The REAL medieval TANK! - BEHOLD the WAR WAGON! | Underappreciated historical weapons 

I just finished reading your novel an hour. I read MANY books over the years but Shadow of the Conquer is my favourite book without competition. I enjoyed it so much that I already started rereading it.

Mobile Castle. MOBILE castle. Mobile CASTLE. Shad, you're onto something with that. Imagine bringing the machicolations to your enemy.

"My lord! the enemy castles have besieged our army!" "What? Impossible!" "But it is true! Look for yourself!" "By St. Peter's beard!"

Interesting fact from the Lord of the Rings universe. The Easterlings established a confederation called Wainriders, famous for its large horse-drawn wagons and for creating fortifications from these wagons.

The Bohemians in Age of Empires II have Hussite Wagons as their unique unit.

As a Czech, I appreciate when someone talks about the history of our small nation

A war wagon would be fantastic for mages who need a long time to cast spells. Especially if they do group casting. You could have mages channeling spells, while still being mobile and protected if need be. Having something like a stabilizing enchantment on it would help the mages not fall over if the wagon suddenly needed to move. Good potential here.

Jan Ziska was a genius... it's a historical crime that he isn't regularly talked about among the greatest generals of all time. The man freaking led Bohemia to beating back NINE FREAKING CRUSADES, hello. The amount of Hussite badassness cannot be overstated, it's cool you covered this at least a little bit Shad :D

I am a Czech and we appreciate Hussites, their war wagons and their overall tactical brilliance a lot!

Medieval wagon: a collection of sticks arranged in a way to provide the ultimate in big-stick energy.

“Back in my day we used to sneak into castles and forts disguised as wagons, wheel barrels and so on… now we get flimsy cardboard boxes with logos and so on like we’re some damned sports car advert.” - Grabdpa Snake.

The moment you mentioned bladed things I just started imagining a fantasy mad max setting where they did death races with war wagons.

My first exposure to the War Wagon was from the movie of the same name. It's a western where a bank uses an armored wagon with a gatling gun on a turret to transport high value cargoes.

In the US we learn in school about wagon trains carrying settlers westward in our history who would circle the wagons, i.e. create a makeshift fortress from their wagons, either when threatened or just to camp for the night. So, I'm familiar with the concept, but wasn't aware it was used on medieval battlefields.

(I'm writing that message before watching): I absolutely love that military formation. I've heard that Hussites used it to great effect against European heavy cavalry, and much later Cossacks used a similiar tactic (Tabors) to completely stomp over Polish Winged Hussars in a couple battles (As presented in Polish movie about Cossack uprising).

FYI Shad. War-Wagons do appear in Warhammer Fantasy. And they use more than just arquebus. Some use mortars and other kinds of artillery. Also. Da Vinci's tank idea is basically a dance wagon with guns in it.

As a Pole I'm very happy that you cover also this part of Europe. Interesting that you don't mention "Hussite Trilogy" by Andrzej Sapkowski (Author of the Witcher novels), especially since you've partnered with Audible for this video (IDK if they have them though) and last book either just came out in English or will in couple of days. Worth a read, since it is based on Historical events, but with a supernatural elements and of course you meet tons of Historical figures. I do wonder how good this translation is - you mind find it a good read, though supernatural elements might make you annoyed - IDK how you react to them in books that are hybrid of fantasy and quasi-historical novels.

I think of it more akin to our modern concept of an infantry fighting vehicle!

A tank that is both shooty and stabby. Cool! Thinking about it, a chariot is sort-of a war wagon, so it shouldn't be surprising that they had an evolution/adaptation of that in medieval times. It's quite amazing how creative and sophisticated people were in what is widely considered a primitive time.

A classic Shadiversity. Refreshingly short and to the point. Seal of approval is yours.

Yep I had no idea these real thing. I know there were covered and mobile battering rams but didn't know that war wagons were a separate and distinct thing.

Wagons as a mobile Fortress like barricade were used in the Old West too by the settlers during the Oregon Trail migrations

Wait, rhinos have only been fantasy this whole time??? And here I always thought they were real! Nah, kidding aside, great video! I don't believe I had ever heard of the war wagon before. Thanks, Shad!

Fun fact, Tolkein does include mention of men from the east called "wainriders", so called because they rode carts into battle. So, these are in LotR, but just as with the real world, they had a time and a place and aren't really used outside of that.

