THE ALEXANDER TENT. The tent of Alexander the Great was a mobile headquarters and officers' school, the first such institution of its kind. Beneath the awning of Alexander's campaign tent gathered the commanders and officers of his army for political intelligence, strategy and tactics briefings and discussions.
My continuing research into ancient history leads me to believe what we don't know about ancient warfare far outshadows the positive knowledge obtained up to this point in time. All miniatures rules contain a large amount of outright guesswork and a direct linear extrapolation of tactics and organization from other, later periods. Much of our discussion generated about ancient warfare is predicated upon what we think we have learned from simulations using these rules.
I am therefore, offering this column to the entire readership as a clearing house for your questions of ancient history. I have long believed something like this to be necessary to our area of the hobby especially, and hope it will increase not only the quality of our rules and simulations, but also our enjoyment and understanding. I do not envision myself as the "Ancients Answer-Man", but I wish to act as a coordinator for people who have questions and people who can answer those questions.
When you send in a question, keep it as short and as specific as possible. When you submit an answer to a question, give a short summary of your findings, and specific sources. The sources are necessary to add credibility to your answer, and to give the rest of us a guide for further research.
Hopefully the questions will provoke full articles of discussion for publication in the "The Courier" outside this column. The success of this column and its continuation as a regular feature will depend upon the quantity and quality of reader participation, so please begin by sending your questions and answers (or articles) to me at; Alexander's Tent, c/o The Courier.
To reference items from this column you need to refer to issue number, and the question category and number. I have set up a category of topics for easy reference, and some initial questions.
I. HISTORY/CHRONOLOGY
II. LOGISTICS
III. ENGINEERING/FORTIFICATIONS/SIEGECRAFT
IV. UNIT ORGANIZATION AND TACTICS
1. As the Romans apparently adopted the gladius (hispaniensis) and pilum after being beaten by Hannibal's Celtiberians who invented and used these weapons within the Barkid's tactical innovations, were the later legion formations also a tactical copy of Hannibal's formations? (P. Manti, IL)
V. OPERATIONAL DOCTRINE
1. What prompted the Assyrians to abandon the two-horse chariot and adopt the four-horse chariot? (J. Vidlak, CA)
2. How was the four-horse chariot used in ancient Near Eastern warfare? As a'shock weapon'? As a troop transport? (J. Vidlak, CA)
3. When did cavalry replace the chariot? Begin to be used as a shock weapon'against formed infantry? (J. Vidlak, CA) 4. Arrian's Array shows archers using 'indirect fire', i.e. fire over intervening friendly units without personally sighting their targets. Would the effect of such 'indirect fire' be great enough to warrent its inclusion in ancient rules? (J. Vidlak, CA & K. Smith, FL)
VI. WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT
1. Did the ancients conduct penetration/striking power tests of their weapons? Of armor as proof against such weapons? (H. Doppelt, IL)
2. What types and sizes of horses were available to the ancients as compared to modern times? (H. Doppelt, IL)
VII. INSIGNIA AND UNIFORMS
1. What were the shield devices of the units of the armies of Alexander III Amyntou? Pyrrhos? Hannibal? (P. Manti, IL)
VIII. MISCELLANEOUS
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