This book covers the equipment, organisation and tactics from Philip and Alexander to the Roman conquest. This isn’t just a book on big spears.

It’s also not a little book. It’s nearly 500 pages of big stabby goodness. Nearly everyone knows the early success of the Macedonian army was the Phalanx, the Pike based infantry formation that simply rolled over anything in its path.

But as the author points out in his book, it was much more that simply having large bodies of men with pike.

The book covers the soldiers armour of the time, his weaponry. There is also a big section on Phalanx drilling, which suggests a level of military professionalism that hadn’t been seen at that time in history.

It also covers how these phalanx were commanded and controlled, as well as the tactics for their use in battle. The author ties in actual battle examples to show how effective the phalanx was.

This is a great book for military historians, as it gives a huge amount of detail into the phalanx and its use. For wargammers, this will help explain how it was used in Battle

The book ends with the Phalanx being overcome by the Roman Legion. The phalanx didn’t adapt with the times, and other Empires developed a new level of professionalism and used different tactics that overcame it. We don’t really see the impact of the large pike formations again until the Swiss use in the Middle Ages.

You can buy the book here from Pen and Sword books. 

Please note I was not paid to write this review but was sent a review copy of the book. All comments are my own, and the publishers have not amended the review in any way.

This book was interesting as it doesn’t support the view of the simple adoption and adapation of the Greek mythology by the Early Roman Empire. The author shows that the Romans actually had their own mythology and didn’t simply use Greek mythology as their own.

The author then goes on to highlight the role of warfare in Roman mythology, by my mind, reading this book, was at the core of Roman mythology. The gods didn’t seem to just sit around drinking wine. There was always a punch up going on. Romans didn’t simply have a god of war, they had several.

The book highlights the integration of warfare in Roman culture, society and politics of the time. When you look at it, Roman History appears to be constantly at war with somebody.

The book covers a lot of key players in Roman mythology. I didn’t realise there were so many Roman war gods. My favourite chapter of the book was around the warlike women in the Roman Epics. It covers the establishment of the myths and how authors of the time promoted their works, sometimes even before they were finished. Claiming they were already classics.

There are a large number of appendices to the book covering some interesting facets to help round out your knowledge. The appendix on latin terms was interesting…

The book has a number of illustration and plates of Roman mythology across history. It is easy to see their importance in history.

A really interesting read for any military historian, as it might give you a different view of the events of the time.

You can buy the book here from Pen and Sword books 

Please note I was not paid to write this review but was sent a review copy of the book. All comments are my own, and the publishers have not amended the review in any way.

This book was first published on 1981 and has gone through several editions. This latest edition is a fantastic edition to any military history, Roman, Greek or wargames enthusiast.

This book is like an osprey illustrated book on Steroids. It is a massive 320 odd pages jammed packed with a huge amount of detail.

This isn’t a book you read. This is a book you keep dipping on and out of.

The book covers 3 periods of ancient history chronologically.

• Greece and Macedonia
• Italy and the Western Mediterranean
• The Roman Empire

The book is full of details illustrations, maps and photographs. This is going to take a huge amount of time to get through.

My only one gripe is the 3 column page format for reading. But I can see why they have does it, too cram in as much as possible.

The books ends with 3 appendices on war at sea, fortifications and siege warfare, and finally a lot of plates depicting clothing and uniforms of the period.

I really recommend this book.

You can buy the book here from Pen and Sword books 

Please note I was not paid to write this review but was sent a review copy of the book. All comments are my own, and the publishers have not amended the review in any way.