A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
A look at history and popular culture
(Note: Thanks to the effort of a kind reader, this post is now available in audio format! The playlist for the entire series may be found here.) This is the fourth part of a six part series (I, II, III, IV, V, VI) taking a military historian's look at the Siege of Gondor in Peter … Continue reading Collections: The Siege of Gondor, Part IV: The Cavalry Arrives
This series is now available in an audio format; the entire playlist can be listened to here. The following post is the first part of a three part series where we look at the question "how medieval is Game of Thrones?" and - if not the European Middle Ages - what period of history does … Continue reading New Acquisitions: How It Wasn’t: Game of Thrones and the Middle Ages, Part I
(Note: Thanks to the effort of a kind reader, this post is now available in audio format! The playlist for the entire series may be found here.) This is the third part of of a six part series (I, II, III, IV, V, VI) taking a military historian's look at the Siege of Gondor in … Continue reading Collections: The Siege of Gondor, Part III: Having Fun Storming the City
Fair warning: this post will contain spoilers for all of Game of Thrones and likely for all of A Song of Ice and Fire (assuming they share an ending). Proceed at your own risk. This post is now available in audio format here. So the Game of Thrones is supposedly over, with the major Lords … Continue reading New Acquisitions: Elective Monarchy and the Future of Westeros
(Note: Thanks to the effort of a kind reader, this post is now available in audio format! The playlist for the entire series may be found here.) This is the second part of a six-part series (I, II, III, IV, V, VI) taking a military historian's look at the Siege of Gondor in Peter Jackson's … Continue reading Collections: The Siege of Gondor, Part II: These Beacons are Liiiiiiit
Our last kit review was a barely concealed fanboy rave. This one is going to be more...mixed. Today, we're looking at the infantry of the army of House Lannister, from Game of Thrones. I find this design very interesting, because the concept has some clever historical precedents, but much of the context and content is … Continue reading New Acquisitions: Lannister Infantry Kit Review
(Note: Thanks to the effort of a kind reader, this post is now available in audio format! The playlist for the entire series may be found here.) This is the first part of a six-part (II, III, IV, V, VI) series I expect to roll out taking a historian’s look at the Siege of Gondor … Continue reading Collections: The Siege of Gondor, Part I: Professionals Talk Logistics
Welcome to the first “Kit Review” post. In a ‘kit review’ post, rather than looking at a scene or sequence, we’re going to look at a character (or type of background character) and all of their ‘kit.’ We’ll try to figure out if the kit has a historical model and how well it manages to … Continue reading New Acquisitions: Unsullied Kit Review
This post is now available in audio format. Quick Note: New Acquisitions is the category for more off-the-cuff or one-off posts. Whereas the Collections posts will come every Friday, New Acquisitions will show up irregularly. Warning: Spoilers for Game of Thrones, Season 8, Episode 3. You have been warned. I’m sure I’ll do a complete … Continue reading New Acquisitions: That Dothraki Charge
In the last post, here, we talked about some basic rules for what parts of the body are likely to be more armored - either armored first, or exclusively, or more intensely. Now comes the fun part: being excessively judgemental about some examples from popular culture! Lets start with the most obvious one: Viggo Mortensen's … Continue reading Collections: Armor in Order, Part II