Official Osprey thread

[Gregorius0202]

May I ask where you found them, Meneldil?

-Gregory-

[bthizle1]

Just got a good book on the Samurai...man Osprey makes the best military books ever...Sun Tzu Would be so jealous.

BTW Greg where you been lately man? Thought about coming back and leading our history forums?

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Try PM'ing me again Meneldil.

[Crimson Castle]

I have most of their "Aircraft of the Aces" books. I'm currently reading "Mosquito fighter/fighter bomber units of WW2" although its very badly written & not very interesting. The text is virtually just a list of every kill scored by Mossie nightfighters giving squadron & serial numbers http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-zzz.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-zzz.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-zzz.gif

I don't think the author has heard of "flowing prose". Shame, cos their other ones have been interesting to read.

Hello,

I know what you mean. Sometimes after I buy the book - it goes straight to my library shelf and I never read it again.

However, I have the pleasure to say that I bought another bunch of books by Osprey. I read a few - but the one that seems very readable is

Kate Gillver's Caesar's Gallic Wars (OSPREY ESSENTIAL HISTORIES)

She writes very well. I found her work very enjoyable to read.

[Crimson Castle]

I recommend all three to anyone! Some of Mcbride's best, in my opinion.
-Gregory-

Osprey is having a 10% sale on one of McBride's books - "warlords and warriors" - does anyone have a copy and what do they think of it?

BTW, has anyone read the Essential Histories: Revolutionary Wars, and EH: Napoleon(1) ? Are the 2 books any good?

Thinking of Christmas time!

[Gregorius0202]

Hey Crimson,

I own "Warlords and Warriors". It's a compilation of some of Mcbride's most popular Osprey plates with detailed descriptions for each, that in many cases echo the original texts on them in their appropriate titles. In order, I'll try to list the books they come from... Each is a random plate from these books, half of full page... Here's the BOOKS they come from (not the plate titles themselves, so I won't give it away!)

The Ancient Warrior plates-

"Ancient Armies of the Middle East"
"New Kingdom Egypt"
"The Ancient Assyrians"
"The Thracians 700 BC-AD 46"
"The Scythians 700-300 BC"
"The Ancient Greeks"

Rome and her Enemies-

"Republican Roman Army 200-104 BC"
"Enemies of Rome (2) Gallic and British Celts"
"Enemies of Rome (5) The Desert Frontier"
"Gladiators 100 BC- AD 200"

The Dark Ages-

"Germanic Warrior 236-568 AD"
"Arthur and the Anglo-Saxon Wars"
"Attila and the Nomad Hordes"
"Romano-Byzantine Armies 4th-9th Centuries"
"Armies of Medieval Russia 750-1250"
"The Vikings"
"The Normans"

Medieval Conquest-

"French Medieval Armies 1000-1300"
"El Cid and the Reconquista 1050-1492"
"Saladin and the Saracens"
"The Mongols"
"Samurai"
"The Mamluks 1250-1517"
"French Armies of the Hundred Years War"
"The Age of Tamerlane"
"Knights at Tournament"

Warlords and Rebels-

"Granada 1492"
"Aztec, Miztec, and Zapotec Armies"
"German Medieval Armies 1300-1500"
"The Border Reivers"
"Elizabethan Sea Dogs 1550-1605"
"Samurai 1150-1600"
"Bucaneers 1620-1700"
"The English Civil War"

Exploration and Invasion-

"The Conquistadores"
"Pirates 1660-1730"
"Highland Clansman 1689-1746"
"Privateers and Pirates 1730-1830"
"The Zulus"
"The Zulu War"
"The Alamo 1836"
"Women in WWII"

And that's it, my friend! Whoo, that took me twenty minutes to write out... You'd better get that book, now!

Haha.

Cheers!

-Gregory-

[Crimson Castle]

Hey there - it seems to be pretty good then.

Thanks for telling me more about it - I'll go order it now. With some luck, it will come by Christmas time.

[bthizle1]

So, it basically takes little snipits of his other books and combines em all into one? I think I may order this book....Any other good Osprey books out there I should know about?

[Crimson Castle]

Hi,

I'm stuck at the moment in Singapore due to work stuff.

There are a few book shops here which stock Osprey books - a little high. Example, I have a copy of Menatarms121: Armies of the Carthaginian Wars. Its retailing here for (converted) US$17.20 or UK9pounds. So its a few dollars higher than the US copy but ... hmmm... nearly the same price for a Brit copy.

www.ospreypublishing.com/title_detail.php/title=Q4301~ser=ESS~per=40

But I dun really like to mailorder. So I'll stick to going to the bookshop. Unfortunately, a lot of the books are soiled and dogeared by careless readers.

I'm a sucker for the mint feel and look of books - I also collect comics. And I get a kick out of seeing a mint glossy copy of my favourite book. "It smells like... victory." Don't it??? lol!

Anyhow, since my brief stay here in sunny Singapore- I amassed quite a bit of a collection. Here they are -

>>>>
Book 15 Waterloo 1815. Geoffrey Wooten - its a little bit confusing for some reason...
(sidenote- my god, and to think that after 100 years the French and British are fighting in Europe against the Germans and with planes and tanks...)

Book16 Kursk 1943. Mark Healy - excellent work - well written... good number of war photographs and illustrated well too - but dunno who the artist is.

Book36 Cannae 216BC Mark Healy - again, well written... goes to show that winning wars isn't all about winning battles. Illustrated by McBride... only quarrel I have with this book is that it contains a few too many old black and white photos of landscapes and museum artifects - where RGB color photos would have been better.

Book118-Yom Kippur War(1) by Simon Dunstan - illustrated by Howard Gerrard.

****Essential Histories*********
Book 1 - The Crusades - David Nicolle
(sidenote- after purchasing the book I walked over to a Muslim coffee house to sit down for awhile. Noone was looking at me - but I had really bad vibes just reading the book)

Book43- Caesar's Gallic Wars - Kate Gilliver
Very, very readable. Gilliver's prose flows like butter. Highly recommended. Also a good number of color plates and helpful illustrations.


+++++++Men at arms series+++++++++++++++
Book 109 - Ancient Armies of the Middle East (TerrenceWise and Angus McBride). Umm... McBride's drawings here - have a certain "staged" look. Could be more livelier. Otherwise OK!!!

Book 121 - Armies of the Carthaginian Wars - Terrence Wise and illustrated by Richard Hook. I like Hook's attention to detail - and esp. his choice of coloring which makes his works have more vividness.


@@@@@@@Warrior Series@@@@@@@@@
Book 48 - English Medieval Knight. Can't help thinking of Monty Python's works when I look at the cover. Graham Turner's illustrations also look a bit dull.

^^^^^^^^^^Fortress Series^^^^^^^^^^^
Japanese Pacific Island Defenses
Japanese Castles 1540-1640


(((((((((((((((((((New Vanguard))))))))))))))))))

Modern Israeli Tanks and Infantry Carriers 1985-2004. The drawings by Tony Bryan are exceptional. Well worth getting!

I also have another large collection of books by Osprey and other Publishing houses. But alas, no here with me - they are back home in Melbourne.

[bthizle1]

Anybody read, seen or heard good things about this book?

"War In Japan 1467-1615"
(Essential Histories 46)

http://www.ospreypublishing.com/title_detail.php/title=S4809~ser=ESS

I am really considering ordering this book, but I would love to hear what others have to say about it before I do.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

OMFG!!!!! Concord has posted sample pics of the just released Age of the Crusades book, and needless to say it looks to be Angus McBride's magnum opus! All bow to his genius!

http://www.concord-publications.com/6007/6007cover.jpg

http://www.concord-publications.com/6007/6007-01.jpg

http://www.concord-publications.com/6007/6007-02.jpg

http://www.concord-publications.com/6007/6007-03.jpg

http://www.concord-publications.com/6007/6007-04.jpg

I can't believe he did the lone Berserker at Stamford Bridge....amazing! And just think - there's another 16 we haven't seen yet!

[The Wizard]

Still I seem to like the battle scenes by Christa Hook and Gerry Embleton better... they 's more gritty, more real, more down to the core...

McBride is very good, but it just seems that when a myriad of movement and chaos is demanded for a piece, Gerry Embleton and Christa Hook just deliver better... check the plate of the Battle of Strasbourg by Gerry Embleton... amazing plate! It really captures the spirit of a battle like that as I imagine it.

Don't get me wrong -- McBride is great, but Christa Hook and Gerry Embleton just manage to capture that gritty character of battle better than he does, it seems... Christa Hook even better than Gerry Embleton, simply because it seems that her artwork has that little touch of extra care. Still, the plates in The Sarmatians are very, very well done by Embleton.

Anyways, on to the subject. What is an artwork with Landsknechts on it doing in something on the Crusades? The Landsknechts fought against the Ottomans, but ya can't be seein' that as Crusades, I'd imagine...



~Wiz

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Still, the plates in The Sarmatians are very, very well done by Embleton.

You're joking right? Apart from the front plate, my cat's coughed up better looking stuff that that!


Anyways, on to the subject. What is an artwork with Landsknechts on it doing in something on the Crusades? The Landsknechts fought against the Ottomans, but ya can't be seein' that as Crusades, I'd imagine...

Well its the "Age" of the Crusades, basically spanning the entire Medieval era starting at the Magyars and ending with the siege of Malta. The Siege of Vienna is included in this period.

[Duke Dick]

BKB you are spot on about the plates, "age of the crusades" means the era in which they took place in, so the plates should not just be confined to pictures of the crusades.

Also, tbh, I dont think Gerry Embleton would be missed in the osprey world if anything happened to him.

[Steppe Merc]

The Sarmatians were ok... to many none battle scenes.
For Xmas I got the Mounted Archers and the Scythians. Very good both, but the Scythians didn't show enough light cavalry archers... I mean come on! Armoured troops are pretty, but they don't help me much in reaserching Europa Barborarum... The Mounted archers was excellent, though I missed the two extra plates.

[Gregorius0202]

I'm afraid that those "Age of Crusades" plates don't appeal to me. They look way too cartoony, in comparison to most of Mcbride's stuff... I'm afraid I just can't handle them that much:\

As to the two-page plates in "The Vikings" and "The Normans", BKB, I can't look at both of those all day because I've had them in "Warlords and Warriors" for much to long to be interested anymore!

I don't care for either Embelton or Hook, but prefer Graham Turner next, to Mcbride. Spectacular stuff he puts out. He doesn't stray from historical accuracy, as Mcbride does, just to capture the eye of the onlooker, either.

-Gregory-

[Steppe Merc]

Turner... what stuff does he do? I agree, the historical accuracy of McBrides plates sometimes are troubling, and a pain in the butt for reaserching, but it usaully isn't that bad.

[The Wizard]

Hmmm.. haven't seen any artwork of Turner as of now... could you direct me to some of the titles he's participated in, if you will?



~Wiz

[Gregorius0202]

The two that I have that he's done (I think these are the only two) are "English Medieval Knight 1200-1300", and "English Medieval Knight 1400-1500". There's one in between, (i.e. EMK 1300-1400) but I don't have that yet. I'd suggest picking one up. The illustrations on 1400-1500 are the better of the two I have, for sure. He has these plates in it... It's from the Warrior Series:

Plate A: Half-page of Agincourt, depicting dismounted French Knights.
Plate B: Knight, Circa 1425
Plate C: "Confrontation on the Road" Circa May 22, 1448
Plate D: A King's Court, Circa 1465
Plate E: Italian Armour, Circa 1450
Plate F: English Armour, 1450-1500
Plate G: Equipped Man-at-arms, 1450-1500
Plate H: Tournament Armour
Plate I: Battle of Wakefield, Circa December 31, 1460
Plate J: "The Consequences of Defeat"

So, it's got 10 plates, which is good for Warrior Series... Mcbride only does 8 for his, I think, for the most part. They're also all very good with lots of variety. The "EMK 1200-1300" only has 8 plates. I need to purchase the 1300-1400 book, now!

Here are Amazon links to all three, in order:

1200-1300-
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1841761443/qid=1104429266/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/104-1512378-5004741?v=glance&s=books

1300-1400-
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1841761451/qid=1104429266/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-1512378-5004741?v=glance&s=books

1400-1500-
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/184176146X/qid=1104429266/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/104-1512378-5004741?v=glance&s=books

And, suprise, suprise... A website that hosts prints of some of Graham's work! May you all drool soundly tonight...

http://www.studio88.co.uk/

-Gregory-

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Contacted Osprey and found out that Angus McBride will only be illustrating one book for them this year:

Elite 130: The Mycenaeans

Disappointing.

