Post originally by Conall Kavanagh at 2003-05-27 18:20:55
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The question of naked fighting by Celts and their kin always pops up in RPGs. This stems from descriptions of Gaulish warriors by Classical authors. I'm of the opinion that these were probably "shock-troops", possibly composed of the young & hung-ho and/or warrior bands or cults. The ancient Gauls undoubtedly used armor, especially the elites. There is a statue of what is generally interpreted as a Gaulish noble who is clearly wearing chain armor.

As has been pointed out, fighting naked probably had a psychological effect on the enemy. There was also probably a "Ghost Shirt" mentality of the naked warrior. That is, he probably thought that he was being ultra-heroic by eschewing armor, much as the Plains Indians believed that their magic ghost shirts would protect them from the White Man's bullets. Whether fighting naked also gave a tactical advantage in combat, I'm not sure. It would seem to work best in a loosely-organized melee, with alot of room for manuevering. Going up against tightly-packed, highly-organized, and well-armored armored Romans is another story ...

One of my major interests is Irish gaming, and one of my biggest pet peeves is to see warriors based on the Irish sagas running around with their dangly bits, well, dangling. Unfortunately, quality lines such as Pendragon have bought into the "naked Irish" image. It just doesn't fit the stories. Note that there is a difference between what the pre-Christian Irish were doing historically (in the Real World) and what was written about them by Christian writers (ie. the stories of the Fir Bolg, Cuchulainn, etc.). The pre-Christian Irish may indeed have fought naked, but that's not what the cattle raiders and heroes of the sagas were doing.

I'm currently running a heroic Irish PBeM called "Ériu" (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eriu-rpg-ck), and I put together a little essay on fighting with little or no armor. Excerpts from it:

"The Classical authors have given us a stereotype of the ancient Celts: loud and brash, wearing cloaks and trousers of plaid, checkered, or striped design. They carry spears and swords into battle, sometimes without clothes or armor. Their hair may be spiked-up with lime, and they may bear tattoos.... [A] reconstruction of [a] British nobleman c. 200 BC depicts this amalgam..., albeit with a shirt of mail, which was probably limited to the upper classes. The famous naked warriors of Polybius and Diodorus might have been shock-troops composed of the youngest and fiercest, or cultic warrior bands of certain tribes....
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"This "grunge metal" picture of the ancient Celt, bedecked in plaids, trousers, or even nothing at all, differs significantly from that of the heroic Irish warrior in the sagas....
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"Warriors in the Irish literature wore tunics and cloaks or mantles. Cloaks and mantles could be hooded, and were fastened with brooches. These garments were typically single-colored. Solid reds and greens were common, with yellow, purple, blue, gray, black, brown, and white also being listed. Warrior lists in two tales bear out these patterns. In "The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel" (Togail bruidne Da Derga), 24 separate descriptions of heroes are given. Only three of these mention trousers, and all wearers of trousers were of servile status. Only 5 of the 24 descriptions mention multi-color clothes, using the terms "speckled", "many colors", or "multi-hued." Similarly, 16 separate descriptions appear in a passage in "The Cattle Raid of Cuailnge" (Táin Bó Cuailgne). No one wears trousers, and only one description refers to "speckled" clothes. In both of these tales, no warrior goes into battle naked. Little body armor is mentioned, but most warriors carry shields and use either spears or swords."


Regards,
Conall Kavanagh
Ériu: adventures in heroic Ireland
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eriu-rpg-ck