I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

I liked this book, I wanted to love it but the images didn't translate well in the ecopy. I think if you're going to buy this book, you'd do better seeing if there's a print copy available.

The information and fictional overview of elves is fantastic though, so I'll definitely be looking for print copies of this series of books for my library, as I tend to love to write about elves. :)

'Elf Warfare' by Chris Pramas is another book in the Osprey line of fantasy warfare. Previously I read 'Orc Warfare' and liked it about as much as this on.

It's a short book, but has enough information to fuel a fantasy wargaming campaign. The 4 chapters talk about 5 of the types of elves (gold, green, high, moon, and sea), what units comprise an elf army, what tactics elf armies might use, and finally a major victory from each of the 5 types of elves.

I learned that elves don't like to make risky death-defying moves because they are so long-lived. I also learned not to tangle with the elves at sea when they have their sea turtle and sea dragon ships nearby.
The book also includes some nice illustrations of different elves and armor and such.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Osprey Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.

3.5 Stars
3.25 - Text
4 - Artwork
A history of Elven warfare, their different groups, and each group's battle tactics and weapons. A fun and informative book for anyone interested in the subject, especially Sci-fi/fantasy fans and gamers. It's organized well and the illustrations are beautiful.

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This book is geeky to the max and I loved every second of it. Elves are my favorite fantastical beings so this book was right up my alley. I would love more books like this about other beings and creatures, I think I'd eat that up pretty fast.

Elf Warfare is basically a Warhammer Army book, without the setting background and rules. I went into it expecting a fun, tongue-in-cheek examination of elven warfare as portrayed in fiction. Instead, it's written exactly like the fifth edition Warhammer High Elf book I read as a kid. Ultimately, it would probably be enjoyable to someone with no prior experience with wargaming, but I just found it to be derivative and disconnected from any source material.

Many thanks to Chris Pramas, Osprey Publising, and Netgalley for the free copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Loved this book!!! What a gem

Read it in a couple of hours and closed it with a deeper appreciation for eleven folklore. I understand this is actually a series with various creatures as the subject matter and I want them all. These would be great for D&D kids I think.
My only complaint is that the gorgeous illustrations didn't translate in the electronic version of this book.

I think the elves are my favourite race from the ones you usually find in fantasy: not just their physical beauty, but their majesty, the elegance they fight with, their intelligence and wonderful organizational skills.
The book is a fictional history and representation of elves, structured in four parts: first a general presentation of the race; the second about elf troops; the third about strategies and tactics; the fourth and last with case studies of battles. The facts are presented in an interesting manner and a realistic mode, so that it was easy to forget that this was just fiction and not the actual history of a long gone race.

What bothered me: (1) the very abrupt ending, the book just stops, with no conclusion; (2) not sure how it was for other readers, but in my kindle format the pictures were separated in many pieces and thus rendered useless and disrupting even the reading.

I've always liked Osprey Publishing's military history books. They consistently catch my attention at hobby shops due to the wonderfully illustrated covers and adventurous topics. This goes double for Elf Warfare, which gives the Osprey treatment to fantasy fiction.

Elf Warfare is the third installment of the Osprey Adventures series, which also includes Orc Warfare and Dwarf Warfare . The books present an overview of the cultures, societies, and militaries of these fantasy races. Though presented as a nonfiction volume, Elf Warfare is a work of original fiction, not just a roll-up or comparison of elves from other stories. It is essentially a gaming manual to provide reference or ideas for gaming campaigns or fantasy writers.

The book begins with a short history of the elves and their main divisions. These include Green Elves, Sea Elves, Gold Elves, High Elves, Moon Elves, and Dark Elves. It continues with description of troop types, those common to all elf armies and those unique to each elf kind. Next, the volume presents the strategies and tactics employed by elf armies and navies. Finally, we get to see some vignettes of fictional elf battles where the different troops and tactics are employed.

Elf Warfare is an expository manual, not a narrative novel. However, it still fired my imagination and immersed me into its world. The descriptions provide plenty of detail without getting dry. As with most Osprey books, it has beautiful full-color and grayscale illustrations throughout the volume that complement the text and inspire the reader.

This is a wonderful overview of a fantasy race and its possible ways of warfare.

Fantastic read! I could not put this title down, I feel into the world on the first page. And even after finishing the book, i find myself wanting to pick it up again.
highly recommend

Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley

My love of elves dates back to the first time I read Lord of the Rings. It was because they were ageless, spoke funny, or seemed so wise. It was because they used bows and arrows. This is because one of the first movies I ever saw was Robin Hood. Honesty, if the orcs had been as skilled with bows as Robin was, I would be constantly wondering why everyone painted those poor, misunderstand orcs as evil.

It’s true.

Osprey’s book about Elf Warfare written by Chris Pramas taps into the fascination that many people have with elves, whether or not said people only like them because of the Robin Hood collection. The book is ideal for any gamer or writer. Osprey presents the various fighter types as well as various battle formats. It is in one part source book and one part history, with a sprinkling of storytelling thrown in.

Highlights include a nice bit about how elves work with allies- be they human or animal and a detailed discussion about how elven armies and how they are designed. There is at least one illustration that looks like it was Bloom’s Legolas inspired, and one does wonder a bit about some of the Elven women’s battle dress. But those are quibbles.

It is a quick fun read that can spark creativity.

This book is for anyone who likes epic fantasy and elves. There was a lot of information about the different kind of elves, their weapons and their battle strategies. I liked the short stories about the different sections and I wish they were longer and more a part of the layout. The epic battle at the end was my favorite part, it brought together all information that was just learned and painted a wonderful picture. I gave this book four stars because I could tell that a lot of research went into each chapter and they were well written. This is definitely a niche book and might not be interesting to readers who don't read enjoy epic fantasy or fantasy world building.

This review was written by Confessions of an Ex-Ballerina http://www.exballerina.com and will be live on 5-20

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3 / 5

This book is intended, I believe, as a sort of supplement to various tabletop and roleplaying games, to add a bit of flavour to their interpretation of Elves. As I don't play these sorts of games, I was mostly interested in Elf Warfare because it promised lovely illustrations and I was not disappointed.

Elf Warfare is split into four sections: The Elves, a fictional historical account of elves discussing their origins, gods, and magic; Elf Troop Types, from basic unit types like archers to some creative kinds like moon elf infiltrators, as well as some information about elven allies like human tribes; Elf Strategies and Tactics, an interesting look at how elves might lay siege, fight on land or at sea; Elf Victories, an account of five great elvish battle victories illustrating how these tactics might be used.

This is a very short book, barely sixty pages but it has densely packed but easy to read text. There's also small in-text sketches and diagrams as well as full-page artistic pieces, all of which are very nicely done. The writing is perhaps aimed at a slightly younger age than I was expecting - I had pictured a college/university aged audience - as it often says something like "the earth elves got into squabbles". I also think that the pages could have been formatted better, for example by setting each topic out on a new page, as there are occasionally massive, blocky chunks of text. I would also have appreciated diagrams in the strategy section.

I do envision that this book would be great for roleplaying purposes. It divides elves into six different groups and explain the qualities and attributes of each group. I was also pleased to see that the book deviated from the Tolkien-type elf, which has become the most common depiction of the fantasy elf and in this book is referred to as the "wood" or "green" elf, by creating types like the "Gold elves" which have qualities one might classically attribute to dwarves. I particularly like the idea of nomadic sea elves!

I would recommend this little book to a roleplaying group looking for elvish inspiration.