This may interest you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6Rw8vTiwVo

Which will allow you to overwhelm the garrison.

Or you may be trying to scare other towns into surrender without a siege so you burn it to send a message. Overall however I don’t think that burning towns down was a really good idea. Again most sieges ended in a negotiated surrender.

As to the use of fire (supposing there is no one there you care about) it depends on what is the situation. Burning the town would not get you the stuff you want historically (read $$$), that being said you may want to burn it if you can’t hold it, or you really need to get in.

Is the town fortified?

@Power Here is a video of modern people using pikes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-ILV0wKgAU

The Bowstriker is my absolute favorite! How could anyone possibly not get jumping-up-and-down-exited about rabbits using ballistas with bomb tips?

Thanks

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquaries-journal/article/face-of-battle-debating-arrow-trauma-on-medieval-human-remains-from-princesshay-exeter/635CF25C2252F62EAD82C124224914A4

This may interest you. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/medieval-arrows-inflicted-injuries-mirror-damage-caused-modern-bullets-180974845/

When I get home in June I will have a look at my personal library to see if there is any other book that might be of interest.

Strategikon is another work you may want to look at. It has traditionally been attributed to the Byzantine Emperor Maurice, and is one of the more important military texts from the Middle Ages. The text consists of 12 chapters, or "books", on various aspects of the tactics employed by the Byzantine military of the 6th and 7th century A.D. It is primarily focused on cavalry tactics and formations, yet it also elaborates on matters of infantry, sieges, baggage trains, drilling and marching. This pars well the previous book I mentioned as it demonstrates the changes in tactics from Ancient Rome to Medieval Byzantium. Another book I would suggest is Fatal Colors: Towton, 1461-England’s Most Brutal Battle, this book, although primarily an account of the Wars of the Roses up to the Battle of Towton, does discuss how armies were organized and how Medieval battles usually worked. The Battle of Towton was a very large battle with around 50,000 troops combined, and was exceedingly brutal. One other good point of the book is describing the fates of those who were wounded in battle (particularly by arrow fire), but some of the descriptions are not for the faint of heart. I really liked this book when I read it, and many of my ideas on how a Rabbit army would likely be formed comes from this book, with a cross from the height of the Pike and Shot era. I am also including a link to the copy of The Art of War that I own; I suggest reading it over listening to it. I should note this work contains the Seven Military Classics, but I have not read all of them, though they are on my list.

https://www.amazon.com/Military-Classics-Ancient-History-Warfare-ebook/dp/B00336ET1O

I will start with one right now and will get you two others tomorrow. The first is De re militari (Concerning Millinery Matters) by Vegetius. This work is very important as it not only describes the organization of the Roman army but was also an important source for Medieval warfare as well, as this work was used by Medieval commanders for the organization and tactical employment of armies.

Thanks.

I have read The Art of War its good, if you like military strategy it is important to read as many militaries recommend their officers read it and it is one of the seminal and well-known works of military theory, along with Clausewitz's On War. I will provide a partial list tomorrow, almost all of my books are back home in the US, and not with me in Scotland. When I get back home in June, I will provide more books you might be interested in, as I will have my entire library at my disposal to reference.

That would be great! Have you listened to "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu? I haven't, but I have the opportunity, and I would like to know if it's good.

As I said before, different situations call for different weapons, a 1v1 fight I would give a rabbit a sword, for the light skirmishers, swords bows/crossbows, or maybe spears would be appropriate. If you are interested in some books where I get some of the knowledge relating to the warfare of the Ancient and Medieval Eras, I would be happy to provide them.

Ok you win!!! lol It's kind of cool to me to see the giant web of weapon and what they are good at. Pike beats sword, bill beats pike, light artillery beats bill, and so on in a giant circle. Thanks for debating the topic with me.

