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Got this update together for you:
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ON CITIES (Gr: PERI POLEIS)
Text: Trebizond; Sangarius, 1521.
Manuscript: Monastery of St. Catherine of Alexandria, 1563.
Book, illuminated; 1 vol, H: 13 1/2 in. (35 cm)
The ox wagon and its hadiuk driver is the symbol of the Second Revival. Reinforced with iron sheeting, it becomes a fortress--the last stronghold of the Orthodox church; winding its way through the hills of Asia Minor, it carries powder and produce to the front. It is notable that the two heroes of the First Siege of Constantinople are Kaisar Alexios V, who led the siege; and Manuel Zengin, remembered for leading a fifty-wagon team through Thessaly and occupied Attica.
The influence of the ox-wagon is entirely due to the work of Sangarius. Born Matthios Sungur in Trebizond to a family of traders, he seems to have entered military service at an early age. Apocryphally, Sangarius is said to have entered the service of the Trapeziuntine court the same day as the first Ottoman armies entered Constantinople. Regardless of the truth of this rumor, by 1455, he was already noted for his organizational ability; contemporaneous accounts of the Siege of Sinope note the remarkable cleanliness and organization of the camp, as well as the availability of fresh water and produce.
On Cities, his seminal work, reflects a lifetime of military study and contains several stunningly modern insights. The book is divided into three sections--the first, its namesake, discusses methods of siege warfare. Presaging the Vauban system by nearly a century, the first section of On Cities concerns itself with the attack and defense of besieged cities. This extremely rare edition is one of the few extant copies with plates intact. Illuminated by monks of the Monastery of Saint Catherine of Alexandria in Theodosia, the diagrams have been faithfully recreated with a minimum of embellishment. The monk responsible, possibly a soldier or engineer himself, seems to have been personally acquainted with several devices drawn, providing additional details and diagrams not found in any other edition of the text.
Examination of the diagrams given in this edition clearly shows that Sangarius had access to East Asian sources; the 'fire-chariot' illustrated in the text is remarkably similar to a Korean hwacha, and was employed with great effect on several occasions against massed Ottoman armies.
The second section, on military mining and sapping is, likewise, revolutionary for its time. On Cities is the first known source to recommend the detonation of black powder charges directly under the walls of enemy cities; Sangarius suggests several recipes to maximize explosive damage. In the same section, he recommends reinforcing mine tunnels using a technique similar to modern square-set timbering. Interestingly, square-set timbering was not consistently adopted in commercial mining in the Eastern Roman Empire until the 19th century, suggesting that the New Roman Piunirs were able to maintain a monopoly on this knowledge for nearly three centuries.
The final section, discussing the proper organization of armies, represents the culmination of seventy years of pike-and-shot techniques. Wagon forts, supported by pikemen and musketeers, form the core of the proposed tactical and logistic system. The culmination of seventy years of pike-and-shot, the invention of the ring bayonet and the development of mobile field artillery rendered its recommendations largely obsolete
This section, however, is of note for its references to Sangarius' earlier work. Sangarius was perhaps the first to apply rational analysis to questions of supply; his description of the "hadiuk problem" contains a remarkably modern analysis of road and wagon capacity, but only hints at a solution. The solution, likely based on a form of linear programming, is outlined in Sangarius' other major work, Discourses on the Punic Wars, as is his recommendation for Trebizond to adopt a "strategy of Fabius." Unfortunately, all known copies of Discourses, save one, were destroyed by order of Andronicus V. The last known copy was sealed in a golden cask, and is currently on display at the Imperial Palace Museum.
The techniques described in this handbook, along with the drill manual authored by his student Prokopios Riza, formed the basis of New Roman military tactics until well into the ninteenth century. On Cities remains required reading for all cadets in the New Roman Piunirs (the military engineering branch of the New Roman army).
Got this update together for you:
--------------------------------------------------------
ON CITIES (Gr: PERI POLEIS)
Text: Trebizond; Sangarius, 1521.
Manuscript: Monastery of St. Catherine of Alexandria, 1563.
Book, illuminated; 1 vol, H: 13 1/2 in. (35 cm)
The ox wagon and its hadiuk driver is the symbol of the Second Revival. Reinforced with iron sheeting, it becomes a fortress--the last stronghold of the Orthodox church; winding its way through the hills of Asia Minor, it carries powder and produce to the front. It is notable that the two heroes of the First Siege of Constantinople are Kaisar Alexios V, who led the siege; and Manuel Zengin, remembered for leading a fifty-wagon team through Thessaly and occupied Attica.
The influence of the ox-wagon is entirely due to the work of Sangarius. Born Matthios Sungur in Trebizond to a family of traders, he seems to have entered military service at an early age. Apocryphally, Sangarius is said to have entered the service of the Trapeziuntine court the same day as the first Ottoman armies entered Constantinople. Regardless of the truth of this rumor, by 1455, he was already noted for his organizational ability; contemporaneous accounts of the Siege of Sinope note the remarkable cleanliness and organization of the camp, as well as the availability of fresh water and produce.
