Customer Rating: 
Summary: Trouble with numbers
Comment: Like all other books by Turnbull, this one is well-written and highly informative, but it's let down by an uncharacteristic sloppiness with regard to names and numbers. The most glaring mistakes are on page 69 (3,000 gunners can only fire 3,000 bullets, not 8-9,000, at one loading!) and page 73 (the caption mentions 12,000 horsemen - the actual number, as Turnbull himself stated elsewhere, was only a third of that). Turnbull does not explain how he derived the figure of 655 arquebusiers on the Takeda side. Nor does he account for how Baba Nobuharu could have 700 men in his vanguard (p. 77) when he was earlier only allocated 120 (p. 64), or how the Sanada brothers could lose 200 men out of a force of 250 to musket fire alone, or just what units constituted Naito Masatoyo's "initial command of 1,000" (p. 79) when he was leading a vanguard of just 250.For that matter, Sanada "Nobuteru" (p. 77) should be Masateru, as correctly named on pages 63-64. And the descriptions of Takeda Nobutomo and Nobumitsu on page 65 are a jumbled mess, clearly a victim of poor editing. Osprey ought to correct these mistakes in future editions. I also agree with previous reviewers that the binding tends to spoil the artwork of the 2-page battle scene paintings. Osprey's strength has always been in 1-page colour plates, and I wouldn't mind them reverting to that format, with smaller paintings but more of them, in the Campaign series.
Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the Most Important Samurai Battles Reviewed
Comment: Stephen Turnbull is one of the best known scholars and active writers on the subject of samurai history. His book on Nagashino battle is probably a demonstration of what Dr. Turnbull does the best - case study. The Nagashino starts with with historical background and goes thoroughly through the description of opposing armies, personalities of commanders and other key figures (including among others Okudaira Sadamasa, whose determined resistance to Takeda army in Nagashino castle played its part in making Takeda Katsuyori accept the challenge to fight the fatal for the clan of Takeda battle). Further the author describes in detail the structure of armies, tactics and strategy of Takeda and Oda/Tokugawa forces, the battle itself and aftermath.
Those interested in samurai loyalty will be interested in description of a famous incident when one of Tokugawa samurai, Torii Sune'emon captured by Takeda warriors and offered to serve the new lord. Sune'emon defied Katsuyori's orders and was killed. However, he was admired by both armies alike and one of the commanders of Takeda army was so impressed by Sune'emon's deed that he adopted a picture of the brave samurai on his banner!
The book is full of colour plates, maps and pictures of the battleground and provides wealth of information on the one of the most important battles in Japanese medieval history. During Nagashino Oda Nobunaga introduced volley arquebus fire, which forever changed the samurai warfare burying the old school of cavalry charge (Takeda army was famous for its cavalry attacks) of elite mounted warriors. The impact of Nagashino was felt by samurai commanders through Sekigahara.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A great extensive case study of the infamous battle
Comment: This book is very thorough in its descriptions of the battle, its weaponary and the outcome. It also includes great information with regards to individual samurai and how their previous experience may have influenced the battle outcome. The information from this book alone is worth the buy. You can hardly find any book as such outside Japan. However, the only fuss I have is that the book could have been published with better binding or include a hardcover edition. The binding is so bad that you might ruined the book in the process of trying to get a better view of its contents. Other than that, it's a book that must not be missed by students of Sengoku Jidai.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Poor illustration of good material
Comment: This book contains a very good description of the battle, both its cause, and results. It also amply describes the various personalities that participated on both sides. The reason I only give this 3 stars is because of the artwork and maps. Yes the book provides vital maps and some beautiful paintings, but they are printed on 2 page spreads. Given the binding of the book, you can't really see what's in the middle of say Nagashino Castle or the main battlefield without ripping the book in half the process. Beautiful paintings of Samurai in action are marred for the same reason. If the maps had been turned into pull out or fold out pages, it would have made things much clearer and more useful for wargaming etc. A different format would have made this a 4.5 star easily.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Clash of Tactics & Technology in Medieval Japan
Comment: The strengths of this Osprey Campaign series title are its excellent art work and maps, very detailed order of battle data, numerous modern photographs of the battlefield and the author's intimate knowledge of Japanese 17th Century warfare. The description of both the siege of Nagashino Castle and the battle are well-written. However the author falls a bit short in the area of military analysis. The Takeda Army was renowned for its cavalry - about 27% of its army - and Turnbull makes great effort to show the defensive measures that Oda Nobunaga and Ieyasu Tokugawa took to stop this cavalry. Yet Turnbull provides no detailed information on Japanese Samurai cavalry tactics or why the Takeda cavalry was so formidable. Turnbull does provide good detail on the arquebus corps and how it was used. Finally, the entire rationale for the Takeda attacking a relief force that was three times its size is never explained. In this account, it appears rather foolhardy and almost suicidal. The bibliography is quite sparse and the wargaming notes (not written by Turnbull) are the usual silly 'matrix' and 'disguised scenario' sort. This is a good complimentary work on a less known battle, but it could use a little more depth and a little less "fluffy" artwork.
