Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

[scott holder]

I need more books to read like I need another hole in my head. I sorta approach
books the way most gamers approach lead, ie, no unpainted lead in the
house=death, no unread books in the house=death. But since I'm still on this
"why we play what we play kick" (all resulting from talking with Bill at Fall
In), here are some other books people might look into (I still can't remember
the name and author of the historical novel about Demetrius Poliocretes but I
remember getting the book via inter-library loan from the Alexandria VA Public
library).

Antigonus the One Eyed and the Creation of the Macedonian State, Richard
Billows. I mentioned this one a while back but forgot to highlight how well
it's written AND how much battle detail it has. This is one of the best
non-fiction books I've read in a good while.

Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings, John Haywood. When prepping for DAW, I
went thru a slew of Viking books. This one was the best in terms of Viking
history and the maps really help you see what they did. I don't know if this
one is still in print but it's fairly new so you should be able to find a used
or surplus copy somewhere.

Seutonius, The 12 Ceasers. Lotsa dirt, not terribly wargaming related, great
fun.

I Claudius & Claudius the God, Robert Graves. Based on Seutonius, the Graves
books were adapted for the now-legendary PBS TV series, I Claudius (which
everyone should see at least 3 times in their life despite its 13 hour length).
The books are equally great and in print.

Catapult, Jim Paul. This is non-fiction but very different. It's the story of
a guy trying to build a catapult (actually a ballista) today. Fascinating story
on how he gets materials and what he uses plus you learn about ancients seige
engines. I doubt this one is in print but I bet used copies abound.

The Centurion, Jan DeHartog. Another different book, it's about a modern guy
and his ancestor (or past life I don't recall), a Roman Centurion along the
Rhine frontier. This book has a mystical component in that both characters
dowse. Great book. You get a nifty snapshot of life in the Roman Army. This
one is long outta print but again, might be found in larger public libraries and
online at used sources.

Julian, Gore Vidal. Julian was called the Apostate because he attempted to pull
the Empire *officially* into paganism. Vidal is a fantastic writer and takes
historically controversial characters and really fleshes out their characters
(read Burr, his historical novel on Aaron Burr for another example of this).
Here you get a view of life in the later empire. Again, not terribly wargame
related but a wonderful period piece.

And the three books on Aztecs/Mesoamerica, the two I referenced by Ross Hassig
are Aztec Warfare and War and Society in Ancient Mesoamerica and the one by Ian
Heath is Armies of the Aztecs, the Incas, Other Native Peoples of the Americas
and Spanish America. Taken together, you'll get a great view of New World
Warrior:):)

Three online used sources I frequent are:

www.bibliofind.com (not as good as it was prior to amazon.com's takeover of the
service)
www.addall.com (much better)
www.allbookstores.com (also much better)

Scott
Book Ho