Byzantine Armies AD 1118-1461

Written by Ian Heath and illustrated by Angus Mcbride, Byzantine Armies represents the downfall of an empire. While I haven't finished the whole book yet, considering my appreciation for mercenaries, I found the introduction to be somewhat ironic.

Believing that the army's weakness resulted from its heavy dependence on foreign mercenaries, he concentrated the best of the remaining native troops in Constantinople and reduced the pay and privileges of its foreign mercenaires, declaring his intention c 1255 'to build an army not of Turks, Italians or Serbs, but of Greeks.'

Of course right after Theodore II, Michael VIII, the former commander of the army's Latin mercenaries, goes right back to the employemenet of large numbers of foreign troops. This eventually leads to the economic collapse of Byzantine wealth and other associated bad things like the fall of Contantinople in 1453 by the Ottomans.

Here, the mercenaries are a damned if you do, damned if you don't. Pay them and well, the finances just weren't there. The need to spend on military has apparently crushed more than one super power. Don't pay them and well, they'll just find another employer who might use them again you.

Mercenaries... gotta love 'em.

Italian Medieval Armies 1300-1500

While reading over this book, there were a few things, not necessarily direclty related to the title, that struck me.

On page 47, there is a picture of a 15th century fresco. The illustration notes, "in the usual medieval manner it depicts war-gear of the artist's own day."

Think about that. Art, something that may be used down the line, not actually showing what was, but showing what is with the scenario of what was. In such a case, the viewer would have to know several things about the art. They'd have to know when it was actually done, and what era its covering.

This makes inventing history or using history perhaps even more tangled than it already is. The records of the past speaking with the minds of the more recent past?

The next thing was the aftermath of theBattle of Fornovo. Here, the French and Italians both claim victory and both did acheive some of their goals but neither really managed to wipe out the other or get everything they were looking for out of the conflict. Each country probably has history books recording these great victories against insurmountable odds. But where does the actual truth lie?

Again, the reality of history doesnt' lend itself easily to be shuttered up into one quick convienent piece. When designing your own backgrounds, don't forget the multiple view angle and how an event seen by many witnessess may appear different to each witness.

In terms of art, G A Embleton isn't bad. The artwork is similiar to the cover. It feels, to me at least, low grade 'gamish'. It doesn't have the polish of Angus McBride, but isn't bad. His illustrations are of the different army members and would make great illustrations for a group of warriors.

Italian Medeival Armies provides details on the overall militia life and several looks at different campaigns. Well worth a purusal if your interested in how the various city states of the time managed to thrive as long as they did.

The Companies

The Great Company

The White Company

Free Company

Company of Siena

The Company of Cerruglio

Cavalieri della Colomba

Company of St. George

Some interesting names pulled from the Men-at-Arms Italian Medieval Armies 1300-1500. I was a little inspired by the old Condottiere...

Happy Thanksgiving

I work in a factory with a wide diversity of people. One of them is from parts of the 'former U.S.S.R.'.

I asked him, "Hey, what do you guys do in stead of Thanksgiving."

He smiled and explained to me that it is the time to slaughter the pigs and make the sausage and have the festivals. That is it the time for family gatherings and to fry the fat from the slaughter animals. That is is a celebration of all things meaty and tasty and that its done in preperation of the winter.

Sounds like something that would be right at home in a fantasy setting from the old time. Mind you, I can never tell when the guy is messing with me, but he's passionate about his food and his descriptions of the various foodstuffs to be found sounded authentic to me.

So as you celebrate the carving of the Turkey, remember that others are having their own celebrations with their own backgrounds and their own traditions and think; how can I steal that for my game.

History is Expensive

I've mentioned before that I'm no arm chair historian. I read stuff that catches my fancy; nothing more, nothing less.

But damn, I wish sometimes that I had the funds for all of those high end books that seem to be right up my alley.

Ugh. $147.00... have you people heard of e-ink!

Shoggoth!

I try to pretend that I'm not into 'things' as material possessions. I've owned numerous computers, books, movies, music, etc... However, I do like owning some thing and their loss would be a blow. One of those things is my old copy of Deities and Demigods that has the Cthulhu Mythos in it.


The shoggoth on page 46 what could be its cousin, but is probably Shub-Niggurath on page 47, both done by Erol Otus, who also did the cover painting, showcase a monstrous entity that oozes along with limbs and eyes and tentacles and teeth coming and going.

But the shaggoth is well, weak. Don't mistake me, it's twenty hit dice, and 30% magic resistance along with some innate immunities, to weakness, paralysis and charm, provide it some benefit. But...  Suffice it to say I like the 3.5/Pathfinder version much better.

In Rolemaster, there are monsters that are tough to kill. They're not powerful monsters. They just have lots of hit points. Things like whales and what not. That method always made sense to me. These big monsters aren't going down with a single sword stroke, but unlike say 3.5 D&D, where monster level automatically grants it X amount of power, those big monsters weren't necessarily capable fighters either.

Anyway, the shoggoth, ancient creatures created by 'Primordial Ones' also have a variant. I remember reading about it in one of the various works of fiction published by Chaosium. The thing is, these shape changers are roughly humanoid and walk among humanity. It wasn't long until I bought one of the Rafm miniatures. Heck, I'm almost done with it. Maybe I'll post pics when it's finished. The one below is from Rafm: Edit; And posted!

Now what brought this to mind is that I just finished reading the graphic novel, Dark Tower: The Fall of Gilead. Like all good sieges and attacks and large scale combats, its tale involves the use of spies and traitors. How much better if you can add something like a proto-shoggoth? There is no innate link there. Merely the reading of one book, seeing a situation that could use something that would've been different, and then the idea.  The use of dopplegangers and other entities that shape change are fairly well known, but not all D&D players are familiar with the Cthulhu mythos.

By changing up the expected monsters and assassins, even though its still a 'gotcha' moment, it might be a different sort of gotcha moment. The Cthulhu Mythos tends to evoke a different type of horror than standard D&D monsters. At worse, perhaps it'll take the players off guard.

Amazon Bargin Buy

While looking over some other goods at Amazon, I ran across this one; The Monks of War: The Military Religious Orders (Arkana) [Bargain Price] [Paperback] by Desmond Seward for $6.80. A lot better than the initial $17.00 they wanted for it eh?

http://www.amazon.com/Monks-War-Military-Religious-Orders/dp/B001G8WKE4/ref=pd_sim_b_6