"This book really delves deeply into the nuts and bolts of formations, looking at armour, weapons, numbers, ranks and files and if you are looking for detail and understanding of this area look no further, it is all here. This is a very well-presented and detailed book."

Battlefield magazine, Spring 2024

As featured in

VaeVictis

"The book is an excellent one volume treatment of these three distinctly different formations and their uses.”

Read the review here

A Wargamer’s Needful Things

A curious book, very useful and interesting.

Read the full Spanish review here

Miniaturas JM

This book is both important for its thoroughly researched, original and well-argued historical conclusions and an enjoyable read. Highly recommended.

Review by Prof. F Noel Zaal (BA, LLB University of Natal, LLM Durban-Westville, LLM Columbia, PhD Wits)

Readers in ancient military history of the Classical period will certainly find Swanton’s approach and conclusions stimulating.

Read the full review here

Beating Tsundoku

Review by Jason Hubbard

This is a great study of the subject matter, as a wargamer I found this a fascinating read, it gave a depth of knowledge that I’m hoping to implement on to the tabletop at some point.

I would definitely say if you’re a wargamer, this one history book you need to get your hands on and read, especially if you play Ancient wargaming or Pike and shot.

I also think this will appeal to military historians as well, as it provides a great insight into the organization of effectiveness of these formations on the battlefield. This is one of those books that many a wargamer would be happy to find in their stocking on Christmas morning.

Irregular magazine, issue 14 Volume 2/Winter 2020

This would be a great read for both military history enthusiasts as well as Wargammers (The author is the editor of Slingshot, the magazine of the Society of Ancients). There is also some interesting research that would be useful for re-enactors of the period.

This is an excellent book focussed on one specific aspect of warfare, and while it sounds pretty mundane, this is an excellent look at formations.

There are also lots of copies of statues and drawings form the period to help reinforce the author’s views.

Read the full review here

Medieval Sword School

This book is an unique history book focusing on ancient battles and battle formations and recommended to anyone interested in historical warfare.

NetGalley, Sumit RK

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

"A careful study of the Greek and Latin of the sources sheds fresh light on how these formations were organized and worked, re-evaluating many conventional notions and leading to some surprising conclusions."
This got me in the first place.

The author has done a fantastic job of describing the battle formations.
The book is neither to cliche or boring.
This provides a different insight on the fighting skills of Greek and Roman people.

NetGalley, Sophrosyne T