cRPG

Off Topic => Historical Discussion => Topic started by: Joker86 on January 29, 2012, 12:43:26 am

Title: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Joker86 on January 29, 2012, 12:43:26 am
Hi there!

The discussion about new armour brought me to the idea to post the coloured plates from my Osprey book collection. These books are more or less the modern reference for military history for everyone who is not a real, dedicated expert but rather only interested or very interested. They try to depict military technology as accurately as possible, so you can basically treat them as sources for any historical investigation.

This topic can have several purposes. I can serve your entertainment, it can inspire you for a certain style of equipment, but it can also serve as base for creating new items, if one of you is capable of modelling and texturing. There are some really amazing pictures among them, and some warriors look really badass, for example the blue Norman Knight.

If you want further information, I will see what I can do  :wink:


European Medieval Armies
(click to show/hide)


German Medieval Armies 1000-1300
(click to show/hide)

German Medieval Armies 1300-1500
(click to show/hide)

French medieval Armies 1000-1300
(click to show/hide)


French Armies of the 100 Years War
(click to show/hide)


Italian Medieval Armies 1000-1300
(click to show/hide)


Italian Medieval Armies 1300-1500
(click to show/hide)


Armies at Agincourt
(click to show/hide)



Armies at Crecy and Poitiers
(click to show/hide)


Armies of Medieval Burgundy?
(click to show/hide)


Armies of the German Peasant War
(click to show/hide)


Armies of the Hussite Wars
(click to show/hide)


The Swiss at War
(click to show/hide)


The Landsknechts
(click to show/hide)

The War of Roses
(click to show/hide)


The Scottish and Welsh at War
(click to show/hide)


Scandinavian Medieval Armies 1000-1300
(click to show/hide)


Scandinavian Medieval Armies 1300-1500
(click to show/hide)


Armies of the Scandinavian Baltic Crusades
(click to show/hide)


The Vikings
(click to show/hide)


Saxon, Viking and Norman
(click to show/hide)


The Normans
(click to show/hide)


The Age of Charlemagne
(click to show/hide)


Polish Medieval Armies
(click to show/hide)


The Venetian Empire
(click to show/hide)


El Cid and the Reconquista
(click to show/hide)


The Conquistadores
(click to show/hide)


Knights at Tournament
(click to show/hide)


Medieval Siege Warfare
(click to show/hide)


The Crusades
(click to show/hide)


Armies of the Crusades
(click to show/hide)


The Knights of Christ
(click to show/hide)


Armies of Medieval Russia 750-1250
(click to show/hide)


Armies of Medieval Russia 1250-1500
(click to show/hide)


Byzantine Armies 886-1118
(click to show/hide)


Byzantine Armies 1118-1461
(click to show/hide)


The Varangian Guard
(click to show/hide)


Hungary and the Fall of Eastern Europe
(click to show/hide)


Steppe Warriors
(click to show/hide)


The Mongols
(click to show/hide)


Armies of Islam
(click to show/hide)


Armies of the Caliphates
(click to show/hide)


Armies of the Muslim Conquest
(click to show/hide)


Saladin and the Saracens
(click to show/hide)


The Mamluks
(click to show/hide)


The Moors
(click to show/hide)


The Age of Tamerlan
(click to show/hide)


Armies of the Ottoman Turks
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Joker86 on January 29, 2012, 12:46:15 am
-Reserved -
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Joker86 on January 29, 2012, 12:52:40 am
Quote from: Joker86 on January 29, 2012, 12:46:15 am
-Reserved -

Perhaps there is yet more to come?  :wink:
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Zimke Zlovoljni on January 29, 2012, 02:53:46 am
Thanks for this mr Joker ;)
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Adalwulf on January 29, 2012, 04:00:08 am
Agreed good stuff. +1
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Christo on January 29, 2012, 04:27:24 am
Good stuff, indeed.

Ah, there is a Hungarian section, Just too many pictures and I got confused.  :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Joker86 on January 29, 2012, 04:28:23 am
11th spoiler from the bottom?  :?
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Christo on January 29, 2012, 04:29:14 am
Yeah, got it, post re-edited.

I'm a bit tired, it seems.  :)

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


By the way, the armor on the left guy on horseback, is totally identical to mine ingame.

