Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

As a fan of all things medieval I have always been interested in the art of blacksmithing. You probably have given it some thought too. I haven’t done any blacksmithing yet but I plan to.

Anyway, I have a friend who did take a class on blacksmithing and we talked extensively about what he learned. He has loaned me an object he made and he told me some interesting things about the process.

I have written a full explanation of what he learned and have taken lots of pictures of the fire poker he made. (Thats the picture shown here in this post).

If you want to learn what he learned about shaping metal, the anvil, the temperature and more check out my webpage here: Blacksmithing

If you are really interested in the subject of Medieval Blacksmithing and Swordmaking I have put together, In association with Amazon.com The Blacksmith’s Bookstore

Popularity: 30% [?]

Fighting Techniques of the Medieval World: Equipment, Combat Skills and Tactics

If you are a fan of Medieval Weapons, warfare, and tactics this is the new bible for the lay person.

It is clearly written and full of lots of great stuff about Medieval weapons and warfare for the period between 500 and 1500 Ad. This is the High time of the Middle Ages and it ended with the introduction of Gunpowder.

 There are five chapters in the book:

Chapter 1: The Role of Infantry

Chapter 2: Mounted Warfare

Chapter 3: Command and Control

Chapter 4: Siege Techniques

Chapter 5: Naval Warfare

As you can see it takes a really good look at all the different aspects of Medieval warfare and it stays true to its title in that it covers the whole realm from weapons, to techniques and tactics.

Some of the outstanding things about the book.

First off this is not a dry scholarly work. It is clearly written and replete with hundreds of pictures, diagrams, images and maps. And it is an explanation and understanding book. It tells you the how and the why of medieval warfare. A good example of this is my favorite section; the section on siege techniques. It is full of examples of castles, how they were built and how they coped with siege techniques. It also shows you all about the siege engines that attacked!

Extra Stuff:

One of the absolute best things about the book is the maps of famous battles. They give you a good understanding of famous medieval battles and how they happened. The maps show the terrain and troops and explain how events unfolded in the battle.

Some of the famous battles covered this way are The Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, The Battle of Hastings in 1066 and the Siege of Paris in 885. Lots more famous battles covered and analyzed.

This book is a great addition to my library and if you are a fan of all things medieval you should take a look at it.

Popularity: 25% [?]

I think that hollywood wasn’t really sure about how 300 would be received by the general public. They were no doubt pleasantly surprised that it has turned into quite a smash hit.

Before the movie broke I tried like crazy to find supporting materials to go with it - stuff like figurines, posters, and other ancillary but fun products. And there were none! Nothing, nada, zip.

300 Spartan Sword Prop ReplicaWell, the hollywood machine has been scrambling to catch up with this oversight and that has brought us a bit of benefit. We are interested in the movie, the Spartans, the gladiators, the story, and all that good stuff! And they have heard our voices and are offering us some good stuff. From posters to weapons, armor, books, the soundtrack, and even figurines of the main characters. And I got em all for you to check out.

I have put together a nice webpage with all the best Spartan and 300 stuff for you to look at. It is all stuff directly from Amazon.com and I call it my 300 Store. 300 Movie Poster ~ Leonidas “Tonight We Dine In Hell!” ~ 24×36″ 

The Heroic Dreams 300 Store in affiliation with Amazon.com

Popularity: 36% [?]