Just received the above book from Caliver Books and thought I'd write a short review for all the TMPers out there.
First off, the book costs about 10 GBP and is full of illustrations [some color but mostly black and white], a few maps and obs. The text is very easy to follow and from what I can tell, accurate, though I just got the book yesterday and have yet to nitpick the thing. There are 76 pages total.
The contents are as follows:
Introduction to the Conflict
The Campagigns
The Commanders
Organisation of the Armies
The Field Armies
Weapons
Uniforms [Austrian, Hungarian, Russian]
Flags and Standards
OBs
While not covering all of the quite diverse number of units engaged in the fighting, the author does do a decent job of introducing the uniforms and there is sufficient info to start painting. However, he does gloss over some idiosyncracies of the Hungarian forces and the pictures within the text of the 'new' Hungarian Hussar regiments are in black and white, which doesn't help matters.
Also not mentioned are the Serbian National Guard units that fought the Hungarians in the Banat and the myriad of militia units that fought for the Hungarian and Imperial armies. Uniform info is available on the subject, however, if one looks hard enough. The author does mention that these will not be covered, but the Serbs are not mentioned at all, giving the reader the impression that it was the Hungarians fighting just the Imperial [at first Croat forces under Jellacic], and Russians!
Overall, a good introduction to the conflict with some great organizational and uniform info, though somewhat abrupt.
Okay, now the improvements. First off, there is no bibliography to help the neophyte continue research. This is a major flaw that should be corrected. The text is good and clear but again, the pictures of uniforms appear in the wrong places throughout the text and if one is not careful can lead to the wrong impression as to which side a pictured unit was fighting for.
Secondly, there are no suggestions for figures. Since the publication of Bill Haggart's excellent series of articles in 2002 [MWAN #s 120-Dec. 2002, and 123-June 2003], there are more appropriate figures available from audehistorica.com, for instance, though these figures are for the 1848 Italian War.
So, is the book worth the money? Well, yes, but with some reservations. If you're a neophyte to the period, track down Bill Haggart's articles first, especially from MWAN 120. If that is insufficient or you're like me, and want everything published on a particular topic, pick it up.
Hope this is of use to someone,
Radmonkey66
finally dips his toe into the world of Aeronef.