[Steppe Merc]

Did they say what other kinds of books will be coming out? I'm tired of all the Nazi and WW2 stuff... Ancient and Mediveal is far more interesting. I fail to see how they can waste so much time on such boring time periods.

[Gregorius0202]

Contacted Osprey and found out that Angus McBride will only be illustrating one book for them this year:

Elite 130: The Mycenaeans

Disappointing.
HOLY CRAP! WHOO HOO! They're making a Mycenaean one... By him! HA!

www.bronze-warrior.com/mycenaean.html

That's MY Mycenaean page!

http://s8.invisionfree.com/Bronze_Age_Center/index.php?

That's my Bronze Age Forum!

Har, har, har! It's my favorite era! YAY! I'm so excited! Peter Connolly has been the only artist to faithfully make extremely good art based on Mycenaean soldiers (and does a damn good job of it) but having a taste of Mcbride will be amazing! I've written essays on the guys arms and armor, I have books on them, I recreate their weapons, their clothing... Gosh, that's about the best news I've recieved since I started collecting Osprey books! CHA CHING!

-Gregory-

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Did they say what other kinds of books will be coming out? I'm tired of all the Nazi and WW2 stuff... Ancient and Mediveal is far more interesting. I fail to see how they can waste so much time on such boring time periods.

I concur. I've pretty much told you the ones coming out until July, though add another Elite: Roman Siege Warfare to that list. Mycenaeans will probably come out in the latter half of the year.

I hope there's a decent Trojan War double page battle one in there somewhere...

Thing is, Angus is 74 now, and I'm kind of worried that he might stop altogether very soon. I just hope he's doing another Concord one instead...they have Gunpowder Armies and Eastern Romans in the pipeline, so one of them would be great.

[Gregorius0202]

Well, I recently placed orders for these titles:

Knights Hospitaller (1)
English Medieval Knights 1300-1400

Those will come in tomorrow...

And I ordered these on Amazon last night...

Russian Medieval Armies 750-1250
Russian Medieval Armies 1250-1500
Byzantine Armies 886-1118
Byzantine Armies 1118-1461
French Medieval Armies 1000-1300

I can't wait to get all of them! By the looks of it, the French one will be one of the best... I have a new interest in the Early Medieval Era and don't have many books covering it, so some more Angus will be trick to get a hold of for it!

-Gregory-

[Steppe Merc]

The Russian ones are very good, especially the earlier one. The later Byzantine one is also excellent. Don't know about the French one, don't have it.

Edit: Oh does anyone have any good suggestions for Eastern horse archer books? I have the Horsearchers of the Steppe, Nomad Hordes, the Scythian one and the Parthian one. I also have the Mongol one in the Warrior series. Are their any other good ones, either from Ancient or Medieval eras? Preferably Ancient for my research for the EB mod, but I can't find to many of those... especially since you guys said the Persian one sucks. Any good Medieval ones, about the early Muslims or something?

[Gregorius0202]

"The Russian ones are very good, especially the earlier one. The later Byzantine one is also excellent. Don't know about the French one, don't have it."

Good news! I had heard that both Russian books were very good, and I'm really excited about all five simply because I have no other books concentrating on Russian or Byzantine warfare, and because the French one looks good for the reasons I stated in my last post!

I'll probably like the Early Byzantine one better than the later, because my interest lies primarily in the Dark Ages. I actually only bought the Late Russian and Byzantine books because I like having "sets" of related Osprey titles, thus explaining getting both in each set...

As for the Eastern Horse Archers, well... I'm not to sure if I can help. You named all of them that I could think of off of the bat. How about "The Janissaries" and "Armies of the Ottoman Turks 1300-1774", since the Turks had legendary mounted archers.

"The Moors", "The Armies of Islam 7th-11th Centuries" and "Armies of the Caliphates 862-1098" are all good looking Muslim ones, although I haven't had the chance to get them yet... The last I mentioned is illustrated by Graham Turner... I suggest you look at the full cover view of it on Amazon! Great illustration!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1855327708/ref=sib_dp_pt/104-1512378-5004741#reader-link

Cheers!

-Gregory-

[The Wizard]

I'm gonna order Armies of the Muslim conquest next... anyone know anything about it and its artwork?

BTW, Gregorius, the Ottomans weren't all that famous for their horse archers... at least, not as famous as their Seljuq/Turkic predecessors. For those, it would seem logical to me to observe The armies of Islam 7th-11th Centuries, since this covers all the different peoples which embraced Islam in the Dark/Middle Ages. I myself want it because I don't know much about Islamic armies, and because of the information about Persian armies (Samanids, etc.) after the Muslim conquest and before the Seljuq conquest (after which Turkic dynasties ruled Persia... ok, the Ghaznavids were the first Turks to rule Persia, but the Seljuqs were more important ~D).



~Wiz

[Gregorius0202]

"BTW, Gregorius, the Ottomans weren't all that famous for their horse archers... at least, not as famous as their Seljuq/Turkic predecessors."

Ah, you're so correct! Sorry about that. The Seljuk Turks were much more known for their horse archery and flight bows, etc... I should have recalled the difference. Ottomans were famous mainly for their heavy cavalry and Janissaries, if I'm correct this time:p

-Gregory-

[Meneldil]

Just got the Saxon, Viking and Norman Men-at-Arms. Frankly, I'm kinda disapointed by this one. Plates aren't really good and the content isn't very detailed.

Hopefully, I'll receive The Age of Charlemagne soon, and I know this one is great (I've already read it ~D )

Steppe Merc, I think there's a book about the Samartians.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Armies of the Muslim conquest is good and the plates are good too.

[Steppe Merc]

Steppe Merc, I think there's a book about the Samartians.
Got that one. It's not good, really. The pictures are very dissapointing.
I'll look for that Muslim Armies one.. sadly my bookstores that carry Osprey never have any of the ones I want... Guess I'll go to Amazon, then.

[Gregorius0202]

I got in Armies of Medieval Russia 750-1250, Italian Medieval Armies 1000-1300, and German Medieval Armies 1300-1500 the other evening. All three are great. Sadly, the Italian one has little of the information I was looking forward to on Arms and Armor (my main area of interest)...

All three have wonderful plates, and I really like them all! The Russians one is valuable, as I'm currently working on a Varangian Kit, which will have a mix of Byzantine, Viking, and Rus articles... The East at that time was, of course, the Melting Pot of European and Asiatic customs. :D

-Gregory-

[The Wizard]

There's going to be a new member of the Warrior series, namely the title Carolingian Horseman (or something like that), about the horsemen that became the staple of the Carolingian army, forming the only truly useful part of the army. It's going to feature new artwork of course, and, most importantly, Carolingian battle-scenes! I'm really going to order it ~D



~Wiz

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Yep, Carolingian Cavalryman will be coming out in March, with the excellent Wyane Reynolds doing the plates. Looking forward to it. ~:cheers:

[Gregorius0202]

Oh boy,

Last night I got in both Byzantine Armies books, Russians 1250-1500, and French 1000-1300! All four are great! I was BLOWN AWAY by the nostalgic feel I got from looking at the Mcbride plates in Byzantine Armies 886-1118! They're from '79, and are probably the coolest ones I've ever seen! I know most people would say "What's this crap!" because the detail is lacking and the personality and scope of the art is worse that Angus's modern work, but I'm very into "old" feels, especially comic book style...

It was funny, because when I first looked through it, I thought about the Conan movies, and the animated Hobbit and Lord of the Rings series... Something strange and cool about it all to me, but I don't know what. Perhaps I died an aspiring artist, art collector, or fantasy enthusiast in the early '80's? Haha.

The information from Health in 1979 was lacking, and I've already read a whole article by Tim Dawson in 1990, on how it was terribly wrong of him to say that the Byzantines (particularly the Varangians) used Rhomphaia, as the translation from Psellos supposedly stated. But, it was construed and Ian did not study the Greek carefully enough... Here's the article, for anyone interested.

http://web.missouri.edu/~tm104/Varangian.htm

I had become excited over being able to use a Medieval Rhomphaia in reenactment! Well, that goes to show how simple mistranslations, etc... Can really ruin ones day!

Anyway, that was 25 years ago, so I won't blame Heath for it now. I've read some of his more recent stuff, and his writing skills, and I'd suppose (and hope) his research skills definitely have improved since then!

The plates in the second Russian book are lovely! I like the seperation of cavalry and infantry plates. It makes things more interesting..! I like the late Byzantine plates as well, but they lack that newly found blast of nostalgia the first book gives to me... :p The French plates are great, and a couple are full of life and have further inspired me to try to start working on my own chainmail, as I couldn't afford a custom made hauberk and chausses within the next couple of years...

If anyone is interested in these, here are the exact titles:

-Medieval Russian Armies 1250-1500; by V. Shpakovsky & David Nicolle, illustrated by Angus Mcbride
-Byzantine Armies 886-1118; by Ian Heath, illustrated by Angus Mcbride
-Byzantine Armies AD 1118-1461; by Ian Heath, illustrated by Angus Mcbride
-French Medieval Armies 1000-1300; by David Nicolle, illustrated by Angus Mcbride

Cheers, all!

-Gregory-

[Kekvit Irae]

And here I was, thinking I was the only one touting the Man-At-Arms series (in the readme file of my mod), and I decided to come back and browse the forums because I had free time and nothing to do, when I stumble upon this thread...
:happyg:

[Gregorius0202]

And here I was, thinking I was the only one touting the Man-At-Arms series (in the readme file of my mod), and I decided to come back and browse the forums because I had free time and nothing to do, when I stumble upon this thread...
:happyg:
*Wonders how anyone would think that the Osprey Series was widely unknown...*

Even if it is criticized a lot for accuracy and misrepresentation of historic figures or arms and armor in plates, in MOST of it's books, the series is still a fun read, and probably the most widely known military series ever!

-Gregory-

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Just ordered Concord's Age of the Crusades, and I'm told they have it in stock. Can't wait for this one.... Review when I get it.

[Steppe Merc]

Alright, we at the Europa Barbarorum need your guys help. Can you tell us what book these pictures are from? They don't look like the Persian Army one, but I can't find any book that would include them on the site. Amyar, who posted the pictures, says that their from a book called The Achaemenid Army, which I can't find. Any help please from the experts?

http://img222.exs.cx/img222/3608/ospreytheachaemenidarmy023dn.th.jpg (http://img222.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img222&image=ospreytheachaemenidarmy023dn.jpg)http://img222.exs.cx/img222/5553/ospreytheachaemenidarmy048kh.th.jpg (http://img222.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img222&image=ospreytheachaemenidarmy048kh.jpg)http://img213.exs.cx/img213/3211/ospreytheachaemenidarmy050rq.th.jpg (http://img213.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img213&image=ospreytheachaemenidarmy050rq.jpg)http://img212.exs.cx/img212/8175/ospreytheachaemenidarmy085tt.th.jpg (http://img212.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img212&image=ospreytheachaemenidarmy085tt.jpg)

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Yes. The Achaemenid Army is a long (AFAIK) out-of-print book by Montvert Publications. I don't have it, but the artwork is by the great but sadly deceased Richard Scollins, who did several good 19th century books for Osprey. It's probably a bitch to get hold of; I'll try and get the author for you. Thanks for the plates though - looks good!

The author is a Mr D Head - I hope that D doesn't stand for something rather embarassing! ~D Disappointingly, I just found out that is stands for Duncan.

That's the trouble with these Montvert books - they're great but elusive. I'm awaiting Ancient Warrior, and plan to order Warriors of Eurasia and both Armies of Bactria soon, but I really want the Angus McBride illustrated Seleucid and Ptolemaic Reform Armies Volumes 1 and 2; Meneldil sent me some of the plates he found on the Net and it looks great. And recently I find out about this Achaemenid book and another one called Justinian's Wars, but I'm not sure if there are any illustrations in that one.

[Steppe Merc]

What!?!
A Selecuid and a Bactrian book? Geez, why don't they make that any more? I was wondering why they never had a Bactrian or Selecuid book....

Thanks for that BKB. It was really bothering me, and I really loved the plates. Thanks for the quick response. ~D

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Steppe, I'll send you those Seleucid and Ptolemaic pics.

