 | By: Nick Sekunda Simon Northwood Michael Simkins Binding: Paperback Publisher: Osprey Publishing ISBN: 1841760447 ISBN-13: 9781841760445 Released: 20 Jan 2000 RRP: Average Rating:  |
So, you perhaps would expect the volume would be mismatched & awkward. Fortunately the work fits together quite well; the topics do not overlap & cross referencing is not a significant issue (the altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus aside). Nick Sekunda co-authored book 1 & wrote book 2, & I have a great deal of respect for his work; very readable with a decent level of analysis & interpretation (see my review for Osprey Warrior Series Greek Hoplite). The colour plates complement the text well, with the usual good photographs. Book 1 does struggle a little because the actual evidence for the period is limited, & a fair amount of conjecture is used. Personallly book 2 is the best here, as the Republican Army is well documented & there is a lot of evidence to go on; & the plates are by Angus McBride.
Moving to book 3, here I struggle to avoid being negative; my expectations from Osprey are very high. Written in 1982, Michael Simkins' writing style seems aimed more at older children than at any serious amateurs, never mind serious academics. I realise knowledge of the Imperial Roman army has moved on greatly in recent years - the work on the Varian disaster at Kalkriese since 1987 has helped significantly here. However, I don't feel that the work is any more than a brief summary of the period & compares badly to books 1 & 2. I am not certain the armour & weapon reconstructions done by the author are used to best advantage. If they had been set alongside archaeological finds as a comparison that might have been better. The colour plates do not show the variations in equipment very well, & the style of artwork is not to my taste (Ronald Embleton was a great illustrator & I admire much of his work in other publications, but some Osprey artists like Ronald & Wayne England are better suited to certain other genres I feel). As an introduction, while there are some sweeping generalisations in the text, most of the work is still correct today.
Usuallly I gripe about the lack of decent maps from Osprey, & I will still say that Osprey could do better here.
For the money, this is great value, & is a good addition to the Roman Army library.
This is actuallly a compilation of 3 Osprey books, so in terms of value for money, you cannot do better than this.
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