0.5mm) that even after hitting that Marion helmet, the next blow retains enough cutting edge to go right into your skull.

Do you know the average dimensions of the obsidian insets in macuahuitls? Or even a reasonable guess?

Also, how does the wooden haft affect cutting performance? Looking at the macuahuitl I'd think the friction of the wood would stop blows past a certain depth.

edit:
And what kind of edge angle are we talking about? Because it sounds from this: http://australianmuseum.net.au/blogpost/amri-news/amri-natural-glass-used-for-chopping-tools like the really fine cutting edges are not amenable to hitting.

Rodrigo Diaz fucked around with this message at 06:53 on Sep 10, 2016

# ? Sep 10, 2016 06:30

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# ? May 15, 2024 19:21

Ms Adequate: Oct 30, 2011; Baby even when I'm dead and gone
You will always be my only one, my only one
When the night is calling
No matter who I become
You will always be my only one, my only one, my only one
When the night is calling

Relatedly, what are modern military knives typically made from? I'd guess some kind of alloy with titanium as a main component?

# ? Sep 10, 2016 07:19

Pellisworth: Jun 20, 2005

Mister Adequate posted:

Relatedly, what are modern military knives typically made from? I'd guess some kind of alloy with titanium as a main component?

I don't know all that much about metallurgy but vanadium and molybdenum are hugely important in modern alloys. I don't think titanium makes its way into knives in any significant fashion due to its rarity and strategic importance. Google tells me titanium alloys don't hold an edge well but obviously that's not a terribly credible source.

(I did my thesis in trace metal chemistry but I don't really know anything about alloys)

I think there's a knife thread in the military goons subforum which you could check out.

e: titanium is usually alloyed for heat/corrosion resistance. I don't think any knives would be made from primarily titanium, but it might be a small part in some alloys.

Pellisworth fucked around with this message at 07:59 on Sep 10, 2016

# ? Sep 10, 2016 07:48

Mycroft Holmes: Mar 26, 2010; by Azathoth

I just wanted to pop in and say if you enjoy WWI and pulpy science-fiction, someone on AH.com has written an excellent story about an alien invasion during WWI. You can find it here.

# ? Sep 10, 2016 08:01

Rodrigo Diaz: Apr 16, 2007; Knights who are at the wars eat their bread in sorrow;
their ease is weariness and sweat;
they have one good day after many bad

Edit: ^^^^ yo do you know the story about wwi-era humans fighting elves or whatever? I was reading that a long time ago but lost the website

They used to be made out of plain carbon steels (the ka-bar is 1095 for example) and most probably still are. Maaaaaybe 440C but i doubt it, all that chromium aint cheap.

Titanium doesn't hold an edge well at all and is not as good as steel for many (most?) applications, and not just because of expense.

Rodrigo Diaz fucked around with this message at 08:11 on Sep 10, 2016

# ? Sep 10, 2016 08:07

Mycroft Holmes: Mar 26, 2010; by Azathoth

Rodrigo Diaz posted:

Edit: ^^^^ yo do you know the story about wwi-era humans fighting elves or whatever? I was reading that a long time ago but lost the website

They used to be made out of plain carbon steels (the ka-bar is 1095 for example) and most probably still are. Maaaaaybe 440C but i doubt it, all that chromium aint cheap.

Titanium doesn't hold an edge well at all and is not as good as steel for many (most?) applications, and not just because of expense.

Dystopic Return of Magic

# ? Sep 10, 2016 08:15

Rodrigo Diaz: Apr 16, 2007; Knights who are at the wars eat their bread in sorrow;
their ease is weariness and sweat;
they have one good day after many bad

Mycroft Holmes posted:

Dystopic Return of Magic

That's the one, thank u bb.

the site won't let me see it for some reason. Motherfuck.

# ? Sep 10, 2016 08:32

lenoon: Jan 7, 2010

Rodrigo Diaz posted:

Do you know the average dimensions of the obsidian insets in macuahuitls? Or even a reasonable guess?

