Medieval Warfare

Medieval Warfare has proven useful in understanding warfare, and the successful tactics of the day. Most of the successful tactics unfortunately hardly relate to a video game (starving an enemy is successful, cutting reinforcements.) because we all know game characters don't eat or defecate.

interesting finds:

1. The germanic tribes of the ancient world have a unique way of fighting. They assemble troops into a huge square, making them effective because they are essentially un-flankable. This thwarted the romans several times because their most successful tactic is to flank with Calvary. This formation tells a lot about the people themselves. The book describes how these tactics reflect an "All for one, one for all" mentality. These formations made it possible for those with shields could create a wall around the edges, letting the unshielded units in the middle survive a charge, but effectively strike an enemy in an entangled battle. These developments in military strategy are important to understanding the culture itself. They had a lack of supplies and advanced weaponry, so this formation played to their advantages of being strong warriors, good at close combat, and being poor at horse drawn combat. Players will be able to choose different fighting tactics (if they invest in militant structures and professions) which will enable them to adjust the formations of troops for different circumstances.