As with any new project a large part of the joy is in the learning. Here is a selection of the reading I've done. The following are readily available.
The first and certainly the "must read" tome is Oman. A great read in itself regardless of any particular interest in the period. Infinitely re-readable.
The Italian Wars by Shaw and Mallet. I found this a very good history of the wars. It is certainly a confusing period with many shifts of alliances. However, the survey of the wars is well covered. So, with pen and notebook to hand, I made sense of events, people and chronology. I would certainly recommend this.
Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe by Bert Hall. I found this to be an eye opening book. I thought that I knew some stuff about gunpowder and firearms, but Hall has really made me think hard about the use and efficacy of gunpowder and firearms. Not just in the 16th century, but right through to the early 1800s.
Of course, the editions from Helion and Osprey are bread and butter and offer invaluable material.
One of the primary sources I looked at was the commentaries from Blaise de Monluc. Whilst his memoirs are self serving they provide an insight into events, people and how they fought. For the small action or skirmish gamer, there are some accounts in here that lend themselves to the tabletop.
I'll round off this brief survey of my reading with this wargamer's guide to the Italian Wars by Cairns and Ashton, recently published by Helion.
It's good. Well and sensibly organised. The history is concise but useful. The section on armies of the different states and their organisation was welcome and gave enough information to think about the differences. The scenarios were usefully set out in a straightforward way which seemed genuinely rule agnostic. They included 15 scenarios from Fornovo, Cerignola, through Pavia and to Gravelines. The painting section reminded me of one I am sure that I found from a blog post somewhere. However, it's helpful on getting started on both landsknechts and gendarmes. Some period designs for the latter might of been a good addition. Although the information on damask designs was surprisingly engaging. The bibliography is extensive and means that further research can be carried on productively. All in all a great buy... in my opinion.
However, I wonder if for anyone already immersed in the period this will add to their understanding and hobby knowledge. But then, I suppose the audience is probably more for people like me who have just recently embarked on this period.
Being a little pedantic for a moment, the irritant for me was what seems to be the lack of proofreading and editing. Many pages (and I do mean a lot) have either poor spelling, typos or a nonsensical sentence. I'm no shining example of accurately written English but I did, at times, find myself looking for them instead of taking in the information.
Nonetheless, I am still extremely happy that I purchased this addition to the Helion library. The authors should be congratulated on, what I found to be, a well organised, informative and really useful guide to wargaming the period.
Enough of the review of "All is Lost, Save Honour."
To those immersed in the period apologies for highlighting the obvious. To everyone else, I hope this gives a nice sense of my early knowledge accumulation.
