Review of Ancient and Medieval Wargaming by Neil Thomas

One Hour Wargames (OHW) by Neil Thomas is my standard rule set.  The rules in it and the scale of the battles are perfect for a gamer who is proud of his amateur status.  My reasons for buying the kindle version of Ancient and Medieval Wargaming (AMW) were a) an affinity for OHW by the same author, b) a desire learn more about ancient and medieval wargaming, and c) a need to study fresh battle reports.  The specific rules offered in this book were not  my interest so I skipped over them.  Sophisticated gamers may like specials rolls such as saving rolls but that kind of thing makes my eyes glaze over.  They just slow down the game without adding to the enjoyment.

Even though this book was published in 2007, it does not appear to be dated, except in one respect: no photos.  The game reports do not contain any color photos.  No photos at all.  They contain some diagrams of the battles but a more recent book would have pictures. I understand printing color photos increases the cost of a book, but since I only buy ebooks, I am disappointed.  Photos would add a lot of value to the book.

One lesson quickly learned from AMW is that the effectiveness of armies has not steadily increased over time.  Just the opposite; ancient armies were more effective than those that followed.  The economics supporting the professionalism of ancient armies escapes me, but their quality is an established historical fact.  The levees that supplemented armies in the dark ages and later were not of the same caliber as ancient soldiers.  Eventually, technological advances in weaponry increased the effectiveness of soldiers, but sometimes a soldier could do no better than hitting a knight on his helmet with hammer. 

The development of military weaponry is displayed nicely throughout the book.  The crossbow, the English longbow, artillery, armor, the replacement of bronze with iron, the evolution of horses used in battle, and the like are all concisely mentioned.  Their impact on the battle is explained in simple terms.

Another lesson learned for me is that the variety of unit types is very rich and the gamer can essentially choose his favorite because sometime in history  an army was using that unit type.  Do you prefer archers on horseback?  It is there.  Do you like your armored knights to fight on foot?  It's there.  Would you prefer armies to mainly fight with cavalry units instead of mainly relying on infantry?  It happened.

Neil Thomas offers some suggestions  in each chapter about where figures can be found that portray the correct weapons.  I was afraid this might be dated, given the age of the books, but I now suspect the market has not changed much in thirteen years.   

In sum, I recommend this primarily as a reference book.  I expect to return to it frequently for refreshers on particular eras and unit types.  However, the reader should realize that this is not an academic book.  References are provided but citations such as are found in an academic text are absent.