The Armies of Bactria book is still in publication. Its £14.99 for both volumes on Amazon UK and its on 1-2 week despatch, as is Warriors of Eurasia. Although neither are illustrated by McBride unfortunately.

[Meneldil]

Steppe Merc, you can find the plate of Seleucid and Ptolemaix reformed army as well as some other things here (http://www.villagephotos.com/pubgallery.asp?id_=851248)

Unhappilly, I don't know if they are plates of the first or the second book.
While looking for informations about the Seleucid, I also found out another pic that was really 'AngusMcBridish' IMO, and I'm quite sure it was another plate from either one of these books. It shown a heavy-badass-scythed chariot.

[Steppe Merc]

Thanks, BKB already sent them to me. ~;)

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Meneldil any chance of seeing that pic? I should be able to clarify the matter. :knight:

Steppe I tried to reply to your PM but your inbox is full.

[Steppe Merc]

It's empty now. ~;)

[Meneldil]

The plate is here, and it is from Mc Bride :)

Heavy Badass Scythed Selecudid Chariot (http://www2.unil.ch/iasa/iasa_c_est_aussi/electre/guerre/livre_elec/guer2_3_2.html)

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Thanks Meneldil. It certainly is, and that is awesome! I've had enough of this - I'm sending a letter to Montvert today asking if they have any of those books left! :charge:

[Meneldil]

Would you mind informing us about their answer ?

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

I certainly will. I'll probably send it out tomorrow or Tuesday, though being as the books I have with the address in are from 1996 or earlier I don't even know if they're still in business anymore!

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Yes the company have replied and informed me that they have loads of copies of Age of the Crusades in stock. They dispatched it today which means that I should recieve it by the end of the week. I don't think I've ever looked forward to a book this much before! Of course Angus' artwork should be phenomenal if those plates I posted a short time ago are anything to go by, and the Medieval era is something Concord have neglected up to now. For anyone who wants to know what plates will be in this book, here is a list that a collaborator who worked on the book sent me a while back:


(Written around four groups/sections of paintings)
CREATION OF THE WESTERN-EUROPEAN CRUSADER MINDSET /RESISTING OUTSIDE
INTRUSION; SETTING THE STAGE FOR THE CRUSADES:
Otto I, Duke of Saxony, vs. the Magyars 955 (Battle of Lechfeld)
Battle of Clontarf 1014
Battle of Stamford Bridge 1066
Battle of Hastings 1066
THE CLASH OF CULTURES:
Normans in Sicily 1017-1097
Byzantine street scene (night, Norman mercs.) mid 11th cent.
Battle of Manzikert, August 26, 1071 (horz.)
Battle of Manzikert, August 26, 1071 (vert.)
The First Crusade 1096-1099 (assault on Jerusalem, July, 1099).
Battle at the Horns of Hattin.
Knights Hospitalers in the Holy Land, 1150-1290 (Hospitalers with ballista,
circa 1200).
THE NEW ENEMY/THE FIRST MAJOR THREAT TO THE WEST:
Mongol invasion of the West, first half of the 13th cent.
Mongols defeat Teutonic Knights and Poles at Battle of Liegnitz, Apr. 9, 1241
Mongol siege of Bagdad 1258
Timurid camel troopers, Empire of Tamerlane 1370-1405
STOPPING THE TURKISH-ISLAMIC THREAT TO THE WEST:
Turkish cannon, siege of Constantinople 1453
Landsknechts at the Turkish siege of Vienna 1529 (horz.)
Landsknechts at the Turkish siege of Vienna 1529 (vert.)
Russian siege of Kazan 1552 (Russians capture Kazan from the Tatars).
The Knights of Malta (stopping the Turkish advance 1565).

This of course might have changed but I doubt it will. So far we've seen the Liegnitz, Stamford Bridge, Hospitallers manning a Ballista, the horizontal Siege of Vienna and (I think) the Lechfeld one. I've also seen the Ottoman guns at Constantinople, but it was only small. 14 more to look forward to! ~:cheers:

[Meneldil]

Wow, this book looks amazing. I'll try to order it on amazon.co.uk

I'll receive the Osprey Warrior 01 - Norman knight in a few days. It's my second non-McBride Osprey, and I hope the plate by Christa Hook will be better than those in Saxon, Viking and Norman.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

It came.

Before I go any further, I just want to say that in my opinion, and I feel as though with my collection I am in a position to say this, this is the greatest illustrated military history book ever made. Its amazing.

I'll now review each plate, giving it a grade. You'll notice that none are marked below B - all are extremely good, while some are incomparable.

Plate 1 - The Battle of Lechfeld, 955

I was wrong, you haven't seen this yet. It depicts a Saxon Cavalryman going up against 3 heavily armoured Magyars, taking the central leading figure by surprise. A vivid and attractive action scene. B+

Plate 2 - The Battle of Clontarf 1014

Absolutely fantastic - a huge melee between Irish and Viking warriors with horsemen marauding in between. Arguably the best plate in the book, and a frontrunner for one of the best military plates I've seen. A+

Plate 3 - The Battle of Stamford Bridge 1066

You've seen this one - a lone Viking Berserker defends the bridge against many Saxon warriors while a cunning spearmen wades through the water underneath to bring him down. A famous scene which I've always wanted Angus to do, and its even better than I could imagine. A+

Plate 4 - The Battle of Hastings 1066

Another great piece - Norman horsemen throw spears at the Saxon shield wall which holds firm in the background, while a gloomy sky looms above. A very atmospheric piece befitting the scene it depicts. A

Plate 5 - Normans in Sicily fighting Arabs, 11thC

3 fearsome and well-equipped Normans find themselves backed up against some ruins, ready for a last stand. No actual Arabs are in the picture but a grounded Norman endures a painful arrow wound in his thigh. B+

Plate 6 - Norman mercenaries gamble in Constantinople, 11thC

A rare light-hearted piece which depicts well-armoured Norman mercenaries sharing a joke and gambling outside a brothel. A drunken soldier is helped by his two friends in the background while another Norman tries his luck with a Byzantine prostitute. B

Plate 7 - The Battle of Manzikert 1071 (Horizontal)

You've seen this already - the Seljuk cavalry have crashed into the Byzantine infantry, which features some Norman mercenaries. Some stand while some turn face and flee. An excellent picture. A+

Plate 8 - The Battle of Manzikert 1071 (Vertical)

A simple but highly effective plate. Three Byzantine warriors, one mounted, fall foul to Seljuk arrow fire. The horseman is collapsing from his wounded horse, while a Byzantine soldier clutching his spear lies on the ground with an arrow in his torso. Another (a Variangian?) stands firm with his shield deflecting the missiles. A

Plate 9 - Crusaders storm Jerusalem 1099

Another breathtaking piece - Franish crusaders mount a victorius surge against the walls of Jerusalem. A siege tower has reached the walls, allowing soldiers to race across the bridge while supported by archers in the tower. Soldiers climb ladders, but are pegged back by arrow fire. A+

Plate 10 - Knights Templar in the Holy Land, 12thC

Again, you've seen this already - Templars man a ballista against a threatening group of Muslim cavalry about to attack them. I believe it is the Battle of Arsuf. Angus again shows how he can capture a piece of the action unlike any other. B+

Plate 11 - Crusaders escort Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land, 12-13thC

Crusaders, possibly Templars, watch over pilgrims while one soldier notices a fair few Muslim horsemen converging on the clifftop above. One senses a battle is about to ensure. B

Plate 12 - The Mongols ride West, 13thC

After sacking Kiev, a huge Mongol horde ride further into Europe while a foreboding storm rages above. The leading Mongol bears a strong Chinese influence while the two around him are extremely well-armoured heavy cavalryman. B+

Plate 13 - The Battle of Liegnitz 1241

You've seen it but not fully - its a horizontal piece and is about twice as big! Angus throws us into the height of the battle, where the Mongols seem to be gaining supremacy over the brave Teutonic Knights in a furious melee. Superb. A+

Plate 14 - Mongols besiege Baghdad 1258

In the background a Mongol trebuchet fires relentlessly upon the beautiful city of Baghdad, which you can just make out being reduced to rubble. In the foreground two great-looking Mongols, one a commander, play their part as the soldier prepares his bow to fire arrows at the defenders. B

Plate 15 - Timurid Camel Troopers take on Indians, 1398

An awesome plate. A beautifully decorated Indian War Elephant finds itself under attack by three Tartar Camel Warriors, who fire arrows to try and bring the beast of burden down. One Indian has been felled, while the rider and an archer in the war tower attempt to fire some arrows back. A+

Plate 16 - Turkish Cannon at the Siege of Constantinople 1453

Many Turkish workers prepare the huge gun as Ottoman officers look on. Constantinople burns in the background as they gear up for another volley. Very good but a last stand of Constantine wouldn't have gone amiss. B

Plate 17 - Landsknechts at the Siege of Vienna 1529 (Horizontal)

Again, you've seen this - tired German warriors nurse their wounds and take a break while a mounted officer orders them back in to defend the breach against the Turks. Lavish attention to the colourful outfits show why Angus towers above the rest. A

Plate 18 - Landsknechts at the Siege of Vienna 1529 (Vertical)

Another 3 battle-worn German Landsknecths (one clutching a halberd, another a two-handed sword and the third a gun) stand ready against another Turkish charge. The city burns behind them. B

Plate 19 - Russians at the Siege of Kazan 1552

I love the look of the Russians in this plate - they're dressed in decorative clothing and ready for battle. In the background is a huge siege tower with gun emplacements atop. A

Plate 20 - The Siege of Malta 1565

Valette orders his men to defend a boat (I think?) against the forthcoming Turkish fleet. A small cannon his prepared while another pulls a rope and a third gets a gunpowder keg opened. Valette looks great and ready for battle. Just wish it was a fighting one against the Turks! B+

If you have any kind of interest in the Medieval era at all, you MUST buy this book. Any McBride doubters will surely be disproved.

[Steppe Merc]

Damn, that sound awesome! I wish they sold them on American Amazon... grr, why do you Brits get the better books? ~;)

[Meneldil]

Yeah, ordering from amzaon.co.uk is quite expensive ~:eek:

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Try www.caliverbooks.com. That's who I got it from. They ship all over the world, and though its expensive I'd like to think it's worth it.

[Meneldil]

BKB, you're *the* man. :bow:

[Duke Dick]

Sounds good BKB.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

I've been checking out Amazon and found that they've updated their site with the second half of 2005's Osprey line-up. For Ancient and Medieval fans, it looks awful! Although there's probably more, here's the only info I found:

Acre is done by Graham Turner, not Christa Hook.
Turner is also illustrating Battle of the Boyne campaign book.
Crusader Castles of the Holy Land 1292 to 1309 (I think) is coming out in the Summer.
There's only one Angus McBride addition, and its not the Mycenaeans but Warriors of Medieval Japan, which is a compilation of older works. I reckon the Mycenaeans is still coming out though, plus more books relating to there eras besides!

[Steppe Merc]

Damn. I love the good Osprey books, but so many ones that I would never buy clog the bookstores... It's really angrering. That and the fact Amazon doesn't sell Montvert... and the ones I'm intrested in don't appear on that excellent site that BKB posted. Ah well...
What about the Caroligian Cavalryman? Isn't that coming out soon too?

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Yeah March. I'll definitely be picking that one up.

Take for example Osprey's recent poll on their site. Some great choices - Fortifications of Ancient Carthage (Fortress), Genoese Crossbowmen of the Hundred Years War (Warrior) and an awesome-sounding Medieval Armies of Croatia and Serbia 600-1389 (MAA), surely a McBride cert. The poll was rounded off by Napolean's Swiss Regiments (Elite) and Port Arthur (Fortress). It doesn't really mean much, but Port Arthur is winning by 12%! Who votes on these things?!?

Still, at least Amazon have relisted the McBride illustrated Sassanian Elite Cavalryman for January 2006. Would have preferred him to do something more interesting though.

[The Wizard]

That last news you gave just made my day, BKB ~D



~Wiz

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Its odd how I didn't like the Mycenaeans as well but Gregorius was thrilled about it! I'd personally rather see McBride do a Medieval era book, notably something about Poland, Lithuania and the Baltic or the Armies of Medieval Africa (not the northern Muslim parts). But I'm happy with anything he does deep down.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

I just got Women Warlords by Tim Newark and Angus McBride and I was very surprised. It's awesome! I don't know why it took me so long to get this book. Some great pictures - Joan of Arc being captured by Burgundians, Amazons fighting Conquistadors, Sarmatians fighting Graeco-Scythians, plus another 13 great plates. Highly recommended!