Shad needs a go fund me for a war wagon replica in his backyard

Barring guns/artillery, War wagons are just such a great defensive and possibly great offensive tool! If anyone wants to learn more try looking up Jan Zizka (There is supposed to be a weird sqiggle on the first z), that guy was incredible!

War Wagon will always remind me of the Western “The War Wagon” with John Wayne and Kirk Douglas. It is cool though to see the idea in the medieval period as it makes a lot of sense. A lot of that art is really cool too. I can totally see some epic moments with supply trains being raided only to have them pop up barriers and reveal troops inside for an ambush. A climactic final battle of cavalry vs war wagons would be an epic thing to put to film. Very cool.

8:50 main reason they were used only for short periot of time was simply that they had really short lived contitions to be usefull, they needed enemy who could not just wait you out (one of reasons they were not as usefull on the campains outside of bohemia), enemy who does not have lot of inflantry (in one battle the wagons were turned upside down by inflantry charge(acorning to some sorces)), and you also needed enemy who did not use ranged weaponry.

Hey! Those wagons did doubled as (temporary) residence. Some of them also had even portable forges to fix/make weapons during campaign.

Now I'm going to have to add "war wagons" to my list of things to craft for my gaming table! This concept makes so much sense!

Our group had a war game where we placed our orders for our armies then played them out over the next play session's using miniatures. You could make any army that existed at the time, but you had to build it first, using your budget,and then pay upkeep on it and your country from your taxes and loot This was about 40 to 50 years ago, so not so much Internet, but personal libraries and actual public libraries were used mostly, not to say no internet, but not so organized as today. I had discovered the Jan Ziska War Wagons. I cleaned up with them, then from the Ransom for the Noble Knights we captured, I paid upkeep and built more. I wasn't so much on attack but fantastic on defense. That was a fun campaign.

Supprised Shad didn't mention , a fort made of (war)wagons is called a Laager or tabor depending on what part of the world you're in. I never thought about using them in Dnd or similar, that's great!

What a GREAT subject to cover! Also shoutout to SandRhoman History from whom that first picture is from. Their work on Early Modern warfare is some of the best on this site.

Man I'm a huge fan of Wagonberg tactics Jan Zizka, the Hussites, KC:D and everything Medieval Bohemia. Love using them in AoE 2: DE as well.

Once I used this tactic in DnD (the master was not very knowledgeable about medieval tactic) so I got everyone in the wagon to for a fight, they loves it.... ... . Of course everything went way to far as we starter adding a massive roman "scorpion" to the back of the wagon, some armor on the sides and a flame thrower... .. .

Shad, those Southrons from Rings of Power would've had a better chance against the orcs had the utilized those wagons to a potential like this, instead of burning them. 😑

Stations and Wagons, my favorite ttrpg to be railroaded with

I loved the Warhammer orc Warwagon. Got one and gave it so much personality. RIP classic tabletop Warhammer.

I did not know about the War Wagon before this video, but in the group that I GM for (Pathfinder) the players have made a wagon into a small fortress that moves. I will let them know they are using a medieval idea without knowing it. Thanks! Also, FOR THE ALGORITHM!

Clearly a perfect defence against a sonic screwdriver. They don't work on wood.

The Hussites are probably the most under appreciated warriors in medieval history.

Show me the original IFV: BMP 1 I said the original IFV: HS 30 I said the original IFV: Hussite war wagon PERFECTION

The world's first tank and it was the war wagon and it was very useful. Thank you for this knowledge Lord Shad. Not to mention that it would be used as protection for archers, early snipers and even mages for when they have to prep spells.

In Fantasy Setting could see a bunch of these being driven onto the field to create a wall or divide up the field

Ming dynasty have a plethora of war wagons, the riders were the team leader, the controller and two arquebusers, surrounding the wagon were soldiers in formation.

As a Czech, when I see battle wagons being talked about, I give like and hear the epic choir: "Ktož sú boží bojovníci a zákona jeho, prostež od Boha pomoci a úfajte v něho, že konečně vždycky s ním svítězíte."🥰

Thank you for this video. War wagons, Hussites, pavise, early guns, landsknecht, so many things I've been trying to research for D&D reasons. The interest was sparked when I read a short encounter someone made where some goblins were hiding in an overturned wagon and using it to spike people's shins with sticks and sling rocks out of. So I was then curious if that could be an effective modification of a wagon - as a mobile fort - to which I discovered war wagons!

