Compendium of Rathe Spoiler PrimerBy: Evan S. Bridges (AGE Rating 85)

Compendium of Rathe, Flesh and Blood’s 18th set, and the era of Silver Age as LSS intended it are almost upon us! The World Premiere in London is a mere seven days away at the time of writing and LSS has just released the full list of commons and rares for our perusal, showing us what we can expect from the first supplementary set since Dusk Till Dawn. I won't be going over every single card from the set, but there were a few sure to shake up the meta that I wanted to take a look at. First up is a Mechanologist Rare attack action that comes in the Dash Silver Age Preconstructed deck, Teklo Trebuchet 2000.

Now, we’ll start with the thought that’s on everyone’s mind as they look at this card: “Hang on, isn’t that person sitting in the arm of what’s clearly a futuristic catapult, not a trebuchet?” If you’re thinking the same thing, you would be correct. To start with, what’s the difference between a catapult and trebuchet, and why does it matter? If you take a look at the diagrams below you’ll see that both are medieval siegecraft weapons with small but important differences.

Catapult Diagram

Trebuchet Diagram

The catapult delivers its payload via spring loaded release from the bucket at the end of the arm while the trebuchet uses the counter weight to launch its payload from the sling attached to the end of the arm, allowing for a much greater height of release than the catapult while maintaining the same economy of materials.

The counter weight and sling may seem like small differences, but are pivotal for launching projectiles greater distances. As the counter weight falls the arm starts to move up slowly but gains speed rapidly, launching the projectile at great speed at the peak of the arc. This Calvin and Hobbes(1) comic strip does a good job of explaining this concept in a simplified form.

The full structure of the object in question on Teklo “Trebuchet” 2000 is not illustrated, but the person is clearly standing in a bucket and not being held by a sling, and there is no upper level to the weapon as depicted in the diagram above.

“Ok, they’re not the same thing, but why does it matter,” you may be asking yourself. To put it simply, trebuchets are better.

“While catapults are effective for shorter distances and simpler mechanisms, trebuchets excel in launching heavier projectiles over longer ranges with greater precision. This distinction makes trebuchets particularly formidable weapons during the Middle Ages, dominating sieges and battles with their superior firepower and range,” as explained by the helpful folks at Makerlessons.com(2).

The original catapults debuted in the 7th century BC in Jerusalem while trebuchets didn’t appear until the 12th century in the Mediterranean. Trebuchets were an upgrade on a technology over almost two thousand years old at the time, and as such were an improvement in nearly every aspect.

If LSS is going to employ historical and technological references in their art (which they should!), it’s not too much to ask that they are consistent and accurate in their naming/depictions.

“Well you said catapults are used to launch smaller payloads a smaller distance. Surely they could’ve just called the card Teklo Catapult 2000.”

You would be right to say so, as LSS would’ve been right to do so. But LSS wanted to have their cake and eat it too with their technological references and their alliteration. They even went with the awkwardly out of date sounding “2000” for the triple “t” sound instead of the more futuristically apt “3000,” which would come at the cost of ending the alliteration on a “th” sound.

The world of Rathe is vibrant and rich with detail as evidenced in its beautiful art and serviceable lore. I do not believe Teklovossen, founder of Teklo Industries (and hero of one of my favorite decks), would make such a glaring mistake in service of a vocabularic flourish. He is, after all, more than human.

References1. “Calvin and Hobbes” by Bill Watterson2. https://www.makerlessons.com/coretechs/coretechs-projects/catapults-and-trebuchets