I read with interest Dennis Leventhal's comment about dating the Han Empire on the discussion group list. In one respect Dennis is correct and in most cases, I follow the dates in Dupuy and Dupuy's The Encyclopedia of Military History. I chose this book, as it is accessible to most gamers either from libraries or private collections (I have a copy). Many may quibble over its dates and information, although it is a good generic source for us.

One of the many challenges of this project is the need to reconcile various theories, threads and interpretations. For example, I use the Wade-Giles system for Chinese spellings. It is less popular today because of the influence of modern Mandarin, although Chris Peers in his Osprey titles mentions that ancient Chinese is distinct from the former. The same is true for ancient and modern Greek as I found in Cyprus. Arabic is made difficult by the common practice of limited use of accents and regional variations in pronunciation.

Dennis may have encountered some of the debates about dating early Jewish history as we know it in the Old Testament, Koran (Qu'ran) and Talmud while researching his Hebrew lists. Abraham may have lived during a period spanning about 500 years depending on which source are used. The Exodus may have occurred sometime within a four hundred year period.

While trying to develop the Hyksos list, I encountered lots of theories about who they were and where they lived. This included one that they were actually Hebrews or kin. Joseph was employed by a Hyksos "pharaoh" (a term incorrectly applied to early Egyptian rulers as it really means great palace according to several writers) and the Exodus resulted in the expulsion of foreign rulers and their supporters.

We often dismiss the large armies mentioned in contemporary histories such as Herodotus' exaggerated Persian army of Xerxes. Yet Sun T'zu indicated that armies of several hundred thousands were common in China and smaller forces of about 30,000 were insufficient to complete the conquest of neighbouring states. The Han may have been able to conscript up to one million men, although financial limitations probably restricted actual numbers to hundreds of thousands. We do not balk at figures of 500,000 for the Imperial Roman military.

My choice of dates for the Han military was based on the uncertainty of the start and finish of the political state. The warlord, Kao Kao (Ts'ao Ts'ao or Cao Cao or Gao Gao), defeated a rival in battle in 200 AD (or CE) while there was still a Han emperor nominally in control of a central government. It was a very arbitrary choice. So were many others in the army lists, which is one of the reasons that I keep requesting the input of others.

My rules of thumb are simple:

a. provide a brief synopsis of the military;
b. provide reasonable minima and maxima for each army;
c. utilise historical terminology when and where possible;
d. allow for common variations in troop types; and
e. adhere to Terry's rules for organisation.

The lists are neither definitive nor all encompassing. I encourage players to develop their own variants, particularly for historical refights. The lists are guidelines for use in tournaments and to assist new players to develop their armies.