A buddy in are D&D campaign is creating a war wagon it is absolutely terrifying

My D&D group actually made use of a "war wagon" once. We combined many ideas and concepts, as GM accepted our request of spending time on a town very nearby a capital before we continued the adventure (even would take place when astral alienation happened, so he accepted our request of, IT taking place in a couple of weeks/months instead of the classic "right now") We crafter many weapons/armors, we justified learning some simple quick to learn skills at least to gain 1st rank of a skill we didnt had. MY character crafted a "magical wagon". A mixture of mechanical box that would unfold and be bigger, with many/new storage and space (similar to modern vehicle, expandable caravan) mixed with the concept of magic houses and pocket dimensions. So from the outside it would look like a gothic caravan with physical doors, platforms, extendable tents, and many more. But would also have the extradimensional space on the inside. From the outside it had 3 functions: relaxation, (so like a vacation caravan with cooking station and comfortable places to rest), trading merchant mode ( my character would sell the magical items we didnt need) finally a WAR mode, so a more defensive, covered with metal shields and spikes, with small openings to shoot arrows, cast magic or poke with spears. -if any1 is interested, a way you can try to convince your GM, is if by any chance you obtain the "Instant Fortress", "Folding Boat ", or any similar magic items. You can try to change it for this "magic wagon" idea

As some peoples mentioned - Shad definetly try Hussite Trilogy written by Sapkowski. After Hussite Wars it was quite common tactic to use them defensively or offensively in that part of Europe.

My first though about using war wagons in a fantasy settign would be as a make shift fortification to protect a mage. Specifically either an artillery type mage or a support mage. Imagine having a support mage housed in a warwagon casting buffs and heals right behind the frontline. If the frontline ever broke it would naturally reform around the support mage protected in his warwagon since that's where heals and buffs come from and thus providing a rather stable cell of resitance that the enemy can't just ignore thus him slowing down. Such a cell would also be much more likely to sucessfully retreat and rejoin the main forces relativly intact or could serve as an anker point to reform the frontline when reinforcements arrive. And let's not forget that sheer morale boost from having such a mage around.

The wagon circle made me think of the wagon trains that headed west. They’d circle up as well at night to make a defensive barrier that was especially effective at Native American Calvary essentially.

Heh, my D&D DM is always complaining that the first thing I buy in any campaign is a wagon. It's such a versatile thing in D&D, makeshift chariot, carry your gold pile. Throw the sickly wizard in the back. Any players who cant make it can rest their illnesses away in the back and miss an episode while still travelling with the party. Partial cover for your ranged shenanigans. Chase sequences? When I DM, I love to see the thing.

Funnily enough, the first time I heard of them was in the tabletop war-game Warhammer Fantasy. Not many players had them I think, but you can see them in the video game Total War: Warhammer 2 and 3 with a bunch of different weapons and artillery.

Definitely one of the most underrated implements of medieval warfare.

In the Western frontier of the USA, "circling the wagons" was still a thing like 100 years ago. People have antique wagon wheels for decoration. I am sure someone has one with arrowhead impacts on it even today.

War wagon's biggest upside in my opinion seems to be how well they would support logistics rather than actual combat. Having a wagon with a ton of arrows, food, and other provisions can keep soldiers battle ready. It also could serve as a sort of make due shelter to sleep in.

Place a Cannon in the back of the Wagon and we'll have a vehicle of truly Shadian proportions 😂

Good on ya, Shad. Everyone should Czeh their research so well.

"Objectivity is objective, in my subjective opinion." -Bilbo Baggins

You could have a brief look at the Warhammer fantasy war wagons. They are horse drawn and have stuff like cannons on them or just group of guys with muskets

Look at those horses What are they draggin'? Heavily guarded, what is that wagon? The WAR WAGON!!!

Yes! Now this is the kind of stuff I watch Shadiversity for. I've known for War Wagons for awhile and in fantasy I've only seen them used in Warhammer. There was a movie called Age of Dragons (2011) which was Moby Dick but with dragons. They had a huge tank like wagon they used to fight the dragon. Not really the war wagon like from history and it was more based on a whaling ship but for land but thought I would mention it. Though war wagons weren't used in the American West their tactics like circling and lining up were used.