So how are all your collections looking by now? Am I the only one constantly updating mine on the first page?

[Steppe Merc]

You're the only one. ~;) I'll udpate when I get home.. Right now I'm ignoring my teacher in computer class.
And I'm looking foward to the Sassanians as well! Woo!

[Meneldil]

Are Warlords armies and El Cid - Concord I think- any good ?

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Warlord Armies is excellent - some superb Celtic work by Angus and Richard Hook is on good form also, with pics of Lithuanian warriors, Hussites and Vikings. Graham Turner chimes in with a decent pic and Graham Summer lets the side down somewhat.

El Cid looks pretty good to me, I don't know the artist but his work looks impressive. That's on my 'to get' list.

Check out the 'Fighting Men Series' section of www.concord-publications.com for sample pics from these books. Angus' work is the cover Clontarf picture on the Balkans Warlords one.

Good news - I've just heard back from Osprey and 'apparantly' Sassanian Elite Cavalryman will be out in July this year! Oddly, this came from the same guy who told me that The Mycenaeans will be Angus' only book this year! I've e-mailed him back for assurance on this matter.

Oh and Warrior Women of Northern Europe was cancelled, and will not be coming out.

[Steppe Merc]

Hoot! Yay! Give me Sassanians over Women any day...

Um... That came out wrong. :embarassed:


~;)

[Meneldil]

Hum, I just noticed that the Vikings and the Normans, from the Elite serie aren't show anymore at ospreypublishing.com
What does that mean ? Are those 2 not published anymore ?

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Mmm maybe a compilation is coming, or they're being republished? Those two books are awesome, so it'd be a great shame if they have been discontinued. Amazon still have them in stock.

I've been told that Angus McBride will be illusrating both Sassanian Elite Cavalryman and The Mycenaeans for 2005. I hope he does a couple that actually interest ME for 2006!

[Meneldil]

Just in case, I have ordered both of them on amazon.fr ~D
Can't wait to receive The Vikings, The Normans and Norman Knights. All of them the same day. Yay ! ~:cheers:

Too bad Warrior women has been cancelled.

I had a look at Concord website, and the plate look weird. Quite different from usual McBride's work.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Which plates? Rest assured, his Concord work is 10X better than his Osprey work.

[Meneldil]

Not one in particular, but it just that they seem cartoonish (is that a word) to me. A bit like the plate you can find in warhammer books.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Not that I agree with you, but they do look better in print form.

Here's a question: what 10 Osprey books would you like to see in the future? Put the series and the artist. Mine would all be illustrated by McBride of course. ~D

1. Irish Warrior 900-1598 (Warrior)
2. Teutonic Knights (Elite)
3. Poland, Lithuania and the Baltic 1000-1300 and 1300-1500 (MAA - 2 volume set)
4. Medieval Balkans Armies 1000-1300 and 1300-1500 (MAA - 2 volume set)
5. Medieval Iberian Armies 1000-1300 and 1300-1500 (MAA - 2 volume set)
6. The Armies of Medieval Britain 1000-1300 and 1300-1500 (MAA - 2 volume set)
7. Armenia, Georgia and the Christian Armies of Asia Minor 1000-1450 (MAA)
8. Armies of Medieval Africa 800-1200 and 1200-1600 (MAA - 2 voume set)
9. Armies of the New World (Elite)
10. Armies of Medieval India 800-1200 and 1200-1500(MAA - 2 volume set)

Alright I cheated a bit with the 2 volume thing, but this was tough enough as it is. So what do you want to see?

[Meneldil]

Heh, there are some nice pics in warhammer books. Although I don't like the company, I admit that I enjoy to read their book.

Here are the Ospreys I'd like to see someday. All by McBride, since I haven't had any look at anyone else's art except Garry Embleton (X_X) :
1 - Armies of the Diadochi - MAA - Would probably need two or three books.
2 - Greco Bactria and the Mauryan Empire - MAA
3 - The Teutonic knights - Elite/Warrior
4 - Christian states in Asia Minor (1) - The Latin Empire and the Crusader States and (2) - Armenia and Georgia (MAA)
5 - Armies of the Khazar Kagnate (MAA)
6 - Hellenic warships (New vanguard)
7 - Armies of the Bosphorean Kingdom (MAA)
8 - The Maccabean army (Elite)
9 - Armies of the Albigean (sp?) Crusade (MAA)
10 - The Battle of Bouvine - 1214 (Campaign)

[Steppe Merc]

Ohh, the Indian and the Georgian one looks good. Let me try and start... will update.

1. Armies of the Selejuk Turks - Elite
2. Armies of Pontus - Men at Arms
3. Heratoi (right? these are Companions, right, or did I misspell it?)- Warrior
4. Armies of the Diodachi - Elite
5. Armies of Persia (redone correctly by McBride... not those crap pajama peoples) Elite

Will continue...

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Good choices. There's many more I can think of, but I'm trying to restrict myself.


9 - Armies of Medieval France (MAA)

You have seen Angus McBride's French Medieval Armies 1000-1300 and French Armies of the Hundred Years War haven't you? They're both great.

French Medieval Armies (http://www.ospreypublishing.com/title_detail.php/title=P1270~ser=MAA~per=41)

FA 100YW (http://www.ospreypublishing.com/title_detail.php/title=P7104~ser=MAA~per=41)

[Spartakus]

I've been following this thread for some while now, thought I would smack up my own collection as well.

In no particular order:

MEN-AT-ARMS SERIES
French Medieval Armies 1000-1300
French Armies of the Hundred Years War
German Medieval Armies 1000-1300
German Medieval Armies 1300-1500
Medieval Scandinavian Armies 1100-1300
Medieval Scandinavian Armies 1300-1500
The Age of Charlemagne
Byzantine Armies 886-1118
Armies of the Crusades
Saxon, Viking and Norman
Medieval Heraldry
The Mongols
Saladin and the Saracens
The Moors
Armies of Islam 7th - 11th century


ELITE SERIES
The Normans
The Vikings
The Samurai
The Knights at Tournament
Medieval Heraldry

WARRIOR SERIES
Germanic Warrior 236-568
Knight Templar 1120-1312
Celtic Warrior

FORTRESS SERIES
Norman Stone Castles (2)

GENERAL MILITARY SERIES
Alexander the Great (consists of Men-at-Arms 148: 'The Army of Alexander the Great' and Campaign 7: 'Alexander 334-323 BC')
Rome at War - Caesar and his legacy (consists of Essential Histories 21: ?Rome at War?, Essential Histories 43: ?Caesar's Gallic Wars? and Essential Histories 42: ?Caesar's Civil War?).

As some of you might see, there's a lot of McBride works here. I think he's one of Osprey's best artists. I also liked Christa Hook's work in Knight Templar, yet what I've seen of Gerry Embleton so far hasn't been my cup of tea.

I have one complaint, though, the writing sometimes tend to be a little drab. Too much "well, he wears this mail and this weapon and this bow", just lining up the facts without giving much thought to readability, "stuff happened this way and that way." There are notable exceptions, especially David Nicolle, and I also appreciated Simon MacDowall's writing in Germanic Warrior 236-568.

[Steppe Merc]

5 - Armies of the Khazar Kagnate (MAA)
Damn, that's a good choice! I actually posted my list the same time as yours, so it's just coincidence that we both have Diadochi...

[Meneldil]

Oh, right there are already some Ospreys about French medieval army. I thought it was french medieval knight. I'm going to replace it by the Albigean Crusade. I don't know if there are many military information about it, but it sounds good.

Steppe, I'm really looking for infos about the Diadochi armies for my Diadochi TW mod. Too bad there are nothing on that topic from Osprey (and the Montvert aren't published anymore :-/ )

I'd like to learn more about African medieval armies and Western europe armies, though it's not in my wish list ~:)

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

The Mycenaeans has been added to Amazon UK, and is scheduled for August. That means it will probably be up on Osprey in August. Two McBride books in 2 months!

Obviously that's not a real plate on the cover.

[frogbeastegg]

Anyone read this book (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1857533151/ref=pd_ir_b/026-9170655-0166015)? It seems similar to the Osprey titles, and Sumner did the two Roman uniform books, which I found quite interesting.

To very quickly catch up on several months of reading with no comment from me: I still don't like MacBride much for exactly the same reasons as before. Those crusade plates were terrible - very cartoon like and as usual the people looked very squat and out of proper proportion. I don’t like the artist but he can do much better than that.

Oh, and did I see someone say they didn't like the plates in the English medieval knight series? Gah! They show off the equipment very nicely; plenty of detail and I liked them. Exactly what I want in the books; scenic is all very well but it seldom shows me the details I need/want.

:dons flame proof armour:

[Steppe Merc]

Froggy, that does look like a bit Osprey.

And yeah, I don't really like those Angus plates. I do prefer some other ones... I loved the Mounted Archer of the Steppe. Angus is odd.. he goes from mediocorely bland to excellent to cartoony... thankfully not all in the same book.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

I think it could have been me who said something about the plates in the english medieval knight but the more precise words would be complete shite.

The mounted archer of the steppes plates were simply alright not Mcbrides best and the ones in the age of the crusades pisses all over them and any other osprey artist work ~:cool:

I am really stunned that you can like mcbride and not like those plates. They are exceptional and i feel that due to his work not being static and with most of his plates being dedicated to battles is the reasons why people might not like them.

[frogbeastegg]

Is this where I get to suggest you need eyes, BKB? :winkg: Nah, art is so subjective.

Plates A, E and F in English knight 1300-1400 are the best examples of what I really want from these Osprey books; a nice exploded diagram type thing detailing everything about the armour and weaponry, a sort of one stop shop for detail, appearance, function and um .... wearability. Plate E in particular has that very useful interior view of a coat of plates; wonderful. One of those diagrams provides everything I need to write about armour decently, since I already know the background stuff like how it goes on, how it is cleaned, that it is heavy, etc. Graham Turner is great at this particular kind of work; his scenic plates are not so good. But scenic is mostly useless to me.

I still maintain Peter Connolly is the best; shame he only does ancient and classical. Pity also that he has not put out a new book in ... hum, decades? He did one of the Colusseum but it had barely any of his illustrations.

So no one has read this particular book? I'll see if I can find out more; if it looks promising I might pick it up in the future.

Speaking of Osprey alike books, has anyone mentioned the Europa Militaria specials here? Only a few are likely to be of interest to people here (Medieval military costume, the Samurai recreated in colour photographs, the Vikings recreated in colour photographs, the Romans recreated in colour photographs) and the quality really does vary. I find the Samurai and the Medievla books the best. Vikings is not bad, but some of the photos are a bit bad. The Romans is a blend between great and … costumey. There is supposed to be an English Civil War book but I have not had any success getting it.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Is this where I get to suggest you need eyes, BKB?

I really, sincerely, think I should be the one suggesting that to you! ~D

Ordered Montvert's Armies of Bactria off an Amazon seller, so I should get it in a couple of days. I'll let you know what I think of it.

[Steppe Merc]

Yay! I was angry that I couldn't find any Montvert books on ebay... I though they had everything...

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Did you not have any luck ordering it off amazon uk then? Have you tried www.abebooks.com?

[The Wizard]

I am really stunned that you can like mcbride and not like those plates. They are exceptional and i feel that due to his work not being static and with most of his plates being dedicated to battles is the reasons why people might not like them.
IMO, it is in non-static and battle plates that McBride fails. I was in NYC this week, and at Borders on Broadway/Wall Street I bought Celtic Warrior 300 BC - AD 100. Since the Warrior series is my favorite (I'm probably going to end up buying either Late Roman Infantryman, Late Roman Cavalryman or Hospitaller Knight (1) before Armies of the Muslim Conquest), because it has a lot of battle plates and plates of action rather than the static ones in the Men-at-Arms series, I compared Wayne Reynolds' plates in Celtic Warrior to McBride's in Germanic Warrior AD 236 - 568, Rome's Enemies: Gallic and British Celts, and The Vikings. Now, as you may know, the plate of Valaris issuing a challenge to personal combat in Germanic Warrior was one of my favorites. However, it pales in comparison to Reynolds's plate on Celtic single combat in Italy 3rd century BC (Ironic, eh? Same place, only a difference in time of almost 700 years). Reynolds's work is more vibrant and alive. Reynolds's scene of the battle of the Sambre also hugely overclasses McBride's plate of the Battle of Campus Mauriacus (Chalons) in Germanic Warrior, as well as the one of the Viking sea battle in The Vikings.