Also, how does the wooden haft affect cutting performance? Looking at the macuahuitl I'd think the friction of the wood would stop blows past a certain depth.

edit:
And what kind of edge angle are we talking about? Because it sounds from this: http://australianmuseum.net.au/blogpost/amri-news/amri-natural-glass-used-for-chopping-tools like the really fine cutting edges are not amenable to hitting.

The macuahuitl are definitely clubs with an edge rather than swords - they'll tend to impact and bite rather than cleave through. As to length, I don't know to be honest, the last real one was destroyed in a fire. Reconstructions are done through comparison to the Codexes, but whether illustrations (which show few, large chunky obsidian pieces) show what they were actually like or not is unknown. Certainly you find a huge amount of obsidian blades in Aztec sites, but which ones were used for macuahuitl? Maybe five to ten centimetres, and it seems a mix of thin slicing blades and larger thicker cleaving edges were used for different types of clubs.

Cutting edge is an interesting thing and all dependent on angle. Stone that has conchoidal fracture properties is useful for making stone tools, and that fractures and flakes in a consistent way. If you transfer force through a less than 90 degree angle, you'll produce a flake as a result (ie the stone will break). If you try and put that same force through more than 90 degrees (or 0), it's much much harder to break. As that angle approaches 90, the edge becomes far more robust. For a thick blade, knapping the edge until it's a 60 degree angle "blunts" it, but corresponding makes it much tougher, making it suitable for woodworking or heavy duty work. The chopping tools in the article you linked are an excellent example of that.

# ? Sep 10, 2016 08:41

Ms Adequate: Oct 30, 2011; Baby even when I'm dead and gone
You will always be my only one, my only one
When the night is calling
No matter who I become
You will always be my only one, my only one, my only one
When the night is calling

I did not know that about titanium, you learn something every day! Thanks goons.

# ? Sep 10, 2016 08:53

Mycroft Holmes: Mar 26, 2010; by Azathoth

Rodrigo Diaz posted:

That's the one, thank u bb.

the site won't let me see it for some reason. Motherfuck.

you have to login with your account.

# ? Sep 10, 2016 09:32

Plan Z: May 6, 2012

ChickenWyngz posted:

Finally caught up reading

Anyway, tank question. Would tanks/infantry ever hose enemy tanks with machine gun fire, to rattle the crew/get a lucky hit somewhere?

Yeah. Suppressive fire forces the enemy to stay inside the tank, so they can't peer out and get the unobstructed 360 view from being able to stick their heads out. This can be debilitating, especially in close environments and result in slow response to targets as well as making it difficult to navigate. Forcing five guys to coordinate their giant vehicle through uneven terrain while engaging targets hundreds of meters away with vision ports as wide as their eye span is a pretty tough challenge. It's not the best description, but you get where I'm going.

Certain models of early tanks (talking WW1 and some inter-war tanks) didn't have very great metal and repeated fire could force splash (metal fragments) all around the inside of the tank, causing injury. You could also in theory break equipment on the exterior of the tank. I read about lots of radio antannae being cut by what the crew can only assume was shrapnel or bullets. This all doesn't mention the fact that bullets hitting tanks can be loud as all hell for the crew.

Plan Z fucked around with this message at 10:18 on Sep 10, 2016

# ? Sep 10, 2016 10:15

Rodrigo Diaz: Apr 16, 2007; Knights who are at the wars eat their bread in sorrow;
their ease is weariness and sweat;
they have one good day after many bad

Mycroft Holmes posted:

you have to login with your account.

I am. It says I "don't have permission to view this page or perform this action" :iiam:

lenoon posted:

The macuahuitl are definitely clubs with an edge rather than swords - they'll tend to impact and bite rather than cleave through. As to length, I don't know to be honest, the last real one was destroyed in a fire. Reconstructions are done through comparison to the Codexes, but whether illustrations (which show few, large chunky obsidian pieces) show what they were actually like or not is unknown. Certainly you find a huge amount of obsidian blades in Aztec sites, but which ones were used for macuahuitl? Maybe five to ten centimetres, and it seems a mix of thin slicing blades and larger thicker cleaving edges were used for different types of clubs.

