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Palladium Book of Weapons and Armour (compiled by Matthew Balent)

Palladium’s series of weapons, castles and armor books has been a staple of the GM’s library since the first publication in the early 80s. After being available for a time as a collection in the "Compendium of Weapons, Armour and Castles", the books are being reprinted as several issues in the "small book" format with new covers. The first of these is "The Palladium Book of Weapons and Armour". See my parallel review of the second one: "The Palladium Book of Weapons and Castles".

Personally I have never owned any of the earlier publications, but I have looked at the Compendium, and I will use that as a reference when comparing the "new" books with the older ones.

Cover

Production, Layout and Style

Apart from the nice full color cover illustration the comic-sized book is all black and white. The printing is clear and done on sturdy, good quality paper. The glued binding seems to hold up reasonably well, but prevents the reader form opening the book wide without potentially damaging the spine. For a slim volume like this (48 pages) I would have preferred a stapled binding. The spine is too thin to hold any writing anyway.

The content seems to have been reproduced straight from the originals right down to typesetting and layout. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as the book contains mainly illustrations and tables that were designed clearly and attractively from the outset. Only the very last (short) article by Matthew Balent could have used an overhaul in layout. Overall the layout is old-fashioned and straightforward, but I will take a clean and readable page over a fancy, ultra-stylish one any day.

Assyrian, page 14

The highlights of the book (at least for me) are the interior illustrations of warriors in weapons and armor of different locations and epochs. Done by Mary Walsh and Kevin Siembieda they bring the relatively dry subject and material to life. The simple sketches of weapons included in the weapons list are somewhat less evocative, but they serve their function of giving a visual impression of the listed tools of combat.

Content

As stated earlier this book is a reprint of older material. There is no "new" content in it. Anyone who owns the older weapon books can probably skip it. But for those who are new to this series of sourcebooks there is a lot to see. Be aware that this is not about nifty magic weapons and fantastical suits of armor. It is about down-to-earth historical equipment ranging from the ancient period to late medieval/early modern times. Text is minimal; most content is in the form illustrations and data. The information is not game system specific but tries to abstract properties of weapons and armor into numbers, which can serve as a basis for implementing them into any system whatsoever.

As stated in the title the book is divided into two parts, one on weapons and one on armor. The armor part is actually the first and spans 18 of the 48 pages. It starts off with a brief discussion of armor types and their protection properties versus different types of damage. Then comes the "meat" of the section: illustrations of 50 fighters, each in a different suit of armor. Armour parts are labeled with their names and data, making the whole thing a superb visual reference. The emphasis is clearly on western European, medieval equipment (32 of 50 illustrations), which seems tailored to the average fantasy gamer. Personally I would have preferred to see more ancient stuff, but that it is only because my interests are concentrated in that era. There is some oriental and exotic stuff, but it is hardly more than an appetizer.

The weapons chapter is slightly longer (22pages) and more comprehensive. It lists more than 600 hand-to-hand weapons in table format with relevant data and a tiny illustration each. The list spans much more than my limited knowledge of arms history, but seems to cover pretty much every known ancient and medieval civilization. Sadly the limited nature of the illustrations and encyclopedic format make the chapter much less appealing to my eye and mind than the previous one. Except for the most enthusiastic weapons fanatic, the differences between an Irish "skain" and a Scottish "scain dubh" are so minor as to be irrelevant. Some fewer weapons with better illustrations might have been more here.

The book is rounded out with an index, a bibliography and a few author’s notes. The index sadly contains no page numbers but only section references (like knives, swords, etc.), but it is still invaluable. So if you ever come across a reference to a "Shasqua", you can quickly look up that it is the national sword of the Circassians.

Conclusion

"The Palladium Book of Weapons and Armour" is a good reference book for the historically interested gamer. In comparison to scientific works on the subject it has the advantage of larger scope and inclusion of game relevant data (which is still generic), but naturally loses on detail and context. The only thing I am really missing is more information on time periods. Only the medieval armors are give a time frame for when they were in use.

In my opinion the artwork in the armor chapter is worth the price of $7.95 alone. And I especially like the fact that the information is generic in nature. It should be easy to adapt to any given system. So give it a try if you are interested in giving the combat equipment in your game some historical substance.

