GolfPopper parent
The A Collection of Unusual Pedantry blog which the author references is an amazing introduction to this work of thinking (the challenges of military operations, and the forces that shape warfare and civilization). [1] If you're already familiar with ACoUP, or find Cataphracts fascinating, you might also enjoy Edward N. Luttwak's The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire of which one review says (and which I find a quality summary):
1. https://acoup.blog/
> A Collection of Unusual Pedantry [...] ACoUP
Tangential comment but only after reading your post I realised that acoup is an acronym for the blog's full name. All this time I thought it was "a coup" (like a coup d'état) and that "A Collection of Unusual Pedantry" was the blog's tagline.
He writes about games from time to time. You can sense the friendly frustration. I wish he’d take a sabbatical from Professor-ing and, like, Creative Assembly could hire him to consult on a total war game.
He also has a great collection of his posts that are particularly useful for aspiring authors and rpg game masters:
There is only so much realism you can inject before it detracts from the fun. The author occasionally even references this during his analysis on how some mechanic would be required for simplicity or balancing a rock-paper-scissors troop counters.