Buccaneers: 1620-1700 covers the glory days of the piracy along the Spanish Main. Buccaneers is one of Osprey Military's series of books on historical militaries, campaigns, and battles. You've probably seen these white, paperback books on a rack in the corner of your local game store or in gift shops at historic sites. Another book in the series covers pirates, 1660-1730, including their activities along North America's Atlantic Seaboard.

The text provides detailed accounts of the origins, social history, equipment, bases, tactics, battles, and notable personalities, such as Henry Morgan, Christopher Myngs, and L'Olonnais. Buccaneers describes the origins of the buccaneers in a competition for control of Caribbean islands between the Spanish and other European nations. Buccaneers does an excellent job of placing the activities of the buccaneers in the Caribbean in context with various 17th Century wars of religion in Europe and their shifting alliances. Many of the buccaneers, themselves, were veterans of the European wars and were able to bring superior training and equipment to bear against the poorly equipped and trained militias that the Spanish organized to defend the cities of the Spanish Main.

Buccaneers is lavishly illustrated with at least one period illustration on each page. Mr. McBride has also provided nine color plates illustrating prominent buccaneer actions.

As a roleplaying aid, is an excellent historical sourcebook, offering much more detail on the buccaneers than provided in GURPS Swashbuckling and similar sourcebooks. About the only thing that would improve Buccaneers would be a detailed cronology for the buccaneers activities.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)