Off the Shelf: Military Manuals

Military manuals are used as reference books, particularly for siegecraft, mounting artillery, and the construction of fortifications. They may contain plates showing drills using the pike and musket or for cavalry. Many include extensive commentaries on the military tactics and strategy of the ancient world.

Military manuals may be found on the bookshelves of many nobles or in the quarters of soldiers. Roll 1D6 for the number of manuals, then roll 1D20 for the individual titles. Duplicate rolls may be treated as additional copies of the same volume or re-rolled at the referee's discretion.

1. Wapenhandelinghe van Roers, Musquetten ende Spiessen, Jacob de Geyn
2. De Re Militari, Vegetius
3. Commentarii de Bello Gallico, Julius Caesar
4. Taktika, Nikephoros Ouranos
5. Strategikon, Kekaumenos
6. Harengue militaires, et concions de princes, capitaines, embassadeurs, et autres manians tant la guerre que les affaires d’Estat, Françoys de Belle-Forest
7. De re et disciplina Militari aureus tractatus, Giulio Ferretti
8. Tratadi de re militari, Diego Salazar
9. Elogia militaria, Julius Roscinus Hortinus
10. Architettura militare, Antonio Lupicini
11. The triumphs of Nassau, or, a description and representation of all the victories both by land and sea, granted by God to the noble… Lords, the Estates Generall of the United Netherlands Provinces under the conduct and command of his excellencie, Prince Maurice of Nassau, Jan Janszoon Orlers
12. Della espugnatione, e difesa delle fortezza, Gabriello Busca
13. Della Architettura militare, Gabriello Busca
14. Nova inventione di fabricar Fortezza, Giovanni Battista Belici
15. Corona e palma militare d’artegliaria, Allessandro Capobianco
16. De’ discorsi de Guerra, Bernardino Rocca
17. Teorica et practica de fortificacion, Cristobal de Rojas
18. Le capitaine de Ierosme Cataneo contenant la manière de fortifier places, assaillir et deffendre, Girolamo Cataneo
19. The Theorike and Practike of Moderne Warres, Robert Barrett
20. Architecture et perspective des fortifications et artifices, Jacques Perret