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Osprey - New Vanguard 90
Napoleonic Naval Armaments 1792-1815
By Chris Henry Illustrated by Brian Delf
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With the success of Master and Commander, and the build up for the Trafalgar
bi-centennial celebrations I hope that we are going to see a spate of publications covering the naval engagements of the Napoleonic Wars. And this one is a very good start. It covers in detail the variety of naval armaments available to the forces of Britain, France and Spain during the war.
The British section details not only the familiar weaponry such as cannon and carronades, but also the smaller bore weaponry and funnies such as howitzers and rockets. Mr
Henry also spends some time detailing the organisation of the ships company to service the weaponry, and the tactical doctrines that proved so
successful, at least until they met the Americans.
The French forces are dealt with in a similar way, but in considerably less detail, and the Spanish are covered even more sparsely. It is a pity that there was not room to cover the Dutch and Italian states in this volume, but maybe sometime in the future...?
The illustrations are as usual for an Osprey product many, varied and excellent, although perhaps the interest in them may be far more limited than the eye catching uniform details in other volumes.
All in all a very worthwhile buy for anyone interested in the period, and especially useful for the wargamer seeking information to produce rules and game mechanics.
Format: Softback
ISBN 1-84176-635-6
Osprey Direct UK
PO Box 140
Wellingborough
Northants
NN8 2FA
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