🐰⚔️🐺

You are looking at skirmishes, pikes, I agree, would not be effective in such instances. Furthermore, some of the actions you mention were surprise attacks, in which any army would do poorly, look at the Teutoburg Forest in real history. If you are looking at battles proper (where everyone knows there is going to be a battle), pikes would be the main weapon because of their utility, both on the offensive and the defensive. The books do give examples of military offensives, the Red Valley War comes to mind, the along with the other unnamed and undiscussed conflicts of Jupiter and his father. The defensive posture of the rabbits in the books makes since because their kingdom, and thus their army, collapsed had had to be rebuilt, which makes sense for a more reactive posture. Again, even the engagements you mention where you had armies fully deployed, the main actions took place on open land. The evidence of the books demonstrates that rabbits (except their light forces) use massed infantry formations which would not be useful in the woods, and they would have to use such formations as the level of communications technology demands such formation. Yes, you do have lighter more elite or crack units that will be trained to operate in looser formations, as would be required, for scouting and protecting flanks. But those units are the exception not the rule, and the attack on Cloud Mountain, in the first book, the rabbits suffer heavily because they were unable to deploy full-fledged military formations, in the set piece battles, where you would see infantry formation, they do suffer heavily, but also inflict far greater damage. Additionally, you can protect your flanks by ensuring that they are anchored on some terrain features and ensuring that they are not in the air (as the rabbits did at Rockback Valley). I would disagree that the artillery was only used against birds, in Rockback Valley the rabbits do use them against wolves, yes these weapons may have been primarily used as anti-air weapons, but it seems clear that rabbits were quite willing and keen on using them as field artillery against ground forces.

As to the citadels being woods, yes, they do seem to be, but you still need lots of open land to train troops and assemble armies to go on expeditions, and land for farming. It takes a lot of space to assemble troops and their baggage train, even if some of the troops muster underground you need a lot of space to keep units for getting in each other’s way.

As to the sizes of armies I would suggest (at least before the collapse of the kingdom) between c.7,000-16,000 front line troops per army. This falls well within the size of Medieval armies, and the size of an Imperial Roman Army at the height of the Roman Empire, and as rabbits demonstrate a level of political military organization at least on par with Imperial Rome, I do not think that such numbers are unrealistic.

The main reason that rabbits use there heavy artillery is because of the birds. In the woods they may lose these weapons, but the number of birds is also lowered extremely... maybe, since the rabbits can't be seen by the birds it's hard for the birds to fight the rabbits (It's hard to fight something you can't see). In the books there are times when rabbit attack (I am not counting counter attacks) (The Fight for First Warren 1, Reconnaissance in the Terralain camp, The overthrow of Akolan... ), but in most instances fights between rabbits and wolves/birds/dragons/and other rabbits the first rabbits aren't the ones attacking (The Battle of Ayman lake, The Longtreader house attacking, Wolf attack on the Bracer. The first battle for Cloud Mountain, The attack on Halfwind, The second battle for Cloud Mountain... ). Also quite a few of the fights do happen in the woods (at least part of the fight)(Probably since most of the citadels are in or near woods.)(The Longtreader house attacking, Wolf attack on the Bracer. The first battle for Cloud Mountain, The attack on Halfwind, Rescue of Queen Lilly ....) In most of the fights (not just the ones in the story, but also the ones never told that probably did happen) there wasn't a large number of Rabbits (small groups are attacked because they are easier to beat)(rabbits normaly don't attack wolves). If the rabbits used pike and there were few rabbits it could turn out pretty disastrous. Once pikes are flanked they get destroyed.

Hopefully all this is true. If not, sorry

You don’t want the enemy to get close to you, yes you have swords if that happens, but that only happens if something goes wrong, the entire point of pikes etc. is to keep the enemy as far as possible from you.