Your content is a delight, as always Shad

8:41 "We should put some fearsome creature on our flag, like-" "That goose who drank the king's wine and honked at him when he tried to shoo him away!"

Speaking of war wagons... well Hussites was actually are fist recorded users of "mobile artillery" when an army got stuck between rock and a hard place - between an army of Sigismund and a city of Prague (that changed loyalty over the night). They understood that hey are in rough spot and decided to mount their canons on a wagons (normally they shoot it from a ground) and break through Sigismund ranks. So that was really a 1st usage of mobile artillery and they actually pulled off a tactic that heavy tanks will use in a WW2 and later ^^

This is really interesting! And interesting timing so soon after TROP. Did your Tolkien loremaster friend bring these up? I had pictured the Rhunic Wainriders as actually being in chariots and the Gondorians just called them wagons because they were horse-drawn vehicles, but this gives a new insight to what Tolkien might have intended. Thanks!

The empire in Total War Warhammer has war wagons. It's not exactly the same as the historical one, but it's close enough I think. Anyone who is into strategy games I really recommend Total war warhammer 1 and 2.

Very useful on plains and steppes where circling the wagons was easy. Not so great on narrow muddy paths through dense forest.

I have only one question. What about Dragons?

Now I sure will put some of these in my rpg campaign. Thanks Shad, you're an inspiration dispenser for my stories!

While the application is a bit different, there are definite similarities between war wagons and classical/bronze age war chariots, which also had reinforced sides to provide cover to ranged units and battlefield commanders.

First like and comment, the czech hussite would be proud.

Ah the good old hussite wagons!!! Talk about thinking outside of the box and inside a box formation! XD

Greatly appreciate the spotlight my history got here. Especially because even I didn't know about the wagons being implemented in those fights. I know the history of the Husit wars (at least some of it) but I don't remember ever hearing of these wagon fortresses... great video and this probably solves some of the issues I had in my book. The problem is safety of travel in a world with monsters. If you make this type of wagon out of some fantasy material and make a caravan of these wagons (including armed force for obvious reasons) you have a reasonably safe way to travel between cities, towns, villages or fortesses. So thank you very much.

in my fantasy story Queen's Crown book 4 which is mostly based around war fare, a weapon utilized by the Dwarfs when they join the good guys, is technically a war wagon but with a Cannon attached to it, that uses steam power to movie (mostly because in my fantasy the dwarfs are far more advanced being in the steam age/ early electricity age), and their war machine is kind of more like a tank, but now that I have seen this I feel like giving the Dwarfs a version that doesn't have a cannon and allows Dwarvin gunmen to take it's place. you could also use the war wagon in a SCI-FI setting, in the form of mobile weapons platforms.

Funnily enough, in German, that Wagon Formation is called "Wagenburg", which would translate directly as "Wagon Castle".

Ceramic tiles protect against fire and acid. Wagons pulled by wyverns or enslaved dragons; the latter is a great way to explain a man/dragon war with the dragons being the good guys. Free to use ideas.

I've actually used war wagons in my fantasy novel in progress, they basically use them to protect some of the "magic wielders" and other fantasy resources. Magic is not usually strong so it is more commonly used in conjunction with technology and strategy to make it effective in battle. So an "earth wizard" might not be able to hurl giant boulders to a castle but close enough and with a little help they can weaken and tear down a stone wall, the war wagon helps them get close so it's like a mixture of a war wagon and a ram.

Yes, the Hussite war wagons. I first learned about them in GURPS Low Tech RPG supplement. Sort of armoured personnel carriers that can be set up as field fortifications. I imagine that in my setting, Dwarves would prefer using them instead of cavalry.

there was a war wagon in one lord of the ring games (battle for middle earth 2, and real time strategy game). The wagon carried some barrels with fuel that could be thrown and set on fire (not very beliavable, cause it was only one dude driving, throwing the barrels and setting the fire at the same time, but you know rts)

Most of my knowledge about war wagons comes from Sean McLachlan's book Medieval Handgonnes. A few fun tidbits from there to add. A square or circle of war wagons was a "wagonburg." Ideally, each wagon would have a chain with a hook to attach it to the wagon in front of it, and two pavisers to protect the gaps between them, while allowing friendly troops to leave or return to the wagonburg. Each wagon had 10 to 20 men, usually about 8 of them being ranged (crossbowmen or gonners), and this was the main form of offense, while the flails and polearms were mainly used defensively. They also had plenty of tools for really digging in if they were going to stay in one spot for long.

