"What is the best Medieval period to game?" Topic

My group currently does ancients, American civil war and WW2. I've long been intrigued by the medieval period, as some of the armies I've seen on here and other sites are visually stunning, more so than any other period in my opinion.

I guess my first question would be, is the medieval period different enough from the ancient period, or is it just different looking armies that play more or less the same from a gaming perspective?

For experienced medieval gamers- what is your favorite medieval period to game, and why?

The way that an army looks will play a large part in my decision, but I'd be very interested in a period that is distinctly different from playing ancients, if there is in fact such a period.

I prefer the Crusader era…I use the term crusader loosely and focus on era. There's a lot of armies to choose from during this period. Byzantines, Fatimids, Seljuk Turks, early crusaders, early Crusader states, Sicilian Normans and Arabs. Lots of variety and a lot of potential scenarios.

Personally my favorite period is The Hundred Years War era (roughly mid 14th C to mid 15th C). In terms of figures it is the most attractive, colorful period in my mind, especially as heraldry became more complex compared to the 13th C. In terms of enemies there is a wide variety as well, besides just the French vs English type battles.

But I will say my heart really belongs to what Raylev3 is talking about..the 12th C. In terms of "look" & variety, it edges out the 14th C slightly. Unfortunately I think this period is underserved in terms of figures (no, you can't just use Normans…there were a number of differences), but one of my favorite eras of medieval history.

Damon.

Saxons vs Normans vs Vikings. Classic triad. Lends itself well to skirmish games, although you can pull out all the stops for 1066.

3rd Crusades – Richard vs Saladin. Two very different, yet very mobile armies.

Dark Ages/Sub-Roman/Arthurian/Vikings/Anglo-Danes and Normans.

Crusades

War of the Roses. Lots of nobles, lots of flags and livery coats. Battles are not too large and there are some good rules out there. Lots of opportunity for What If's.

Medieval Spain. Or, to be correct, the Spanish and Muslim Iberian Kingdoms. An almost 700 years long crusade--the Reconquista. Lost of variety in both Christian and Muslim armies. They also fight each other and various combinations of Christians and Muslims fight other combinations of Christians and Muslims. Lots of heroes apart from El Cid. Military Orders, both Templars and Hospitaliers, as well as those unique to Spain such as Santiago, Calatrava and Montesa. Cool looking North African religious fanatics--the ALmoravids and Almohades--clad in black and dark blue that make the Taliban and Isis seem like school boys. Camels, horses, battles, sieges, raids, naval fights, you name it!

Europe, mid to late 14th century. So many possibilities and so many weapons systems to employ: pikes, crossbows, handguns, pole arms, swords and bucklers, javelins, lances and early field artillery. And to my mind, some of the coolest armor ever used.

Is Medieval different from Ancients ? That's a really good question. I would say that it depends on the army lists and the sophistication of the rules you use

Army lists – as the period progresses, knights develop and become better armoured, to the extent to which they massacre infantry, and then the pikemen turn up and then gunpowder starts to turn up … There is also interesting interplay between the English/Welsh longbow men and Knights which is very different from the crossbows common in European armies.

Rules such as DBA, ADLG and Lion Rampant are very generic so Knights, bows and pikes will play pretty much the same regardless.

Depending on scale and your painting skills, I would be wary of surcoats and horse caparisons with complex heraldry. Flags and shields can be done with decals or just printed

Of course there are just too many things, after seeing this thread I want to do Reconquista as well as my previous plans for Italian wars (those Perry plastics make me drool) as well as expand my Crusade armies …

John

I prefer Early Medieval era, starting in Late Antiquity. Roughly 300 on one extreme to 1100 at the other. Late Roman through Feudal.

Crusades and Earlier Medieval period are my favorites. The 1963 December National Geographic Crusades issue sparked my first interest in the Crusades, and I never got over my interest in them. The Crusades offer a great amount of diversity for the gamer stretching from Spain to the Baltic and then south to Egypt and east to the Mongols. After the Crusades I became interested in the Eastern Roman Empire. They fought pretty much everybody in their 1000 year history. I built armies in both 15mm and 28mm because this era was so fascinating to me. Lots of great options! See Olicana's post earlier today to see some Crusaders in action.

It's all down to personal preference and very dependent on what sort of scale you want to play.

My "happy zone" is the beginning HYW onwards until about 1520.

For me, I'd love to do either the Anarchy (King Stephen v Matilda) or the Barons' War.

For big battles, I like some of the Crusader battles. If you're looking for skirmishes, the HYW period is low figure counts and lots of fun if you stay away from the big battles. Lots of chevauchée fun.

HYW and Wars of the Roses are both excellent choices.

Crusades as well, though I'm not sure which period would be best for that. I'm partial to the later Crusades due to the better armor and those sugarloaf helms.

Late Medieval/Early Renaissance is excellent too – e.g. the early Italian Wars – 1490 – 1525, or so. Lots of factions and opponents, many of whom switched sides, and very colorful armies.

My faves are any of the Crusades, Hundred Years War, and War of the Roses. If you go a little earlier, I also enjoy the Viking-Saxon-Norman triad mentioned earlier. You can also play Viking against early Rus, Vikings in Italy, Vikings with a Byzantine army, etc.

The "best" period to game is one where you are actually familiar with the armies and history. Otherwise, what's the point? If you have no real interest in the period, you're just pushing toys around the table.
What's the point of assigning Tom to paint a Nikephorean Byzantine army, Fred to paint Seljuks, Aaron to paint Kingdom of Jerusalem, and so on.
I always rebel at being assigned to do an army. If there's no real interest, why bother?