Neato.

quote:

For a thick blade, knapping the edge until it's a 60 degree angle "blunts" it, but corresponding makes it much tougher, making it suitable for woodworking or heavy duty work. The chopping tools in the article you linked are an excellent example of that.

Obv, but that's where my line of inquiry is leading. There doesn't seem to be any distinction between "monomolecular edge obsidian sharpest material on earth!!!!" and what would more likely make a suitable cutting edge for an actual chopping weapon or tool in these discussions. I also would be interested to see a really thorough study of edge damage on steel and obsidian. The article saying one of their tools lasted a whole hour(!) on softwood, which doesn't fill me with confidence.

As an aside, with modern lapping films and the like, the blades in a disposable razor head (even bics) have something like .5 micron-thick edges. Break one of those out and slice something small (hold the blade in pliers, stupid) if you want an approximation of what cutting with obsidian is like.

Edit: when I say "an approximation", the dimension I'm finding for obsidian scalpels is 3nm. .5 microns is 500 nm.

Rodrigo Diaz fucked around with this message at 15:58 on Sep 10, 2016

# ? Sep 10, 2016 15:52

VanSandman: Feb 16, 2011; SWAP.AVI EXCHANGER

Rodrigo Diaz posted:

I am. It says I "don't have permission to view this page or perform this action"

Neato.

Obv, but that's where my line of inquiry is leading. There doesn't seem to be any distinction between "monomolecular edge obsidian sharpest material on earth!!!!" and what would more likely make a suitable cutting edge for an actual chopping weapon or tool in these discussions. I also would be interested to see a really thorough study of edge damage on steel and obsidian. The article saying one of their tools lasted a whole hour(!) on softwood, which doesn't fill me with confidence.

As an aside, with modern lapping films and the like, the blades in a disposable razor head (even bics) have something like .5 micron-thick edges. Break one of those out and slice something small (hold the blade in pliers, stupid) if you want an approximation of what cutting with obsidian is like.

Edit: when I say "an approximation", the dimension I'm finding for obsidian scalpels is 3nm. .5 microns is 500 nm.

Jesus christ that's sharp.

# ? Sep 10, 2016 16:10

Koramei: Nov 11, 2011; I have three regrets
The first is to be born in Joseon.

Rodrigo Diaz posted:

I also would be interested to see a really thorough study of edge damage on steel and obsidian. The article saying one of their tools lasted a whole hour(!) on softwood, which doesn't fill me with confidence.

I mean I don't think anyone's arguing we should be ditching our steel woodcutting axes for obsidian ones, just that the obsidian is a heck of a lot better than the alternatives that were generally available to them. I would take an axe that I'd have to repair every hour or so but that can actually make its way through a tree in not-multiple-days over one that would be more durable but much more laborious to use. It's also super easy to replace the obsidian right? I remember someone linked a youtube video (in this thread, I think actually) where someone was making the wedges of obsidian and it took him like a or two minute tops for each one.

# ? Sep 10, 2016 16:30

lenoon: Jan 7, 2010

So there's a division between your tools for wood chopping and your tools for slicing or hacking through flesh.

It'll take about 10-20 of those "monomolecular" obsidian blades to turn a roe deer carcass into steaks, bones and sinews. If you're using a consistent slicing action they will hold their edge well, but no one tends to do that if you're not too good at butchery, so the blades break and you need new ones. Having said that, obsidian is sharp enough that it's extremely low effort to push a blade through animal hide (even leather) with a slicing motion or even just an even pressure along the cutting edge. The other really common materials for stone tools take more pressure (and correspondingly more effort) to push through the same substances. From experimental work I can say that high quality Flint (like the kinds of material that the Neanderthals in southern France were using, or stone from the south of England), will, if the blade is well produced, cut almost as well as a steel razor. Chert, Quartz and Quartzite are less sharp, obsidian slightly more so. It retains an edge worse than steel but for a couple of actions it will cut much better.

