My copy of The Great Northern War Compendium arrived yesterday and my first reaction, upon opening the books, is "WOW!" And my second reaction is that the books greatly exceed any expectations that I might have had when I placed my order about a month ago.
As the late Ed McMahon might have said to Carnak the Magician ( Johnny Carson), "everything that you could possibly want to know about the Great Northern War is in this book!"
The two volume compendium is written by a virtual army of experts in the field from a wide variety of countries including Sweden, Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Finland, Denmark, Germany, the UK and the United States.
The book's topics are diverse and include biographies of key participants, uniform information ( Sweden, Russia, Saxony, Dano-Norwegian, Polish, Holstein Gottorp, Hanover, Prussia and the Ottoman Empire), tactical studies of the various countries, battle summaries and maps, logistics and fortifications, and even a section on the plague that struck the Baltic region of Europe.
At the end of Volume 2, there is a listing of museums, reenactor groups and even manufacturers of wargaming figures. The set costs $125.00 and it looks to provide a lot of value for the money. I think that this is one of those books that you will go to time and again if you are even remotely interested in the period.
The books are published by THGC Publishing ( www.thehistoricalgamecompany.com ) in St. Louis, MO.
In short, I give the book set my highest recommendation .
D
Thanks for the review DAF. It is good to see the book starting to get into hte hands of people - makes it feel that much more real. I'm eagerly awaiting my copy, but it has to go to the UK first and then to New Zealand, so it will still be some time away.
ReplyDeletePleased to see an actual review of the book rather than the publicity. also happy to note that the review is positive in the extreme. Makes me feel a little more comfortable over the outlay now.
ReplyDeleteHi, could you point me in the right direction to buy a copy in the UK at all?
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