The folding sides: That's going to increase your maneuverability when not in combat. Put the big heavy side down, and it lowers the center of gravity making it less likely to tip. Also, you don't want to catch on tree branches. Much like modern military vehicles with soft tops. Then, when you get to where you're going to take fire, you can put the sides up.

Ah heck, you're covering this ol' thing? I guess being a castle nerd unlocked a whole lot of cool other medieval stuff! Every machicolated and crenelated house I see in my city surprises me more with how much knowledge I have about aspects of their design. You and the others showcase an entire hidden world that isn't really hidden, just not as discovered. We have the internet now, and that means we should have more education, not less. Thank you.

I feel like war wagons would fit dwarves really well. They love engineering and big fortifications. I could see dwarven generals being a bit agoraphobic and always wanting to fight in the safety of a strong fortress. So when they go on the offensive, they bring their fortresses with them. I could easily imagine dwarven armies always marching along side or riding in their war wagons, ready to circle up the wagon train to make an impenetrable fortress of metal wagons at any moment. Force enemies into choke points so they can fight them like they are still at home in their labyrinthine mountain keeps.

Fun fact: these anchored the flanks of Hunyadi's armies in multiple campaigns. Helped inspire one of my favorite research papers in my undergrad

This is so cool! As with many of your other videos, this will serve me greatly in the writing of my novel. This war wagon, now that it's been brought to my attention, is most definitely making its way in there!

Thank you shad as always for another informative presentation on medieval tech. Your videos have been very helpful in giving me more realistic ideas to use in the book I’m writing which takes place in a medieval fantasy setting. The war wagon will certainly be making an appearance!

I've been toying with a campaign idea wherein the players accompany a major caravan as it travels from region to region through places categorically too dangerous to travel alone. Monster-of-the-week, except it's a new locale, with new intrigues and threats, each time. This is giving me inspiration for the caravan itself, how it might be fortified against attacks from savage tribes and random monsters... some of the sessions could be spiced up by an attack on the caravan itself, giving these babies a chance to shine. Thanks for the ideas!

Just last week my D&D group came up with the idea of making a wagon with reinforced walls, camouflaged painting and arrow slits to escort a squishy mage-npc to the besieging enemy's camp safely so that he can burn down their tunneling efforts prematurely. The war wagon lives!

Only two places I've seen a War Wagon in popular media was Age of Empires, and oddly enough, a John Wayne western (appropriately named The War Wagon) involving a gatling gun armed version. Kind of a western heist film, its a fun watch if your into the genre.

You do know that every time you post a video about some awesomely epic forgotten warfare aspect (and some not so forgotten ones) that my writer brain sits up with wide eyes and keeps poking me in the arm saying “I want one! I want that in the story now!”

I'm writing a research paper on the origins of armored warfare and will be using this as a source. Could not have made this video at a better time. Thanks Big S

Glad to see Audible sponsoring. I've been a member for years - since before they were bought by Amazon. With my eyesight diminishing Audible is my go to source of entertainment but even before that their very compressed format compared to mp3 made it possible to carry more books on a device with less capacity when mp3 players didn't come in high capacities. Even today that is a big factor in my sticking with Audible since I can carry a large portion of my audiobook collection with me everywhere on a 256GB device.

Shad, you should make a video about those very early types of firearms, they look really goofy, idk, it's a gun on a stick. But I'm sure there's more to them, I would love your insights on them.

If modern vehicles crews are anything to go by just try to stop them from sleeping in the warwagons. You might find yourself as the lord spending the night outside the mobile castle^⁠_⁠^

I use war wagons in my DnD setting. Halflings invented them because since they be smol, they tend to duck in the baggage wagons for cover already and that idea became more thoroughly worked out. In direct combat, though, the best way to disable a moving war wagon would simply be to kill the animals pulling them. Those things are meant to set up field fortifications instantly if needed, not to be used while on the move across the battlefield.

A Rhino pulling a warwagon sounds cool. Imagine having a tamer on board who could give the Rhino rudimentary commands like "go nuts", when the party gets ambushed and everybody hides in the wagon.

Let’s goooooooooo! He has the kingkiller chronicles displayed prominently on his bookshelf! My favorite book series for sure

Very good video. Good commentary, good pictures, good length - short/digestible. 10/10 Would watch again.