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What do you think of Osprey military history books

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Roberts View Drop Down
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  Quote Roberts Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: What do you think of Osprey military history books
    Posted: 07-Jan-2006 at 01:56
I am planning to purchese some Osprey military history books. Are they good?
Your thoughts?


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  Quote Herschel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07-Jan-2006 at 02:42
I have one. I thought it was just okay. Most of the pictures are black and white, with just a bit of color for a few of the soldier pictures. Some of the artwork is of very good quality. The content is very accurate, but I don't know if it is good for a newbie. They'll give you information on a unit, then they'll run with it throughout the book, and it can get confusing after a while. Sorry if my grammar seems half-assed, it's so very late 1:40 am and I'm tired.

Edit: Buy one now just to see if you like it. If you do, buy the rest. If you don't, you didn't waste too much money.


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  Quote Ikki Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07-Jan-2006 at 08:43
There are very greats books and absolutelly worthless books. First you should get information about the book that you want, opinions, reviews... and then buy.

Althoug there are books not very good that are needed because are the only source about that question, for example, the chinese warfare, i read many opinions that say that are not very goods, but, the books are the best if you want information about war in China.

bye


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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09-Jan-2006 at 02:05

The books you'll want to buy from Osprey are the very specific books, the books that detail a single battle, type of soldier or army. They are very detailed and good on sources. The ones that try to explain things on a "larger" scale are of a lesser quality however.

 

IMO.

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  Quote tadamson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09-Jan-2006 at 20:01
Remember Osprey have over 1500 different books.  

Which ones are you interested in and what information do you want ?
rgds.

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  Quote Roberts Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10-Jan-2006 at 10:17
Originally posted by tadamson

Remember Osprey have over 1500 different books.  

Which ones are you interested in and what information do you want ?


I am interested in Osprey's military history books about early medieval world and the end of ancient times. Timeframe would be 400 AD to 800 or 900 AD.

I want to get information about different armies, warriors, armours, armory, weapons, clothing etc.
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  Quote tadamson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10-Jan-2006 at 11:49
That's still a big selection.

Have you looked through the Osprey website ?   See where you might start.

http://www.ospreypublishing.com/
rgds.

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  Quote Roberts Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10-Jan-2006 at 13:52
Originally posted by tadamson

That's still a big selection.

Have you looked through the Osprey website ?   See where you might start.

http://www.ospreypublishing.com/


I know its big selection and I already looked in the Osprey website. I know that I won't be able to purchase all books I want( I want all which is related to timeframe mentioned above). Just wanted to know are these books  trustworthy as historical sources about armies and same stuff?
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  Quote Behi Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10-Jan-2006 at 15:54
That are great books,
I've Persian Army & Marathon battle
there are great illustrations

 

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  Quote Jalisco Lancer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10-Jan-2006 at 16:06
I have the mexican army colection.
Really good one.
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  Quote Genghis Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10-Jan-2006 at 17:05
Those books are pretty good, I have several, but they can be quite pricey.  I would just go to your library and read one then turn it back in if that's possible.
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  Quote tadamson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11-Jan-2006 at 07:37
Almost all the Osprey books are good value for money, however there are overlaps and many of the texts are dated so include errors that you may not be aware of.  The Medieval European books are very good, the Chinese try to do too much (Though I think Chris did an outstanding job in the space available).
You should be aware that for most books the text is written by one author, the illustrations added by an editor and the colour plates comissioned from an artist soth the three can be a bit disparate.

The 'Men at Arms', 'New Vanguard', 'Warrior' and 'Elite' books are small but often contain a very large amount of useful information.  The 'Essential Histoeies' series I'm less impressed with, I prefer academic texts, and find the Ospreys a bit too short. Some prople love the 'Campaigns' series but I've never been excited enough to buy one.

They occasionaly do some 'specials' that are basically three 'Men at Arms' titiles published as a single book, these are very good value.

Again,  for more specific advice let us know the titles you are considering for a first purchase, or a specific subject.


Edited by tadamson
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  Quote Roberts Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11-Jan-2006 at 09:08
Originally posted by tadamson

Almost all the Osprey books are good value for money, however there are overlaps and many of the texts are dated so include errors that you may not be aware of.  The Medieval European books are very good, the Chinese try to do too much (Though I think Chris did an outstanding job in the space available).
You should be aware that for most books the text is written by one author, the illustrations added by an editor and the colour plates comissioned from an artist soth the three can be a bit disparate.

The 'Men at Arms', 'New Vanguard', 'Warrior' and 'Elite' books are small but often contain a very large amount of useful information.  The 'Essential Histoeies' series I'm less impressed with, I prefer academic texts, and find the Ospreys a bit too short. Some prople love the 'Campaigns' series but I've never been excited enough to buy one.

They occasionaly do some 'specials' that are basically three 'Men at Arms' titiles published as a single book, these are very good value.

Again,  for more specific advice let us know the titles you are considering for a first purchase, or a specific subject.


Titles are--
from men at arms:
The Armies of Islam 7th - 11th Centuries
The Age of Charlemagne


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  Quote tadamson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11-Jan-2006 at 20:10
Originally posted by axeman


Titles are--
from men at arms:
The Armies of Islam 7th - 11th Centuries
The Age of Charlemagne


Good choices..
Both older books but very good.  Armies of Islam is a bit superficial but that is because it is covering a vast range of states. Age of Charlemen is excellent.
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  Quote Temujin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14-Jan-2006 at 21:14

i must have by now around 100 books, mostly MaA and Elite and few warrior and Campaign series. there are only 5 books or so i got that i was REALLY dissapointed with.

Age of charlemagne is good, Armies of islam too, but theres now a better oen around, armies of the calipahtes which covers the same period but is more specific and up to date, maybe too specific.

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  Quote Roberts Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14-Jan-2006 at 23:02
What do you think of "Arthur and the Anglo-Saxon Wars"?
Is this book good?
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  Quote Temujin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Jan-2006 at 17:06
yes, also a good book, btut eh anem of the book is confusing, it actually isn't about arthur but armies on the british isles from the end of roman times up until the norman conquest, it has late Romans, Vikings, Irish, Picts and mayn Anglo-Saxons of course.
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  Quote Alkiviades Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17-Jan-2006 at 03:14

I find the Osprey series more than decent, especially the MaA and Elites series, but I am fairly dissapointed with the campaign series. So far I've read two of them (lended from a friend to write some articles) by the same author (D. Nicols) about the sack of Constantinople and Hattin and they are both not quite good. Many innacuracies, mediocre descriptions, lack of background, lack of analytical thinking... Perhaps it's just the particular author (even though he's considered one of the top writers that work for Osprey) or the very tight-ass military orientation of those books (when describing an event as Hattin or Constantinople needs a solid background of general knowledge pertaining the particular periods and events).

The plates are top-quality though and fairly accurate. Although in the Ancient Greeks series they have numerous innacuracies (for instance, Osprey's books is one of the most infleuental factors in the spread of the utterly false idea that Spartans fought butt-naked).

If you wanna play arrogant with me, you better have some very solid facts to back up that arrogance, or I'll tear you to pieces
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  Quote Guest Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19-Jan-2006 at 01:45
The Vimmy Ridge book was a good read, its the only Osprey I have read. I am thinking in getting more WW1 books because of the high quality.
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  Quote Temujin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19-Jan-2006 at 17:17
i have 2 Campaign books Yarmuk by Nicolle and Kalka River by Shpakovski & Nicolle, both are of the highest quality, don't know about Constantinople or Hattin but the medieval age and especially the Islamic world is were Nicolles excells.
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