As some of you may have realised by the four topics I posted on just under two weeks, I love information!

I found osprey books a few years ago, and purchased several books on ships of the line, cavalry tactics of the Napoleonic wars, (volume one and two) and a few books on the 18th century British army. I found these to be great resources

However, one or two members have said a few things about osprey books, and that they can be quite misleading.

So, for medieval books. (Mainly on arms, armour, uniforms* and the various armies) would you say osprey books are an accurate and good resource?

Thank you for any contributions! :D

*well, equipment and clothing.

Of the Osprey books I've seen personally, I think one could do better. Osprey tends to be a bit fanciful. Try most any book here in the 'Bookstore' of the 'Features' section for much better quality info and pictures. ;) ....McM

Many of the Osprey Books were written at a time when images of primary sources were scattered and not that easy to locate, even on the internet. They were illustrated by artists who clearly knew about medieval arms and armour, but who lacked specialist knowledge required to be really precise and accurate. Now that primary sources are much easier to locate online, I would advise against the Osprey series as a guide for the precise appearance of clothing, equipment and the like.

Instead, you should spend lots of time browsing here: http://manuscriptminiatures.com. Be sure to pay very close attention to details. Of course, there are lots of other good sources on arms and armour (like the books by Oakeshott, Geibig, et al) but Manuscript Miniatures is one of the best places for period imagery.

Some Osprey books are good. Most are rubbish. Without a good working knowledge of the subject it isn't possible to determine which is which. Best to not use them at all.

IMHO they are not too good on ancient, Renaissance and Medieval era topics. From the 18th c. on they do OK with considerably more accuracy when dealing with modern times. There are some good researchers and writers and some not-so-good. One particular author, who shall remain nameless, makes a lot of factual errors leading me to believe that he does not research the minutiae he writes about, before he does so. Others are fine.

I guess you get what you pay for and they are cheap and do cover a lot of subjects. Just be careful and try to have some other works on these subjects handy for comparison. I would never base my library on Osprey Books. However, I will admit to owning a few myself.

By the way, http://manuscriptminiatures.com./ seems to have some issues.

Osprey books are perhaps better than nothing but I think that's the best that can be said about them.

I consider them to be the Wikipedia in your hands, mostly for gamers and re-enactors. They give a cursory glimpse into a subject and one has to be careful about some of the history. The good thing is they provide a good bibliography (usually) for further research. However, if you just want a basic understanding on a certain topic they can be OK.