Customer Reviews

Medieval Siege Weapons (2): "Byzantium, the Islamic World & India AD 476-1526" (New Vanguard)

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

 

 

I purchased this book in hopes that it would have a lot of information on Siege weapons and how they were used. The first thing I realized is that this book has a great deal of writing for such a small book and it gives detailed descriptions on the history and background of several Siege Weapons. There are some really nice illustrations in the book as well, however I was hoping for a bit more. I would have liked to have seen more information on how these weapons were constructed and some heads up comparisons of the various Siege weapons. It's certainly a nice historical reference for the Siege enthusiast.

Perhaps calling this a "book" is a little too generous. "Pamphlet" is perhaps slightly more accurate. The information in the 'book' is generally well-balanced between Byzantium and the Islamic world, with a good focus on Greek fire and other incendiaries which comprised a larger part of the siege retinue in the east than in the west. The book says that it also covers India, but this is largely neglected, although there is a short section on northern Europe and their siegecraft. As is typical with many an Osprey book, it is extremely well illustrated. However, in this work, many of the colour illustrations are all the wrong ones. There are a good number of manuscript pictures in this little book, and some are in colour in their original form, but none of those colours have been preserved. I'd much rather have that than some recreations by Osprey's artists.

3 stars for being short even by Osprey standards, a hefty price for such a tiny thing, and some poor choices in what plates were produced in colour.

overall a good book.
good diagrams, but laking "how to" instructions if you wish to build your own.

Overall a good book.
I had hoped it would be more of an instruction guide to build your own.
It still does cover the basics, with resonable diagrams

Excelente información sobre las armas bizantinas, islámicas e indias, aunque desde mi punto de vista, faltaron algunas armas bizantinas y más información en dibujos.

Buena informacion relacionada con las armas de asedio de la Edad Media. Sin embargo faltó un poco más sobre trebuchet y tipos de trebuchets.