Concord Publications Company

The Eastern Romans 330-1461AD

by  Raffaele D'Amato (Text) and Giorgio Albertini (Plates)

Reviewed By  Charles Landrum, IPMS# 26328

MSRP: $22.50 ISBN: 962-361-089-0 Thanks to Dragon USA (www.dragonmodelsusa.com) for providing the review copy. Concord Publications has been publishing books for modelers for the last 20 years, when the DML family of companies leaped onto the modeling scene. Many modelers are familiar with their titles on armor and ships, but Concord Publications has expanded into numerous categories of interest to the modeling and military history community. The Eastern Romans 330-1461AD is Concord's latest offering. As the title suggests, the profile covers Eastern Roman empire from the time that the empire was administratively split, through the last days of the Byzantine Empire. It was a period of great change, when the Western Empire decayed into chaos and disappeared and the Eastern Empire took on a more oriental character. Byzantium fought off numerous threats in a long series of conflicts, not only along its frontiers, but also with the Muslims and the Crusaders. Despite the strength of the Byzantine empire not much is widely published about the period; it is refreshing to see a book on the subject. The Eastern Romans 330-1461AD is a typical Concord 8-1/2 x 11 inch soft bound profile. The format is text on the left and an accompanying color plate on the right. The profile looks at 20 significant events in the history of the Eastern Roman Empire both internal and external conflicts. The text of each vignette provides a summary narrative approx 2/3 of the page; the remainder being a narrative explanation of the accompanying color plate that explains the garb depicted and some historical notes on how they were derived. In the back are two plates and narrative for a vignette apparently not chosen for the final draft. It depicts a Russian threat to the empire late in the 10th century; the artwork includes in progress sketches and a completed rendering of an officer. This is a fascinating edition that will be of great interest to figure modelers, wargamers and historians alike. The narrative is compelling and the art is rich. While the art differs from the Osprey Men-at-Arms series, costumes are depicted in somewhat busy scenes rather than in isolation, it is never-the-less well executed. The costume descriptions are detailed and illuminating. The only drawback to the book is that the side margins for the text are too narrow and therefore the right text nearly runs into the binding, making the book hard to read. The font is too small as well for easy reading. That being said, I still rate the publication as Highly Recommended.

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