A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
A look at history and popular culture
This is the back half of the last part (I, II IIIa, IIIb, IVa, IVb) of our series looking at the vision of history advanced by Hearts of Iron IV, Paradox Interactive's World War II grand strategy game and one of the most popular strategy games on the market today. In the front half of … Continue reading Teaching Paradox: Hearts of Iron IV, Part IVb: Iron Ends
This is the first half of the last part (I, II IIIa, IIIb, IVa, IVb) of our series looking at the vision of history advanced by Hearts of Iron IV, Paradox Interactive's World War II grand strategy game and one of the most popular strategy games on the market today. In the last part (split … Continue reading Teaching Paradox: Hearts of Iron IV, Part IVa: The Fires of Industry
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
This post is a set of my observations on the current war in Iran and my thoughts on the broader strategic implications. I am not, of course, an expert on the region nor do I have access to any special information, so I am going to treat that all with a high degree of uncertainty. … Continue reading Miscellanea: The War in Iran
Hey folks, Fireside this week! Hopefully everyone enjoyed our series on the running debate over hoplites! As a social media note, I am going to attempt to start setting up a presence on Threads (with my own name, bretdevereaux, as my handle as always). I'm not leaving Bluesky by any means, just diversifying a bit; … Continue reading Fireside Friday, January 23, 2025 (On the Cowardice of the Statue PfPs)
This week at long last we come to the clash of men and horses as we finish our three-part (I, II, III) look at the iconic opening battle scene from the film Gladiator (2000). Last time, we brought the sequence up through the infantry advance, observing that the tactics of the Roman arrow barrage and … Continue reading Collections: Nitpicking Gladiator’s Iconic Opening Battle, Part III
This week we're continuing our three-part (I, II, III) look at one of film's most famous Roman battle sequences, the iconic opening battle from Gladiator (2000). I had planned this to be in two parts, but even though this sequence is relatively short, it provides an awful lot to talk about. As noted last week, … Continue reading Collections: Nitpicking Gladiator’s Iconic Opening Battle, Part II
This week and for the next two weeks (I, II, III), we're going to take a close look at arguably the most famous and recognizable Roman battle sequence in film: the iconic opening battle from Gladiator (2000). Despite being a relatively short sequence (about ten minutes), there's actually enough to talk about here that we're … Continue reading Collections: Nitpicking Gladiator’s Iconic Opening Battle, Part I
This week we're looking at a specific visual motif common in TV and film: the arrow volley. You know the scene: the general readies his archers, he orders them to 'draw!' and then holds up his hand with that 'wait for it' gesture and then shouts 'loose!' (or worse yet, 'fire!') and all of the … Continue reading Collections: Why Archers Didn’t Volley Fire
This is the final part of our five part (I, II, III, IV) series on the Siege of Eregion in Amazon's Rings of Power. Last time, we looked at the orc siege and marveled at both their lack of works and also their nonsensical siege engines, concluding that Adar had launched a siege assault which … Continue reading Collections: The Siege of Eregion, Part V: What Tactics?