by A.V.B.Norman and Don Pottinger. (8 3/4" x 5 1/2"; 224 pages; innumerable illustrations. Arms and Armour Press - £ 4.95p). Back in Victorian times all new books had to have their pages slit before they could be read the same thing had to be done to this one but maybe I got hold of an odd review copy! I thought it looked familiar when first it emerged from its package then I realised that it was originally published in 1966 under the title "Warrior to Soldier 449-16601, in Great Britain and in America as "A History of War and Weapons 449 to 1660". Notwithstanding, this is a superb and quite delightful book which has been one of my most useful volumes for a number of years. The authors are so expert as to need little introduction - A.V.B.Norman is Master of the Armouries at the Tower of London and was formerly Assistant Curator in the Scottish United Services Museum; Don Pottinger, the artist, is Unicorn Pursuivant of Arms to the Court of the Lord Lyon Kings of Arms, and has collaborated on, and illustrated, four other historical works. His black-and-white illustrations that feature on almost every page are quite brilliant and of inestimable value to the wargamer. The book is in sections - Organisation from the Saxon Warrior up to the Army of 1660; Arms and Armour over the same period; Tactics and Strategy; and Castles and Cannons - all dealt with in a most thorough and easily readable manner and so brilliantly illustrated as to make it a volume that, as an author, I would be extremely proud to have published under my own name. So far as the wargamer is concerned there is more in this single volume than a dozen other works of reference. More Book Reviews Wavell's Offensive Great Battle Tanks Patrick Stephens Catalogues Infantry Weapons of the World From Recruit to Staff Sergeant English Weapons and Warfare 449-1660AD Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter #210 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1979 by Donald Featherstone. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com