Rich Morris' Comics - YAFGC and The ComixBlog

Yeah. I knew this development was coming; I could see it a mile off. o_o Arachne's going to have to do some really quick thinking and talking, or she'll be another notch on Glon's sword.

Please note that Wolf, Nephilia and Anancy left her and our favourite young Drow behind without a moment's hesitation...

So! Place your bets, please! Who will win? Lolth or the Beholder King? I'm rooting for BK, myself.

In the BK vs Lolth fight, I root clearly for BK but my vote is on "mutual destruction"...

(... After all Bob's kingship prophecy has to become true at one point and I don't think Bob and Bob2 will have the necessary firepower to take on BK themselves anytime soon.)

I know it won't happen but I would love Glon and wives to be collateral casualties, victim of an errand "Disintegrate" eyebeam

I hope they either destroy each other or Lolth wins. Lolth doesn't seem interested in the genocide of the major BM races, unlike the Beholder King

Lolth can not be permanently killed, maybe banished back to the Abyss, or injured bad enough that she will return of her own will to recuperate.

Anyone else baffled by the scale plate skirts, by the way?

Barring any changes BK may have made to how this world works gods can be permenently killed. You just have to do so at the center of their power.

Makes sense. Protects the legs, isn't too constricting and hides your footwork to a certain extent. True, you can't move fast, but that's kind of a bug with any decent armor, and they seem to be heavy infantry anyway.

Anyway, this is about what I think the conversation is going to be like:

Drow: EEEeeeep!
Orcs: Raarr!!
Arachne: Oh, hey. Glon, this is the new queen, Nephilia. Neph this is Prince Glon of the Black Mountain and his four wives. Wait, one two three...

Oh Crap.

*explosion*

Sittica: The Beholder King's coming this way!

Wolf: I think we'd better find a new place for this discussion.

All: RUN AWAY!!!

Welp, rocks fall, everyone dies.

(Wondering how Arachne talks her way out of this one, given that she barely pulled it off last time, when she had a significantly powerful inducement to honestly offer. Even though Arachne is a "MegaAwesomeInvincible" character I don't see her defeating Glon and wives, in full battle regalia, all in one go. Maybe she gets a pass when BK stray blasts mysteriously and magically miss her and hit nothing but orc, but....)



Yeah that's... strange. But then Arachne has been waltzing through a war zone (not to mention taking a stroll out into the forest) in heels so....

I get the whole "visually remind people, especially the readers, that we are looking at women warriors" thing in theory but I would have thought it would be a slightly less important distinction for orc warrioresses. Maula certainly doesn't seem to have any problem wearing cuisses, greaves, etc. instead of some kind of weird armored-full-skirt.

It would be one thing if it was more of a Roman-style "mini-skirt" (which actually adds less weight than full cuisses and preserves mobility), but full-to-the-ground skirts have got to weigh several times what normal full leg armor would, plus restrict your legs' range of motion, plus make the apocryphal problem with full armor -- getting back on your feet if you've been knocked down -- far worse.

Points, I guess, for not being chainmail bikinis (or open-decolletage armor plate), but those full skirts can't be terribly practical.

In fact, these skirts look more like a strange and impractical design. They are in fact more constricting than traditional leg armour and greatly hinder leg movement.

While wearing such a skirt it's almost impossible to dodge or crouch. It severely limits pace length and makes leaping or running impossible (traditional armor allows all this, but requires great strength; nevertheless orcs are presumed to be generally stronger than humans and Glon was shown earlier running in plate armor). In fact, even using stairs would be a challenge when wearing such a skirt.

Even when fighting in tight ranks, where dodging and leaping techniques are irrelevant, a plate armour skirt gives more hindrance than protection. In a tight battle formation (e. g. phalanx) it is very important that all soldiers march synchronously (that's why drums were employed) and in equal pace.

One of the more efficient and widely-used attack tactics for the tight formations (which were almost always armed with long spears) was charging from a slope, thus gaining speed and impetus. When such a formation collided with any light-armoured opponents, cavalry or a sufficiently small unit of heavy fighters, it just toppled them over and smashed into pieces.

Because different soldiers have different leg lengths, it would be impossible for them to march synchronously, let alone charge, with a heavy metal skirt banging into their knees and making them stumble.

I am pretty sure that no warrior in history, neither male nor female, wore a long skirt when prepared to battle. For example, ancient Romans used to wear long clothes that were somewhat similar to dresses and skirts, but their soldiers wore short clothes, and were bare-legged (except footwear and traditional leg armour). When first encountered with trousers-wearing tribes, they quickly adopted the garment, although trousers were considered a barbaric dressing in Rome and were firstly forbidden.

Such skirts make sense only as ceremonial armour. In the late Middle ages it was not uncommon for rich knights to have large round shields with rich ornaments (although large shields had nearly lost their combat value at that time) and draped cuirasses with metal layer perforated with large holes (so that they weighted less). Such armour may look majestic, but generally is very dangerous to wear in battle.

Please forgive me if some sentences of this text are incorrectly built or unclear, as English isn't my native language. I would appreciate any corrections and try to explain any uncertainties.

Forces in India used long skirts before eventually switching to something akin to a sari. Also, these appear to be scale mail, not plate, so they'll be much lighter and more flexible.

Additionally, a military pace is artificial, and taught. You didn't think all that formation marching was for show, did you?

I couldn't find images of Indian warriors dressed long skirts. Wikipedia shows images of warriors dressed in very wide trousers (shalwar) and coats of various designs with long flaps. Both of these garments were split in the middle and allowed, for example, horse-riding. I would be grateful if you could provide me such images, as this is an interesting subject.
Frankly speaking, while lurking through the Wikipedia, I found a mention of ancient Persian warriors that were wearing skirts that were pulled up with straps in the middle (and this design was the origin of shalwar trousers).

As of military pace, my previous post mentions how a heavy metallic skirt, no matter whether nearly stiff (plate) or slightly more flexible but still heavy (scale), would influence it. Even if it's possible to learn to march with such an impediment, this would almost certainly increase the necessary amount of training several times.

Considering the training is a mandatory part of your life from about age 14 until you can no longer stand in the armor, that's not such an issue.

Let's table the issue until Rich chimes in with his perspective(s).

I just thought it looked cool.

If I had to justify it, I'd say there's an entirely different psychology towards cavern fighting especially in the case of Orcs.

In that it's not so important to be hugely mobile when you're fighting in narrow corridors and cramped caverns. The dome-shape protects the legs which can instead be used for balance while the upper body does the work. If you're in a position where you've got to run like hell, then you've pretty much had it in a cave.

Heh, this strip sort of highlights the incongruity of the Drider form being a punishment, since Lolth's 'enraged' form is in fact what appears to be a Drider.

Good old D&D and it's nonlogic.

Lolth's form is also a punishment from the elven pantheon.

Though Lolth is a spider with a drow head, driders are like spider centaurs so there is a difference.

Still, poor Anancy. In this panel the hideousness of her form is even more obvious.