Geek House Creations

Book Review

You cannot possibly know how happy I am right now. I just received my copy of Osprey Publishing Books, Steampunk Soldier: Uniforms andWeapons. 

I would be remiss if I didn't follow up with a review and recommendation.

If you remember my earlier post, I was really excited when I learned Osprey had published this book because Osprey has a great reputation among scale model builders and military enthusiasts for their historical military books, of which many are uniform reference books. Osprey’s art and illustrations are always top notch, but given that they've always done dry historical stuff, how would they carry over to the fictional Steampunk, I wondered. Fantastically it seems!

The book is organized by chapters dedicated to the countries one most commonly associates with Steampunk: Great Britain, France, Germany, and the United and Confederate States of America. Happily, I was thrilled to see Osprey dedicate chapters to some less represented nations and cultures that some Steampunk tends to overlook. There’s chapters on Russia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Italy. There’s even a chapter on Japan, and one on the “Minor Powers”. I was particularly happy to see these chapters because it seems that some Steampunk fans still can’t imagine anything but a Eurocentric Steampunk. Osprey, staying true to its historical roots, is bringing a nuanced world view to their Steampunk coverage.

Confederate Jet pack cavalry 

Battle suits and Pinkertons

Each chapter opens with a one page write up of the respective nation’s context in the Steampunk world and then we get to what this book really excels at: illustrations of Steampunk inspired uniforms and their back stories! Yes, back stories! One of the concerns expressed about this book was that Osprey would ignore the art of the back story and just cobbled together Steampunk uniforms and miss out on all the time most fans of the genre spend on lovingly crafting their backgrounds. Not so! Every wonderful uniform image comes with historical background context. It’s from a historical perspective rather than personal one, but with enough detail to help anyone come up with a back story of their own to match the uniforms. Uniforms of the “Queen Courier Service” are included as are engineers, Scot Highlander Battle Armor, German Jagers, and even “Antwerp Rebels”. The end result is that by the time you’re done reading a few of these you get a sense of an entire world of Steampunk and probably more than a few ideas about new backgrounds and characters.

Fighting for Cuban independence from Spain

For me, the book really excels when it gets to the chapters on Japan and the “Minor Powers”. We've got Japanese Imperial soldiers, Samurai Battle Mechs, and Korean militiamen. My absolute personal favorite and one that I must bring special attention to is the portrait of a “Mambisa”, a female Cuban Freedom Fighter fighting for independence from Spain. Being Cuban and seeing Osprey dedicate a section of their excellent book to the nation of my birth warms my heart. More importantly, it excites the imagination by reminding us of all of the untapped opportunities for backstories, costumes, and accessories that could arise from considering these oft overlooked nations and cultures. If you’re not inspired to look at a globe, spin it, put a thumb down and wonder what the Steampowered world would have looked like where your thumb lands, than you need some imagination vitamins.

In short, get this book! You will not be disappointed.

Steam and Boxer Rebellion?

Lastly, I’d really suggest getting the hard cover. I've gotten Osprey books in digital format and the artwork just doesn’t quite impress as having it in your hands. The book just feels great! Apparently Osprey Publishing has a whole “Adventure” series that I've missed out on. Titles include some interesting things about Zombies and Classical mythology like Troy and King Arthur. I’m most interested in what appears to be a Diesel-punk inspired book on Nazi Occult stories complete with face-melting Nazi. Good stuff. Maybe I’ll order that next.

Get Steampunk Soldier: Uniforms and Weapons here for $16.73 and free delivery with Prime. Also, Amazon is bundling this with the Steampunk Bible for $35 so it's a great chance to get two must-have books in one shot.