The book covers two peoples (the persians and greeks)and a period (almost 200 years) where the changes in warfare, not to say in batlle dress, are very extensive. So it is highly superficial on both.
There are much better color plates and information in other Men-at-Arms titles. Look for them, this one is barelly a start.
Finally, there is no evidences, as has been written in books of this same series, that Spartans have ever used the composit body armour as showed in the book.

This book had good information on the Greek and Persian wars. You can find plenty of books on Greeks or Persia, but not ones devoted to the wars between the two. They have pretty good pictures for the Greeks army, but the Persian pictures are not very good, I've seen better uniforms for them that arn't in the book. All the pictures are just not too great. So all in all, if you are some what interested in the book, get it.

there are better books to start learning about medieval armor. Remember that the "suprising insights" the publishers promise on the back cover were new and unknown in the sixties of the last century. I suggest a potential buyer of any of the books in the " A Knight And..." series should check out the kids department of his local bookshop first for more detailed and better presented material on that subject.

This is a very good book, taught me loads of info.

This is a well-written book, with a simplistic, down-to-earth style. It is informative; despite being a bit confusing and erratic, is an excellent book. The numerous illustrations add to the succinct nature of the text. The fascinating world of armor is captured in an epigrammatic book by the renouned Yues.

This book covers all the areas one needs to know when modeling AFV's painting, dry-brushing, photo-etched parts even diorama building. It's chapters and writing style is laid out in a logical and easy-to-read manners. Sometimes just how the author achieved certain results really could use more detail (I'm still baffled as to how to apply a wash with an airbrush). The biggest problem I had with this book is that it has very little information on the uniqueness of WWII German armor. It does not cover German camouflage schemes, the wide array of colors used or the various kind of extra gear one might have seen on a German vehicle. I does cover the application of zimmerit but fails to detail the different types, such as the waffle pattern, and on which armor it would have appeared on. On how to model armor this book is quite useful. On the particulars of German armor this book is not as useful as implied.

A good general history of knights and horses. Not detailed enough for me personnally and a few points that I have to question as even being possible.

A very good look at past battle tanks and different features of them. Only major flaw: front and back cover are color and everything inside is black & white

First the good news. The graphics/drawing in the book are very good. The art work of the weapons and equipmnet utilized by the paratroopers is excellent. Several of the pictures (all B/W) are new and not seen on a regular basis. The problem is with the written portion. As you read through the book you will find that several paragraphs have eiher been omitted or repeated. This is very frustrating. As you begin to read about a specific issue it will suddenly end or be repeated. I could not find the remainder of article. It appears that the publisher was in a rush to get this book out and did a poor job of editing. If you want a book for references on uniforms, weapons and equipment this is a good book. If you want to read about the paratoopers adventures I would look else where. This is not one of Osprey's best works.

This is a warm, funny, and sometimes all-too-true book on the fine art of being pregnant. Great fun to tuck in with a shower gift.

In a normal fantasy setting, you realy can not do without decent armor and weapons, however there is many sources where you could find information on that part.

I will not spend my money on this (poor) quality art and only reasonable information. The only part of the book that could potentaly draw your attention is about new materials for armor and arms.
Still even that information can be found in other books as well...

I have been role-playing quite some time now, and this book is definetly one of the better guides for fantasy I have seen. It flatout gives you the information, with some very nice accompanying artwork. There are many new weapons, new styles of armor that intrigue the reader, new materials for making the armor/weapons, and great descriptions of the featured items.

The author is clearly honest and well-intentioned, but he has not consulted the necesarry sources for this subject, and as a result his work is badly flawed. The Penicuik Sketches, drawn by an eyewitness to the '45 Rising, clearly show that the targe-foot is invariably held forward, not the sword-foot as Mr. Andrews believes. This does not present any danger of blinding, because the targe is held primarily edge-on (except when engaging a bayonet). When the targe is held edge-on (as reccomended by master swordsman Donald McBane in 1728), it can easily defend any part of the body on either side, leaving the sword free to counterattack simultaneously. Also, the targe is usually held high and beside the head, not in front of the body. The two major guards are High (with the sword-point vertical) and Hanging, and the Low, Medium and Tail guards appear to have been used less frequently based on the Penicuik sketches and other period illustrations of Highland swordsmen. Most of the Guards shown by Mr. Andrews do not exist at all in these historical sources, because they properly belong to other styles of swordsmanship entirely. Furthermore, Mr. Andrews advocates the flat parry, which is directly contradicted by one of his primary sources, Mathewson's "Fencing Familiarized" of 1805. Unfortunately, there is very much that is misleading in this book, and very little useful information. Mr. Andrews' style does approximate the Lowland sword-and-targe method of McBane (with certain errors) but bears no relation to Highland swordsmanship as far as I can tell.

After having worked with the author I realize that this man has done extensive research on the subject of weaponry. For the beginner it is a must have manual. For the seasoned warrior it is an excellent source for refreshing the memory. The illustrations are also done by Mr. Andrews and they are extremely helpful in determining just how to stand and to move. I certainly hope that the rest of this series meets with the same exacting standards that Mr. Andrews has created for himself.