Venetian Empire
1200-1670

Osprey Book

Reviewed by Tom McMillen

Osprey #210

When discussing the military history of the Italian Renaissance the phrase "typical Condottiere army" often comes up. Among the major states, however, only Milan even approximately resembled what we think of as typical. Thus, Naples had its strong Spanish and Medieval influences, Florence took some perverse pleasure in fielding armies that were 100 years behind the times, and Venice had a pervasive Eastern, generally Balkan, influence. This unique aspect of the Venetian Army is very nicely demonstrated here -- virtually every colour plate has at least one figure either from the Balkans or garbed in typical dress from that area. These representations of Dalmations, Stradiots, and Greeks will be very helpful for the gamer seeking to construct a distinctively Venetian appearing army by borrowing figures from other lines.

The text is ok, though not terribly inspired. This is a lot of territory to cover (imagine "British Armies 1200-1670" in a work of similar length) and no particular emphasis is placed on the critical "Terra firma" period 1400- 1508, the only time Venice maintained significant land forces in Italy. Presumably this is done because that period was dealt with in MAA #136 (Italian Armies), however it is still noteworthy that if this work contained an index there would be no entry for Malatesta and Carmagnola, and only a passing reference to Colleoni. This does free up space which is used to provide a lot of interesting detail about the forces involved in maintaining the maritime empire. There is very little specific information on such things as uniforms, heraldry, army sizes or compositions, or battlefield performance.

As with all Osprey books, this edition will give those unfamiliar with the period a fair overview of the "look and feel" of the Venetians, while the illustrations are always helpful in providing the modeler with ideas. Wargamers interested in recreating a Venetian force for any particular conflict during this era, however, will probably be disappointed.

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