Chopping tools, which would probably include some of the larger mesoamerican weapons, don't work by slicing but by impact, and there you want to use a slightly different stone. If you look at Maori weapons, greenstone makes excellent clubs because it's very hard - you can't get the same edge, but you can retain an edge longer, and the edge is still sharp enough that you're putting enough pressure in a small enough area that you're chopping off someone's arm or going through someone's head - as Obsidian can, but will only do a few times unless you are ludicrously precise.

Obsidian is not a great chopping tool material because it's so brittle, but it can (with the near obtuse angle that I mentioned) be used well as a chopping tool. The best thing about studying stone tools is when you realise that the people making them, even hundreds of thousands of years ago, have a human or near human level of cognition - this is where engineering gets its start. You hardly ever see a sub optimal material being used for a task unless it's the only choice. If you're using natural glass or obsidian for a chopping tool it's because you can't (or won't, for whatever reason) use something else. For woodworking, ground stone is best because it eliminates all the potential fracture points made in the knapping process and they tend to be much harder less brittle materials. Granite won't knap, but you can grind the poo poo out of it.

However, grinding is really time and labour intensive. But, if you gave me one of those blocks of building glass, I'll make you three or four adze heads that you can use immediately in all of ten minutes - and I'm not even that good at knapping. So obsidian doesn't make a wonderful axe for heavy duty work, but it does make an acceptable one, one that even self sharpens as it breaks (a fresh break will nearly always be very sharp). But most importantly it makes you a tool right now - not in a couple of days or weeks time when your grindstone is done.

It's for that reason that you get medieval and Saxon Flint knives, because when you're out and about you need two stones and a vague understanding of fracture mechanics, rather more convenient than a portable forge for when your kind of lovely iron knife breaks.

# ? Sep 10, 2016 17:34

Nebakenezzer: Sep 13, 2005; The Mote in God's Eye

I picked up a book that can actually riff on "WW1 Alien invasion:"

poo poo I've Been Reading Lately

I've already read The Luftwaffe over America. It's written by a German aviation expert about the omnishambles of an effort by the Nazis to attack America via airplane. Anyway, it turns out Germany had been sketching out war plans against America for longer than I thought. Here's a German Naval Lt. writing in 1897:

quote:

The German High Seas Fleet, followed by an armada of colliers and troop transports, each tightly packed with tens of thousands of grenadiers, heads for the Eastern shores of the USA. Perfectly trained, a perfect example of European military planning, the Kaiser had despatched his fleet against the motherland of democracy.

The US Navy put to sea but suffered a devastating defeat off of Norfolk, V|irginia. Admiral George Dewey lack the ability of his German counterpart, von Tirpitz, and so lost the battle.

German occupation troops came ashore at Cape Cod and set off for Boston while battleships and battlecrusiers entered New York's Lower Bay, pounded the coastal batteries into submission and bombarded Manhattan. Endless salvoes from the battle fleet's 16 inch guns turned New York into a city of burning ruins. The population fled in panic.

Now the United States was forced to negotiate with the German Reich...

In 1899, the Lt, von Mately, wrote a second draft of this fan-fiction, this time having New York being taken over by two batallions of infantry and one batallion of engineers! Given his starring role, Tirpitz thought the idea good enough that he ordered plans to be drawn up for Operation Yankee Screwdoole. General von Schlieffen was less enthusiastic, and thought it'd take at least 200,000 troops to subdue the United States. A third plan was commissioned on the German vs. American war in 1903, and this one had the German High Seas fleet attack and take over the Panama canal, the first step in breaking America's power-lock on the Americas. But by this time, German estimates of the power of the US Navy began to climb, and war in Europe began to seem more likely.

# ? Sep 10, 2016 17:51

Teriyaki Hairpiece: Dec 29, 2006; I'm nae the voice o' the darkened thistle, but th' darkened thistle cannae bear the sight o' our Bonnie Prince Bernie nae mair.

I'd say the only thing that ever came close to those crazy scenarios in real life was the one part of Torch that sailed into combat in Morocco directly from Hampton Roads, Virginia.