Palladium Book of Weapons and Armour
Palladium Book of Weapons and Armour Capsule Review by Ralf Schemmann on 13/12/02 Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty) Check it out, if you are interested in giving the combat equipment in your game some historical substance. Product: Palladium Book of Weapons and Armour Author: Matthew Balent Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Palladium Books, Inc. Line: Weapon Compendiums Cost: 7.95 Page count: 48 Year published: 2002 ISBN: 0-916211-07-X SKU: 401 Comp copy?: yes Capsule Review by Ralf Schemmann on 13/12/02 Genre tags: Fantasy Historical Generic	Palladium Book of Weapons and Armour (compiled by Matthew Balent) Palladium’s series of weapons, castles and armor books has been a staple of the GM’s library since the first publication in the early 80s. After being available for a time as a collection in the "Compendium of Weapons, Armour and Castles", the books are being reprinted as several issues in the "small book" format with new covers. The first of these is "The Palladium Book of Weapons and Armour". See my parallel review of the second one: "The Palladium Book of Weapons and Castles". Personally I have never owned any of the earlier publications, but I have looked at the Compendium, and I will use that as a reference when comparing the "new" books with the older ones. Production, Layout and Style Apart from the nice full color cover illustration the comic-sized book is all black and white. The printing is clear and done on sturdy, good quality paper. The glued binding seems to hold up reasonably well, but prevents the reader form opening the book wide without potentially damaging the spine. For a slim volume like this (48 pages) I would have preferred a stapled binding. The spine is too thin to hold any writing anyway. The content seems to have been reproduced straight from the originals right down to typesetting and layout. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as the book contains mainly illustrations and tables that were designed clearly and attractively from the outset. Only the very last (short) article by Matthew Balent could have used an overhaul in layout. Overall the layout is old-fashioned and straightforward, but I will take a clean and readable page over a fancy, ultra-stylish one any day. The highlights of the book (at least for me) are the interior illustrations of warriors in weapons and armor of different locations and epochs. Done by Mary Walsh and Kevin Siembieda they bring the relatively dry subject and material to life. The simple sketches of weapons included in the weapons list are somewhat less evocative, but they serve their function of giving a visual impression of the listed tools of combat. Content As stated earlier this book is a reprint of older material. There is no "new" content in it. Anyone who owns the older weapon books can probably skip it. But for those who are new to this series of sourcebooks there is a lot to see. Be aware that this is not about nifty magic weapons and fantastical suits of armor. It is about down-to-earth historical equipment ranging from the ancient period to late medieval/early modern times. Text is minimal; most content is in the form illustrations and data. The information is not game system specific but tries to abstract properties of weapons and armor into numbers, which can serve as a basis for implementing them into any system whatsoever. As stated in the title the book is divided into two parts, one on weapons and one on armor. The armor part is actually the first and spans 18 of the 48 pages. It starts off with a brief discussion of armor types and their protection properties versus different types of damage. Then comes the "meat" of the section: illustrations of 50 fighters, each in a different suit of armor. Armour parts are labeled with their names and data, making the whole thing a superb visual reference. The emphasis is clearly on western European, medieval equipment (32 of 50 illustrations), which seems tailored to the average fantasy gamer. Personally I would have preferred to see more ancient stuff, but that it is only because my interests are concentrated in that era. There is some oriental and exotic stuff, but it is hardly more than an appetizer. The weapons chapter is slightly longer (22pages) and more comprehensive. It lists more than 600 hand-to-hand weapons in table format with relevant data and a tiny illustration each. The list spans much more than my limited knowledge of arms history, but seems to cover pretty much every known ancient and medieval civilization. Sadly the limited nature of the illustrations and encyclopedic format make the chapter much less appealing to my eye and mind than the previous one. Except for the most enthusiastic weapons fanatic, the differences between an Irish "skain" and a Scottish "scain dubh" are so minor as to be irrelevant. Some fewer weapons with better illustrations might have been more here. The book is rounded out with an index, a bibliography and a few author’s notes. The index sadly contains no page numbers but only section references (like knives, swords, etc.), but it is still invaluable. So if you ever come across a reference to a "Shasqua", you can quickly look up that it is the national sword of the Circassians. Conclusion "The Palladium Book of Weapons and Armour" is a good reference book for the historically interested gamer. In comparison to scientific works on the subject it has the advantage of larger scope and inclusion of game relevant data (which is still generic), but naturally loses on detail and context. The only thing I am really missing is more information on time periods. Only the medieval armors are give a time frame for when they were in use. In my opinion the artwork in the armor chapter is worth the price of $7.95 alone. And I especially like the fact that the information is generic in nature. It should be easy to adapt to any given system. So give it a try if you are interested in giving the combat equipment in your game some historical substance.