Terence Wise

Since this book was published in 1975, both the research into medieval equipments, and the style of medieval recreation art have moved forward a very great deal. The temptation to dismiss the book as a mass of stereotypes and ill-judged illustrations is counteracted by the replacement with much better and more specialized publications from this company, and the charm of having the photos taken from that early 19th century effort by Sir Samuel Meyrick. However, this is a limited interest show more indeed. Buy a later and more focussed book from the same publisher. There is a small section on the Hussite Wars, but no specific Hussite plates.. show less

The reader gets a short sketch of the thirty-five year set of conflicts. There are also many personal coats of arms and liveries and maps of the larger battles. For the wargamer there is also a chart setting out troop proportions in the conflict. All in all, this book is worth the money.

This Osprey title suffers from its broad range. It tries to cover English heraldry through the Middle Ages which allows the author and illustrators to hint at the complexity of the topic. If Osprey manages to publish several volumes about Napoleonic and American Civil War flags, it should also be capable of presenting booklets about the different eras and institutions that displayed heraldic marks.

One of the excellent illustrated series published by Osprey. This one is on the critical Carthaginian Wars period in which Rome and Carthage fought for dominance in the Western Mediterranean and Carthage proved to be a stumbling block on the way to building Rome's Empire. There are more in-depth studies of this period of Rome and indeed of Carthage as well but few show the high-quality illustrations and brief survey from a visual perspective.