On Cities, his seminal work, reflects a lifetime of military study and contains several stunningly modern insights. The book is divided into three sections--the first, its namesake, discusses methods of siege warfare. Presaging the Vauban system by nearly a century, the first section of On Cities concerns itself with the attack and defense of besieged cities. This extremely rare edition is one of the few extant copies with plates intact. Illuminated by monks of the Monastery of Saint Catherine of Alexandria in Theodosia, the diagrams have been faithfully recreated with a minimum of embellishment. The monk responsible, possibly a soldier or engineer himself, seems to have been personally acquainted with several devices drawn, providing additional details and diagrams not found in any other edition of the text.
Examination of the diagrams given in this edition clearly shows that Sangarius had access to East Asian sources; the 'fire-chariot' illustrated in the text is remarkably similar to a Korean hwacha, and was employed with great effect on several occasions against massed Ottoman armies.
The second section, on military mining and sapping is, likewise, revolutionary for its time. On Cities is the first known source to recommend the detonation of black powder charges directly under the walls of enemy cities; Sangarius suggests several recipes to maximize explosive damage. In the same section, he recommends reinforcing mine tunnels using a technique similar to modern square-set timbering. Interestingly, square-set timbering was not consistently adopted in commercial mining in the Eastern Roman Empire until the 19th century, suggesting that the New Roman Piunirs were able to maintain a monopoly on this knowledge for nearly three centuries.
The final section, discussing the proper organization of armies, represents the culmination of seventy years of pike-and-shot techniques. Wagon forts, supported by pikemen and musketeers, form the core of the proposed tactical and logistic system. The culmination of seventy years of pike-and-shot, the invention of the ring bayonet and the development of mobile field artillery rendered its recommendations largely obsolete
This section, however, is of note for its references to Sangarius' earlier work. Sangarius was perhaps the first to apply rational analysis to questions of supply; his description of the "hadiuk problem" contains a remarkably modern analysis of road and wagon capacity, but only hints at a solution. The solution, likely based on a form of linear programming, is outlined in Sangarius' other major work, Discourses on the Punic Wars, as is his recommendation for Trebizond to adopt a "strategy of Fabius." Unfortunately, all known copies of Discourses, save one, were destroyed by order of Andronicus V. The last known copy was sealed in a golden cask, and is currently on display at the Imperial Palace Museum.
The techniques described in this handbook, along with the drill manual authored by his student Prokopios Riza, formed the basis of New Roman military tactics until well into the ninteenth century. On Cities remains required reading for all cadets in the New Roman Piunirs (the military engineering branch of the New Roman army).
Nice start
. So far I have never been disappointed by a MMP AAR and this one looks just as promising. The fact that it deals with the Romans is a bonus since I am quite fascinated by them. I hope to see another update soon .
P.S.: Subscribed !!!
. So far I have never been disappointed by a MMP AAR and this one looks just as promising. The fact that it deals with the Romans is a bonus since I am quite fascinated by them. I hope to see another update soon .P.S.: Subscribed !!!
Great quote. I'll be interested to see how you live up to it.ChiefDesigner;10441873i said:
Out of curiosity--are people able to follow what's going on? I've tried to embed as much game information as possible into the last entry; if people are curious, though, I can explain in more detail.
Future entries are likely to follow the same format as this one, in that they're going to be closer to art history critiques or derivative fiction based on the game...
And I'm glad someone else is a Sir KC fan...
Future entries are likely to follow the same format as this one, in that they're going to be closer to art history critiques or derivative fiction based on the game...
And I'm glad someone else is a Sir KC fan...
Just to explicate what's going on:
I loaded the game as Trebizond, and found myself with:
* A gain-core mission on Sinope. Uniting the Pontics? I can get down with that.
* Matthios Sungur, a 6-star Army Reformer.
I figured that deserved an AAR.
Converted ruler to a general, assigned him to the army I had--luckily, he had 1 Siege--so I could just buy a mercenary unit of cavalry and declare war on Candar.
In MMP2, the Ottomans get events to absorb its neighboring OPMs. They will usually grab them within 10 years, so I need to act fast. I crush the Candari army, annex Sinope, pour all of my meager research funding into the army, and send diplomats to Morea to get military access.
Use the military access to declare war on Athens--annex the Duchy (installing a Commenoi as governor)... and then, get warned by the Ottomans before I can grab Naxos.
Crud.
Warn Genoa, warn Venice, warn Morea, warn Naxos--out of diplomats. Meanwhile, the Ottomans start the first of its Mameluke wars, and take a big bite out of Syria.
I loaded the game as Trebizond, and found myself with:
* A gain-core mission on Sinope. Uniting the Pontics? I can get down with that.
* Matthios Sungur, a 6-star Army Reformer.
I figured that deserved an AAR.
Converted ruler to a general, assigned him to the army I had--luckily, he had 1 Siege--so I could just buy a mercenary unit of cavalry and declare war on Candar.
In MMP2, the Ottomans get events to absorb its neighboring OPMs. They will usually grab them within 10 years, so I need to act fast. I crush the Candari army, annex Sinope, pour all of my meager research funding into the army, and send diplomats to Morea to get military access.
Use the military access to declare war on Athens--annex the Duchy (installing a Commenoi as governor)... and then, get warned by the Ottomans before I can grab Naxos.
Crud.
Warn Genoa, warn Venice, warn Morea, warn Naxos--out of diplomats. Meanwhile, the Ottomans start the first of its Mameluke wars, and take a big bite out of Syria.
