Good military strategy books--what do you advise?

[dontpunkme]

I'm going to be starting up a campaign that will involve the pc's leading an army. Without going to much into details, what books would you advise my players to read to help give them a better idea of military tactics, logistics, etc. I'd like books that can show practical examples of various medieval military troop formations and movements. Obviously, the impact of arcane spellcasters will cause the players to modify tight formations (otherwise one fireball will massacre an entire platoon), but I'd still like books that detail the advantage of higher ground, surpise, and other key elements.

I apologize for the inherant entropy of the note (reading it over I realize I'm all over the place) but I'm lazy and don't feel like revising it to make sense. I think you guys can see what I'm getting at.

 

[Greylock]

I don't have a lot of ref's on medieval war, but a good place to start would be most anything on Agincourt. I find books such as Henry Lee's "American Revolution in the South", and most anything on Francis Marion or John Singleton Mosby to have near universal applicability as well.

Don't skimp on the Caesar, either.

 

[diaglo]

The Art of War

 

[johnsemlak]

I would read about some famous battles and generals. There are loads of books that provide detail on the military formations used.

The battles of the hundred years war are very well written about:

Battle of Crecy
Battle of Poitiers
Battle of Agincourt
Siege of Orleans

Other battles:
Battle of Bouvins (important battle beween the English and the French in the early 1200s)
Battle of Tours
Battle of Falkirk
Battle of Bannockburn
Siege of Constantinople

The Crusades would also be good source material.

 

[Starglim]

I was going to advise Sun Tzu as well, but he's too good for players. The 36 Stratagems might give them the proper mindset. edit: The online translations seem to be pretty lame but you could take your pick from these:

Sensei's Library (Go oriented with most of the text intact)
Warrior-scholar.com (Not bad interpretation with annoying design)
36 Stratagems (Patchy, business oriented)

Julius Caesar's campaigns, by Julius Caesar:

Julius Caesar

 

[johnsemlak]

Wow. A short search reveiled this site. Should cover much of your needs:

www.xenophongroup.com

 

[dougmander]

The Face of Battle by John Keegan has an excellent account of the battle of Agincourt that can serve as a good introduction to medieval warfare. Very readable.

 

[Dr. NRG]

http://www.clausewitz.com/CWZHOME/CWZBASE.htm

He's not specifically focused on medieval warfare, but his ideas are timeless. Also note, artillery and cannons are not unrepresentative of what fireballs and lightning bolts can do.

NRG

 

[Tormenet]

Buy Total War:Medievel or Rome: Total War and play it for a while. You will learn all about tactics.

 

[NewJeffCTHome]

Buy Total War:Medievel or Rome: Total War and play it for a while. You will learn all about tactics.

Medieval Total War is a very good & addictive game. You learn a lot about history and also tactics used in Europe, north Africa & the Middle East from 1087 until 1453 (the fall of Constantinople) ... Most D&D games tend to be in that era. Also, does a good job of introducing firearms and makes it realistic (too many D&D games & rulesets that use firearms tend to have Medieval weaponry, but with guns from the 19th century) - beginning firearms were on the battlefields in western Europe about the same time full plate armored Gothic Knights were on the battlefield.