I got to mercenaries earlier than Counterstrike, which then took over my life for a few years (tho it did eventually lead to brief participation in the highest invite-only league in NA, both a point of pride and, well, not). Red Alert 2 was great, but was more into StarCraft for rts

Stunner: for me the franchise peaked at mechwarrior 2: mercenaries

Also really like your approach to treating Greek hoplites as just another type of heavy infantry, albeit with their own particular strengths/weaknesses

Yeah, I think the social status dynamics play a big role especially among citizen militia (hired professionals fighting abroad, less so probably). And heavy infantry has benefits that cannot easily be replicated by lighter troops, where the same is not true vice versa (by removing armor, e.g.).

Great stuff here (and a great excuse to put off grading this morning, ty). I think you're threading the orthodox v. heterodox needle very well, and would add in support your contentions re: flexibility of role that armor/equipment could be added or removed depending on situational need/context

My own chapter was a last minute replacement for someone who had dropped out. Given the rushed timeline I never saw proofs etc, and now just checked the published version to find many very substantial alterations to my submission. I’ve never seen anything like this. Infuriating.

Nice! The entire volume is great, and re: my chapter I hope you at least find it interesting

You’ll be stunned to find that I disagree with this assessment (!), but I published a brill chapter on achaemenid infantry recently and happy to share proofs w you: brill.com/display/book...