# ? Sep 10, 2016 17:57

Agean90: Jun 28, 2008

Nebakenezzer posted:

I picked up a book that can actually riff on "WW1 Alien invasion:"

poo poo I've Been Reading Lately

I've already read The Luftwaffe over America. It's written by a German aviation expert about the omnishambles of an effort by the Nazis to attack America via airplane. Anyway, it turns out Germany had been sketching out war plans against America for longer than I thought. Here's a German Naval Lt. writing in 1897:

I would love to be a fly on the wall in the German planning office when the Spanish American war kicks off and they suddenly realize that America actually had actually gotten a pretty good navy

# ? Sep 10, 2016 18:18

Cyrano4747: Sep 25, 2006; Yes, I know I'm old, get off my fucking lawn so I can yell at these clouds.

Agean90 posted:

I would love to be a fly on the wall in the German planning office when the Spanish American war kicks off and they suddenly realize that America actually had actually gotten a pretty good navy

Hans, they did what at Manilla? :stare:

cheerfullydrab posted:

I'd say the only thing that ever came close to those crazy scenarios in real life was the one part of Torch that sailed into combat in Morocco directly from Hampton Roads, Virginia.

Every time I read about Torch I'm more and more amazed at that feat.

# ? Sep 10, 2016 18:53

Nebakenezzer: Sep 13, 2005; The Mote in God's Eye

Cyrano4747 posted:

Every time I read about Torch I'm more and more amazed at that feat.

I like the part where when they get to Morroco the main enemy resistance came from a French battleship.

I also like the part where a fleet of Fw 200s attack the landings from France, becoming the longest range bombing attack the WW2 Luftwaffe ever pulled off.

# ? Sep 10, 2016 20:01

MrYenko: Jun 18, 2012; #2 isn't ALWAYS bad...

lenoon posted:

Muntjac and Roe deer carcasses.

edit: but having said that, I have actively hunted with palaeo tools, butchered a (natural death) elephant with stone tools, and taken down eland with hand held tools, which was a pant shittingly intense experience. Stone tools man, the original weapons.

Having spent some time around a Giant Eland buck, as well as a few females, let me be the first to say "What in the everliving gently caress were you thinking?!?"

That's one of the most hardcore things I've ever heard of anyone doing on these here comedy forums.

# ? Sep 10, 2016 20:19

darthbob88: Oct 13, 2011; YOSPOS

Mister Adequate posted:

Relatedly, what are modern military knives typically made from? I'd guess some kind of alloy with titanium as a main component?

Pellisworth posted:

I don't know all that much about metallurgy but vanadium and molybdenum are hugely important in modern alloys. I don't think titanium makes its way into knives in any significant fashion due to its rarity and strategic importance. Google tells me titanium alloys don't hold an edge well but obviously that's not a terribly credible source.

(I did my thesis in trace metal chemistry but I don't really know anything about alloys)

I think there's a knife thread in the military goons subforum which you could check out.

e: titanium is usually alloyed for heat/corrosion resistance. I don't think any knives would be made from primarily titanium, but it might be a small part in some alloys.

Possibly, but it'd only be an alloying element. The main advantage of titanium is that it's very strong for its weight, which is very suitable for aerospace applications where every ounce counts. However, steel is much stronger by volume, which makes it immensely preferable for small knives. If you tried making a pocketknife from titanium, it'd either be a foot long, or have a blade you could snap between two fingers. There are, however, some applications where titanium knives are preferred; divers like that it doesn't corrode in seawater, and there are certain military applications that require nonmagnetic blades. Source

# ? Sep 10, 2016 21:02

lenoon: Jan 7, 2010

MrYenko posted:

Eland

Tbh I did gently caress all of it, friend of mine got it with an iron headed spear, I broke through the top of its skull with a stone pick. It was still loving crazy, slightly regret it. But we did eat it! And it wasn't for archaeology purposes, just for food.

Edit: I should clarify that I used to spend a lot of time in East Africa, and the Eland was immobilised by one of the guys I worked with. I didn't so much kill it as euthanise an already dying eland. Not so badass at all!

