Re: Military Sciences

From: Martin Laurie <MLaurie_at_compuserve.com>
Date: Sun, 6 Jun 1999 14:04:27 -0400


Phillip asks:
>would any of you know of some good references on the gloranthan art of
warfare,
>from the cost and methods of recruiting an army, =

"Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army" =

by Donald Engels is a good place to start for phalanx armies and =

for most other armies too.

Other works such as "Feeding Mars" and "Supplying War" are useful but =

rather general in tone. The best source of logistical info is to find a book
relating to the period that approximates a Gloranthan army and use the info in there. Alas info on the logisitics of such armies is usually sparse =

and best gained by using modern methods of critical analysis. Even Delbrucks various works do a good job of dispelling the massive army =

myth.
  =

>the cost of keeping, general combat tactics. =

Yikes! Large subject. I could dig up a list if anyone is interested, =

>I don't know if there is glorantha-specific info about all this
>but i would be interested to find out. My guesses would be that loskalmi=

is like
>renaissance style english cavalry(before the rifles),

More middle medieval in period I would say. Peter is the fellow to clari= fy
that =

one for you.

> the lunars would akin to the roman

Nope. The Lunars are far closer to the Seleucid model that they are to t= he

Romans. Their army is very heterogenous, as is their Empire. It has uni= ts
of vastly varied composition, from hoplites, to phalangites, from Knights=

to
nomads. Strategically they operate much along the Late Imperial Roman model with garrison forces and strong mobile armies but their actual unit= s
operate on a much more varied scale of activity at the tactical and even operational levels.

>, the orlanthi to the celts, picts, vikings etc, =

Saxons, Celts, Vikings etc are useful for the Orlanthi. One good source,=  =

recently published is the "Viking Art of War" by Paddy Griffith who is a =

superb analyst of any period he assails. =

>and the nomads by the mongols. =

Again not. The pentans are more Hunnic than Mongol. At the tactical level there is little difference, but at the operational level, the Mongo= ls
were far to advanced to be comparable to the Pentans. A good parallel of Shengs multiracial host would be the combined army of Timur Lenk in the late Mongol period. "Warriors of the Steppe" is a good source for=

this kind of thing as is the tribes of Europe series, in particular the book
on the Huns.

>these description gives a good estimate but naturally don't include magi=
c
>in their tactics which can make a huge difference.

The effect of magic on the battlefield is something that has been hotly =

debated. IMO, especially given the HW context, it makes Gloranthan warfa= re
look superficially like warfare from ancient or medieval times but in reality it
changes the tactical equation enormously. =

This issue has still to be resolved, although Roderick is doubtless worki= ng
on it and will come up with a cool and useful answer.

Martin Laurie


End of The Glorantha Digest V6 #621


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