So cool.  8-)
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Stylin_ATS on January 29, 2012, 09:32:04 am
I can certainly see where the inspiration for many of our current armors came from. I'd love to see more Magyar, Byzantine and Ottoman stuff in game.
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: dodnet on January 29, 2012, 10:21:16 am
Quote from: Joker86 on January 29, 2012, 12:43:26 am
German Medieval Armies 1300-1500
visitors can't see pics , please register or login


The prove that we germans invented breast piercing!  :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Kansuke on January 29, 2012, 11:51:51 pm
This is awesome, thank you.
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Angantyr on January 30, 2012, 02:21:25 am
Thank you for your time Joker, I own most of these Osprey books myself but it's very nice to have all the illustrations gathered in one place; and especially here where many players might find it a source of inspiration for their characters.

People should be aware though that despite being generally historically accurate by being based on primary sources, Osprey artists have a degree of artistic freedom, and the authors are not always equally well-informed on a given subject (Medieval Scandinavian Armies as a case in point, nothing wrong with the illustrations however). It's usually pretty high quality for its format, though, and in regards to historical illustrations it doesn't get much better.
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Joker86 on January 31, 2012, 10:24:03 am
I can't really judge this, as I am not that into historical matters to be able to find "mistakes" in the illustrations (or books, what's wrong with Scandinavian Medieval Armies?), but I guess even if an illustrator takes use of his freedom, there will surely have been a guy who looked like this. I think in the middle ages showing off and looking cool was as important as it was nowadays, perhaps even more, so if someone had the money to look differently, I guess there have been plenty who took advantage of this.  :mrgreen:

At least considering knights and mercenaries.
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Angantyr on January 31, 2012, 03:46:05 pm
When you do these things the obvious approach would be to look at the various primary sources, be it archaeological finds, contemporary illustrations (for example in an illustrated bible, a church painting, a tapestry etc.) or as in the example of Medieval Scandinavia some of the written material from the historical record describing in detail what equipment the different levies aswell as nobles are required to muster with.

In the case of 'Scandinavian Medieval Armies' some of the best sources are completely ignored, like the 'Konungs skuggsjá', 'Codex Holmiensis' and the 'Hirðskrá', and some of what is written is pure speculation, based on absolutely nothing as far as I can tell (no sources provided). Much of the archaeological record is ignored, too, though admittedly some chapters are of a good enough quality. Let us also not forget the format we're talking here, with so few pages (especially in the case of 'Scandinavian' armies where you have to cover three seperate kingdoms) you are hard pressed as an author to make it fit into one manual.

Same goes for Osprey's take on Vikings, here some frankly wild theories, for example about 'ringborge/Viking circle forts', are put forward, again completely unfounded, and one can only wonder if these authors do not even make the attempt at looking at some of the excellent material that can be found, for example Else Roesdahl's updated version of 'Vikingernes Verden' which with its summary-style format fits that of Osprey's quite well - aswell as being well-documented and written by a leading authority on the subject.

But Osprey does have its merits as a small-format, pop-history publication; it's usually an excellent overview of many contemporary pictorial references (though sadly mostly in black and white) and as I said in my above post the modern illustrations are often of as good quality as it gets.
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Bobthehero on February 13, 2012, 03:39:20 am
I approve of this thread, a lot.

Got ethe Maciejowski bible pictures too?
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Angantyr on February 13, 2012, 05:56:19 am
There's some excellent ressources for that on the interwebz, see for example this (http://www.themorgan.org/collections/swf/exhibOnline.asp?id=200) website in high res and with a nifty zoom function.
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Bobthehero on February 13, 2012, 10:21:33 am
Thanks  :D
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Zandieer on February 22, 2012, 10:12:48 pm
Nice collection! Thanks for sharing it with us, Joker  :D

Now, just to decide which army of these to roleplay  :oops:

...any suggestions? Mainly cav  :wink:
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Penitent on February 24, 2012, 09:46:48 pm
These are awesome!  Really shows the historical "flavor" for many of the times and regions.  Thanks! :)
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Adamar on May 29, 2012, 12:21:50 am
OMG, I only saw this now. BUMP!
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: polkafranzi on June 01, 2012, 01:00:42 pm
I have all these books printed from pdf too, they are great for referencing and trying out new styles  8-)

Only problem is, there's no Kuyak wearing Klappvisier whoring Katana wielder in any of them!!
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Joker86 on June 01, 2012, 01:22:10 pm
Quote from: polkafranzi on June 01, 2012, 01:00:42 pm
Only problem is, there's no Kuyak wearing Klappvisier whoring Katana wielder in any of them!!

Well, I guess they decided to not elaborate the most famous and well known historical facts, as the books are relatively thin and the space there is limited. So why mention what everyone knows already?
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Kafein on June 07, 2012, 01:37:22 pm
visitors can't see pics , please register or login



Someone has been plumping out lately

Ha yes the french armies

visitors can't see pics , please register or login
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Boerenlater on June 12, 2012, 01:04:27 pm
Joker do you also have those on the Joseon era armies from Korea?
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Joker86 on June 12, 2012, 03:56:16 pm
Quote from: Boerenlater on June 12, 2012, 01:04:27 pm
Joker do you also have those on the Joseon era armies from Korea?

