Collections: Pre-Modern Armies for Worldbuilders, Part IIb: Officials, Contractors and Professionals

This is the second half of the second part (I, IIa, IIb) 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. While I hope this will be of great interest to the history nerds out there, I’ve opted to structure this specifically as a … Continue reading Collections: Pre-Modern Armies for Worldbuilders, Part IIb: Officials, Contractors and Professionals

Collections: Pre-Modern Armies for Worldbuilders, Part IIa: Mobilization without Administration

This is the second part (I, IIa) 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. While I hope this will be of great interest to the history nerds out there, I've opted to structure this specifically as a service for the worldbuilders out … Continue reading Collections: Pre-Modern Armies for Worldbuilders, Part IIa: Mobilization without Administration

Collections: Pre-Modern Armies for Worldbuilders, Part I: Why They Fight

This week I want to try something a little different. Rather than taking apart a particular fantasy military system, I thought I might try to lay out a more general sense of how military systems tend to map on to societies, both because such general historical frameworks are handy for thinking about the past, but … Continue reading Collections: Pre-Modern Armies for Worldbuilders, Part I: Why They Fight

Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part IIb: Handfuls of Maniples

This is the second part of the second part of the second part of our four part look (Ia, Ib, IIa, IIb, IIIa, IIIb, IVa, IVb, IVc, V) at the great third and second century BC contest between the Romans and the heirs of Alexander, asking the question, "What can defeat a Macedonian sarisa-phalanx?" Last … Continue reading Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part IIb: Handfuls of Maniples

Collections: The Queen’s Latin or Who Were the Romans, Part II: Citizens and Allies

This is the second part (I, II, III, IV, V) of a series asking the question 'Who were the Romans?' How did they understand themselves as a people and the idea of 'Roman' as an identity? Was this a homogeneous, ethnically defined group, as some versions of pop folk history would have it, or was … Continue reading Collections: The Queen’s Latin or Who Were the Romans, Part II: Citizens and Allies