At long last, Relic Entertainment has announced that Age of Empires 4 is coming. Strategy gamers rejoice! I am excited - I played the first one back in '98 (I may be dating myself here). But the news brought me back to a common problem with many games of this type and with Age of … Continue reading Collections: Why Are There No Empires in Age of Empires?
Collections: Practical Polytheism, Part IV: Little Gods and Big People
The last part of our four-part look at ancient polytheism, looking at the smallest of gods, and the biggest of humans.
Collections: Practical Polytheism, Part III: Polling the Gods
Last week, we looked at some of the basic functions of polytheistic practice, centered on the concept of do ut des, striking a bargain with the god. This week, we're going to turn to another key set of rituals: divination. We're mostly going to look into indirect forms of divining the will of the gods, … Continue reading Collections: Practical Polytheism, Part III: Polling the Gods
Collections: Practical Polytheism, Part II: Practice
Part II of a series at the underpinnings of ancient polytheistic (Greek, Roman, Mesopotamian, Norse, etc) religious practice.
Collections: Practical Polytheism, Part I: Knowledge
Today we're going to start looking at one facet of how polytheistic religions function, their practicality. This is going to be a series (I'm currently planning at least four parts) looking at some of the general facets of how ancient polytheistic religions work. And work is the operative word, more so than many religions and … Continue reading Collections: Practical Polytheism, Part I: Knowledge
Collections: The Battlefield After the Battle
Today we're going to talk about what a pre-modern battlefield might look like after the battle is over. Obvious content warning, since this post is going to talk about (and show pictures of) some very ugly things. Popular media has a particular image for the post-battle battlefield that shows up in film, TV and video-games … Continue reading Collections: The Battlefield After the Battle
Collections: The Preposterous Tactics of the Loot Train Battle (Game of Thrones, S7E4)
A look at the tactics of the 'loot train' battle from Game of Thrones (S7E4), in which it turns out, everyone is the fool.





