Armies of Medieval Burgundy 1364-1477

Written by Nicholas Michael with color plates by G  A Embleton, the Armies of Medieval Burgundy 1364-1477 is a short 40 page look at a country in a time period that isn't necessarily associated with the guns and cannons that the book discusses in depth.

On one hand, the book says "look, it's a small kingdom that had a rapid rise and a rapid disintegration." Few things speak to me and say, "ah, player characters and their silly antics" as much as the rise and fall of nations.  For the time period, we have Philip the Bold, John the Fearless, Philip the Good, and Charles the Bold, known as the Valois Dukes.  The use of descriptive titles on personal names is something that most players would be familiar with although few would be so tame.

In the case of Burgundy, that is very apparent from the start as the author notes they are surrounded by enemies and split in four. I can see a group following a similar methodology as each player may have different ideas.

Another bit that may make this one an odd duck, is that this book has been in print on and off since 1983. The Osprey series has changed quite a bit in that time and often has more historical information to it.

On the other hand, the book discusses the use of cannons and guns a bit. In doing so, it continues to reinforce my feelings that guns are very underrepresented in most fantasy games that have a medieval basis as their core. If your setting has full plate, it probably needs cannons.

One of the key pieces of text amuses me a bit not because it's out of place, but because it showcases that things happen alongside each other until one is proven clearly the superior. In this instance, we have Philip the Bold commissioning the brothers Jacques and Roland of Majorca to cast large-caliber cannon from 1368-1390. During that time frame, other books in the series will point out say, English Lowbowmen and their utility even as in further days, those like Benjamin Franlkin bemoan the lack of such skilled troops in their own ranks.

The color plates by G A Embleton include the one on the cover. If you enjoy that picture of a knight, the other interior ones are well worth study. These illustrations include various men-at-arms of the time including a few members of Philip the Bold's army from 1363 on color plate A, or a mason, gunner, and archer under Jean de Vergy, the Marshal of Burgundy at the siege of Vellexon on plate B. This is an interesting picture because it shows the mason and gunner in close cooperation working to cast cannon balls while the archer looks on as defense.

On plate C, Philip the Good, the Duke of Burgundy looking much like a knight of Warhammer's Bretonnia. The gentleman of the court surrounding him, as well as the trumpeter though ,are all dressed in white, providing a nice contrast to the multiple colors that make up Philip's own coat of arms and armor.

Another picture that could almost come from a modern Warhammer book, but for the Empire, is on plate E, the Artillery of the 1470's, where a Bombard with a master gunner is preparing to fire as a gunner with serpentine works on various matters of paperwork with gun powder and boxes and cannons beneath him.

In contrast, plate G showcases the Men of the ordinances and includes... well, let's not call them mundane, but a crossbowman, a pikeman, a coustillier, and another crossbowman while on plate H we have more men of the ordinances, including a handgunner, mounted archer, and another longbowmen.

These illustrations serve to showcase the mundane and military use of men of arms of various weapons in military formation and use as opposed to the relatively rogue nature of player's characters who are often masters of various weapons. It's a good instance to showcase that while guns are in use, that those who are skilled with their ware, such as longbow men and mounted archers, are still in demand and still useful.

Such times can showcase that skilled characters, like those of the players, can still make huge changes. That they can challenge the status quota.  Long term mind you, those changes may be irrelevant but could belong to a group of specialist. This would make the characters similar to those who, in super hero settings, like Green Arrow or Hawkeye, continue to use long bows despite the rampant use of guns and other technology that makes the average bowman look silly in contrast.

In the end, I thought Armies of Medieval Burgundy benefited from the various pieces of art drawn from historical sources as well as G A Embleton's skilled hand but the writing seemed... I don't want to say off, but focused a bit too much on the weapons and artillery of the time as opposed to learning anything much of medieval Burgundy itself.

The Mongols by Stephen Turnbull Illustrated by Angus McBride

From my brief observations of the various Osprey titles, Stephen Turnbull is the main scholar of the east. From my years of enjoying Iron Crown Enterprise Rolemaster and Middle Earth role playing games, Angus McBride is an artist whose skill set is still sorely missed in all artistic fields.

I picked this puppy up at the Skokie Half Priced Books.  I've learned over there that if there is a book you see and you want it, waiting for a sale may sale you a few dollars but may save you more than a few because the item you want has long since been bought by someone else.

After reading the Kalka River 1223 Campaign book, and owning the Warrior Mongol Warrior 1200-1350, also by Stephen Turnbull, but that one illustrated by a modern artist who also does role playing products, Wayne Reynolds, I was eager to read the Mongols and see what else I could glean of them.

