David Potter's 2008 work is a major addition to the knowledged available in English concerning the French army of the first half of the 16th Century. However because of it's hefty price tag and it's limitations it is not a book for everyone.
As stated previously it is not a book with lavish pictures, detailed battlefield maps or extensive order of battles. Nor is it a book concerned with weapons, armour & tactics, it's clear that these are not a major interest of the authors and the contents reflects this. I was actually surprised at how little space is given to the actual conduct of war at the operational and tactical level.
That said there is still more than few usefull snippets which provide information about equipment and order of battles. For example there is an enitre appendix which provides detailed information about the Gendarmes and the organisation and identitity at various times. There is also an appendix with detailed breakdowns of Landsknecht regiments in French service including the number of arquebusiers and the number of double-pay men.
The section on the Archers in the ordonnace companies shows that they used bows for a long time and also offers up the first actual evidence of the archers using crossbows.
The books strong side is the organisation of war and it provides a very interesting picture of how the french troops were raised and organised, how the French infantry evolved by trial and error and the important part played by mercenaries.
The evolution of the French fortifications is well covered as is the financing and logistics of the wars though the nature of the books prevents and indepth study of such complex subjects.
There is also chapters on the effect of French warfare on society and culture, i.e the impact of such extensive militarisation.
The notes and bibliography is a very suefull starting point for further research. With google.books and archive.org it is possible to get your hands on at least some of the older works used by the author. Those with acess to a well supplied research library should do even better.
Overall I felt I got value for my money and I learned a lot of new information. Just not always the information I expected/ was lookning for and much of it is not has no impact on the wargames table. For the reader mainly looking for classic wargames data such as uniforms, banners, detailed unit organisation and weapons & tactics "Renaissance France at War" may well be too expensive for the amount of information it provides.
Viewed only from a narrow wargames perspective it is not as rich a source as for example Wood's "The King's army".
But for the reader interested in a broad study of the subject it will provide rich and rewarding reading.