Edit 2: even more clarification! Eland are semi domesticated in Kenya and this was not a wild poaching event, it's not like we had to hunt it down. They're super docile and it was due to be killed anyway. Didn't commit a crime or anything like that.

lenoon fucked around with this message at 21:24 on Sep 10, 2016

# ? Sep 10, 2016 21:14

MrYenko: Jun 18, 2012; #2 isn't ALWAYS bad...

lenoon posted:

Tbh I did gently caress all of it, friend of mine got it with an iron headed spear, I broke through the top of its skull with a stone pick. It was still loving crazy, slightly regret it. But we did eat it! And it wasn't for archaeology purposes, just for food.

Edit: I should clarify that I used to spend a lot of time in East Africa, and the Eland was immobilised by one of the guys I worked with. I didn't so much kill it as euthanise an already dying eland. Not so badass at all!

Edit 2: even more clarification! Eland are semi domesticated in Kenya and this was not a wild poaching event, it's not like we had to hunt it down. They're super docile and it was due to be killed anyway. Didn't commit a crime or anything like that.

No justification needed for me, at least. They're not endangered, just loving enormous, mostly-ill-tempered assholes.

For those not familiar, imagine a 1,200lb whitetail buck, and you start to get an idea. Great Eland (from slightly farther west than it seems lenoon was frequenting) can push 2,000lbs. gently caress that noise, that's why we invented gunpowder.

:v:

# ? Sep 10, 2016 22:06

NLJP: Aug 26, 2004

Still pretty loving hardcore by my standards mate. poo poo.

On that note, anyone fiddled with atl-atls at all? Always thought it strange that they weren't used so widely in europe in e.g classical times. Really shittier than javelins somehow? It strikes me like the sort of people who would be into slings would also perhaps use them. Mind you, shaft straightening problems like using bows as well but then again, javelins.

# ? Sep 10, 2016 22:07

Chillbro Baggins: Oct 8, 2004; Bad Angus! Bad!

MrYenko posted:

No justification needed for me, at least. They're not endangered, just loving enormous, mostly-ill-tempered assholes.

For those not familiar, imagine a 1,200lb whitetail buck, and you start to get an idea. Great Eland (from slightly farther west than it seems lenoon was frequenting) can push 2,000lbs. gently caress that noise, that's why we invented gunpowder.

Yeah, I think I'd rather starve if industrial slaugtherhouses didn't exist. I've seen live beeves (same class of weight and presumably tastiness) in person, and they're not something I'd want to try to take down with hand tools.

In other news, I was doing some quick-and-dirty mental conversions of mm to inches (shopping for French pocketknives): 9.5cm is ~3.75", I know this because 90mm is 3.5" and 105mm is 4". But why do I have those conversions memorized? Because camera lenses or artillery. Wait, the camera lenses and artillery are very nearly the same steps:

code:

vCommon lens focal lengths in mm v
35-50-75-90-105-135-150-210-250-300-continuing in 50 or 100mm increments
37-55-75-90-105-127-155-203-naval guns following a similar pattern of even inches
^Common artillery bores in mm^

Is there any relationship there other than inches/25mm and halves thereof is just an easy increment to work with? Or just both happened have similar ideal increments and ran into the same massive clusterfuck of the US stealing/licensing metric designs and and naming them in inches, and vice versa?

(note: 76 and 88 were also common, and I originally included them, but it'd break the nice side-by-side comparison and it's close enough to round to 3" and 3.5" respectively)

Chillbro Baggins fucked around with this message at 23:38 on Sep 10, 2016

# ? Sep 10, 2016 23:35

Animal: Apr 8, 2003

I image searched "Eland buck"

# ? Sep 11, 2016 00:58

MrYenko: Jun 18, 2012; #2 isn't ALWAYS bad...

Animal posted:

I image searched "Eland buck"

Great Elands are the largest of the Antelope family, Common Eland are the second largest.

And they're ANGRY bastards.

