Who knew?

The current Mrs Broom (TCMB) had cause recently to castigate me about only being able to do one thing at a time, and, to be fair, she might have a point. Slow and methodical has been my approach to most things in life and that has certainly been evident in my wargaming. Construct two armies, grind, grind, create terrain, grind, grind, destroy anything not deemed “just right”... then rinse and repeat with the same armies in a different scale. 

Not for me the heady skipping between genres or multiple historical periods, nor yet the giddy dabbling in half finished projects. I can guarantee there is not one goblin horde or incomplete panzer grenadier platoon lurking in my cupboards, no sireee Bob.

Of course sticking to what you know (dark ages and 17th century) becomes a little “samey” and turns you (almost inevitably) into a bit of a know it all. Some of that became evident in my previous blog and my unhappiness with this played no little part in its eventual demise.

Realising how little I knew about so many other potentially fascinating periods of warfare and recalling how much “fun” (apologies for using the “F” word) I had in researching my single “off piste” adventure with the Dutch East Indies piracy campaign I resolved to go nuts and start branching out - boldly going where no broom has gone before. 

The result has been a Christmas blizzard of new books and some very enjoyable “well I never knew that” moments which I have bombarded TCMB with in an effort to entertain and amuse.  (I know she was entertained and amused because she rolled her eyes and sighed - as she always does when I wittily expound at length on something of interest).

Anywhoo...

Did you know that a medieval arrow required three pinion feathers from a goose, who typically had / has three on each wing? (Don’t worry they grow again in their annual moult). Given that one goose could only provide two arrows a year, how many must have been needed to provide for something like the arrow expenditure at Agincourt? 

I cannot believe that my view of medieval England has been so wrong for all these years. Clearly every nook and cranny in the country must have been stuffed with geese! Who knew?! I have to wonder how Shakespeare’s plays ever got heard above all that continual background honking?

Also, now I come to think of it, our forebears clearly missed a trick here. Given how scary and vicious the geese are in our local park they shouldn’t have bothered with the arrows, they could have defeated the French just by herding the excess geese in their direction.

An angry goose I met yesterday - whose stance suggests I might’ve spilled his pint.

Food for thought eh?!

Oh yes, and this just in... Robert the Bruce was of Norman stock! The original family name was de Brus.

Are you rolling your eyes in delight and amusement yet?