Official Osprey thread

[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/1855...41#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 ).



~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 )

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



~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.

[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...

[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...

*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?

[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! 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.

[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

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.

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

[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!

[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!