The Essential Guide to Warfare (Star Wars) (Star Wars: Essential Guides)

I'm what I consider a "casual" Star Wars fan. I grew up watching the original trilogy, enjoyed watching my own son grow up with the last three movies, and I read an occasional Star Wars book(mostly the tech related "manuals" rather than the various story lines). I ordered this on a whim and reading this makes me feel like a kid again. If you want to learn all about the Star Wars Universe, all in one place, then I'd say this is a "must buy"! This book is extremely detailed and packed full of Star Wars history-all of it. The artwork is abundant and fantastic. It's obvious that a lot of time went into the creation of this gem and I consider it a terrific deal at $20.00. 243(large) pages of entertaining and informative reading for all Star Wars fans.

Like Jedi vs. Sith and the Essential Atlas, this book combines artwork, Wookiepedia-style information, and in-universe fictional accounts to provide a picture of warfare in the Galaxy Far, Far Away. Overall, it does a good job adding to the Star Wars universe. As always with these books, the artwork is a highlight. My personal favorites are of the Yuuzhan Vong War. Those images really capture the tone and grittiness of the invasion, with lots of yellows and browns. Also, the images of Admiral Ackbar are a treat. Unfortunately, some of the images are very clearly CG and look like a 1990s starfighter computer game (particularly the Legacy of the Force space battles). Most are phenomenal though.

As always with these sorts of books, I felt the coverage was really uneven. Major EU events such as the Yuuzhan Vong invasion got a mere 8 pages. I understand the majority of the book must deal with the movies, but I also feel like most readers pick up these books to learn something they didn't know about Star Wars, not to rehash what they've already seen in the movies or TV series. The book does include a great "after action report" critiquing the New Republic generals during the Vong war, which I found interesting, but so much more could have been done. The New Jedi Order novels didn't go that deep into the military strategy behind the Vong wars, so this book could have filled the gap. As is, the book contains a good start, but only a start.

Some of the in-universe accounts were great, such as Lando and Han's. The book fleshes out the Battle of Tanab, which Lando referenced in ROTJ but has never really been fully explained. I love how Jason Fry manages to capture Lando's voice. However, the portraits of Admiral Piett and General Rieekan were unrecognizable from the men in the movies. Piett is describing as a scheming, overconfident officer, whereas onscreen he appears to be much more subtle and demur. Rieekan in ESB seems to be a model commanding officer, gruff but the type of guy who'd win respect from his troops. Even Han says so in Allegiance. However, in Fry's version, Rebel troops found Rieekan "tough to love" and too strict. I'd suggest reading them all and then keeping a mental note about the ones that stood out as particularly compelling.

Overall, unlike the Essential Atlas, there's not a whole lot of reference information in this book. It's largely in-universe accounts and scattered, disorganized information. It's probably worthwhile for hardcore Star Wars fans, and has great images for fans of the EU, but there are probably large sections of the book you'll never read.

This guide will appeal to Star Wars lore hounds and people seeking to add flavor and character to already known details. The book is not truly structured as a "guide" to warfare in the Star Wars universe. More, it is a series of chronologically arranged anecdotes, profiles, and narratives. These prove interesting, but somewhat unsatisfying in terms of detail. The content does seem to avoid overlapping other books as well. The scope of the content ranges loosely from 30,000 years before the battle of Yavin (BBY,) to the era covered in comic books based a few hundred years after it.

In many ways, this book is akin to "The Book of Sith," and "The Jedi Path," which isn't negative at all. However those books are presented as faux artifacts, which adds value and enjoyment. Here, the book has the styles of writing and organization, but not the presentation. The books art is attractive, evocative of the times and people being touched on. It appears to expressly avoid the hyper detailed illustrations in other guides. In-store prices have ranged around the $35 mark. I bought this for $17 using Amazon Prime. For the price, the quality of the content, and the subject focus, I found the book worth having.

The Ballantine / Del Rey Star Wars reference guides are running out of topics and running low on steam (or its hyperdrive is malfunctioning, if you will).
Some would say that these guides are in their third generation, but to me it's still in its second run. After all, there hasn't been a 3rd edition of guides to "Characters," "Vehicles," etc.

This guide to Warfare doesn't quite know what it wants to be. In the main, it's essentially a random, eccentric update to the 2005 chronology ..... fair enough. Interspersed throughout are articles on major vehicles/companies, weapons tech, bios, and a droid article that recycles stuff from the "Droids" volume. There are plentiful chapters for early history, the Clone Wars, the Empire, and the Rebellion, but the post-RJ era feels skimmed over. Not very many battlefield and strategy diagrams/maps (let me guess, already done in the "Weapons and Tech" guide?). The artwork ranges from great to nice to kinda scribbled to rather obligatorily photo-shopped/pasted/blurred together in weird compositions.

One is reminded of all of the best and the worst stories in the SW galaxy, so like the franchise itself, 'tis inevitably a mixed bag. All of this near pointless wandering rather reinforces the idea that it's pretty much time to stop pretending, and go ahead and start over with some third editions now (and a few 2nd editions for the newer topics). Even so, a few of the upcoming new SW guidebooks sound like they might be pretty good.....

The information in this book was very good and insightful. A good read for understanding the different campaigns involved.

A write-up and chronology of events pre- and post- Battle of Yavin with brief decriptions of the military hardware used for each battle

Not only is this for the enthusiast but also gives a history of how the empire's naval fleet and the rebellion's naval fleet and bases came to be right along with important battles and dates and how everything fits together!!!

I give Star Wars The Essential Guide to Warfare four stars for only 1 reason: It is no longer cannon. Besides that fact, the book is really great. I like the exquisite artwork, the detailed maps, the in-depth information and the pictures of the ships, weapons and characters (I know these also count as artwork but they are very helpful, especially the pictures of those ships, weapons and characters not seen in the movies or TV shows.) I purchased my copy of the book from the Star Wars Action Team rewards store (http://fcrps.me/Revan97) and it came with the added bonus of having been signed by the author himself. It was a really good source for EU fans but I suspect it will become less and less sought after as the new official Expanded Universe emerges.

Good book, very detailed on the history of warfare. I recommend it to anyone running a starwars game. only reason not 5 stared for me, is because I would have to liked to see more detailed information on the merc units that were common place eg: Hammers slammers. beyond that, damn good book.

A good history of the Star Wars Universe, lots of original art work. I've been interested in the histories mentioned in the expanded universe, and this book fleshed out many references mentioned in the games and books.