Hard to say. I couldn't honestly tell you how much of the generalized knowledge here I knew in some form or another before hand but I can tell you that it's well put together in terms of a quick summary of how dangerous the Mongols were to their enemies and the vast changes their brought to the world.

If you can find it, it's worth a read. I believe that the more 'modern' book by Osprey on the subject is the Mongol Warrior 1200-1350 in their Warrior series.

In terms of how dangerous the Mongol army was? I'm always amused that fantasy settings have to go to the final full tilt doomsday device when rebooting their settings like the Forgotten Realms and the Sundering. Historically, empires rose and fell with great frequency. The problem many people have isn't necessarily with their favorite group of NPCs being killed, it's how it's done. Forwarding the setting, further invaliding past purchases, isn't the way in my opinion.  Having a competent group of adversaries that the players can actually fight against, if the campaign is the thing as opposed to the dungeon crawl, requires there be, you know, actual competent foes.

You don't have to throw gods, demons, devils, and the kitchen sink into the setting to showcase how devastating the real world historically was.

Anyway...

The illustrations by Angus McBride for the series include eight separate paintings including the one on the cover. In that instance, I believe that's some poor Russian bastard whose been taken down by the archery skill of the Mongolian warrior retrieving his arrow.

Another shows Mongols in winter coats with pack camels. Another shows Mongolian heavy cavalryman battling against what could be Crusaders.  another the Mongolian commander and his 'naccara' drummer. Another the Mongol camp with children and small animals. Another of the Mongol camp shows a horseman with his hunting bird and a host of unfortunate animals strapped to his horse while in the background some dogs look on hungrily and behind them women tend to a fire.  Another shows a Mongol heavy cavalry officer in a siege of a city in China.  The last is a Japanese samurai fighting against Korean auxiliaries. 

The illustrations may be a little dated in today's brighter, louder, more action world, but for illustrating the Mongols? For showing some slices of life? They're perfect and can easily serve as templates to springboard visual inspired tales.

The book includes numerous real world paintings taken from around the globe. One of the interesting bits here, as I've mentioned in the past, is that the artist generally tend to make the subjects wear the clothing and armor of the time, as opposed to when the painting was supposed to take place. This could be a nice 'red herring' for a game where the characters are puzzle solvers if they failed to take that tendency into account.

One of the things that book notes in terms of difficulty, is how quickly things erode and rot. Whenever I see those shows and movies that are supposed to take place in the distant future and they have twentieth century buildings and vehicles still around is man, that would not last a year or two after man fell from grace. Right now people are being killed by failing infrastructure. Imagine it for a year or two without a full fledge fire department to handle vast blazes. Imagine it if an earthquake hits. Imagine it if a tidal wave hits. We're very industrious in how much we rebuild and as anyone whose paying attention to the news in America at least these days, knows that natural disasters require immense support to overcome. Without that ability to draw on massive funds and manpower? Yeah, it's all going away in a very short time.

In terms of the Mongols themselves, they are amazing for numerous reasons. Their reach encompassed a lot of what gamers traditionally associated with Oriental Adventures, including unifying all of China. They also devastated Russia so bad that the book on the Kalka River says it put Russia back a century or two in terms of development. They also used allies and defeated foes to attack other foes like when they tried to take over Japan on two separate occasions.


The book provides a lot of details on what the typical Mongol drank on the march, as well as what he ate. These details, as well as clothing and various other bits, can provide depth to a GM looking to add those elements to his own campaign.

They were also a multi-ethnical army with both Muslim and Chinese siege engineers among them. This facet of the Mongol war machine would work well in a fantasy campaign where the players wanted to play something exotic. They could be part of an invading or formerly invading army that was defeated and now have nowhere left to turn except well, either bandit or adventurer. Their use of Chinese and Muslim engineers also allowed the introduction of siege weapons that were unlike those already in use by their foes in the West.

When looking at the strengths of the Mongols, there are numerous advantages in their corner. Not only did they have great mobility, but they were able to bring with them their entire way of life with mobile yurts for example. They also made sure to scout out the areas they were heading into. They would seek out information on the various internal conflicts and try to use those to separate their enemies into smaller groups to more easily destroy them. The Mongols also did things few others would dare, like attack Russia in winter.

If you're looking for inspiration for your L5R game, Oriental Adventurers, or just want to see how devastating the Mongol war hosts were, this book should provide you a quick door into the death and destruction that a army with a few unique hooks in it's arsenal could unleash.