# ? Sep 11, 2016 01:21

Agean90: Jun 28, 2008

but how does it taste

# ? Sep 11, 2016 01:41

Teriyaki Hairpiece: Dec 29, 2006; I'm nae the voice o' the darkened thistle, but th' darkened thistle cannae bear the sight o' our Bonnie Prince Bernie nae mair.

This Kindle version of Shattered Sword is garbage. Every letter with diacritical marks is blank, so I'm reading about the "S ry " and "Hiry ".

# ? Sep 11, 2016 03:58

Teriyaki Hairpiece: Dec 29, 2006; I'm nae the voice o' the darkened thistle, but th' darkened thistle cannae bear the sight o' our Bonnie Prince Bernie nae mair.

Kid Butai sounds like a plucky boxer.

# ? Sep 11, 2016 04:01

Fuligin: Oct 27, 2010; wait what the fuck??

cheerfullydrab posted:

This Kindle version of Shattered Sword is garbage. Every letter with diacritical marks is blank, so I'm reading about the "S ry " and "Hiry ".

Huh, I didn't have that problem when I downloaded it

# ? Sep 11, 2016 05:15

lenoon: Jan 7, 2010

Agean90 posted:

but how does it taste

Good.

That posed shot is misleading, they're not all that big. You always hear about the really enormous eland but never that the majority of the semi domesticates are much smaller at only 1m at the shoulder.

# ? Sep 11, 2016 07:41

Bourricot: Aug 7, 2016

cheerfullydrab posted:

This Kindle version of Shattered Sword is garbage. Every letter with diacritical marks is blank, so I'm reading about the "S ry " and "Hiry ".

I am a Kobo user but I encountered a similar problem when reading Shōgun. I had to change the font to have it displayed properly.

# ? Sep 11, 2016 09:14

Fangz: Jul 5, 2007; Oh I see! This must be the Bad Opinion Zone!

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-09-06-this-is-what-really-happens-when-swords-hit-armour

Nooooooo

# ? Sep 11, 2016 12:50

P-Mack: Nov 10, 2007

cheerfullydrab posted:

This Kindle version of Shattered Sword is garbage. Every letter with diacritical marks is blank, so I'm reading about the "S ry " and "Hiry ".

I have the kindle version and it has those marks, but they show up as tiny jpgs stuck in the text(it really stands out if you do black background instead of white like I do). Maybe you have images turned off or something?

# ? Sep 11, 2016 13:39

feedmegin: Jul 30, 2008

The Kindle book format is basically HTML 3 underneath so I guess doing proper Unicode in it is hard or something :smith:

# ? Sep 11, 2016 14:01

Perestroika: Apr 8, 2010

Fangz posted:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-09-06-this-is-what-really-happens-when-swords-hit-armour

Nooooooo

That article posted:

I had this steel breastplate on and I was holding a huge pike when I learnt a cool fact about swords. This actually happened by the way. I learnt that not all the edges of a sword were sharpened for slicing. I was like... what? But in the films and stories and games they slice people up like meat in a butcher's shop. But the historian chap was like... no. The edges are blunt and the sword is heavy so that people can try and break the bones of their opponent underneath the armour, or at least severely bruise them, and immobilise them. It's just the tip that's razor sharp for the plunging stab that kills them. Oh and that groove down the middle of the sword: that's there to let the air into the wound so you can pull the sword back out.

Good lord, it's like they intentionally tried to get every single popular misconception about swords in there. :allears:

# ? Sep 11, 2016 15:04

MrYenko: Jun 18, 2012; #2 isn't ALWAYS bad...

BLOOOODDD GRROOOOOOVVEEEESSSS

# ? Sep 11, 2016 15:06

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# ? May 15, 2024 19:21

OwlFancier: Aug 22, 2013

Oh it's the article we're making fun of, not the video. I just watched the video and thought it was a good illustration of how armour worked.

Where do they get these historians who just make up stuff about swords?

# ? Sep 11, 2016 16:39

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > Comedy Goldmine > Military History Mk. III: One that I know of is an archaic word for dick, another is

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