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Author Topic: Introducing myself to the Italian Wars - What were the armies' composition?  (Read 6524 times)

Offline olicana

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Whoops, double post.
« Last Edit: October 10, 2017, 10:08:39 PM by olicana »

Offline AWu

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    • War is the H-word
Best start for Italian wars (apart from a lot of reading - and those conflicts are fascinating) are Landsknecht.

They fought on every imaginable side at one time or another. You just cant miss with landsknecht and they are one of the most interesting and colorful units of all times. :)

Offline Metternich

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Landsknechts together with Gendarmes - armored, lance armed cavalry are the other almost "Universal Soldier"

Offline wkeyser

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Re: Introducing myself to the Italian Wars - What were the armies' composition?
« Reply #33 on: November 03, 2017, 12:06:40 PM »
For a campaign system take a look at the board game All is lost Save Honour, from and Italian boardgaming company. A great game for the period. Also Fornova from compass games for a great take on renaissance battle.

I go with 15mm figures I like to see lots of troops on the table and dense pike blocks.

William

Offline GamesPoet

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Re: Introducing myself to the Italian Wars - What were the armies' composition?
« Reply #34 on: November 05, 2017, 05:28:16 PM »
Although his work is widely available this isn't where I would go. Machiavelli was a theorist, not a military man, and his ideas, if they applied at all as written (improbable), only applied to Florence.

I think a better bet would be Michael Mallet's The Military Organisation of a Renaissance State: Venice c.1400 to 1617 (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern History). Pricey, even for an ardent enthusiast (I do not have it) but worth the trip to a library - books like this are where libraries come into their own.

If you are looking for one book for this stuff you will be looking for some time (to the best of my knowledge such a book does not exist). This period is still regarded as pretty niche, verging on the arcane. Followers of this period tend to glean what they can from multiple sources. I have these books (see link), plus a few old WRG and other war game army lists for back up: Not ideal but, nothing is in this period - especially if you don't speak multiple languages.

https://olicanalad.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Book%20List%20-%2016th%20Century
Thanks for the link to your list!

 

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