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D.C.
Knight
Joined: 25-Jan-2006
Location: Australia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 80
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Topic: What do you think of Osprey military history books Posted: 25-Jan-2006 at 07:23 |
The only book I have from Osprey is a large, hardback book about the Boar War, its by Martin Marix Evans. Its alright I suppose, after buying it I found alot of better Boer War books (most of which were Australian in focus, which was more to my interest).
As for the Men at Arms and similar type series, whilst I think the artwork is well done and they look nice, they are a little too pricey for what they are.
My $0.02.
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Mangudai
Consul
Joined: 09-Aug-2004
Location: Sweden
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Posts: 368
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Posted: 26-Jan-2006 at 15:24 |
Osprey books vary a lot in quality. The quality ranges from pure crap to great sources of learning. I have some 30 books, a few are really bad, most are mediochre and a handful are great. Of the books I own the worst are written by David Nicolle and Stephen Turnbull. Both authors tend to be careless with facts and in the case of Nicolle - way too fictious and speculative.
The older books tend to be boring (dry texts and unimaginative illustrations) and contain outdated facts, especially if they deal with ancient times. The illustrators and their works also vary in quality - Angus McBride is a great artist but his numerous illustrations tend to be very fictious and historical inaccurate. Graham Turner on the other hand is one of the world's top military illustrators whose illustrations are both beautifuly realistic and historical accurate. Please check out his webpage btw.
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Nu guhk go mis leat meahcit, de lea mis dorvu dn eatnam alde
Ossfok i s kringest sturwekster sttliger. Summer v kulluma i riktit finer!
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Nart_Saga
Guest
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Posted: 31-Jan-2006 at 17:03 |
They are not that accurate but preety good on overall...
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Emperor Barbarossa
Caliph
Joined: 15-Jul-2005
Location: Pittsburgh, USA
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2888
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Posted: 01-Feb-2006 at 12:12 |
I got one on the Hussite Wars and it was pretty good. I haven't checked out any other ones though.
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Lannes
Baron
Retired AE Moderator
Joined: 02-Aug-2004
Location: United States
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Posts: 439
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Posted: 13-Feb-2006 at 17:54 |
I own around 20 of them, and so long as you don't take them as the definitive work in that field, they are generally quite useful little overviews. As others have mention, the quality of them varies greatly, and the facts and illustrations can get a bit too fictitious (as a general rule of thumb, if an Osprey illustration or bit of text sounds too wild to be true, it usually is).
As for the authors, I've got to say I'm not fond of Sekunda. He tends to base excessively wild speculations on too little, or in fact, no evidence and is otherwise inaccurate often. Though I'll admit some of his theories are at times well supported and intriguing.
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τρέφεται δέ, ὤ Σώκρατης, ψυχὴ τίνι;
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Conan the destroyer
Samurai
Joined: 21-Jun-2005
Location: United Kingdom
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 105
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Posted: 16-Feb-2006 at 04:16 |
The stuff on early imperial China is reasonably good, but the "Medieval" and "Late Imperial" volumes are very inaccurate.
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Guests
Guest
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Posted: 16-Feb-2006 at 18:32 |
I read a couple of them about classical ages armies but i cant say i am thrilled with them. I also share the same opinion with the previous account about Sekunda.
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Perseas
General
Retired AE Moderator
Joined: 14-Jan-2005
Location: Canada
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 781
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Posted: 16-Feb-2006 at 18:39 |
The last post was mine but somehow it took it as guest.
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A mathematician is a person who thinks that if there are supposed to be three people in a room, but five come out, then two more must enter the room in order for it to be empty.
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Conan the destroyer
Samurai
Joined: 21-Jun-2005
Location: United Kingdom
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 105
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Posted: 16-Feb-2006 at 19:02 |
Originally posted by Mangudai
Osprey books vary a lot in quality. The quality ranges from pure crap to great sources of learning. I have some 30 books, a few are really bad, most are mediochre and a handful are great. Of the books I own the worst are written by David Nicolle and Stephen Turnbull. Both authors tend to be careless with facts and in the case of Nicolle - way too fictious and speculative.
The older books tend to be boring (dry texts and unimaginative illustrations) and contain outdated facts, especially if they deal with ancient times. The illustrators and their works also vary in quality - Angus McBride is a great artist but his numerous illustrations tend to be very fictious and historical inaccurate. Graham Turner on the other hand is one of the world's top military illustrators whose illustrations are both beautifuly realistic and historical accurate. Please check out his webpage btw.
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Definitely agree with you on Graham Turner, really great artist IMO.
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Evrenosgazi
Consul
Joined: 17-Sep-2005
Location: Turkey
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 379
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Posted: 04-Mar-2006 at 18:18 |
Very brief and not enough, when the book finish , I feel I red a newspaper, but a good project
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Cunctator
Samurai
Joined: 12-Feb-2006
Location: Canada
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 105
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Posted: 11-Mar-2006 at 17:28 |
I have several Osprey books that detail individual battles. I think that they are very good, well illustrated, and easily readable. I have been less impressed with the other series that Osprey produces.
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