I have the Samurai Invasion of Korea 1592-1598 and Samurai Castles in Korea 1592-1598. I have no idea if this is about that Joseon era, because I haven't read it yet, and I am not that interested in Asian history.  :wink:

Edit: google says Joseon era was from 14th to 19th century, so it's the time era. But those books are the only ones I have, the rest is about the Korean War with/against the USA.
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Boerenlater on June 12, 2012, 08:00:25 pm
Yeah those will do.
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Elmuri on June 15, 2012, 11:07:04 am
http://pontu.eenet.ee/player/kalakotkas.html

Theres an osprey
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Boerenlater on June 25, 2012, 08:37:50 pm
Joker plz post em.
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: polkafranzi on June 25, 2012, 08:40:07 pm
Osprey books are too innacurate, here are real medieval styles:

http://imgur.com/a/UW6gl#0
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Christo on June 25, 2012, 09:31:57 pm
Quote from: polkafranzi on June 25, 2012, 08:40:07 pm
Osprey books are too innacurate, here are real medieval styles:

http://imgur.com/a/UW6gl#0

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


visitors can't see pics , please register or login
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Vibe on July 02, 2012, 01:31:25 pm
Great thread, deserves a bump.
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Penitent on August 07, 2012, 05:13:16 pm
I still browse these pics form time to time. :)
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Armpit_Sweat on August 07, 2012, 06:32:51 pm
visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Great post! Never seen it before :)

+1 OP
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Penitent on February 07, 2013, 11:46:47 pm
bump for awesome.
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Erzengel on February 10, 2013, 03:36:27 pm
Best thread ever. Thank you very much Joker.
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Latvian on February 10, 2013, 04:03:18 pm
i fell in love with this, guess who will install stainless steel?
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: RAFle_fourbe on February 11, 2013, 12:48:14 pm
Quote from: Joker86 on January 29, 2012, 12:43:26 am
Armies of Medieval Burgundy?
(click to show/hide)

Burgundy > Burgonde > Bourgogne. It's a region of France http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgundy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgundy)
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Erzengel on February 11, 2013, 03:54:22 pm
Quote from: RAFle_fourbe on February 11, 2013, 12:48:14 pm
Burgundy > Burgonde > Bourgogne. It's a region of France http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgundy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgundy)

I think he just wasn't sure about the exact date. ;) It is 1364-1477 btw.
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Joker86 on February 11, 2013, 08:58:34 pm
 :wink: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sABVhW1tc14) <- click

(P.S.: Of course I do know Burgundy. In German it's even still called "Burgund".)
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Fringe on April 02, 2013, 12:04:10 am
Nice to still go back to this after some time :)
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: zottlmarsch on September 02, 2013, 08:35:32 pm
Quote from: Garison on February 07, 2013, 11:46:47 pm
bump for awesome.
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Erzengel on January 29, 2014, 10:14:01 am
bump
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: KaleLord on February 10, 2014, 10:12:58 pm
Would you recommend buying osprey elite series or man at arms series?
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Sari on April 10, 2014, 11:49:49 pm
I see the baltic crusades, just asking if you can have more in that area like the pagans or even the Teutonics.  :D
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Johnnyfirs on April 16, 2014, 11:52:36 pm
visitors can't see pics , please register or login

Oh god, I didn't know HX's were a real thing haha!
Poor medieval 2h heroes...
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Angantyr on April 17, 2014, 01:01:15 am
Mounted crossbowmen were very common. Particularly in your own country, in fact. 'Jyske Lov' decrees for one crossbow per styrisman/mounted man-at-arms per ship in the Danish leidangs-fleet, and the Norwegian 'Hirdskraa' explicitly mentions training and equipping the (mounted) king's guard with bows and crossbows.
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Johnnyfirs on April 17, 2014, 03:11:21 pm
Damn... Well that's actually kind of neat I guess.
Eventhough I appreciate some good historical knowledge, I'm always embarrased when someone outside my country teaches me about my own history, hah!
Hats off to you, sir!
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Angantyr on April 17, 2014, 06:03:12 pm
I'm also Danish. Probably the only reason I've bothered to read these sources..
Title: Re: Joker's Osprey Topic - hundreds of pics!
Post by: Penitent on December 01, 2015, 10:13:13 pm
I'm bumping this, because it's the only source of this stuff so nicely compiled that I know of. :)