With Osprey's newish sub-par Duel, Raid and Command series mostly re-packaging existing material, I was worried about the quality of the new Weapon series. Fortunately, if the other titles match this one, Osprey has created a winning concept that both revamps and refines the (content wise over-extended) New Vanguard line, returning to one of Osprey's core strengths: illustrating the tools of war in an accessible and inexpensive way. The new Weapon series has an outstanding clean and elegant design, featuring a large number of crisp, colorful photographs.

The third title deals with the ugly stepchild of firearms: Handgonnes. While knights pranced around in elaborately decorated plate armor, European infantrymen equipped themselves with a really ugly piece of metal can with a hook. This is exactly the meaning of its German name "Hakenbüchse", hackneyedly transmogrified into English "hackbut" and French "arquebus" (not that Osprey with its almost traditional ignorance and frequent misspelling of German words would care.). McLachlan's use of the term "handgonne" relies on the priming method. Sizewise, he is very flexible, including 17 kg monsters which were in all probability used in fixed positions, not really handy weapons. A discussion and a hint towards Smith and De Vries' exhaustive study of the Burgundian artillery might have been nice. Hopefully, the history of matchlock firearms will be explored in another title.

Having presented what works, a few defects prevent me from giving the book the highest mark. Firstly, the commissioned paintings are weak both artistically (broken perspective, fresco-style) and contentwise (the Ottoman handgonnes not fitting into the European handgonnes only text). Joan of Arc's "sharpshooting" handgonner, presented in the text, would have been a better choice. Secondly, McLachlan's choice of words (e.g. saying that Jan Hus was "assassinated") and presentation of general and military history will lead some casual readers astray, e.g. the two Hussite shield carriers's duty was to protect the handgonners and crossbowmen from enemy fire not the flailmen. Their light shields called "pavises" offered only protection against missile not infantry weapons. The author also abuses the word "significant". Significant like pregnant is an either-or proposition. An event is or isn't significant, there is no nearly significant nor almost pregnant.

As a forceful advocate for handgonnes, McLachlan neglects to mention the competition among different weapons. It is certainly true that the crossbow was displaced in Russia, some of it to the benefit of handgonnes. This was mostly due, however, because a crossbow can only awkwardly be reloaded on a horse. The mobile warfare that characterizes Eastern Europe saw little benefit of employing crossbows when composite bows were plentiful. McLachlan's main concern is the penetrative power of the handgonne. I venture that its main function on the battlefield was not to create casualties but confusion. Its noise and smoke perturbed the enemy's horses during the lengthy setup periods of medieval warfare, which was especially important in the Burgundian Wars where a mainly infantry force opposed a knight army.

Overall, an interesting and well presented introduction to the mother of all personal firearms. Recommended. ( )

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