Osprey review #4

Today's review will once again be an Osprey Publishing Men at arms book. This time it will be number 149,  Prussian Light Infantry 1792-1815.

My favorite part of this book was actually the beginning. I wont spoil it but the author starts off with a great tone. Overall the book is a good read, if you like a lot of detail. A few things I found interesting were; the explanation of how the light infantry were used, how they came to be and how they were often actually used. If you have no interest in these things the color pictures are excellent as usual and include various Schuetzen's, Jaeger's and Fuisiler's in uniform. There are also useful color charts on page 27, 28 and 29 for uniform colors.

Besides the aforementioned uniform color charts, tactics and plates this is another book that is very heavy on the " this is how it came to be and this was reality". So if you like that style pick it up, if not borrow it from somewhere for the color charts and pretty plates.


More later
Aruki

Osprey Review #3

Today's review will be from the Osprey men at arms series, Artillery Equipments of the Napoleonic Wars.

Now for the short and sweet of it there are a few parts of this book that could be useful to many Napoleonic wargamers. The most useful part is actually one of the things that many people look at the most closely in these books, the plates. The range of color plates in this book are excellent because it shows how all the equipment was painted and such. Along with the normal uniforms and such. There is also a really useful table on page 16 for general color schemes of all the major and some of the minor countries as well. Note this is specifically for the woodwork and metal carriage fittings. It also notes colors of the barrels as well in a separate paragraph. 

The rest of the book deals with giving detailed descriptions of how the equipment evolved and changed. Along with descriptions about ammunition and other little such things.  In all most of the book if your not actually interested in the topic is very dry. However, page 16 and the color plates are very useful for gamers who are trying to figure out how to paint there artillery.

Aruki

Osprey Review #2

Today's book is Fredrick the Great's Army, from the Men at arms series.

Now this book is not as useful  as the last one for Napoleonic’s for one main reason. None of the book focuses on that time period. However, this book does a lot to explain about why certain things are happening during the Napoleonic’s time period.

This book is very much for those that want the back story or are doing a force for around 1410-1763. The main focus of the book is on the 1712-1763 time period.  The book really explains how Prussia came to be and Fredrick’s early life.

Other important points covered in the book are the history behind Prussia’s and Austria’s relations, the first Silesian war, the second Silesian war, the changes made to the Prussian army and the Seven Years War. The changes to the army focus mainly on the Infantry and cavalry. But also includes topics such as the Hussars and artillery. There are a large number of color pictures covering the following: horse grenadiers, grenadiers, hussars, musketeers, bombardiers, freicorps, lancers, dragoons and officers from various parts of the forces.

So the bottom line, is this book good and why? I liked this book quite a lot. Mainly, because it shows the history of the military and one of Prussia’s key game changers. Even though it is not directly useful if you just want information on how to make your Napoleonic’s Prussian force, it is useful if you enjoy knowing and understanding why things are the way they are during the Napoleonic time period.

So check it out if you want to know the history or if you want to do a force during one of the other time periods. If you don’t want either of those avoid getting it.

Aruki

Osprey Reviews #1

The first book I looked at after Napoleonic Armies: A wargamer's Campaign Directory 1805-1815 was Osprey's Blucher's Army 1813-1815 from the Men at arms series.

Now even though this book focuses on 1813-1815 it includes a lot of background info thoughtout the book which is excellent for helping new people understand what happened up to that point. The book also covers the history of not only Blucher but others as well. The greatest resource in my opinion though games at the end of the book in the notes section. They give a great list of books that was used as references which gives you a nice place to start from for further reading.

Now in point notes here are some of the usefull things in the book:
-background info on 4 other major influences during that period
-explanations of how things were different under blucher for
         -staff
         -cavalry
        -infantry
         -artillery+pioneers
- page 24 has a great chart for the lance pennons for the ulhans and landwehr cavalry
-other points of interest are
         -the wounded (how they were dealt with)
         -music
         -honours and awards
- there is also a great explanation of the order of battle for June 15 1815
-The plates, no Osprey book is complete without these and there are a good number of units covered in here
         -staff
         -hussars
         -dragoons
        -uhlang and staff
        - line infantry
        -landwehr cavalry
        -landwehr infantry
        - artillery 

Overall, I would recommend this book if your looking for more details on how and when things change. However, there are better books for more details on the units themselves which we will cover in other reviews.



Aruki