But, then again, art is such a subjective thing. I prefer vibrant, lively artworks depicting action when it concerns military history, but McBride just doesn't seem to excel at such things in my opinion. Comparing the static plates of Reynolds (excluding the one of the Celtic warrior which also graces the front of the book) to those of McBride, I conclude that McBride's are better. They have better finish and touch than Reynolds' plates. Still, my favorite plates, those depicting action scenes, are best left alone by McBride and left over to such artists as Reynolds, Embleton and Christa Hook. One last note though: McBride seems to regard historical accuracy higher than Reynolds... Reynolds takes some artistic licenses in his plates, especially regarding swords.



~Wiz

[Duke Dick]

BKB, has mcbride got anything else in the pipeline like the age of the crusades?

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

IMO what you are saying is wrong, really wrong! How can you say the battle picture in viking is not as good as reynolds plate in celtic warrior! Okay reynolds is ok but he has done like four or five osprey books and to even compare him to mcbride is insane(not calling you insane, just the suggestion!)



those depicting action scenes, are best left alone by McBride and left over to such artists as Reynolds, Embleton and Christa Hook

Is this serious?! Reynolds i like and hook is ok but embleton is shite. There is no discussion, he is crap, period! Please someone stick up for me here! He is completely awful and to say he draws better battle plates than mcbride is insane ! None of them stand up to Angus in anyway whatsoever!

[The Wizard]

Oh come now, Embleton isn't that bad... he has his good books and his bad ones. A bad one (really, really bad) is Rome's Enemies: Germanics and Dacians. His there plates have bad finish, little touch and they look like sketches colored in (on a side note, the book itself, written by Peter Wilcox, is outdated regarding theory about the peoples described, and therefore bad). However, as compared to that disaster, the plates in The Sarmatians, especially the plate of the sacrifice to the sword by the noble Sarmatian and the battle scene from Trajan's first Dacian war (and recognizing the fact that the plate on the Bosphorans sucks... once again it seems to be a colored-in sketch), are very good... for some reason that I can't exactly pinpoint except to say they are vibrant, I like them a lot better than McBride plates. The scene of the battle of Strasbourg in Late Roman Infantryman is also an excellent plate... it seems Embleton's "sketchy" style lends itself well to action scenes.

At least, to me. Art is subjective... it's supposed to be, almost... makes it interesting ~;)



~Wiz

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

The only embleton plate i like is british archers fight at castllion in 1453, that picture is great but man i hate his whole style and use of colours. I guess i just adore mcbride! But you should try picking up ancient celts by mcbride and compare it to reynolds celtic warrior and i promise you wizard you will see how better he is ~D

[Meneldil]

From which Osprey is this plate ? I'm sure BKB will be able to answer this ~D

http://img146.exs.cx/img146/5958/galatian123bx.th.jpg (http://img146.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img146&image=galatian123bx.jpg)

Who are the characters on it ?

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Concord's Ancient Celts, by Tim Newark and Angus McBride. The plate depicts Brennos and his Celts sacking Delphi in 279 BC, only to feel (apparently) the wrath of the Greek Gods, hence the worried looks on their faces.

[Meneldil]

Nice, we're going to use this for the Galatians in Diadochi Total War :)

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

You may also find this picture from the same book useful:

http://members.aol.com/skyewrites/private/cegypt.jpg

From the same book, Celts serving as mercenaries under Ptolemy II.

[Steppe Merc]

I don't really like the Sarmatian book... The info's good, but the drawings are awfully static and bland...

[Meneldil]

Thanks BKB. If you have any other plate related to the Successors era, I'll happilly have a look at it ~;)

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

This is the last one I think, of Brennos Celts invading Greece prior to the sack of Delphi. The picture is a lot bigger in the actual book - there's a really old mad looking topless Celt down at the front who really makes the picture.

http://members.aol.com/skyewrites/private/celtgrek.jpg

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

I just got a reply from KenM, they guy who devises the plates for Angus' Concord books and while he didn't bring the best of news there is hope at least. He tell me that while he isn't well, Angus is getting on, and Newark has other projects on the go, there may, just may, be one book left in them, a book encompassing the whole Roman empire and their enemies. He mentioned 12 plates (not the usual 20 but better than nothing), featuring early battles with the Samnites and Etruscans all the way up to the Huns and Belisarius fighting the Goths. Sounds good to me, and it certainly has a lot of potential (Imperial Rome at War seemed a little constrictive), but anything they manage to get out now (he said if it did come to fruition it wouldn't be for another 3 years) would be fantastic.

In other news, I'm hoping to finish off the Ancient/Medieval/16th C Warrior and Elite Series soon. Not long to go now! (But then I may move onto 17th C stuff).

[Steppe Merc]

Bah, Romans? How about just their enemies? The Romans are so boring and their are already so much stuff about them out...

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Couple of decent books in the Osprey polls this month: Roman Infantry Tactics, or something like that, an Elite title, and my preference, Spanish Colonial Troops in the New World.

I checked the archive of the polls and found that a Campaign book of Flodden is coming out in May 2006! I've wanted this one for a while, and if Angus McBride does it it will be great. However, I've got a bad feeling its gonna be Graham Turner.

[Meneldil]

Just got Elite : The Viking and Warriors : Norman Knights.

Anyone knows an Osprey showing some Nabataeans ? Maybe Rome Ennemies 5 : Desert Frontier ?

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Yes, I believe there is one plate in there depicting the Nabateans.

[Steppe Merc]

I got the Hungary and the Fall of Eastern Europe... quite good. I wish it didn't focus quite so much on the later years, but I still really liked it. The next one I'm looking at is the Islamic Armies 7-10th Century... I wonder if that includes the Turks?

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Been looking around Amazon and have found a few more forthcoming Osprey books I'll be adding to my collection and thought you lot might be interested in them too:

After the first one comes the inevitable Elite title Samurai Commanders 2: 1577-1877 (Stephen Turnbull and Richard Hook)

And I thought the first two were bad enough - a new MAA title, Roman Military Clothing 3: 395-641AD (Raffaele Amato and Graham Sumner). Guarenteed to be awful!

A new addition to the Fortress series, Japanese Fortified Monasteries: 949-1603 (Stephen Turnbull and Peter Dennis)

Another Fortress title, British Fortifications in Zululand 1879 (Ian Knight and Adam Hook)

And finally another MAA title, Warrior Peoples of East Africa: 1840-1900 (CJ Peers and Raffaele Ruggeri)

So not a great year for fans of pre-1600 history (I like some of the later stuff though, like Zulus, as you can see), but hopefully there will be a few more surprises when the full catalogue for the second half of the year is revealed. At least there's a couple of Angus titles to look forward to!

[Meneldil]

I received the Elite "The Normans". I will read it in the next days, but the Hasting battle plate is awesome. Some others are great, but this one kills everything :)

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

I concur - that book in general is definitely one of his best for Osprey.

I ordered Samurai Heraldry, Conquistador (Warrior), Aztec Warrior, Anglo-Saxon Thegn, Viking Hersir and Landsknecht Soldier today. I'll order Carolingian Cavalryman when it becomes available on Thursday.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Oddly, though it would seem to be available, you can't actually order Carolingian Cavalryman yet. ~:confused: I think Osprey should update their site properly.

Also, Sassanian Elite Cavalryman is confirmed for a July release. The pic on the cover is of course an old one from the Parthian and Sassanid Persians book, and will not feature in the final product:

http://www.ospreypublishing.com/title_detail.php/title=S7131~per=40

[Steppe Merc]

Wait, it's an Elite title!?! Sweet! I though it was a warrior, which while good, isn't nearly as good as an Elite... I'm really looking foward for the Sassanian Persians...

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

It would be, only Elite's only seem to have 8 plates now rather than the old 12 - they should really lower the price taking that into account. Still, you get full scenic plates rather than some devoted at arms and armour.

Just a heads-up: Carolingian Cavalryman is now available to order. Got mine in.

[The Wizard]

Going a bit OT here, but since we're usually talking about the artwork rather than the text of military works, I'd like to show a beautiful example of the talent showcased by Russian military artists. Besides this, I've also seen a great book (sadly in Russian) about the army of Alexander Nevsky with amazing plates.

http://www.xenophongi.org/rushistory/battles/mick3s.jpg

This is only a part of the full scene depicting the Battle of Bortenovo in 1317 between the Grand Princes of Tver and Moscow. The entire painting covers an entire wall in the city museum of Tver.

Although the battle, fought for supremacy amongst the vassals of the Khan of the Golden Horde, was won by Mikhail II, Prince of Tver, he made a political mistake by capturing the wife of his adversary, Yuri III. She was also the sister of the Khan, so the Khan supported the prince of Moscow and with the support of the Tartars Yuri III gained the title Grand Prince of Vladimir, which was important since Vladimir-Suzdal had been the major principality before Subedei and Batu Khan invaded Russia.



~Wiz

[ICantSpellDawg]

ok:

Campaign series:
46 - lake peipus 1242
19 - hattin 1187

fortress series:
afghanistan cave complexes '79-04

warrior series:
18 - knight of outremer 1187-1344
33 - knight hospitaller (1)
68 - continental infantrymen of the american revolution

Men-at-arms series:
34 - waffen-ss
166 - german medieval armies
155 - knights of christ
200 - el cid and the reconquista
220 - the SA 1921-45
231 - french medieval armies 1000-1300
266 - Allgemeine-SS ***my favorite one***

BKB's list gave me a raging boner

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

BKB's list gave me a raging boner

ROFLMAO!!! :laugh4: :laugh4:

BTW, does that mean it'll get bigger as my collection does? ~;)

Still waiting for Carolingian Cavalryman :furious3:

[ICantSpellDawg]

ROFLMAO!!! :laugh4: :laugh4:

BTW, does that mean it'll get bigger as my collection does? ~;)

Still waiting for Carolingian Cavalryman :furious3:



seriously - ospreys books are so expensive to me
i wish i could afford more - but they end up being like 18-20 bucks a piece

[Steppe Merc]

Same here. They are pretty expensive. It's a bit cheaper on Amazon (11-14 bucks), but unfortuanetly because we're in America, it's a lot more expensive, and for me harder to find. It's a shame too...

[Meneldil]

Heh, I can order Osprey for basically the same price as the british one. Probably one of the good point of the euro ;)

BKB, if you have the Bactrian Montvert book, could you please post the plates here or send them by PM ? We might use those for the Diadochoi mod.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

The Bactrian book plates are VERY cartoony, and quite awful. They're an interesting culture though, so I'll see what I can do.

Carolingian Cavalryman came a couple of days ago, but it's very disappointing IMO. 8 plates again, and though there are 3 action-esque plates they're not up to Reynolds' usual standard. Still, better then most of Gerry Embleton's offerings though!

[Meneldil]

Even if they are cartoony and awful, they might be of some kind of help ;)

[Steppe Merc]

I got a book store gift card for Easter, thinking about getting an Osprey book or two.
Any suggestions? I'm looking for more Middle Eastern horse archer types of things...
Is the Armies of Islam 7-11th Century good?
What about Armies of Ottoman Turks?
The one about Tamerlane?
Saladin and the Saracens?

Any othe suggestions would be helpful.

[Meneldil]

I don't have any of them, but I don't think the Ottoman were known for their Horse Archers.
I'm pretty sure there would be some horse archer in the Tamerlane one.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Just found at about 2 new Concord Publications books, Age of Conquerors and Medieval Knights. Both sound good, but I don't know if Angus McBride will illustrate them or not. Ditto to Gunpowder Armies and Eastern Romans also. I really hope he does though.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

I just got Montvert's Warriors of Eurasia and I have to say its very good indeed. I like books that cover relatively unknown stuff, and in this there's 22 plates which cover the likes of the Siberians, Baltic peoples and numerous horse-archer cultures which I've never even heard of before! It goes from about 9th C BC to 1700AD. It's quite thin though as the only text is the commentary on the plates.
The artist is pretty good, not Angus quality, but certainly a step up from the Bactrian book. He always make the warriors look really cool though, which I must say I did appreciate.

