Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

[Greg Regets]

It's kinda funny that someone asked the question about army list
recommendations, because I was just about to send one. I'm sure you are a long
way off from doing this list, but I wanted to send you my research.

To start off with, I would like to say that I was playing Knights of St. John
before it was turned into a killer army with the new lance rules, crossbow
rules, etc. I'm saying this because I don't want anyone to get the idea that
this is a call to make the army better. Its a damn good army just how it is.
Anyway, here are a few suggestions to make the list, in my opinion, more
historically accurate.

First, I don't think the way the list is organized represents an actual
organization of the army. The knights living in the convent on both Rhodes and
Malta are properly represented by the Knights of Justice (Reg,A,EHK/SHK,L,Sh),
but I think the troops classed as Mercenary Knights (Reg,B,EHK,L,Sh) would be
more rightly called Serving Brethren and would represent the knights living all
over Europe that were part of the order, and organized in "Tongues" based on
nationality. I have never found any evidence in all my reading that the Holy
Religion actually hired mercenary knights. The way these guys should be
organized is a two-stand Reg,B knight unit, representing a nation with one
sub-general. This general would be FORCED to command all mercenary troops of
that nation, these being the guys he himself recruited. This would give a better
organization and would eliminate the massing of all the knights together like so
many Teutonics. Instead they would be spread out across the line. This is far
more historical for this army if you ask me. I can't find a battle where all the
knights ganged together for an huge impetuous charge. Rather they were there to
bolster the mercenary and militia infantry that was the backbone of the army.
The feudal (IRR) knights should only apply to the armies of Rhodes. You should
not be able to field IRR SHK with this army.

People will hate this, I'm sure, but the mixed units of HG and CB are probably
not supported by history, at least I can't find it. Schermerhorn and The Annales
de L'Ordre Souverain Militire de Malta, both state that troops were organized
based on like weapons. Do I like these units? Of course! Do I find them in my
research? no!

Marines - The marines should be all CB armed, or HG armed, not mixed. If they
are CB armed, they would be able to have 2HCT and they should get more of them.
I would suggest that up to 1/2 would be good. I have not found any HG & halbard
armed marines mentioned. They might have existed, but I don't find them. You
might also consider raising the moral on a limited basis, this representing the
marines taken off the higher quality ships.

Oarsmen - I have mixed feelings on the Oarsmen. If I was making the list from
scratch, I would make two kinds, the Forzati, or "pressed men" that would be
REG,D and the Bounovaglie or "gentlemen volunteers" that were REG,C. The Forzati
would be limited to LMI while the Bounovaglie would be all LHI. In the old list,
these guys were all crossbowmen, and in the NASAMW list they are JLS. If I had
my way, they would be JLS,CB,Sh, as it is clear that all troops of the Holy
Religion were given some sort of missile weapon, but this may create super
troops and I that is not my intent. I suggest arming them as JLS,Sh is the
better option.

Militia - I think the militia is fine the way they are, with two exceptions. The
first is no mixed weapons units. The second would be that a small number,
perhaps 1/4 could be armed with B instead of CB. If B armed, obviously they
could not be ungraded to close order and given a pavise. I also don't think the
militia should be able to have 2HCT.

Turkopoles - There should be two kinds of Turkopoles. One would be retainers of
the order and would be REG. I would suggest one per Knight of Justice. The
others would be mercenaries and would be IRR. If you use large numbers of the
mercenaries, you would need to buy a sub-general who would command all these
troops. This would represent the large group sent out on Malta to harrass the
Turks as an independent force. No matter the type, it is clear to me that they
should be armed with L,Sh or L,B,Sh instead of JLS,B,Sh. Not because it makes
them better (which it does) but because that is clearly the way they were armed
and fought.

The Marines, Oarsmen, Militia, Cretan CB, REG Turkopoles, small numbers of IRR
Turkopoles, and artillery (other than Spanish) would be commanded by Knights of
Justice generals ONLY.

Mercenaries - The biggest problems I have with the existing list is the lack of
troop types recruited by the various Tongues (Nations) of the order, and the
fact that you are not requires to buy any on the current list. In addition to
LTS, CB and Halbard troops (which would be from France, Italy, Germany, Genoa
and many other European Nations), you should also have the ability to hire Swiss
Pikemen, English and Welsh Longbowmen, Hand Gunners and Artillery from Spain,
and all sorts of Italian Condotta troops. I would suggest perhaps only one unit
of Swiss pikemen, perhaps two units of English longbowmen and quite a few
Spanish and Condotta troops. I don't like the way the list doesn't make you buy
troops from many nations armed with guisarme, halbard, bill, glaive and any
number of weapons that would be classed as 2HCT or 2HCW. You can buy them, but
in my research, you should HAVE to buy at least some. These quality mercenaries
were very much prized and highly payed by the Holy Religion. You might even
consider upgrading some to B moral, but I don't know about giving mercenary
troops other than knights such good moral, so will leave that as an open
suggestion. Again, the key point is that these mercenaries MUST be commanded by
appropriate generals from that nation, and may not be commanded by generals from
the convents on Rhodes and Malta.

Field fortifications - Why don't you get them? These guys pretty much only
fought behind field fortifications or in castles.

As an overall comment, I would say that this army should not be a knight army
with some good foot, like it plays now. These guys didn't put what you would
call a "field army" on the battlefield, with the charging knight as the main
tactical weapon, like a French or German army. It was much more like an English
army where the knights were used to support the foot, which was the main battle
force of the army. Making knight units command troops recruited from that nation
should represent that much more effectively.

These are just suggestions based on my research. I'm not some sort of historian
or anything like that, I just have read a lot about this army. Quite frankly, if
the list didn't change one bit, it would be fine with me, as the current NASAMW
list is probably much better than a list I would make with these suggestions.
Anyway, thanks for your time and happy gaming.

Greg


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