Collections: Pre-Modern Armies for Worldbuilders, Part Vb: Pixel Armies for Pixel Societies

This is the second half of the final part (I, IIa, IIb, III, IVa, IVb, Va, Vb) of our apparently five-part series laying out some general guidelines for how pre-modern armies are organized, with fictional worldbuilding and historical patterns in mind. Last time we started checking some fictional militaries against the general patterns we've laid … Continue reading Collections: Pre-Modern Armies for Worldbuilders, Part Vb: Pixel Armies for Pixel Societies →

Collections: Pre-Modern Armies for Worldbuilders, Part Va: Putting It Together

This is the first half of the final part (I, IIa, IIb, III, IVa, IVb, Va) of our apparently five-part series laying out some general guidelines for how pre-modern armies are organized, in particular exploring the principle that armies cannot help but recreate their civilian social structures on the battlefield. Last time we looked at … Continue reading Collections: Pre-Modern Armies for Worldbuilders, Part Va: Putting It Together →

Collections: Pre-Modern Armies for Worldbuilders, Part IVb: Cohesion

This is the second half of the fourth part (I, IIa, IIb, III, IVa) of our honestly-who-knows-how-many part series laying out some general guidelines for how pre-modern armies are organized. Last week we took a look at how the leadership of these armies was drawn from the existing elite classes of their societies. As with … Continue reading Collections: Pre-Modern Armies for Worldbuilders, Part IVb: Cohesion →

Collections: Pre-Modern Armies for Worldbuilders, Part IVa: Leadership

This is the fourth part (I, IIa, IIb, III) of our honestly-who-knows-how-many part series laying out some general guidelines for how pre-modern armies are organized. We've talked about how armies are recruited, equipped and paid for. In particular, as we've seen so far, the structure of recruitment, organization and payment (such as it was) is … Continue reading Collections: Pre-Modern Armies for Worldbuilders, Part IVa: Leadership →

Collections: Pre-Modern Armies for Worldbuilders, Part III: Paying For It

This is the third part (I, IIa, IIb, III) of our honestly-who-knows-how-many part series laying out some general guidelines for how pre-modern armies are recruited, raised, equipped and paid. In the last part, we looked at the various ways pre-modern armies might mobilize their armies, a process that mainly consisted of recruiting and equipping soldiers. … Continue reading Collections: Pre-Modern Armies for Worldbuilders, Part III: Paying For It →

Collections: Raising Carthaginian Armies, Part IV: Allies and Mercenaries

This is the fourth part of our series (I, II, III, IV, V) looking at how Carthage's complex, multi-ethnic armies were raised and structured. Last week, we looked at Carthage's unusual system for raising vassal forces: long-serving Carthaginian generals could inhabit positions within the personalist, non-state mobilization systems of Numidia and Iberia, enabling them to … Continue reading Collections: Raising Carthaginian Armies, Part IV: Allies and Mercenaries →

Collections: Raising Carthaginian Armies, Part III: Generals, Warlords and Vassals

This is the third part (I, II, III, IV, V) of our series looking at how Carthage's complex, multipart armies were raised and constituted. Last time, we looked at the backbone of Carthage's armies: North African troops levied out of Carthage's subject communities in North Africa. These fellows seem to have been directly employed by … Continue reading Collections: Raising Carthaginian Armies, Part III: Generals, Warlords and Vassals →

Collections: Raising Carthaginian Armies, Part II: The African Backbone

This is the second part (I, II, III, IV, V) of our series looking at the structure of the Carthaginian army. As we discussed last time, while Carthage has an unfair reputation for being an 'un-military' society, its military system was one of the highest performing in the ancient Mediterranean, able to produce vast and … Continue reading Collections: Raising Carthaginian Armies, Part II: The African Backbone →

Collections: Raising Carthaginian Armies, Part I: Finding Carthaginians

This is the first part of a series (I, II, III, IV, V) looking at the structure of the Carthaginian army. Although Carthage has an (unfair!) reputation for being a country of "peaceful merchants who tended to avoid wars," Carthage was, I will argue, without question the second greatest military power the Mediterranean produced - … Continue reading Collections: Raising Carthaginian Armies, Part I: Finding Carthaginians →

Collections: How to Raise a Tribal Army in Pre-Roman Europe, Part III: Going To War With the Army You Have

This is the third and final part of our three-part (I, II, III) look at how some 'tribal' or more correctly, non-state agrarian peoples - particularly the Celtiberians, Gauls and also many Germanic-language speaking peoples on the Rhine and Danube- raised armies to fight the Romans (and anyone else who came knocking) in the third, … Continue reading Collections: How to Raise a Tribal Army in Pre-Roman Europe, Part III: Going To War With the Army You Have →