Phalanx Books
Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2017 4:16 am
While waiting for FOG2, I brushed up on my ancients reading, especially about the various successor armies and other Roman opponents (don't like reading about the dastardly Romans after the Second Punic War) and thought I'd share the books that I thought worth reading (several books cover periods outside the scope of the current game, but...):
Christopher Matthews has written a unique and fascinating (if a bit dry) pair of books about the nuts and bolts of hoplite and pike phalanx warfare. There is apparently remarkably little known about important aspects of phalanx combat, including how the spears/pikes were held and used, and the author does a very thorough job of exploring these issues:
Hoplite phalanx: https://www.amazon.com/Storm-Spears-Und ... r-mr-title
Pike phalanx: https://www.amazon.com/Invincible-Beast ... r-mr-title
The fifty years after Alexander's death is probably my favorite period of military history, with Alexander's most capable lieutenants duking it out on the battlefield and constantly forming, breaking and re-forming alliances in a deadly struggle to come out on top. This period is crying out for a strategic level game (with diplomacy) with battles played out in FOG2...
Successors: https://www.amazon.com/Dividing-Spoils- ... r-mr-title
Antigonus the One-Eyed is one of the most colorful of the successors (actually, all of them were pretty fascinating characters):
https://www.amazon.com/Antigonus-One-Ey ... r-mr-title
Mithridates is another fascinating character, but the sheer number of his epic beat-downs by the Romans make you wonder if you should question his sanity or his admire his chutzpah:
https://www.amazon.com/Poison-King-Lege ... r-mr-title
I have several other books on my bookshelf (actually, on my Kindle) and will post more links as I read them. Please post any recommendations, but let's limit this thread to the phalanxy-type armies, let the Romans and the barbarians set up their own threads...
Christopher Matthews has written a unique and fascinating (if a bit dry) pair of books about the nuts and bolts of hoplite and pike phalanx warfare. There is apparently remarkably little known about important aspects of phalanx combat, including how the spears/pikes were held and used, and the author does a very thorough job of exploring these issues:
Hoplite phalanx: https://www.amazon.com/Storm-Spears-Und ... r-mr-title
Pike phalanx: https://www.amazon.com/Invincible-Beast ... r-mr-title
The fifty years after Alexander's death is probably my favorite period of military history, with Alexander's most capable lieutenants duking it out on the battlefield and constantly forming, breaking and re-forming alliances in a deadly struggle to come out on top. This period is crying out for a strategic level game (with diplomacy) with battles played out in FOG2...
Successors: https://www.amazon.com/Dividing-Spoils- ... r-mr-title
Antigonus the One-Eyed is one of the most colorful of the successors (actually, all of them were pretty fascinating characters):
https://www.amazon.com/Antigonus-One-Ey ... r-mr-title
Mithridates is another fascinating character, but the sheer number of his epic beat-downs by the Romans make you wonder if you should question his sanity or his admire his chutzpah:
https://www.amazon.com/Poison-King-Lege ... r-mr-title
I have several other books on my bookshelf (actually, on my Kindle) and will post more links as I read them. Please post any recommendations, but let's limit this thread to the phalanxy-type armies, let the Romans and the barbarians set up their own threads...