Mr. Abercrombie has written another darkly comic high fantasy. The entire action takes place over three days and covers the climatic battle in the latest of the Union's forays into the north. The Union's forces are marked by numbers, technological superiority, and routinely incompetent leadership. Black Dow has valiant warriors, knowledge of the land, and jealous bickering chieftains who fear and despise him.
Add to the mix a cowardly schemeing prince, that SOB of a wizard Bayaz and a double handful of multilayered "heroes" and you've got another winner by Abercrombie. The book includes maps showing the disposition of the forces on each day of the battle as well as naming most of the units involved. No true numerical order of battle is given but you do get an idea of the arms and armor each unit/individual has.
The North is a quasi dark age viking culture. It is a "heroic" culture with "named men" who have proven themselves in battle. Many of these named men lead units of twelve sworn men. The Union on the otherhand is harder to place. It reminds me of a later renaisance/early reformation army minus (mostly) gunpowder weapons.
The book screams out to be gamed but for the life of me I don't know what ruleset would be best. There are both large and small unit actions. There are cavalry charges, missle exchanges, bridge crossings, heroic individual combat, not so heroic individual combat, assaults over obstacles and up slopes, urban combat etc etc. Anyway I heartily reccomend the book as I do all of Abercrombie's and look forward to hearing any advice as to how to game the action.