I think you'd like it in particular Steppe.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Feels like I'm the only one keeping this thread alive at the minute. Got Concord Publications' Mongols book - its not Angus, so IMO the plates are naturally a little bland but certainly not the worse I've seen.

Also, there's a new Osprey book slated for November that may be of some interest to people - The Third Crusade Campaign book.

Amazon link (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1841768685/qid=1114343673/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_8_1/202-6051096-6319026)

[Steppe Merc]

Oh, third Crusade... when is that Sassananian one coming out?
And that book does sound sweet! How much money? And where did you get it from?
And any chance I can see any of those plates? Any Scythian, Sarmatian, Parthian era ones would be good, as well as Avars and Bulgars and later ones, if at all possible...

[sharrukin]

I got a book store gift card for Easter, thinking about getting an Osprey book or two.
Any suggestions? I'm looking for more Middle Eastern horse archer types of things...
Is the Armies of Islam 7-11th Century good?
What about Armies of Ottoman Turks?
The one about Tamerlane?
Saladin and the Saracens?

Any othe suggestions would be helpful.

Armies of Islam 7-11th Century is fairly good, but I wish they had dealt with the Arab and Persian armies a little more as they concentrate on a lot of auxiliaries. Of course the Arab armies were in large part not Arab so...

Still not bad and some good pictures by Angus Mcbride!

[sharrukin]

Couldn't help myself, broke down and ordered some of the ones I wanted.

Mounted Archers of the Steppe
The Ancient Assyrians
Ancient Chinese Armies 1500BC to 200BC
Saracen Faris AD 1050-1250
English Medieval Knight 1200-1300
Arthur and the Anglo-Saxon Wars
Byzantium at War
Saladin and the Saracens
Polish Armies 1569-1696
Rome's Enemies; The Desert Frontier
Mughul India 1504-1761

[sharrukin]

Just a question; Does anyone know where this picture is from?

I thought it was an Osprey publication (The Achaemenid Army) but cannot find any such title listed.


http://img53.echo.cx/img53/4819/ospreytheachaemenidarmy085tt3s.th.jpg (http://img53.echo.cx/my.php?image=ospreytheachaemenidarmy085tt3s.jpg)

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

The Achaemenid Persian Army by Montvert Publications, which I don't have and seems to be very rare.

[Steppe Merc]

Sharrukin, let me know how the Saladin and the Saracen one is... next time I order on Amazon, I'd like to get one, preferably on Turkish horse archers...

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Osprey have put up the proper cover for the Sassanian Elite Cavalry and it looks superb! Angus on top form as usual:

http://www.ospreypublishing.com/osp_img/titlecovers/S7131AL.JPG

Who are the Sassanians fighting here? They look quite Oriental.

[sharrukin]

Osprey have put up the proper cover for the Sassanian Elite Cavalryman final and it looks superb! Angus on top form as usual:

http://www.ospreypublishing.com/osp_img/titlecovers/S7131AL.JPG

Who are the Sassanians fighting here? They look quite Oriental.

I cannot imagine that the four barrelled crossbow was used all that extensively then or indeed ever, but it does look rather interesting. The quilted linen overcoat, ribbons and other details look good. This one was listed as a future product so I didn't order it.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Yeah its not out until July. You can't pre-order books from Osprey, which is odd. July should be a decent month actually, with Graham Turner's Acre and Battle of the Boyne campaign books due out also.

Nice to see a bit of activity in this thread - I thought it was dead!

[sharrukin]

Sharrukin, let me know how the Saladin and the Saracen one is... next time I order on Amazon, I'd like to get one, preferably on Turkish horse archers...

I will, the one on 'Faris' looked interesting and if they have anything on Turkish archers I will give you a heads up as well. I have heard that the Turkish bows were weaker than the bows of earlier peoples and the later Ottomans. Any info on this?

Saracen Faris AD 1050-1250

[sharrukin]

Yeah its not out until July. You can't pre-order books from Osprey, which is odd. July should be a decent month actually, with Graham Turner's Acre and Battle of the Boyne campaign books due out also.

Nice to see a bit of activity in this thread - I thought it was dead!

Well I have been putting off buying Osprey books but I needed my fix.

I looked for a site on the Montvert Publications and could not find one. The only thing I saw was Amazon selling a few of them. They are expensive! What do you get for them compared to Osprey and keep in mind I really do read them for the articles. ~D The illustration are nice but they need to be accurate and Osprey does a good job of that mostly.

[Steppe Merc]

I have heard that the Turkish bows were weaker than the bows of earlier peoples and the later Ottomans. Any info on this?
I heard that the Turkish bows were the best, even better than the Mongol ones, which were too big to fully take advantage of the composite design... I have the Archers of the Steppe, very excellent, talks about the different people's designs...

[sharrukin]

I heard that the Turkish bows were the best, even better than the Mongol ones, which were too big to fully take advantage of the composite design... I have the Archers of the Steppe, very excellent, talks about the different people's designs...

Well I have heard that they were the best as well, and I have heard that they were weaker. The crusaders mentioned how the Turkish bows would not penetrate the chainmail they wore but that other bows would. I find this somewhat confusing as later Turkish bows used by the Ottomans were very powerful and the bows used by most steppe peoples at this time were also deadly to chainmail.

[Steppe Merc]

Well in archers of the steppe they said Turkish were the best. As for the Crusaders, not sure about that one. Mabye they got the Turks confused with another group of horse bowmen? Or said chain when it should have been plate? But yeah, I've heard the Ottomans had the best bows ever... and I can't imagine the other Turks having bad ones...

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Yes! Just won I hard fought bidding war over The Achaemenid Army on Ebay. Quite expensive but I had to have it. :knight: :evilgrin:

[Gregorius0202]

Hey guys,

I haven't gotten any Osprey books for a while because of my financial position, but I hope to again, soon! As for the Turkish/Steppe bow thing, I think that one of the Turkish bows that is generally considered "best" would be the later flight bows, which were more or less for competitive archery, rather than warfare. They were shorter and more compact, made to perform high-range shooting. Some arrows were known to have flown over 750 meters!

As for the earlier bows, I really wouldn't know about the potential power difference between Turkish and non-Turkish bows. I'd expect that the bows that were of higher draw weights, with longer siyahs and the most effective arrows would be the "best."

-Gregory-

[Steppe Merc]

Awesome!
And I also have heard of the sporting bows, and one book I read was quite quick to point out the differences.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

I also won a collection of Military History magazines, which Angus has done artwork for. There's about 40 issues in the lot, so I'm hoping for a few at least. Here's some examples of his stuff, which looks very good. It all started when I heard that the Battle of Yellow Ford picture he did was done for an issue. But which one?!?

Norman Invasion and British-Zulu Battle

http://www.teamresell.com/images/milhist-4.jpg

His fourth Liegnitz piece

http://www.teamresell.com/images/milhist-5.jpg

Belisarius defending Rome (looks awesome)

http://www.teamresell.com/images/milhist-3.jpg

I've also seen ones for the Battle of Pharsalus and the Siege of Vienna (1529)

Oh and also here's a pic of the Achaemenid Army cover for those interested:

http://www.alphalink.com.au/~nwa/dbx/achaemenid_persian_army.jpg

I also found this interesting piece - a watercolour of Agincourt by McBride. The archers look great, though I'm not sure about the colourful approaching army, trees and background.

http://www.booksillustrated.com/images/I82e.jpg

Finally, here's a pic of Eastern Romans from the excellent Imperial Rome at War book by Concord. I don't recall it being posted here before.

http://par.toutatis.free.fr/comitatus/img42.jpg

[sharrukin]

Yes! Just won I hard fought bidding war over The Achaemenid Army on Ebay. Quite expensive but I had to have it. :knight: :evilgrin:

That might have been me as I am trying to get a hold of a copy myself. ~:mecry:

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Sorry about that if that is the case. Did it go for $31? If so that wasn't me.

[sharrukin]

Sorry about that if that is the case. Did it go for $31? If so that wasn't me.

Oh well, I will live through the trauma. I posted a bid on the Amazon UK site as well so I might get it through there as well. What does 12 Pounds mean in US currency? I know how to convert US to Canadian currency but not the Pound. Is it 1.8$ per pound?

How is it? The Osprey book on the Persian army was not too great IMO. Does this one differ from that?

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

About $21 I think.

I don't have it yet (probably by end of next week), but it's bound to be better, at least plate wise than Osprey's effort. Richard Scollins was a very good artist.

What I'm really looking for now is my grail piece(s), Montvert's Seleucid and Ptolemaic Reformed Armies, both volumes of it. They're gonna be a bitch to find.

[sharrukin]

About $21 I think.

I don't have it yet (probably by end of next week), but it's bound to be better, at least plate wised than Osprey's effort. Richard Scollins was a very good artist.

What I'm really looking for now is my grail piece(s), Montvert's Seleucid and Ptolemaic Reformed Armies, both volumes of it. They're gonna be a bitch to find.

I haven't heard of those before. What do you know about them? Does Montvert still publish, do they have a website? I tried finding one but couldn't.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

No I don't think they do still publish, and they don't have a site. I'll post some of the plates from it on this thread soon that I and other people have come across on the Net. Here's a list of Montvert books I know about:

Ancient Warrior (A small quarterly journal they started with 8 plates which only ran for one issue I believe. Not very good. I have it)
Justinian's War (Don't know if its illustrated)
The Achaemenid Army (I have it)
Reivers (Keith Durham and Angus McBride - I have it)
Warriors of Eurasia (22 plates, pretty good - I have it)
Armies of Bactria (2 volumes, 1 text, 1 with 8 colour and many other black and white drawings. Awful illustrations. I have it)
Armies of Tang China (David Nicolle I think and Angus McBride - I have it)
Sassanian Armies (David Nicolle and Angus McBride - I have it)
Seleucid and Ptolemaic Reformed Armies: Seleucid Army (Nick Sekunda and Angus McBride)
Seleucid and Ptolemaic Reformed Armies: Ptolemaic Army (Nick Sekunda and Angus McBride)

[Meneldil]

Well, I've looked for the Seleucid and Ptolemaic for months, yet I haven't had any luck.

BKB, would you mind posting some plates (or sending them by PM) to help the Diadochi mod ?

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Here's some from the S&PRA books. These obviously are not my scans:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=1811959314

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=144849

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=144851

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=144860

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=144864

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=144869

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=144885

These are Romans, but this must be from these books as I don't recall seeing them elsewhere. I don't think they're from Roman Republican Army, infact I'm quite certain, though if I'm wrong I'm sorry.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=144897

Each book has 8 plates, so that's 16 of which I've probably only seen about half, most of the Seleucid ones. Meneldil, was there any more in the links you sent me?

EDIT: Sorry but the pics won't directly load up, had to link them.

[Meneldil]

I don't think so, though I think I've seen some other plates showing seleucids, but from other books.

If you have time, I'd like to have a look at plates from Armies of Bactria, if there's anything that takes place between 323 and 30 BC

Also, is the Army of the Timurids (or what is the book's name) any good ? The cover looks awesome, and I'm seriously thinking about ordering it, even if it's not a dark age osprey.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

The Timurids Osprey book is good. I'd definitely recommend it. No real stand-out pictures though.

[The Wizard]

The Timurid plates are pretty good, about as good as Angus can get (sorry BKB ~;)). But the text is definately what you should look at -- it gives a lot of information on warfare of the time. Only gripe is the lack of descriptions of campaigns and battles.

I can't choose -- Late Byzantine Armies, Muslim Conquest, or Ottoman Armies 1300 - 1700? What is the best according to you guys?



~Wiz

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Late Byzantine Armies for me.


The Timurid plates are pretty good, about as good as Angus can get (sorry BKB )

As I said, the plates aren't great in it, so its extremely, extremely far from as good as Angus gets I can safely say.

[The Wizard]

Actually I find them quite good for Angus's doing... especially the first one. Better than his offerings in the Seleucid & Ptolemaics books. But that's my opinion. Luckily there's no State Art Department to tell me what to like and what not to like. ~;)



~Wiz

[sharrukin]

Late Byzantine Armies is very good if you mean Osprey series.

