Osprey's Elite series covers many historical subjects. This is book 201 and covers the Carthaginians between the 6th and 2nd century BC. The author states several facts in the beginning in that this book is a study of the Carthaginians armament and military culture and much studying is left to do as the culture and records were destroyed by the Romans. Also, he notes that the book will attempt to represent how Carthaginian Warriors might have looked based on the current state of knowledge. From a modelers perspective, this will be most useful.

The book is broken down into the following sections:

• Introduction
• Historical Reputation- describes the Carthaginians culture
• Chronology- Timeline covered in this volume
• Organization- Describes the military structure and soldiers
• Tactics
• Arms and Equipment- Including armor, shields, etc.
• Clothing and Physical Appearance
• The Navy
• Selected Campaigns- Covers three major campaigns
• Bibliography and Index

From a modelers standpoint, there is a large amount of information in this book. There are multiple color plates covering the color and costumes of the Carthaginian solider, allies, and even a war elephant. There are detail shots of the weapons such as the one below showing the heads of spears and more. There are also great shots of their ships and a description of them. From a figure modelers perspective, this is gold.

From a historical perspective, the author gives us an overview of the Carthaginian people, the military and trading dominance they attained during this period and covers three major battles. All of this is lavishly illustrated with both drawings and pictures of historical relics.

This is an excellent book and definitely recommended. A quick look through figure modeling stores show dozens of examples of figures which are covered in this book and it is an excellent value considering the wealth of knowledge in it.

My thanks to Osprey and IPMS/USA for the chance to review this book.