Customer Reviews

Byzantine Armies 886-1118 (Men-at-Arms)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As typical for the Osprey Men at Arms series, this book has lovely color artwork, and excellent photographs and line drawings of equipment and people in clothing of the period. The arms and armor are well shown, as are various shield designs. There is a nicely written history and descriptions of the tactics, main conflicts, weapons and equipment of this historical period.
If you are not familiar with the Osprey Men at Arms series, I am sure that this will be a good starting book for your research into the subject. If you are familiar, then you know what I mean.

My title says it all - Ian Heath's text and Angus McBride's art again make an invaluable resource for historians and students of art and history!

This book gives the basic information about the organization, composition and equipment of the Byzantine army from 886 to 1118. There are many pictures but unfortunately most of them are not in color. At the end the author has also included a list of books that deal with the subject more extensively, for those interested. Angus McBride's illustrations are phenomenal as usual.

Now don't get me wrong, I didn't give this book a 3-star rating because it's badly-written or of low quality; on the contrary, it's very well-written with an excellent collection of manuscript illuminations,paintings,carvings and plaques in addition to Angus McBride's top notch illustrations.

But it has a very,very serious drawback.With the exception of McBride's drawings all the other illustrations are black and white.I was already aware of that from previous reviews, before placing my order, but I thought I'd be able to live with that.Well, I can't.I compared these illustrations with their coloured versions found online and simply put, they can't be compared for detail,immediacy or effect.

Besides, the more I think about it the more I find it ridiculous that an illustration book (an illustration! book for God's sake) in this day and age could still be in black and white.

I was planning to order three more books of the Men-at-Arms series but not anymore.I prefer to wait for a (hopefully) future colour edition.This would also be my suggestion for anyone asking me...

Your standard men-at-arms book, concise but informative text paired with colorful plates to accurately rescontruct the appearance of the Byzantine Army and her mercenaries.