30 Years War - Total War

[Gusington]

A lot of guys here have been waiting for a 30 Years War mod for the TW series...an English language version of a well-received German mod is now [edited for Toonces, resident Man Who Has Everything and Associate Smart Guy] available here:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?593141-1648-Download-and-Installation-v2-0

1648 doesn't have too much description to go along with it, and I am not sure if it is too late to get excited about it almost 7 years after M2TW was released but...there are 22 available factions and the screen shots look pretty decent  8)

[panzerde]

Insta-download.  I've been waiting for this for a long time!

[Toonces]

I guess the question we all want the answer to, is why would you post a link where the mod is not?

[Sir Slash]

I saw that too at the TWC this evening. Now that it's in English, It's got my attention. Hope to see some impressions here soon and hope it doesn't conflict with other M2TW mods.

[LongBlade]

I've started reading up on the 30 years war. This could be a big win.

[Bison]

This sounds like some sort of ploy on Gus' part to avoid playing a WW1 game.

[LongBlade]

This sounds like some sort of ploy on Gus' part to avoid playing a WW1 game.

It sounds like the kind of ploy Gus would use to get out of pushing Bis' minis across the table.

[mikeck]

Unforunately, I'm total-warred out right now

[Gusington]

^WHAT?? You were one of the main guys I was thinking of when I posted this finely crafted thread! How dare you. Now I have to go back to Bismarck's lawn with my lantern and teary eyes.

[besilarius]

If you're interesed in military background for the Thirty Years War, see if your library has W.P.Guthire's Battles of the Thirty Years War.  Or see if you can get it by inter library loan.  It's pricey if you're not sure about this period.
A very deep look at the military aspects of this pike and shot era.  He also has very good information on finances.  And a lot of anecdotes about personalitites.
After Gustavus Adolphus died, Johan Baner became Marshal of Sweden.  He was more of a brawler than a strategist and was really in his element in the raid and ambush work.  His field battles were a mess that were only won by the good qualitites of his troops or the ineptitude of the Habsburg generals.
He was also one of the least charismatic leaders you could find.  He kept discipline by brutal measures, his hangman was kept busy, and he would play units off against each other to win his approval.  His favorite unit was one of Gustavus' original regiments, Alte Blau, and they stood with him to keep the rest of the army in line.
His death occurred after a meeting with the Rheingrave, who was thinking of switching allegiance (again) tot he Swedish side.  The had a feast of shellfish and both died from food poisoning.
When word reached the army, a delegation of men from each regiment went to view the body.
Only when they assured the camp that Marshal Baner was really dead, did the army dare to revolt over not being paid for over a year.

[Gusington]

Dying of shellfish poisoning... :o ...that must have been excruciating.

[Toonces]

I just got a monster book on the Thirty Years War- The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy or something like that.  It is seriously beefy, like 1000 pages or something.  It's about the same size as Rise and Fall of the Third Reich if you've ever seen that.

It's supposed to be a good one-volume book on the subject.  I have it queued up for when I finish the books I'm already reading.

[Gusington]

This one?

http://www.amazon.com/Thirty-Years-War-Europes-Tragedy/dp/0674062310/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363465698&sr=1-1&keywords=thirty+years+war+europe%27s+tragedy

[LongBlade]

I just got a monster book on the Thirty Years War- The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy or something like that.  It is seriously beefy, like 1000 pages or something.  It's about the same size as Rise and Fall of the Third Reich if you've ever seen that.

It's supposed to be a good one-volume book on the subject.  I have it queued up for when I finish the books I'm already reading.

Funny, I just bought Wedgewood's book on the 30 Years War. It's supposed to be excellent and highly readable.

I guess we'll all need to put our tinfoil hats back on so the brainwaves don't make us clones any more.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1590171462/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1590171462&linkCode=as2&tag=grogheads-20

[besilarius]

The thing about Wedgwood, and possibly this book which I have not seen, is that there is so much to be discovered and explained in TYW, that the authors don't get into military affairs very deeply.
Wedgwood in particular seems to compare the generals to people who have some knowledge of the campaigns of Grant or Lee.  This ignores the very different weapons of the era, the methods that were needed to use the weapons, and the very different attitudes to strategy and how to accomplish them.
In particular, Guthrie brings out the "Stomach strategy" that was always on the mind of the generals of this time.
They did not have what we would call a commisary system.  Rather, they tried to live off the land, either by forage or through the local government having levies placed on them for foodstuffs.
Since the governments could not realistically feed their troops, many times armies did things that to us make no sense at all.  They had to do move out of a vital strategic area because it had been eaten out, and the army would disintegrate if it stayed there.  (Not to mention how this affected the peasants in the area who often starved after an army passed through.)
I found that reading Guthrie's military treatment, while skimming through WEdgwood's political treatment, gave a much better understanding of why things happened and of how they happened.