Siege! Feuds! Cavalry and Pikemen!
Fantastic News from Master Stroke Games and the Art of Arms
If you haven’t checked out Master Stroke Games’ Force of Virtue, I highly recommend you do so! Jack and Sam Gassmann have come up with one of the coolest game designs I’ve ever seen. The principles of Force of Virtue are built on the foundations of their considerable martial experience, and the new expansion that they’re launching even ties into their expertise with historical horsemanship.
From a Western Martial Arts perspective, managing the temperament and unpredictability of combat—whether it’s small unit tactics or conducting a siege—is in large part an untapped, and nearly impossible avenue of simulation from our limited perspective. Wargames, like the one Jack and Sam developed, help to bridge that gap. With the core mechanic built on the four virtues of Fiore dei Liberi, and built on years of research into the behavior and conduct of condottieri in the mid- to late 15th century, Force of Virtue has all the ingredients to help you explore that untapped element.
With the new expansion being launched you can:
Battle the Canetoli in the streets of Bologna as the Bentivogleschi, or simulate any other factional feud you’ve been dying to explore: City of Towers
You can put together a five-man team, and scale the walls of Castello Varano at night in a thunderstorm, and see if you have what it takes to rescue Annibale Bentivoglio: Great Escape Part 3
You can live out the siege of Bologna with Giovanni I Bentivoglio, and try to thwart all the schemes to assassinate you as the forces of Milan descend on the city, then play out the battle of Casalecchio del Reno on your terms: The Epic of Giovanni Bentivoglio and Lancillotto Beccaria
You can relive the epic final showdown of Mancino da Bologna: Wanted Dead or Alive
And perhaps most importantly, you can relive the siege of Padua, and see if you have what it takes to defend the Coda Lunga breach against the Landsknecht: Maestro Wars: Episode 3.2, The Siege
Perhaps most importantly, this game is a great resource for exploring Giovanni dall’Agocchie’s Dell'Arte di Scrima Libri Tre, book 3: The Art of Battle. Test out Giovanni’s tactics, see if your unit cohesion can hold, and withstand the uncertainty of battle.
The great Prussian military philosopher Carl von Clausewitz said, “We shall not enter into any of the abstruse definitions of war used by publicists. We shall keep to the element of the thing itself, to a duel. War is nothing but a duel on an extensive scale.”
Now it's time to put your dueling skills to the test!
You can find the Kickstarter for the new Force of Virtue expansion that includes pike warfare, cavalry, and the siege expansion here: Link
If you show us that you backed the Kickstarter at any level, we’ll give you a free year long paid subscription to the Art of Arms. All you have to do is send a message below.
For a full explanation of what’s contained in the new expansion follow this link.
And don’t forget, as readers of Art of Arms, you get a special discount! Use the code ILOVEARTOFARMS at check out to save 5% on your entire order from the Master Stroke Games Webstore.
On the Art of Arms
Check out our new logo design!
For quite some time we’ve used the Allegoria della vittoria sulla Lega di Cambrai, by Iacopo Palma il Giovane in the Palazzo Ducale, Venice, as way to represent our publications. Painted in 1590, this work allegorically recreates the perils of the War of the League of Cambrai. Doge Leonardo Loredan is surrounded by Spain, France, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Holy See. I decided to chop it up and work it into a proper—albeit busy—logo.
It's a beautiful painting, but the symbolism goes deeper than the obvious subject matter. The War of the League of Cambrai was the first big project that Stephen and I took on for the Maestro Wars series.
It's incredible to think how far we've come since then. It's been about two and a half years working alongside Stephen on this passion project of ours, and over three years of running the podcast. We’ve gone from relying on tertiary sources, to secondary sources, to having a library full of primary source material, and we're still just scratching the surface!
That little walk down memory lane had a purpose, because I'm pleased to announce that we’re growing the team once again!
Mr. Eric Lowe, a venerable stalwart of the HEMA community, published author, and longtime friend is joining the Art of Arms team as our editor in chief. We heard your feedback about how we could stand to improve our grammar and punctuation, and we decided it was time to bring in someone who knew what the heck they were doing.
A little bit about Eric:
Eric Lowe has been practicing historical European martial arts for 11 years, and teaching Bolognese fencing since 2016. He is the founder of Swordwind Historical Swordsmanship in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 2016 he founded Queen's Gambit, which features tournaments with multiple Bolognese weapons, including the accompanied and unaccompanied sidesword, Bolognese dagger alone, partisan, and sidesword cutting. More importantly for his position as editor for The Art of Arms, Eric is a former attorney who regularly handled nine-figure deals, English language arts teacher, and grammar tutor. He will do his best to keep the grammatical gremlins at bay.
Please join us in welcoming Eric Lowe into the Art of Arms family!
Final Notes: The Road Ahead
For those of you patiently awaiting the release of Stephen’s Altoni translation, the wait is almost over! We’re just working out the last few details of the process and it will be ready for publication in July!
We have two podcasts recorded and one scheduled. Coming soon:
Dan Bernardo: Italian Stick Fighting
Jürg Gassman: The Arms Societies of Bologna
Connor Kemp-Cowell: Medieval and Renaissance Trauma, from the Modern ER to the Battlefield
Upcoming articles and publications:
Marescotti vs. Canetoli Blood Feud
Tempo: A History of Time
Translation: The Chronicle of How Annibale Bentivoglio Was Taken and Removed From Prison, Then Killed and Avenged; by Galeazzo Marescotti
The Beast Within: Historical Sources (Relating to the Guasco vs. Doria Duel)
The Beast Within: Sources on Fencing (Manciolino, Altoni, and Marozzo Sword and Rotella Translations!)
With love and respect,
The Art of Arms Team