Jim Esler – Meet the Aztecs

Jim Esler - Meet the Aztecs - Banner

Back in 2003 I was inspired by an article by Jim Esler called “Meet the Aztecs”. Jim offers an informed critique of the then WRG, primarily DBM and DBA, army lists for the Aztecs. Since then both DBM and Jim’s page has disappeared. I thought I’d pull Jim’s article back from the WayBackMachine and make it more easily accessible for the community. All words are Jim Esler’s; I have modified the formatting a tiny bit. Thanks to Ethan for finding the article.

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Who Were the Gardingi in Visigothic Spain? And were they armoured?

DBx and FOG are wrong. The gardingi were personal military retainers of the Visigothic king. They were wealthy and led their own retainers into battle. Given they were wealthy, and a military elite, they probably fought mounted. And in an army where even some slaves wore armour, it is beyond belief that these palatine officials were unarmoured.

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What Wargaming Rules to use for the Macedonian and Punic Wars?

The Carthaginians were my first wargames army as an adult – I inherited and expanded my father’s 1/72 scale converted Airfix army. They are long gone but now I have a beautiful set of Carthaginian, Roman and Spanish armies in 15 mm for the Punic Wars. As it happens, I also have some their Macedonian contemporaries … Seleucid.

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