u/SonoftheVirgin

Hi, everyone.

I come here with this question because I'm trying to start writing books, and my big Magnus Opus idea I want to try eventually is set in a fantasy world similar to Warhammer: a sort of stagnated, pike-and-shot world where all sorts of weapons...arquebuses, crossbows, swords, spears, bows, magic...all coexist. I'm going to leave magic out of the question because that would make the question too complicated, and wizards serve a very niche, complicated military role in this world anyway.

I ask this because, while guns exist, this world (Aléna, I'm calling it at the moment) is not in the period where guns surpass other weapons. And there are several cultures I want to add to this Warhammer-inspired world which wouldn't use pike-and-shot tactics anyway, which are very important to the story.

1. A land inspired by Gaelic Ireland, where several of the protagonists will come from. IRL, the pre-English Irish relied much more on ambushing tactics, using bows longer than the English themselves. This video shows how in the Nine Years war (1693-1603), the Irish used their traditional tactics, and a hybrid devised by Hugh O'Neil, lord of the Gaelic kingdom Tyrone, to nearly win the war. Skip to 8:25 and 10:45. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7Kp9QNVnfk&t=538s

These "Fantasy Gaels" will be united to fight against two enemies at once in a three way war: a group inspired by the vikings and another by the English, the first being renowned for swift, devastating sea-raids (imagine: vikings with arquebuses, wizards, and cannons) and the other using the typical pike-and-shot tactics of the Renaissance.

2. A different take on Orcs, as opposed to being brutish, unintelligent creatures as in Warhammer. Instead, they are more like 6'8'' mixtures of Native American cultures and the Zulus, some warriors fighting like Comanches from horseback with bows and lances, and others in a more Zulu-like manner, with cowhide shields and short, iklwa spears. They will have to go toe-to-toe with essentially what is a Pike-and-Shot version of Rome or Sparta.

3. A small kingdom, revolting against the suzerainty of the same P&S Rome/Sparta that the Orcs fight. They are a small, mountainous nation inspired by Liechtenstein, long forbidden by their tyrannical overlords from bearing weapons except in small militias. In the book, they are being assisted by mercenaries from the Gaelic land, and will be taught their tactics.

In all three of these cases the groups mostly rely on guerrilla tactics, and their lands are covered in forest, mountains, and/or hills. However, all three have to come out into the open field at a certain point. The Zulu-Orcs will lose anyway, but I want them to perform well due to having a skilled commander.

So what should they do? How would you approach defeating an army in the style of the 16th century Spanish Tercios? I can't really think of anything except maybe for the Gaels approaching as quickly as possible, hailing bullets, arrows, and javelins on the enemy from relatively close, and then charging while the enemy is weakened from the salve...a Highland Charge, essentially.

By the way, I know "open field" could mean a lot of different things, so please specify what kind of terrain you are talking about.

Any ideas are welcome! Thanks for your time!

Edit: I just realized that I might need to give more information about what kind of wars are being fought.

1. The Gaels have been united by a young chieftain and are attempting to drive out the "English" from their island. The foreigners do have some conquered territory (similar to Dublin and the Pale IRL) so both sides are trying to push into the other's territory. Think of the Nine Years War in Ireland, if you know about it. The viking-inspired group are trying to conquer territory and set up bases for future conquests.
2. The small mountain kingdom (Aminda is its name) is revolting, pretty simply put. This kingdom is a large valley, and the Amindan rebels are trying to drive out the enemy legion stationed in the valley as quickly as possible, because once they do, P&S Rome will have huge difficulty reconquering them. They'll have to burst through a bottleneck pass through the mountains which the newly freed Aminda would have fortified, and Aminda is completely self-sufficient in it's food supplies. The P&S Romans are trying to stay in the valley as long as possible, so reinforcements can arrive.
3. What happens with the Orcs and "P&S Rome/Sparta" is that a sort of spontaneous battle takes place because they were originally allies, but the Orc chief was planning to, once the Amindan rebels have been conquered, to suddenly turn on the "Romans", drive them out, and then wipe out the Amindans. He's doing this to save his people (They are the only Orc tribe left in this part of Aléna, and much more primitive than other countries, at least infrastructure-wise). This plan get's exposed, however, and the two armies face off, the Orcs losing due to a lack of armor and surprise, but making the enemy victory costly.

Thanks again for reading!

Edit 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReJIDiYMOio

This would be useful to look at, if you don't know about the Medieval Irish. Skip the 10:15 to see how the Galloglass would fight (I believe Kerns, the other type of Irish warrior, would usually fill a similar role to that the Galloglass's squires would fill: they would harass the enemy with war-darts and arrows and then charge. If the enemy didn't break, they'd retreat and the Galloglass would move in).

Edit 3: Thanks for the replies, everyone! I should've mentioned this sooner, but for several reasons, I would especially appreciate answers concerning the Gaels.

Hello, everyone! Hope you are all doing well.

I guess I'll just tell you why I have these questions

I'm not learning Scottish Gaelic (I'm learning Irish Gaelic, actually). However, I have been entertaining some aspirations of learning the Scottish variant once I've mastered Irish. That's my first reason.

The second is that, someday, I want to write a book series (Think the fantasy version of Warhammer, where the world is based vaguely on Earth. My idea has a similar tone). My main characters will be set what's based on medieval Ireland (with some influences from Scotland, as well). So I starting thinking about this scene from the Pixar movie Brave, where Elinor sings the song "Maighdean Bhàn Uasal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0AD5-CDE3c&list=RDd0AD5-CDE3c&start_radio=1

So I have two questions. One, how good is Elinor's pronunciation, on a scale of 1 to 10? 10 is just like a native speaker, 5 is half-and-half, 1 is terrible.

Two, what does she say at 1:25 when Merida runs underneath the tapestry? From the Gaelic-phonetics I know, it sounds like..."A phúbnach chroích"? I mostly ask this second question out of curiosity.

Mòran taing and go raibh maith agaibh!