[The Wizard]

Well then, my decision is made. Thanks ~:)



~Wiz

[cegorach]

I have just started my collection buying Marston Moor 1644 (another historical battle for P&M TW ~D ). ~:cheers:

I have ordered Polish Armies 1569-1696 ( both volumes) and after I get these I am going to buy another (possibly less) 15 books - I am particulary interested in the XVI-XVIIth century, XVI-XVIIth century Japan and 2nd WW, but honestly I won't need much related to the third subject. ~D

Cheers ! :charge: :charge:

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

The Achaemenid Persian Army arrived today. Apart from the ones you've seen, I'd say my favourite pic is the one of Persian Auxilliaries, including an Indian Infantryman and an Egyptian Marine. Also got Siege Warfare in the Roman World, which is good and Samurai Commanders 1, which is pretty poor IMO.

Should have finished the Ancient/Medieval/Renaissance books by August!

[sharrukin]

The Achaemenid Persian Army arrived today. Apart from the ones you've seen, I'd say my favourite pic is the one of Persian Auxilliaries, including an Indian Infantryman and an Egyptian Marine. Also got Siege Warfare in the Roman World, which is good and Samurai Commanders 1, which is pretty poor IMO.

Should have finished the Ancient/Medieval/Renaissance books by August!

How is the text information? Does it describe Persian armour in any detail and who used it? Does it go into any detail about the names for soldiery and such?

Could you post a picture of the indian infantrymen? Are they wearing the Antariya?

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Is that a garment below the waist? If so, yes. The image is of Xerxes levies, and shows the two mentioned along with a Kappodocian Infantryman and an East Iranian Infantryman. Its very comprehensive, with many black and white small plates supplementing the coloured ones throughout. Unlike Osprey, each warrior gets a decent description and all in all these are better for Osprey for information. I'm sure you'd like it, but I haven't really had time to look at it yet. I'd wager its the best book on the Achaemenid Army you could buy.

[sharrukin]

Is that a garment below the waist? If so, yes. The image is of Xerxes levies, and shows the two mentioned along with a Kappodocian Infantryman and an East Iranian Infantryman. Its very comprehensive, with many black and white small plates supplementing the coloured ones throughout. Unlike Osprey, each warrior gets a decent description and all in all these are better for Osprey for information. I'm sure you'd like it, but I haven't really had time to look at it yet. I'd wager its the best book on the Achaemenid Army you could buy.

Well I have it on order if one is available. Cross my fingers. And yes the Antariya is a folded garment below the waist.

[cegorach]

[I]Polish Winged Hussar 1500-1775 (Warrior) - V. Vuksic (WHO?)

BKB you probably know now, but here are some samples of his work

- http://pubwww.srce.hr/husar/ ~D


Anyway, I'd like to FINALLY get this book :charge:

[Inuyasha12]

Does anyone here have any osprey books on the eastern armies-japan or china. Can they post some scans here? Im curious about what they looked like. If not could you point me in the right place where i might find such scans or images?

:bow: Please :bow:

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

My word I'm really looking forward to Sassanian Elite Cavalry now! ~D

http://www.ospreypublishing.com/osp_img/titlespreads/S7131SPR2S.JPG

[The Wizard]

I most certainly agree! ~:eek:



~Wiz

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Ah so you do like Angus at heart! I knew you weren't totally devoid of taste! ~D ~:cheers:

And I just bought Seleucid and Ptolemaic Reformed Armies Volume 1: The Seleucid Army off an Amazon seller! A princely sum but half of my Holy Grail appears to be complete!

[gie]

Ah so you do like Angus at heart! I knew you weren't totally devoid of taste! ~D ~:cheers:

And I just bought Seleucid and Ptolemaic Reformed Armies Volume 1: The Seleucid Army off an Amazon seller! A princely sum but half of my Holy Grail appears to be complete!

can you please post the plates from this book!

[The Wizard]

Ah so you do like Angus at heart! I knew you weren't totally devoid of taste! ~D ~:cheers:
I swear, it's just my love of everything Sassanid Persian! ~;) ~:cheers:



~Wiz

[Steppe Merc]

Same! ~D
Oh... pretty... I'm deffinetly gonna get that one once it comes out!

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Acre, with plates by Graham Turner, is looking pretty tasty also:

http://www.ospreypublishing.com/osp_img/titlecovers/S8626AL.JPG

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Just got The Seleucid Army today. I'll try and post pics if I can, but there's only two plates you haven't seen. Its excellent but a bit anti-climatic being as I've already seen 6 of the plates. However, I've only seen two at the most of The Ptolemaic Army so if I can get hold of that it should prove more satisfying. The two unseen drawings are Plate 2 showing Antiochus and some officials (not great) and Plate 8 which is much better, showing a Seleucid Horse Archer encountering two Parthian Horse Archers.

The Ptolemaic Army must have that one of the cavalryman riding alongside the Elephant. I'd link to the pics but all of them don't seem to work anymore. ~:confused:

Oh and Sharrukin (or anyone else for that matter), if you're ever really, and I mean really, desperate, you can get a copy of the Achaemenid Army here for a very princely sum indeed:

Abebooks Achaemenid Army Link (http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?y=0&tn=achaemenid+army&x=0)

I paid about half that, and I'd only pay that much for the Ptolemaic Army. Its a lot of money but I just wanted to tell you that it is always available if you want it. Now if I KNEW where to find a copy of the Ptolemaic Army at least I could consider buying it! ~:cheers:

[sharrukin]

Just got The Seleucid Army today. I'll try and post pics if I can, but there's only two plates you haven't seen. Its excellent but a bit anti-climatic being as I've already seen 6 of the plates. However, I've only seen two at the most of The Ptolemaic Army so if I can get hold of that it should prove more satisfying. The two unseen drawings are Plate 2 showing Antiochus and some officials (not great) and Plate 8 which is much better, showing a Seleucid Horse Archer encountering two Parthian Horse Archers.

The Ptolemaic Army must have that one of the cavalryman riding alongside the Elephant. I'd link to the pics but all of them don't seem to work anymore. ~:confused:

Oh and Sharrukin (or anyone else for that matter), if you're ever really, and I mean really, desperate, you can get a copy of the Achaemenid Army here for a very princely sum indeed:

Abebooks Achaemenid Army Link (http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?y=0&tn=achaemenid+army&x=0)

I paid about half that, and I'd only pay that much for the Ptolemaic Army. Its a lot of money but I just wanted to tell you that it is always available if you want it. Now if I KNEW where to find a copy of the Ptolemaic Army at least I could consider buying it! ~:cheers:


I am bidding on Ebay right now for 15 pounds British which is more than I want to pay for it but the link you have shows a price of 100+ dollars. That's pretty steep.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Its very steep I know, but I just thought I post it in case anyone was desperately looking for it. Good luck on the ebay one!

[sharrukin]

Its very steep I know, but I just thought I post it in case anyone was desperately looking for it. Good luck on the ebay one!

The Seleucid and Ptolemaic Reformed Armies, 168-145 BC: v. 1

Is this what you are looking for BTW.

Thanks the Achaemenid army is one which I very much want as the one done by Nick Secunda on the Persian Armies for Osprey was rather poorly done IMO. Too many purple pajama boys which I would guess is where CA got their concept for the Parthians in RTW.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Volume 2 I believe. Its the last book I really want plus I'll have completed the Montvert collection (Don't know about Justinian's Wars - could be anything).

[gie]

Just got The Seleucid Army today. I'll try and post pics if I can, but there's only two plates you haven't seen. Its excellent but a bit anti-climatic being as I've already seen 6 of the plates. However, I've only seen two at the most of The Ptolemaic Army so if I can get hold of that it should prove more satisfying. The two unseen drawings are Plate 2 showing Antiochus and some officials (not great) and Plate 8 which is much better, showing a Seleucid Horse Archer encountering two Parthian Horse Archers.

The Ptolemaic Army must have that one of the cavalryman riding alongside the Elephant. I'd link to the pics but all of them don't seem to work anymore. ~:confused:

Oh and Sharrukin (or anyone else for that matter), if you're ever really, and I mean really, desperate, you can get a copy of the Achaemenid Army here for a very princely sum indeed:

Abebooks Achaemenid Army Link (http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?y=0&tn=achaemenid+army&x=0)

I paid about half that, and I'd only pay that much for the Ptolemaic Army. Its a lot of money but I just wanted to tell you that it is always available if you want it. Now if I KNEW where to find a copy of the Ptolemaic Army at least I could consider buying it! ~:cheers:

i seen only 5 plates from The Seleucid Army

http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=216118
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=216119
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=216120
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=216123
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=216125

and i know about 2:
Plate 2 showing Antiochus and some officials (not great)
Plate 8 which is much better, showing a Seleucid Horse Archer encountering two Parthian Horse Archers.

you say you seen 6 plates ?(i only seen 5)
is one of those?

http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=216126
http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=216132

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Those bottom two must be from The Ptolemaic Army. The sixth plate in question is the first one, oddly showing Roman Soldiers, presumably as a base to what they based their reforms on. I posted it a few pages back but now its gone. Its very good actually.

[gie]

Those bottom two must be from The Ptolemaic Army. The sixth plate in question is the first one, oddly showing Roman Soldiers, presumably as a base to what they based their reforms on. I posted it a few pages back but now its gone. Its very good actually.

Thank you!

[gie]

from a russian site

Seleucids from Battle of Magnesia (2 c. BC)
http://www.xlegio.ru/armies/shkrabo/seleuc2.jpg
1. From left to right:
heavily armed sarissophoros, thyreophoros, heavily armed sarissophoros, chariot-fighter(supposed)
http://www.xlegio.ru/armies/shkrabo/seleuc1.jpg
2. graeco bactrians(as subjects of Seleucids)
general(centre), arm-bearer(heavy cavalry), Galatian mercenary

[gie]

Armies of Bactria

http://webpages.charter.net/marcajriddle/Graeco%20Bactrian%20troops(Nikonorov).jpg
http://webpages.charter.net/marcajriddle/Elephants/Graeco%20Bactrian%20Elephants(nikorov).jpg

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Yep the Bactrian ones are from the Montvert book. I told you all they weren't great!

[cegorach]

BKB

I am searching for more information about Balcan & Venetian armies after 1480.

Can I expect to find anything really useful in Osprey books: Hungary and the Fall of Eastern Europe and in the one about Venetian Empire ?

I am especially interested in wars between Venetia and the Ottomans in the XVIIth century. :bow:

Regards Cegorach ~:cheers:

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

I'll have a browse and get back to you. :book:

[gie]

Eumenes Kappodokian Bodyguard
Maccabean Heavy Cavalry
https://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y154/gieImages/EumenesKappodokianBodyguardc.jpghttps://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y154/gieImages/maccabeanheavycavalry.jpg

[Steppe Merc]

I am searching for more information about Balcan & Venetian armies after 1480.

Can I expect to find anything really useful in Osprey books: Hungary and the Fall of Eastern Europe and in the one about Venetian Empire ?

I am especially interested in wars between Venetia and the Ottomans in the XVIIth century.
The Hungarian one is quite good. I don't think it has much stuff after concering that particular period though...

[gie]

From The Seleucid and Ptolemaic Reformed Armies, 168-145 BC: v. 2
3 new plates.

painted stelae depicting 'romanised' troops
https://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y154/gieImages/Ptolemaic/ptole3.jpg
Gallic/Gaesetae mercenairies + African
https://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y154/gieImages/Ptolemaic/ptole4.jpg
Tarentine light cavalry
https://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y154/gieImages/Ptolemaic/ptole5.jpg


could The Blind King of Bohemia post the 2 misssig plates from
The Seleucid and Ptolemaic Reformed Armies, 168-145 BC: v. 1?

a joint efort by gie, mic and Brennos

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Great find! I love the 2nd and 3rd plates - not sure if I should have looked though as now only 3 will be new when I get the book (IF I get the book!). I'll get onto getting those pics ASAP, though I want to do it with my digital camera which is broken at the minute.

[edyzmedieval]

Hey BKB,

I have seen at Osprey that some books(Byzantine Armies 886-1168) are from 1979!!!!! Is that true????

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Yep. They've been going for a while. Angus McBride, the artist for that book is 74 now. It was only from the late 80's when the artwork became more ambitious and frankly better.

[The Wizard]

Eumenes Kappodokian Bodyguard
https://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y154/gieImages/EumenesKappodokianBodyguardc.jpg

Whats wrong with that plate? It's edited with another head and a xyston, right? The original was simply Persian cavalry, IIRC...



~Wiz

[Steppe Merc]

Good call.. I thought I had seen that pic before...

