"I hate wedges"
"Oh, God, not wedges!"
"Not another army with wedges!"

Sound familiar? It should. Virtually every time two opponents meet in competition gaming and one has the dreaded Normans or Teutonic knights, this refrain is recited by his noble adversary. For this discussion I an discounting close-order infantry wedges such as Later Romans, as anyone foolish enough to use then under the disorder-after-combat rule deserves his fate and loose-order infantry wedges are few and far between, the Vikings and Slave being notable exceptions. WRG book III Army Lists have fourteen lists with some wedged cavalry allowed.

One thing that has always bothered me, however, to the fact that the same troops are allowed wedges in some lists and not in others. For that reason, I will list my options as to which army lists should be allowed wedges according to the lists themselves.

1) Comnenan Byzantines 1071-1204 (List 133)

They are allowed 9-29 "Latinikon and other Franks," yet have no wedges listed as a possible formation (as is true of the other lists I will enumerate). List 117 - Nikephorian Byzantines (963-1071) allow "... and other Franke" use of wedges. At Durraxo in 1081, Alezius Comnona employed a number of 'rebel' Norman knights, fighting against Robert Guiscard. Papal Italians - 1126 (1049-1320) are allowed German cavalry and Norman cavalry wedges - Latin knights to be sure! Therefore I feel that the "Latinikon and other Franks" should be allowed "up to 1/2 may use wedges.

2) Anglo-Normans - 1072-1181 (List 134)

They are allowed 29-69 "Anglo-Norman and mercenary knights.' Even List 111 Pre-feudal Scots - 846-1124 are allowed wedged mercenary knights, as are Normans in the Norse-Irish list - 844-1300 (112) and Papal Italian Normans. Why not the Anglo-Normans, a most logical choice for obvious wedges?

Therefore: "Wedges allowed to up to 2/3 of Anglo-Norman and mercenary knights*, reflecting the fact that a number of mercenaries would be Vrench# Bra- bancons, Flemish or others not using wedges.

3) Early Crusaders - 1096-1128 (List 138)

They are allowed 9-42 "Knights." Normans, Sicilian-Normans and Bohemond's Italo-Normans made up at least 1/3 of these knights, more likely closer to 1/2. Even the Georgian list (121) 1008-1239 has the Crusaders listed there allowed up to 1/2 their number use of wedges. Further wedges are allowed the Normans in the Papal Italian list, so why not the Early Crusaders?

Change to "Up to 1/2 knights may use wedges*.

4) Scots Common Army - 1124-1512 (List 140)

They are allowed 3-15 Norman-Scots knights. Papal Italian (1049-1320). Sicilian (1072-1282) and Pre-feudal Scots 846-1124 all allow Normane/mercenaries use of the wedge. An EARLY period only Scots Common Army, up to 1299 (as allowed in the Morse-Irish (#112), should have "Norman-Scots knights are allowed wedges."

Later Crusaders - 1128-1296 (List #141)

These have 11-23 "other knights" which would include Germans (allowed wedges in all other lists of this period). Therefore, "Up to 1/2 of 'other knights' are allwed to use wedges.

6) Serbians - 1151-1459 (List 142)

They are allowed 0-12 German mercenary cavalry who can, again be in wedges in all other lists of the period. No "German cavalry can be in wedges." A few arguable cases are listed below:

7) Later Polish knights made use of wedges at Tannenberg (1410 A.D.) according to contemporary Lithuanian and Hungarian commentaries. Therefore the 9-21 Polish knights have an historical argument for being allowed to use wedges.

8) Theodorian Byzantines - 1204-1453 (List 153) can have 0-36 Latin/Frankish knights. Since a proportion of these would again be German mercenaries, "Up to 12 allowed to one wedges as German mercenary knights."

9) Finally, List 166 - Later Hungarian - 1307-1490 are allowed 0-12 "German or Bohemian mercenary armigeri". Perhaps the Germans should also be allowed to use wedges.

By allowing a bit more flexibility in the use of wedges, based on what the lists themselves allow, more variation and choice can be allowed to those gamers desiring to field an army they normally would not consider suitable for tournament play. Please feel free to offer any suggestions or contrary research you might have.