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: Total Generalship: Commanding Pre-Modern Armies, Part IIIb: Officers

This is the continuation of the third part of our three(ish) part (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IIIc) series looking at the role of the general in commanding pre-gunpowder armies in battle. Last time we looked at how an army's discipline could limit or expand the options available to its general: drill creating synchronized discipline could … Continue reading Collections: Total Generalship: Commanding Pre-Modern Armies, Part IIIb: Officers →

Collections: The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part IV: Men of Rohan

This is the fourth part of a series taking a historian's look at the Battle of Helm's Deep (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII. VIII) from both J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Two Towers (1954) and Peter Jackson’s 2002 film of the same name. In the last part, we looked in some depth at the organization … Continue reading Collections: The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part IV: Men of Rohan →

Collections: The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part III: The Host of Saruman

This is the third part of a series taking a historian's look at the Battle of Helm's Deep (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII. VIII), from both J.R.R. Tolkien's The Two Towers (1954) and peter Jackson's 2002 film of the same name. In our last part, we looked at the film-only cavalry engagement that … Continue reading Collections: The Battle of Helm’s Deep, Part III: The Host of Saruman →