Please Recommend Best Primer for Tactical Wargaming

[xerxez]

Gronan will likely know, hoping he or other knowledgeable readers can recommend a good beginners source for terminology and tactics for ancient and/or medieval warfare.

I suck at tactical thinking but would like to improve. Looking for a good basic intoduction to the meanings of military terms, formations, maneuvers, arms and armour. Is there such a beginning source, be it a historical book or an offering by gamers? I can google it but there are tons, hoping for a point from an experienced tactician/history buff.

I would like to improve tactically in my D&D playing as well as prepare for wargaming.

Appreciate any suggest.

[Deleted]

1) C.W.C. Oman "War in the Middle Ages." Though no longer definitive, it is still the foundation text on the subject.

2) Terence Wise, "Medieval Warfare." Eminently approachable style.

Then try some of the Osprey books on individual battles or the period. They have a number of medieval battles in the series.

[xerxez]

Thank you, sir! I shall find these volumes!

[derv]

Both Oman and Wise are very readable. But, Wise has the benefit of color illustrations. He actually wrote a number of the Osprey books.

David Nicolle's Medieval Warfare Sourcebooks might be worth looking for if you want something exhaustive.

[xerxez]

Thank you! Turns out Oman's writing are available on pdf download at Internet Archive. I will give these all a look.

[rsdean]

Just be aware that the Internet Archive one is likely the 1885 first version; there's a 1924 two volume that incoporates additional thoughts. It's still a good survey, but there are more modern works available covering narrower periods if you want a deeper dive.

[xerxez]

I'll keep that in mind, rsdean. It's my next read. I'm in a book right now that is very fascinating, though unrelated--"The World of the Gladiator" by Susanna Shadrake. It's a pretty good look at the development of the games (I hate calling them that), the arms and armour, the amphitheatres, and the training and life of a gladiator. Lot of archeological information with a huge amount of illustrations and photos.