War in the Medieval Age

Today when we think of war, we probably picture maps of World War I or II, showing unbroken friendly and enemy lines with “no-man’s-land” in between them. Although the ideas of a front line, defence in depth, breakthroughs, etc. are well ingrained in us thanks to war movies, these concepts were unknown to combatants in the medieval period.

There were no firm boundaries between countries. This is true in the typical AD&D game worlds as well. Take a look at the map of the FORGOTTEN REALMS® campaign setting, for an example. Similarly, there were no firm friendly or enemy lines. Armies met whenever and wherever their commanders wished--and could engineer it--and fought there. A war in medieval times comprised a number of disconnected battles, few rising above the category of skirmishes. Wars of domination or subjugation were rare indeed. Most campaigns had very limited strategic goals, and ended when one or other of the combatants was unable to continue or lost interest. Wars rarely ended with an armistice or peace treaty; instead, they just trailed off, frequently to brew up again in a couple of years or decades.