I would disagree that rabbits only fight in the woods, of the battles we know of in the series they all take place in open land, and what we know of the rabbit armies employ field artillery (for a lack of a better term) of catapults (though the drawings look like mangonels) and ballistae (the bow strikes). To fight in woods would be to throw away the employment of such weapons. Further, woods would hamper the movement and organization of a rabbit army in battle, as rabbits use massed professional infantry formations. To use such formations effectively you need to fight in the open in order for them to maneuver and maintain cohesion, even the Romans who (eventually) used the gladius still fought in the open. It is true that pikes would be less then unless in the woods, but that is why you have light forces to draw the enemy to the ground of your choosing in the open. Further pikes would be some of the most effective weapons to defend a warren, they cannot be flanked and the narrow passages would make it hard for enemy troops to disorder the pike formation. It is important to note that a pike can be between 10ft to 25ft, though I doubt that rabbits would use 25ft pikes, more likely it would be between 10ft and 15ft. I don’t think that warrens are small holes, at least the major thoroughfares and gathering places. Even if rabbits are mostly on the defensive, (though I think there is enough evidence in the books to dispute that) pikes are fantastic at the defense, as their formations are hard for the enemy to disorder and push off the field.

I will get back to you on what I think a 1v1 weapon would be, but it should be noted that a pike could be surprisingly effective in single combat and a number of 16th-century sources explain how it was to be used in a dueling situation. Fencers of the time often practiced with and competed against each other with long staves in place of pikes. George Silver considered the 18ft pike of the more advantageous weapons for single combat in the open, giving it odds over all weapons shorter than 8 feet or the sword and dagger/shield combination “The short staff or half pike has the advantage against two sword and dagger men, or two rapiers, poniards, and gauntlets.”

http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/paradoxes.html

In Truth I like to debate the topic... but I would actually like to be on the spears side😂😂

Best=The weapon that allows you to do the most damage while taking the least damage. Spears are nice in the open, but in close quarters a smaller weapon I would think is more effective, (carrying something large through dense woods or a small hole isn't easy) and as I said above their strength is in their agility. A rabbit is constantly moving. Caring a long stick, since rabbit don't normally fight in the open become of the birds, and they aren't usually the ones on the offensive, would take away from that strength.

P.S. If any of what I said was wrong please correct me.😬

As to one of my previous answers to a different question I will look to history to give a good answer. If the situation we are talking about is a field battle on the scale of Towton, the best weapons for rabbits to use would be polearms and ranged weapons. Historically polearms are the most common weapon employed throughout history, and have two major advantages, 1: you can keep your enemy far away from you, and 2: you can form mass formations that have a good deal of weight (they are hard for enemy troops to brake or push back due to the number of troops in that formation). These are both very important, as it will make it harder for the enemy to disorder your troops and cause a rout (in most battles in the premodern world most casualties were infected AFTER an army panicked and collapsed). Further, with wolves being stronger and having claws and teeth, it would be best for rabbits to keep a wolf as far away as possible, the same goes for birds, but with the advantage that polearms might reach them. Further, it was much easier and cheaper to train and supply an army with polearms most governments armed the majority of their troops with such weapons, even when armies became more professional standing armies in the modern period. The advantages of ranged weapons goes without saying as you have already pointed that out whether that weapons be a crossbow or a longbow (from here after called shot). Thus, I would arm a rabbit army (fighting against any foe including other rabbits) with polearms, mostly pikes with some spears (I doubt that halberds would exist) and have a good contingent of shot. Swords would be issued as a personal defense weapon (as was the case historically) if something went wrong and daggers as well for various other reasons. Swords and such, were secondary weapons because the amount of time and training required to use them effectively, I was learning sword fighting before Convid 19, trust me it requires a lot of work and practice to learn how to use a sword. The overall army would probably be roughly 60% pike and 40% shot.

That brings us into the question of tactics that a rabbit army would employ, the tactics and formations of pike and shot would be employed. I would suggest that some modified form of the tercio would likely be employed with pike blocks or phalanxes supported by ranged units both independent of the pike formations and integrated within them. Such formations would be advantages as the archers can harass any birds while being protected from them and any other enemies by the long reach of the pikes.

What do you mean by best? And what is the situation? Are we talking about large scale battles like Agencourt, Towton, or Brannckburn? Or is this a skirmish or a 1v1 fight? It all really depends on the situation, as to what would be best, what I would arm a rabbit in an organized military unit for a pitched battle would be different then what I would give a scouting party or a rabbit fighting by themselves against a wolf or rabbit or whatever.