"Recommended Reading for WotR?" Topic

What books do you all recommend?

If you're looking for wargame-useful information, I worked it for years with no success, but someone on TMP claimed that The Lance & Longbow Society's publication--The Hobilar--had at least informed guesses. I'm waiting for their website to be restored.

Serious. DECADES of buying books titled "Battle of…" some WOTR battle never turned up more OOB, force composition, deployment or tactics than you could get out of AH Burne's Battlefields of England, Phillip Warner's British Battlefields or David Clark's Battlefield Walks. I finally kept those, chucked all the expensive failures, disposed of every casting under 25/28mm and stacked those with my fantasy armies. My worst failure in almost 60 years of reading military history. The Hobilar--if I can buy a CD or access it on line--is going to be my last throw of those particular dice. Interesting politics and personalities, but as a wargame period, its not even informed guesswork.

[I kept some stuff on the new location of Bosworth, but it's pretty much only interesting from a archeology standpoint. They still don't know the frontage, and they aren't publishing maps to keep off detectorists. I bet they're doing a much better job of discouraging tourists.]

A good succinct read with tons of gorgeous, historically accurate (as best we can) paintings would be "The Wars of the Roses" by Graham Turner.
Otherwise, a really well-written account is "The Wars of the Roses" by Dan Jones.

With respect Robert, you're right, there is a lot we still don't know, but there is a lot we do know. I wouldn't paint the picture as quite so dire. We know what the armies looked like even if their exact numbers and ratios are a little murky. We can distinguish the armor of nobles between 1st St Albans in 1455 and Hexham in 1464 for instance.

It might be worth your time rooting about on this blog:

link

Thanks for that RittervonBek. There's a review of a book new to me that looks very promising:

link

Oh, and I see that author is bringing out a new trilogy soon that also looks a 'must read'.

Silurian beat me to it, was just about to post about the David Grummit book, The Wars of the Roses : War and Martial Culture in England, 1455–1487. The author contributes to the Never Mind The Billhooks group on Facebook, and has posted links to articles he's published. Solid academic research and pretty darn handy for gamers.

Just rolling off the presses now. Wicked pricey (Oxford University Press and academic publications in general aren't cheap; whatever their business model is, it seems to work for them; Grr). David had mentioned that there 'might be' a paperback coming in the future. Ebook options for those that do that. Interlibrary loans might be available once books hit the libraries. Maybe used/new copies popping up in a few months.

I've got access to Harvard University library now, so hoping to check this out as soon as they get it!

link

And +1 Graham Turner for very pretty and inspiring.

Thank you all. But quoting the review: "…it is noted that we don't have an awful lot of descriptions of actual fighting during the Wars of the Roses and a lot of what we think is based upon comparisons with other theatres that might not be entirely applicable."

I'd buy that book for Christmas, wrap it and put it under my tree if I thought it would solve my WotR problem.

Which is stupid. I have more armies than games or opponents already. What on earth would I do with more?

PM sent, Robert. I've uploaded a sample of The Hobilar for you to look at and, hopefully, decide whether it meets your needs.

@Silurian- Thanks for the link from me, but my wallet hates you.

Haha! My work here is done…
(of course, my wallet hates me too – as always)

These:
link

This was a great introduction for me in 1990 and it still holds up:
link

This one for inspiration:

link

This is a good book series. This looks promising!
link

This is supposed to be the first in a trilogy covering the entirety of the Wars.

For Wargaming sources you could do far worse than this book:
link