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Looks like Osprey have got a couple of General Military compilation books lined up for the Autumn. The first is Rome and her Enemies, which I could have sworn has been done before. The author however is new and no artists are mentioned, so this could be an entirely new piece of work. If not, expect plates from any of the Rome's Enemies books, the Carthaginian Wars and other relevant material.

Rome and Her Enemies (http://www.ospreypublishing.com/title_detail.php/title=S9320~per=40)

Meanwhile we have a more straightforward and interesting compilation, The Aztecs and Conquistadores. Angus' disappointing work from the MAA title Conquistadores will feature along with Adam Hook's plates from Aztec Warrior and Conquistador, both from the Warrior series. It could however just be one of these, though both is more likely.

Aztecs and Conquistadores (http://www.ospreypublishing.com/title_detail.php/title=S9347~ser=GNM)

I'm definitely not getting the second, and will make a decision on the first when I see it.

[sharrukin]

Whats wrong with that plate? It's edited with another head and a xyston, right? The original was simply Persian cavalry, IIRC...



~Wiz

I have the picture but I didn't notice it until you pointed it out.

http://img71.echo.cx/img71/52/achaemenidcavalry9ag.th.jpg (http://img71.echo.cx/my.php?image=achaemenidcavalry9ag.jpg)

Eumenes Kappodokian Bodyguard
https://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y154/gieImages/EumenesKappodokianBodyguardc.jpg

They are clearly the same. You have a good eye Wiz!

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

GOOD NEW ANGUS MCBRIDE OSPREY BOOK ALERT! ~D

Armies of Ivan the Terrible Amazon Link (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1841769258/qid=1118521530/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_8_1/026-9492584-4210053)

Armies of Ivan the Terrible; Russian Armies 1505-1700! Written by David Nicolle and V Shpakovsky, I'm looking forward to this. Hopefully there will be a double page Siege of Kazan pic!

Plus another interesting one by Nic Fields and illustrated by Adam Hook, Roman Auxiliary Cavalryman 14-193AD! Adam Hook's a good artist so this should be a nice addition to the collection also.

Roman Auxiliary Cavalryman Amazon Link (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1841769738/qid=1118521788/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_10_1/026-9492584-4210053)

1500-1700 Russia is really being spoiled! Russian Fortresses 1480-1682 is another one forthcoming for 2006 in the Fortress line up. I must say I do like Peter Dennis' artwork for this series:

Russian Fortresses Amazon Link (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1841769169/qid=1118522053/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_8_3/026-9492584-4210053)

With Flodden also confirmed, 2006 is looking like a good year so far! I'd expect these in the first 6 months of 2006 though; January would be too good to be true.

[gie]

does anyone was an old copy of the WRG publication of the Greek& Persian wars?

[Steppe Merc]

Armies of Ivan the Terrible; Russian Armies 1505-1700! Written by David Nicolle and V Shpakovsky, I'm looking forward to this. Hopefully there will be a double page Siege of Kazan pic!
Wow, Ivan lived 195 years? ~;)

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Yeah well maybe they would have been better off going with Russian Armies 1500-1700. ~D

[cegorach]

[QUOTE=The Blind King of Bohemia]GOOD NEW ANGUS MCBRIDE OSPREY BOOK ALERT! ~D

Armies of Ivan the Terrible Amazon Link (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1841769258/qid=1118521530/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_8_1/026-9492584-4210053)

Armies of Ivan the Terrible; Russian Armies 1505-1700! Written by David Nicolle and V Shpakovsky, I'm looking forward to this. Hopefully there will be a double page Siege of Kazan pic!

GREAT !

I am looking forward to this 2. ~D ~:cheers:

[cegorach]

My collection is growing - slowly ~:confused: - I have just received my 4th Osprey book ( the Lancknechts from M-a-a series), but I am waiting for 3 more books now ~:cheers:

[gie]

Does anyone knows where is this image from?

https://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y154/gieImages/Others/scyth4.jpg

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Montvert's Warriors of Eurasia I believe.

[gie]

i have Montvert's Warriors of Eurasia in pdf format and it is not from this book!

[The Wizard]

Does anyone knows where is this image from?

https://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y154/gieImages/Others/scyth4.jpg

Some Russian publication or other. It's easily recognizable from the style and detail of the art.

The Osprey books on Russia look promising. Always an interesting subject, that.



~Wiz

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Just checked and you're right. That is definitely the same artist though. Just had a look in Ancient Warrior also and alas no success. A mysterious one for sure!

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Not sure how true this is considering the same guy got it wrong last time, but apparently Armies of Ivan the Terrible is the only book Angus will be illustrating for Osprey in 2006. Some guy I've never heard of is doing Flodden. Hope this is incorrect.

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

YEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!! The circle is now complete - just bought the Ptolemaic Army off EBay!

[edyzmedieval]

Good for you, BKB....

Unfortunately for me, I still haven't received my books... :(

I ordered it Sunday and they still haven't arrived!!!

[King Henry V]

How did you order them?

[edyzmedieval]

Online...how else????

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

I saw it go up this morning, gave the fella an email and offered him fifty for it (believe me it would have gone for much more than that) and he replied and said he'd put it up on buy it now and i grabbed it!

So I have at last aquired this rare and much sought book ~D

[edyzmedieval]

BKB, question:

From ospreypublishing.com, do the books come from America???
I'm asking because I also found ospreypublishing.co.uk......

Hopefully you can sort this out....

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Oh Henry you weren't talking to me there were you! Sorry!

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

I think they come from England, though they may have a US warehouse. They normally take a couple of weeks to reach me, so don't hold your breath. Amazon tends to be a better bet, as in the UK at least they are cheaper and faster.

[edyzmedieval]

So this means I will wait long....

Foolosh of me to believe that it will be delivery time 3 days... At least that what it said on the site....

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Are you in Romania? I think there may be a warehouse in America but Europe's will be from the UK I believe. It says they are dispatched 'within' three days, so they will take a while longer to arrive I'm afraid.

[edyzmedieval]

Yeah... I'm in Romania...

Thanks for the help, though....

[gie]

i will take about 10 days to get to Rumania!

[edyzmedieval]

Hopefully they are gonna arrive until then....

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Just got Ptolemaic Army....bit disappointed as there are only 6 Angus McBride plates. I think there's just one we haven't seen. Still, at least a year of searching is now finally over. ~:cheers:

Also, Polish Winged Hussar will be released in November. Rome and her Enemies is a new textual book with no previous material while Aztecs and Conquistadores features both Warrior books mentioned but not the MAA Conquistadors - instead is the Essential Histories title Spanish Invasion of Mexico.

[cegorach]

Also, Polish Winged Hussar will be released in November. QUOTE]

Are you sure it was possible to order this book earlier... Is it 2nd edition or something ? ~:confused:

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Nah it hasn't been released yet. Was that on Amazon? They often get release dates wrong. If its 4-6 weeks, they don't have it.

[edyzmedieval]

BKB,

What Medieval books do you recommend and with good plates???

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Mmmm lets see......

The Vikings
The Normans
Attila and the Nomad Hordes
Arthur and the Anglo-Saxon Wars
Hungary and the Fall of Eastern Europe 1000–1568
Byzantine Armies AD 1118–1461
Armies of Medieval Russia 750–1250
Medieval Russian Armies 1250–1500
Italian Medieval Armies 1000–1300
Medieval Scandinavian Armies (1)
Medieval Scandinavian Armies (2)

All Angus McBride....you really can't go wrong with them, or indeed most of his work. These are some of the prime choices though in the Medieval genre.

[edyzmedieval]

Thanks BKB...You really are a great friend.... ~:) ~:cheers:

And from other illustrators????

[King Henry V]

I'm getting the Byzantine Armies 1118-1461

[cegorach]

Nah it hasn't been released yet. Was that on Amazon? They often get release dates wrong. If its 4-6 weeks, they don't have it.

It is possible, but I am ordering books from local bookshop and in their 'secret' data the release date was somewhere in July...

BUt if I have to wait, I will... ~:handball:

[cegorach]

Hungary and the Fall of Eastern Europe 1000–1568

I thought it is 1000 - 1526...

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

According to the site its 1568.....

Ed I can but I'm not totally convinced about all of these artists. Graham Turner and Wayne Reynolds are good but the latter especially is an acquired taste. The Hooks are ok, while Gerry Embleton is IMO awful. Art is subjective of course.

Compilations are good and cheap.... that God's Warriors book looks good though you're bound to get it cheaper elsewhere.

Some suggestions (non-McBride):

Turner's campaign books
Italian Militiaman
Mongol Warrior
Peter Dennis' Fortress books
Constantinople 1453
Nicopolis 1396

Also forgot a couple of Angus' campaign books....Lake Peipus and Granada are very good.

[edyzmedieval]

Thanks BKB

I've ordered Constantinople 1453 last week in my first set of Osprey books which I'm waiting frentically to arrive.....

[cegorach]

[QUOTE=The Blind King of Bohemia]According to the site its 1568.....

I don't complain - it is even better ~D but I thought it ends with the battle of Mohacs...

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/myths_legends/scotland/borders/img/borders_lead.jpg

Anyone know what this is from? Its obviously McBride but its neither in the Osprey Reivers book nor the Montvert one. I found it on the BBC's website. I can only presume it was for a Museum or magazine. ~:confused:

[edyzmedieval]

I understand what do you mean with Angus McBride...

That plate is great!!!

Thanks BKB!! ~:cheers:

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Well yeah and if you needed anymore persuading just type in his name on Google Images and check out some of his work. I posted this a few pages back - a sample piece from Sassanian Elite Cavalry, out next month. Might wanna pick that one up too!

http://www.ospreypublishing.com/osp_img/titlespreads/S7131SPR2S.JPG

Also for those of you who wanted to see the Ptolemaic Army cover (not my pic BTW):

http://i22.ebayimg.com/04/i/04/5f/48/d9_1_b.JPG

[cegorach]

From what book is it - it is McBride's !

http://totalwar.iatp.org.ua/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=483.0;id=1118

Regards Cegorach ~;)

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

That didn't work for me mate - which pic are we on about? The Reivers one? And what was the link?

[cegorach]

You must download it ~;)

It is from one of balcan books - but which one ~:confused:

[cegorach]

The albanian tribesmen leader looks well enough - to tempt me to buy it ~;)

[Marquis of Roland]

I just went to the Osprey website.

I am prepared to spend a couple hundred dollars on these books IMMEDIATELY.

I don't know where to get them and I don't want to order online.

Oh and I live in the U.S. (Los Angeles, to be exact).

Where can I get these books???

Someone please help me........

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

I'm not sure of the big book stores in America. Barnes and Noble maybe? Here in England I would go to Eaterstones or Ottokars. I normally though order from the net, for me its the most convenient way.


You must download it

It is from one of balcan books - but which one

How? You sure I don't have to be a member?

[cegorach]

How? You sure I don't have to be a member?[/QUOTE]



I don't think so, but you can send my your e-mail in a PM if you still cannot see it ~:confused:

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Well this message comes up:


Ошибка!
Тема или форум, которую вы ищите или отсутствует, или запрещена для входа.

Maybe you can translate for me. PM sent.

[edyzmedieval]

Another request for help,BKB...

I still haven't received my books.... I've sent a mail to them and they haven't responded(I've asked them how much time would take for the books to arrive in Romania)....

What should I do?! :help: Also, how many days took for your books to arrive???? Also, Cego, the same question....

[cegorach]

Also, Cego, the same question....[/QUOTE]

I don't have this problem - I am in Northern Ireland for now and I am ordering in a local bookshop, so I can't say much about it... ~:confused:

[cegorach]

Maybe you can translate for me. PM sent.[/QUOTE]

Don't know Russian, sorry. Picture sent :bow:

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Got the pic Cegorach. I believe its from the second Ottoman Armies one, 1775-1825 is it? I'm not sure about the date.

[L'Impresario]

Ошибка!
Тема или форум, которую вы ищите или отсутствует, или запрещена для входа.

Heh, that's easy. With most basic russian I could tell it says something in the line of :
"ERROR!
The topic or forum you 've requested is either missing or access to it is forbidden."

[cegorach]

Got the pic Cegorach. I believe its from the second Ottoman Armies one, 1775-1825 is it? I'm not sure about the date.

Thanks for the information BKB :bow:

[edyzmedieval]

It doesn't matter... I already received them.... Awesome!! Can't wait to buy more!!!